To Do and Die (Peregrine X DotCom)

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"Lets go," Lily agreed quickly. It was a nice place, and if it had just been her she probably would have sat up here for another several minutes, enjoying the view and catching her breath from the long hike up. But it was plain to see that Drew was ready to get away from this place, and Lily wasn't about to keep him here.

They set back off down the mountain, focused on the path, in a steady march back to the cabin. It seemed quieter now, somehow. For one thing, the conversation now was certainly more one sided. Lily had expected that, but at the same time she was almost afraid to let the silence linger on for too long, despite the fact that she really didn't have all that much to say. Instead she picked silly things around them, drawing Drew's attention to a flower or a tree, or the hawk that was circling on a thermal far above them, and would keep entering and leaving her sight as it circled through the sky. For a time they might chatter benignly about whatever Lily mentioned, before inevitably falling back into silence. Drew didn't really seem to appreciate her efforts to keep up conversation, but nor did he seem to begrudge her. So she kept at it, right up until the point where the walls of the cabin came into view through the trees.

Just before they entered the house, Lily came to a halt, placing a hand on Drew's shoulder. "Good job," she told him, softly. "I'm proud of you." Then, without further ado, she moved into the house, promptly stripped off her boots and slightly damp hiking socks, before moving into the kitchen to prepare lunch.
 
Drew was quiet, cautious, the rest of the evening. With anyone else, he'd have felt anxious, or a little guilty, at the very least, but Lily had never roused those feelings in him, not even in the beginning. She had an instinct knack for making people -- or maybe just her patients -- feel comfortable, especially when those people weren't quite on stable ground to begin with.

But Drew was that, or mostly. More than he'd been six months ago, and certainly more than he'd been when they'd come up here. If all felt very far away now, everything, from Jack's first appearance, to his final warning, the frenzied panic he'd thrown Drew into. He remembered it all like a bad dream, like he'd fallen head first into fevered delusions, and now that he was well, he could only catch the ghost of what he'd dreamt. If he lingered on them too long, he could feel his chest tighten, his palms start to sweat, a vague sense of urgency and paranoia washing over him. But it was easy enough to look at Lily, and the cabin, and the woods, and remember where he was. Where Jack wasn't. He still couldn't quite shake the feeling that he was missing something, but he was learning to live with it. Lily had taught him that.

Still, he found himself almost reluctant to want to leave. He'd enjoyed the quiet peace away from the city. Lily had been right about that, too, much as he'd been unwilling to admit it that first night. Going back to the city seemed too much a trigger, and even if he could deal with those himself now -- he could. He had. He would -- he was not keen on challenging himself again so quickly, so soon. He was just finding his feet again, and he wanted to reassure himself of his balance before they went back.

The opportunity presented itself when Lily wandered into the living room with a tray of sandwiches and sliced veggies.

"I think I'll have to hit the grocery store in the town down the mountain before dinner tonight. We're down to mustard and condensed milk in the fridge."

Drew sat up. "Great. I'll go with you."

She eyed him warily. She, too, had noticed Drew's improvement over the last few days, marked by today's episode at the falls. It seemed unwise to test him again so soon, but she knew it was better than leaving him alone. At least if heading back into a more populous area had negative effects, she'd be there with him.

"Alright," she said, nodding. "Let's finish up here and we can head down before it gets dark."
 
Other than the very first day, when Lily had been forced to leave in order to get the groceries that would last them until today, this was the first time that they had left the area by car. Compared to that first drive, which had been accomplished at an average seven miles over the speed limit, with Lily tense and worried about what might be going on with Drew while she was gone, this one was perfection. Of course, she still felt a little bit of worry about what the city might do to Drew, but it wasn't as though she was taking him home. This town was barely big enough to earn the name, as it only had two grocery stores and was mostly composed of middle aged adults living off of government benefits. Hardly threatening.

The drive passed in a haze of entertaining conversation. Drew was in charge of the radio, and he fished his way through the channels to pick out songs they could both enjoy. Both of them broke out into impromptu sing-along as the car reached the bottom of the winding road from the mountains, and the city began to come into view. Lily could feel a grin crossing her face. Perhaps this had been a good idea.

The grocery store was almost entirely empty, and only a single check-out register was lit. The few people walking through the store seemed to consist of a couple older women, a store employee who was wandering around studiously reorganizing the shelves, a man who seemed obsessed with meat, and a twenty-something who was having an impossible time deciding between different versions of the same sugary snacks. Lily and Drew didn't talk much, except about the food. Lily did her best not to think too much about the fact that they were probably going to only be up at the cabin for another couple days, and had to stop herself from loading up the basket with enough food to last them a solid week. As worried as she was about Drew, it was kind of nice to get away from the city for a little while. If she wasn't so anxious about all the things she was missing.

As was tradition, or so it seemed, they got to the checkout line right as everyone else did, and were forced to stand in line for a good seven minutes before getting up to the check out. The cashier was an older woman with friendly wrinkles around the corners of her eyes and mouth.. She chattered happily with Lily, asking where they were from, and why they were in the area. When Lily expressed her surprise the woman grinned, and told them that knowing pretty much everyone was one of the advantages, or disadvantages, of living in a small town. Lily told the lady that she had a cabin up in the mountains just outside the city, and had visited more regularly as a girl, but it had been several months since she'd been up.

Overall, the whole thing was going remarkably well. Lily kept half an eye on Drew, but whatever alarming tendencies she had expected the city to bring out in him were refusing to exhibit. He seemed a little tense, but mostly calm. Anyone other than her would probably not have noticed something was wrong.

Of course, just as the lady was finishing up bagging the few groeceries with Lily's help, and she was thinking that this whole experience would turn out flawless, there was the sound of screeching tires out in the parking lot. Both Lily and the clerk turned to look immediately, to see a little teal car parked too close, and the yellow lights flashing on Lily's car.

She had to bite her tongue to keep from swearing. This was just what she needed. She paid quickly, picking up one bag herself and leaving Drew to grab the rest, before rushing out into the parking lot. There was a man standing by Lily's bumper, rubbing one palm along his temple. Behind him stood a woman in casual black pants, with a glorious cascade of auburn hair running down her back. She was gently rubbing the man's shoulders, and murmuring something to him.

"Excuse me?" Lily asked.

The man turned around immediately, and Lily felt herself falter half a step. It seemed impossible that such a graceful and delicate woman as the lady who stood behind him would end up paired with a man like this. There was something about him, whether it was in his too-wide forehead framed sharply by a receding hairline, bulbous mouth, or slightly crooked eyes that set Lily on edge. That was, at least, until he smiled sheepishly and began to speak.

"This your car?" There was a slight foreign tang to his voice, Australian or South African in origin. "Damn, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened." He was immediately likable, despite his odd appearance, and Lily felt herself relaxing.

"I think I distracted him," said the woman, stepping forward slightly to also smile at Lily, and at Drew, who was walking up behind with the groceries.

"Nonsense," the man replied. "Somehow it looks like I managed to completely miss the bumper. Only took out the headlight, at least as far as I can tell." He glanced up, wringing his hands slightly, eyes darting between Lily and his girlfriend. Wife, maybe. There was a ring on his finger. "Any chance I could just give you some cash, and we could leave insurance out of the whole affair? Maybe treat you and your man to dinner, or something? Take you out for a couple drinks?"
 
