Chapter Six
Epilogue
The War Is Over
Jennifer walked down the hall of the minimum security ward of Smith's Grove, clipboard in hand, hair pulled back in a pony tail. She found patient 7-21-H's room, and sighed, stepped in and smiled at the 12 year old. "Hey Andrew, how're you feeling?"
"Good," he said softly. "When can I go home?"
She bit her lip then shrugged. "Well I don't know, let's see that wrist."
He showed it to her and she removed the bandage to see the mark was virtually gone. "Mmm, I'd say another week, and you're going to have to talk to more people than me for me to convince them to let you go, it's the government's decision."
Andrew sighed. "See if I ever go near a knife again."
She laughed. "It isn't knives you should stay away from, it's certain ways you use them."
Andrew bit his lip and looked at the boy in the room next to him, who was making stupid faces. "Jenni?"
"Yeah kiddo?" She turned back to him, her eyes soft and inviting, then concerned at his frightened expression.
"What's the bogeyman?"
"There's no such thing." She said calmly, even though it was really creepy for him to just bring that up.
"But Johnny Jamison said he's coming after me! He said the bogeyman is your uncle!"
"Jamie and Jenni's uncle is the bogeyman! Jamie and Jenni's uncle is the bogeyman!"
Jennifer blinked and smiled at him. "He probably won't get out o here any time soon then." She ruffled his hair. "Behave yourself." She pulled down the shade, having seen Johnny the entire time. Andrew sat back a bit, then sighed and shrugged it off.
Jennifer sighed as she stepped through the front door of her home. She threw down her keys and looked at the clock, seeing that she had three hours before the kids came home. Michael emerged from the kitchen, smiled at her and came forward, brought her into an embrace asking a silent question.
She smiled softly, both had found his talking a bit odd, and a huge adjustment not only for them but for Jacob, and so they had agreed that he didn't have to talk more than he did before, but he certainly could make things known, she liked him this way. It gave her a sense of familiarity, of a place in life. She ran her hands up his arms and sighed.
"Close call but nope, Winters says that the wounds haven't affected my repro system, so it all looks healthy, but nothing lively happening in there."
He sighed and nodded, drew her closer, into a hug. She chuckled and received him, her arms sliding so there was so space between them. He nuzzled her throat, feeling her soft warm flesh under his nose.
She giggled, tickled by this movement and brought herself back, kissed him lightly. "We're feisty, eh?"
He grinned and reached to turn off the light, then swiftly swung her up in his arms, took her up the stairs.
"So Michael... He's good?" Jamie's voice asked timidly.
Jennifer smiled as she watched Steven, Jake and Ana play. "Yeah, he's really good. Hasn't changed much and I like that."
Jamie smiled softly. "So what happens next?"
Jennifer sighed and shrugged. "I don't know, I guess we're basically stuck in the house, raising the kids but... I'd rather raise them in Haddonfield than Smith's Grove I mean, I might have grown up at Smith's Grove but it's always felt like the four years in Haddonfield with Mom have been my childhood, you know? Fresh air, running around having fun, getting dirty."
Jamie laughed. "Not a speck of dirt on us at the institute, huh?"
Jennifer pretended to look appalled. "Not one! We were the daughter's of Terrance Wynn we had to look respectable!."
They both laughed and Jamie sighed. "I miss Mom, ever since she died, God it's been so miserable."
Jennifer tensed at this but before she could speak Jamie went on. "And, that night Michael took Steven, before Halloween, you mentioned... Wynn wanted to piss Mom off? And that Steven would... go after her or something like that? What were you talking about?"
Jennifer took a deep breath. "Jamie, Mom never died."
Jamie's brow furrowed. "What?"
"She... she faked her death, went back to California. Tom went with her and took John, they got divorced a few years later, she had gone back to her fake name, Keri Tate. Michael's been after her since, I had to stop him. Oh God I thought you knew."
"She's alive... she... she faked her death from us?"
Jennifer felt her cheeks go red. "N-no, I-I knew..."
Jamie's teary eyes met her sister's. "You knew? You knew and you didn't tell me? You saw what that did to me!"
Jennifer felt her own tears spill. "I promised her I wouldn't! I promised her I'd take care of you and keep her secret and God I did for so long!"
Jamie's face lost all color. "And you told Wynn."
"James I never meant to hurt you, I did it for Mom."
Jamie stood. "You did hurt me, you wouldn't BELIEVE how this hurts me!"
"Jamie, I..."
"Do me a favor Jen, leave me alone, just leave me alone!" She gathered up Steven's things, took her son's hand and left.
Jennifer looked at her children, they were confused, lost as to why their Aunt had snatched up their cousin and left. She wiped away her tears and stood from the table. "So, why don't we go see what Daddy's doing, hmm?"
"Ok." Both said, gloomily shuffling past her through the door. She watched them sadly, sniffled, wiped some fresh tears away and followed them in.
She heard them prancing up the stairs and sighed, threw herself down on the couch, a hand over her face. She heard Michael laugh upstairs and the kids giggles and sighed again, repressing fresh sobs. If only you could see what your death did to me, Jamie. She thought, trying to think of a way, then she stood up and hurried to the phone, dialed a number and waited. "Hello, Dawn? Yes it's Jennifer can I....."
"One moment please."
She heard the line go and some music start. "Ok then."
"Hello?"
"Dad, it's Jenni, listen I have a favor to ask of you..."
"Did she see it?"
"Yeah, but she keeps muttering about the past, let her go Jenni, she needs time. She's had a lot laid on her."
Jennifer sighed and sat down. She was silent for several moments, then spoke. "I sat in a sanitarium six years, thinking she was dead, and I still hadn't let go of her. Why should I do it now?"
Wynn sat next to her and sighed, folding his aged hands. "Because she's given up on you."
Tears coursed down her face and she inhaled deeply. She looked at him, pinching her lips together to hold back a sob but it escaped and she said shakily. "Just like Momma."
He sighed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Jenni, I think you'll see that in life, you've just got to surrender to it sometimes. To the pain the hardship everything. Now you've stolen the day and the night away I think, maybe you should let Jamie have the afternoon."
She looked at him. "What's the day and the night?"
"Well the day is happiness, your children, the night, well that's Michael. It's cool and calm, but full of so much darkness, so much fury and blackness. But you always loved being out at night, staring at the stars, feeling the wind, Jamie always preferred afternoon."
She steadied the breathing. "And, what's the afternoon?"
"Normality, afternoons hardly change they're hardly exciting or fun unless you plan something. You've got the bogeyman, she has a life."
She was silent, curled in her corner, her face wet with tears, makeup running. Her arms were crossed, her blue blouse looked something like a towel the way it covered her, she looked at him and shakily asked. "What's the bogeyman?"
The End
Yay! I finished it! Woo-hoo I love my ending, soooo freaky and so much irony and you guys know what? I have so many more ideas, if you want more Jennifer stuff I can write more, I've got a really nifty idea but I need feedback. After someone told me the block unsigned users thing was on I took it off so PLEASE review!
SA
