Notes: Written for Bloody-Lucky on tumblr, who gave me the prompts Jakes/Bill and "What happened doesn't change anything". Set sometime after the flashbacks in Lost Future, with heavy spoilers for that game.
Jakes watched quietly as his friend paced about, mumbling irritably to himself. Bill could get stressed easily and everything that had happened in the last few weeks would leave anyone wanting to cry in frustration.
"That ignorant fool Dimitri!" Bill shot, throwing his arms up in the air, "He acts like he's all high and mighty. As if what happened to Claire is entirely on my head and she didn't step into that time machine of her own free will!"
Jakes shrugged his shoulders. Any time Bill got this angry it had very little effect on him. Which probably helped attribute to why they'd always been as close as they are.
"You're only now realising that Dimitri likes to play martyr?" he grumbled.
"I suppose you're right," sighed Bill, drawing to a halt in his pacing, "And I'm not angry that he's decided to move his research else where, it's just..." He trailed off, not knowing how to finish that sentence.
"Why are you angry then?" Jakes pressed.
Ignoring that question, Bill changed the subject; "I don't think it would be wise for me to continue in this line of work. The questions have been a nightmare, Levin, and I can't even look at the faces of my fellow scientists. It's a hard decision for me to make, science has always been my passion as far back as I can remember, but... I've been offered a position elsewhere."
Jakes raised an eyebrow. That was the last thing he'd expected Bill to say.
"What kind of position?" Jakes asked.
"It's... it's in parliament, would you believe?" Bill chuckled, not even really believing it himself, "Apparently all of my years of being vocal about politics haven't gone unnoticed. But it's just... I feel like I'm running away."
Pulling himself up off his chair, Jakes walked over and put a hand on Bill's shoulder. He smiled in the most encouraging way he could manage.
"You're skilled. You'll go far," he insisted.
"But what will everyone say? What will Caroline say? What will you say about... about all this?" whimpered Bill. He very rarely got upset about anything, but the grip on his shoulder seemed to ground him enough that the full weight of everything started to catch up with him.
"I say that what happened doesn't change anything, all right? You're still the same Bill Hawks that you've always been to me," insisted Jakes.
"That's... well, just what I needed to hear. Thank you, my dear old friend," replied Bill, letting out a breath that he didn't even know he'd been holding.
Yes, he was the same Bill, with the same drive and determination that he'd always had. He would go far and this horrible disaster would in time become just an unpleasant memory that he would find the will to move on from.