Fic: Jericho – Puzzling It Out – G
Apr. 13th, 2009 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanaquiljallTitle: Puzzling It Out
Fandom: Jericho
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Words: 1065
Summary: On the way to Black Jack Fairgrounds, Heather finds a solution to a puzzle.
Author's Note: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
story_lottery and prompt #2: crossword puzzle. Thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scribblesinink for dragging me into a fun new fandom, for the discussions that went into this story, and for beta help.
Disclaimer: These stories are based on the Junction Entertainment/ Fixed Mark Productions/ CBS Paramount Television series Jericho. They were written for entertainment only; the author does not profit from them nor was any infringement of copyright intended.
***
It was a long drive to Black Jack Fairgrounds, and the back of the Roadrunner was cramped. But that wasn't the most uncomfortable thing about the trip. The most uncomfortable thing was being in the car with Jake Green.
This was so not a date.
The four of them – Jake driving, Johnston in the shotgun seat, Dale and Heather in the back – barely exchanged a word as the miles rolled by. Jake and his father occasionally debated the best way to bypass the few small towns that straddled their route, their low voices almost lost in the throb of the engine and the rumble of the tires. Dale was entirely silent. And Heather kept her attention fixed on the flat landscape visible past Johnston's right shoulder, trying not to let her gaze drift to settle on Jake's half profile.
Trying not to notice the way his lengthening hair curled against his neck, or his slight frown as he concentrated on the road ahead, or how his long fingers confidently cradled the steering wheel. Trying to ignore the flush of heat within her every time she remembered what it had been like to kiss him.
She wasn't upset. She'd told him that yesterday, and it was the truth. She was past being upset.
For the first few days, she hadn't even minded they hadn't talked. He'd had his dad to worry about, and then.... Well, these days it was just one thing after another for everyone, wasn't it?
In the end, it had taken her the best part of a fortnight to realise he was avoiding her. Sure, he'd acknowledge her with a wave – as he was crossing the street away from her. He'd give her an apologetic can't-get-away shrug while he listened to Gray or Jimmy or Bill griping about the latest thing they expected him to fix, instead of seizing on her presence as an excuse to escape from them. When he did meet her face to face, he'd say hi, but his gaze would slide away, and he was always on his way to somewhere else.
And it hurt. When she finally saw what she'd been trying to ignore – you are such a dumbass, Lisinski – it hurt like hell. Because she knew from the way he'd kissed her back he felt something for her. Heck, she wouldn't have kissed him in the first place if she hadn't thought, from a hundred little gestures and looks, and those cute little lopsided grins of his, that he was interested.
But it seemed making sense of Jake Green was like trying to do a crossword puzzle where she'd inked in the wrong answer for one across right off the bat. She was never going to solve it.
Or maybe he was more like one of those clueless puzzles, where you had to break the code of which letter went with which number. Seemed like every new hint she'd gotten had made her realise the stuff she'd figured out on her own was just plain wrong.
First of all she'd thought he was a big damn hero: getting the schoolbus back home after the bombs; improvising when they hadn't been able to fix the generator in the Med Center shelter; saving Bonnie and Emily from those escaped prisoners. Then, just when she had it fixed in her head that he was Captain America, she'd found out from Emily that he was the family black sheep. Not a bad kid at heart, but a little wild, always finding trouble.
She'd found out more from the gossips shopping in Gracie's and gathering after church and dropping their kids off at the school she was still managing to hold together. They swapped confidences in undertones about how much he'd changed – or about how maybe he hadn't changed at all, but what the town needed right now were men like that.
She'd heard other gossip too. About how Jake was spending a lot of time with Emily. About how maybe Emily was forgetting she was an almost-married woman. About how Emily had always been right there alongside Jake when he was raising hell, Bonnie to his Clyde.
Still was. Emily had been the one to sneak into Jonah Prowse's compound and bust out the truck with the generator, right under Jonah's nose. And before that, she was the one who'd braved the lion in his den and sweet-talked him into giving up one of the few fast cars still running in Jericho so Jake could make the trip to Rogue River.
Sitting in the back of that self-same Roadrunner, Heather had to admit that it made poor old Charlotte look like the heap of junk she was. And she couldn't ignore the fact that Heather Lisinski was no Bonnie Parker.
Which maybe meant anything between her and Jake had been doomed from the start. Even if the gossips were wrong about Emily, Heather was beginning to realize she'd been fooling herself with hoping it was just wrong place, wrong time for her and Jake.
That was how she'd handled it in the end. Consoling herself that if things had been different, and the world hadn't ended....
Yeah, right, Lisinski: and then you'd have never met him. At least that would mean she didn't have that ache inside her every time she looked at him. Would mean she didn't keep hoping for the world to change again, so they had a chance.