Drew had also begun feeling lore relaxed, even in the small 'town', even in the 'crowded' store, even to the point of feeling slightly self-satisfied. He was in no real hurry to get back to the city, but he had missed Lily, his girlfriend, not his doctor, and he knew even she would have a tough time arguing them out here for another week with the kind of progress he was showing.

And then the car crash came. Drew flinched, but felt himself freeze, instead of bolt, as was his initial instinct.

Don't, he told himself fiercely. Stay put. Remember where you are. You know this. Focus. Find Lily.

Lily, of course, was gone, already headed to the parking lot by the time the sound of the worried cashier's voice was able to drown out the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears. He watched her go with uncanny focus and just a slight tugging feeling inside him that wanted her back now.

"...Sir? Pardon, Sir?"

"What?" Drew said a little too loudly, starting only slightly as he turned back to the equally startled cashier. "Sorry," he said more gently. "What was that?"

She offered him the other bags and said, sympathetically, "That your friend's car?"

Drew squinted and nodded, still feeling a little shaky. But better. Just a parking lot fender bender. No danger there. He made himself repeat it. Twice. Three times. Four, five, six, until he believed it.

"Sir, are you -- "

"Fine," interrupted Drew, with his disarmingly goofy smile. "Yeah, thanks. I should go make sure everyone's alright. Thanks, night."

He walked up to Lily studying him carefully, an unasked question clear in her eyes. He was about to ask what it was when she suddenly turned back to the strange man from the real car and the unexpectedly beautiful woman beside him. Something in Drew's belly have a twinge and he paused almost in the middle of the street just as Lily said, "Actually, dinner sounds great. Drew? Is that alright?"

He felt two other pairs of eyes riveted to him the moment she said his name and again had to fight a feeling of foreboding, telling himself he was still just antsy from the crash. Lily seemed alright with the admittedly strange couple, and she was far from reckless. Besides, it wasn't his car to accept payment for.

"Yeah, okay," Drew said, extending first a hand, then a genuine smile when the other woman did the same. "Hi. Drew," he said. "And this is Lily, if she hasn't said so yet. Lovely to catch the hood of your car."
 
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Ron and Ella, as their names turned out to be, were a friendly, enthusiastic couple, and it was hard not to respond to their easy smiles and warm laughter. Ron gave Lily a 20 for the broken headlight, which she considered incredibly generous, before leading them to an out of the way little bar and grille that was bustling with activity. Well, bustling was a relative term, considering the size of the town, but there were several people who were already there, and it seemed to be a favorite haunt for dinner. At Lily's request the two of them took a booth far away from the tap, but it was still easily possible to make out the game on the television. The whole place buzzed with a warm kind of activity that was friendly rather than rowdy. It seemed like the perfect place, public enough to be fun, without being so noisy and cramped that it might end up setting Drew off.

Drew, however, seemed to be mostly fine with the location, even if he was approaching the whole thing with more reservation than she would have anticipated. He had not seemed to take to the two of them the same way Lily had, but she couldn't really blame him. Trust and Drew were not the best of friends. Lily made up for his silence by being a font of conversation, fitting in easily with the two as though they had been friends for years. This was especially true for Ella, who Lily quickly came to learn shared several of her own interests, including hiking and psychology. It felt like it had been a long time since she had hit off with a person so well, and Lily found herself coming to be glad that Ron had hit her car, even if she wasn't looking forward to taking the time to go to a mechanic.

Lily quickly came to feel guilty for her initial reaction to Ron, and her initial thoughts about how Ella didn't really seem to fit with him. All the same, the two of them seemed to guess what she was thinking, and served to immediately put her at ease about it. Ron told an amusing tale about a time he entered into a high-end bar, and was nearly tossed out by the bouncer for being a "gang member", and it was equally easy to see the way the two really loved each other by the way they always seemed to be angled slightly towards each other, and the occasional soft glances that would pass between the two. Ron and Ella had been married for thirteen years now, having gotten married right out of college. He was in real estate, while Ella was a social worker. Both of them were avid travelers, and ended up roaming across the country rather frequently for work.

They ended up ordering a giant basket of fries to share, and Lily, rather contrary to her usual reserved nature, ordered a milkshake on top of her meal, fully aware that Ron intended to pay for the whole thing. However, when the server brought the drink menu, Lily pointedly turned it away, and wasn't afraid to ask Ron and Ella not to order any, either. The two seemed a bit crestfallen at the refusal, but recovered quickly enough.

"So, what brings you out to this neck of the woods?" Ron asked when the waiters finally brought their food. "It isn't exactly party capital of the state."

"I own a cabin up in the woods," Lily responded awkward, around a mouthful of chicken burger. "Drew and I are taking a little while to get out of the city. Take a break from, well, everything. You?"

"Passing through," Ella responded. "We'd intended to stop in at the grocery store to get dinner for the road." Seeing the expression that crossed Lily's face, Ella laughed slightly. "Nah, don't worry about it. This is much better."

"So, Drew." Ron said, setting down his own burger to face the young man. "It seems like we've been doing all the talking, and have left you out of the conversation more than would be polite. Tell me about yourself."
 
Drew tensed just a little when he heard his name spoken in a non-Lily voice. He'd more or less been relying on her to keep up conversation while he simply observed, at was his habit -- Drew's habit, at least -- in a new place with new people. He was, all things considered, feeling better than he might have guessed. Ron was sincere and charming, and Lily had taken to Ella in a way Drew wasn't sure he'd seen her do in the year or so since they'd known each other. The fact that Lily was so at ease, not half watching him, waiting for the worse like he knew she sometimes did, even if he couldn't pin point it, made him feel better.

And, in the back of his mind, it also reminded him he had to be vigilant here. That he couldn't count on Lily for everything, because there were some things Lily would never be able to see.

Of course, he shook this thought from his head just as soon as it bloomed from mere suspicion and into an idea he could feel his brain trying to validate. He was far enough along now that he could recognize paranoid delusions for what they were early in the game. He thought Lily might like to know that. But now here, not now. Somewhere else. She was enjoying herself now. He figured he owed her that much.

Still, his name on the other man's lips came as something of a surprise, and he found himself simply staring in surprise at Ron's answer before fighting to urge to glance first at Lily for reassurance. Or something like it.

He smiled. "And that's how I know we just met," he said easily, grinning briefly at Ella to show them all just how comfortable he felt with this whole thing. "You wouldn't be calling it polite if you'd heard me go off on, say, creating a solid GMail password in the age of HTML5. But you don't want to hear that. No one does. Maybe we discuss sports cars instead?"

From there, he was careful to share as little meaningful information about himself as he could without sounding withholding. Hobbies that he'd had before the war, how long he and Lily had been dating, his favorite movies and his favorite foods and just what he thought of the newest watch-phone spy gadgets on the market. Everything and nothing all at once, without ever mentioning active service or the war or what it had done to him.

Or Jack. Especially not Jack. Obviously not Jack.

