July 4, 2017, 12:32 AM

Jack stared at the ceiling, willing himself to stay awake. He hadn't slept much since Sunday. He was afraid the nightmare would come back. He hadn't realized at the time what day it was. The first time he'd lived through 2017, the day hadn't affected him nearly as much. But here it was. July 4th.

He jumped as his phone buzzed. It was Beth.

Beth
you awake?
Tue 12:34 AM

Jack
yah
Tue 12:35 AM

Jack stared at the screen, waiting for a response. Instead, the door opened and Beth peeked her head inside.

"Couldn't sleep," she explained, pushing the door open and coming inside when he didn't object. Beth closed the door behind her, then grabbed the chair from Jack's desk. Setting it down next to the bed, she straddled it backwards and rested her chin on the back. "You've been avoiding me since Sunday."

"I know," Jack admitted, looking away from her. He had opted to sleep in his own room after Sunday's escapades, not wanting to risk waking her if he had another nightmare. Which he did. And so here he was, for the second night in a row.

"This is going to sound hypocritical," Beth began, "but you might feel better if you talk about it."

Jack laughed lightly. "You're right, that does sound hypocritical."

"You've always been better at that honesty thing," she shrugged. "Offer's still on the table."

He smiled weakly. "I appreciate the gesture, Beth, but I don't want to bring you down with me."

"Look, Jack, we're in this together," she reminded him. "We're all we've got."

Jack locked eyes with her for a long moment. He knew that this was a difficult role for her to fill, but she was trying anyway. He could feel the tightness growing in his chest, like a vice on his heart.

"It's the fourth of July," he finally told her with a shrug. "Not exactly a great day for either of us."

"That's putting it lightly," Beth chuckled.

"There's something I never told you about that day," Jack continued, breaking his eye contact with her and fidgeting with the sheets. "You remember that echo I saw of you and Will in his workshop?"

"Yeah," Beth nodded.

Jack drew in a deep breath, then let it out. "That wasn't the only echo I saw there."

Beth frowned.

"When the countermeasure went off, it somehow blasted me back to the same place in 2016," Jack explained, swallowing the growing lump in his throat. Just talking about this was almost too much.

"Oh." She clearly realized what he was trying to imply, much to Jack's relief. "You've been having nightmares about... me?"

Jack nodded. "I used to have them every once in a while, but ever since we got together, they've just been..."

Beth silently got up from her chair and moved to the bed, motioning for Jack to move over before crawling in beside him. "Give me your phone," she ordered, holding her hand out.

Jack handed her his cellphone, earning a satisfied smirk. She quickly navigated to his Netflix app. "You were watching that baking show the other day, right?"

"You want to watch Great British Bake Off?" Jack asked with a confused chuckle.

"When I found you passed out on the couch, they were making some kind of, I don't know, bread crown I think," Beth explained with a shrug, starting up the episode. "I'm curious."

"You going to start baking for me?" Jack asked with a smirk.

"Depends on how interesting these bakes are," she returned.

"I can always be your assistant."

"Not if it involves grating lemon zest," Beth returned with a wry smile. "We don't need any grated fingers in the dough."

"Okay, that's fair."

"Oh, he's doing that very wrong," Beth said as she watched intently. Jack couldn't help but smile as she inched the phone closer and closer to herself.

"All the technicals are kind of like that," Jack told her, gently grabbing her wrist and pulling the phone back in between them.

Beth glanced up at him with a slight smile before turning her attention back to the show.

"I don't think I've eaten anything that fancy in my entire life," Jack commented as they watched the bakers decorate their bakes.

"That poor guy, thinking he did such a good job and coming in last," Beth chuckled.

"That would be me."

Beth snorted as she looked up at him. "Are you saying you'd actually think you did well?"

"Ouch," he complained. "Not that you're wrong, but..."

She chuckled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I hope this Ruby girl wins."

"Good luck," Jack replied. "The people I want to win never win."

Beth raised an eyebrow at one of the host's comments. "Did she just... was that a euphemism?"

Jack laughed and put his arm around her. "Oh Beth, welcome to Great British Bake Off."

July 4, 2017 10:02 AM

Jack sprang upright in bed. "Beth, we fell asleep."

She groaned as her eyes fluttered open. "Did you have another nightmare?"

"No," Jack admitted sheepishly, earning another groan.

"Then why did you wake me up?"

Jack felt a blush in his cheeks as she looked at him in annoyance. "Sorry."

Beth sighed, then sat up and climbed out of the bed and took a step toward the door. She stopped and turned around, crossing her arms impatiently. "You coming?"

Jack quickly sprang out of bed and followed her down the stairs. Will was already sitting at the table eating a slice of toast, which Jack hoped meant that there would already be coffee in the pot. He breathed a sigh of relief to see the coffee pot nearly full.

Beth had gone straight to the table, so Jack filled two mugs and moved to join her and his brother. Will had already brought in the paper, and naturally Beth was already perusing the crossword.

"Five letter word for giving a thumbs-up?" she asked, smiling at him gratefully as Jack set the coffee mug in front of her.

"Faved," Jack suggested.

Beth smirked at him. "You know they're likes now."

"Look, Wilder, I'm still bitter about that." He pouted into his mug. "Fine, liked."

Beth stared down at the crossword. "These clues are getting progressively more ridiculous," she complained after a moment, setting her pencil down and looking up. "We might have to come up with a new morning hobby."

"We could do trivia," Will suggested from the other side of the table before taking another bite of his toast.

"If we let you come up with trivia, we'll never get a single answer right," Jack reminded him with a chuckle. "Charades?"

Beth balked at the mere suggestion.

"I can't picture Beth doing charades," Will mused.

"Neither can I," Beth added for emphasis. "No charades."

"Maybe you'll just have to write a strongly-worded letter to the editor of the Riverport Herald about the lagging quality of their crossword puzzles," Jack suggested with a grin.

Beth looked back at him, a serious expression on her face. "Maybe I will."

"The paper boy's gonna egg the house, just watch," Jack chuckled, earning a sneer from Beth. "Come on, how bad could the clues be?"

"Bill Clinton or Barack Obama."

"Presidents."

"Three letters."

"Three letters?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Leo," Will offered. Once again, Jack and Beth both looked up at him, utterly perplexed.

"This is the moment that I'm surprised to find my older brother is into astrology," Jack laughed.

"Astrology is not real science," Will assured him, "but all those parody horoscopes are amusing."

Beth scribbled down the answer, grinning to herself. "I take it back. We're never giving up the morning crosswords."