A/N: Thanks for your reviews!
Chapter 7
When the phone rang, startling Johanna from her sleep, the muted light of daybreak was filtering into the apartment. She glanced at Jim who apparently hadn't even flinched at the sound of the phone. She sighed deeply, pushing herself off the mattress so that she could grab the phone. "Hello?" she murmured sleepily.
"I want to talk to my son," a firm voice stated.
Her mind was still hazy with sleep, the still humid air all around her not helping to wake her up. "What?" she asked.
"Jimmy," the voice stated. "I want to speak to Jimmy."
"Oh, sorry," Johanna replied, realizing that it was Elizabeth Beckett on the other end of the line.
"I can tell I woke you," Elizabeth stated.
"It's okay, I'll get him, hold on," she replied, picking up the base of the phone and carrying it back to the mattress.
"Is he still asleep?" his mother asked.
"Yes."
Elizabeth breathed deeply. "Don't wake him, he'll get mad."
"He won't," Johanna told her. "He said for you to call if you needed him. I'll get him."
She reached out and shook his shoulder. "Jim, wake up."
He didn't budge so she shook his harder. "Jim, get up!" she said louder.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "Did the power come back on?"
"No; your mother is on the phone."
Jim breathed deeply, scrubbing a hand over his face. "What time is it?"
"I don't know," she replied. "I don't have my watch."
"It's six-thirty," Elizabeth stated on the phone.
Johanna grimaced a little; she hoped early morning phone calls wasn't the norm for this woman. "It's six-thirty," she repeated to Jim.
He groaned a little. "Blow out the candles in case we need them tonight," he told her as he took the phone from her hand. "What's wrong, Mom?"
"Does your father have a spare car key in the garage?" Elizabeth asked.
"I don't know, why?"
"Because as soon as it got light out, he went to the garage saying he's sure he has a spare key out there for the car. What am I going to do if he has one?" his mother asked.
"I wish I had an answer for that," Jim replied. "But I'm not sure I do. He doesn't need to go to that damn bank; with the amount of police out on the streets according to the radio, I doubt it has been bothered. Seems like most of the crime is in Brooklyn."
"I mentioned that but he insists that he needs to go…what am I going to do?"
"Mom, as much as I hate to say it because I agree with you that he doesn't need to go, but you're probably not going to be able to stop him if he finds a spare key…but you can tell him from me that if he goes and gets hurt because he's being stupid, I won't be visiting him in the hospital."
"I would tell him that I won't visit either but he'd probably like that," Elizabeth remarked.
"Tell him if he ends up in the hospital you'll sell his car; that will hit him where he lives," Jim remarked.
Elizabeth pondered that for a moment. "That could work…God knows he wouldn't care if I said I'd leave him."
"Oh I'm sure he would, he'd get hungry and run out of clean clothes."
"I would hope my husband would miss my companionship but knowing him, he probably would only miss the maid service."
Jim grimaced a little; he probably shouldn't have brought that up as her tone sounded like it had already been discussed. "Did you two fight all evening?"
"Yes," his mother said bitterly.
"I'm sorry," he replied as Johanna returned to their makeshift bed and settled back down on her side.
"It's alright…it's nothing new," Elizabeth stated.
"If he goes, I'll come and get you," Jim offered, a hint of sympathy for her coursing through him.
"No, you don't need to be out running around either and I'm not going to come sit with you and your girlfriend, I don't want her thinking we're friends."
"I assure you that she doesn't think that at all."
"She was probably going to have a fit when you said you'd come get me."
Jim glanced next to him, seeing that Johanna's eyes were closed, clearly signaling that she wasn't getting up yet. "To tell you the truth, she's already gone back to sleep."
"How can she go to sleep that fast?"
"Because we didn't get to sleep until late…we have the windows open and we could hear all the noise outside, it's hot in here and uncomfortable so it wasn't easy to get to sleep."