Strangely, as the night wore on, Drew felt some of the tension easing from his shoulders. Lily had been diligent in keeping him away from the bar and vice versa, though truth be told, that night he'd thought he'd spent in a bar last week had brought back more than enough bad memories for him to want to touch anything harder than a diet Coke.

"So, where're you two headed after this? You mentioned just passing through, but from what I've seen, there isn't much on the other side of the mountain 'cept a lot of dirt and sky," Drew finally asked of the older couple, surprising himself with a genuine interest. It had never been difficult for Andy to make friends. He'd always been a people pleaser, through and through. Drew, he'd found, struggled with it a bit more. But for the first time in a long time, he was beginning to find a bridge between the two. He looked at Lily again, smiling fondly in her direction, trying to ignore the sudden, desperate chant in his head:

Don't you dare let anything happen to her.
 
By this point they had all finished their main course, and Rob had convinced everyone it would be fun to split a desert. Despite how small the town was, the tempo in the bar was starting to pick up as it drew closer to evening. Most of the people there seemed to have come to watch the game and drink with their friends. No one, even the wait staff, was paying much attention to the four at the table. Frankly, Lily was okay with that. She wasn't ready for this evening to come to an end, and didn't want the waiters to try and move them along once they were done eating. It was, Lily was finding herself remembering, fun making new friends. As much as she loved Drew she found herself realizing that she wasn't quite ready to head back up to the cabin yet.

"We're actually heading back home from all that 'dirt and sky'," Rob replied with a bit of a laugh. "Land out in the Midwest can be worth quite a bit when you find an oil deposit buried underneath a hundred feet of dirt." He reached out for one of the few fries left in the basket, dipping it in a remnant of ketchup in his basket that their waitress had yet to come collect. "After this I'm meeting up with an old friend and we are going to..." Rob drifted to a halt, his eyes going wide with surprise.

"Oh. My. I just placed you."

Lily's brow furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"

"Drew. This whole time he's seemed so familiar, and I think I just figured out why. You're Andrew Krueger, aren't you? You work for CERT?"

She was gaping at Ron now, and he seemed to take her expression as a form of agreement. "Damn. I knew it was a small world, but not this small."

"How do you.. know him?" Lily asked. As much as she was surprised by this development, she was finding herself more amused than concerned. If nothing else, it made it all the more interesting that they had run into each other. Literally.

"We've never met, but we have a mutual acquaintance. Levi Altman. You know him, right?" A grin appeared on his face as his eyes turned to lock on Drew. Lily completely missed the hint of malice that glinted there. "Apparently he's been trying to get a hold of you for nearly the last week, but no one had any idea where you went. Nice to know he'll be able to reach out to you through Lily in the future."

Ella smiled warmly at Lily. "Oh, great! This will give us an excuse to stay in touch."
 
Suddenly, and with no warning at all, Andy found himself with a face full of half melted ice cubes and a lapful of cold soda. He sat forward abruptly to keep himself from choking, setting down his empty glass just a little too hard with one hand, while feeling for shrapnel scars on his left knee with the other. It was a knee jerk reaction, another thing Lily had taught him. Another way to ground himself, to bring him hurtling out of this newest nightmare. He never had the scars in his dreams.

He could feel them now as surely Lily's hand on his back, feel her pressing close in mingled surprise and concern. He could also feel two more pairs of eyes trained closely on him. Waiting. Watching.

All at once, he was hearing Jack's voice again. But was this Jack's memory? Or the Jack who had come back from beyond the grave.

Yeah, that was subtle, Jack's voice said scathingly. Keep it up. You'll have Lily convinced you're seeing straight by the end of the night.

But I am, Andy shot back, almost giddy with excitement. He just brought up Altman. Hell, even Lily doesn't even know his real name. How could he have picked up on that? Altman, the cover up, the...you. It's all real, Jack. You're real.

Okay. So what're you gonna do about it?

The voice was so coldly sincere, and the silence that followed so abrupt, Andy couldn't help but wonder for a second if maybe he was losing it again, if Ron had said something that sounded similar enough that maybe...

But no. No, Andy was wide awake, well and sober. Ron had mentioned CERT and Altman and fucking Andy's last name. Lily was sitting there beside him, waiting for him to say something, quiet and worried now, but present and listening nonetheless. She had heard it, too, he was certain. And Ron and Ella...well, they were waiting, too, but maybe not so patiently.

"Shit," Andy said brightly, grinning across the table at the couple, who returned his smile a little more slowly. "Guess that's enough Mountain Dew for me," he added with a laugh that sounded just shy of forced. He grabbed his napkin to sop up the mess in his lap, all the while watching the couple seated across from him.

"Sorry, Ron...say again, Altman, was it?" He didn't dare look at Lily to see what she was thinking, if she'd noted his reaction, or if she'd caught the name he was repeating. He pressed a little closer to her, reassuring himself again that she was there and he was there and this was real and happening and holy fucking shit Jack was alive. "Sure. Name sounds familiar. How do you know him?"

He needed all the info he could get on this Altman guy. Jack would say it was useless, maybe, but he'd come around. If he came back. When he came back. He would come back, Andy would make sure of it.

But first...first he needed Lily to believe him. This, right here, these names, this meeting...this would go a long way. But only if she didn't think Ron and Ella were triggering Andy's paranoia, instead of the real whatever-the-fucks they were. He had to stay calm. he knew that. He had nearly blown it, spilling the soda all over him like that. If he sat any closer to Lily, he was sure she'd hear his heart pounding to beat its way out of his chest. He kept one hand under the table, dug his nails hard into his palms and made himself take deep, even breaths.

What would Jack do? What would Jack say?

Andy could guess...but better than that, he thought maybe he could make Jack tell him. Make Jack tell Lily.

"You ever met him? A-Altman?" Andy went on, still working hard to keep his tone even, his voice steady. Fuck, if Lily even so much as suspected something was going wrong...No. No, this part was imperative. He had to keep calm here, at least here. He could convince her any later excitement or anxiety was normal, but out here, in the open, with a random stranger having just placed his face? She'd never believe it was any more than paranoia born of coincidence.

"I...I hear he's a hell of a character," Andy said with a laugh. "Kind of guy you couldn't forget it you tried."
 
There was no easy way to tell what Ron and Ella, or whatever their names might really be, were thinking just from looking at them. If it was Lily guessing, she probably would have guessed it was mostly confusion at Andy's sudden interest. But it wasn't Lily guessing. It was Jack. And Jack knew exactly what they were thinking. It was, to an extent at least, confusion. And it was confusion over Andy's reaction. They were confused at Andy's lack of fear at the mention of Altman's name.

It was obvious from his jerking reaction that Andy knew exactly who they were talking about. Yet, rather than trying to attack them or rebuke them for their not so subtle threat, he was asking questions, trying to draw them in. Even for professional actors, it set them on edge. They knew the stories. They knew what had happened to the last people who had gotten close to Andy. And now, here they were. Sitting directly across from them. With his girlfriend under direct threat, and all he wanted to know was about Altman. Suddenly, all those stories of people disappearing seemed a lot more possible. How else could he be so calm? And yet, if he was so calm, why the reaction when the name had first been mentioned.

