"Be My Escape"

The Mercer party went out, on Kat, as she gave in eventually and payed for everyone's dinner. They only brought two cars, so Alex and Jack drove Camille and Jerry home, while the other five took another car. They pulled into the driveway.

"Did you guys want to come in?" Camille asked. "The kids would love to see you."

"Uh, yeah, yeah, sure." Jack said. They all got out of the car, and went inside.

"Uncle Jack! Alex!" The girls exclaimed, running over to them. Jack picked up Amelia, and Alex picked up Daniela. They greeted the girls, and talked with the family for a bit, before heading home. How cool was that? Home. Their own place. They entered, and stopped. They smiled.

"This is our place now." Jack said.

"I say we have a little housewarming fun."

"Here we go." Alex grabbed Jack, gently pushed him against the wall, and kissed him. "Jack likey. Very much." Jack switched places with her, so she was against the wall, and kissed her. He then picked her up, her legs around his waist, and they continued to make their way to the bedroom. After a little 'housewarming', they lie in bed. Jack's hand rested on Alex's stomach. His eyes had this look, as if he was in mid-day-dream, he was happy, and nervous. Alex put her hand on his, then moved it, putting his hand to her cheek. She smiled. The phone rang. "I'll get it." She stood up, pulled a sheet around herself, walked out into the living room, and answered the phone. "Hello? I'm sorry, you must have the wrong number. Well this is our new number, so maybe you're looking for a previous resident? No problem." She turned, and her foot got twisted in the sheet. She lost her balance, and fell. "Ah!"

"Alex?" Jack called, getting up, and slipping jeans on. "You okay?"

That's when Alex noticed the bleeding. "JACKIE!"

Jack ran out to her, and fell to his knees beside her. "What!"

"Jack." He saw now. She was bleeding. Down there. "Something's wrong Jack. This is not good! Jackie, ah..I need an ambulance." Jack grabbed the phone, and dialed. "My-My girlfriend! She's pregnant! She fell, and she's bleeding a lot. We need an ambulance!"

Jack sat in the waiting room with Jerry, Camille, and the girls. They sat on each side of him, Jerry's hand on Jack's shoulder, Camille's hand on his back. He was leaning forward, silent. Jerry leaned toward him.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, Jack."

"I just wanna know what's going on. With my girlfriend, with my baby." He sighed. "Damnit."

Kat, Angel, Sofi, and Bobby came in. Camille stood up, and told them what she knew. "Jesus." Kat sighed.

"You don't know anything else?" Angel asked. Camille shook her head.

"Shit." Bobby stretched, his hands behind his head, distressed. He went over to Jack, who looked up at him, his face showing the pain he had been through, tear-stained sorrow revealing itself, no attempt at containing it anymore. Not even for his big brothers. Fuck it, he was sad. His brothers werent the best at emotion, but they would understand. They weren't totally stupid.

"You okay?" Bobby said, sitting down next to him, as Jeremiah had stood up and was now talking with the others.

"Bobby," He said, "All I want, is to know what's happening. I'm scared, Bobby. I love Alex. She's the only girl I've ever felt this way about. This love, it's lke, I kiss her, or, Im just AROUND her, and, and it's like everything is there, everything I ever wanted, right with me. I look at her, and--you know all those old song lyrics, and cheesy cliches about love--all those, you realize, were produced from this same feeling, and suddenly they don't seem so..ridiculous. You think: All you need IS love, Love WILL keep us together, Love...Love will set you free..." Jack could go on and on, but a doctor came into the room. "Jack Mercer?" Relief and stress both washed over him at the same time, and Jack stood up, anticipating, wondering what came next.

"Yes?" Everyone fell silent.

"Mr. Mercer, you were the father-to-be, I presume?"

"Were? Doctor..."

"Alex has had what is called an inevitable miscarriage. Her pregnancy terminated itself. In this case, the pregnancy is completely lost. I'm sorry." Jack felt as if his lungs had been ripped out from his chest, and he was beaten over the head with them, alternating. He felt a pang of sorrow, loss, empathy, and he felt as if he couldn't breathe. He pulled himself together quickly.

