DISCLAIMER: I do not own the television show Jericho or any part of it. The characters are not mine in any way. I am not affiliated with CBS, the television show Jericho or the writers of Jericho. I am borrowing them for a while and I promise to give them back.
Special thanks to Marzee and Skyrose1025!!!! Our conversations are very idea inspiring!!!
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"Well, that could have gone better," Jake thought to himself as he turned his car west towards his ultimate destination, Lemoore, CA. He couldn't believe that his father still treated him like a sixteen year old kid.
It had gone pretty much the way he thought it would when he went in the back door. His mother was weepy and very excited to see him, Eric was his very politically correct self righteous self and his dad...well, dad was dad. Nothing had changed about Johnston Green in the last five years.
Jake had left Jacob out on the back porch getting acquainted with the dog. Gail kept looking over Jake's shoulder, obviously waiting for someone else to come in.
"Well, Jake, where's the special person you brought home? I don't see her....uh, anyone."
"Oh yeah. I forgot about that," Jake said, openly grinning at his mother's anxiousness. "I don't think it's exactly what you're thinking though." He opened the backdoor and motioned for Jacob to come in. He stood in the kitchen with Jacob in front of him.
"Everyone, this is Jacob. My son."
Gail's mouth was hanging open and tears started running down her face. Johnston Green felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head. Jake had a child. That wasn't possible.
"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness," Gail kept saying with her hand in front of her mouth. She was beside herself. "Your son?!! Jake, how could you not tell me?" She sank down in front of the little boy and hugged him.
"Jacob, how old are you?" Gail asked with a quivering voice.
"I'm seven and three quarters," Jacob answered.
"You're all grown up," said Gail, sniffing and hugging him again.
Johnston slowly walked over and looked down at the little boy. His mind jumped back twenty years and he saw Jake. This child was Jake's twin. There was no doubt that this was Jake's son. They looked exactly the same all the way down to the mischievous gleam in Jacob's eyes. The cold feeling had settled into a ball of lead in the pit of his stomach.
"Hello, Jacob, I'm your grandfather."
Jacob glanced nervously up at his father and Jake gave him a quick wink and nod. Jacob extended his hand and said, "Hello, Sir."
That small hand in his was like a lightening bolt. He had a grandchild. A grandchild that he knew nothing about. A grandchild that he hadn't been able to show off to his friends at church, that he hadn't been able to teach to fish or hunt. A grandchild that Jake had kept from them.
Gail got Jacob settled at the kitchen table with some cookies and milk. Jacob turned his iPod on and was soon back in the world of Pirates of the Caribbean.
In the living room, things were tense. Johnston was mad....so mad he was turning red. Gail sat down on the couch beside Jake. Gail held up her hand to stop Johnston from yelling. She turned to Jake and started talking.
"Jake, why're we just now finding out about Jacob? Where's his mother? Who is his mother? What kind of boy is he? Why in the world would you not tell us?," Gail's voice was starting to rise. "We've lost years of our only grandchild's life. He was what, almost two when you left? In all this time you didn't consider the fact that your son might want to know his grandparents or that his grandparents might want to know him. Why, Jake, why?"
Johnston had finally gotten himself under some sort of control. "Jake, this is one of the most irresponsible things you've ever pulled. I'm interested in knowing more about the mother too. Was she one of those drug people you hung out with or one of Jonah's floozies? Did Emily know? It about killed her when you skipped out of town. Is that why....she found out about this boy. Where the hell have you been? How have you taken care of a child? Last time we saw you, you weren't responsible enough to keep a cat alive. Are you doing something illegal....again? When're you going to grow up and do things the right way?"
Gail heard a low bump and looked up to see Jacob standing beside the dining room table. His eyes were big and his mouth slightly open. Gail closed her eyes, feeling sick to her stomach. 'How much did he hear?' she wondered.
She cleared her throat loudly and pasted a smile on her face. "Hi, Honey."
