This fic takes place before the epilogue of my fic, An Unlikely Acquaintance, but after the "final" chapter before the epilogue. Weird that this fic exists, since I haven't even finished AUA yet...:p There aren't too many spoilers for my plans for the fic in this one, expect for Jack's voice. If you want, you can just read this as a stand-alone fic. I think that would work. Anyways, enjoy! And please leave kudos and a comment!
Elizabeth isn't exactly sure what had woken her up; all she knows is that she's awake now, and she probably won't be getting back to sleep anytime soon. Grumbling to herself, she throws back the covers and swings her feet over the side of the bed.
She sits there for a couple of minutes with her head in her hands. It's only when she realizes it's completely silent that she realizes her sleeping companion has left her.
She looks behind her, and, sure enough-Jack's side of the bed is empty.
She sighs, getting up and grabbing a robe from the chair beside the bed before putting it on and heading outside, where she knows she'll find him.
This isn't a new occurrence for Elizabeth. Waking up in the middle of the night to find that you are alone would scare most people, yes; but Elizabeth isn't most people, and neither is Jack. They both have horrors in their past that should be impossible, and yet somehow isn't. Jack is plagued with nightmares; Elizabeth, with guilt. They both have their crosses to carry; and they do, in their own ways.
In the middle of the night, when the girls are sleeping and Elizabeth has dozed off, Jack will leave. He'll get out of bed as quiet as a mouse and creep downstairs to look at the stars. He sits on the porch. And he thinks.
Elizabeth doesn't know what he thinks about, not exactly; but she knows he thinks about that place. The place they have escaped from, where he was created, where the girls were imprisoned. They don't talk about it, not anymore, but that doesn't mean they don't remember.
They all remember. Even the girls will sometimes ask, "When are we going to see Mr. B again?" or, "Mama Lizzie, the surface is scary. I want to go back home." Whenever they say these things, whenever any mention of that terrible place is made, both her and Jack go quiet. Elizabeth will tell them to go play or help her around the house, and Jack will stay silent the rest of the day. The memories of that place haunts them all; but for Jack, it is so much worse.
She finds him, as always, on the porch; but this time, he has something in his hands. A closer look reveals that it's the shortwave radio he had carried in Rapture.
At hearing her footsteps, Jack turns his head to acknowledge her. "Hey," he says, barely audible, though the night is quiet.
Elizabeth gives him a small smile in response. "What are you doing out here?"
Jack shrugs. "Just thinking."
"About what?"
He's silent for a few moments. Just when Elizabeth thinks he won't answer, he says, "I miss him."
"What? Who?"
"Atlas."
Elizabeth's heart seizes with fear at the mention of that name. She collects herself after a few moments, however, saying, "You mean Fontaine?"
"No. I mean Atlas."
Elizabeth shakes her head. "Jack, Atlas isn't-wasn't-real," she says softly, sitting down next to him and placing a hand on his lap soothingly.
"I know," he sighs.
Neither one says a word for a couple of minutes. There is no awkward silence here, however-the awkward silences that they had exchanged when they had first met in Rapture have long since been replaced with more comfortable silences, ones in which each one enjoys the other's company without it being spoiled by words. When she has had her fill of it, Elizabeth turns to speak to her companion, only for him to beat her to it.
"It's just…I miss him. I know he wasn't real, but…" he trails off, unsure if he should continue, lest he be made fun of.
He should know better than that, Elizabeth thinks to herself. He should know by now that Elizabeth will never mock him for anything, never abandon him as so many in his life have done before. She will stay at his side always, for better or for worse. She takes one of his hands in her own, giving it a light squeeze.
"It's okay," she whispers reassuringly. "You can tell me."
Jack looks at her with something like adoration in his eyes. She smiles, seeing it there. In the past, whenever he had looked at her like that, she had been quick to look away, embarrassed; but now, whenever she sees it, she holds his gaze for as long as she can, because, damnit, she deserves this. She deserves him.
Jack lets out a breath Elizabeth didn't realize he was holding. "Do you...do you ever miss something that never existed in the first place?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like...an imaginary friend from your childhood. Or…something like that."
She's about to say 'no,' when she remembers Booker, and suddenly, she's overcome with guilt for what she did to him. Although Booker is still alive, living happily with Anna in New York, she doubts he remembers her or Columbia at all. The Booker she had known was gone forever; so, in a way, she knew exactly what it was like to miss something that had never existed in the first place.
