In a matter of seconds, 3 black SUV had parked all around his car to avoid any chance of him getting away. Mens in bulletproof vests quickly got into position, raising their guns towards him and screaming something as previsible as "FBI, put your hands up now!".
As if the ginger hadn't already done that on pure instinct, breathing so shallow he could barely attempt to try pleading his case.

"GUYS! YOU ALL CHILL RIGHT NOW!" screamed Alfred, putting himself in front of his protegee, while crossing his arms in unimpressed demeanor. "It's not a kidnapping! It's just a car accident, no big deal! Don't hurt the man! Geez….the helicopter, really! Talk about being discreet…."

To his amazement, the authorities obeyed, putting their guns down and looking confused about what to do next.
They waited for a group of men in black smoking to leave their cars, one with your regular sunglasses and headset who seemed particularly bewildered. In a few large steps, he was standing before the both of them and now Jason could swear the agent was fuming fire from his nostrils.

- "Alfred! What are you doing here and what has gotten to your mind?!"

-"Hi Alfred! How are you going Alfred? Oh my, what's all this blood doing here, are you alright? I was soooo worried about you Al'...Where did your manners go, Geoffroy?"

-"Don't get me started Alfred. I'm not in the mood."

-"Alright alright. I got myself into a car accident. Had to hide myself with the healing thing, okay? And guess what? That place near the lake seemed perfect for me!"

-"Arg! You know the protocol Alfred! You have to call ME if ANYTHING happens to you! So, WHY didn't you call?" Here we go again. Alfred rolled his eyes, massaging his temples. Gosh, couldn't they leave him a break?

-" 'Cause I just knew you would made a tantrum about this! I didn't want my dude to be shot by my fault having me all deadly wounded in his passenger seat! I WAS going to call when I've completely healed, but no! You just have to call all the freaking FBI and air force to go fetch me! Stop being that paranoïd!"

Geoffrey was at the verge of strangling him. Jason I mean. He wouldn't do anything to Alfred of course. But sometimes, his country was just being an insufferable brat that would make them all turn old way before their time passed.
Jason hid the entire time behind Alfred, trying to avoid the murderous glare the secret agent was sending to both. He remembered the blond mentioning the accident would bring him more trouble than he expected. And now, he understood how serious these troubles could actually be. Then, he was snapped back to reality when Geoffrey actually noticed him.

-"...He saw a few of your..abilities I suppose? What does he know exactly?"

-"...Uhh...Well….about the strength, the healing and….the background people checking thingy? Also that I'm not average..human...Hey, don't look at me like that! Like I had a choice….ok I did have it, buuuuttt it was easier to explain the weird things he saw..."

Oh boy, was really Alfred defending him or digging his grave? Because that didn't help alleviate the mood at all.
However, the agent seemed to give up the most violence-inducing ideas that crossed his mind and calmly asked.

" Great. Now you've got the responsibility of what happens next Alfred. What are we going to do about him? Do you trust him enough to keep a secret?" "Yes, I trust him! No problem with that!"

Again, this. This made him so happy for unknown reasons. Alfred entrusting that commoner Jason Rayners with his heavy secret that seemed so important, it really meant something for him and that made him smile in gratitude.
The two other men argued a bit on their own, something Jason couldn't hear except for the expressive "Oh shit Kiku! I forgot about him too!" , and then they parted, Alfred coming back to him for the farewells.

-"Hey! I told you I was going to take care of everything right? These gentlemen will take you back to your home. Of course, I will pay for the car, and everything that was unfairly done to you. By that, I mean all the unfair situations that resulted from 'my' fault! You will not get in trouble as long as you don't gossip on me, ok?
And yeah, if you need, we can keep in touch and have some coffee from time to time too! "

-"Wow...you don't have to...repay me. I mean, I crushed you with my car if you remember..."

-"And I told you it was my fault! I'm taking responsibility for this!"

-" That doesn't make any sense..."

-" It does for me, believe me! And Imma not take no as an answer! "

-"...Ok, thanks...I still feel I can't accept your reparations and that it's not fair…"

- "You know, the truth is I can't afford to give a boost to anyone even if I wanted to...While it should be normal for me to take care of everyone. That's supposed to be my job! So when I meet someone like you.. well, I'm kinda redeeming myself for letting you down all this time. You just need to promise me to do your best as always!"

Jason didn't understand right away what he meant by this redeeming help, but he hadn't the heart nor strength to refuse even if it was hella confusing. He nodded and shyly smiled at Alfred, who shot him the colgate smile he learnt to know.
Just like that, they parted ways, him getting into one of the SUV when Alfred jumped into the helicopter. He said goodbye to his red Mercedes (not without internally crying for his lost treasure), which would be taken back later, and they went on the road for a few hours, letting him try to mindly formulate an explanation to his mother all the way down…

Who would have thought a car accident could be a happy event?