"Um....I need to go to the bathroom. Where is it?" he asked, obviously uncomfortable.
"I'll show you, Sweetheart," Gail said. She put her arm around his shoulders and led him back toward the kitchen.
Johnston looked back over at Jake. "I want some answers Jake and I want them now," he whispered, madly.
Gail came back into the room. "Jake, he's a sweet boy."
Jake smiled at his mother, "He's on his best behavior. He can be a handful." Jake took a deep breath. Here we go,' Jake thought, 'the lecture was pretty much the same as the lectures five years ago.' "First off, no, she wasn't one of Jonah's people and she didn't use drugs. She was a nice girl. I guess she still is. She wasn't from Jericho so you don't know her. A lot of those times when I was gone and you didn't know where, I was with her and Jacob. He was born early so he spent a while in the hospital and I spent a lot of time there. Emily doesn't know. It didn't really concern her. I met Jacob's mother during one of our many breakups."
"You're not going to tell us her name, are you," Johnston growled.
"No, I'm not. It wouldn't change anything. There's no reason to," Jake said. "After Chris died I knew I had to leave. Get out or I would end up like him. I went to Jacob's mother and tried to talk her into leaving with me. While I was putting the baby in his carseat she left. She taped a note to the car and took off. We haven't seen her since. It took a while but I have full custody. She couldn't see him now even if she wanted to...but that's not a problem because she doesn't want to see him. She decided when Jacob was 18 months old that she wasn't cut out to be a mother at that time and that was that. I thought about coming back to Jericho but knew what Dad would do and what people would think. Jonah was still here and looking for revenge. I had to leave. I took Jacob and I left."
"Why pick now of all times. Are you trying to cost me my election?" Johnston asked. "You've been gone for almost six years and you pick now to come back?"
"I'm not here to interfere with your campaign, Dad. All I wanted was for you to meet your grandson and get your signature on Grandpa's stuff. Then I'll visit Grandpa and we'll leave. No one has to know we were here."
It just went from bad to worse with Eric throwing in his two cents worth. Johnston refused to turn over the money.
Gail talked Jake into not taking Jacob with him when he left. She wanted a chance to get to know her grandson. She and Jacob were set to fly to California on Saturday. Jake's plan was to "surprise" them at the Wichita airport.
An hour after telling Jacob goodbye and visiting his Grandfather, he was on this way California. He had forgotten how much nothing there was in Kansas. Jake glanced right and out in the distance saw a mushroom cloud.
"Oh shit!"
And then he heard the screech of brakes and everything went black..........
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It was a bright, sunny morning. The breeze coming in thru the kitchen window had the sharp smell of the ocean.
As Jake came downstairs he could hear Kate gently prodding Jacob to eat so he wouldn't be late for school. Mrs. Kate Riggs was a 50-something English nanny/cook/housekeeper. She was the only mother Jacob knew and she kept the house running. Without her there, Jake shuddered to think what the house would be like.
"Jacob, eat your breakfast," Kate said in her clipped British accent.
"Yes, Ma'am"
"Did you get your book report off the printer?"
"Uh huh," Jacob mumbled while he read a comic book.
"Where's your tie? Sister Mary will give you a demerit for out of uniform"
"Remember, if you made a hundred on the spelling test yesterday you didn't have to wear a tie today. I made a hundred."
"Are you sure? I don't want another red note sent home in your backpack."
"I'm positive."
Jake came into the kitchen and snapped off the TV. "Ok, Bud, you have about five minutes before Mrs. Koger gets here for carpool. Go get your stuff. Remember, I'm picking you up at 10:30 for our trip."
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Jacob said as he slipped his backpack on his shoulders. "Will we be back in time to go to Joey's birthday party? It's an army party and I really want to go."
"I don't know. We'll see," Jake said as he hugged Jacob.
