It's Not Over: Chapter 11: REVISED
Rating: PG-13 (Adult Language and Situations).
Disclaimer: The name "Jericho" and all character names and trademarks associated with the television program are the intellectual property of Junction Entertainment, Fixed Mark Productions, CBS Paramount Television and/or CBS Studios, Inc. The following story is intended solely as an intellectual exercise without profit motive. No infringement of copyright is intended or should be implied.
Notes: After doing some thinking and communicating with a few people, I have reworked Chapters 7 through 12. Some changes are minor and others are significant. Overall, the plot is the same, just certain characters and their actions have been changed/corrected. Thanks to JT, mainemom22, and jordanmr. As always, feedback is appreciated.
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Bill knew that he needed to get back to Town Hall to help in the planning of what to do with Constantino, but he'd wanted to see Natalie again. He'd gone to the high school expecting to find her, but she wasn't there. Major Beck had informed him that she decided to take the day off and see what was left of her house. Bill hadn't stepped foot in the home he had shared with Natalie since late June when Beck's men had ransacked it looking for him, but Bill hadn't really lived there since early winter when he'd moved in with his mom to take care of her. As he pulled up to the street, he tried not to think about the fact that she'd gone off on her own when Bill had told her that she needed to make sure to have someone with her at all times. He'd lost Natalie once and he wasn't going to lose her again.
The sight of Robert Hawkins pulling out of the driveway shook him from his thoughts. What the hell was he doing here? Bill thought to himself. He parked his bronco in the empty driveway and made his way to the back of the house. He trudged through the weeds and high grass hoping he didn't step on some creature that had made its home there. About half the houses in town were in a similar situation as a lot of people had left after Beck's crackdown in the early summer. The town had about 5,000 people prior to the bombs, but that number had been slashed in half as people concerned about the oncoming winter and a war went south in hopes of finding a better situation. It was only the diehards who stayed.
Bill opened the backdoor and called out, "Hey Nat! Where are you?" She wasn't downstairs, but he saw a packed bag sitting on the floor and knew she was somewhere.
"Up here!" he heard Natalie call out.
Bill made his way through the disaster that was the kitchen and to the front of the house where the staircase was. He walked up trying to avoid the scattered remains of belongings long since abandoned. He finally found Natalie in their bedroom sitting on the bed looking through a box of some sort. "Hey, you could have woken me up before you left this morning." Bill said as he stopped in the doorway.
"What would the fun have been in that?" Natalie replied with a smile. "Did Jimmy wake you up with the barrel of shot gun again?"
"Yes! How could you do that to me?" Bill asked. "I was scared shitless."
"I told Jimmy you were asleep on the hide-a-bed before I left," Natalie defended. "And I told him that his couch was not defiled."
"That's what I told him," Bill replied. Jimmy had started laughing at Bill at that point and explained he was just messing with him. Bill could've killed Jimmy for it. He was not a morning person and waking up to your best friend holding a shot gun to your chest was not a good mood booster. "What are you doing alone? I thought I told you to make sure to have someone with you at all times."
"Sorry, everyone was busy and I just didn't have it in me to work at the high school today."
"You need to be more careful," Bill replied.
"Those guys weren't after me anyway. They wanted Heather," Natalie defended.
"Yeah, well, they seemed to have still kidnapped you," Bill shot back.
"I promise I'll be more careful," Natalie replied deciding that it wasn't worth fighting about. "Where's your sling?" Natalie asked noticing that he was without it.
"It's in the truck," Bill replied. "I saw Kenchy this morning and he removed my stitches. He said I need to start exercising it and that I should only use the sling when my shoulder really starts to hurt."
"That's good," she said with a smile. Natalie was glad that he was on the mend.
"So, what are you up to?" Bill asked knowing that it was pretty obvious that she was looking through her things. He really had a million other questions with much less obvious answers. He wanted to ask why Robert Hawkins had been at the house and what had happened the night before. Heck, he really wanted to know what had happened over the past year to her, but he figured he'd start out with an easy question and work his way up.