"I guess that's understandable," Elizabeth remarked. "I'll let you go now, Jimmy; I'm going to go see if I can find something to eat for breakfast…although I don't know what it's going to be. Most of my groceries are going to be in the garbage when this finally ends."
"Johanna and I talked about that last night; there's going to be a lot of spoiled food in the garbage. I know she just went to the market a few days ago so she's not happy either. We're planning on dry cereal for breakfast."
"You know I've never cared much for cereal."
"I know, Mom; but you might not have a choice."
"I know. I'll talk to you later, Jimmy. I hear your father coming."
He said goodbye and hung up the phone, moving it to the floor. He sighed a little, now he was awake and he didn't want to be awake but he wasn't sure he could get back to sleep now. Reluctantly, he pushed himself off the mattress, wandering through the apartment to make sure Johanna had blown out all the candles before he made his way to the bathroom. They still had water, at least they had that to be thankful for, Jim thought to himself as he returned to the living room and settled back down on the mattress. He rolled onto his side, curling up against Johanna's back as he draped his arm over her waist. She was right, it was too hot to be so close but he couldn't help himself. With that thought in mind, he closed his eyes and focused on the soft sound of her breathing, the quiet voice on the radio growing distant as he began to drift off…until the phone rang again.
Johanna flinched against him. "If that's your mother again," she murmured. "We might have to change our number."
"Agreed," he muttered as he reached for the phone. "Hello?"
"Jim?" a voice asked.
"Yeah; who's this?"
"Maxwell Roche, your boss," the voice answered.
"Oh, sorry," Jim replied. "I'm not quite awake yet."
"It's alright," the man replied, a lighter note in his tone. "I don't like calling people this early but I don't want my associates getting up and thinking they have to come into work today because you don't; I couldn't get you at your place so I figured you were probably with Johanna. So don't worry, you two don't need to come in today."
"I appreciate that official word on that, but honestly, we didn't plan on it," Jim replied. "No offense."
Roche laughed. "None taken; I figure no one plans on it but I thought it best to go through the formality of it just in case anyone is confused. I'm just going down the list, I can mark you and Johanna off now."
"If you haven't gotten to Jeff's name yet, he's with Maggie," Jim told him. "That will save you one call."
"Thank you, he is next on my list, so I'll skip ahead to Maggie's number and get the two of them. I'll let you know if we're opening tomorrow or not as soon as I can."
"Thanks, I appreciate it," Jim said before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone. "That was Roche; we don't have to go to work today," he told Johanna.
"We didn't plan on it."
"That's what I told him."
She laughed softly. "I know; I couldn't help thinking that we'd probably get it for that one."
Jim chuckled. "He's not dumb enough to believe we were going to come anyway, like he said, he's just going through the formality of letting us know that we're closed today and that he'll let us know about tomorrow."
"Hopefully this is over before tomorrow," she muttered. "I might lose my mind if it isn't."
"I'll be right there with you," he replied. "Can't even sleep because people keep ringing the phone."
She ran her hand along his arm soothingly. "Let's try anyway…it isn't like we have anything else to do."
"That's true," Jim sighed. "We may as well try to sleep some more; it'll help pass the time."
By eight they had given up their efforts to sleep as much as possible for the sake of morning routines and cold showers to wash away the feel of sweat and heat that clung to their skin. They had retreated to the kitchen where Johanna had poured them each a bowl of cereal and glasses of water since she didn't think it would be safe to drink the orange juice. Silence had fallen between them as they crunched on their dry cereal until finally he sighed deeply. "This sucks," Jim stated, a hint of bitterness in his voice.
"Tell me about it," Johanna muttered. "I can't stand not having ice in my drink."
"I can't stand not having milk on my cereal."
"I prefer my cereal to be dry," she remarked. "But I would've liked some toast with it."
"I would've liked to have had bacon," he stated.
"When don't you want bacon?" Johanna asked lightly.
He smirked at her. "Don't be mean, we're in the middle of a crisis."
"Yes, I know…and it's getting old fast," she replied. "I get a weekday off from work and I can't even watch my soaps if they don't get the power on by afternoon."
