Day Twenty-Five: Do I Look Like I Knew That?

Characters/Pairings: Jake/Rose; Brad/Rose; Heather (OC)

Rating: M

Content warnings: stalking; sexual content; kidnapping; death mentions; sexual assault; rape; pregnancy mentions

Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now and that my ao3 account is wearealloflegendnow (even though I haven't posted there yet)!

~TLL~

Rose took another package out of the mailbox and sighed. At least this one felt like mostly letters, rather than tokens or so-called 'mementos'. Rose stared at the block letters, printed neatly in the handwriting that had unwittingly become familiar, forming her name and her address, even if there was no return address. She knew who it was from.

"Ugh." Next to Rose, her twin sister, Heather scoffed and went to pull the package from Rose's grasp but Rose wouldn't let go. Then, Heather sighed. "Just throw it out, Rose. You know it just encourages him when you take it inside."

Him.

Jake Long, who was likely in the bushes now, watching her every move. He'd been out there, pretty much all the time, for the last ten years. Her family often called the police on him but the police could never do anything. Not only was Jake rarely ever there by the time that they showed up but he didn't actually do anything. Jake didn't make threats or bodily harm anyone or even trespass. The only thing he did was send her packages, which were mostly bundles of love letters.

Rose took this month's package inside with her, even though Heather was most definitely right and she was just encouraging his stalking. Rose took the letters into her bedroom. When she and Heather had moved out of their parents' house, Rose had taken the bedroom that face the street, even though it made everything easier for Jake. Heather was too scared of Jake and the fact that she and Rose were identical. 'He could make a mistake,' Heather would always shriek, fully believing that one day, Jake would snap and kill Rose.

Rose was always 50/50 on potentially being murdered. But, she was fully convinced that Jake would never confuse her for Heather. The level of detail that Jake put into the letters about her and the fact that when she and Heather were apart, Jake never followed Heather, made Rose believe that Jake was always aware of who was who. He was the only person who seemed to do that and it unsettled Rose. Why did he have that level of special knowledge?

Rose opened the package and out fell the letters, one written every day for the last month. Rose flipped through them, finding October 25th, because she was filled with morbid curiosity.

Rose,

Rose. Rose. Rose. ROSE!

I think you think we are playing a game. I think you think that I tell you lies when I tell you of the past and who we were and who we were meant to be. I think you think that you can choose someone other than me. I know we are soulmates. You knew it too. I am here so that you remember and you will remember. I'll make sure of it. We will end up together, married, with all of our children, and you will be so blissfully happy with me that everything outside of me will seem like a memory.

I know you said 'yes'. I watched him get down on one knee. I watched as you cried with joy and then you celebrated at your early Halloween party with all of your friends. You made a beautiful Cinderella. He is not Prince Charming. I know you don't like the ring he bought you. I heard you tell Heather. I know you are going to look at that ring every day of your life and think that you shouldn't have said yes to a man who couldn't even buy you an engagement ring that you loved.

I watched as all of your Halloween friends went home and then you and he went to bed. He undressed you and didn't take the time to savour it. Not even married yet and he won't kiss your neck as he slips off your dress. I would have. I would make it slow and sweet. I would cup your breasts, run my thumbs over your nipples, make you drip with the anticipation before your skirt even slipped off your hips. Oh, he made you moan but I know you didn't have a real orgasm and you know it too. I know exactly how I would give one to you – once you are ready to have it.

I told you once, Rose, that I would not force this on you. That I would be patient and that I would wait for you but I will not let you marry someone that isn't me. We belong together. You need to remember the first time that we kissed. You need to remember all of the promises that we gave each other. You need to remember me.

We will be together.

We are together, every night, in my dreams and I know you dream of me too. More than you dream of him.

Rose kept reading. The letter was more erotic than the ones that he usually wrote and she hated to admit that it was getting to her. He was a creepy stalker who had glommed onto her when she and her family had moved back to New York when she and Heather was sixteen-years-old. As far as she could tell, Jake was probably the same age as she was. Heather didn't like to think of him as a person, boiling him down to someone who needed to be institutionalized but Rose wondered about him as a person all the time. He seemed convinced that he and Rose had been together in a different life and she wondered why her all of the time. She knew Heather was right and that he was probably just a madman and there was no reason why.

