Blackbird Song (13)

[Jared]

She might call. She might.

She's been gone for eleven days and all he has is an ache inside his chest that refuses to go away.

Eleven days, and each day stretches out impossibly long. The hours of no Jenna seem endless.

After he's searched for her all day, he's exhausted, and when he goes home, instead of pacing and plotting out where he's going to look for her tomorrow, he ends up falling asleep. He falls asleep, his head resting on his arms, his arms resting on the map, the map where he's resting all of his hopes of finding her. She's somewhere on that map. He just has to figure out where.

His last thoughts on this side of consciousness are of Jenna. And Jenna. Always of Jenna. And he dreams of her.

----

[Narrator]

His first attention is neglect.

He leaves her in that room with only her broken thoughts, and bruised body.

She thinks of Jared. She can almost see him sitting there with her, telling her that she's going to get out of here. He tells her she's going to be home soon, he tells her to fight, to not give up.

She thinks of Jared, and she pulls her knees up to her chest, hugging them closer to her. She hugs her knees and she thinks of how warm Jared's arms feel when they're around her.

She knows that this is bad, that it may get worse, but she holds her determination with both hands. She holds the image of Jared's face close, and it's thinking of him that she drifts off.

It's the first time she's slept, really slept (instead of just drifting in and out of consciousness) in days, and when she dreams, she's far away from these walls.
She's far away from the cold that sinks into her bones, and aches, she's far away from the broken ribs that stab at her each time she breathes, she's far away from the fear that eats into her heart a bite at a time.

In her dreams, she's warm. In her dreams, the circle of Jared's arms are around her, and he says her name. He says her name and he's looking into her eyes, and she's never noticed just how expressive his face is.

She can read every emotion in his eyes. She sees exhaustion, worry, and love mixed together. She feels his tension, and she raises her hand to his forehead, to soothe the lines away.

She hasn't realized that it's been eleven days, because to her, it feels like eleven years.

For the first time since she woke up here, she's happy. She smiles in her sleep, blessedly unaware of where she is. She takes Jared's smile and holds it as she slips deeper into sleep.

Eleven days in, and they share a kiss in their respective dreams. It's so real that they both remember it after waking.

----


[Jared]

When Jared wakes up, it's light outside. It's light outside, and he's wasting time sleeping.

While he's showering, he realizes, with a jolt, that he's slept until noon.

As he's yanking a t-shirt over his head, throwing on the jeans he wore yesterday, he hears someone knocking at the door.

His heart jumps, and tells himself not to automatically think it's her. He tries to bury the hope, but ends up running down the stairs, taking them two and three at a time.

He's racing downstairs, his legs are racing, and his heart is racing, his mind is racing, as he slides into the front door, he sees that it's most certainly not Jenna.

It turns out to be Mike.

He can feel his disappointment weighing on his chest, and he scratches his head, while wondering what in the world Mike could want.

As it turns out, Mike wants to help.


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