The Greens of Jericho

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the television show Jericho or any part of it. The characters are not mine in any way. I am just borrowing them for a bit. I am not affiliated with CBS, the television show Jericho or the writers of Jericho.

I would like to give credit to my husband for helping me get in the mind of a man for parts of this chapter. He is a great sounding board for my story.    

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The night wore on and the lamp burned down.    It got colder and colder in the room.   Both Jake and Heather kept nodding off.    Neither of them wanted to approach the subject of bed.

Jake looked at Heather and saw her nodding off again.   He sat up and stroked her cheek.

"This is ridiculous, Heather.   There's no sense in you sitting there nodding, trying to stay awake so we can avoid the embarrassment of going to bed.    Lay down and go to sleep.   I'll go over to the table or sleep in one of the bunks.   I'm a big ole growed up boy,  I won't be permanently scarred if we don't have sex tonight," he said, smiling softly, trying to break the tension.

"No, Jake, I wasn't doing that," Heather said, lightly laying her hand on Jake's thigh.  "Really, I wasn't.    You're right, I am getting sleepy.   I think I'll go to bed.   You don't have to sit at the table all night or sleep in the bunk bed.    You can sleep here too.   Are there any blankets?   It's getting cold."

Jake got up and went over to a  trunk in the corner and got a couple of quilts.    

"Go ahead and go to sleep.   I'll be there in a few minutes," Jake said, handing the quilts to Heather.

Heather took her shoes off and sat back on the bed.    She shivered.    Jake seemed to notice for the first time how thin Heather's shirt was.   He pulled his long sleeve white t-shirt off and tossed it to her.

"Here, put this on.   You're freezing," Jake said.

"What about you?", Heather asked, holding the shirt.

"I'm fine with this one," Jake said, smiling softly at Heather.    "If I get cold I will wrap up in a quilt."

She curled up under the quilts and went to sleep with visions of Jake in his black t-shirt and thinking "God, he smells good."

Jake sat down at the table and opened a bottle of water.   As he watched Heather sleep, his mind drifted between sleep and another place and time that still held part of his heart.   Dark hair, a calm, gentle smile, a ready laugh.    Sara.   He had last seen her at the airport before she got on the shuttle bus for her flight to Washington D.C.   Was she alive?   He didn't feel her anymore.  

He looked over at the bottle of Apple Blossom wine.   He reached for it and opened it.............

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Gail and Eric pulled up in front of the barn.    Jake's dew covered car was parked beside the fence.   Something wasn't right.    It was 40 degrees out this morning but the windows were rolled down.   The trunk was wide open.    Gail had felt like something was wrong since the evening before but couldn't put her finger on it.    She had gotten up this morning and looked in the boys' room but Jake wasn't there, just Jacob and Dreyfuss, the dog.    Her mother radar went into high alert.   If this had happened several years ago she would have just sighed and wondered where she and Johnston had gone wrong.   Not now though, Jake was mature and responsible now.    Something was wrong--she felt it.   She had gone to find Eric and here they were.

"Mom, who did Jake bring out here with him?", Eric asked.

"No one as far as I know.   Why?", Gail asked.

"There's a pink backpack, romance novel and a pink jacket over here.   The jacket is too small and definitely not his style," Eric said, holding up a hot pink zip up jacket.   "I see him more in a lavender pullover hoodie."

Gail gave him her ugliest mother look.     Eric dropped his eyes and handed her the backpack.

"See if you can find any ID in there."  

Eric looked in the car and handed out a ponytail holder and a headband.    

"Mom, I think Jakey-Boy is up to his old tricks."

Gail looked at the name tag inside the pack, "Heather Lisinski".   She thought Jake and Heather were getting close. But she knew Heather and she thought she knew Jake and she didn't think they had come out her for a rendezvous.

"Eric, I don't think so.   Something is not right.   Let's take a look in the barn."

Gail walked into the barn.   The horses were well supplied with food and water.    "They made it into the barn," she thought.   She walked towards the back.   There were bandage wrappers and bloody gauze on the floor with an empty bottle of alcohol.   There was an overturned chair by the door of the Bunker.  Jake's keys were hanging from the lock.   Surely, he hadn't gotten locked in.   They approached the door and turned the key.      

Gail opened the door.   Harsh early morning sunlight fell into the room showing the small table with two empty wine bottles and a box of crackers.    She turned her flashlight on and played it around the room.    When she got to the bed she saw them.   Jake and Heather were sound asleep under Grandma Green's Wedding Ring quilt.   Heather's head rested on Jake's bare chest.   His left arm was wrapped  protectively around her.

Eric walked in behind Gail at that moment and gave a dirty chuckle.

"Oh no, not our Jake, he would never do something like this," Eric said with a snide grin.

Gail gave Eric a disapproving gaze then looked back at the sleeping pair.   Her eyes focused on the large white bandage around Jake's hand.

At that moment Jake and Heather woke up.   The bright sunlight coming thru the door stabbed their eyes.   They could see two people framed in the doorway but they couldn't tell who they were.

Jake held his arm up in front of his face to block the light and said, "Who's there?" in a gravelly voice.

"Jake, its me", said Gail.

"Mom?", Jake asked.   "Let me get the flashlight.   I can't see anything."

"Are you alright?", said Gail.   "What happened?   What's wrong with your hand?"

