Summary: In movies people skip from one adventure to another, in life - you have moments in between which often aren't in your favor.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Jumper, characters or anything else associated.
A/N: Response to the 100 Fic Ultimate Challenge at jumperslash. The prompts I used - #91 inadequate and #82 an uninvited guest. Unless said otherwise all my challenge fics can be considered sequent.
Now, the movie ended when David found his mum, but that was in winter while when he 'saved' Millie it definitely wasn't so - as big as USA is I still don't think that it's possible to have two completely different seasons in it. So keep that in mind.
In Between
David jumped back to his apartment. There really was no higher reasoning involved rather than instinct and a wish to crawl in someplace and not come out for a long time. His strength gave out and he fell backwards on his own bed. The mattress felt a bit rough against the naked skin of his back but he made no move to find some of his favorite silken sheets.
His bedroom was just as trashed as the hall downstairs. Previously he hadn't noticed that because he hadn't even come upstairs. He hadn't checked his belongings – what was taken and what not. Frankly, he didn't know whether he still had the apartment. The paladins could have said he was some wanted felon and confiscated it as a crime scene or something.
He had been so preoccupied with need to find Griffin; to save Griffin that he hadn't paid attention to anything else. He felt somewhat foolish now. It had taken nearly all he had to look for Griffin – and now he couldn't help but wonder why did he even bother? It was painfully obvious that Griffin didn't need anyone's help.
He couldn't repent the fact that he had gone after Griffin. Not really. David knew that he'd hate himself forever if he hadn't tried. He did lament the situation as a whole. If he had to put a name on how he felt about all that was happening, he supposed that 'inadequate' was the best word.
He was being slowly lulled to sleep by his own misery when the sound of a cracking glass startled him. He sat up in the bed and tried to make his breaths shallower and slower. He strained to listen what was happening on the other side of his bedroom door. He made out the sound of whispers and steps. Now, guests usually don't sneak around their host's house so there were only two options of who the intruders were and neither was appealing to David.
He jumped before the door was opened. Second later he was in a beach on Fiji. He took a few steps backwards and looked intently at the place where his jump scar was. It didn't seem that someone was going to follow him yet he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being watched. He looked around but the beach was empty and it was getting rather dark.
He turned and fled the scene. He run quite far before daring to jump again – he didn't want to be followed and he wasn't going to take a chance. If he had paused to think, he would have realized that the paranoia was Griffin's influence.
Next moment he was almost blinded by light. He blinked letting his eyes adjust at the sudden change of illumination. He was on the top of a pyramid on top of a safe. It seemed that Griffin hadn't returned to reclaim his property, yet. David frowned and thought for a minute. He had no real use for the bomb and he had lost the detonator somewhere in the middle of saving Millie and saving Griffin but he supposed that you never know. Besides he didn't want to leave a dangerous explosive to Griffin. Who knows what the guy might blow up; he pissed on Coliseum after all.
David touched the safe and jumped it to what he thought was a relatively safe location. Who would look for a safe of explosives in a basement of the castle of Chicken Itza? Besides it was a nice, dry place with constant environment which hadn't changed for more than two thousand years which meant that the explosive was unlikely to, well, explode. On the other hand, David didn't know much about explosives. He supposed that he will have to read something up so that he wouldn't end up accidentally leveling one of the new seven world wonders.
He stayed just long enough to make sure that no one would accidentally run across the safe and then jumped to his childhood house in Ann Arbor. He took one of his father's shirts vowing to go see him as soon as possible. The last he had heard his father was in critical condition. David wasn't overly fond of his sire but he did care whether his father lived or died.
He jumped down the hall to his bedroom. Previously it had been locked with heavy chains – he had heard them clinking, however now they were gone. He was disappointed to find that the money he had hidden there was also gone. He needed the money. He needed to renew his wardrobe and, hell, he needed to do a lot of things now – he wasn't even sure where to start.
He didn't think for a long time. He searched the house for a large bag or something alike. He found a rather big duffle bag and after emptying it of its content he jumped to one of the banks he had robbed in previous years. Formerly when he robbed a bank he never took all that was there – in cash or valuables, he always left something, as well as some kind of 'I'm sorry' note. Well, that was before – now he took all of the cash that there was and left no note.