"I'm just looking at some things I'd left," Natalie replied. She'd grabbed a box out of her home office to put some things in. It was filled with bills she'd needed to pay when she got back and like the rest of the house were the remnants of a life interrupted. "I already got the clothes I want to take together. They're in a suitcase downstairs."
"I saw it," Bill acknowledged. He decided to take the plunge and broach a real subject. "We found the bodies of those men from last night."
"Oh," was all Natalie could manage.
"You're lucky you got out of there," Bill declared. When he'd seen the size of the men, he was surprised that the three of them had managed to get away.
"I know."
"Jimmy said you're the one who managed to get the three of you free. Why didn't you just run for it? Jake said you and Heather came back," Bill inquired.
"I wanted to, but Heather wouldn't leave Jake behind."
"You could have just left," Bill suggested.
"My instinct for self-preservation isn't quite as high as yours."
"Maybe it should be."
"Bill, you can't be telling me you would have left them there?" Natalie asked incredulously.
Bill thought for a moment, "No, I wouldn't have, but I'm a cop. It's my job."
"Can we just let this go?" Natalie asked.
"Fine," Bill replied. He knew that they needed to hash out what had happened over the past year, but he didn't want to do this right now. He wanted to feel her out. He knew she'd changed, but he'd changed too. People can't expect to live through what they had and come out the same. He wanted to find out who she was now before delving into the past. Changing subjects he asked, "So, you almost ready to go."
"Yeah, I just need to see what I can scrounge up from the bathroom," Natalie replied dumping the contents of the box on the bed and taking the empty box to the bathroom.
Bill left the doorway to the bedroom and followed her. "I'm sorry about the house."
"Like, I told you last night. It's just stuff," Natalie replied. "Anyway, they left the second floor pretty much intact. They must have given up." Natalie crouched on the floor and got under the sink to see what she could find. She had no idea what she'd left behind and whether someone might have gotten the good idea to give it away. Surprisingly, she found a whole plethora of things including shampoo, conditioner, ladies' razors, and even a large box of feminine hygiene products. She threw them all into the box. Anything that had belonged to Bill wasn't there anymore. She wasn't sure what to think about that. Natalie stood straight and set the box on the counter. She turned around to find Bill standing right behind her and smiled.
Bill wasn't smiling back. "What was Robert Hawkins doing in our house?" he accusingly asked as curiosity and anger got the best of him.
The way he asked angered Natalie, but she tried to brush it off. "What are you talking about?" Natalie asked.
"I just saw Robert Hawkins leave as I was driving up."
"He stopped for a cup of sugar?" Natalie jovially suggested.
"There's not a lick of food in this house. Mom scrounged every corner last fall for anything edible."
"Wrong. She didn't find my stash."
"Your stash?"
"My stash of junk food," Natalie replied. She walked past Bill back to the bed where another sealed plastic bin was sitting. She opened it up and produced a snack cake of some sort. "You want a Twinkie?"
Bill quickly snatched the Twinkie from Natalie's hand and fumbled with the packaging. Once opened, he put the cake to him nose and took a whiff. "Oh, where were you hiding these babies?"
"They were in my closet."
Bill took a bite of the Twinkie. "How did I not find these?" he asked with his mouth full.
Natalie sat down on the bed watched him finish off the snack cake. "You knew they were in there didn't you?"
"I knew you hid them somewhere," Bill replied. "Back to my original question, why the hell was Robert Hawkins here?"
"He came to tell me that Jake was asking questions about me," Natalie replied. She really didn't want to get into this, but if Bill was going to push she didn't have much of a choice.
"What?" Bill asked in confusion not understanding why Jake would be questioning who Natalie was. For goodness sake, they'd all grown up together.
"I guess he thinks I'm some sort of secret agent or something ridiculous like that."
"Are you?" Bill asked not sure what to think.
"No!" she honestly replied.
"So why is Jake concerned?"
"He thinks I could be a threat," Natalie replied with a shrug.
"You a threat?" Bill asked incredulously.
"I guess getting us free was enough to send alarm bells off in his head. Hawkins just wanted to let me know so I could talk to Jake and explain."
"Explain what? I still don't get it. I thought you were a meteorologist?" Bill asked with a perplexed look on his face.
"I am a meteorologist, but in order to get back to Kansas I had to take on some additional duties," Natalie explained truthfully.
