Chapter 7 – Decisions to Be Made

Their next days of work had Jamie and Eddie starting up on night shift, which Eddie loved since they were in the spooky time of year…Jamie, not so much. Their first night back so far hadn't been too exciting; just a couple of DUIs and some people making some disorderly conduct around the city. Around midnight they got a call from dispatch about a lady who called 911 after she heard screaming coming from a neighbor's house. Once they had arrived at the scene, it didn't take them long to find the woman. "Were you the one who called 911?" Eddie asked the woman who was standing in front of her house.

"Yes," she replied as she tightened her hold around her robe. "It's that house," she told them as she pointed to a seemingly normal looking house across the street. "I heard screaming coming from there, like someone was being hurt."

"Thank you, ma'am, we'll take it from here. Go back inside," Jamie told her as he and his partner drew their weapons and crossed the street toward the home. Once they got to the door, Jamie pounded on it a couple of times. "Police! Open up!" he yelled out. It was quiet for a bit before they both faintly heard someone let out a small scream. They looked at each other for a split second, both of them agreeing to go in. Jamie kicked the door down as they both entered, guns drawn. "NYPD! Is anyone here?" he yelled out again. They slowly made their way through the lower level, their flashlights in their opposite hand as all of the lights were turned off. They eventually came to the living room where the movie Scream was playing, with no one watching it.

Jamie faltered a bit when he saw the movie…he hadn't seen that movie, or any scary movie, since that night. "Police! If anyone is here, come out with your hands out now!" yelled Eddie. After clearing the room, they went towards the next room, the kitchen. They both immediately stopped short when they saw a body lying face down on the floor and what looked to be blood around it. Jamie couldn't stop staring at the scene before him as his breathing started to quicken. Eddie glanced over at him before she quietly said, "I'll check for a pulse."

She had taken only a single step towards the body before a voice from nearby yelled out. "Cut!" Both Jamie and Eddie were on high alert as the lights were suddenly turned on and they were blinking away the brightness. "Nice touch of the added cops but that wasn't in the script people!" continued the voice as the officers looked towards the young teen that was coming towards them from the back of the kitchen. They heard a couple more voices coming from the stairs that led to the upper level and from the "body" that was now standing up, fake blood dripping from his shirt and hands.

Jamie was at a loss for words as his partner spoke up. "What the hell is going on?" she asked as she lowered her weapon.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked the first teen. "I mean, it is obvious, right?" he asked, looking to his friends that were now gathered in the kitchen, some with more fake blood on them, one holding a prop knife, and another holding a camera. "We're filming a movie about the massacre…pretty cool huh?" he asked with a smile on his face.

Both officers had holstered their guns as he was explaining what they were doing, Jamie looking at him when he said the last part. "You're what?!" he asked incredulously. "This isn't some game or—or some fantasy that you can replay! This was a real-life event…real people, kids your age, actually died that night!" he continued as he looked at the small group of teens that were around them.

"Okay dude, calm down," said the teen with the camera. "It's just like, a movie."

Eddie's eyes went wide when she heard that and quickly turned towards her partner, who looked like he was about ready to tell the kid off. "Hey Jamie, there seems to be nothing…illegal going on here," she said as she put her hand on his arm to calm him down. "Why don't we head out? We'll tell dispatch it was false alarm, alright?" she continued as she started leading him away from the teens.

"Wait a minute…" said the 'director', stopping the two officers in their tracks. "I can't believe I didn't notice it at first…I can't believe how lucky we are!" Jamie and Eddie gave each other a quizzical look, not knowing what he was talking about. "Your name tag says 'Reagan'…as in Jamie Reagan…as in 'John Doe' from the massacre! No way dude! Kyle, please tell me you got these cops coming in on camera! How great is that, huh?" he asked his camera man buddy.

Jamie looked back and forth from the two, not believing what he was hearing or seeing. "Uh, no, I don't think so," he said as he stalked over to Kyle. "Hand it over," he said, his hand extended.

"What? You can't do that! She even said there was nothing illegal going on here!" the director cried out as he came over to the two.

"You filmed me without my consent, and since it's about my personal life, I want what you recorded," Jamie told them as he grabbed the camera and took out the memory card. "So I can take this or we can have more problems on our hands, and trust me, you don't want that," he seethed at them as he looked at the director with the card between his fingers.

The teen looked at Jamie, Eddie, his friends, and then back to Jamie. He knew by the look on his face that he wasn't going to win. "Fine…" he said as a rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Good," Jamie told him as he put the memory card in his pocket. "Maybe next time think about the people that were affected by this…and I don't mean me. I mean the kids YOUR age who were taken way too soon and their families who have to live without them in their lives." He looked at each kid in the room as he said that, most of them looking down or away from the furious officer. He then took a look at his partner before he turned and walked out the same way he came in.

