Category: Gen
Setting: 1X03, Four Horsemen
Characters/Pairings: Jake Green, Emily Sullivan (mentioned)
Rating/Warnings: T.
Summary: You were the one who was supposed to be dead, not him!
Disclaimer: Neither Jericho nor its characters belong to me.
Should Have Been You
Jake forced himself not to think about it until he was on the road, but he knew what he had seen. The image had only been on the TV for a few seconds, but he had seen that pulsing target over San Diego. It's where he should have been. If he had stayed there, like he had planned, if he hadn't returned to Jericho, he would be dead.
You were the one who was supposed to be dead, not him!
He tightened his hands on the wheel. He didn't want to admit it, but Emily's words had hit him hard. He'd refused to say anything or even think about it while he was in town, but now that he was alone his thoughts wouldn't stop coming. He figured it was the sleep deprivation. He usually had better control then this, but with nothing but an open road and the silence of the car, he couldn't stop wondering about what might have been.
He hadn't been planning to return to Jericho. If it hadn't been for the money, he would still be in San Diego trying to find the men who had killed Freddy. If it hadn't been for needing a clean start, he would be lying dead in the middle of San Diego, either of a bullet wound, nuclear bomb, or radiation poison. No matter which way he spun it, he should have been dead.
Instead, he was driving down a Kansas road with an old flame's words echoing in his head. And all he could think was that she was right. It was him who was supposed to be dead, not Roger. He should have been dead twenty times over, and yet he was still here, still driving down the Kansas backroad toward who-knows-what.
You were the one who was supposed to be dead, not him!
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts and looked further down the road. In the distance, he could see something across the road. Reaching for his pistol, he kept it close by as he kept driving. All thoughts of San Diego and Emily vanished as he pulled to a stop and stared out over the two crashed planes.
"Oh my God."