"Bye, Nana," Jacob said as he hugged her goodbye and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see ya in a few days!"
Jacob was just about out the front door when Jake remembered the note . "Hey, don't forget to give Sister Mary the note in your backpack or it'll be an unexcused absence."
"Ok, Dad," Jacob yelled as he ran out to the sound of a honking horn.
Jake grabbed a cup of coffee. "So, you're going to fly out this evening. You'll be there to pick us up, right?" Jake asked........
**************************************
Jake jerked awake. He was still in Kansas. He'd seen a mushroom cloud. Glass was everywhere. His head was killing him and his leg was on fire. He had been in an accident. He shook his head trying to wake himself up. He jerked his head to the right to look in the back seat....Where was Jacob? Was he alright?? Everything turned gray and swam out of focus. He closed his eyes and opened them slowly and everything came sharply back. Jacob was safe. He was in Jericho.
Jake took a deep breath and pushed open the door of the wrecked car. There were only two things on his mind...... Jacob and getting back to Jericho.
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Jacob stood silently looking out the window, watching his father and grandmother drive away. He turned and looked at the grandfather and uncle that he had just met. Jacob bit his bottom lip.
"Son, why don't you have a seat," Johnston said, motioning towards the couch. "Are you thirsty? Do you want something to eat?" he asked. He had no idea what to talk to his grandson about.
"No thank you, Sir," Jacob said, looking down and scuffed the toe of his shoe against the floor.
"Where do you and Jake live?" Eric asked.
"San Diego," Jacob said, so quietly that Johnston and Eric barely heard him. He looked up. "May I please get my backpack?"
"Of course," Johnston said, smiling, "you can do whatever you want. There's some Cokes in the refrigerator if you want one."
Jacob nodded silently and quickly walked towards the kitchen.
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Eric watched Jacob walk into the kitchen and looked at his father.
"Can you believe this? After all these years, he shows up with a kid. Unbelievable," Eric said, shaking his head.
"I think it's very Jake. Irresponsible," Johnston said. He looked towards the kitchen and then back at Eric, "He looks like he's well taken care of. I guarantee you that's not a $5 haircut and those clothes didn't come from WalMart. Jake must be doing something right. It'll be interesting to see what comes of this."
"That it will," Eric said, standing up. "I'm gonna head back down to Town Hall. I'll see you later."
After Eric left, Johnston walked into the kitchen. Jacob was no where to be seen. He finally heard him, mumbling under his breath. When Johnston walked out on the back porch, he saw his grandson sitting on the steps playing a video game.
He sat down on the steps beside Jacob and looked over his shoulder.
"Whatcha got there? That doesn't look like something a little boy should be playing."
Jacob stiffened and pulled his ear buds out. "An iPod and a PSP."
"What are you playing?"
"Grand Theft Auto," Jacob said quietly.
"Your father lets you play that?" Johnston asked, his voice tinged with anger.
"No, Sir," Jacob said, shaking his head. "Dad would be really mad. I'm not supposed to play anything rated teen or higher. I borrowed it from my friend Joey's big brother."
"If Jake would be really mad maybe you should turn it off. What are you listening to?"
"SpongeBob."
They sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. Both looking out at the backyard.
Johnston noticed that Jacob had changed out of the neat, tucked in, Polo shirt to a burgundy cartoon character t-shirt. He smiled, thinking how that was just like something Jake would do. Forget neat, go for comfortable.
"Who's that on your shirt?" Johnston asked, trying to figure out something to talk about.
"Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends," Jacob answered, looking down at his feet.
"I don't know that one," Johnston answered.
"It comes on Cartoon Network," Jacob muttered.
He pointed to Jacob's scabbed over chin and right arm and elbow. "What'd you do there? Looks like you lost some skin."
"I wiped out on my skateboard. I came off the ramp at the wrong place and skidded to a stop."
"That sounds like it hurt."
"It burned when I picked the gravels out."
