Last Christmas 11/16
Last Christmas 11/16
By Marea67
About: Walkers and their satellites. Original Characters Alex Grodin and Max Carter are back!
Rate: from G to NC-17
Disclaimer: The Brothers & Sisters and satellites may not belong to me, but Alex Grodin and Max Carter definitely are figments of MY own sick fantasy.
Summary: Just before Christmas, a prisoner escapes with unfinished business on his mind.
Extra: To completely understand the full impact of this story you should (have)(re)-read "Happy Now?" chapter 1 to 12
Extra EXTRA!!! I've situated this story in season 4, until 4.09, so it will contain ***spoilers*** for those who have not seen season 4.
Writer’s note: I hope that there isn’t really a village called Clean Water Springs, I invented the name, just to give it a name
*****
It feels to Chad as if this is his 8th cup of coffee today and he’s still not awake. That is not the fault of the coffee, which is excellent, but of this script which is … not so excellent. In fact it’s incredibly boring. So the ringing phone will probably a nice diversion and a good excuse.
He doesn’t recognize the number dialing him and he thinks twice about picking up, but then he does.
“Hello?”
“Chad?” The voice on the other side says a bit distant. “It’s … Jason McCallister.”
Chad digs in his memory. The name is familiar, but…
“Robert gave me your number….” Jason goes on. “.. because I need to speak to Kevin and Scotty and … I want their address….”
“Jason…. You know I can’t do that.”
“Come on…. It’s not like I have a gun against my head to ask you for this.” Jason says slowly. Chad blinks. Those words come from a thriller he made recently where the main character (Chad) used the same words, when he actually has a gun to his head. Is Jason trying to say…?
“Hang on. Just a minute. I have my hands full.” Chad deflects. With his other hand he dials Max with his other phone. When he hears Max pick up, he replies to Jason. “Sorry, Jason McCallister, glad to know that you don’t have a gun to your head to ask me Kevin’s address.” He laughs insincerely.
Max snaps his fingers and turns on the speaker-phone so Joanna can listen in.
“Find Jason!” he quietly orders Joanna, who immediately dials Jason’s church.
“So can you give it to me?” Jason practically begs…
“Yeah, just hang on. I’m looking for it amongst my papers, I put it here somewhere.” Chad replies, shuffling the papers on his desk.
“Jason is no longer in his church. His car is still there. He hasn’t informed anyone that he left, which goes against procedure. … Could-be kidnap…” Joanna informs Max and Max tells Chad.
“Chad, try to get Jason to meet you somewhere.” Chad nods, forgetting that Max can’t see him.
“Ahm, Jason, I don’t feel too comfortable giving it away over the phone. This Alex Grodin-guy is very smart, if he bugged either of our phones, Kevin and Scotty are in trouble. And we don’t want that, now do we?
You know what? Why don’t we meet at Cinnamon Jack? It belongs to a friend of Scotty’s and it would be nice to meet each other again and have some fun like we did last time.” Chad’s voice is calm, cheerful and completely natural. He never met Jason and Jason knows it. This should be a good enough signal to Jason, that Chad knows that Jason is in danger.
Jason looks up at Alex, who nods.
“Alright. Deal. Cinnamon Jack.”
"You know where it is.”
“I don’t know. Scotty drove me there the last time. But I look forward to seeing you again.” Jason tries to sound normal too, knowing that Chad caught his warning.
“Around three?” Chad asks. “I have dinner tonight.” Jason looks at Alex again, who nods again.
“Three it is…. Bye.” Jason replies. Alex switches off Jason’s phone.
“That’s a good boy.” He smiles and he takes up his keys. “I’m off to Cinnamon Jack.”
“What about me? I gave you what you wanted…” Jason asks, fearing the answer.
Alex looks at Jason, chained to the wall, his face swollen from the beating Alex gave him. There's blood on his face, from his nose and his mouth, but Alex is not in the least bit feeling guilty. He merely smiles and walks away without replying, leaving Jason in despair, afraid and unable to free himself.
*****
Justin takes some coffee from the coffee machine and wonders how long this machine has been here by now. His father had fought long and hard against ‘one of those things’ in Ojai Foods, where fresh coffee was ‘much better’. For a moment the memory of his dad makes him sad, but his thoughts get interrupted by laughter.
Rebecca comes around the corner and upon noticing Justin she smiles.
“I’ll be with you in few seconds. Just locking up.”
“I’ll wait.” Justin promises. He turns back to the machine and is shocked to be suddenly eye-to-eye with Ryan.
“Hi..” Ryan speaks almost shyly, but Justin is one of the few who have seen the other side of Ryan. “I heard about Kevin and Scotty.. From Saul. Is everything alright with them?” Ryan’s question seems sincere and Justin casually replies. “Yes, I think they’re just fine. Mom spoke to Kevin this morning.”
