Talk To Me

Usually Jake could feel a pair of eyes on him a mile away. A mysterious sixth sense or gut instinct or whatever you wanted to call it. It had served him well over the years, but today is completely useless due to the weight of recent happenings on his mind. He doesn't feel Ripley watching him, the girl leaning against a tree as she battled internally over approaching him or leaving him in peace.

Five days ago he'd 'walked out' on Michael. It was no small thing, and he knew much of the camp now waited anxiously to see what the outcome of this rift would be. He wished he had something to tell them, some comfort or other, but as it was he and Michael were no closer to a resolution now than they had been. They'd barely talked, although they continued to share the same space. Jake's loyalty toward the others kept him where he was, tucked away in his own tent now, where he spent much of his time still recovering from his injuries.

Michael sequestered himself away in the cabin, a lord of his own domain. Occasionally emerging to give people sour looks and bark orders around. Something had to give, sooner or later. They needed to talk and he knew that. But right now he could barely stand to look at him.

It broke his heart a little more each day.

Was strange to think that before, he'd been so scared to lose Michael like he'd lost Sara. He couldn't bury another person he loved. He'd fought so hard to save him, and it seemed like even though he was still alive, he'd lost him anyway.

A few hours ago he'd wandered away from the others and found himself at the sheer cliff edge toward the back of the property, gazing down at the waterfall and river below. A beautiful view, breath taking really, but everything seemed grey to him today.

He'd eventually sat himself down, cross legged on the rocky verge, where he'd cracked open a hip flask of whiskey and set his journal in his lap, scribbling his thoughts in random sentences that might read like the ramblings of a crazy man. As afternoon drew closer to evening, a wind picked up and whipped at the pages, forcing him to hold them down and then eventually give up. Setting the book aside and lighting a cigarette as his long hair flicked itself in to his eyes. It was rare he let it down out of it's tie, but today he'd woken up and just.. couldn't be bothered.

"You just gonna sit out here all day?"

Ripley's voice drifts over to him on the breeze and he lifts his head, exhaling a cloud of smoke that's caught by the wind and snatched away. Looking over his shoulder toward her, he hitches it slightly.

"Thought I might."

Ripley kicks a rock and it tumbles over the edge of the rocky cliff, kicking up dist and smaller stones as it went. "People are asking after you."

He snorts, looking back out toward the magnificent view with a sigh. "Sure whatever it is needs doing can wait."

"It can." She shrugs and flops herself down beside him, crossing her legs to mirror him and plucking a daisy from the grass to pluck the petals from. They're silent as he takes another drag on his cigarette. After a while, she lets out an almost anxious sounding laugh. "Place kinda goes to pieces without you around, though."

Jake arches a brow, smirking a bit. "Ain't like I gone far."

"I know.. just.."

He feels her eyes on him and tilts his head to look at her curiously. "Somethin' on your mind?"

She pales, flustering a little and then making a face like she might be sick.

Jake chuckles quietly. "You can talk to me, kid. What's up?"

"You and Michael.." she blurts out. "Just.. what happens if.. where will.."

He puzzles and watches her as she tries to string words together and comes up short on all counts. Eventually she just looks at him kind of desperately. He leans back a bit, regarding her curiously and flicking ash in to the wind as his hair whips in front of his face. He's forced to sweep it back with a brush of his hand.

"I thought you hated Michael? Thought you'd be glad.." he trails off, the words refusing to come out.

"I do." She shrugs. "But the two of you are like the backbone of this place. What happens.." it's her turn to trail off and he sighs, taking a last draw on the cigarette and flicking it over the edge.

"What happens if you leave?"

He looks back to her. "I ain't going anywhere."

"But you left the cabin."

Laughing softly, he nods. "We just need some space is all. He said somethin' pretty shitty to me and.. I don't know." He plucks a daisy and echoes her, pulling it's petals free and letting them flutter down to settle on his boot. "Things have changed." He murmurs.

"Is it because of what happened?" She asks in a mumble.

Jake nods. "Partly."

"But I thought you said he didn't do it."

"A lot happened that day, it wasn't his fault but.." groaning, he looks out to the stunning view as though it could somehow help him.