Jim scoffed a little. "I'm not going to cry about that."
Johanna shot him a glare. "Bet you would if it was a ballgame you were desperate to see."
"That's different."
"No, actually it's not."
"You can believe that if you want; but a ballgame is not the same…what is the same is those plotlines on the soaps…every single one of them, someone gets married, someone gets divorced, someone gets pregnant by someone they shouldn't have, someone goes suspiciously missing and turns up six months later with a new face…."
Johanna swallowed a bit of her cereal. "And in baseball, they're always hitting the ball, dropping the ball, running around bases, someone wins, someone loses…kind of the same plot line every game, now isn't it?"
He frowned at her. "Leave baseball out of it."
"Don't act like my shows are stupid and I will."
"They are stupid though."
"Not as stupid as losing every game in the World Series."
Jim glared at her. "Stop it."
"You stop it!" she shot back. "You're the one who started it. I don't care that you don't like my soaps, I like them and when I'm able to be home to watch them, I will and I don't care if you like it or not."
"It'll be my tv too!" he exclaimed.
"We have two tvs, feel free to use the one in the bedroom if you don't like what I watch on a day off."
"Why don't you watch the one in the bedroom?"
"Because I want to watch it in the living room that's why."
"So I have to watch the smaller tv if I don't want to sit through that drivel you watch on weekday afternoons when you get a chance?"
Johanna nodded. "Pretty much…just like I kept my mouth shut about you watching football in the living room on the weekends and went in the bedroom when I got bored and watched reruns or a movie."
"I have a feeling that television is going to be a problem in our marriage."
"Only if you make it one," Johanna retorted. "We have two tvs, no one is forced to watch something they don't want to, if you don't want to leave the room, then I don't know what to tell you."
"I could just change the channel," he replied.
"And I can hit you upside the head with my TVGuide," she replied. "Choice is yours."
"Let's just stop this," Jim remarked. "Why are we fighting over something stupid?"
"Because we're bored!" she exclaimed. "It's barely eight-thirty and we're bored."
"Usually we just use sex for that issue."
Johanna scoffed. "It's too hot and I already took a shower."
"That didn't stop us last night in the shower."
"There will be no repeat today."
Jim nodded. "This day just keeps getting bleaker."
"It's not my idea of a good time either," she replied. "Do you think I'm having fun?"
"No. No one is having any fun…natural disasters suck, let's not have any anymore."
"I'm agreeable to that," Johanna remarked. "Now if we can just get the power company to agree and mother nature to do her part, we'll be all set."
"People on the radio are already talking about the murmurs going around of a lawsuit against the power company for negligence," Jim stated.
"At the moment, I'd like to be the one to prosecute them," she replied. "But that's just me being hot and bitter. I heard some of what they were saying, different officials and newscasters suggesting that they might sue for negligence as well as the damages and such from looting and rioting, but I don't think it would be an easily won case in all aspects."
"Oh I think they can win," Jim replied. "They were negligent because apparently some of the stations weren't being manned which kept the system from doing what it needed to do to continue working."
"There's no disputing the negligence," Johanna responded. "Although they will push the act of God argument, and really that does go in their favor in a way because they can't know where exactly lightening is going to strike and when, so yes, they can win a judgement on the grounds of not having the stations manned…but, the act of God argument is going to keep that judgement lower than the city or whoever wants to sue is going to want."
Jim shook his head. "If it was my case, I'd argue that acts of God are why stations should be manned at all times."
"I'm not saying they shouldn't be," she countered. "But the fact remains, that it was an act of God, and whether any of us like it or not, that argument is going to help their side."
"I don't think so."
"You can think what you want," Johanna replied. "But if it was my case and I was representing the company, I'd suggest a settlement…and a change of venue if it goes to a jury because everyone in this city is hating their guts and they're not going to forget it quickly, especially if they're being dragged into a courtroom for jury duty and being reminded of it."
"They're not going to get a change of venue if this goes to court."