She'd never had a chance. Watching the raw Nebraska landscape passing by, she knew that now. She saw the way other people looked at him, looked to him. Looked for him to run their risks and do their dirty work. Saw the way he looked back at them: with love, yes, but with a touch of cynicism, too, for their timidity and inaction. He needed someone who could match him step for step.
Maybe he wasn't like a crossword puzzle at all, but like a game of Scrabble. You took the game where you wanted on the board, you made the best of the letters you had, and you threw them back and drew a new hand if you didn't like what fate had dealt you.
Maybe, Heather thought, as they drew up in front of the entrance to Black Jack Fairgrounds, it was time for her to put the crossword puzzles down and pick up something else.
Fandom: Jericho
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Words: 1065
Summary: On the way to Black Jack Fairgrounds, Heather finds a solution to a puzzle.
Author's Note: Written for
story_lottery and prompt #2: crossword puzzle. Thanks to scribblesinink for dragging me into a fun new fandom, for the discussions that went into this story, and for beta help.Disclaimer: These stories are based on the Junction Entertainment/ Fixed Mark Productions/ CBS Paramount Television series Jericho. They were written for entertainment only; the author does not profit from them nor was any infringement of copyright intended.
It was a long drive to Black Jack Fairgrounds, and the back of the Roadrunner was cramped. But that wasn't the most uncomfortable thing about the trip. The most uncomfortable thing was being in the car with Jake Green.
This was so not a date.
The four of them – Jake driving, Johnston in the shotgun seat, Dale and Heather in the back – barely exchanged a word as the miles rolled by. Jake and his father occasionally debated the best way to bypass the few small towns that straddled their route, their low voices almost lost in the throb of the engine and the rumble of the tires. Dale was entirely silent. And Heather kept her attention fixed on the flat landscape visible past Johnston's right shoulder, trying not to let her gaze drift to settle on Jake's half profile.
Trying not to notice the way his lengthening hair curled against his neck, or his slight frown as he concentrated on the road ahead, or how his long fingers confidently cradled the steering wheel. Trying to ignore the flush of heat within her every time she remembered what it had been like to kiss him.
She wasn't upset. She'd told him that yesterday, and it was the truth. She was past being upset.
For the first few days, she hadn't even minded they hadn't talked. He'd had his dad to worry about, and then.... Well, these days it was just one thing after another for everyone, wasn't it?
In the end, it had taken her the best part of a fortnight to realise he was avoiding her. Sure, he'd acknowledge her with a wave – as he was crossing the street away from her. He'd give her an apologetic can't-get-away shrug while he listened to Gray or Jimmy or Bill griping about the latest thing they expected him to fix, instead of seizing on her presence as an excuse to escape from them. When he did meet her face to face, he'd say hi, but his gaze would slide away, and he was always on his way to somewhere else.
And it hurt. When she finally saw what she'd been trying to ignore – you are such a dumbass, Lisinski – it hurt like hell. Because she knew from the way he'd kissed her back he felt something for her. Heck, she wouldn't have kissed him in the first place if she hadn't thought, from a hundred little gestures and looks, and those cute little lopsided grins of his, that he was interested.
But it seemed making sense of Jake Green was like trying to do a crossword puzzle where she'd inked in the wrong answer for one across right off the bat. She was never going to solve it.
Or maybe he was more like one of those clueless puzzles, where you had to break the code of which letter went with which number. Seemed like every new hint she'd gotten had made her realise the stuff she'd figured out on her own was just plain wrong.
First of all she'd thought he was a big damn hero: getting the schoolbus back home after the bombs; improvising when they hadn't been able to fix the generator in the Med Center shelter; saving Bonnie and Emily from those escaped prisoners. Then, just when she had it fixed in her head that he was Captain America, she'd found out from Emily that he was the family black sheep. Not a bad kid at heart, but a little wild, always finding trouble.
She'd found out more from the gossips shopping in Gracie's and gathering after church and dropping their kids off at the school she was still managing to hold together. They swapped confidences in undertones about how much he'd changed – or about how maybe he hadn't changed at all, but what the town needed right now were men like that.
She'd heard other gossip too. About how Jake was spending a lot of time with Emily. About how maybe Emily was forgetting she was an almost-married woman. About how Emily had always been right there alongside Jake when he was raising hell, Bonnie to his Clyde.
Still was. Emily had been the one to sneak into Jonah Prowse's compound and bust out the truck with the generator, right under Jonah's nose. And before that, she was the one who'd braved the lion in his den and sweet-talked him into giving up one of the few fast cars still running in Jericho so Jake could make the trip to Rogue River.
