babeczka415

[babeczka415]

So I have been this need. I have no idea who else is still with me on this story journey we started forever ago but something keeps telling me to work on the Before the Lies... the 1700 AU Duskwood fanfic that was orginally done with multiple writers.

As you all see it kinda went on a freeze and our lives just happened. Is anyone else wanting me to repost the missing chapters from book 1 and finish the story even by myself?

[babeczka415]

A/N: I'm so sorry this Chapter took this lolong. Life has been a Rollercoaster this last two years but I finally refound my love for this story and will be posting more often.

Heart Like a Truck: Chapter 5

The heat of their passion continued to build as she leaned back into him. Her hand began to wander along his strong chest, feeling every inch of his body. Despite her mind's resistance, her body knew exactly what she needed from him. As their kiss turned from one of anger to one of desire, she allowed herself to let go and give in to the intense emotions she was feeling. She wanted him, she needed him. Their bodies were intertwined, a perfect fit. Their kisses only grew more intense as the fiery sparks between them grew hotter.

As they kissed furiously, Jake could sense that she needed more than just physical contact; she needed to be seen. In the midst of her raging emotions, Jake leaned back and searched Cecilia's eyes for some hint of forgiveness. That's when he saw it: a slight flicker of emotion, a hint of compassion. In that moment, he realized that she wasn't mad at him, she was mad at the world. And as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close, he vowed to be the one who would always find her in the storm.

Jake started to stand up but not before his lips connected to hers again. He knows this kiss and him are the only things helping her rage through the swirling storm inside her. As they kissed passionately, Jake's hands roamed over Cecilia's body. He wanted nothing more than to bring her closer to him, his desire for her was overwhelming. Pulling her body into his, he savored the feeling of her soft body against his. Their kisses grew deeper and more insistent, as if both of them were reluctant to let go. In a sudden burst of passion, Jake picked her up and placed her on the dresser, her legs wrapped around him.

Cecilia could feel her anger turning into desire. Jake always had that way with her to calm the storm raging inside her. Two years ago when a text started this all she had no idea that this wanted hacker was going to be her home, her safe haven, her lighthouse in a storm. Her legs wrapped tighter and her left hand wrapped around Jake's neck as her right went straight for his chest. She could feel his hands gripping her ass tight as she was barely on the dresser.

Jake couldn't take this any longer. He knew she needed him and rough, it was always the way to calm her storm. His hands grip her ass hard, picking her up and tossing her on the bed. The moment Cecilia looks up at him something in him hits like a brick. She is looking for an escape, the alcohol didn't help and he can tell. Cecilia was using this between them at this moment as a distraction from her feelings. 

“You need sleep, Cecilia” Jake's voice is stern with her.

“Jake, please I need this…. With you.” Cecilia sits up and moves closer to Jake standing at the edge of her bed. She has no idea where this is coming from as he has never stopped her before.

**Jake gently cups her chin as she looks up at him. Her hazel eyes are full of so much raw emotions that he knows it isn't the right time. “You take the dark and carve me out a home. I picture you when I know your alone. I know how we got here and I know you better then to do this. I just want to know you better.”

Cecilia sighs, she knows Jake deserves this. She feels it in her body, she needs to open more to him but she's afraid. Afraid Jake might leave her as she is a mess, her past is a mess and he doesn't even know a quarter of it. She moves away from his hand and his gaze. She undresses put of her jeans and plaid button down and climbs into bed. It's the only way she can sleep next to him. She also has nothing to say as her emotions are all over the place.

***********

Cold sweats…. Its always how she wakes up from that nightmare. She hasn't told Jake about it as its still a real fear. Its the fear of him leaving this ranch and never coming back, getting caught or worst. Her eyes close slightly and that video still plays in her mind.

She had just been reached out from Eric to find his friend Adam. It was a story she knew all to well, its how Jake and her met with Hannah missing. After the exhausting night dealing with Eric and his friends she finds herself, crawling into bed just as her phone goes off. She answered the video chat without looking at the name and saw it was Alan Bloomgate, his body cam to be exact. She couldn't hear him but she eventually saw that bookbag. It was black full of everything. Her heart broke as she knew Jake wouldn't go anywhere without it. Then her heart and mind froze seeing the worn hoodie. The holes from wear and from getting out of the mine was covered in dirt and probably smelled of smoke.  Then as Alan moved the hoodie, his mask….. the mask she saw the first video call. The mask that kept him safe and unknown. She was certain he was caught or worst in those woods. 

She slips out of bed, not wanting to wake Jake.  It's the only time he sleeps is here. She cracks open the bedroom door after grabbing one of her fathers flannels she uses as a robe and heads to the front porch. However, before making her way through the hallway and stairs covered with family photos and memories. She has a space that is left empty. Her hand goes to this space, as she knows what she wants there. She wants photos with Jake, she wants to change her last name from Dunn to Andrews and raise a family with him on this ranch and go into the city for his soul and needs.

Last night's words replay through her mind, he wants to know more of her, of her past. She hasn't told him she was engaged or that at one point she did live in a city. She is unsure if she wants to reopen those wounds.

******

The cold morning wind and the hint of dew hitting her bare legs are what wakes her up. She had fallen asleep yet again on the old swinging porch seat wearing just the flannel. Cecilia knew Casey would be stopping over soon, it was routine for them to make sure everything to done on the ranch. However, there was more things to talk about, last night when the FBI showed up. They showed up for Ryan Davis, a man they had both trusted and so did her father. God how she wish he was hear now to help her through this mess.  She closes her eyes to figure this out, she hears the front porch open up.

“Couldn���t sleep?” Jake asked, it wasn’t normal for him to see her out here not dressed and with coffee already. He hands her a cup, just the way she likes with coffee, sugar, milk, and a tad bit of honey. He could never drink it like that but it was her go too and he knew she needed it. Last night still played in his mind, he was almost caught had it not been for her quick thinking to dress hi lik Casey.

“No, it's another thing we need to talk about. I want to open up but I’m scared Jake. I’m scared you will run and not look back. I’m not some princess on this ranch. I have my own demons that scare me and you saw a little last night.” She sighs, not looking up at him but taking the cup in her hands.

“Love, I’m never going to run away from you. If anything I want to not have to be on the run anymore,” Jake lifts her chin to look at him. “I want a life with you.

Cecilla is taken back, she had no idea even after these two years that he wanted to not be on the run anymore. Everytime things felt good between them, he ran always saying to protect her from the ones tracking him but she struggled to believe it at times. “I want a life with you too, Jake. But there are things you need to know about me first. Things you can and can’t find in a search for me and it scares me to open those wounds.”

“Then we will open them slowly so I can help you heal them. I have no intention of running this time. I have no more plans on hiding things from you either. I’m sticking around this time to see where we keep going wrong.” Jake’s voice is soft but strong at the same time. Its enough to send chills down her back. 

She feels Jake sit down next to her and they just watch the sun start to rise. This is something Cecilla always dreamed about was having someone she loved watching the sun rise over this field, outside of Casey. As they sipped their coffees and just help hands they heard a truck pull up. It was a sound she knew all too well as it’s Casey’s. He walked up the stairs with his own coffee in his hand and leans against the railing in front of the two of them.

“I got my hands on Jack Daniels,” Cecilla’s voice is soft, “but Jake took it and dumped it out.” She knew she needed to be honest. Casey was there for her through all her darkest time, some always wondered why they weren’t together but to them they were siblings. She had known him since she was just barely able to look over this railing of this porch and he was barely thirteen helpng her father on this ranch. 

“I’m glad he was here then, I couldn’t imagine what would of happen if he wasn’t,” Casey’s voice is stern with her as he knows her past with drinking, specially when she is in a dark headspace. It’s different when social drinking and in a good mood but not like she was last night.

For the first time all morning, Cecila leaned into Jake. She knows without him there last night things could of gone bad. She knows how to pick that lock, she did it a million times as a teenager and even after the accident that Casey didn’t know about. She caught Jake’s blue eyes looking down and saw the worry and concern. She knows them both opening their demon and past isn’t going to be an easy conversation or even just a one night type of thing but she feels different like he really won’t run.

Jake grazes his fingers throug her hair and took a whiff, she still smelled of the ranch from the day before and knew she hadn’t showered. Last night kept playing in his mind though. It was obvious she had her own demons, he know that to meeting her for the first time in Duskwood but now he was ready to help her face them.

**A/N credit: That line from Jake with the ** before was taken from the song “Give by Seep Token” I felt like it was just what he needed to say to Cecila in that moment.

[babeczka415]

I will replay until I have the diamonds!

Why do I think Eric will be able to befriend Jake?

