Try not to worry...

[onceflewicarus]

Characters: Jay & Ben
Date&Time: 1958
Setting: Nevada, the road, Maine
Summary: Sam vanishes, Jay eats ice cream and Ben freaks out.
Rating: PROBABLY SFW

"Now listen, I'll be gone for at least two weeks, and I will call to check in on you two every Thursday at seven your time. If I or Bobby does not, then wait thirty-six hours and then get on the first

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[onceflewicarus]

Jay had finally come to accept that for the time being, she was not taller than Ben. She had tried for several months, stuffed her shoes and held her chin up high enough to hang a coat from. But now that he was growing and she was once again stopped- Ben was officially taller. It was annoying mind, but whatever. He was just a boy and boys could be tall she supposed.

The news had switched over from the recent set of kidnappings in the greater north-west to sports, Jay rolled over from laying on her stomach to sitting up and facing him.

"He's going to call." Jay responded in an assuring, calming voice. It was a trick she had recently picked up- mimicking the way people's voices sounded when they were projecting a certain emotion, in turn doing the very same herself. Before now it had only been on accident, instinct, and she had to admit. It was fun.

"He said that it was going to take longer than he thought, maybe last night and today was just when he got the chance? We've got time. Come and grab a spoon." She held the half-empty carton out to him in an offering, her own eyes never glancing over to the telephone receiver. If she was worried? She wasn't going to let Ben know. One of them had to keep their heads.

[staticsnap]

Ben huffed and glanced at the ice cream, shaking his head. "Nah, thanks. M`not hungry," he said. In fact, the reuben he`d wolfed down a few hours earlier still felt like it was sitting heavy in his belly like a block of concrete. The idea of adding anything else to the mix was inconceivable, even if it was locally-churned praline swirl.

The key of Jay`s voice brushed across the back of his neck like a soothing hand. Ben had to remind himself that it was a trick to keep from leaning in to the invisible touch, his shoulders dropping in spite of the tension that kept curling inside them.

"Jay, he`s never been this late before," Ben insisted. There was a first time for everything but the bum luck about first times was that they were almost always agonizing experiences, plauged with the uncertainty of newness. Added to the fact that Ben had a bad feeling about this and couldn`t shake the sense of the world tipping precariously, it was simply a logical end that he`d be wound up.

The boy ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed, glancing at the phone. He`d already triple-checked to make sure that it was indeed working. Pride dictated that he not check again. Instead, Ben settled uneasily onto the sofa next to Jay, his brow creased. "How much longer`s he got? Until tonight, isn`t it? Shit. Shit, Jay."

[onceflewicarus]

"He's going to call. Promise." Jay assured him, leaning against the stressed boy once he was within the distance. The more she had to assure him, the more Jay was beginning to worry herself.

It wasn't like he was taking out a political figure- someone who had entire armies at their disposal or beliefs at their back, but in their field? Jay had learned at an early age that political prestige meant nothing in the money game. Half the men at the last party Jay had attended could begin and end a civil war or revolution in whatever country they had the mind to. If the man that Sam was sent after was powerful enough...

No, they really didn't need to worry. Especially with Ben doing enough worrying for them both.

"And yeah, if he doesn't call tonight we've got enough time to catch the red-eye out of here. You got your emergency bag packed and stocked, right?"

[staticsnap]

Truth was, Sam could take care of himself. He was by far the most resourceful man that Ben knew and even without the added protection of his mutation, he was as capable as a v-8 on the autobahn. There wasn`t any need to jump to conclusions about why he hadn`t called yet because even though it was dangerously close to necessitating their contingency plan, there had to be a reasonable explanation for the delay. Even if Sam had run into trouble, he could probably handle it.

But it was Ben`s job to look out for Jay, which meant it was Ben`s job to worry about the why`s and probably`s.

"Yeah, it`s ready," he replied in a subdued tone, slipping his arm around her. God, it was going to be torture having to wait out the next nine hours. Ben knew that he`d wind up driving Jay crazy - or worse, making her doubt their brother`s safety - if he didn`t find something to occupy his scattered mind. There was the laundry (there was always the damn laundry) but that was just another form of misery, the same as studying. There was no point in trading one for the other.