All the two of them wanted now was to get away from this situation and report back. That, in all honesty, was all Jack wanted too. He wanted these guys to leave Andy's presence so that Jack could get rid of them.

Jack was furious. He had known Altman would try something different. The man had to. He was never one to repeat things that obviously weren't working. But he had never, not in a thousand years, expected that Altman would take this approach. And now it was going to ruin everything. Jack had told Andy, flat out, that Altman did not exist. But he did, and he'd been hunting Andy for many days now. What other parts of Andy's "hallucinations" would this validate? What other parts of Jack's plan would this ruin?

Andy was staying remarkably calm. Both Jack and the two actors knew that meant that Andy recognized the name, but both of them had different beliefs as to why he was keeping calm. They might think it was confidence, but Jack couldn't help but hope it was something else. He hoped that maybe Lily's influence had even more of a stabilizing reaction than Jack had expected. That Andy was now so convinced the whole thing had been a hallucination that he was now willing to accept that it was a coincidence, and he was struggling to stay balanced to convince himself that was the truth. If that was the case... then maybe everything wasn't ruined.

Ella's hands had balled into fists under the table, but a smile had spread across her face. They were conmen, through and through. If a little bit of fear could unbalance them, they wouldn't have been hired for this job by Altman. She laughed slightly. "Of course we've met him. He's a close friend. And, yeah, I suppose that's a pretty accurate way to describe him. Shame he hasn't managed to get a hold of you yet. You should make sure to get in contact soon."

Luckily at that moment a waitress arrived with the small cake that was to be desert, along with the check. Rob reached out quickly, quartering the thing, and passing a piece to both Andy an Lily, before placing a credit card on the tray. There was nothing unsteady about his hand, but his eyes were flitting towards the door more than was quite natural.

"Are you sure you don't want me to get some of that?" Lily asked, politely.

"Nonsense," Rob replied. "This is my treat, thanks to you not calling the insurance company."

They settled down to eat, but Rob had only taken a couple of bites before a loud roar came from the direction of the bar. He looked over, which provided a perfect view of the clock. He seized the moment. "My goodness! Has it gotten that late already? Ella, my dear, we really must get back on the road. We've still got several hours, and I'd rather reach our hotel before midnight."

Ella pouted faintly, turning to flash a smile at Lily, before sighing. "I suppose you are right. Lily, we really must get in touch soon. Can I get your number?" She passed a smartphone over the table, which Lily grabbed and promptly entered the number. The waitress returned with Rob's card. He grabbed it and stood up.

"We'll have to finish the cake in the car," he said with a smile. "Drew, Lily, have a wonderful evening. It was great to meet you."
 
Andy felt himself tense, perilously close to shattering his cover as he fought every instinct the last several years had beat into him. There were half a hundred things going through his mind right now, and while somehow, the fact that he had to keep calm for Lily remained at the top of his priority list, neither could he forget that he was, in all likelihood, sitting just feet away from a pair of strangers who probably wanted him dead. Strangers who had just, in no uncertain terms, threatened his otherwise oblivious girlfriend.

Andy didn't say a word as "Ron and Ella" began to excuse themselves, though he felt his breath catch when Ella handed Lily her phone, and had to keep himself from jumping up when Ron stood. He reminded himself that whatever he felt, it wasn't practical or efficient for Altman to attack him out in the open. Not if he didn't want to waste resources on trying to cover it up, and it hardly seemed worth it in a town so small, half the population was sitting comfortably in a sports bar on a week night.

He stayed quiet even as Lily grinned, boxing up her own cake as she stood to hug Ella goodbye. Andy held his breath, his eyes on the young couple as he tried to make a plan in his head.

Where to go from here? There was, he supposed, still a chance that all this was in his head. The chance that his best friend had fallen from the sky, the monster he had learned about snooping through old encrypted security flies? Small. Negligible. Andy was an idealist with an imagination too rampant for his own good.

But the chances that he had dreamed this nightmare scenario then had someone affirm a single, crucial detail after a very convenient parking lot fender bender? That defied even imagination. No, the time for doubt was long since over. This was the time for planning. If Altman was real, so was the tag on Andy's head. If that was real, the evidence he'd found was real. The experiments were real. Jack -- and everything that had happened to him, and everything that he had become -- was real.

So, where had he been for the last week? Had he really disappeared? Could others see him? Was he in danger? Or was he creeping closer to the culprit? Was her perhaps here and had he been watching all along?

Andy fought the urge to look around him and only then realized Lily was staring at him. He shook himself and gave her a lopsided, if distracted grin, hoping she hadn't been calling his name too long.

She eyed him suspiciously. "Are you alright? You've been quiet."

"Sure," he told her evenly. He had been quiet all week. She wouldn't mind that part. Especially here. It was only his sudden interest in the last few minutes she might have noticed. But had she noticed the timing? Altman's name in concurrence with his sudden spastic fit of clumsiness?

"Tired," he added, in hopeful support of the former point. "We...we should go."

She nodded then grabbed her jacked from the hook outside their booth. By the time they got outside, the teal car was gone, which was just as well. Andy told himself again not even Altman would be desperate enough to try something so public. But...

"Hey, Lil?" Andy said lightly, like he'd just remembered something of no real import.

She looked at him, half worried, half curious.

"You mind if I drive?"

She stopped so suddenly, Andy was afraid he'd ruined it and forced himself to keep walking, like he hadn't noticed, like he wasn't studying her, waiting for her to give up on him again.

"Why?"

Andy weighed his options. 'Nothing' was the easiest answer, but he knew Lily wouldn't buy that, even if it was true. It was too soon to tell her what he was really thinking. He needed to do it back at the cabin, and he needed both of them to be calm and relaxed. He had to find some happy medium, some in between place, like at the falls earlier, when he'd managed to convince her that he was okay, even if he wasn't yet perfect.

"It helps me think," he answered as honestly as he could. Then, when she looked ready to argue, he added, "I'm alright, Lil, promise. Just...long night, y'know? I'll be fine by the time we get back to the cabin. Promise."

Then maybe he could convince her to watch an old movie. Something they both liked, but would cater to his tastes. He knew what he had to tell her. The bigger trick was whether she was willing to believe his frame of mind over his words.
 
The conversation about who was going to drive, Lily's gentle, probing questions, Andy's calm answers, and Lily's eventual acquiescence to his request, it was all nothing but static in the back of Jack's mind. Sure, he was paying attention to it. If he wanted, he would be able to recall every word that was said. But right now, he had much more important matters on his mind. Rob and Ella, for one. He wanted them gone. Gone, before they would be able to make a report back to Altman. He couldn't let anyone get close to Andy and live to tell about it. If someone was able to get close, learn about him, and then send the information back to Altman, it would give the man confidence. It would make him think it was possible to pull off the hit. And if Altman thought it was possible, he would reassure the people behind all this. And if they were reassured, they would never come. Then Jack would never be able to get at them.