Definitively not Jason nor his mother.
In a matter of days, he discovered just the extent of how much Alfred could devote himself to fulfill his promises. Him who simply thought Alfred would repay the car reparation wasn't ready to be awakened that next morning by excited screams. It wasn't the usual calls for alcohol or meds this time, it sounded much more erratic and when he walked down the stairs, Jessica wasn't at her usual place. She had been up on her feet, tears flowing from her face, and when he had appeared in the stairs, she had cried out :

-"Jason! ..snif..snif...Someone has paid all the medical bills! All of them…"

Jason yawned, rubbed his eyes, and finally froze on spot at the last step. Wait...What did she just...

-"...Say what?"

-"Look! It's right there!" He had grabbed the paper of notice, saying a certain Alfred F. Jones had indeed erased the bill. -"And...And you have to see… in front of the house!" continued Jessica, pointing at the window with her frail arm while the other was trying to maintain her frail standing against the table. Immediately, the ginger man ran to the kitchen and pushed the curtain.

-" You've gotta be kidding me…"

Outside was a whole new car. Not the extreme fancy kind though, but still a whole new red one, better than his previous baby, completely new and bright.
The man delivering the car rang at the door, verified his identity and gave the key to an astonished Jason that stayed on the landing for about five minutes blinking and gaping. It was too overwhelming to process everything right away.

-"Mom...pinch me on the cheeks please…" She did gently and with a smile, a smile he hadn't see for the past few years.

- " I know...I thought it was a dream too. But it's all real Jason!"

The smile on his mothers face was contagious, and suddenly, they both laughed and took each other in their arms strongly until they couldn't breath.
It had been years since they reunited like this. Just the two of them finally having some good news after all these years in hell. At one moment however, Jason thought this fairy tale hid something. It was too much in a short amount of time, for no logical reason he could find. He looked at his phone and decided to call Alfred to be sure he wasn't dreaming.

-"Yo!" - "Hey….Alfred, I just...is all this really true?"

- "If by all this ya mean the car and the bills, yeah, pretty much! Did you see though? Didn't take a too expensive car so you wouldn't have to pay an expensive amount of fuel. Not that you would play Fast and Furious anymore right?"

- "T-thanks for thinking about everything…. but that's...how? That's just insane! Where did you get all that money from?"

- " Waa, you're sounding so suspicious here! It's not dirty money ya know? I've also been working hard too! It's just that with working more than 400 years you gather a lot more than just 10! "

- "...Wait what? It's a joke...right?"

- "Anyway, I'm glad you're liking it, but I've only repaired what was unfair to you, caused by the flows of my health system, as I told you. The rest is up to you my man! Oh and last thing, there's still something else but I'll let you discover about it on your own!"

- "Wait Alfred, what do you mean by 400 years…."

Annnnnnd he hung up without answering that last one, keeping tickling him with clues about how extraordinary he really was.
Jason promised himself to ask him everytime he could, to get to the bottom of this.

Later on, he discovered what the last surprise was.
Besides the car, the medical bills, Alfred had provided the access to a rehabilitation place for his mother, alongside addictology consultations to help her getting rid of the medications, which were also provided. Every day, she would go there to train getting steady on her limbs, and decreasing the amount of medication and alcohol consumed. Little by little, he could see Jessica getting better, both physically and mentally. She even had made friends during her rehab session. Of course it was hard to move one from a situation that had lasted for so long, but it was definitely getting on the right track by now. They would always bicker though, but...Wasn't it how family was?

You could imagine how life changed for Jason. He still had to pay the scholar bills, the house bills, like any lambda american. He still had his previous job at the washing car station and still had to earn in order to live. But with some of the charges left and the fact his mother was being taken care of, he could now actually look for himself more and go on with his life, see the light through the tunnel that they said.

All in exchange of one old secret, passed on through some privileged, that he would later get the grasp of meeting Alfred several more times.

It had started with a car accident, and it ended with one happy car accident. Wasn't life silly sometimes?


Author's note :

And it's done!
I really wanted to write this little story down, though there is a few difficulty you may have noticed :

1) I'm not american, I don't know exactly how everything works there so I've been elusive about details.

2) I'm not drug addict or consumer but I've seen some in my work as a health provider. That's why I'm talking about "medication abuse" mostly here, because it's actually quite common phenomenon. People getting pain-killer or anxiety-alleviating pills (benzodiazepine being the worst in that matter) and getting addict to it, I see them every day. It is more insidious than you may think, although in my place, they are partially reimbursed depending of the indication.

Thus, 3) I'm a little biaised about Health system and I've might shown it here, but I'm not living in the US, so you may think what you want!