Status: --- Hiatus ---

It's Just Our Fate

Visits and Departures

Lily’s wide eyes stared at Jackson in horror as she listened the continued pounding on the door, the screaming of expletives, and orders barking from her Father. “Jack, what do we-” Lily began to mutter before he clasped a hand over her mouth, listening intently. His eyes shifted from their brief softness to dangerous and serious. “Listen to me carefully. I’m going to distract your Father. Go out the back door and make your way to the car. Do you understand me?” He whispered through gritted teeth. Lily nodded her head and began to move as Jackson stood up. Before she could move away from him, Jackson grabbed her arm, pulling her to him as to embrace her. His arms held her there firmly, eyes shut tight as if to memorize the pressure of her body to his, “Go.” He quickly released her from his hold, ushering her forward away from him as he followed after her.

Lily and Jackson looked down the stairs quickly as they cascaded their ways to the bottom floor. Jackson pulled his gun from its nesting place in the back of his waistband. “Jack...” Lily whispered, horrified. Jackson moved towards the front door, the cracking of it bringing alarm to its coming demise, “To maim – not kill. Go.” Lily nodded quickly, scurrying to the back door, sliding it carefully open and vanishing from view. The door screamed its apologies as it was finally beaten away, dropped from its hinges, and revealing Baxter and two armed men. Jackson kept his gun raised to Baxter as the two armed men mimicked his stance, facing to Jackson with rifles.

“Where the fuck is she? If you did something to harm my daughter, I swear to Christ I’ll-” Baxter screamed, but halted as he watched Jackson begin to move forward towards him. The two armed men stepped out in front of Baxter, “Stop there!” One ordered. Jackson froze, his gaze full of fury, “I’d never hurt, Lily, but I’m still debating on whether to extend that to her other family members.” Baxter let out a loud laugh, his eyes just as angry, “You can give it your best shot, asshole. My boys here will take you out in a heartbeat.” Baxter’s eyes beamed with flames, “You will never step foot near my daughter again. You are a killer and I won’t have some fucking prick like you tainting my daughter. She needs to stay protected! She needs to stay with me!”

Jackson’s brow furrowed, anger beginning to radiate through him, “With you!? You’re the worst case for her! You have hits everywhere for you! You seriously believe she’d be safe with you anywhere!” Baxter shook his head, the words from Jackson silencing him momentarily, “Give me my daughter, you son of a bitch, or I’ll blow your fucking head off.” Jackson smirked grimly, shaking his head as he took two quick shots to the armed men’s legs. The two fell off the side around Baxter as Jackson darted forward tackling him to the ground. Baxter connected his fist with Jackson’s right cheek, cursing out for him, struggling to reach for Jackson’s gun. An armed gun men rose pointing a gun at Jackson and taking a shot to his shoulder. Jackson yelled out and sat on top of Baxter, hitting him in the temple with the blunt of his gun. Jackson whipped around shooting the gunmen in the head, and repeating the action to the other gunmen struggling to get up.

The two gunmen lay on the floor, the blood oozing from their head forming into a large puddle. Jackson stood above Baxter, now completely unconscious, pointing his gun at his head. He readied his weapon; teeth clenched together, his chest heaving with fury before he let the weapon drop back to his side. “Maim…not kill.” He whispered to himself as he stepped over Baxter and headed for the car. He opened up the door looking over to Lily who was curled up in the passenger’s seat. “Did you...” she whispered. Jackson got into the car, slamming the door behind him as he simultaneously started the engine, “He’s knocked out. We need to move.” Lily looked over to the door, unable to see anything as Jackson reversed quickly and sped off from the now, unsafe house.

Jackson drove out onto the interstate, speeding pass the cars quickly to their next destination. He winced for a moment at his shoulder, the wound beginning to radiate from his shoulder to his back. Lily looked over to him, her face contorting as she watched him, “We need to get you to a hospital, Jack.” Jackson shook his head, eyes fixated on the road, “I’ll take care of it at our next stop. I’ll be fine.” Lily shook her head to herself, hand quivering as she covered her mouth to stifle the sobs that were coming through her body. Jackson sighed, glancing over to her, and pulled across two lanes into a rest stop. He stopped a little too quickly, making himself curse as the seatbelt secured him too tightly against his wound.

Jackson turned his body towards Lily, “Baby..Please don’t cry…” Lily shook her head, unable to speak, as Jackson released the seatbelt from him and pulled her close, “I’m sorry, baby. I really am. I’ll get you safe and we’ll figure everything out, I swear.” Lily rested her head against his chest, her sobs beginning to come from a roar to a dull hum. She lifted her head to look at his wound, her face contorting again, as she looked up at his face, “You’re hurt, Jack. You’re getting hurt because of me.” Jackson forced a smirk, his hand under chin, forcing her to keep her eyes on him, “It’s not your fault. Besides, it’s just scratch.” Her eyes relaxed, shaking her head once more as she nestled into his chest, “It’s not funny, Jackson. You need to get help. You can’t keep this up for long.”