"I'm gonna tell my parents about this and I bet they'll file a complaint!" yelled out the teen director at their retreating backs.

"You go ahead and do that. My name is Officer Janko and you already know Officer Reagan," Eddie told him as she looked over her shoulder at the youth, giving him a tight smile. He just huffed out a grumbled response as the group gathered together for their next idea.

Jamie made it to the car and behind the wheel before his partner had even crossed the street. By the time she opened the door and got in, he had his hands gripping the steering wheel, his eyes closed and head down, and he was taking deep breaths before slowly letting them out. She waited a little bit before she said anything. "You okay?" she asked gently, concern in her voice and on her face.

He had stopped taking deep breaths once he felt his heart rate start to slow down, but he still had his eyes closed and head down, his fingers turning white from how hard he was gripping the wheel. "It's not ever gonna go back to normal, is it?" he asked her quietly. "I kept hoping that things would eventually go back to normal…that maybe once the information came out, after a while, people wouldn't care anymore and everything would go back to normal…" He lifted his head and opened his eyes as he choked back a small sob, a couple of small tears running down his cheeks. "But all they care about, all anybody ever cares about…is what happened that night, the—the details and the deaths and the son of a bitch who did it all and—and the boy who survived it," he said as he shook his head and finally took his hands off of the steering wheel. "I never…never wanted to be linked to that day or be associated with him. My friends…they're what's important, they're the ones people need to remember but they don't. They don't care…it's like thinking about them makes the event real, makes people realize that they were—killed by another kid…I don't know…" he finished softly as he closed his eyes again.

Eddie listened silently, her brows furrowed, not knowing exactly what to say at first. She looked out the front window for a little bit as she thought, then faced her partner again. "Well," she said quietly, "maybe what the city and everyone else needs is someone who was there to remind them of that. And now…you may be the only person to do that…the best person to do that." Jamie opened his eyes and looked over at her. "They were your best friends Jamie…who else knows them well enough to tell everyone how they were? What they were like? Why they should be the ones to be remembered and not you or…the other guy," she hesitated as she almost said his name. "I know the last thing you want to do is give an interview or talk to a reporter, but…" she wavered as she shrugged her shoulders, "maybe you should? At least when you're ready of course."

Jamie looked out towards the street and the quiet neighborhood as he thought about what she said. "Maybe I'll think about it," he replied back, barely above a whisper. He turned back towards her and gave her a small smile. "Thanks Eddie," he said a little bit louder.

She gave him a small smile in return before he reassessed himself and then drove away.

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The rest of Jamie's work week went off better than his first night…and luckily now that they were working nights, he wasn't running into any random reporters or people wanting interviews as much anymore, which he was grateful for. He could finally focus on his job again and walking the beats every night. But what he's also been doing every night is thinking about what Eddie said to him, about maybe doing an interview for someone…but if he did, he had to figure out with who as well. When it was finally his Friday, he had asked Danny if he wanted to meet up with him and have a beer. His brother, being a little suspicious, agreed to meet him at Whiskey River when he had gotten off.

So that's where Jamie was now, sipping on his beer as he waited for his older brother. "Hey Jamie," came a voice from behind the bar. "This isn't gonna be a repeat of last time, is it?"

The younger Reagan looked up at the bartender, who had a concerned look on his face, but also a slight smirk on his lips. Jamie let out a small laugh and looked down at the bottle in his hands. "No, Carl, it won't be a repeat of last time," he reassured his brother's friend as he looked back up at him. "I'm actually waiting for Danny to get here…figured we deserved a couple of drinks."

"Hey, I'll drink to that," Carl said as he lifted up the empty cup he had been cleaning as Jamie lifted his own bottle and then took a small swig. He remembered being so confused when he first saw Jamie drunk at his bar last time since it was so unlike him, but after he heard about everything from the news days later, he now understood why and couldn't imagine what he had gone through at such a young age. "Hey, speak of the devil!" he said as he saw his old friend come inside and walk towards them.

"You guys talking crap about me?" teased Danny as he sat in the stool next to his brother and took the beer that Carl offered him.

"Of course," said a smiling Jamie as he glanced at him.

Danny took a drink of his beer and nodded his thanks to his friend as he walked to the other side of the bar to help the other customers. "So, what's up kid?" he asked, looking at his younger brother.

