OKAY so many thank yous and so little time. fIRST OFf. for this chapter specifically thank you to Mikala (disneywholockian) and Stephanie (johnlocck) for reading this before I put it on the internet so I don't make a complete idiot of myself.
As always thank you to Anushka (johnissherlocked) for the prompt that has started this whole shindig (yeehaww).
Thank you to Sam (watsonyourmindd) and Michelle (pininglock) for editing my other chapters and giving me a huge confidence boost.
Also a small annoucment. Michelle and I have begun working on a collabroative story that I have posted the first chapter to. We would really really really appreciate some feedback.
And lastly, thank you to everyone who is following this story you guys give me life I love you al so so so so much
-sh
After Rodger set out the clothes he'd found for Scarlett, he returned downstairs to keep an eye on Damon. He was still asleep on the couch, oblivious to the world around him. Roger grunted slightly as he seated himself in one of the overstuffed leather chairs. He carefully reapplied the frozen peas to his still throbbing shoulder. He readjusted his position slightly, trying to ease the pain.
When he finally found a bearable position, he sighed and looked around the cabin. It looked exactly as it had the last time he'd been there, which bad been years ago, before be had been old enough to be assigned to Damon. He vaguely remembered that all agents in the area had been ordered to bring their families to their assigned safe houses. Rogers parents, Stacy and Taylor Quinn, had been tracking a particularly hostile band of reformers with the Jordan's.
The small cabin had been filled nearly to capacity with Jordan's and Quinn's. Roger, James, and April had been stuffed in an upstairs bedroom as the adults convened downstairs to discuss things they thought the kids couldn't possibly understand at the time.
James and Roger, who had both been thirteen at the time, were both just relieved no to having been thrown in with the younger kids. Roger's older sister Rachel had taken their younger brother Jude across the hall along with James' younger brothers Tyler and Franklin. She'd set up a board game for them before she'd joined the adults downstairs. It had been the first meeting that Rachel had been allowed to attend. She'd turned sixteen the week before and was ecstatic.
April on the other hand had spent the entire time complaining to Roger and James that if it wasn't for them, she would be downstairs with the adults. She was almost of age, anyways, so why should she be stuck baby sitting? Roger and James had rolled their eyes and made faces behind her back as April continued to pace and protest.
When the adults had finally emerged up the stairs, their faces were set. Rachel looked young and afraid. The older Quinns and Jordans had announced that they were leaving and that April was in charge. James and Roger exchanged nervous glances. When April had asked where they were going, they'd just told her that they'd be back as soon as they could.
But they hadn't been. Only Roger's parents had returned.
Damon stirred on the couch, tearing Roger from his thoughts.
"Where am I?" Damon asked, sleepily sitting up. The blanket Scarlett had draped over him fell unceremoniously to the floor. His hair stuck out at strange angles. He fixed Roger with his large gray eyes, and Roger was taken aback with how similar they were to Scarlett's. Roger was surprised at the rush of fondness he felt towards the kid. In a weird way, Damon reminded him of Jude, who Roger hadn't talked to for almost a year.
"You're safe now," Roger said gently. He leaned forward, ignoring the pain that shot through his shoulder. Damon's eyes narrowed as he looked back at Roger.
"You drugged me!" Damon exclaimed suddenly.
"I-" Roger was at a loss for words. "What?"
Damon looked around the room, confusion clear in his small face.
"In my yard...you..where's Scarlett?"
"She's in the shower, she'll be down soon. We're at a safe house. You're a very special kid, you know that, right?" Roger asked.
Slowly, Damon nodded. His face was small and filled with fear. Roger felt bad for him. A lot had happened to him in just a few hours. Roger wondered how much of it Damon understood.
Damon looked as if he were about to say something else, but at that moment, the door to the cabin flew open. Roger was on his feet in an instant, his handing going automatically to the knife stuffed through his belt loop. Damon cried out in surprise, and the figure at the door recoiled as he realized he wasn't alone in the cabin.
"Roger?" the figure asked, closing the door behind him. His voice brought back a flood of memories.
"James?" Roger exclaimed, more out of surprise than curiosity.
Roger's surprise cleared and he began to analyze the scene. James was staggering under the weight of a girl in a torn flowery dress. She hung limply in his arms, her brown hair cascading over James' arm. James wore a pained expression on his face. Roger doubted that James was any happier to see him than he was to be there.