I NEED. TO. SEE. A. CONVO. BETWEEN. THEM.

[babeczka415]

Something is telling me Charlie knows more then we think

Why do I think Eric will be able to befriend Jake?

I NEED. TO. SEE. A. CONVO. BETWEEN. THEM.

[babeczka415]

Omg! 😂😂😂 I thought Love was a good name!

I think I'm being threatened

[babeczka415]

Noone knows yet who unknown is

Who's this 'unknown' we are talking about?!?!?!

My game is bugged rn, gimme spoilers you guys (better with screenshots, ofc 🤭)

[babeczka415]

Well thank you. I know people loved what I had started but was even unsure if people would continue to read it now with Moonvale out but I had an idea for a backstory

Curious minds want to know..

Well in reality my mind..

Who wants me to finish posting "Heart like a Truck"?

I love the story and Cecilia and Jake but unsure if I should just keep it for myself.

[babeczka415]

Life got hectic and I needed time. Between work, someone close getting diagnosed with cancer and losong them to finding out some lies, I lost my passion to write and been slowly finding it again.

Curious minds want to know..

Well in reality my mind..

Who wants me to finish posting "Heart like a Truck"?

I love the story and Cecilia and Jake but unsure if I should just keep it for myself.

[babeczka415]

Ah I loved this!

even statues crumble if they're made to wait

Pairing: Jake x Fem!MC

Genre: Post-Episode 10 Duskwood, Post-Episode 1 Moonvale

Words: 8,916

Summary: It's been three months since the explosion in the mine. Three months since Hannah was found. And MC's accepted that Jake is never coming back. When she gets roped into another missing person's case, it makes for the perfect distraction. Jake is dead. It's fine. That is, until she finds herself on the phone with Alan Bloomgate who says he has something to show her. But it's fine. Jake is dead.

Until he's not.

EPISODE-1 MOONVALE SPOILERS AHEAD (MAYBE)!

[ A/N: Hello! :)

I know it's been a while since I've done this, but I finished Moonvale Episode 1 and if you've seen the ending (and used its Duskwood code), you know what happened and how excited I was to receive that bit of Duskwood. So, I took it and ran with it, and out came this extremely long fic. I did not proofread this as it took me literally almost 12 hours to write so it is completely and 100% me and my love for Jake and I hope you love it.

Side note: I suck with anything related to timelines, so I made one up on my own. I know Episode 1 of Moonvale takes place over the course of a day or two, but for the purpose of this fic, it made sense to make it longer, so it's not a typo, or me losing my mind, it's just the way my brain processed this.

Enjoy! :) ]

It’s been three months since the explosion in the mine.

Three months since Richy had been killed. Three months since Hannah was rescued. Three months since I had last spoken to Thomas or Cleo or Lilly or…or Jessy. I didn’t blame her then and I don’t blame her now. Any of them, really. I didn’t share the bond they had with each other. I wasn’t from Duskwood. It didn’t matter that we’d experienced a tragedy together—and yes, perhaps them more than me, but I loved Richy too. I had lost Richy too. And Jake—

But mostly, I think they just wanted to forget. To move on. They didn’t want to remember that their friend had been capable of…of that. And I was a constant reminder of that to them. So I understood why we didn’t necessarily talk anymore.

The one person I did keep in contact with from Duskwood, oddly enough, other than the occasional update from Alan Bloomgate, was Dan. We weren’t best friends or anything, but he allowed me to check in on our friends in a way that I didn’t know how to do with anyone else. Maybe because I thought he was the least affected among them. I knew he cared about Hannah, but he wasn’t to her what Thomas or Cleo or Lilly were. And he wasn’t to Richy what Jessy had been.

I’d learned from him that Thomas and Hannah had broken up. There was no bad blood, but Thomas hadn’t quite figured out how to accept the things he’d learned about his girlfriend when she’d been gone, and Hannah hadn’t quite figured out how to re-trust someone after Richy. Even if that person was Thomas. But I’d hoped they would find their way back to each other in the end.

I thought about reaching out to Jessy every once in a while—even just as an apology for everything that had happened. I’m sorry that Hannah was found at the expense of Richy. I’m sorry that he did this to you. I’m sorry I didn’t realize it sooner. We should have. We should have. We should have. I miss you. But I never send it. I’m not all that sure she’d respond anyway.

Cleo and I were never all that close. She has her best friend back, so I think she’s probably as okay as she can be. Helping Hannah find a new kind of normal in a time where her childhood friend had kidnapped her in order to prove a point. I don’t know how you come back from that—I don’t know how you come back from knowing that you killed somebody at all.

I hadn’t found the courage to ask if somebody had told Hannah about Jake.

Not that I think it would matter anyway. I hadn’t heard from him since before the explosion in the mine, which was, like I said—three months ago. I waited the appropriate amount of time—twenty-five days—before I broke down and concluded that maybe he hadn’t survived. Which just piled a shit-ton of guilt onto my shoulders because it was supposed to be me in that mine. He had gone in place of me and now he was dead.

It was the only explanation that made sense. I was used to Jake disappearing for days at a time, but never as long as he had been now. And he didn’t seem like the type to tell me he loved me and then leave without a single explanation. Not unless he had to. But it had been three months and as much as I missed him, as much as my chest ached with the thought that we would never eat Chinese food out of shitty motels and have that on-the-run ending we talked about, I had accepted that he wasn’t coming back.

I wonder if he had known about Richy or if he had died still thinking Michael Hanson was the one who had kidnapped Hannah. I wonder if his last thoughts were of me. Maybe it’s selfish, but I kind of hope they were, because I’m pretty sure I’ll think about him for the rest of my life.

I wonder what it would have felt like to run my hands through his hair. To kiss him. To spend every waking moment with him and know it was because I loved him. Because I would have. Talking to Jake became about more than just finding Hannah. It became a part of my day I looked forward to more than anything else. He confided in me in a way that told me he never had with anyone, maybe not even Hannah, and I needed that from somebody. I needed somebody to trust in me the way that Jake did. I needed somebody to love me the way that Jake did.

It was strange—and maybe a little ironic—the thought that something so beautiful could come out of something so tragic.

Anyway, my point is: it’s been a long couple of months. Of thinking about my friends. Of thinking about Jake. Of wondering if I should have done things differently. I should have gone to Duskwood to help. Not even with the mine, but sooner. I could have. I could’ve gone when Jessy was attacked on the way home. I could’ve gone when the group made plans to cut out of town and hide away in the house Richy had found. Selfishly, I should have. In that moment, when they were settled around the fire and Lilly called me, I had never remembered wanting anything more. I should have grabbed Jake—metaphorically, maybe even literally—and rode it out with them to the end.

I don’t stop missing them after three months. Of wishing things could have been different. Wishing I could have done more. But exactly ninety-five days after the explosion in the mine, seventy days since I had accepted that Jake was never coming back, twenty-two days since I had last heard from anybody from Duskwood (Dan included), my phone dings with a new message.

And the cycle starts all over again.

It’s somebody named Eric, who claims he needs my help to find his friend Adam, who disappeared while he was waiting for a ride in someplace called Redlog Pines. And much like with Duskwood, I have never heard of Redlog, and the case reminds me way too much of Thomas’ first message to me, so much that it makes my chest ache, but I can’t say no because there’s somebody missing, and if I’d say no the first time, God knows where Hannah would be.

So, I say yes, and I help out where I can, and Eric decides he needs to bring about four more friends in on his little plan and I try my best to stay emotionally unattached because I remember everything that happened the last time and I can’t go through that again. I offer up information when I can and keep my words short and careful because I’m not ready to get attached to somebody else I know I might never meet.

I know how this ends.

Two days in, Ash, one of Eric’s friends, brings up my Duskwood past and the unhealed wound I’ve been trying to mend breaks open again. She asks about Richy, and about the mine, and then because I’m me and I can’t help myself, I tell her about Jake. She tells me the news never mentioned another body and I shove that thought to the back of my head because hoping for something that will never come true will kill me.

Four days into Adam’s disappearance, and the police not giving a shit—as Charlie, somebody who reminds me far too much of Richy for comfort, points out—my phone beeps with an incoming call from somebody I haven’t spoken to in a while.

“Go for [MC].” I answer my phone.

Ever since Hannah had been found in the mine and Jake had…you know, my phone had been more silent than I’d gotten used to. Until this new case. But even that—it was only a few days old and I didn’t want to go down the same path with them that I did with my friends in Duskwood. We didn’t really know each other that long, sure—even though sometimes it’d felt like it—but it felt like I’d finally been a part of something. Like, I had found these people who had chosen me for me.