"Can I see her?"

"There's another thing you should know. Your girlfriend, as rare as this is, is no longer able to conceive children. My condolensces. But yes, you may see her."

Jack turned back to his family. "Lemme go back there alone right now."

The walk to the recovery room was...indescribable. All his feelings seemed to contradict themselves. He wanted to run to her, but was afraid to reach his destination. He feared his legs might give out from beneath him, and yet he almost, well, not WISHED, but almost anticipated it. The walk seemed to last a long time, yet before he knew it he was at her door. His thoughts raced through his brain, almost too fast to process them before it slipped past and he was clotheslined by another. As fast as his thoughts went, the rest of the world went slow. Not slow, but he was restless, anxious, and just felt impatient with the speed the world traveled. But eventually, he reached Alex's room. He stopped in the doorway, and leaned against it, observing. She wasn't looking at him, she seemed to just have spaced out. He walked in, and she turned her head to face him. "Jack."

"Alex. Are you okay?"

"I felt like someone just ripped out my lungs, and beat me over the head with them."

"No shit." He said, under his breath, unsure if she had heard him.

"But, it's like, I wasn't sure of this to start with. But, it grew on me. Not like I had a choice. But, after a bit, I accepted it. I got used to the fact that, I would be a mother. Shit, Jack, I'm only nineteen. I don't feel nineteen."

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

"That's just it. I'm not sure yet. I've decided, maybe kids are something I'd want. Someday. But now, I'm not ready again. Shit, oh God. Damn. Nevermind, someday isn't gonna happen. You heard the doctor."

"Yeah. But again, is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

"I'm not sure...And BEING not sure, it makes me feel horrible, like, if it's a good thing, that might imply that I never wanted this baby. And I did. I was unsure, but I had EMBRACED it. I just..want things to go back to normal. Can we do that, Jack? Can life be normal? Not normal, but, you understand." She was stating that, not questioning. She knew he did understand. "I...want to go home."

"We both want normal. But, if things go back to normal...where is home?"

"Wherever we go, together."

"Are we going to run?"

"No, Jackie. Why rush. Life will go as fast as we do. As fast as we please."

"So...we're leaving? We're just gonna go."

"Until we figure things out, find out where home actually is. I think we need an escape, Jack."

"From what?"

"I don't know...we'll find out when we've left for a bit, when we don't have it anymore."

"As long as I don't get shot."

Alex smiled.

"So," Jack asked. "Where did you have in mind?"

"Ever been to Vegas, Jack?"

"No. Is that where we're going?"

"So many questions. We're in this together, don't ask me. We might, to answer your question. For starters."

"Starters?"

"When can I leave? Did they tell you?" She ignored his question.

"No. I should go ask." Speak of the devil, that's when a nurse walked in.

"Are you ready to see your family? Should I tell them to come in?"

"Um, I guess. Hey, do you know when I can leave here?"

"As soon as you like. You may feel tired for a day or two, but you can leave soon. I'll go tell your family you're ready to see them." The nurse left.

"What are we gonna say to them?" Jack asked.

"Yo, quizmaster! Chill. We'll just...Hey what do we do about the apartment?"

"See? Sometimes questions are inevitable."

"Shut up. Well, since we only need a one room place, what do we do with the other room? Should we move out, back into the old house, and when we come back we can stay? Then from there, we can find our own place. Sound good?"

"I guess."

"Okay. Gosh this is a lot of planning for something spontaneous."

The family filed in. They surrounded Alex's bed. "A little space, please. Respect the perimeter ." Alex spaced out her arms.

"So," Bobby spoke softly and gently to Alex, "how are you doing? Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I think so. Hey guys, we need to talk to you. You know, there's really no point to having a two bedroom apartment when we only need one. And we had one with you guys. So we thought, move out of the apartment, we could stay with you, until we find our own place."

"Sure." Bobby said.