He made a couple of jumps before finally storing the bulk of the money by the safe. While jumping to 'misguide' anyone that would follow him, he had picked up a nice backpack in Barcelona and now used it to put some of the money in it. Then he made a couple of jumps all over America before renewing his wardrobe at several rather esteemed shops in Chicago. By mid afternoon he was exhausted and starving. He couldn't recall his last meal and he could hear that neither did his stomach. He took a late lunch in Las Vegas and then slept for a couple of hours in a respected five star Moscow hotel.
It was late evening when he was back in Ann Arbor. He did owe Millie an explanation, after all. And he had to make sure that she was safe. He knocked on the door of her mother's house unsure of what the reception will be.
IBIBIBIBIB
"So," Millie stated sitting down on her bed. To be honest, she had expected of David either to show up quite earlier or never. She looked him over noting his clothes which looked brand new and overall appearance which seemed to scream that he was dead on his feet. "Are you sure you want to talk now?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Yes," he said sitting down on a miniature couch by the window.
Silence settled between them. Millie hesitated to ask questions – she wanted him to tell the tale by himself. He was temporizing. He wasn't sure of what he was going to tell her – what if some of the things he could tell her would put her into an even greater danger?
"I'm a jumper," he started. "That's what it's called. I can jump practically anywhere if I can picture the location clearly enough." He paused.
"Have you always been… a jumper?" Millie asked slowly – tasting out the last word.
"I think so," he said frowning in thought. "Although I didn't know about it until I was fifteen. Remember that day in winter by the river?" It was a rhetorical question; he did not expect an answer. "That's when I found out I could jump. One second I thought I was a goner and then I was in the Ann Arbor public library," he said his expression contemplative as if he still had trouble believing that he had survived. That day had changed his whole life.
It took him less than an hour to tell her the summarized version of the last eight years of his life and explain what and why had happened few days before. Millie was a good listener, she always had been. She was attentive and didn't ask any more questions until after he was finished.
"What happens now?" she asked. She wasn't entirely sure what she thought of the whole thing but she sure liked to hear his opinion.
The events of the previous days were fresh in her mind and she seriously considered moving away from Ann Arbor and taking her mother with her. She wasn't a very brave person and although everything had turned out okay – she prayed that nothing like that would ever happen again. She also couldn't help but wonder what she would do if she were a jumper. Thinking of all the places she could visit put a slight smile on her face. And she pondered over David.
People had thought that she was in serious denial when she kept proclaiming that David was alive. Her mother had even considered taking her to a psychotherapist. Now he was here, in front of her, after completely trashing her apartment, most likely having no idea what his leaving did to her so many years ago and putting her in danger. She wasn't angry – this was definitely a change from the boring, common way of life she had led. She was put out by him, though. One would have expected that he would have forgotten all about her.
He frowned unsure of what she meant. "I think I'd like to find my mother," he said.
She nodded. A thoughtful look passed her features. "Can I come with you?"
"What?" his voice rose for a notch. "After all that happened…? I couldn't…," he paused rising from the small couch. "It would put you in danger, Millie. I… I can't do that to you," he said.
"Am I not in danger already?" she didn't want to know the answer to the question, but she had to ask.
David frowned. "As long as you stay away from me…," he started and abruptly stopped. He had had practically no contact with his father and he had been attacked nonetheless. "I think you should move," he said seriously.
His answer angered her. He voiced her own thoughts and as easy as it sounded in her mind as harsh and unyielding it sounded in the air. "Oh, now you think," she muttered. "You came here and turned my life for one eighty degrees and now you're dumping the whole mess in my lap," she said rising from her bed. She poked with her finger in his chest, "I don't think so."
"Millie… I'm sorry," he said, his expression apologetic.
She sighed and relented. "I'm coming with you," she said taking a step back to give them both some personal space.
"Millie, I told you already…"
"No!" she cut him off. "You don't understand. You can't just come here and tell me what to do and that you're sorry that you messed up," she said. "You can look for your mother, but I'm coming with you. My mother will be safer that way."
David sat back on the couch. He didn't like this one bit but he could see her reason. This whole mess was of his making and he had to try to make it all better. One step at a time.
"Besides," a slight smile adorned her face. "You will be able to take me to all the places I have always wanted to visit!"