And originally, maybe they had. Maybe they’d had every intention of keeping me around, but then Richy was the Man Without A Face and Alan Bloomgate had rescued Hannah and nothing was the same as it had been when we’d met each other. We knew too many secrets about each other by the time the town settled. Secrets we would have to take to the grave.

Or maybe I’m losing my mind a bit and I had really only been a means to an end.

Either way.

“Alan?” I raise my voice when there’s nothing but breathing on the other end of the line. “Did you mean to call me?”

His tone is clipped. “I found something.”

“You found something.” I repeat.

My heart clenches. For all I know, it might fall into my stomach. As far I know, from watching the news, from what Ash told me, Jake’s body was never found. Richy’s was. Or what was left of him to find, anyway. I had assumed that there just hadn’t been enough of Jake left. The thought left me nauseous, but it was better than hoping for something I knew I could never have.

“I’m sending it to your phone now.” He responds. “Let me know what you think of this.”

And then he hangs up.

That was a riveting conversation, I think as my phone dings with a message. I do my best to ignore my other messages—contacts from Duskwood I’m still not ready to acknowledge—and click Alan Bloomgate. He sent me a video that looks like—oh God.

Immediately, I’m overcome with emotion as an all-too-familiar forest pops up on my phone. It’s a video of Alan’s bodycam footage. He’s searching the Duskwood forest. A forest I’ve seen too many times in the background of other video calls.

I watch as he stumbles upon an object that’s too dark to make out at first. When he gets closer, it’s clear that it’s a backpack. It’s simple. Black. Nothing about it that screams this is mine and I left it here about anybody in particular. You stupid, stupid idiot, I tell my heart when it rattles against my chest in hope. He’s dead.

Alan stands and treks away from the backpack—I want to scream at him to go back, to open it and look through it and tell me if it’s what my heart aches to believe, but I can’t, because this is a video and I’m simply watching with wide eyes, waiting for…for something. But then. But then, he moves further into the forest and I watch as he stumbles upon an object that makes my knees tremble and tears rush to my eyes and my hands shake. A black hoodie. It looks like it’s been through hell, with holes scattered up the sleeves and dirt cakes into the hood, but it’s unmistakably his.

And then—Alan lifts the hood and picks up something that makes me sink to my knees with a sob that wracks my entire frame. Because I’m staring at Jake’s mask. The mask he doesn’t go anywhere without. The mask that protects him. And so my relief is short-lived, because I realize that even if he’s alive—which seems like a very big possibility at this point—he’s alive without the things that he needs to survive.

And then the anger kicks in. Because if he’s been alive, on his own, for three months—why has he not contacted me? Unless he survived the mine but he didn’t survive the after. But that didn’t make any sense. So, okay, he wasn’t dead. But that didn’t make any sense either. He told me he wouldn’t let them catch him. Because catching that meant he would be apart from me. Did something happen that prevented him from being able to reach out and tell me he was at least okay? A quick text that said didn’t die in the explosion in the mine, you don’t need to mourn me, by the way, going off radar for another year. Did he think I would have given up on him?

I wipe my eyes and shoot a message to Alan.

ME: Recently?? Did nobody search the forests before?      

ALAN: Searched the forests for what, [MC]? The logical assumption seemed to be that if anybody was inside the mine when Richy set the fire, they would have perished alongside him. Officers were stationed outside every known entrance and exit. Besides, after the story you and your friends spun around this town, do you think anybody would have gone back into its forests?

ME: But it’s possible?

ALAN: I would say these items had been there for some time. But I would say it is likely he ditched them when he fled the mine, yes.

Another sob tears through my throat. Jake is alive. I don’t know quite what that means for us as of now, but I know it’s the best news I’ve heard since Hannah was found. Jake is alive. He’s out there somewhere. And even if it’s been three months, and even if I’m a little bit mad at him right now, I know that if he was here, I would throw my arms around his neck and hold on to him until someone dragged me off, and even then—I would fight kicking and screaming.

I close out of my messages with Alan and pull up a conversation I haven’t had the heart to look at in quite some time.

ME: Jake’s alive.

LILLY: …

LILLY: Have you spoken to him?

ME: Alan called. He found some of Jake’s things in Duskwood. I don’t know a lot of details. But I know he made it out of the mine.

Lilly types for a long while, but she doesn’t respond. I don’t take it personally. I think it’s probably hard for her to be happy that her brother’s okay while also trying to accept that her sister may never be okay again. Her sister, who had once-upon-a-time been kind-of-sort-of in love with their brother she didn’t know she had. I think that would probably mess with any family’s heads. And on top of all that, you throw in manslaughter and a kidnapping. I wouldn’t wish anybody, not even my worst enemy, to have had to go through what the Donforts had.

When it becomes adamant that Lilly isn’t going to respond, I start scrolling through messages with the rest of the group in Duskwood. I click on Jessy. I’m here if you need me. That had been the last thing I sent to her, a couple of days after Richy’s death. She hadn’t responded. I click out of Jessy’s contact and click on Thomas’ instead. Thank you for everything. That had been his last message to me after we found Hannah. I’d liked it. I hadn’t expected at the time it would be the last thing we’d ever say to each other. I click out of Thomas’ and click on Richy. So, you want to turn yourself in? I’d asked. That was before he called me. Before he lit a match and burned himself and the mine to the ground. Some people would call that heroic. I mostly call him a coward.

I click on Jake’s name. It’s been a while since I read messages between the two of us. Maybe before I had accepted—thought—he was dead. In that twenty-five-day period when I’d hoped with all I’d had that he would come back. I love you. That was the last message he sent me. I’d responded with I love you too, Jake. Then, four days later: Are you okay? A week later: Jake, please, you’re starting to scare me. I know you said you would contact when you could, but it’s been a week. After twenty-five days, when I had finally accepted our fate, I’d sent one final message: I hope you know that I love you, and I will always care about you, but I think it’s time for me to move on. I’m so sorry that I sent you into the mine. It should have been me. And I will probably feel the guilt from that for the rest of my life. Thank you for everything. Take care of yourself, wherever you are.

After that, I had closed out of our messages and hadn’t looked back. Partly because I couldn’t bear the pain of it. It felt like I had given up on him. I hadn’t—if I had thought for a second that he was alive, if I knew then what I know now, I would have never sent that message. But holding out hope for somebody who I thought was a ghost at the time? That was slowly killing me.

It’s only then that I notice the screen flickering. Much like the way it used to whenever Jake would hack into my phone. I don’t think he’s much in the mood to be hacking right now, but somehow, I know it’s him. When had he done this? Recently? If I had opened our messages, would I have seen this ten—twenty—even fifty days ago? It hadn’t looked like this the last time I texted him. Did he see my last message about needing to move on? Was that why he hadn’t reached out to tell me that he was okay? Because he thought I was moving on happily without him?

No, my brain supplies. He wouldn’t. He would reach out anyway, because he knows how much the thought of him not being okay would have destroyed you.

The screen flickers once more and then a message pops up, bright and blue-tinted and clear as day on my phone.

[MC]

I WILL FIND YOU

And the world around me shifts.

--------------------------------------------------

Maybe it sounds crazy, considering I’ve never seen his face before, but I always thought that if I’d ran into Jake one day, maybe on the street or at one of those motels he stayed at or maybe even in Duskwood, surrounded by all our friends, I would know it was him. I would, because it’s him, and it’s me, and we’re the only two people who understand each other quite the way we do.

I still believe that.

I believe it when I book my flight to Duskwood (or rather, twenty miles outside of town, which is the closest airport). I believe it when I board the airplane and find a seat next to a mother with her screaming child and when I shoot off a quick text to Eric to let him know I’ll be MIA for the next few hours, but to message me if he needs anything—and I think about how much easier this case would probably be to solve if we had Jake.

Maybe it would have been harder to find Hannah without me, but I know damn well they would’ve never found her without Jake.

Dan picks me up from the airport. I haven’t told the others yet. Something about it felt off—like I shouldn’t message them and say hey, I know we haven’t spoken in a while, but I’m booking a flight to look into why my maybe-slash-not-really boyfriend left his belongings in a forest we really wish we could forget about, and by the way, can I crash at your place?

It’s quiet on the car ride back into town. I’m looking through my messages from Eric and the group from Redlog Pines and thinking about how I’m Duskwood with this group and I want so badly to laugh because it’s ironic, but Dan wouldn’t understand. He might just call me crazy. Better yet, he would ask how I manage to get myself into these situations, and really, I don’t have an answer for him.