Alex sat up. "To hell with this. I want out of here. I just, need clothes." So they got Alex out of the hospital, and home. Jack went over and got things squared away with the apartment business, then came back, to find Alex asleep on his bed. He layed next to her, wrapping his arm around her waist, and soon was asleep as well. But he was awoken by Alex stumbling over things. "Alex." He sat up. It was dark, middle of the night. "What are you doing?"

"Let's go, Jack. Let's go now. Can we? We'll just go. Leave them a note, or email, or something. I think it's time we live for ourselves, by ourselves. At least for a little while."

"Me too. C'mon." Jack grabbed a bag, and packed his things, as did Alex. Jack wrote a note for the family, explaining why they had rushed off, and he hoped to God they would understand. He included the part about finding out exactly where home is, and finding what they're running away from once it's gone. They had nothing planned, and probably weren't doing the smartest thing, but...well...insert justifiable reason for running here. He left the note on the bedroom door, where they were bound to find it. Alex exited the room, carrying her guitar bag in one hand, and another bag over one shoulder. "You ready?" He asked quietly. She nodded. He picked up his bags as well, and with his free hand, took hers. She smiled slightly, and they walked out, starting something new. They hoped it was as right as it made them feel.

Angel woke up, and walked out of his room. "Bobby!" He called.

"Yo." Bobby's voice was coming from the bathroom. Hell no. Boy needs to learn to shut the damn door, I know. Angel sighed, and entered the bathroom. Something was missing here. He finally realized, where was Cracker Jack?

"Where's Cracker Jack?"

"Probably still asleep. Why?"

"I dunno. Just wondering." He started to walk out, but stopped. "And Bobby? A new concept:.." He shut the door. He started walking back to is room, when he noticed something on Jack's door. He looked at it. It said "Family" on it. Angel took it, got quickly dressed, and ran downstairs. "Hey guys! Everybody!" Then he realized that not everyone LIVED here, they just all hung out here. But who was here, came out. He started, but then stopped himself, and ran to the phone. He called Kat, and told her to come over on her break. Something inside him made him want the whole family there. Good thing Kerrie already WAS there, he wasn't sure if she had the right status yet to consider part of the inner circle. But she was there, so now he just had to call Jerry. As a time-saver, he figured he'd just put Jerry and Camille on speaker. When everyone was there, he read off the letter.

"So, they just left?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah. Can't really blame them, too much. Can we?"

"No. Nah, I guess not. I don't know."

"So," Kat spoke up, "What now?"

Alex was driving Jack's car, the old, yet classic, mind you, '73 Buick convertible. Jack was fiddling with the radio dial. Jerry had told them multiple times to get a newer model, but they loved it. Will's friend Cameron loved to fix up old cars, and he didn't want this one, so Will had suggested Jack buy it. At first, he was unsure. He was having serious Crossroads-based doubts.But it was a kick-ass car, and it drove well. Alex, however, loved it the moment she saw it. Jack finally settled on a station playing Creed.

"Nice choice." Alex compliented.

"Thanks. I try."

"Wow. You are so lucky I'm past my radio-singing-along-to-ness habit."

"I wouldn't mind. I love your voice."

She sighed. "Thank God. I was having one of those urges to." She started to sing, like, really loud too. I mean, the girl was yelling. But she sounded pretty good regardless. Here:

"When you are with me, I'm FREE! I feel careless, I believe! Above all the other, we'll FLY! This brings tears, to my eyes, my sacrifice. I just want to say hello again. I just want to say hello again..." By the next time the chorus rolled around, Jack joined her, caught up in the moment. "When you are WITH ME, I'm FREE! I'm careless, I believe! Above all the others, we'll FLY! This brings tears, to my eyes, my sacrifice! My sacrifice."

"This is fun." Jack said, and he smiled at her. "So, where we goin'?"

"We, my darling, are going wherever we want. We're going to see some friends, too."

"Friends of yours? God help us."

She laughed, and accelerated.

Jack lit up a cigarrette, inhaled, and exhaled deeply. "Here we go."