Title: Think of Better Days
Author: Lady Taevyn
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Spoilers for Oversight
Summary: She was the little sister his mom couldn't have.
Disclaimer: Not mine don't sue.
Jake entered the Richmond house not knowing what to expect. All he'd been told was that gunfire had been exchanged. He saw Mimi first oxygen mask covering her nose and mouth. Then his gaze shifted to Stanley. Stanley, who had drawn himself protectively around… oh God, Bonnie. He had always been protective of her, even before the accident. He was the human barrier between her and everything. After the accident that had stolen their parents and her hearing he had become a steel re-enforced concrete wall. Guarding against people who didn't understand, even though he didn't hardly understand himself. Wilkerson and Randolph were focusing on Mimi, getting her strapped down ready to transport. That meant that Bonnie was… He couldn't even say it; didn't want to think it. She was the little sister his mom couldn't have. He never told anyone and suspected that she hadn't either, but when he was in Iraq he had written to her. He needed some link to humanity one that he knew he wouldn't find in his parents; or Emily so he chose to write to his 'sister'. Nothing of consequence was in the letters; he couldn't even tell her where he was. But it felt good to have someone to say hi to every now and then. They were probably postmarked from Florida, and California. He wondered briefly if she'd kept the letters, probably knowing her. He almost laughed at that thought, but it caught in his throat along with the smell of blood, thick and heavy; dark and cold. He didn't want to see her like that, lying on the floor, helpless; the bloodstain spreading on the front of her shirt. He closed his eyes and saw instead a much younger Bonnie, darting from the kitchen; her hands flying faster then the plane he'd just come off of (grandpa had let him have the controls as they made the final pass over the wheat fields with the insecticide). She was trying to tell him about Lindy Some-ones birthday party that she was going to. She couldn't have been more then six or seven; his mom had taken her to get a new dress. He smiled then, to himself; that was how he was going to remember Bonnie. In her pink ruffled party dress going to Lindy's birthday party. The alternative was just too painful. Stanley finally looked up, and shook his head. A solitary tear tracked down his cheek. Jake felt the tears welling in his eyes and he blinked them back. He had to be strong now, Stanley was going to need to lean on someone and that someone would be him.