“How have you been?” I ask, just to break the tension, as Charlie, in my messages, tries to persuade his friends to head back into that creepy cave in the middle of the forest. He’s going to get someone killed, I think.

Dan looks over at me. “Are you still with Hackerman?”

My chest squeezes. “His name is Jake, Dan. And we were never really together.”

“Hm.” He nods like he doesn’t quite believe me. “You already know mostly everything that’s been happening here. Thomas and Hannah called it quits. They say it was some mutual decision, but it’s hard to find them in the same room together. Jessy hasn’t been out with us since. I think we remind her too much of Richy. The group’s all changed.”

“And you?” I ask.

He gives me a cheshire-like grin that doesn’t quite meet his eyes. “I’m always the same.”

We make it to Duskwood just as the sun’s going down. Much too late for me to try and trek through the forest and retrace the steps Jake might have taken that night. Not that I think it would help give me any clues as to where he might have gone, but mostly because I wonder if it will make me feel closer to him. We’ve never been in the same place before, and even if he’s not there now—he once was.

“Can you drop me at the police station?”

Dan blinks. “The police station.”

I nod. “Yeah.”

“We answered their questions for weeks, [MC]. I don’t think anything you have to tell them at this point is going to help. The investigation’s closed. Everybody knows Richy did it. He died with the fire in the mine. Everybody’s trying to move on from that.” He works his jaw. “Did you come here to open old wounds after all this time?”

I try not to show the hurt look on my face. “This isn’t about Richy. Look, Alan called me. He asked if I could look at some things. I figured it was better for me to do it in person. That’s it. Nothing to do with Richy. Nothing to do with Jessy. Nothing to do with you.”

He sighs, and I’m not entirely sure he’s going to abide by my wishes until we pull in front of a tiny building—tinier than most—that says Duskwood Police on the sign. Duskwood must not have that much crime. Well, not until this, I suppose.

“Thank you.” I tell him as I reach over to undo my seatbelt and climb out of the car. “This is a nice ride, by the way.”

He raises a hand in some mock-salute. “Need me to pick you up?”

“Nah.” I shake my head. “Think I’ll explore the town for a little bit.”

“Suit yourself.” He shrugs and then he’s off.

I square my shoulders and take a deep breath before opening the door to the police station. It wasn’t like Alan asked me to come down here. He hadn’t. Even during the investigation into Richy’s death and Hannah’s kidnapping, when he questioned us, he never asked me to come to Duskwood. We’d done way too many video calls and phone calls and at one point, I had asked if he thought it would be easier for me to come to Duskwood, to which he responded back, are you ready for that?

No, I hadn’t been. I’m not even so sure I was now. But knowing that Jake was alive, that here was the last place was, I had to try.

“Can I help you?” The woman at the front desk asks.

I clear my throat. “I was wondering if I could speak to Alan Bloomgate. I’m one of—I was involved in the Hannah Donfort case. My name is [MC].”

Her eyes widen. “Give me a moment.” She stands and heads to some back office—which looks to me more like a closet—and then returns with a clipped smile. “He’ll be right out.”

Apparently, she isn’t lying, because not two minutes later, Alan is stepping out from the same door and staring me down. I hold his gaze and hope it says that I’m not here to argue. I will tell him my truth, but only my truth, not Hannah’s, not Jake’s, not anybody else’s.

“I was wondering when I would see you.” He says.

I shrug one shoulder. “Isn’t a few months later better than never?”

“Let’s go into my office.” He says, and leads me around the desk and back into the closet space he had come out of. He sits behind the desk and motions for me to take a seat opposite him. “I’m just going to guess you’re not here to talk about Miss Donfort.”

“I want to see them.” I tell him. “His things. I want to see them for myself. And whatever you want from me in return, I’ll give to you.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game here, [MC].”

“He isn’t a game to me.” I snap back and then sit back and try to relax. “I appreciate that you called me. It’s—I helped you find Hannah. I would do it again. Even with knowing the things that we do now, I would do it all again. That’s how much that group means to me. That’s how much he means to me. I’m not asking you to break any rules or to lie for him or to—to let him hide in your basement for the next five years. I’m just asking you to show me what you found.”

He stares me down for a moment. Then, he sighs, says “wait here for a minute” and disappears to another room. When he comes back, it’s with an evidence bag in his hand filled with the objects I saw on his bodycam footage. My breath hitches in my throat.

“I can’t let you touch them.” He says as he lays them in front of me.

I stare into the eyes of the mask. “Did you tell anybody that he’s alive?”

“I don’t know that he’s alive,” is all the answer he gives, which is an answer to my question. I slide my gaze down to the black hoodie, to the dirtied sleeves and muddy hood, and think about the fact that Jake wore this. I’m so close to him.

And yet I’ve never been further away from him.

“Thank you.” I tell him. “For—for this. And for listening to me about Hannah. If you hadn’t, I—I don’t know what would have happened. How much longer he would have gone on for. If he would have ever stopped.”

Alan’s silent for a minute. Then, he clears his throat. “You know, it was strange to me. Both Hannah and yourself swore to me that neither of you knew the other.”

“I don’t.” I swear.

It was one of the (albeit many) things that didn’t make sense to me. How Hannah got a hold of my number. How she sent it to Thomas. She’d told Alan she hadn’t really remembered texting him my number at all.

“I believe you.” He reassures. “I just think it’s strange. One mistake, if you can call it that, and you throw yourself into a missing persons case to help a stranger.”

“They’re not strangers.” Even though Hannah is kind of still a stranger.

“But they were.” Alan reasons. “You had no reason to say yes to helping Thomas. I doubt anybody would have held it against you if you turned the other way. But you decided to follow this until the end. To make sure they found Hannah. And you care about them. Maybe that’s why I find that I’m more lenient with you than maybe I should be. Why you’re sitting across from me right now calling the shots. Why I’m not asking you about the hacker.”

“I wouldn’t tell you if you did.” I look him in the eye so he knows I’m telling the truth.

He returns my gaze. “Maybe that’s the other reason.”

“Hm.” I acknowledge before I turn my gaze away—from him, from the objects that I know belong to Jake and it takes everything in me not to snatch them up and run. “Well. Thank you for allowing me to steal some of your time. For letting me—” I cut myself off before I say something that makes me break down in a fit of tears in front of him. “—just thank you.”

Leaving the station is easier than coming in. I’m still not any closer to knowing where Jake is than I was when I arrived here, but there’s a comfort in knowing he walked these streets. I wonder what he would think if he knew I was here. He hadn’t wanted me to come to Duskwood when everything was happening…but now that it was over, would he be happy that I was here? That I had come to Duskwood to piece together where he might have gone? Would he track my location and come to find me and…or was I grasping at straws?

It felt like I had just gotten him back. Not really, not entirely…but knowing that he was alive, that he was out there somewhere, maybe thinking of me and looking for ways to come back, to live the life we talked about when he asked me if I was sure…that was worth it. The thought that we could maybe someday have that—even if it was a twenty percent chance.

I check my phone again to see a new message from Ash. She’s asking me if I’ve heard from Charlie in the last few hours. Apparently, he’s AWOL, and I want to help, really, but…it doesn’t really feel like that’s where I am at the moment. Not just physically—obviously—but mentally. We got lucky with Hannah. And that was really only because we had Jake. Adam didn’t have a Jake. Or…maybe he did and I just hadn’t met him yet. But I already had a Jake and I didn’t want another one.

Maybe—if I found him, I could convince him to help. That was a big maybe. Not because I thought Jake would say no. He would say yes to anything I asked of him. The maybe was whether or not I could find him. More likely, the maybe was whether or not he would find me.

Three months ago, I would have been able to come to Duskwood and have no shortage of things I wanted to do and people I wanted to see. Now, as I stand outside Duskwood’s police station, I feel nothing but loneliness. Nobody knows I’m here. I could pass Thomas on the street and he wouldn’t even know it. I could run into Jessy at the library and she would walk by me without even a second thought. Why would they? I hadn’t told them I was here.

So, with nothing left to do, I walked. Toward the town center. Toward the library that Jessy showed me on our walk through Duskwood. Toward the Rainbow Café where I knew that Cleo and Hannah had spent a lot of their time. Toward the Black Swan. Toward—

Ah, what the hell.

I had nothing better to do and The Aurora seemed like a great place to drown my sorrows. To think about my next steps. To figure out—now that I was in Duskwood—what I planned to do. The thing about Jake being so secretive (and on the run) was that I couldn’t retrace his steps. I wasn’t able to ask if anyone had seen him. One, because he would make sure nobody had. And two, because three months was a long time to forget somebody’s face if you didn’t know who you were looking for.