Johnston slapped his thigh, making Jacob jump.
"Do you like pizza?"
"Yes, Sir."
"What do you like on it? Your grandmother is trying to starve me in the name of heart healthy eating. I haven't had a good pizza in a long time. I just happen to have Pizza Hut's number memorized."
Jacob smiled shyly at his grandfather. "I like pepperoni and extra cheese. Dad always gets sausage too but I pick it off."
"How about onions and peppers?"
Jacob grimaced. "No, Sir."
Johnston laughed, "I don't like them either. Let's go in and I'll call for a large pepperoni, extra extra cheese pizza and sausage on my half. We'll get some ice cream, too. What kind of ice cream do you like?"
Jacob smiled and put his game and iPod away. "I like strawberry with chocolate syrup and chocolate chips."
"Whipped cream?"
"The spray kind," Jacob answered, smiling shyly.
Johnston stood up and held out his hand. Jacob looked up at him and very hesitantly took it.
"Son, I'm your grandpa," Johnston said, kneeling in front of Jacob, "there's no need to be afraid of me."
Jacob smiled and nodded, "Okay."
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Gail walked in the house an hour later to find they had polished off most of a large pizza and were each working on bowls of strawberry ice cream covered in chocolate syrup.
Gail raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
"Johnston Green? What is that?"
"Strawberry ice cream with chocolate syrup."
"No. That," Gail said, pointing at an open beer in front of him. "I can't believe you're drinking beer in front of your grandson."
"My dad and Uncle Freddy do it all the time. You can't enjoy pizza without a beer."
"Pizza too? What about your diet?"
"Your grandson wanted pizza and ice cream for dinner."
"Um hmm," Gail said, pursing her lips and looking at her husband.
"I really did, Gran," Jacob said, winking at his grandfather.
Gail started laughing. "Did you at least save me a piece?" she asked, hugging Jacob and kissing his temple.
"Sure," Jacob said, putting the last two pieces of pizza on a paper plate and handing it to his grandmother.
"When we get done I'll take you upstairs and show you where you'll sleep while you're here. It's Jake's bedroom," Johnston said, drinking the last drink of Coor's Lite. "We were going to turn it into a den. I guess it's a good thing we didn't," he said, winking.
"Can I call my Dad?" Jacob asked, pushing pizza crust around his plate.
"You'll need to give it a while. The cell phone reception where he's driving at right now isn't very good. When he gets closer to Denver you'll be able to call. That'll be in a few hours," Gail said, smiling sympathetically at Jacob. "You're gonna have fun here, Sweetheart. You just wait, you'll see. What do you like to eat? We'll plan what we'll do tomorrow around your favorite places to eat."
"In 'n Out Burgers and Marie Callender's."
"We don't have those here. Maybe we can find something close. What do you get at the burger place?"
"I get a 1 by 2 animal style, no onions, Neopolitan shake and well done fries."
"Okay, what's that? I can honestly say I've never heard of that," Gail said laughing.
"Cheeseburger fried with mustard. It has extra cheese. I could show you on the internet," Jacob offered, excitedly. He stopped and looked at her, his eyes big, and asked, "You do have internet out here, right?"
Johnston barked out a laugh. "Yes, Son, we live close enough to the paved road to get internet," he said, pulling Gail's laptop towards them from the end of the dining room table.
Johnston watched Jacob expertly boot up the computer and try to launch Internet Explorer. An error message came up. "Hmmm," he said, "that doesn't happen much. We'll try again in a few minutes. Now the only Marie Callender I've heard of is a frozen dinner. I didn't know there was a restaurant."
"Yes, Sir. Me and Nana go there every Sunday after Mass. She says I need to go somewhere to practice my manners. Last week Father Kevin came with us."
"Mass?" Gail asked, confused. "Why would you go to Mass?"