"They could; I mean the trial doesn't have to be held in Manhattan. They could move it to another part of the state. They're not going to get a fair trial here."
"I think asking for a change of venue would point to guilt and they'd be more worried about that than a fair trial."
"I disagree," Johanna replied. "Any company facing this kind of litigation, possibly from the city itself, isn't going to want to be tried here for obvious reasons. I mean think about it, if the city sues them, and holds the trial in the city, the company is going to feel like the case is closed before it even starts because they're going to assume one hand washed the other."
"They would have to give some type of proof that a change of venue was needed and if you think one hand would be washing the other, then you know it would be denied."
"Yes, but they can always appeal that decision, and if it was my case, I would appeal it."
"That's a case you'd lose, sweetheart."
"Maybe…maybe not. They're definitely not going to win if they sue them for looting and the fires; I mean those things could've happened even if the lights were on and no one can prove otherwise. I mean how is a utility supposed to know that a power failure is going to encourage a bunch of idiots to go commit crimes and arson? That's not on the power company; that's on the people stupid enough to take the opportunity of the city being vulnerable to go out and break the law."
"True but you can't prove that they would've done the same thing if the power was on last night."
"You can't prove that they wouldn't either; let's face it, crime has been on the rise," Johanna remarked. "It hasn't been the best year for the city, a lot of people are facing hard times and the argument could be made that those hard times are a factor of why people are out looting and rioting during this blackout…and if that is part of why they're doing it, well, who do you sue for that? In my opinion that would fall back on the city who's trying to get compensated for the crimes that these people committed."
"That may be true but people should be compensated for their loss of property."
"I'm not disputing that at all," Johanna replied. "They should be; but it's not going to fall on the power company to compensate for those things because you can't prove it's their fault that the crimes were committed. I figure with this being a state of emergency, the federal government will step in and offer the funds for cleanup and compensation for loses…now if that money gets past the pockets of the city government, I don't know…but we'll see."
"I guess we will," Jim remarked. "Hopefully they won't call us to take on the case."
She laughed. "Yeah, I'd rather not be involved in it, honestly. It kind of feels like a losing case all the way around and I bet if it does go to court, it'll be ongoing for some time with appeals on each side."
"I don't doubt that at all; they'll drag it clear into the next decade."
"Definitely don't want to be a part of it," Johanna said as she scooped up her last bite of cereal.
"I don't want to be a part of this disaster anymore," Jim replied.
"Neither do I, but what choice do we have?"
He shrugged. "I wish we could just get in the car and drive to New Jersey."
"That would be nice but the tunnels are closed…so it's not an option."
Jim sighed deeply. "What the hell are we going to do today?"
"Apparently bake in the heat, complain, and pray that they get the damn power back on sooner rather than later," Johanna replied as she carried her bowl to the sink. "Other than that, I guess we'll sit here and look stupid while we sweat."
"That's a bleak outlook for the day."
"Just wait until the power does come back on and I have to throw out a fridge full of groceries, that will be a bleak day too."
Jim sighed deeply. "We might have to go to New Jersey when this is over to buy groceries."
"That thought has crossed my mind," she admitted. "You wouldn't happen to have a cooler that we could take with us so we could buy ice and pack some cold stuff in it for the drive back, do you?"
"No, but Dad has some coolers in the basement, I'll borrow one," he replied. "We'll get it straightened out."
Johanna nodded. "I know…I just wish the power company would get straightened out. This heat gives me a headache."
"Take something for it, sweetheart, I don't want you getting a migraine. We're going to have to close the blinds a little to keep some of the sun from coming in but we should be able to leave enough for you to read by, so take something for your headache, grab your magazine and lay down for a little bit."
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"I might get my briefcase and try to do a little work to occupy my mind but I'm not going to swear that it'll last long."
"I know the feeling," Johanna murmured. She wanted this to be over so badly and she silently prayed that it would end soon…because she was already feeling like she was trapped with no way to escape the nightmare they were living in.