I pull open the door to the bar and step inside. Immediately, I’m hit with the stench of whiskey and a handful of chatter. Duskwood’s a small town. And The Aurora definitely proves it. The bartenders move melodically around each other, serving patrons on the other side of the bar. If you walk down further, there’s a handful of tables.

And dead in the center is a table with my friends. Or, some of them. Dan and Cleo and Lilly. Could I still call them my friends? Ex-friends, maybe? Acquaintances? I didn’t know what they were. Or how to address them. It wasn’t like we had gotten into a fight. We didn’t stop talking for any reason other than that we did. We stopped talking.

I make a beeline for the bar to avoid a confrontation and plant myself on one of the stools. One of the bartenders—a girl cute with bleach blonde hair and brown Bambi eyes—asks what I want and I channel my inner Dan to order a whiskey—neat.

Looking over my shoulder, I focus on the table of them. On Lilly, who’s smiling at something Cleo said. On Dan, who’s the only one of them who actually knows I’m here. But even he’s focused on the conversation they’re having. It’s strange—to see Dan a part of something I’m not sure he would have been before. It’s nice.

“[MC]?”

I turn my head away from the table of my friends and focus my attention across the bar on someone I should’ve expected to see. “Phil.”

“I thought I recognized your voice from when we talked.” He smiles. “I wasn’t sure, but I saw you staring longingly at them—” He nods towards Dan and Cleo and Lilly. “—and I knew. What brings you around here? I expected you to show up maybe a few months ago, but by now, I thought you’d moved on without us.”

I was tired of the words move on. Like I’d had a choice. Like the people from this town might open their arms and welcome me back into their lives. So I’d been part of the group who’d saved Hannah Donfort. So had a lot of people. It didn’t make me special and everyone here knew it.

I offer him a smile in return. “I’m looking for somebody.”

“Anybody I know?” He asks.

I shake my head. “Nah. At least nobody you would recognize.” I pause. “How’s Jessy?”

“She’s—Jessy.” He answers, like that is an answer. “I don’t know if she’ll ever really be okay with the way things happened with Richy. I wouldn’t expect her to. Obviously. But I don’t know. I think I just thought she would have gone back to her normal life by now. And then I remember that most of her life revolved around him. He was her best friend. She worked for him. And I’m trying to be patient about that. But—” He shakes his head. “Maybe you should talk to her.”

“She doesn’t know I’m in town.”

“Okay.” He hums. “So, you’re not in town for my sister. And you’re not in town for your group of friends because they’re over there and you look like you’d rather be anywhere else. There’s always Hannah, but I don’t think you knew her that well. Or at all. Would I be right to assume this is about a certain hacker who helped to find Hannah?”

“He didn’t help find Hannah.” I defend. “He was the entire reason we found Hannah. I would have never been able to do it on my own. Even with the others’ help. He’s the only reason we found out about—” I pause before I say something I maybe shouldn’t. “It doesn’t matter. He’s the only reason we found her. Everything I did was just dumb luck.”

“That wasn’t what the news said.” A voice cuts in and I turn my attention from Phil to focus on the stranger that slides into the seat beside me. Not too close—a couple inches away. I don’t recognize him. I don’t know him. But I don’t know every person in Duskwood. Maybe a total of like nine or ten. “I’m sorry to interrupt. But I heard you had a lot to do with finding Hannah Donfort. The news said you were some kind of hero.”

I offer him a tight smile. “That’s nice of them. But…if they knew my—friend—knew what he did to find her, I don’t think I would be as much of a hero as everybody says.”

“That’s noble.” He says, eyes meeting mine, and it strikes me at once how handsome he is. He has dark hair. Bright green eyes. Focus, [MC]. I scold. You have a…a someone.

My phone buzzes.

ERIC SENT A PHOTO.

ERIC: What do you make of this?

I sigh and click on the photo. It’s of—some object. Much like the one that was addressed to me on the envelope in Adam’s glove compartment. The image is a bit different—but I don’t know enough about what it means to have an answer as to why.

ME: Was this one addressed to me?

ERIC: Nope. Ash.

“Are you okay?” Phil asks.

I clear my throat. “I’m a popular person—apparently.” A thought strikes. “Have you ever heard of a place called Redlog Pines?”

Phil frowns. “No.”

I turn to look at the stranger. “You?”

“Redlog Pines is a small town about two hundred miles north of Duskwood.” He answers. “Known for their wooded forests, much like Duskwood.”

“Why are you looking into a place with forests as creepy as ours?” Phil asks, incredulously. “Didn’t you get enough of that with Hannah’s case?”

“Yeah.” I sigh. “You would think.”

“Hey, [MC]!”

I wince at the sound of Dan’s voice. Shooting Phil a look that screams please help me to which he shakes his head amusedly, I turn and plaster on a fake smile as I take in the shocked looks on Cleo and Lilly’s faces. I should have known better than to come to The Aurora and talk to Phil when the three of them were having a conversation across the room. I should have known they would sooner or later see me. I just hoped it was later.

“Hey.” I hop off my stool and make my way across the bar to them. “It’s, uh, fancy seeing the three of you here.”

“What are you doing here?” Cleo asks.

“I haven’t really figured that out.” My eyes meet Lilly’s. “It sounds crazy to say it out loud. But I was hoping that—I’m not sure if Lilly told you—”

“That Jake’s alive.” Cleo nods. “None of us ever really thought he wasn’t.”

I don’t think she means it as a dig—but it still feels like one. Like she’s saying you gave up on him you gave up on him you gave up on him even though she’s not and she didn’t really know him and the only person I can talk to at this table who even might understand is Lilly and even—Jake didn’t confide in her the way he did me.

“Right.” I acknowledge. “So I thought that maybe if I came here, I could trace his steps from when he was here and—I haven’t really thought that far ahead. It’s not like I thought he left me any clues in the forest or anything like that. I don’t think he expected me to be here. He hadn’t wanted me to be the last time we talked. But that was before everything happened.”

Lilly’s eyes track behind me. “Does Jake still have Nymos on your phone?”

“Uh.” I furrow my brows. “I think so. I hadn’t heard from him in a while, but I went back and read through our messages after I talked to Alan and…my phone glitched, like it used to when Jake had hacked it. And then this message appeared on my screen.”

“And by chance, can Nymos track your location?”

“What—” I shake my head. “Maybe. I don’t think I ever really asked him. It didn’t seem necessary at the time.”

“Uh huh.” She focuses on me once more. “Let’s say, for one minute, that Jake has access to Nymos who has access to your location.”

Cleo must catch onto something I’m not sure of. “Jake didn’t want you here.”

“Uh, thank you?”

“You know that’s not what I mean.” She waves me off. “He didn’t want you in Duskwood. He had been adamant about that when we were talking about the mine. That’s why he went. If you showed up in Duskwood—”

“Nymos would have alerted him.” Dan finishes.

“Okay…” I’m not entirely sure I’m on the same page as them. “So—you think that Jake found out when I came to Duskwood.”

“Correct.” Lilly beams like she just solved life’s greatest mystery.

“And you think he would—come find me?”

She smiles sympathetically at me—like I’m the world’s biggest idiot for not realizing what she has been trying to say sooner. “I think he already has.”

“You think Jake’s in Duskwood.” I deadpan.

“[MC].” Cleo grabs my shoulders and turns me around. “We think he’s in this bar.”

Stranger, as I had nicknamed him—AKA the guy sitting beside me at the bar, with Phil and Redlog Pines (which he probably only knew about because of me) and the whole Hannah being kidnapped and not taking any of the credit thing—was looking back at me. So was Phil. Like they thought I was the crazy one. Like it would’ve been so hard for him to look and me and say it’s me or anything that might have clued me into the fact that—

“Jake?” I whisper, because I’ve lost quite a bit of sleep over the past couple of months and I’m not one hundred percent sure what—or who—I’m seeing is real. “Are you here?”

He tilts his head and smiles at me. Actually smiles. A bit shyly, like it’s something he’s not used to doing, but maybe like it’s something he could get used to. And I think about how terrible I probably look right now because I’m not wearing makeup and my hair is tousled from constantly pulling at it and my clothes are wrinkled from the plane and the police station and I look like a mess. But our relationship has never been about looks. Clearly. I didn’t even know the person I’d been talking to until Lilly and Cleo and even Dan pointed out the obvious.

“If I—” I close my eyes and open them again. Nope. Still there. “I need you to still be there by the time I reach you because it’s been a—” I sniffle. “—it’s been a rough few months and I don’t think I could handle you disappearing again.”