Justin braces himself for the sarcastic remark to come, but Ryan only nods.
“I’m glad they are okay. Kevin was nice to me, and so was Scotty.” Justin wonders if Ryan means to insult him, but Ryan’s mind seems far away, almost if he was just thinking out loud, so Justin decides to ignore it.
“So, what are your plans for Christmas?” Justin asks neutrally, feeling this could be a safe subject to talk about.
“I’m going back to Bakersfield and see my dad… George. And you?”
“Been invited to stay with Holly and David…” He avoids to mention Rebecca, but Ryan knows what he means.
“Well, I hope you have a nice holiday.” Ryan says politely.
“Yeah, you too.” Justin replies, equally civilized and he watches Ryan go away.
“What was that all about?” Rebecca asks, having only picked up the last two sentences.
“Ryan and I were talking.” Justin replies.
“What? No blood? No broken noses? Or other bruises?”
“No, we behaved responsibly.”
“I don’t what scares me more. You two fighting or you two ‘acting responsibly’.”
“I figured that ONE Walker chased by a psycho is more than enough.”
“Ryan is not like Alex.” Rebecca feels the need to defend Ryan.
“The verdict is still out as far as I’m concerned.” Justin grins. “Come on, let’s have lunch.”
“Good idea. I’m starving.” Rebecca now laughs.
*****
Between two kisses Scotty feeds Kevin a bit of the chicken-sandwich he made.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s delicious. Just like you.” Kevin hums as a reply and Scotty smiles triumphantly.
“I knew it. I knew you’d love it.”
“Well, of course…. I love you.” Kevin replies as if those words answer everything and Scotty grins. “I love most of all how you manage to concentrate on two of my favorite pass-times. Food and sex with you.”
“In that order or…?”
“Well, I don’t know. Eating your food is just as good as sex… So… I’m not sure.”
“Wow, this many compliments in not even 5 minutes. You must want something from me.”
“What? Can I not give my handsome husband some well-deserved compliments…?”
“Double wow! It must be big!”
“Oh, it is big.” Kevin replies with a grin, straightening the sheets so tightly around him that his arousal can’t be ignored or overlooked.
“Kevin Walker! You’re insatiable!”
“And you love it.” Kevin replies and he pulls Scotty closer.
*****
It isn’t until well past four o’clock that Max walks up to Chad.
“I don’t think he’s coming. Not Alex. Not Jason.” He says to Chad.
“I’m worried.” Chad replies seriously. “Jason didn’t sound very happy. I’ve of course never spoken to him before, but….”
“You did the right thing, Chad, whatever happens, or has happened, to Jason McCallister, it is not your fault. Maybe Alex just suspected that it would be a trap and that is the reason why he doesn’t show up. Maybe it’s even that he saw the police or something. Go home. I’ll have one of my officers escort you.”
“Is that really necessary?” Chad asks.
“Jason didn’t have your number. We checked this with Robert. If Alex has your phone number, he might also have your address.”
“Good thinking.” Chad says, suddenly feeling even more worried.
“Just wait here. I’ll ask for someone.” Max leaves Chad alone for a few minutes and then a police-officer walks up to Chad.
“Mr Barry? My name is Forrester, I’m to escort you home.”
“Great, thanks.” Chad smiles and he follows Forrester to the car.
On the way home Chad’s mind is pre-occupied with Kevin and Scotty and the disappearance of Jason. Though he only knows Jason by name, it’s obvious that Kevin cares about him and that if anything would have happened to him, it would seriously hurt Kevin and also his relationship to Robert.
He absent-mindedly gives Forrester the directions to his house and once they have arrived, he lets himself in with his code. Forrester stops in front of the door and pulls his gun.
“Better check if there aren’t any intruders.” He says and Chad nods.
There are no signs of troubles and Chad enters his house, relaxing now that he’s safely home. He turns to Forrester.
“Thank you very much for your help. I sure feel safer knowing you checked the house.”
“That is fine.”
“Can I offer you something? A drink, perhaps some coffee, tea, anything else?”
“No, thank you, I’m driving and I still have a lot of work to do.”
“You don’t mind…?” Chad points at his bar, Forrester shakes his head and checks the other rooms.
Chad pours himself a drink and has to admit that it never tasted better. He hears Forrester come back in.
“I hope you’ll be careful with that Alex still out there.” Chad says, without turning around.
“Oh don’t worry. He’s not out there….” Forrester says and there’s something so weird in the way he talks, that Chad turns around, sees something coming at him, there’s an incredible pain to his head and everything turns to black.
END OF PART 11