(Untitled)

[jill_langston]

Although she expected the island to return to the tropical climate she was used to, Jill was still out in the jungle with a notebook and pencil, documenting the new plant life, the new animals, new anything she could find, really. It kept her busy, it kept her from thinking too much on the recent disappearances and it kept her from worrying about

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[stilljustbob]

Bob hasn't changed his clothes in two days and it shows. With Gamelon's help, he's checked throughout the Compound and the area around it, around the school and the stage and the playground and the places he knew Pearl liked to spend her time. He's tried the church and Delirium's treehouse and both waterfalls.

But, there's too much island and it's stiflingly hot and when he pushes his way through the jungle underbrush, he's relieved to see a familiar face. Even if it's not the one he's looking forward.

"Oh-- Jill. Hi." His voice is quiet, but frantic and Gamelon covers it up by giving a quick, happy bark and jogging towards Jill, her tail wagging.

[jill_langston]

"Hi, Gamelon," Jill said as the dog came toward her and she gave her ears a quick scratch, holding the vortex carefully in the other hand. Between her pleasure at seeing David's gift and the dog at her knees, she didn't immediately see Bob's face and it was only when she looked up at him that she frowned.

"Bob?" she asked quietly, tilting her head slightly to look at him.

[stilljustbob]

"Have you-- I haven't--" he stops himself by forcing in a breath, hands drawn up close to his chest. The heat makes everything even more uncomfortable and he's sweating, his dirty shirt sticking to him.

Gamelon gives a quiet whine and wanders over to him again, nudging his leg with her nose and then pawing at his foot.

"Pearl's gone. I can't find her, Jill. I've looked and I can't-- I should tell the IPD. Do you think they could help?"

[jill_langston]

"Oh, Bob, honey..." Jill murmured, getting to her feet, tucking her notebook under her arm. She knew it wasn't so easy as telling him that if Pearl was gone, she was gone. The little girl had been the closest Bob had to family here and she knew he wouldn't give up looking for her so easily.

"Let's go tell the IPD, okay? It might help," she said softly.

[stilljustbob]

The expression on Bob's face flickers a little, brows knit and mouth twisting before he gives a quick, stilted nod, hands drawn up close to his chest.

"Okay. Yes." His voice is quiet and pained. Resigned. There's only so many places he can search on his own, but the IPD would be able to send out search parties. Intellectually, Bob knows that people disappear all the time, but he can't believe it's happened this time. Not with Pearl.

He gives another stilted nod and turns to head back, only then noticing the box Jill had been crouched next to. "What's-- what is that?"

[jill_langston]

"It's the vortex David gave to me back home," Jill answered, pausing for a moment so that she could open the box and show Bob the contents, the mixer and the blue bow on top of it, set snugly inside.

"I was just looking down at the plant there and I found it," she told him, gesturing a little to where she'd been crouched between the bushes. At this point she wasn't sure what it meant, if it meant anything at all, but it was there and it was hers.

[stilljustbob]

"Oh," Bob replies quietly and for a moment he's not thinking about Pearl. He's thinking about home and about David and about how Jill had ended up in a coma until they'd figured out what was going on with the anti-virus.

He's thinking about the bomb.

"It's-- it's from him? He's--" David's not here anymore. And, while Bob knows that sometimes people receive things from home, this one feels weird. It's like David could still be here.

[jill_langston]

"He's not back, Bob," Jill assured him softly, because she knew that was what he was thinking and she'd thought it herself for a moment. But if he'd come back, she would have known. The vortex wouldn't have been sent to her if there had been any chance of David coming back with it. She could feel this somehow.

"It's just the vortex." But it wasn't just anything. Not to her. It was some kind of gesture that the island had given her and maybe things would begin to get better.

[stilljustbob]

Bob had known that, of course, but it still hurts to know it's true, to know that David's never coming back.

Swallowing a little, he nods again, fingers fidgeting as it all settles into place. David's gone forever and it's because of Bob and now all Jill gets is a the vortex he's already given her once.

And, Pearl's missing.

"Do you want help taking it to the Compound?" he asks hers, taking a hesitant step toward her, gut still twisting uncomfortably.

[jill_langston]

"Honey, it's okay, I can carry it," Jill said to him softly, touching his arm gently. Right now he had other things to worry about and she didn't want him thinking that he had to take care of her on top of it all. Pearl was likely gone, but she didn't want to say that to him.

If he wanted to look, she would help him. "We'll get this back to the lab and then we'll go talk to someone in the IPD, okay?"

[stilljustbob]

He seems to consider that for a moment, looking down at the box and the vortex inside it and then to Jill and back again. Finally, he nods, a stilted sort of a movement as he takes in a staggered breath.

"Okay," he says and then turns, already heading back through the underbrush toward the main path. Pearl's already been gone for at least forty-two hours and Bob doesn't want to waste anytime. He's come to the understanding now that he won't find her on his own, he needs help.

[jill_langston]

"It'll be okay, Bob," Jill murmured softly, knowing she couldn't really promise that and wanting to anyway. No one could really make those kinds of promises on this island she knew it was likely that Pearl wasn't just missing, but really and truly gone. She was a child, though, and even Jill wasn't going to just give up on her so easily.

"How long has she been gone?" she asked, tucking her book under her arm and balancing the box in her other hand.

[stilljustbob]

"Since Thursday morning," Bob says, the weight in his stomach returning, though it hadn't ever really left. "I woke up because Gamelon was whining and I thought she needed to go outside, but it was because-- because Pearl--" he stopped himself, the lump forming in his throat making it difficult to speak, eyes watering.

[jill_langston]

"Shh, Bob," Jill murmured and she paused on the path, setting her notebook and the vortex down so that she could turn to him and put her hands on both his arms. She couldn't make things better for him, she knew how it was to lose people, she remembered so clearly, but she could try to make him feel better.

"Come here," she said quietly, pulling him gently into a hug.

[stilljustbob]

Bob leans into the hug, face still screwed up in pain as Jill's arms wrap around him. He knows it's supposed to help and it does, but not quite enough. Pearl's still missing and he can't bring himself to believe that she's really gone, but he knows that it's a possibility. She could be gone just like David's gone and there'll be no bringing her back.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs, voice tight and he doesn't know who's apologizing to. Jill or Pearl or David. Or possibly all three.

[jill_langston]

"You don't have to apologize, honey," Jill murmured, rubbing Bob's back gently and she knew it was a testament to just how far they'd come that Bob let her hug him now. It had taken a long time to get there, but it had also slowly become natural. "Just take a breather, okay? Take a few deep breaths and then we'll keep going." But she hadn't let go of him yet and she wasn't going to until she felt him calm down a little bit.