He stands from the stool he was sitting on and shuffles his feet. Like he’s not quite sure where he’s supposed to stand. If he thinks about moving, I’ll tackle him onto the floor of The Aurora and then apologize to Phil later. It feels like everything I wanted is right here in front of me. And I’m scared to death that it’s not real.

“What’s one thing you would take with you if you were stranded on an island?”

His smile stretches. “My computer.”

And that—that’s what breaks me. I think I might start blubbering like an idiot but I don’t remember the time it takes for me to cross the measly twenty feet between us. All I remember is grabbing his black hoodie—because of course—and dragging him to me. I don’t kiss him, despite how much I want to, because I don’t want our first kiss to be tainted with my snot and tears. Instead, I bury my face in his collarbone and wrap my arms around his neck and hold on for dear life.

Because I can. Because he isn’t dead.

“Y—You’re here.” I pull back and cup his face with my hands. “How are you here?”

“You came to Duskwood.” He responds, and then—hesitantly—he presses his lips to my forehead in a kiss. “Alan called you.”

“He found your things in the forest.” I whisper back. “He said they’d been there a while. The police hadn’t searched the forest because they assume you died in the mine.”

“They aren’t looking for me here.” He confirms. “I didn’t expect it to take so long for them to find my belongings, but I anticipated that you would find out. At the time, it wasn’t safe for me to reach out and contact you. They kept on my trail for a while before they assumed I died in the mine with Richy.”

“Why didn’t you contact me then?” I ask. “Is it because of what I last messaged you? I didn’t mean it—I swear, I thought you were dead. If I had known you were alive, I would have waited, however long it took. I wasn’t trying to give up on you.”

“Hey.” He places both hands on either side of my face. “I know. I know that, [MC]. That was never why I didn’t reach out to you. I know you said you wanted this life with me. But I didn’t want that for you. But I was selfish. I couldn’t let you go. So I was trying to find a way to make both of those things true. But I was always coming back to you.”

“And did you?”

“Come back to you?” He asks.

I sniffle. “Find a way to make both of those things true.”

“Not entirely.” He admits. “Nymos alerted me you had boarded a plane headed in the direction of Duskwood and I—” He shook his head. “I knew I would find you here.”

“You could have found me sooner.”

He lets go of my face and he feels like he takes my skin with him. “It wasn’t that easy.”

“It could have been.” I demand.

I’m angry again. Now that I know he’s alive and okay and that he could have found me, I’m angry that he didn’t. I told him I would choose that life with him. Over and over and over. He didn’t need to make the decision for me. He didn’t need to try and protect me. And yes, maybe the fact that he did makes my heart flutter a tiny little bit, but that’s besides the point.

“I told you before you left me.” I tell him and I’m aware it sounds like we’ve been in a relationship for five years and I’m aware that everybody in here is watching and listening in on our conversation and they probably all know we’re who we are, two people involved in helping to find the kidnapped Hannah Donfort, and maybe that’s all we’ll ever be in this town. But I would rather be the girl who found Hannah Donfort in Duskwood with him than be me anywhere else. “You told me you would let me go with you.”

“That was before I told you I loved you.”

My heart skips a beat. It screams I love you I love you I love you back, but I say— “What does that have to do with anything?”

He looks somewhat amused. Like he knows I would never hold it against him. It’s clear to both of us that I wouldn’t because even though I’m glaring up at him with my furrowed eyebrows and my lips pouted, I’m still pressed tightly against him. His hands—even though they’ve moved from my face—are now resting on my hips. Pulling my tighter to him. There’s no space in between us. If it was up to me, I’m pretty sure there never would be again.

“[MC].” He says, and oh god I wish he would say my name every day for the rest of his life. “Have I—in the short time we have known each other—ever struck you as the type of person who says I love you? But with you…” His words are a whisper against my lips. “It’s easy to fall back into old emotions with you.”

“I want to be angry with you.” I tell him.

He shakes his head. “No, you don’t.”

“No, I don’t.” I agree. “But I might be if you don’t kiss me.”

He brought one finger underneath my chin and tilted it up until our lips were separated by a fraction of an inch. My eyelids fluttered. I didn’t care that everyone in here was about to see just how much Jake meant to be. I didn’t care because I had waited too long for this. And then—just as I’m leaning toward him to press our lips together, he whispers— “[MC]?”

“Hm.” I acknowledge.

“Who’s Eric?”

My eyelids crack open and I shove at his chest. “That’s what you’re worried about right now? Here I am, in front of you, covered in snot and tears and who-knows-what-else because you’re here right now, and you’re worried about some guy I don’t even know?”

“Who’s Eric?” He repeats.

“Ugh.” I run my hands through my hair and take a step back. “I don’t know. He’s the other side of Thomas or whatever you want to call him. If we lived in a different town.” I glare back at him and try not to admit that I think his jealous side is a little cute. “He messaged me. Thought I picked up his friend from some parking lot and I didn’t, but his friend sent him my number, and it was Hannah all over again. I’m trying to help them.”

“This Adam has been sending you a lot of videos.”

“You know I hate when you hack my phone.” I complain, even though I really don’t. Even though I had prayed for him to help me with this case. “I really don’t know Adam. Like—even less than I know Eric.

“But you know Eric.”

“For like a week.” I reassure. “He added me to this group chat with him and like three other friends of his. They’re desperate to find Adam who has apparently dropped off the face of the earth and I don’t know what to do. I had you with Hannah’s case. And you knew her. And they—” I look over my shoulder at Cleo and Dan and Lilly, who are pretending like they’re not listening in even though I know and Jake knows they are. “—they knew her. And obviously Adam’s friends must know him but I don’t and you don’t and there is no Jake in Redlog Pines.”

“I don’t trust him.” He shakes his head. “Any of them.”

I laugh. “Jake, you didn’t trust half the people in this bar when we first started talking.” I look over at Phil and then Dan. “It doesn’t mean they committed a crime. If I had backed off when you asked me to help you find Hannah, we may never have.”

“I thought that was all thanks to me.” He sounds smug, like that little smiley face he loved to annoy me with (AKA make me fall in love with him). “Did he flirt with you?”

“No.” I deadpan. “I think he was focused on his missing friend.”

“I was focused on my missing sister.” He shoots back.

I close my mouth. Alright. He has a point. But I wasn’t flirting with Eric. He was focused on finding Adam and I was focused on mourning—and then finding—Jake. Maybe it felt like Eric and I were two sides of the same coin. Maybe that’s why I agreed to help him. Because I didn’t want to happen to him what I thought had happened to Jake—to me.

“You’re being ridiculous.” I say instead. “How do you think I could ever entertain the idea of being with somebody else when for the past three months—more than that if you count the time we have actually had together—I’ve been focused on you? On discussing Hannah with you and then talking to you about anything and everything and then worrying about you and then hating you a little for convincing me you should me the one to go into the mine and then mourning you when it was hard to even think about you and then finding you?”

His eyes are wide. I think I’ve rendered him speechless. Which—serves him right. I know he’s not somebody who serves their feelings up on a silver platter. I know that. Obviously, I knew that from the first time I spoke to him. Back when he was nothing more than ??? and I was almost convinced that Dan was right and he was the Man Without A Face—a thought that I now hate with everything in me. But I need him to trust me. Jealousy streak and FBI and the missing persons cases aside, he needs to trust me.

“Trust me.” I cup the sides of his face again. “He’s nothing like you.”

He swallows. “Some people might consider that to be a perk.”

“I don’t.” I say.

And then I’m kissing him and it feels like coming home.

[babeczka415]

Curious minds want to know..

Well in reality my mind..

Who wants me to finish posting "Heart like a Truck"?

I love the story and Cecilia and Jake but unsure if I should just keep it for myself.

[babeczka415]

I'm barely in and not crazy about it

I mean if they don't give the amount of Jake content we deserve in Moonvale then what's the point?????

No offence to other characters, but JAKE IS WHAT KEEPS THE FANDOM TOGETHER

JAKE IS THE REASON THERE IS A FANDOM IN THE FIRST PLACE

[babeczka415]

Definitely a "happy accident" getting to know Jake.

Also I agree, what did she see in Thomas??

I was thinking when the new game hits in the side story will we finally get an answer from Hannah as to why she wrote our number down was their a reason? Or just a happy accident

[babeczka415]

Ahh!!! Now to replay Duskwood again

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ARGHHHH ITS HAPPENING THEY FINALLY GAVE US A DATE!!!

[babeczka415]

no thoughts. Just cuteness

[babeczka415]

I've been so MIA from so much social media this last almost year. Its been a whirldwind of a rollercoaster. Life took me down a rough path and while I wanted to write and be in the Duskwood community, I just couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to write or do much so I took this for me. I stepped away from my love of writing and took care of what I needed to.