Rob and Ella needed to vanish. But he also needed to do it unobtrusively. Right now, he was safe enough. The two professionals would never use anything but a secure line to communicate what they had learned back to Altman. He had attached himself to the bottom of the car, and was now somewhat regretting the choice, as the heat of the engine was slowly searing him loose. If they came to a stop before they reached their destination, he'd move then. If not, he couldn't risk the car accidentally shaking him loose. The pain meant nothing at this point.

He wanted to know what they were talking about. Probably nothing. Having to pretend to be in love with someone who you barely even knew must be exhausting, even for professional conmen.

All there was to do right now was wait.

Andy and Lily were doing much the same thing. The groceries in the back of the car were already starting to get warm, but Andy was taking his time driving back up to the house. Careful and precise. That was good. He was antsy, but it was also obvious he was working to keep himself calm. Good. Jack felt that particular burden start to ease. He had thought that Andy might start freaking out once he and Lily were alone. The fact that he was staying calm said very good things for his current state of mind.

Jack would just have to wait. Andy would be back in the city soon enough, and then the plan would start moving forward again.
 
The ride home was silent, and just shy of tense.

She'd never been as vigilant with the radio stations as Drew was. She mostly tuned out the music, anyway, and just now, Lily was far too focused on her patient-turned-boyfriend-turned-patient to even thinking about trying to find a station static wouldn't drown at at the bottom of the valley.

He seemed...okay. Tense, certainly, but on top of it, or like he was trying to be. Like those first few moments after his episode on the mountain, when she could very clearly see he wasn't okay, but she also knew he was handling it on his own. She'd been proud then. Now she was just confused. And a little concerned. She racked her brain, trying to think of what might have started it, watching him from the corner of her eye the whole time. Had it been the accident in the parking lot? She'd been so worried about trying to get out to the car, she hadn't really looked back to see how he'd reacted. But he'd met her outside and seemed fine. A little shaken, but that had faded into quiet contentment at the restaurant. She was used to him being reserved around new people...

...and he had been. Until Rob had mentioned that mutual friend of theirs. Alder? Ullman? No...Altman. Something about the name sparked a hint of recognition, but it was gone before she could follow it to its source. She wondered briefly if the fact that they had a mutual friend had triggered any of his paranoia anxieties, but he'd seemed so eager to talk to Ron after that.

Part of her felt a little guilty, like maybe she was trying to justify things because she had so hit it off with Ella. But no. Drew had struggled with his paranoia last week and it seemed to have worn off. Even his episode today was more like traditional PTSD, and he'd gotten over that quickly enough. He'd been unnerved by the sound of the crash in the parking lot and maybe acting a little erratically after too long in such a public space, but he was doing better now. He'd asked to drive, which was unusual, but seemed to have helped in calming him.

He quietly suggested a movie when they got back, one of their old favorites, which Lily could only assume would further soothe him. She offered to set it up while he wandered into the kitchen to put away groceries and returned a few minutes later with bowls of ice cream to eat with their cake.

They were twenty minutes into the movie, Lily half asleep, when he shook her awake and said, "I need to tell you something. And you can't interrupt until I'm done. Just...trust me. Okay?"

Lily could only nod and try and ignore the sinking feeling in her belly.
 
The car came to a halt a little after an hour from when it had started driving. Andy and Lily were watching a movie. They were back in the city, albeit just the outskirts, and it seemed like this was the place where the two conmen were going to be spending the night. Or, at least, where they were scheduled to report back to Altman, if they were still alive.

Jack released his hold from the bottom of the car, dripping back down to the ground. It felt devastatingly cold after the intense heat of the engine, but he ignored that too. Eight limbs emerged from the mass, soon accompanied by many pairs of eyes. He moved forward carefully, watching through many dark eyes.

They'd pulled into the parking lot of a motel, one that was neither cheap nor incredibly lavish. They pulled bags out of the car, even now, when no one was watching, looking just like two ordinary people out on vacation. The mark of professionals. The spider latched onto the underside of Ella's rolling suitcase, allowing her the honor of carrying her death right into her hotel room.

They paid with a credit card for a reserved room, one night. The transaction was over in moments, and the couple, and their unknown guest, moved off down the hallway, found their room, opened the door, and promptly locked it behind them once all baggage and people were inside.

The moment Ella and Rob closed the door, the air of a normal couple dropped away. They moved away from each other, Ella sitting near the window on the hard, wooden desk chair, Rob taking a seat on the bed furthest away from her. Jack moved towards the bathroom.

He could feel the start of a conversation blooming between them, and the fact that it was also being purposefully repressed. Apparently they had been advised, or perhaps instructed would be a better word, not to speak of it until they were reporting. Yet they wanted to. Because it had been so odd. It was easy to tell at a glance that Andy's simple innocence hadn't been just an act. There were still remains of the military in him, but he was no cold-blooded killer. At the same time, he hadn't feared them, or their not-so-subtle threats to his girlfriend. The entire situation made no sense, and the hope that it might become clarified as they spoke always lingered. They kept their silence.

It didn't matter to Jack.

He rebuilt his body in that dark bathroom. It was still intimately familiar to him. How could it not be, when he had built and rebuilt it so many times at this point. Every blood vessel, every follicle, every nerve ending, right where it belonged. Even if they knew it consciously, people never really recognized what their body was. They knew about muscles, about skin and cells and organs, but it never really mattered. Their body was simply theirs. But that's all it was to Jack now. Blood and skin and muscle and bone. Just like everything else. His consciousness had nothing to do with his body. This was just a familiar form.

He changed it, almost as though to spite himself. The hair darkened and lengthened, becoming slightly wavy. The eye color rapidly changed from green to a greyish blue, like the sky on a rainy day. Some of the height slipped away, and a bit of paunch appeared in the belly and arms. It was a man, just like any other man. Not handsome, but not ugly, with a slightly bulbous nose that was the only thing that might be memorable about his form. Well, except for the fact that it was completely naked. At least for now.

Jack had never tried organic, non-living materials, but he knew spider silk. The clothes that finally formed around him were light and almost gossamer, in plain shades of grey that clung close to his form. Anyone who looked too close would notice something rather off about it, that they didn't seem quite like any clothes that people had ever worn before. It didn't matter. He'd get more precise with the details later, when it really mattered. For now, though, Rob and Ella had much bigger concerns to worry about.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, he could feel them stiffen. Rob's hand went for the gun in his waistband. Ella was, at least, a little more subtle. "Excuse me," she said, sharp and scathing. "What are you doing in here? This is our room."

"Oh, yes," Jack agreed. "I know." In an instant, Ella was moving for a weapon of her own, while Rob trained the gun on him. Jack didn't flinch.

"Are you really going to fire a gun in here, at an unarmed man? Honestly, I thought Altman picked experienced people." Rob's arm wavered slightly, as he considered the repercussions of shooting someone in his hotel room. It stabilized a moment later. "Yeah, I suppose you are right," Jack said, a small smile flickering across his face. "Better in jail than dead."

In an instant Ella was moving. One knife in her hand was hurled across the room at nearly blinding speed, as she simultaneously moved in the direction he would have to dodge in order to avoid the throw. For a moment Jack considered catching the knife, but in the end he didn't bother. It hit him soundly in the shoulder, but he didn't flinch. Not even a trace of emotion crossed his face. His other hand flashed out, catching Ella by the throat and lifting her up off the ground to hang suspended. She gagged, and started flailing for a moment, before Jack pinched a nerve in her throat and she fell to the floor, unconscious.