Jackson rested his chin on the top of her head, shutting his eyes, “I’d do anything for you.” His eyes fluttered open as he peeled her slowly from him, “Our next stop isn’t too far from here, okay? I’ll get nice and cleaned up there.” He reached behind her seat for a first aid kit, handing it over to Lily. He shrugged his shirt off, tossing it in the back as he opened up the kit that now sat still on Lily’s thighs. “Do you even know what you’re doing?” Lily asked, hesitant. Jackson picked up a few gauze pads, smirking lightly, “It’s not my first rodeo.” Lily’s lips formed a hard line as she listened to his words, watching him expertly examine the wound. Jackson quickly dug his fingers into the wound and retrieved the bullet, his teeth clenched as he tossed it into the kit, “Fucker got me good.”

Lily’s eyes were wide as she stared down at the bullet. Jackson quickly bandaged himself up as he looked back over to her. “He didn’t shoot me, Lily. It was one of his body guards.” He assured her. Lily nodded solemnly as Jackson shut the kit quickly, putting it back into its home location. He rummaged around the floor once more and retrieved a black T-shirt. He slipped the material over his body quickly as he watched Lily’s expressions. “We’re going to be okay, baby. I promise.” He whispered sincerely to her. Jackson reached his hand out, clasping hers within his, as he brought her hand to his lips, “Do you hear me? I promise.” He kissed her knuckles slowly, tenderly, wanting to reassure her. Lily smiled faintly as she looked over to him, “I hear you.” Jackson nodded as he kept hold of her hand, “Get your seatbelt on.”

The drive from the rest stop to their new location took another two hours. Jackson was on high alert the entire way making note of any car he felt was suspicious. Lily fell asleep as he pulled into the new location, a small house in the middle of nowhere. The house stood alone, encased by a fence with grass surrounding it on all sides. They were in the country now where the houses were split apart by the mile. Jackson shut the car off as he looked over to Lily who remained deep in her slumber. He got out quickly, making his way around to open her door, pulling her into his arms as carefully as possible to keep her in the dream state. It was night fall already as he walked to the house, slowly kicking the door open, examining the areas around him quickly. He set Lily down on a light tan couch, pulling a blanket that rested on the back of it, over her small frame.

Jackson pulled out his phone, quickly moving to shut the front door and swift on a few lights, before he took his call in the kitchen. He opened a cabinet pulling out yet another first aid kit that was twice the size of his travel kit in the car. “Reed?” a voice questioned. Jackson rummaged through the kit, throwing out gauze, thread, and a needle as he went, “Didn’t take him a few days to find the place.” The familiar groan and sigh from Rudy’s end came and went, “Where are you now?” Jackson shut the case a little too loudly, “The island.” He moved quickly to the open foyer, looking over to Lily and ensuring she was still asleep. “What in the fuck are you doing out in that shit hole?” Rudy barked as he listened intently to Jackson. Jackson sighed heavily, moving back into the kitchen, “Closest place to the last one -harder to find. I thought you were sending a team on him?”

Rudy let out a low grunt, “The guy knows were on to him and keeps bouncing around more than the damn energizer bunny.” Jackson picked the kit back up and shuffled it back into its place, shutting the cabinet carefully, “Well he showed up here. I took out two of his little henchmen, but I’m certain he’ll just have more on my tail.” Rudy coughed for a moment, attempting to clear his throat, “Listen, this guy wants his daughter back and you dead. He’s going to send an army – which he can certainly afford. I’ll huddle another team to assist in this but you need to start looking overseas. If you’re going to run it needs to be more than a few miles away from the last place you’ve been, kid.” Jackson nodded, his brow furrowed, “I’ll see what I can do. Keep me posted.” Rudy sighed heavily, “You do the same for me, kid. Let me know where you’re at.” With that, Jackson ended the phone call and shoved it back into his back pocket.

“Jack…” Lily’s soft voice called out to him. Jackson moved swiftly out to her, sitting on the edge of the couch, “I’m here.” Lily’s eyes were tired as she scanned her surroundings slowly, “Where are we?” Jackson’s gaze softened as his shoulders slumped a little, “We’re safe.” Lily smiled faintly up at him, pushing herself up on the couch to be at eye level with him, “We’re going to just keep running aren’t we?” Jackson reached his hand out, cradling the back of her neck, “I’ll do whatever I need to in order to keep you safe.” His diversion of her question only made Lily shake her head. She stretched her arms out to wrap around his neck, pulling him into her embrace. Lily rested her arm against his shoulders before being pulled away by Jackson, his body tensing. Lily’s eyes looked shocked as she watched him, “Your shoulder? I’m so sorry.”