"Because Nana says I have to. Sometimes Dad goes but not much. Him and Sara usually sleep late." Johnston and Gail looked at each other, with raised eyebrows, over the top of Jacob's head.
"Sleeping late sounds like Jake," Johnston said, chuckling. "I think what your grandmother meant is that Jake isn't Catholic. It's strange that you would go to Mass."
"Yes he is," Jacob said, nodding his head.
Gail looked at Johnston and shook her head quickly. She looked back at Jacob, "We don't have Marie Callender's here either but we can go to New Bern and eat at Cracker Barrel. You'll like that. We can see a movie while we're there if you want to."
"Okay," Jacob said, biting his bottom lip.
"Who's Nana?" Gail asked, feeling an unbelievable jealousy towards a woman she had never heard of until 10 minutes earlier. Jacob's obvious familiarity with her spoke of a long relationship.
"She's my Nana," Jacob said, shrugging. When he saw a confused look on Gail's face, he tried to elaborate. "You know, she makes me eat broccoli and picks me up from school, and takes me to karate. She takes care of me, since I was little."
"Your nanny!" Gail said, relieved.
"Yeah. Stuie Davis in my school has a nanny too. Inga. She's not very old and wears short dresses and she has really big..." Jacob started to stay but Johnston cleared his throat and he stopped. "Nana Kate gets a funny look on her face when she sees Inga....I don't think she likes her very much. She's a lot older than Inga. Nana even tells Dad what to do!" At this Gail felt another stab of jealousy.
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Johnston stood up, stretched and then looked down at Gail and Jacob.
"If you two will excuse me for a few minutes, I need to run upstairs," Johnston said, turning and walking up the stairs. It was time to take his medicine and he didn't want to advertise that he was really feeling tired. This flu bug was kicking his butt.
Jacob finished the last of his ice cream and looked around, having no idea what to say.
Gail, feeling how uncomfortable her grandson was, smiled at him.
"We'll clean this up later," she said, motioning at the remains of dinner. "I bet you've never seen any pictures of Jake -- your Dad-- when he was a little boy. Want to see some?"
"Sure! That sounds like fun," Jacob said, standing up and pushing his chair in at the table. Gail smiled at this. That was something Jake never would have done as a child. She didn't know that Nana Kate had worked for years to get that accomplished.
Gail and Jacob sat on the couch with a photo album open between them. Gail was absently stroking the back of Jacob's head. She was thoroughly enjoying his laughter and questions about the pictures. It was a good day. Jake had come home. She had expected to meet a fiancee but instead had gotten a wonderful gift. A grandchild. A very good day indeed.
They both jumped and looked up when they heard a loud, insistent knock on the front door.
"Hmm," Gail said, frowning, "I wonder who that could be? Stay here. I'll be right back." She got up and walked to the door. Peeking out the window, she saw Jimmy and Margaret Taylor with their children, Woody and Emily. Gail quickly opened the door. "Jimmy? Is everything alright?"
"You mean you don't know?" Jimmy asked, walking quickly into the house, followed by Margaret and their children.
"Know what?" Gail asked, getting scared.
"There's a mushroom cloud to the west. Looks like maybe it's over Denver," Jimmy said. "Is the Mayor here?"
Seeing how scared Woody was, Gail hugged him.
"Mama," Emily Taylor said, looking up from her mother's shoulder, "who's that boy?"
Margaret turned and saw Jacob sitting on the couch.
Gail smiled at Emily and stood up. "Emily, Woody, this is my grandson, Jacob. He just got here today."
"Jacob?! Jake's son?" Jimmy asked, stunned.
The children looked at each other silently. Emily smiled sweetly at Jacob and gave him a small wave before laying her head back on her mother's shoulder. Jacob, unsure of what to do, looked at his grandmother with big eyes.
Johnston Green, hearing the commotion, walked down the stairs.
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Jake limped down the road. He had to get back to Jericho. Every time he glanced over his shoulder he saw an angry, vicious pink sky to the West. Denver? Was it still there?