"Damon, make room on the couch," Roger ordered, without looking away from James. Damon obeyed without question, his eyes fixed on the girl in James' arms. James nodded stiffly at Roger and carefully laid the girl out on the couch. She showed no signs of moving.
"What's wrong with her?" Damon asked, his eyes wide with fear as he stared at the girl's lifeless body.
"The Reformers got to her. Wiped out her entire family. She was drugged before I could get to her," James explained.
Roger nodded, unsure of what to say.
"What are you doing here?" James asked, studying Roger skeptically.
"My assignment - Damon," Roger gestured to Damon, who was still focused on the girl. "His father almost...uh."
"He almost killed me and my sister." Damon said slowly. "I remember now."
Roger swallowed. "Yeah, Uh, he was coming after his sister with a baseball bat, I had to get them out."
James nodded. They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.
"Can you fix her?" Damon asked, after a moment, startling both James and Roger. "She's going to be okay, right?"
Jude used to look at him with that same expression. Roger felt his heart contract.
James sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit Roger recognized.
"I don't know. I don't know what they gave her or how much...but when we were almost attacked she…she did something. I can't explain it. I've never seen anything like it before."
"What's her name?" Roger asked.
"Carpenter. Meghan Carpenter."
"We have to do something!" Damon yelled. "We can't just sit here!"
James nodded. "I'm going to call April. She's in charge of this place now. She'll need to know that we're all here. You were always better at analyzing than I was. See if you can find anything useful."
Roger didn't know what James expected him to find, but he nodded anyways.
James retreated up the stairs and Roger was alone with Damon and Meghan. Before Roger could do anything, Damon grasped at his arm. Roger inhaled sharply as pain seared through his shoulder.
"I think I can help her!" Damon exclaimed, unaware of the pain he was causing Roger. "I think I can talk to her. You have to let me try! Please!" Damon's voice cracked. The poor kid was shaking.
God he looked so much like Jude.
"You're supposed to protect us aren't you? That's your job isn't it? You haven't told me, but I know. I also know we're in 2094. You saved me and Scarlett." Damon was growing hysterical. Is grip on Rogers arm tightening painfully. His eyes were wide and his face flushed.
"Hey," Roger said, crouching in front of Damon so that their eyes were level. Roger could see Damon's lip beginning to tremble.
"Yes, that's my job. I'm going to keep you safe okay? You're a very important little boy. We're not going to let anything happen to you. Or Meghan. You've been through a lot today. Why don't we wait for Scarlett before we try anything drastic okay?"
Damon's grip relaxed, then fell away from Roger's arm. He nodded, and some of the fear on his face was replaced with sheer exhaustion. Roger patted him on the shoulder softly, as he used to with Jude, and stood up.
"I'm sure there are some toys upstairs in one of the bedrooms. Do you want to go take a look? I'll stay here and make sure Meghan's okay."
Damon hesitated for a moment, his eyes drifting protectively to Meghan. Roger didn't know why Damon cared for the little girl so much, but he had meant everything he'd said. Damon looked at Roger once more, then turned and headed up the stairs, passing James as he was returning to the den.
"Cute kid," James said, coming back to the couch. His eyes fell on the pack of frozen peas that lay on the floor where Roger and dropped them. He raised his eyebrows quizzically at Roger, but didn't say anything.
James bent over Meghan's body, listening to her breathing.
"What happened back there? Did she say something?" Roger asked. James' story had piqued his curiosity.
James straightened. "She said 'Save me, James Jordan. You have to save me.'"
"Is that all?" Roger pressed. He knew James well enough to be able to tell when he was hiding something.
Slowly, James shook his head. "She said... that what...happened," James swallowed. "That it wasn't my fault."
Roger's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"James you don't...you can't seriously blame yourself for that."
James shook his head again. "Of course I blame myself. How could I not?"
James turned to Roger. His eyes were filled with such an intense pain that Roger didn't know how to respond.
"James-"
"Enough," James said, looking back at Meghan. "I'm not talking about this with you. We have more pressing matters at hand."
"I-"
James shot Roger another look and Roger clamped his mouth shut. There was no getting James to talk about something he didn't want to.
"April will be here tomorrow or the next day," James stated, leaning back over Meghan, checking her arms for puncture wounds.
Roger's stomach clenched. He remembered the blonde smiling girl from his childhood. The girl that Roger and James had spent hours pranking and tormenting. He pushed down a flood of memories.
"How is she?" Roger began.
"Don't," James said. "Please, Roger. Just..don't."
Roger nodded and they lapsed back into silence.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