Instead he began to mentally review what they needed from the grocery store, though it made little sense to get anything considering the possibility that they might very well have to bail. Peanut butter. Bananas. Wonder Bread. Those were staples that were easy enough to pack and that would keep Jay from starving en route to the safehouse while simultaneously delivering them from the evil that was train food.

"Man, m`gonna chew his ear off when he does call, that idiot," Ben commented darkly, resting his cheek against Jay`s head. "You want anything special from the market? Thinking `bout making a quick run."

[onceflewicarus]

"We've got potatoes yeah? I was wanting to make Shepard's pie for when Sam got back. It's always his favorite."

It was probably worth a laugh at a later date, how the two worried about each other. For while Sam had decreed Ben Jay's protector from the get-go, Jay had laid claim to the boy before even that. As the one who 'had' Ben, Jay made it her duty to make sure he had nice clothes, didn't get tricked by the grown-ups at the Club and didn't get made fun of by no one. She was small, but she was mighty.

"But if you go out to get groceries, you might miss his call..." Jay warned, tucking herself against him as she continued to eat. Though she was hardly a fledgling anymore, Jay still ate in small, precise bites. Only now that she was having a conversation, she kept the frequency down to a more reasonable pace. "Then yo can't yell at him."

[staticsnap]

They'd had steak and chips for dinner a few nights ago but Ben was reasonably sure there were still a few potatoes left in the narrow pantry. He made a soft noise of affirmation. Sam's favourite. Would Sam even be here to enjoy it?

There, right there. That was the kind of thought that he had to get out of his head.

"Do you have to continually point out the flaws in my plans? It gets frustrating when you're logical," Ben groused, for the first time feeling marginally less like he was about to implode with the sheer weight of silence from the phone line.

[onceflewicarus]

Jay smiled, dropping the empty ice cream container off to the side. Still leaning against him she watched as the news changed topics again now onto politics a topic she was constantly quizzed on by members of the Club.

"You know its why you keep me around." She joked before changing the topic entirely. "Do you ever wonder what other teenagers' lives are like? Normal ones?"

It was something she had thought on before, and hopefully different enough that it would distract them til Sam called in.

[staticsnap]

"What, you mean like... going to school and the YMCA, that kind of normal?" Ben frowned, trying to place the question in some sort of context. He didn't know where Jay came up with this kind of stuff. Her mind wandered onto the weirdest things with seemingly no barriers; she'd spend an entire day delving into the history of medicinal plants and then the next be probing Ben about engines like her life depended on it.

With the television droning in the background like a swarm of sleepy bees, Ben shrugged. "Probably boring, Jay, if you ask me. C'mon, can you imagine us in public school? Sitting in classes all day, following a bell, having chores?" Ben frowned because, well. That one he understood. "I mean normal chores, like mowing the grass and garbage like that. Uh-uh, no way. That's just a societal prison."

[onceflewicarus]

In Jay's world (a very different place) her thoughts always made sense, after all. She was thinking about school because it was a Thursday which was a school night for most kids, only not them because everyone who taught them besides old Mrs. Greeney, the neighbor lady who taught math, always went out on Friday nights. But if most kids had class tomorrow, then what would they do? And if they got sent back to Kentucky in three weeks + 8 hours, then they'd have to try some sort of school. Would they even be allowed? Would they be behind? Ahead?

Would it matter?

"I don't know. I am pretty sure I had fun. There were art classes and recess and music. They were going to teach us the recorder before I got pulled out by Mom and Sam." She held back a sigh, instead collecting one of his hands to play with.

"We might have to go back yanno. If we don't stay in Nevada."

[staticsnap]

Ben could remember school, faintly. He remembered art and recess, although he had never had music class. None of it had been fun. In fact, it had been the exact opposite. He could still feel the quiet desperation that had lived in his small and narrow chest, the way his breath had felt caged and squashed and how at every moment he had furtively planned his escape. That had been the first grade and he'd never looked back once he got out or even once wondered what it would be like to go back.