What was going on in Jericho?
"Mister? Mister, help!"
Jake looked up and saw two kids running towards him.
"Mister, please. I think they're dying. Help!" the little boy cried.
"The deer went crazy and started running all over the road. We run over the deer," the little girl cried.
Jake followed the kids with a limping run to a stranded school bus.
He found the bus driver unconscious, laying across the steering wheel. Jake felt a pulse when he checked. 'Just unconscious,' he thought.
"Is he alive?" a weak voice asked.
Jake turned around and saw a pale woman. "Yeah. Are you okay?"
"Yeah," the woman said, quietly, "but I think my leg is broken."
"Can you feel your toes?" Jake asked.
"Yeah," she answered, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Don't worry about me. Worry about them."
Jake looked up and was met by 30 pairs of scared eyes. The bus was full of kids. They all looked about Jacob's age.
"Is anybody hurt? Anybody?" Jake called. His head was killing him and he was starting to feel dizzy and see spots of gray in his vision. 'Stay awake, stay awake,' he said to himself.
"Stacey's sick. She can't breathe," a little boy said from the back of the bus.
Jake rushed towards the back of the bus.
He saw the little girl laying in the bus seat. Her breathing was very shallow and she was starting to turn blue.
"What happened?"
The boy sitting in the seat behind sat forward. "She was sitting like this," he said, with his throat against the back of the seat, "when the bus stopped."
Jake looked at the little girl again, her breathing was getting more and more shallow. She suddenly stopped. 'Oh, God,' he thought, 'what do I do. She's not breathing.'He reached back into memory and found the medical training he had had to undergo. Jake cleaned the knife, took a deep breath and quickly performed a tracheotomy.
**********************************************************
Jake pulled the bus to a halt in front of Town Hall. His head was pounding and his leg was on fire. He opened the door of the bus and screamed, "Help them, help 'em."
After the kids were off the bus he turned and looked at the young woman sitting behind him. "What's your name?"
"Heather," she said, almost shyly.
"Jake," he replied.
"Nice to meet you, Jake," she said smiling.
"You too," he said, smiling back at her.
Eric helped him to the ambulance. Jake saw Jacob with Gail. He breathed a sigh of relief. He lowered himself to the stretcher.
Jacob broke free from Gail's grip and flung himself at his father, hugging him tightly.
Jake hugged him back, patted his back and then cupped the back of his head, hugging him again. "I'm here, Buddy. Everything's gonna be okay. It's okay," he said, quietly.
He lay back, Jacob still clinging to his chest, and closed his eyes with relief. His child was safe.
Gail blinked tears back. The sight of Jake with Jacob made her heart pang with regret for the years lost. She couldn't lose them. She had to figure out how to keep her son and her grandson in Jericho. She sat down in the back of the ambulance beside Jake and Jacob. She held his hand and squeezed his shoulder.
"Look at you! You're a mess," she said.
"I'm fine. Stop worrying about me," he said, rubbing Jacob's back.
"Well, good luck with that," Gail said, smiling at him. "I was afraid I was never going to see you again."
"You think I'd let Dad have the last word?" Jake said, chuckling humorlessly.
"Hey! Quit talking about me," Johnston said, taking in the father son closeness between his son and grandson. "You did a great thing out there tonight."
"Thanks," Jake said, not quiet sure how to take Johnston.
Jacob sat up and looked at his grandfather. Confused at the tension in the air.
"Your grandfather would have been proud," Johnston said, looking away with embarrassment. He cleared his throat and looked down. "Yeah, well, I gotta see what's taking those guys so long," he said, walking away.
Jake looked and his mother and shook his head in disbelief.
"You know, I go away for a few years, and the town goes to hell," he said.
"I'm glad you're home," Gail said, kissing him and hugging Jacob.
"Yeah, we'll see," Jake said. "We'll see."
To be continued......
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