"Just a minute, Mom.   Let me wake up," Jake said.

Heather pushed the blanket back and swung her legs over the side of the bed and started putting on her shoes.

"Mrs. Green, I'm so happy to see you!", Heather said.

"Jake, what happened?", Gail asked again.

"We came out here yesterday to take care of the horses.   I saw some trees had blown down so I cut them up.    When I was stacking the wood, I cut my hand and Heather cleaned it and bandaged it.    I was stupid and left the keys in the door instead of in my pocket.    When we came in to put the first aid kit away, the door accidentally shut and we were locked in.   Boring, but true," Jake explained.

"Yeah, but what happened in here after the door closed?", Eric asked, chuckling with a knowing smile.   "Where's your shirt, Jake?"

Heather blushed and looked at Jake.    Jake looked at Eric with fire in his eyes.    Before Jake could say anything or get to Eric, Heather hand went sailing thru the air and the sound of the smack echoed thru the air.   Jake looked appreciatively at Heather.

"My shirt is hanging on the back of the chair drying.   I spilled a bottle of water on it," Jake said.

"Alright, kids, stop it.   This is ridiculous.   Thank God everyone is alright.   That all that matters," Gail said.

Gail ushered everyone out of the room and into the cold, sunny barn.

"Mom, I think it would be a good idea to load the food and stuff in that room up and take it home.   There is a lot of food and water in there," Jake said.

Heather looked at Jake and Gail and smiled a tight smile, "I hate to ask this but is there a bathroom anywhere around?"

Gail smiled back at her, "Sure, Honey, in the workroom up front."    Heather hastily walked towards the front.

Gail looked pointedly at Eric, " I need a few minutes alone with your brother.   Why don't you go check the horses in the corral."   Eric looked from Gail to Jake and quickly left the barn.

"Alright, Jacob Green, what went on here?", Gail asked.   "Two empty wine bottles, no shirt and you and Heather in bed together.   It looks bad.   I know Heather and I think she is a good girl.   You seem to have grown up a lot so I don't really think anything happened, but Jake"

"Mom," Jake protested.   Gail held up her hand and stopped him.

"Don't interrupt me," Gail said.   "I know you and Emily used to come out here and I have a pretty good idea of what went on and where that wine came from..."

Jake's head shot up and he blushed.   Gail gave him a very pointed look and went on.

"This girl is a very sweet girl, Jake.   She hardly ever dates.   It wouldn't surprise me at all if she was a...."

"MOTHER!",  Jake said.

"Anyway, like I was saying, you seem to have grown up in your time away.   I don't think you would intentionally hurt her, but be careful.   You also need to remember that you have a clone back at home who copies everything you do.    You have to set an example and taking your girlfriend away overnight isn't the one you want to set."

"Mom," Jake said again.

"Jake," Gail continued, "I believe you.   I don't think anything happened out here except what you said, but, son, two empty wine bottles and you in bed together.   It looks like something went on.   Don't do anything that would hurt Heather, or yourself."

"Mom, I have no plans to hurt Heather.   None.   I care too much to ever do anything to hurt her.   We got accidentally locked in, that's it, plain and simple.   We ate some food and drank some wine that I had hidden here years ago.   We went to sleep and you rescued us.   That's it.   There's no more."

"Um, hmmm," Gail said, "fine.   There's no more."

"One thing," Jake said, "how did you know I used to come out here with Emily?"

"Jacob Green, you need to realize something.   Your mother is neither blind nor stupid.  I know about lots of things that I think it best not to discuss."

Jake blushed again.    Gail smiled at him and patted his shoulder.

Heather came out of the workroom.  

"Hey, Heather, before you get too far this way, look in that room you just came out of.   Are there any boxes or anything we can use to pack the food up in?", Jake yelled.

Heather came back out with several cardboard boxes.   They went thru the storm shelter and packed up everything that they thought they could use and packed it up in the 2 cars.

"Mom, do you know what happened to grandpa's old wood stove?", Jake asked, while he was loading boxes.

"It rusted and fell apart, literally," Gail said, "Why?"

"Heather is looking for something to heat her apartment with.   All she has is electric heat," Jake said.

"Sorry, Honey, but the stove fell apart.   We'll see what we can come up with."

While they had been working, the sky had become lead gray and off to the West there were banks of clouds that looked serious.   The wind had been blowing all morning and now it was starting to bite.

"Let's head home, kids.   It's starting to look really nasty," said Gail, getting into Eric's truck.
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Jake and Heather got into the 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner and followed Gail and Eric back towards town.

Jake looked over at Heather and smiled.   He reached over and took her hand, the bandage making him clumsy.

"Heather, I'm sorry.   If I had just put those damn keys in my pocket.  We would have never been locked in that storm cellar."

"It's just as much my fault " said Heather.  "I'm the one with two left feet that kicked the chair from under the door."

No more words were spoken at the time.  But Heather considered the mystery of fate...Yes, if not for two accidents, they never would have been locked inside that storm cellar...together.

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Thanks for reading my stories.    This one isn't quiet as exciting as the previous couple of chapters but I had to wind up the whole cellar story.    I introduced a couple of new elements that will come into play in upcoming chapters.    I can't wait to get them written!!    Feedback is very much appreciated and welcome!    Thanks again for reading!!

SherryG