While there is still work to be done, I miss it. I have no idea if the Duskwood fandom is even still alive but I plan on finishing up what I have started while waiting for the bew game still.

[babeczka415]

A/N: writing is something I have really missed @paigenoelchas-blog thank you so much for helping me get back to this.

Flutter in her stomach, butterflies. She is living for these little magic nights when she is with him. She gets the feeling of being high; you can see it in her big pretty eyes.

She had no idea that today she was going to feel this way. It's been another hectic morning at the coffee house she found a job at. It's always asking for a name and all the different coffee's that she has memorized. However, today felt different. The normal busy business feels even busier. It makes sense as the holidays are around the corner so everyone is doing their holiday shopping.

He comes walking in and lets out a sigh. His blue eyes scan the coffee house for one of his half sisters. Jake is suppose to be meeting Hannah here to do holiday shopping as he is meeting the rest of the family this Christmas. They both agreed to meet here as its a halfway point between Duskwood and where he has been staying. 

Jake wasn't a fan of coming in and seeing the long line but he decided to get in the line as he needed coffee if he was going to make it through shopping. He knew what he was ordering, it is always a basic 20 oz americano no matter where he goes.

As the line moves she feels a change in her. She feels these butterflies in her stomach. MC has always been one to fall fast so her heart comes full of scars. 

“What's the name on the order, sir?” She asks looking up. She felt the chemistry, it feels like a gravititational pull.

“Jake, 20 oz americano.” He looks up from his phone and is stunned by the hazel eyes looking at him. He feels pulled to her in a way he never has before.

She smiles and feels herself blushing. She always stayed away from guys with J names but this is like two lost souls meeting and intertwining forever. She takes his order and writes his name on the cup holder. She decides to be hold for the first time in her life and puts her name and phone number on it. 

As she hands him the sleeve their hands touch and there is an electric spark between them. Neither one of them ever believed in fate or soulmates but here right now changes them both.

—----------------

MC is off work finally and walks outside the still busy coffee shop. She's thankful its now her two days off. She looks up and sees the man from earlier with a brunette girl

“Jake, we don't need more coffee!” Hannah yells

“Coffee, means I see her again.” He grumbes to his sister.

Their eyes lock and they both blush so hard.

Hannah sees this, “oh my brother has a crush…” she's stopped mid sentence by Jake's hand over her mouth.

A giggle escapes MC as she hears this interaction between the two.”I wouldn't go back in there. It's worse then earlier with the line. And I must say the man at the register isn't as cute as the girl earlier.”

“Jake, I told you it was going to be worse”, Hannah states.

“I know a place not far from here that also makes great coffee that noone really knows about. I was heading there myself, would you like to join?” MC asks.

“Yes” states Hannah and Jake at the same time.

They spend the afternoon at a little cafe enjoying the food until Hannah leaves. However, Jake doesn't want to leave yet. He feels this connection with this woman that he never has before. The spend the rest of the day and evening walking around going to little shops and just getting to know each other. Before she knows it they are back in front of her work and her and Jake are kissing softly.

Jake looks into her hazels as they pull away from this kiss. MC is pinned between hin and the wall next to her door. He has no idea what it is about this woman, he isn't one to fall fast at all. "I cannot simply evade you and I don't even want to." 

[babeczka415]

The Island

A/N: this has been sitting in my documents for forever and I finally finished and editted it. Its was inspired by @reds-ramblings story.

It's been ten years since we found Hannah. Ten years since I last saw him, expect on TV or the courtroom. He kept his promise and so did I. We met in Duskwood, I saw him before anyone else from the group for a night. It was heated, emotional, and passionate. However, he decided to turn himself in so we can live a life together one day. We had no idea that from one night together, we would have a little one. I was unable to see him while he was in prision even with his daughter, because we weren't officially family.  I waited, Hannah and Lilly kept him updated on me and Faye.

Oh Faye, shes the spitting image of him, even ten years later she's loving computers. I never forgot what he told me before handing himself over to the FBI "MC, I love you but don't wait for me." I couldnt see anyone else because my heart was taken.

Ten years ago my heart shattered as he was arrested. Five years ago I decided I needed to change something and I remember him telling me about someone he knew that owned an island with a resort. The whole group decided to go and I fell in love with the place. Faye and I made it a yearly trip, until this year. I saw the man was selling it and I had the savings and could get the loan so I did the irrational thing. Jake would have been the only one to talk me out of it.

Fast forward to today, I'm standing on the boat waiting for the gang with Faye. The cool spring breeze is on my face and I smell the salt in the air. Jake would be so proud of me for these last year.

"Mom, when can I see Dad?" She asks,  so excited for that moment.

This is a conversation I know too well and it breaks my heart. "Hopefully soon he should be out."

I see the cars pull up and everyone gets out. However I see an extra person and my heart jumps out of my chest.

Hannah and him walk up to the boat together and I finally see his face clear and run off the boat, almost falling. He grabs my waist and looks into my eyes.

"Hi, MC" he says with the smile that just melted my heart 10 years ago.

"Is this real? Are you really my Jake?" I ask as tears run down my cheek.

"I am" he say wiping them away.

"I wanted to surpise you with how much you've been working on this place and taking care of Faye" says Hannah.

"Oh my god! Your daughter" i exclaim. I go to turn around to call her and he grabs my chin and kisses me deep.

All concerns of everything in that moment leaves my body. I wrap my arms around his neck not wanting to pull away.

"Hey there are kids around" says Dan as he pushes past us.

We finally break the kiss and I lean into his chest. I turn around and I see Faye, looking at us and blush.

"Sweetie, this is your dad" I say with tears in my eyes.

Jake lets go of me and reaches out for her. "Hi Faye," he says with a smile and she jumps in his arms.

I look at them then look at Hannah. "You have no idea how happy you just made both of us" I say to her, her brown eyes the total opposite of Jake's and Lillys blues.

"I have an idea. I know she's been asking about him a lot lately." She says.

Watching Jake just hold her, melts my heart. My family is finally whole after 9 years.

Everyone finally gets on the boat and as always when taking out of the dock Faye runs to the front. She leans against the rail and I watch her.

"She's just like you, carefree" I hear Jake say.

"She's also yours. She's stubborn, reserved, loves computers. I swear she took after you more then me." I say watching her.

Jake spins me around looking into my eyes. "Why didn't you move on?" He asks.

"I tried but I had found out I was pregnant with Faye right after and I knew she was yours. In that moment, I knew I had to be strong so when you did get out we could be a family." I say as I look away. "I mean if that is what you want" as I bite my lip.

He lifts my chin, "I very much do. Hannah kept me uodated on you and her everytime she came to visit or we talked on the phone. I instantly knew who she was because Hannah showed me pictures." He says brushing hair away from my face.

"I want you to know, I tried to visit and get on your call list for Faye's sake '' I say looking into his eyes.

"I know you did. My lawyer told me but because we were not engaged and they didn't want to do a DNA test on her you couldn't get even her on the list.."

"Yeah" I say wanting to kiss him again. All of sudden I feel another set of arms around me and I see Faye.

"Mommy, you look so happy today" she says hugging me then running to her seat.

I blush and go to follow her. "They got her for a moment" Jake say grabbing my hand. "I got out a couple days ago and I knew I wanted to be with you." He says and I can see he's getting nervous. "So when Hannah told me you had bought this place and fixed it up, i thought it would be a perfect surprise."

"Jake, I want to be with you also" I say grabbing his face. "Seeing you get out of the car with the group my heart I swear jumped put of my chest."

"MC, will you officially be mine?" He asks.

"I mean we hav to make sure its okay with Faye'' I laugh "but yes jake!" I say wrapping my arms around him.

He kisses me deeply and passionately again. Once we pull away to catch our breath, I look up at him. 

"Yeah Faye is staying in the room with the other kids" I say with a smile.

"I do want some father daughter time if she wants it" he says, looking into my eyes.

"Oh she definitely will. She's been asking nonstop questions about you and a lot of them I cant answer. What she wants most is to spend time with you."

The boat docks and everyone runs off towards the resort. I smile watching Faye with her cousins. Jake is up there playing with the kids as I finally get off the dock. 

"MC, your girl is right, you are happier" says Dan as he comes walking back to me.

"For nine years I waited for this and I never imagined she would take to him like this" I say with a tear in my eye.

He pulls me close "she wants to know him and see her mom happy" he says.

"I just hope we can make it work. We never had a chance and now if it doesn't her heart will break too." I say hugging him.