"You blame him for it?"

"Maybe." He blinks, puffing his cheeks. "Yeah. I do."

"He let it happen." Ripley fills in the blanks.

Jake's jaw tenses and a frown creases his brow. It was as close to the truth as he could ever allow her to come. Hell, even his own sanity partly hinged in pretending the demon never happened. Wasn't real. Was all just a bad dream.

"He couldn't save you."

Jake draws in a breath, clearing his throat. "It's a lot of things. Michael's made some bad choices, done some shit I just can't.. I ain't perfect. I've led a bad life. But I'm tryin' to change. I just don't know that he and I are headed in the same direction anymore." He looks back to her, rubbing his hands over his thighs. "But that don't mean I'm leavin'. We'll figure this out."

Ripley nods, picking at more daisies from the ground in front of her crossed legs. "Just thought with Mia and the kid around, you might.."

Offering her a smile, he sweeps his hand through his hair again, brushing it to one side. "Guess I owe all of you some explanation there, huh."

She just shrugs.

"Mia used to run with my old gang. She.. I guess we grew up together. Kilgrave took us both from our families when we were pretty young. She ended up his girl." He makes a face, a look of distaste that Ripley doesn't really need to question, the implication was there in his tone. "He put her through a lot. Same as me. She helped me, in the end. Helped me kill him."

Ripley's brow quirks. "She did?"

"After they left me for dead and Michael found me, it took me a long time to recover."

"I remember you saying."

He nods and rubs his chin, remembering. "All I could think about, all that time.. was gettin' back at Alexander. Michael said I'd be a damn fool to go after him, tried to talk me out of it but.. I ain't really known for my listenin' skills." He chuckles quietly and Ripley smiles, rolling her eyes a little. "One day I just took off. Knew he'd try and talk me out of it so I left while he was out gettin' us supplies. Left him a note." He swallows, thinking back to that time and that note he'd left on the small table in the tiny, tucked away mountain cabin he'd recovered in.

A sadness that had settled inside him over the past few weeks, wells up all over again. He shakes it off and goes on.

"Anyway, it was Mia I tracked down. She was still with him though I knew not by choice, she'd been lookin' for a way out for years. By that time Alexander was practically untouchable, everybody, even the law were scared of him. Gettin' near him was almost impossible. We needed a place where he wouldn't have his army of lackeys around him. Turned out the Mayor of Saint Denis was throwin' this Ball, lots of fancy people raisin' money for some city attraction or other. Alexander had money, and an invitation. There was a no gun policy. It was.. pretty perfect. Mia let me know the when and the where, she let me in to the hotel where it was being held. And.. I killed him."

"And ended up in jail." Ripley finishes. "Where I had to break you out."

He chuckles, nodding. "Yeah well, I pretty much knew I was dead going in to it, didn't care. Price I was willin' to pay to look that motherfucker in the eye and let him know who was killin' him. Let him know who he failed to take out." He punctuates the statement, tossing a pebble over the edge. "But I knew I'd be arrested or shot where I stood by the law. Mia knew it too. Guess that's why it happened."

"It?" She asks.

Jake's turn to shrug. "Night before, she and I met up in this dingy little place across town, to go over everythin'. We'd known each other so long. She'd been one of the few people I ever actually confided in. We thought we were sayin' goodbye. One thing led to another.." he laughs softly, a wistful smile on his face. "Nine months later, you've broken me outta jail and Elizabeth's born."

"How did you know she was yours?" Ripley asks curiously.

Jake smirks, finally shifting himself getting to his feet with a grunt of effort. "Turns out, the all powerful, big bad Alexander Kilgrave... weren't so all powerful. Ten years he'd been trying to knock her up." He smirks smugly. "I did it first try." He says with a click of his fingers, then holds his hand out to Ripley to help her up.

She takes his hand, but wrinkles her nose at him. "That's disgusting."

He hauls her to her feet and winks. "True though."

"Men." Ripley grunts, but there's amusement to it.

Jake slings his arm around her shoulders and ruffles her hair with his other hand. "I ain't going anywhere, kid. Should know by now it's impossible to get rid of me."

Laughing, they head back toward the warmth and sanctuary of the ranch.