AN: Alright, another chapter for you guys! And our OC gets a name in this chapter too! Enjoy! And thank you for the follows, favorites and reviews!
Chapter Five
Sound & Color-Alabama Shakes
A new world hangs outside the Window
Beautiful and strange
It must be I've fallen awake
"I thought you picked me up in the truck?" Jesse asked her when he saw Emily's van and her and her kids in it in the parking lot of the police station.
"I was on my way out when Emily showed up with the plates she'd made us for supper. She knew I'd been feelin' nauseous today so she offered to drive," she explained.
"You weren't feelin' well today? Why didn't you let me know? Did you take some of your nausea pills?" he asked, concerned. He liked to know whenever she wasn't feeling well, or as well as she could feel nowadays.
"Jesse, it's fine. I'm fine," she answered as she climbed into the back seat of the van and Jesse followed.
When they arrived home she sat in silence in the backseat next to her brother as he told Emily he was quitting, that he was done. This was news to her and she could see Emily was blindsided as well.
She watched Emily going back down the drive for a moment after they got out of the vehicle. She spoke up as she walked beside her brother. "You better be takin' me with you this time."
Jesse sighed. "Of course I am. I'm not leavin' you here. Not again. Not ever. I promised," he answered, pulling out a cigarette and avoiding her gaze as he lit it.
"Did you really make him make a bunny noise?"
Jesse laughed and she joined in, the tense air from seconds ago quickly evaporating.
As they continued their walk up the drive, Jesse's cell phone rang and he answered, but the siblings' attention went to the church as the light above the front steps began to flicker. More lights flickered from inside, accompanied by a banging noise as the church doors swung open then closed. They shared a look before quickening their pace. A chill ran down her spine as the doors continued to open and close of their own accord.
As they neared the front Jesse reached out and pulled her behind him. "Stay close to me," he ordered.
She nodded and bit down hard on her bottom lip as they entered the church, her heart speeding up. There was no way it was just the wind causing all of this. She had a fleeting thought that maybe it was a sign that Jesse, that they, shouldn't leave, and in all honesty she kind of hoped it was. She didn't want to leave. This was her home.
Once inside Jesse shut the doors behind them and then tried the light switch, but it didn't work. She was behind him as they went up the aisle, staying close enough to be able to reach out and grab the back of his suit jacket. Her eyes darted all around but there didn't seem to be anyone there. Her brother sat down and she followed suit, taking a seat next to him on the pew.
Jesse spoke, looking at the altar. "Eugene was right. It's quiet. All right. One last time and I want an answer. Right now, or that's it. I'm done."
She watched as he got down on his knees and when he started to speak she felt like she was watching a private moment, so she looked around once more then down at her hands which were tense in her lap.
"God…please forgive me." He let out a breath after a pause. "Yeah, thought as much," he said with a sigh as he sat back onto the pew and perched his feet up on the one in front of them. He was about to light a cigarette but stopped since she was next to him and they were in an enclosed space. He'd stopped doing that when she got sick, not wanting to make anything worse.
"You too," he said to God.
She moved to wrap a hand around his arm in reassurance when the doors creaked open. They both turned to look and Jesse rose to his feet, but she was stuck to the seat in fear. Pure fear as a shadow appeared on the floor of the aisle, and then she noticed some sort of form above it distorting the air, coming towards them. Her heart hammered in her chest and a cold sweat came over her as the form had enough force to move the pews as it came towards them. The siblings' faces wore the same shock and awe as it neared them and she could hear what sounded like a heartbeat on an ultrasound emanating from it, the rhythm growing quicker the closer it came.
She cried out as the form blasted her brother back. She finally seemed to be back in control of her own body as Jesse hit the floor and she leapt up from her seat.
~O.o~
A baby. She was just baby as Jesse held her in his arms, barely more than a year old, their father on his knees at gunpoint.
"You gotta be one of the good guys. Cause why?" his father asked him.
Jesse answered through his tears, "Cause there's way too many of the bad."
"You gotta teach her that too." His father's eyes flicked to the source of another cry filling the air. Jesse held his sister in his arms, her little face pressed into his shoulder, and Jesse didn't miss how his father's brave face faltered for a moment as he looked at his daughter. "You teach her that. You look out for her. You take care of her. You promise me?"
"I promise daddy," Jesse said, his own tears now streaming down his face.
"You stop that. We Custer's don't cry. We fight."
~O.o~
She'd tried to wake him for hours. He had a pulse and he was breathing, but he was burning up. She didn't think she could call 911, because she wasn't even sure what had happened. What would she say? 'Um 911 I think a ghost just knocked my brother out and possibly gave him a concussion?'