Jackson laughed lightly and nodded, “It’s okay, baby. Actually, now that you’re awake, I might need your help with cleaning this thing.” He stood up, holding his hand out to her, “It won’t be difficult, I promise.” Lily took his hand hesitantly as he led her back into the kitchen – the materials for the procedure already set out. Jackson grabbed the hem of his shirt and stretched it over his head, tossing it on the counter, “I’m going to take off the gauze I have on now and stitch up the wound.” He looked back to her, “Then I’m going to replace it with some new gauze just as a precaution to catch anymore blood.” Lily watched attentively, nodding her head. Jackson slowly peeled the old gauze from his wound, small streams of blood falling down his shoulder to his chest, “Thread that needle for me.”

Lily moved over to the needle and thread, delicately threading the needle, and knotting the end for him. Jackson quickly wiped away the blood, dabbing at the wound, and taking the needle from Lily, “Thank you. Now I need you to just open those packets of gauze and ready the medical tape.” Lily nodded, grabbing a packet as she watched Jackson get to work stitching the wound close. She placed the gauze pad out for him and ripped a few pieces of medical tape. Jackson’s face remained calm, showing no sign of discomfort, as he finished the last stitch cutting the end with his teeth. He placed the needle on the counter, picking up the gauze that Lily had prepared, and placing it precisely over his wound, “Tape?” Lily quickly passed him each piece of tape and watched curiously as he secured the gauze to his skin.

Jackson patted the area lightly as he let out a breath, “Alright, all done.” Lily’s eyes traveled from Jackson’s face to his exposed chest, the definition of which was beginning to entice her. Jackson picked up the trash left from his wound and walked over to deposit it within the trash can. Lily kept her eyes set on him watching the shift in his back muscles as he moved. Jackson turned around quickly, “You hungry?” He studied her for a moment before his questioning face turned sly, “Or are you hungry for something else?” Lily smirked lightly at him, “I think you’ve lost too much blood. It’s obviously ruining your thought process.” Jackson raises an eyebrow, a smile fighting to break through, “Is that so?”

He moved slowly over to her, careful movements, before he placed his hands on her waist, “You’ve always had a way of disrupting my thought process.” Lily smiled up at him, her hands instinctively resting on his stomach and sliding up his chest, “Right back at ya.” His body relaxed under her touch, his eyes searching hers for a confirmation to continue. Lily broke his gaze, sighing, “Why don’t we find something to eat? I actually am a little hungry.” Her hands slowly pulled themselves away from his chest, eyes apologetic. Jackson smiled down at her, reassuring, “Yeah...” his voice no higher than a whisper, “Let’s do that.” His hands still resting on her waist as he watched her movements.

Lily inhaled slowly, her eyes breaking his gaze, “Jackson, please…” Her words were but a whisper, almost hushed. Jackson’s brow furrowed as he watched her, “What?” Her emerald eyes shot him a look, “You know exactly what you’re doing, Jackson Reed, don’t make me spell it out for you.” Jackson smirked at her remark for a brief moment before it dissipated from his face – becoming serious and questioning. His hands pulled her to him, wrapping around to secure her in place, “You still want me? You still want us?” Her eyes softened as she heard his question, nodding slowly, “Of course, I do. Why would you ask me that? I’m here with you aren’t I?” Jackson nodded, a small smile playing on his lips, “I just like hearing it.” Lily smiled faintly, shaking her head slowly, “What am I going to do with you?”

Jackson’s arms instinctively flexed around her, hearing the question, “What are you going to do with me?” His response made her eye him carefully, searching for exactly what to say, a smile beginning to form on her face. Jackson’s eyes were intense, his chest rising and falling in anticipation, as the two of them stood in the dimly lit kitchen. “I think I’ll fix us some food so you can have something to eat.” Lily broke free of his hold, walking to the pantry as she glanced back at him, “Any idea of what you might want? I’m sure you’re starving.” Jackson turned around as he watched her rummage through the pantry pulling out a loaf of bread and a few other essentials from the refrigerator. Lily pulled two plates out of the cabinet, placing them on the counter before reaching for the bread, “Jackson?” She turned around to face him again, holding the loaf of bread in one hand, “You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

Jackson’s movements were swift as he moved over to her, his arms reaching down under her thighs, lifting her up to his chest. His hands slid under her bottom, pulling her up again to ensure she was secure, her legs wrapping around his waist, “Starving.” Lily grinned, dropping the bread as her arms wrapped around his neck, “What am I going to do with you…” Jackson smirked, laughing lightly, “No, baby. The question is: ‘What am I going to do to you first?’”
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