It was for the greater good, she reminds herself.
'The greater good,' her ass. There's no such thing.
But she doesn't want to think about that right now; right now, she wants to comfort the man sitting next to her, admiring the stars while wallowing in self-pity and guilt.
Elizabeth is determined to pull him to the shore.
"Yes. I know how that feels."
He looks at her questioningly then, but doesn't speak of it. Instead, he simply nods, and returns his gaze to the stars.
"You know, they're not as pretty as you are," he comments after a while.
Elizabeth blushes. "You're not so bad yourself."
Jack turns to her and grins, leaning in and giving her a light kiss on the cheek for her efforts.
They sit in silence a while longer, simply enjoying each other's company, before Elizabeth decides to bring up the dreaded subject.
"So...how can you miss Atlas if he wasn't real?"
"Well...honestly, I still can't really believe it. I mean, Atlas was my friend-or at least, I thought he was. He helped me through all of this weird crap that was happening around me; he was...I dunno. I couldn't help but trust him, you know? And then I find out the truth-that Atlas is just a name, nothing more-the person I've been talking to, been trusting, this whole time-it's a lie. All of it. And I just-"
He stops talking then, bowing his head, and Elizabeth feels guilt and shame for not telling him that Atlas was a phony sooner. But then Jack raises his head and looks at Elizabeth with the same look from earlier, and he smiles.
"Not that it's your fault," he adds. "I mean, yeah, you knew what he was going to do. But you didn't really have a choice, did you? With...with Sally, and all that."
"Still. I should've told you sooner, maybe then he wouldn't have been able to-"
"No. He would have. Wouldn't have mattered much, anyways. He'd probably just make me kill you. And then…" He shudders. "God knows what he'd have made me do next."
Elizabeth doesn't have a response to that; but it turns out she doesn't have to have one. Jack looks at the radio again before sighing and standing up.
He makes to enter the house, but Elizabeth stops him.
"Can-can we stay? Out here," she clarifies, when Jack gives her a confused look. "I don't want to go back to bed yet."
Jack looks at her for a few seconds before nodding and heading inside anyways; Elizabeth thinks he's left her when he returns with a blanket big enough for the both of them. He takes his place beside Elizabeth and wraps the blanket around both of them, snuggling closer to his companion and wrapping an arm around her. She leans in; her only goal right now is to get as close to him as possible.
Together, they watch the stars.
Emma and Adelaide find them in the morning, curled up next to each other on the porch.
"What are you guys doing out here?" Emma giggles. "You're supposed to sleep inside, sillies!"
"Right," Jack replies groggily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he stands up. "We'll do that next time."
"Why can't I sleep outside?" Adelaide grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Because you're not old enough," Emma replies cheerily as she hugs Jack around the middle. Jack lovingly pats her on the head before kneeling down and giving her a big kiss on the forehead, which makes her giggle.
"Oh, that's not true," Elizabeth says quickly, seeing the disappointed look on Adelaide's face. "How about this: today we'll go into town and buy some camping supplies, and tonight we'll all sleep outside."
She casts a subtle glance at Jack to make sure he approves, and when he nods his head, Adelaide cheers.
"Yay! We'll all sleep under the bedtime lights!"
Emma bounces up and down at her sister's announcement. "And we'll make the marshmallows!"
"We sure will," Jack chuckles, ruffling her hair. "Come on, let's head inside. I'm sure your sisters will want to hear the good news."
"Yeah! Let's tell 'em!" Adelaide cheers, running inside the house. Emma breaks free from Jack's light embrace and rushes inside to follow her sister.
Jack looks at Elizabeth.
"Go on inside," she says. "I'll clean up out here."
Jack seems like he wants to argue, but one more look from Elizabeth has him nodding his head and heading inside-but not before giving her a quick kiss.
As the screen door shuts behind him, Elizabeth sighs and picks up the blanket, folding it neatly.
She thinks about all that they've been through-all of the lies, the pain, the suffering. How much they've been through to be here-and yet, even when all odds were against them-here they are.
As she hears the jovial cries of the former Little Sisters as they rejoice for tonight's activities, she smiles.
It's going to be okay, she thinks to herself. We're going to be okay.
She heads inside.