He turned towards Rob, pulling the knife out of his shoulder. The man was frozen. He was not a fighter, but a conman, and while he might be able to get out of a normal situation, every nerve in his body was telling him this was no normal situation. "I suppose you can fire the gun if it would make you feel better," Jack said. "But I'd really prefer it if you didn't."

Rob's hand was shaking so bad he could barely aim the gun, but Jack watched as the muscles in his shoulder tensed, and his finger began to curl. Jack moved forward, pushing his hand over the barrel. Where there should have been a sharp crack, there was nothing but a muffled thump. Jack smiled, almost sympathetically. "It's nothing personal. Really. But I can't have you getting back to Altman to make a report. It would go against my plan.

Rob didn't seem to hear him. He was staring at Jack's hand, where a mangled bullet was resting in his unmarked palm. Jack knocked him out, too.

There was nothing of any particular interest in their heads. No information on the mission, or who might be behind it. Not that Jack had really expected it. Altman had paid them well for this job. It was the only way to get them to take it, when so many people had died. Now it would cost even more. But at least Levi would be getting his money back from this pair. They, like the others before them, would vanish off the face of the earth. Tomorrow the hotel staff would come to check the room after check out, and they would find two unopened suitcases, and beds that had not been slept in. The police would be called. Eventually the news would make its way back to Altman. He'd have to come up with a new strategy.
 
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Sitting there on the couch, pale blues and whites from the television screen caught in his hair, Lily thought Drew looked like a child. She would never tell him that. She knew he'd gotten enough patronizing behavior when he'd first returned from overseas, and while he was the poster child of people-pleasing, he was also intuitive enough to know when he was being spoken down to. That, and it sometimes played into his delusions. When Lily adopted her soothing Dr. Johnson tone, it was too easy for him to fall back into submission.

But now...now he was making her nervous. He didn't look like he was going to have an episode, lose himself in some memory or haul off and hit her. But it was clear something had him jumpy, and after last week's behavior, unusual as it was, she was nervous to entertain the idea of him relapsing again. Still. It was better she know what he was thinking.

"What is it?" she prompted gently when he hadn't spoken for a few moments.

Andy was still trying to figure out how to tell her about Altman and Jack and the experiments without sounding paranoid. That would trigger doctor mode, and if Lily hit that point, he didn't think he'd have the time or patience to convince her he was okay, stable, telling the truth. He had a brief image of having walked into the house, playing the Manchurian Candidate, going from there. That almost made him laugh. He didn't.

"Drew?" she prodded, and he started a little before smiling at her sheepishly. Yeah, the spacing out wasn't going to help anything.

He said, "I told you before. About Jack. About how he died?"

Lily kept her face neutral, but he could feel the new waves of tension rolling off her. He watched her mentally debate trying to coax him to a new path of conversation before saying, "Okay."

"And how...how I said he was lucky? Because pretty horrible things can happen to POWs."

"...Drew, why are you telling me this?"

"Because I did something stupid," he told her honestly. "A few months back, right when I started at CERT almost, I...I was snooping where I shouldn't have been, and I saw something. Some...I guess you could call it biowarfare stuff."

"Oh, Drew..." Lily said, and he knew he'd lost her. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I knew you'd make that face," he said drily, pulling back a little when she moved forward. He could feel her slipping, feel his own careful patience warping into anxiety. "Lily, please. Just listen. I know this...it's going to sound crazy, and there's nothing I can do to make it sound less crazy, so I need you to just listen to me, okay? I...I need your help. Or at the very least, I need you to trust me." He went on before she could speak again.

"I found...I found this file about things they were doing to people. I didn't know who 'they' were at the time, any more than I knew who the test subjects were. But I knew it was bad. So I panicked and hid it, and I thought maybe it would go away, but...well, I guess someone found out because now..."

He trailed off. She was looking at him almost indulgently, like she expected him to start puking cotton candy any second. He pressed on.

"Levi Altman. That guy 'Rob' knows. He wants me dead. He -- "

Lily shut her eyes, started to turn away, and Drew knew it was pointless. Which was bad, because he had an idea of how to convince her. And she knew she wouldn't like it. More than that, he only had half an idea that it would work at all. He hoped he did. For Lily's sake. And for Jack's.

He stood slowly, and Lily went with him.

"Where are you going?"

"You don't believe me," he said evenly, walking toward the kitchen.

"I...Drew, just talk to me. What happened at dinner? You were fine before -- "

"I'm fine now, Lil." He was reaching in the knife drawer and Lily was rapidly jumping levels of desperation from concerned to terrified.

Her eyes were wide and for the first time in a long time, she didn't look calm or collected. She looked scared. He hoped she would forgive her.

"Drew -- let's just go sit down, okay? Let's just talk about this. I'll listen. I'll let you finish, just -- " She lunged for him and he pressed the knife to his belly. Right where he'd been stabbed before.

Lily froze. Drew put out a hand. "Stay there," he said evenly. "And just watch."

"Drew -- " She paused a moment, then lunged again and Drew held his breath and sank the knife as fast and as deep as he could.
 
It had happened too fast for Jack to realize what was happening. He'd wasted too much time with "Rob and Ella". If he had been paying attention he would have been able to guess what was about to happen. But Andy had seemed so calm. So rational and in control. Jack had been sure that Andy would have overreacted if he'd started thinking Jack was real again. It was what he'd done both times now. Apparently Jack had thought that made it the rule.

Had he been paying stricter attention, he would have been able to jerk Andy's arms, get him to drop the knife. Then Lily would have been able to intervene. But Andy's heart had been so calm. Even right up until the moment he had shoved the knife into his side and yanked it around, his heart had been calm. There had been no panic, no fear, which might have alerted Jack to what was happening. Instead, nothing, until the pain had shot through Andy's body, got his heart pumping so fast, which just pushed the blood out of the gaping hole in his side that much faster.

There was already so much blood. Andy had torn his own gut open. It wasn't just a stab, it was a slice. Part of his intestines were spilling out of his torso, and there was blood covering the floor. It was like he was back on the battlefield.

Lily was freaking out. It wasn't that much of a surprise. Andy had just stabbed himself, and there was no way a standard house first aid kit was going to be able to handle this. In Lily's eyes, there was no way to stop Andy from dying. But that certainly wasn't going to stop her from trying. She had raced forward, pulling the towel off the oven stove to press it against Andy's side. It was immediately stained red. Lily's hands turned red, too. It coated her sleeves and the bottom of her shirt.

Fuck, Andy was bleeding so much. His vision was going dark, and there was a ringing in his ears. He wasn't going to last much longer. Yet still, Jack hesitated. Because Lily was right there, and if he didn't want Andy to know about his existence it was nothing compared to how little he wanted Lily to know he existed. He longed to pause time, to give himself a chance to think, to find a way out of this situation. But there wasn't time to think. There wasn't even time to think about thinking. All that mattered was Andy was dying. And while Jack might be able to hold Andy in an indefinite state of stasis, the one thing he would never allow was Andy dying for real.