Sitting in the back of that self-same Roadrunner, Heather had to admit that it made poor old Charlotte look like the heap of junk she was. And she couldn't ignore the fact that Heather Lisinski was no Bonnie Parker.
Which maybe meant anything between her and Jake had been doomed from the start. Even if the gossips were wrong about Emily, Heather was beginning to realize she'd been fooling herself with hoping it was just wrong place, wrong time for her and Jake.
That was how she'd handled it in the end. Consoling herself that if things had been different, and the world hadn't ended....
Yeah, right, Lisinski: and then you'd have never met him. At least that would mean she didn't have that ache inside her every time she looked at him. Would mean she didn't keep hoping for the world to change again, so they had a chance.
She'd never had a chance. Watching the raw Nebraska landscape passing by, she knew that now. She saw the way other people looked at him, looked to him. Looked for him to run their risks and do their dirty work. Saw the way he looked back at them: with love, yes, but with a touch of cynicism, too, for their timidity and inaction. He needed someone who could match him step for step.
Maybe he wasn't like a crossword puzzle at all, but like a game of Scrabble. You took the game where you wanted on the board, you made the best of the letters you had, and you threw them back and drew a new hand if you didn't like what fate had dealt you.
Maybe, Heather thought, as they drew up in front of the entrance to Black Jack Fairgrounds, it was time for her to put the crossword puzzles down and pick up something else.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-04-15 02:34 pm (UTC)I am also a fan of Jericho (*sigh* how I miss it so!), though admittedly I'm more of a Jake/Emily fan. Nevertheless I love the way you articulated what Heather must have been thinking. I feel like how you described things here is very accurate to how Jake really is...such a tortured soul. :-)
I also enjoyed the game references...such fun!
I really enjoyed this and would love to read more of your Jericho fic!!
Thanks for posting! :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-04-17 01:02 pm (UTC)I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed the story and felt I'd handled the characters well. (That's always a worry when writing in the new fandom.)
I've only just got into Jericho but am completely smitten, so there should be more fic along soon. *g*
no subject
Date: 2009-04-17 03:56 pm (UTC)I love Jake and Heather, although I ship Heather and Beck (and that's who I write about). I always thought that TPTB never gave Heather/Jake a proper chance and I would have loved to have seen that relationship actually explored.
Really great the way you worked in the game references, and I think this is a solid reflection of what Heather would have been thinking after Jake ignored her for a month.
I'm always happy to see Jericho fic, and this was great. :) Looking forward to more.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-19 12:27 pm (UTC)I love Jake and Heather, although I ship Heather and Beck
Well, I also really like Heather and Beck - or, more accurately, I adore the Jake-Heather-Beck love triangle. (I'm expecting to write a lot more fic about that....) While I probably lean ultimately towards Jake/Heather, I wouldn't be totally unhappy with a universe in which Heather and Beck ended up together.... *g*
Thanks again for the kind words - they're very encouraging.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-19 05:27 pm (UTC)ooooohhhh...well, that will be fun!! I've never been able to really deal with the triangle (such as it is) because then I would have to deal with Emily, and Jake's feelings for her (*whispers* I hate Emily *whispers* and I can't explain what I don't understand)(apologies if you're a huge Emily fan; just my personal opinion).
Of course, I'd be rooting for Beck, though... ;) but, like you, I wouldn't be totally unhappy with a universe in which Jake and Heather end up together... ;)
You did a great job - and I always love seeing Jericho fic (especially Heather-centric fic). Have you ever posted over at JerichoFanfiction.com??
no subject
Date: 2009-04-20 02:34 pm (UTC)Of course, I'd be rooting for Beck, though... ;)
Well, I'm planning of having Beck give Jake a damn good run for his money.... (Hence why I'm still not entirely sure who Heather will end up with *g*)
Have you ever posted over at JerichoFanfiction.com??
No... I've only just got into the fandom (thanks to a friend dragging me over and going "look at this, you're really going to like it!"). I'll wander over there and take a look - thanks for the tip.
And thanks again for the kind words!
no subject
Date: 2009-04-26 12:31 am (UTC)Ooooohhh, good!! Cause if anyone deserves to have two super hot, super great guys after her, it's our Heather! :)
I hope you've had a chance to wander over to JerichoFanfiction.com - and welcome to the fandom!! Looking forward to reading more from you (soon)(no pressure... :) ).
no subject
Date: 2009-04-29 11:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 03:34 am (UTC)Also, if you're okay with Beck/Heather fanfic, then you can always wander over to the Beck_Heather community where you will find fic by Inanna7, rubberbisquit, NativeFloridian and a little tidbit by Janiekins - all of which is awesome (can never recommend them enough :) ).