Cassidy had been released from jail early that morning, just before the sun was up, and decided to go looking for Jesse. When he entered the church he saw the girl from before, her knees pulled up to her chest as she sat looking at a prone figure. He ran to them and as he neared, she looked up to him and he could see the tears shining on her cheeks.
"I found him like this. He won't wake up," she said, wiping her nose on her sleeve.
Cassidy let out a low whistle. "Yeah, I've had worse, let me tell ya."
She glared at him and he held his hands up. "Okay, let's get him to his bed." He held a hand out and she took it, letting him pull her to her feet.
She watched as the man she'd met earlier pulled her brother up with minimal effort and pulled an arm around his shoulder. She did the same on her side and together they managed to get him to his room and on his bed.
"Can you help me get these clothes off of him?"
"Yeah, sure," Cassidy answered and together they got his shoes, pants, jacket, and shirt off and then put him in a clean shirt.
She left and then came back with a damp cloth. She climbed onto the bed and dabbed at Jesse's forehead with the cloth.
"You look exhausted," Cassidy said. "I can do that if you want to get some shut eye."
"No offense, but I don't even know you."
Cassidy made a face that said he didn't blame her.
"Proinsas Cassidy," he introduced himself. "But please, call me Cassidy. And you?"
"Elain Grace Custer. You can call me Elain. And thank you, Cassidy."
He stared at her for a moment, thinking about how he liked the way she'd just said his name. "Are you sure you don't want me to keep an eye on him while you get some sleep?"
"He's done this for me before. Everything he does for me, it's the least I can do."
"Oh, I see. Like brother like sister, eh?"
Elain shot him a look that said she was not in the mood for joking and he pursed his lips. "Right. I'll um, go see what I can do."
She woke up a few hours later, having passed out next to her brother. "Emily?" she said groggily when she saw her sitting in a chair.
"Hey. Cassidy told me what happened. I can look after him for a while if you want to get somethin' to eat, shower, take your medicine," she trailed off.
She could see the worry on Emily's face, although this wasn't the first time Jesse had been found passed out somewhere. She got off the bed. "Thank you."
~O.o~
Three days. He'd been out for three days. He was relieved when his sister told him all she told Cassidy and Emily was that she'd gone looking for him before bed and found him that way, figuring they would chalk it up to alcohol. They both agreed to keep whatever had happened a secret, at least until they could figure out exactly what it was that had happened. She told him after he was blasted back that the phantom, or whatever it was, had disappeared. She'd hugged him longer than she normally did and he reassured her he was fine and told her to go get ready for church.
~O.o~
After the sermon Elain caught up with Jesse. He'd looked at her pointedly a few times during his speech and she just wanted to reassure him. He seemed to need a lot of that lately. They both did. Him reassuring her that she'd continue to feel better and her reassuring him that he was good, that he was doing good being back here.
"You know, I know you feel like you've failed your flock. And I'm glad you've decided to give it your all, but you should know, you haven't failed me. None of what you said up there was true when it comes to me, I know you think that, but it's not."
"But I have failed you. There's no excuse for that."
"That's in the past Jesse. I've told you, I forgive you for that. And you've more than made up for it. I'm proud of you, for what you did up there today." She smiled up at her brother.
Jesse smiled back. "Hey, are you okay with Cassidy stayin' here? I mean if it bothers you, I can tell him to leave."
"No, no he's harmless. A bit…eccentric. But he says he wants to help out and he needs a place to stay so, it'd be the Christian thing to do to at least give him a chance."
Before either of them could say anything else Tulip came over and slung an arm around Elain to pull her in for an affectionate hug. "How you doin' Honeybee?"
Elain rolled her eyes at the nickname, but realized she was glad to hear it. "I'm all right."
"Mind tellin' me why you've got hair?" Tulip looked pointedly at her then at Jesse.
"You've been gone awhile," she answered.
Tulip's eyebrows rose, her arm still wrapped around Elain.
"We stopped chemo," Jesse explained.
"And why the hell would you do somethin' like that? Unless…"
Before Tulip's eyes could light up Jesse spoke again, "She's still sick, Tulip. But the chemo, there was no improvement after that first bit. It was just making her sick all the time. The doctor said it would be best to let things take their natural course and we agreed. The medicine she's on helps a bit. But…" Jesse smiled down at his sister. "The Lord works in mysterious ways and she's been doin' well. Better than either of us expected. I'm hungry, come on sis," Jesse said, pulling her away from Tulip and toward the barbecue, casseroles, cobblers, deviled eggs, and jell-o salads laid out on tables set up in the church yard.