"What kind of duties are we talking about?" Bill asked trying to control the anger that was growing inside him. "Additional duties" didn't sound safe.
"Whatever I'm told," Natalie replied honestly.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Bill asked in exasperation.
"It's complicated," Natalie answered with a sigh.
"I don't like complicated."
"I don't either, but I don't have a whole lot of choice," Natalie explained picking opening the box of junk food again finding a small snack size candy bar. She opened the package and took a bite.
"What else have you got in there?" Bill asked digging into the box himself.
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Heather walked into town hall praying that she could convince the others that her solution to the Constantino problem was best. She had accepted that Jake was right; that Constantino needed to be taken out, but she was concerned that Jake and the gang would act first and think about the repercussions later. These guys had been in shoot up mode for so long that she doubted that they would take the time necessary to come to up with a reasonable plan.
She had a long talk with Major Beck trying to get his input on what to do. His suggestion was to find Natalie and see if she could arrange something on her end to have Constantino arrested by the government of Kansas or the military. He had explained that he was pretty much powerless at this point to get anything done, but that Natalie had the contacts to get something like that accomplished.
So, Heather had gone on a wild goose chase trying to find Natalie. After going to her house, to Bill's house, back to the high school, Heather had finally found Natalie at her brother's house playing outside with the kids. After explaining the situation, Natalie had agreed to make some calls and see what she could do. Finally, with her own plan in place, Heather found herself at town hall hoping that these guys would listen.
Heather found the group huddled around a table in the middle of the sheriff's station going over maps of what looked like New Bern. Among them were Jimmy, Jake, Stanley, Eric, Bill, Hawkins, and Gray Anderson.
"Hey Heather," Stanley called out as the first one to notice her presence.
"Hi," Heather replied.
"I thought you were going to be working at the high school all day," Jimmy commented looking at Heather.
"I was, but Jake asked me to come by and see if I could help out with your plans."
"Oh," Jimmy replied.
"So, what have you guys come up with?" Heather asked.
The men all looked at each other trying to decide what they wanted to tell. It was finally Gray Anderson who spoke up. "We're working on a plan to go after Constantino. I know you've been dead set against this, but last night proves that we've got to take him out."
"I get that he needs to be taken care of, but don't you think it would be better if we left it to someone with some authority?"
Jake finally decided to step in, "We already tried that and look where it left us. Major Beck was supposed to have handled Constantino and I don't see that Beck did anything, but strengthen Constantino's position."
"We do this and we're only asking for trouble," Heather declared frustration evident in her voice.
"If we don't, then we're asking for our people to be taken again," Eric replied. "What happens this winter when food is scarce again? Is he going to come after us?"
Gray looked disgusted. "Heather, maybe you should just go back to the high school and work on your stuff and leave us to do what we've got to do," Gray suggested in condescending voice.
Heather rolled her eyes. "You do this and you are asking for retaliation and you know that New Bern at this point doesn't have anything to lose."
Hawkins finally decided that he'd let this go on long enough. He'd hoped that Heather would be able to convince them since she'd been in charge of the Rangers, but it looked like they weren't thinking past what they were doing right now. "Heather's right. You don't want to go down this road," Hawkins warned.
"Hawkins, I understand that you think that this is a bad idea, but I don't know that we have any choice," Eric explained.
"Why not do what Heather is suggesting and let someone with authority take care of this problem for us?" Hawkins suggested hoping to steer the group in the same direction as Heather. Natalie had called him and told him that Heather had come by asking for help. He hoped that with Heather on board, he could convince the others that letting Texas or the Kansas government take care of Constantino was in Jericho's best interests.
"I don't trust the government," Gray complained. "Every time they come in and say they are going to solve all our problems it doesn't materialize."
"Gray, what are we going to do?" Jake asked. "We've gone over this a hundred times already. We don't have enough resources to go after him ourselves."
"I don't know, but I just don't think that letting someone else take care of this is in our best interests!" Gray exclaimed.
"Gray, we're not going to start another war with New Bern!" Heather shot back. She took a deep breath and calmed down. "I've got a plan together. I talked to Major Beck and to Natalie. They are making some calls to see if they can get Constantino arrested by the military."