The threats against her fiancé were clearer in the following letters as he raged against a conversation she'd had with her mother on October 27th about organizing an engagement party. As much as Rose believed Jake would never hurt her, Rose did believe that Jake was capable of violence.

Rose put the letters on her desk, peeking out her window to see Jake's dark hair on the sidewalk. His face titled up and they stared at each other through the pane of glass. This was an often occurrence too. Rose looked away from him and went through her normal routine of cooking dinner with Heather and eating together, talking about Rose's new job and Heather lamenting about grad school. It was fine and normal. Heather left at seven for a study group and Rose stayed in her bedroom. Then, at exactly eight o'clock Rose went back to her bedroom to answer the phone. Brad was a police officer in Rhode Island so they didn't get to see each other every day but they did talk every day. She told him about another set of letters and Brad grumbled.

"I'm going to kill this kid if he follows you to Rhode Island," Brad said.

"Brad!"

"He attacked an officer's wife! They'll understand!"

"Brad!" Rose looked out her window but she couldn't see if Jake was out there or not. "He needs a psychiatrist, not a bullet wound."

"He's been following you for ten years, babe. Stop making excuses for him."

"I'm not but he needs help."

Brad agreed to disagree.

It's not that Rose wanted her stalker in her life forever or anything but she had sympathy for someone who clearly had no friends or family to look after him. A lot of therapy and some pills and Jake would probably be a normal guy. A normal guy who had to stay away from her but a normal guy.

Rose told Brad she loved him and then she hung up the phone. She went to her dresser and began digging out her pyjamas. She laid out her favourite flamingo printed silk set and started stripping off the day's jeans and black NYU sweater and uncomfortable pink bra that she definitely needed to buy a replacement for. She was just in her underwear when she heard the window slide open and the cold early November breeze rushed through her room. Rose stayed perfectly still, goosebumps running over every surface of her body. He had never done this and, maybe, if she didn't turn around, he would just leave.

Rose heard his feet hit the floor and she wondered how he had gotten up four stories.

"Rose."

It was the first time that Rose had ever heard Jake's voice and it was … soft and deep. Intentionally sultry. He sounded like he came from New York.

There were hands on Rose's hips and she fought the urge to turn around. If he was going to do this, if he was going to hurt her, she wasn't going to look at him. His hands were large and warm. They went all the way up her ribs and then back down to the band of her underwear. Rose's skin prickled.

"Rose." Jake pressed his body all the way to hers, his face in hair, and he inhaled deeply. "You smell different. You used to smell more like peaches."

Rose was acutely aware of how his hips were pressing against her butt.

"Please, leave." Rose's voice was only shaking slightly. "I don't want this."

"But you do. I know you do." Jake kissed her bare shoulder, his hands going up to cup her breasts, just like his letter had said he wanted to. "You can't marry anyone that's not me, Rose. You need to remember."

"Remember what?"

Jake spun Rose around and pushed her back against the wall. His arms were locked on either side of her, his knee pushed between her legs. Rose was trapped and they both knew it. Jake stared deeply into her eyes and Rose started back. This was the first time that she had ever seen him this close. There was no craziness in his brown eyes, which almost surprised her. Rose was expecting him to be unhinged, looking insane. She was expecting someone stereotypically crazy, with their hair sticking out and their eyes mostly white who was wearing holey clothes and who smelled bad. Instead, Jake looked put together, with his hair gelled and dyed with streaks of green. He smelled like cold brew coffee and was wearing nice, clean clothes. Rose was aware of her bare chest touching his clothed one.

"Remember that you loved me," Jake said. "When you were the Huntsgirl and I was the American Dragon."

Rose knew all of those words but only from his letters. They were part of his made-up world.

"You need to leave. We don't know each other. And I will be calling the police."

"No, you won't."

"Jake –"

And then he kissed her.

Rose hadn't kissed anyone but Brad in two years. Jake kissed entirely different, in an encompassing kind of way. His leg slid deeper up between hers, forcing Rose's legs apart. His hands went behind her back and pulled her into him, his hands searing her chilled back. Rose kissed him back without realizing that she was doing it, one hand deep in his hair and the other around his neck. She panted, opening her mouth, and then she realized what she was doing.

"No," she whispered, but Jake didn't stop kissing her.

"You're my Rose," Jake murmured. "My Huntsgirl. My love."