"Hey don't think like that. I'll tell you something I probably shouldn't but your a sister to me." He says with a sigh.

"Well spit it out Dan" I say with a laugh.

"The last few days when he was around Hannah, Lilly, and the kids he just kept asking about you and her. Wanting to know everything possible from everyone." 

"Wait so everyone knew he was coming?" I say as I start walking to them.

"Yeah but with all on your plate we agreed to make it a surpise. Seeing your face light up from the boat and run towards him was worth it, MC" he says following me.

Faye comes running up with Jakes hand in hers "mom!" She calls and he follows her. "Can we go out on the water in those boats?" She asks.

"Sure, find one of your cousins to go with you." I say meeting them half way.

"But mom, I wanted to go with Dad" she whines.

I look at Jake in shock, then look back at her. I crouch down to her and try to be gentle with my words. "I want everyone to test them out including the smaller ones for you kid" I say trying to reason with her.

She pouts and runs off to find one of the kids to join her and I stand up.

"Did that really just happened?" Ask Dan

I look at Jake and he's just as surpised as me. "Yeah she called him Dad already '' I say looking at Dan.

He walks past Jake and taps his shoulder "good luck man. She's a real wild one just like her mom" he laughs as he walks past us with his bag.

"Sorry I wasn't expecting that" I say blushing.

"Neither was I. Dan's right you know, shes wild like you" he says wrapping his arms around me.

We walk hand and hand inside where everyone is and i give them all their keys. Jessy and Cleo agreed to stay in the room with the kids, even adding Faye to the bunch. I take Jake up to my room and grab the extra key I have and hand it to him. "If we are really going to try and make this work…" I say lost in thought as Faye comes running in.

"Mom! I thought I was staying in here with you!" She whines.

I turn away from Jake and as Im about to say something Jake steps in. "Your Mom and I talked, we think you could use some time with your cousins on this trip" he says in a smoothing voice.

I look at him and realize how much he's already stepping in as a parent and it melts my heart to the point I want to lock the doors and stay in bed with him this whole trip.

She whines and stomps away grabbing her bag. I hear her say something under her breath.

"Don't even go there missy" as I raise my voice to her.

She turns around "he just came into my life and your taking him away from me" she yells.

I walk up to her and sit on the bed in front of her. I take a sigh as I try to find the right words. "Faye, you need to understand your father and I need to figure some things out before we jump in as a family. I promise you will have tons of time with him apart of your life. He can teach you all that computer stuff you've been struggling with and take you out for icecream and have fun." I say looking into her eyes.

She come closer to me, "will you be there too?"

I look at Jake then back into her blue eyes, "yes" i say not wanting to break her heart more right now. "Go get ready though to go out on the water." 

She gets the biggest smile on her face and runs to the bathroom. I look at Jake and sigh hoping I just made the right call.

He comes picks me up, wrapping his arms around me. "You're doing amazing raising her. Just know I am here now and don't plan to leave anytime soon" he whispers into my ear.

"I know you don't but what if…" he stops me mid sentence with a gentle kiss. 

"No what ifs right now, MC. We will figure this all out together." He says

Its later in the day, we had a fun day st the water and around the island just all of us. We finally get all the kids into bed and we all head outside to the firepit that Dan and Thomas started for us. 

Jake pulls me close in the seat were both in and he feels me cold. He takes off his hoodie and gives it to me. 

"Its okay the fire will warm me up" I say looking at him.

"MC dont be stubborn just take it" he whispers into my ear with a growl. 

My body shivers knowing what he wants after ten years and I put it on. It smells just like him and I curl up against him.

Jessy is the first to notice how close we are right now. "Okay we need to talk about the elephant in the room. What is going on with you two?" She asks.

"Yeah I think we have the right to know if you're not going to tell Faye" says Lilly.

I look at Jake for some form of help but he's just watching me. "We're seeing what happens." I look af them as I say it. "You all know how much we were in love ten years ago .  Obviously things happened that one night. '' I laugh.

"We know how you two felt back then" says Dan.

"Yeah but what about now?" Asks Hannah.

"It's pretty obvious" says Cleo. "They are still in love."

"We are seeing where things lead. There is another heart we have to both make sure doesn't break" states Jake.

After a couple hours around the fire everyone starts to dwindle inside and while the fire is out Jake and I just sit there. I finally decidd to get up but he grabs my hand and pulls me back down.

"There's something I want to show you" i say looking into his eyes.

"Wanted to make sure you weren't leaving" he says.

"Definitely not there is a gorgeous spot that looks out over the water. It's not far fron here" i say standing up but taking his hand.

It's nearly midnight but with being with Jake I'm wide awake and we walk up to the spot. In the moonlight its even more breathtaking 

All you see is the darkness of the water and the moonlight over the cliff and hear the water crashing below. He pulls me close and between the smell of him, the smoke, and the salt water my mind is totally lost as he wraps his arms around my waist with my back to him.

"MC, are you really worried things wont work?" He asks.

"I am because its not just are hearts at stake. I have for the past ten years had someone else to watch out for. It's only day on and she loves you" i say taking a deep breath.

"I always want to be there for both of you" he says.

"I know you do Jake. However we both know that last time we were together it was passionate and strong. We didnt think about the future in that night and let things happen." I say turning towards him.

I see the love in his eyes as the moonlight hits him. I feel the warmth of him even through his hoodie I'm wearing. I lose all control over my emotions of trying to keep my heart safe for Fayes sake and kiss him like when I saw him on the dock. This time noone is around to stop us and i feel his hands move to my neck and my ass pulling me even closer as we can't stop what is going to happen.

Jakes POV

I wake up to the sun coming up over the water and I see her. She's still sleeping on my chest my hoodie is over both of us as a blanket and our clothes are on the ground. I want nothing more then to keep this feeling locked away forever but I know i need to wake her up. I kiss the top of her head and she stirs awake. 

"Good morning beautiful" I say with a smile.

"Good morning handsome" she says looking up at me with a smile. "Oh shit we should get back.” As she sits up and realizes we're both naked.

I pull her back to me, this time kissing her gently. Ahe pulls away again but all concern is gone. She reaches for our clothes and we get dressed. She throws on my hoodie which looks good on her and I take her hand.

"I guess we really are giving this a true chance" she says looking towards the water.

I grab her chin and direct her to look at me. "My love, did we even have any other choices.

She shivers as she looks into my eyes, "not really. Your my home" she says as she leans info me.

MC pov:

We walk back to the resort and thankfully as we walk in the front door it doesn't sound like anyone is away. We walk up to the room and see Faye sleeping in the bed.

"I knew she wouldn't make it the night," I says softly with a smile. I walk away from Jake and lift her up. I goes to carry her out of the room but he takes her. 

"How about we do pancakes for everyone?" He ask.

"Pancakes?" A sleepy Faye states while Jake holds her.

"Give me a few moments, okay?" I ask, smiling at Jake holding her.

He kisses my cheek and lays Faye down. I grab change if clothes and head into the bathroom. At this moment I'm so thankful I have my phone. I pull up the messages and see Jessy is online.

MC: oh my we need girl talk!

Jessy: did you even sleep?

Mc: i mean if you count a few hours outside 😜

Jessy: coffee with girl talk?

MC: we're gonna make pancakes. Oh by the way good job keeping Faye in the room last night. 🤣

Jessy: she wouldn't have it and I didnt want her to wake up the others.

Mc: its okay we actually found her this morning in the bed. But going to clean up and head down to the kitchen with Jake and Faye.

There's a knock on the bathroom door "mom, dad and I are heading to the kitchen to start pancakes" Faye says.

"Okay I'll be right down" i say. I smile at her love already for him. 

MC: Jessy! Come here so we can talk

Jessy: okay I'll be right over.

I hear them leave and a few minutes later there is a knock on the door. I open and its Jessy wearing her PJ. I grab her hand and pull her in.

"Girl, what am I going to do?" I say so worried.

"Look, he wants to be part of her life no matter what so just let this run its course."

"No you don't understand. We did it last night out on that cliff I told you about. All it took was once and we got Faye. I don't know if i could handle it if it doesn't work and us having two kids" I say breaking down.

Jessy grabs my shoulders "don't think of it like that. You're an amazing mom and he's showing he wants to be around." She says.

"Jessy, wait if all we have is passionate love explodes and then its nothing. We've never had the chance to see if we can keep these feelings" i say looking at her with tears in my eyes.

She pulls me in for a hug "just take it a day at a time sweetie. Also would it really be bad if you guys had another one?" She laughs. "That man is madly in love with you."

I realize she is telling me the truth. Jake and I need to take this a day at a time together and learn each other and build a family with Faye.