"I'm sorry, but I don't trust Natalie or Major Beck," Jake interjected. "They are too attached to the Texas government and I'm not so sure that Texas cares about what happens to Jericho or to Kansas."
"I care," Natalie quietly spoke up from the entrance of the sheriff's department. She had quietly entered while they were arguing back and forth. "Jake, this is my home; my family is here. Of course I care what happens to Jericho."
"I don't mean any disrespect," Jake replied.
Heather turned to Natalie. "So?"
Natalie nodded indicating that she had it worked out.
"You want me to explain or you?" Heather asked.
"I really think you should. It's your plan," Natalie answered.
"You're the one with the details," Heather shot back.
"Will one of you just explain what the hell is going on!?" Gray yelled in frustration.
"Gray, would you just calm down. They are just trying to help. You yelling isn't doing anyone any good," Jake argued back.
"Fine," Gray replied.
"Since Heather seems to think you're the one to explain, Natalie please explain," Jake pleaded.
"Alright," Natalie said taking a big breath trying to find the courage to explain to all these people what she'd worked out.
Bill gave her a look of encouragement as he knew she didn't like the spotlight on her.
"Heather came to me to see if I could work out sort of way to take care of your Constantino problem. I checked with Major Beck who agreed with Heather that Jericho going after him is going to lead to more problems."
"What's the plan?" Eric asked.
"I called the Governor of Kansas, who happens to be a friend of mine. He was just appointed a few days ago by the President. Anyway, I gave him the details on what has been happening. He's actually pretty excited at the prospect of taking a man like Constantino down. Right now, an almost duel government exists in the state. The ASA is still claiming Kansas as theirs and has its own governor in place. Columbus, with the help of the Texas guard, managed to reclaim the capital and proclaimed the state as reunified with the Eastern states. By taking Constantino down in a public way, the new Governor is hoping to make a name for himself and help solidify support for his leadership."
"So, what's the governor going to do?" Jake asked.
"He's arranging for Constantino to be arrested by US troops on grounds of treason for selling secrets to the ASA."
"What happens to Constantino?" Bill asked.
"He gets tried for treason by military tribunal," Natalie answered.
Heather jumped in. "See, with Jericho's name and any one associated with the town left out of the charges, New Bern has no reason to attack Jericho in retaliation. As far as anyone there would be concerned, it was Constantino's own greed and hubris that got him in trouble."
"What happens if this doesn't work?" Stanley asked.
"You guys are welcome to go after him," Natalie answered. "I mean you're not going to see anybody from the government stopping you. They've already got too much going on as it is."
"Heather, you think this plan's going to work?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, I think this is our best bet and like Natalie said, if it doesn't work, we can take him on ourselves."
"What about the rest of you?" Jake inquired.
"Oh man, I'm all for anything that keeps us from getting shot at," Jimmy declared.
Everyone nodded their head in agreement.
"Good," Heather replied. "Natalie, call whoever you need to call to get it done."
"Will do," Natalie said opening the phone she was holding in her hands.
"Since none of us have to go after Constantino anymore, why don't we go start Eric's bachelor party a little early," Stanley suggested with a smile.
"Sounds good to me," Eric replied.
"Jimmy and Bill, are you two coming?" Stanley asked.
"No, I've got too much work to do," Jimmy replied honestly. He had spent most of the day working on the original stupid plan and he had a bunch of complaints that needed to be looked at.
"Count me out," Bill replied taking Natalie's hand as he headed for the door. Natalie was talking on her phone to presumably the governor as Bill led her out the door.
"Where are you two going?" Heather asked.
"None of your business," Bill said with a smile.
"This is going to be a fun bachelor party with only Eric, Jake, and I," Stanley complained.
"Count me out too," Jake replied grabbing Heather's hand and heading for the door.
"Well, this sucks!" Stanley joked.
"Ah, come on. Let's go get a drink at least. I know the owner of the bar and she'll get us our drinks for free," Eric lightheartedly replied heading for the door followed by Stanley.
"I can't turn down a free drink!" Stanley declared as they walked out of the sheriff's station and headed for Bailey's.