There was only one solution. Andy's brain was starting to shut down, and hesitating any longer would only make things worse.

The blood stopped. Muscle and flesh wove back together, the holes in his intestines patched. The pain vanished suddenly. And that was that.

He was going to make Andy suffer hell for this.
 
It hurt.

It hurt, for a long time, what felt like forever. Long enough that Andy had time to wonder if he'd overreacted. If maybe there had been another way to convince Lily, something less drastic, less forceful. It hurt, and it kept hurting, and then the pain started, not to fade, but to become less real than the blackening edges of his vision. His head was swimming, but he was with it enough to know he was dying.

Had it happened like this after he'd been shot? After the man in the alley had stabbed him? He couldn't remember, couldn't think. Right now, he hardly knew his own name. He was dying. Maybe he had been wrong. He hoped not. Even if Jack was dead, Lily wasn't, and Andy didn't know much about her, but he knew this, him, dying here, just inches away from her, her hands sticky, coated with his blood -- it would stay with her. It might not ruin her, might not undo her completely. But neither would she be able to leave this behind.

"L...L...L-L-Lil?" he tried to move his head to look at her. If he was going to die, he figured it was better she be the last thing he saw instead of the dirty space between the bottom of the fridge and the floor.

"Shut up, Drew," Lily said tersely. He'd never heard her voice sound like that before. She wasn't crying. But somehow this cut deeper. "Just...don't talk. Stay still."

He laughed a little, then coughed and tasted copper and realized he'd been stupid. Fuck. Poor Lily. "N-not...not moving..." he promised quietly. "J-Just wan...wanted...want...to say..."

"Shut up. Don't talk like that. Don't -- what the hell?"

He wanted to ask what had happened, but he could feel it. A flood of relief washed through him even before the pain stopped. He didn't move, half afraid Jack would stop as soon as he knew Andy wasn't in danger of dying anymore. He still couldn't see his friend, didn't know where he was or how he was doing it. But he knew it was Jack. He knew it.

If Lily had been freaked before, she was nearly catatonic now. Andy sat up slowly, pressing one hand gently to his side. His shirt was ripped open, still wet with blood. As were his clothes, the floor, and nearly everything Lily was wearing. She was staring, not at him, but at his stomach, and she looked exceptionally pale. And then green.

"What...what..." she started, and Andy put a hand on her knee just to remind her he was there.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly. She blinked like she'd forgotten there was a person attached to his torso. He could see she was shaking all over.

"Drew...what...how...?"

"Think of it like those lizard things from school, I guess," he said with a smile Lily didn't even try to mimic. "I don't really know how it works. I just know that it does. Jack does it."

"Jack's dead. Fuck, Drew, you should be dead, what the hell just happened, how -- "

"Lily, it's okay. Calm down."

"Calm down?" Lily all but shrieked, trying to get to her feet and slipping in a pool of her boyfriend's rapidly congealing blood. She clutched the counter to keep from falling and went three shaders whiter so then Andy stood up, too, because the last thing he needed was Lily passing out and convincing herself she was hallucinating. They were both keenly aware of the abundant irony.

"Fuck 'calm down', Andrew, what the hell is this? How did you -- ?"

"Lily, stop it. Go sit at the table. I'm going to bring you some tea. And maybe a shot. Just...try to calm down, okay? I can explain, but I need you to relax first. We might be in trouble."
 
"In trouble." Lily's voice was shrill, almost painfully so. She laughed, although the sound almost seemed more like a cry of pain than an expression of humor, before looking down at her hands. It seemed only then that she noticed the blood that covered them. If she hadn't snapped before, something in Lily definitely seemed to crumple then. She whimpered, before rushing over to the sink and turning on the water. It left a red smear on the handle, but for right now all that mattered to Lily was getting the blood off her hands. She might be a doctor, but she wasn't that kind of doctor. She was a doctor of the mind, not the body. She'd never seen this much blood before. And it was one thing to stick her hands wrist deep into it when Drew was about to die, when she had to save his life, but it was quite another to have it sitting there on her hands when Drew was fine.

Fine. Fine?! Where the hell had all the blood come from then, if Drew was fine. She had seen the knife go into his belly, seen the spray of blood. She was soaked in his blood. The whole kitchen was. Drew's shirt was ripped open. But his belly, the spot where she had seen his life's blood pouring out of him. Fine. Completely smooth and whole, underneath the blood. There wasn't even a trace of a scar.

The spider in the corner of the counter was staring at her. She could feel it. She longed to swat at the thing, but she couldn't take her hands out from under the water. If she did, she'd see the blood again. Because how could her hands ever wash clean?

She flinched when Drew touched her, but allowed him to turn off the water and guide her over to the table. He was as good as his promise, starting the coffeepot running without any grounds to quickly get some hot water, pulling down the box of chamomile tea from an upper shelf, grabbing a mug, and pouring in some water. She took it when he offered it, not out of any desire to have tea, but because it was there, and because he expected her to.

She suddenly found herself wondering if this was a dream. Maybe she had spent so long around Drew that his night terrors had finally infected her. Maybe she was screaming right now, asleep in the car, and Drew was going to have to wake her up. Wouldn't that be ironic. It certainly felt as though their roles were reversed right now. Lily was numb. She couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Every instinct told her this had to be a dream. People didn't just heal like that. But all she had to do was glance over into the corner of the kitchen and she could see the blood again. It had pooled, wet and thick, into a low point in the floor that she hadn't even known existed.

When Drew handed her the shot, she took that too. That one, though, she actually drank.
 
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Watching Lily, Andy felt a bright, searing moment of validation. And then just shame. He had, he realized, done just exactly what Jack had done to him upon their first 'posthumous' meeting. Only Lily had no reason to think she was hallucinating. He wanted to know what she was thinking now, but he dare not ask. There was some small comfort in the fact that he had been there, could maybe help. Though Lily had always been stronger than him.

He had, he realized, an almost overwhelming desire to hold her until she stopped shaking, to give her some physical anchor to a reality now distorted beyond imagining. He wanted to guide her to a hot shower, gently wash the blood from her hands and face and hair; to her bed to watch her sleep and wait for the nightmares. But he had felt her flinch from him and didn't dare touch her after that. He settled on gently draping a heavy blanket from the couch over her shoulders, on pushing the mug of steaming tea closer, though he knew that would mean nothing. He found her, at the very least, a welcome distraction from the open bottle of whiskey on the counter behind him. It was fascinating to know his concern for her could block that out, at least.

He sat down across from her, very carefully blocking the view of the kitchen, though the blood on his shirt was still obvious. Part of him wanted to get rid of it, wanted to clean up so she couldn't keep looking over there. But if he did that, she would be able to convince herself she had dreamt everything, and that would make things so much worse.

Wouldn't it?

Shame lapped at him again as he had a brief, strange moment of clarity -- why had he shown her? Had it really been to prove that he wasn't crazy? Andy had always been more thoughtless than cruel, but this seemed a new level of recklessness, even for him. If he had nearly killed himself in front of his girlfriend only to win an argument...