Jake kissed her chastely and then something rumbled in Rose's brain: a school hallway. Jake was there and then … Oh, and then … The memories rushed through her and she let out a gasp before Jake's mouth covered hers again. Everything that he had detailed in his letters, everything that was in his fantasy world, was true. That had all happened. It was all too much for her to think about at once and Rose brought her hands up to his chest, pushing him away, but he was a brick wall of muscle, and there was nowhere for her to send him.

"You remember!" Jake announced, as if he knew her face. He did know her face. "I knew you knew about it!"

"Do look like I knew that?" Rose asked. "Any of that? No! I didn't want to remember! I never wanted to know that!"

"Yes, you did. You loved me too." Jake was kissing at her neck and Rose knew that he was leaving bruises. She lifted her arms to push back at him again but he caught her wrists and he was so strong that Rose could barely flop her hands, desperately trying to get her fingers to break his skin. "You love me now!"

"I'm engaged! You're my stalker!"

"I'm the love of your life and now that you know, I'm not waiting anymore."

"I'm marrying Brad Morton," Rose said with conviction. Even with everything that she remembered about him, it had happened when they were young teens, and she had become someone entirely different now, and he had been stalking her for all of these years. "You need to leave me alone!"

"No."

Jake spun Rose around and she fell onto her bed. He loomed over her, pressing her back down against the mattress. Rose tried to struggle but he didn't care.

"We're going to get married and have babies and be happy. It's the only thing that's out there for us. It's you and me, Rose." Jake stroked her face with affection and Rose tried not to cry. If she cried, she could ruin the illusion for him, and he might actually hurt her. Maybe he'd rape her and leave her. It had to be better than him beating and raping her. Rose could feel his erection against his jeans, pushing against her underwear. She knew what was going to happen to her. "We're going to start now."

That was what she'd been afraid of.

Jake made quick work of getting himself naked and then he took off his underwear, staring at her with reverence. Rose thought of everywhere that she could try to flee before coming to the conclusion that she wasn't going to get anywhere. Jake was at least gentle as he touched her, aside from the hickeys that he left about her neck and breasts. He took his time stroking between her legs and kissed her with his idea of romance. Rose tried not to shake and tremble, especially when he spread her legs and pushed himself inside of her. Rose couldn't help but cry out, turning her face to the side. The new-old memories of the child Jake she had known played in her head and it just didn't seem like this could be the same person at all.

Why hadn't he moved on too? Rose wondered. It would have been so much better for the both of them.

Rose hated herself when he actually brought her to orgasm and Jake loomed over her, self-satisfied. When he came, it was inside of her, and Rose realized that there was no condom and that she wasn't on the pill.

"Maybe we just started our family tonight," Jake whispered with affection in her ear.

Rose was getting Plan B in the morning. There was going to be no family with this man.

Jake got off of her and Rose grabbed for the pyjamas that were at the end of the bed still. She just needed to be clothed, even if the flamingo pyjamas had lost their appeal forever. Jake took his time getting dressed and then he went to her closet. He seemed very casual about turning his back on her, maybe because he was a dragon and he knew that he could take her, maybe because he knew that her legs were shaking so badly about what had just happened that Rose couldn't have stood, even if he had pointed a gun at her head. Jake pulled out her suitcase and slowly started packing it. Rose noticed all of her favourite clothes going into the bag and then all of her essentials. Rose drew her knees up to her chest.

Jake shut the suitcase and placed it by the window.

"We're going now, Rose," he said.

"This is my home."

"No, your home is with me," Jake said. "We're going to get married and have our family now. You remember me. We just made love. There's nothing stopping us now."

"My family, my fiancé …" Rose said feebly. Jake approached her and she could feel the scream building in her throat. "We don't even know each other now!"

"Yes, we do," Jake said. "We've always known each other."

Jake pulled her engagement ring off her finger and Rose reared her hand back, going to slap him, but he caught her around the wrist.

"Okay," he said, his voice and eyes going dangerous. "The hard way it is then. I'll explain this now so you know when you wake up. I'm going to knock you out. We're going to leave. You're going to live with me forever now in the home I made for us because we're soulmates. We're going to get married and have babies and we are going to be happy until we die. Got it?"

"Please, don't." Maybe if he really did love her and not just some idea that he had of her, he would leave her alone now. Rose started to cry and even though she could tell that Jake felt bad, he still didn't let go of her. "Please, I want to stay in my life."

"I am your life," Jake said.

Then, Rose's world went black.