"I'm not ever going again," Ben promised Jay. Kentucky would be a welcome destination in the grand scheme of things, if Sam was... if Sam didn't...

Kentucky would be a fine place to be. But Ben knew that he would not be going to school if Sam was... if Sam didn't...

"Someone'll have to work to keep that money coming in," Ben said quietly. "They depend on it for too much. M'the next logical option, after Sam."

[onceflewicarus]

Jay laughed a bit, trying to once again lighten the mood from the idea that her brother was somewhere up north. Dead or dying, failed on his mission and left to rot by his target. No, Ben couldn't think anything of that, even if Jay already was.

"You don't think we've got savings? Sam set it up that even if we just vanished one day, Momma has got money to take care of everyone til the twins graduate college. He says that it's the most important thing someone can do." There was only the slightest bit of heartbreak in the edges of her voice at that, prompting her to change the topic once again.

"Besides, what would you do? Drive a taxi?"

[staticsnap]

It was both reassuring and terrifying to know that Sam had gone so far with his preparations in the event of their collective demise. To be honest, Ben wasn't sure to react to that. He hovered around the knowledge, prodding at it cautiously as an animal sniffing about a suspicious-looking snare.

Thankfully Jay and he seemed attuned on the same line and when she changed the subject, Ben leaped with her to keep it going.

"If that's what it took," the boy defended staunchly. "There's lots of stuff to do. I could work in a garage or...hell, I could go back to lifting cars, even. You could be my lookout. Distract people with those voices of yours. You're gettin' good enough with them."

[onceflewicarus]

Everyone's voices were so different, their emotions and thoughts playing out in every syllable they spilled out. Professional mimics could only claim one or two of those tones other than their own, but Jay had learned to master thousands.

She replied in Ben's voice, pitch-perfect at his challenge, a grin spreading across her face as she spoke.

"I like to think so." Without pause or breath, she fell back into her own. "But I would miss you if you did that. Go back to Detroit or whatever."

[staticsnap]

Just like that, Ben's face grew impossibly sharp and guarded. It was the look he'd worn permanently a few years ago when he'd first started traveling with them, the look of someone who was just waiting for the next hit to fall and hoped that accepting that it was on it's way would somehow make it hurt less.

"You saying you wouldn't come with me?" Ben asked, feigning a casualness that he did not feel. That was almost too much. Sam was one thing, but to lose Jay, too? That would be like having both legs cut off at the knee.

[onceflewicarus]

The shift in Ben did not go unnoticed, and she glanced up to see that old familiar face spreading across his features like wildfire. A hand moved up to touch his cheek, an attempt to wipe the whole mess away for something more pleasant.

"I'm not saying I wouldn't, just that.. I dunno. Does it matter? Sam is going to call and we're going to go back to lessons on Monday. Just like normal."

Or at least, normal enough for two mutant children being trained by some of the world's greatest assassins and assistants to business men. All with the interest in learning how to control one's self within the world, watching others take it over. Perfectly, totally normal. That was them.

[staticsnap]

"Just like normal," Ben repeated, thinly. There wasn't much hope in his tone. It was all thready uncertainty and even though he offered a smile after as a way of apologizing.

It wasn't fair to Jay for him to be getting all maudlin. If Sam ever found out that he'd lost his cool like this, Ben would never hear the end of it and probably have to sit through one of those excruciating man-to-man chats about looking out for her and how that meant more than just defending her physically and how it was most important to protect her from himself because injuries always cut deeper when they came from family, etc. That was the last thing he needed.

Ben sighed and tugged on her hair lightly. "Sorry," he said, "You're probably right. But for the record, we'd make a great team. And hey, we could maybe set up our own territory in Kentucky, start transporting cars over to the Western lines. I bet we could make a fortune. There isn't a real good central provider for the coastal chop shops yet. We'd have the monopoly on things."