But no. No, he had wanted to force Jack out of hiding. His reasons for that ranged from petty to desperate, but at least he could say he had not wanted to hurt Lily. Hadn't wanted to hurt either of them, really. Besides. He could still protect her. His feelings now had proved that, at least. He hoped.

He smiled at Lily and started to reach for her hand, then paused and instead said, "It's almost over." That...that wasn't quite true. But she didn't need to know that yet.

Then he took a breath and stood, bracing himself.

That Jack was around, somehow, somewhere, was both obvious, and somewhat unsettling. That he had a vested interest in keeping Andy alive was...something else altogether.

"Jack?" Andy said tentatively, he's eyes scouring the dim flickering lights in the sitting room, the darkness of the bedrooms down the hall, the waiting trees outside, as if he expected Jack to just materialize. It took him a moment to realize that was precisely what he expected. It occurred to him he had never known, or wanted to know, the mechanics of what Jack could do and how. He supposed he ought to be curious; Lily would have been, if he hadn't just broken her. He looked back to her again and was both relieved and concerned to find that she, for once, was not watching him. He wondered briefly what was going through her mind. Wondered if he could fix it, make it up to her. Part of him felt angry, almost protective. Where was Jack? Had this all been for nothing?

"Jack," he said, his voice more firm, almost challenging this time. He knew he couldn't keep up this speaking to no one much longer before sparking something in Lily -- or he hoped so, anyway. And he was keen not to heap any extra crazy on her plate. Just one more surprise, Lil, he thought wryly. Hang in there.

"I know you can hear me, or see me or...or something. I know you're there. How long have you been there, you creepy asshole? Why -- " Why did you leave, he wanted to ask, but this was not the time to be accusatory. He needed Jack to be real to justify what he'd done to Lily. And so much more besides.

But he would cross that bridge when he came.

"Just...get your ass out here. Please, Jack. Come back."
 
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There was a moment of silence, a moment where Jack simply considered ignoring Andy. But then he decided he would grant the man's request.

Something seemed to fill the air, a faint buzzing brought about by Jack's decision to act on his rage. It was the precursor to what Andy wanted, but despite how desperately he looked around, he was looking in the wrong direction. No, it was Lily who saw him first. And when she did, she screamed.

The spider in the corner, where the counter turned against the wall, was suddenly no longer a spider. It was a writhing, growing mass of horrid flesh and bone, which slowly elongated to take the form of a man, sitting on top of the counter. Finally it resolved, and there was Jack, red hair, green eyes, pale skin, and long legs.

"Congratulations," Jack said, arms spreading wide. Despite the friendly nature of the motion, his face was a mask of fury. He hadn't bothered with the pseudo-clothes. Perhaps simply to make a point. "Here I am. Now look what you've done, you ignorant little fuck." He pointed to Lily.

She sat crumpled in her chair, practically limp. But there were tears running from her vacant eyes. Her breath was short and ragged. She was no longer even looking at Jack. Instead, she was staring at the floor, long hair falling in front of her face. But it was doubtful she was really seeing what was in front of her. It was doubtful she saw or heard anything that was going on around her.

Jack jumped off the counter, spinning around to display himself in front of Andy. "But what does it matter? You've gotten your wish. Brought me back, even though I'm fucking dead. Everyone else was willing to accept it. My parents. My little brother. Alison. But, oh no, not Andrew. Instead you just stabbed yourself in front of your perfectly sane girlfriend, and then materialized a monster in front of her. And now she's broken, like a pretty little porcelain doll dropped on the floor."

Jack laughed. "Are you satisfied now, Andy? Have you sufficiently fucked everything up to your satisfaction?"
 
Andy knew he should have been angry. Maybe part of him was. It was hard to tell at the moment. He should have been angry, or scared, or worried, or even vindicated, but all he felt -- at least at first -- was relief.

It hit him so strong, his legs nearly gave out. He whirled to stare at Jack, all of Jack, wishing he could have kept his expression blank, knowing perfectly well that subtlety had never been anywhere near his wheel house. No. Jack was back, and all he could think was, Thank God. It meant he wasn't crazy. And more than that...it meant he wasn't alone. Jack had survived. Against all odds, Jack had surived, and he was changed, sure, but so was Andy, and he was sure, so sure, he could fix that if only because...Jack was alive. His best friend was alive.

And Andy was blinking, breathing, catching his breath as everything returned to a normal speed around him.

Lily was...not okay, and Andy almost surprised himself by dropping down next to her, almost ignoring Jack for a moment to crouch beside her, hoping he hadn't moved too quickly, but also knowing the fact that she didn't flinch was not a good thing.

"Lil?" he said, hating how small his voice sounded in the silence that otherwise roared in his ears. "Lily?" He wanted, so badly, to touch her, tell her everything was alright, but he couldn't do that. He'd been nothing but honest with her so far. Mostly, anyway. He didn't think lying now was going to help.

"Lil? Babe, can you stand? Can you walk? Let's...let's just go to the couch, okay? I think you'll feel better if you lay down."

So much for not lying. It made sense in Andy's head, but he also knew better than to think Lily would fall for the whole 'out of sight, out of mind' thing. Being further away or closer to Jack wouldn't help her. But it would make him feel better.

Andy turned to glare at Jack and realized he felt real anger there. Of course he did. When were he and Jack ever not fighting? He stood and crossed to the kitchen, nearly slipping again in his own blood, feeling the muscles in his arms tense. He could feel the anger roiling of Jack as well, a familiar rage that was almost soothing.

"You didn't have to do it that way," he said stiffly. He wasn't actually sure about that, but it seemed right. Andy had been rather shaken by Jack's appearance, and he'd been expecting it. To do so in such a strange and violent way seemed...cruel. But that was Jack. That was the new Jack, anyway. Andy still hadn't forgotten how Jack had left, even if he couldn't understand why...though he now had an idea.

"You're not dead," he grated out, because he couldn't think of what else to say. Emotion had a way of shutting down his brain like that. "You fucking tried to trick me, Jack. What, because you were mad? Jesus, are we six? You just...you disappeared, and to what end? I tried -- I am trying -- to help you, and you just...you walk out? Where the hell have you been? I -- "

He felt anger and hurt vying for attention in his belly, felt his voice rising as he was suddenly back in that motel room again, watching Jack fade from existence. He was nearly shouting and it was only when he stopped that he realized he could hear Lily behind him making little whimpery sounds, short, ragged breaths. For one crazy moment, he thought he ought to introduce his best friend to his girlfriend. But he was pretty sure they each knew who the other was.

"So, what?" Andy said eventually, now sounding more tired than angry. He hadn't wanted it to go this way. He felt control slowly slipping from his fingers. "Now we're all on the same fucking page. I get my phone, that file back. You...what? You keep keeping Altman's men away? I assume that was you? What? How? Are you killing them?" It was an earnest question, but Andy had the answer before the last syllable had left his lips. And then the fatigue and anger was shifting again. Lily behind him, sobbing quietly, probably doubting herself, her own mental stability, maybe for the first time in her life.

And Jack, in front of him. Alive, yes. But not the Jack he had known. Not in the slightest.

"Jesus, Jack," Andy whispered, his expression now more worried than angry. "What the hell happened to you?"
 
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