Part 2
The house in Chicago was big. Bigger than the house in New York, at least. It wasn't a mansion big but they all got to have their own rooms. Even if the rooms were kinda small when compared to the old rooms. But it was nice. Nice high ceilings, big windows, two bathrooms, a basment, big kitchen. A backyard with a swingset already installed. The hosue in New York had been nice but they had no front or backyard, pretty much. Just two tiny patches of grass, just enough to play.
The three kids started begging for a dog the second they saw how big the yard was. Cliff, who had grown up with pets of his own, agreed readily. Sue just laughed and said, why not?
But it would have to wait until they were all settled in at work and school and with their belongings. It wasn't until a few weeks later that they finally went to the Humane Society to pick out a dog. Jaosn was instantly enamoured with a black lab mix. The girls, however, were drawn to a kitten before they had even reached the dog area.
"Guys, I don't know how good it would be to get a dog aaaand a cat. And dogs are easier to look after. You don't have to clean the litterbox as often." Cliff was a dog person.
"I don't know. The dog is so little it might be easy to get them to be buddies, if we get them together." Sue grinned at her husband. She gestured her hands slightly and the kids took their cue. They each grabbed at him, a hand, a pant leg, a shirt tail, and proceeded to beg pitifully. Cliff could do nothing but give in.
"Okay, okay. Excuse me, is there any way we can see one of the cats and one of the dogs together? We want to see how well they'll act together." The worker nodded and then went and got a second worker to get the cat while he got the dog. Then the whole bunch was led into a tiny little meet and greet area.
The two animals couldn't care less about each other. They were too busy investigating the new area and people.
"What were you thinking of naming them?" One of the handlers asked.
"Kids?" Cliff asked, looking at them.
"I think the kitty should be named...Jasper." The adults laughed a little at the answer.
"Where'd you get Jasper from?" Kelly shrugged, unsure.
"The puppy is named Monster." Jason said matter of factly, scratching the puppy behidn his ears and making his leg kick.
"Oh, is he?" Cliff asked, on a laugh. Jason nodded matter of factly. "Okay. Jasper and Monster." The handler nodded with a smile.
"You got a big yard?"
"Yes. That's why we decided to go ahead and get some pets. We just moved here a few weeks ago, from New York. We never really had a yard so this is nice, being able to get pets."
It was settled. Jasper the cat and Monster the dog were now part of the Walker family.
Monster and Jason were inseperable. He slept at the foot of Jason's bed, followed him around the house, tried to sit on his lap but Monster grew into quite a big dog, so Monster would just lay across his lap. Jason would use Monster for a pillow and would take him for walks, constantly.
In middle school, Jason tried out for the swim team and made second string. By the 8th grade, he was first string. During the summer they would go to a cabin on a lake and Jason would swim laps with Monster out to the floating dock in the middle of the lake. They'd make laps until they could barely pull themselves up onto the floater and then theyd lay in the sun and nap. Then they'd swim back.
He tried out for the high school team and was one of their star swimmers all four years. It made him pretty popular. He had a small group of friends throughout elementary and middle school, but by high school they drifted apart, as friends do. They still spoke, in shared classes or in the hallway when they saw each other. But they mainly hung out with kids in their own circles. Jason spent time with the swimmers, even dated a girl on the girl's team. They broke up just before prom but still went as each other's dates.
Jason got into Columbia on an academic scholarship. His whole family was estatic. He was estatic. He couldn't believe it. He worked his ass off getting the best grades he could. He was so caught up in keeping his scholarship that he never had time to go party with his classmates. But most of his classmates were work oriented too and there wasn't as much partying as he'd have figured. Life was good.
He finished with honors May 2007, started doing freelance work for a small local paper in Chicago. Then a year later in May he got wind that the show Sarah Connor Chronicles was going to be featured at Comic-Con in San Diego. And that Linda Hamilton was going to there with Michael Biehn talking about the movie. Jason went nuts, knew he had to be there. So he booked a flight, booked a hotel, and in July, he headed out to California to write an article about the panel, with the hopes of selling to some magazine or website, somewhere.
It was, he decided, the highlight of his life. Being there, interviewing fans, asking questions at the panels. Linda Hamilton looked amazing. His childhood crush was renewed.
"Christ, this the best day of my life." He breathed, tucking his palm pilot back into his jacket pocket.
"I know, right? God, Sarah and Reese, its like a dream." Jason glanced over at the tiny little blonde near him, taking photos. "I used to love Reese so much."
"Oh, I still love Sarah Connor." He said, then looked back at the panel, then added wistfully "And Linda Hamilton." She laughed.
He grinned at her and stuck out a hand. "I'm Jason." She grinned back and shook his hand.
"Corinne. I'm taking pictures for the con. It's great."
"Yeah, I'm writing some articles for the website. Reviews."
"Awesome."
"Where're you from?"
"Houston." He nodded. It explained the cute little accent she had. "You?"
"Chicago." They fell into a semi-awkward silence then and then both broke down into chuckles. "I'm gonna go ask some questions." He said, gesturing.
"Oh, cool. Mind if I come take some pictures?" He nodded.
"Sure, that'd great." He was 25, asking his favorite movie stars questions about his favorite movie, and spending the weekend in California with a cute blonde. He couldn't even imagine his life being another way.
Character: Jason Harris
Fandom: Supernatural