Jamie took another small swig of his drink to help calm his nerves before setting it back down and twirling it on the bar top. "I uh…I've been thinking about this for a few days and um…" he swallowed the lump that was in his throat as he avoided eye contact. Danny was confused but stayed silent as he waited for him to continue. "I think I wanna do an interview…with someone. I'm not quite sure who yet, but I have it narrowed down to a couple of news stations who I think could do a good job."

Danny raised his eyebrows as his eyes widen a bit. He definitely wasn't expecting this. "Wow…that's uh…wow," he said as he looked away and took another drink. "Are you sure about this Jamie?" he asked hesitantly as he looked back at him.

For the first time since he arrived, Jamie finally looked at his brother. "I don't know…but Eddie talked to me and I think maybe I should…" He looked back down at the bottle in his hand. "Earlier this week, we got a call that this lady had called 911 because she heard screaming coming from a house across from hers…when we showed up, the lights were off and a—a scary movie was playing. We went into the kitchen and thought we found a dead body…turns out we walked onto a bunch of kids shooting a—a movie…about that night…" he trailed off. Danny closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "They were asking if it was obvious what they were doing…and to be honest Danny, when I saw that 'body' lying in the kitchen, the fake blood around it…it looked so real and immediately my first thought was Tony, seeing those crime scene photos of him…and then they had the lights off in that house and the movie they had playing was Scream which—"

"Yeah, I know…" Danny said quietly. He knew every detail about that night, like he had gone through it with his brother; but of course it wasn't the same as actually going through that hell.

"I don't know how they knew about that…some freaky coincidence I guess…but I got so angry and I laid it on them a bit and ended up taking their memory card from the camera after they recognized who I was and got so excited about us 'interrupting' their movie…" he took another drink from his beer before continuing. "When we were back in the car, I was talking to Eddie about how people are with all of this, how they've always been with all of this—and now that they know who I am and my involvement, it's gotten even worse. No one even remembers Dave, Luke, and Tony…they don't even care." He shook his head as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he looked over at Danny. "She told me maybe I should change that for people, remind everyone of who they were and why they should be remembered…that it should be about them and not about me or…Justin," he said with disdain in his voice. "And it's not like I'm going to do an interview tour or whatever…I just want to do one and hopefully, maybe, the hassling will end. Because I don't think it'll stop until they get what they want…" He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "And I want," he continued, pausing a little, "I want your support with whatever I plan on doing. I want…the whole family's support with my decision…"

Danny shifted on his stool so he could turn to face him. "Jamie, no matter what you end up doing, of course we'll support you. If that means being with you while you do your interview or being behind the scenes or just continuing to shoo away all of the pestering questions from nosy people," he said, which received a small chuckle and smirk from his brother, "then we'll be there. Whatever you need kid…we're all here for you," he continued, giving Jamie a reassuring smile and putting a hand on his shoulder.

Jamie looked over at his brother. "Thanks Danny…that really means a lot," he said quietly, giving him a returning smile. "I think I'll do it…I'll call them tomorrow and tell the family on Sunday about it."

"And I'll be right there to support you when you do."

Jamie gave another small grin to his brother. "I just hope I'm doing the right thing, doing an interview. I just want things to go back to normal, when I was just a random cop patrolling the city."

Danny turned to face the bar again and said, "I hate to break it to you kid, but you're a cop who's also a Reagan…nothing about that is random."

Jamie let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, I guess that's true!" he said as he shook his head and downed what was left of his beer. Danny did the same with the rest of his before the brothers decided to call it a night and head to their homes.

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It was the Sunday before Halloween and the Reagan family were gathered around their dinner table, getting ready to dig into the delicious food Henry had made. Some of them started talking about things that happened at work in the last week; Erin at the DA's office, Linda at the hospital, Danny at his Precinct, with some commentary made by their father and grandfather. Jamie tried to pay attention, but his mind had been somewhere else for most of the day…and the family knew it too; they could tell that something was wrong, but they weren't going to say anything until he did. True to his word, Jamie had contacted a local news station the day after he talked to Danny, where they were very eager and also honored that he chose them to do an interview with. Of course he told them he would only do one if they agreed to his terms, which were, he didn't want to talk a lot, if at all, about the person behind the crime and he didn't want to do it on the actual day; nor did he want it aired on Halloween either. They had told him that those conditions were very reasonable and they wanted to make him as comfortable with everything as possible, so they let him choose when and where they did the interview, as long as it was at least before Halloween. Jamie had already told his brother earlier that morning after the family had got done with church that he had a televised interview set up…now he just had to tell the rest of the family.

The brothers kept stealing glances at each other in between all of the different conversations that were going on. Danny could tell Jamie was nervous about telling everyone and he tried to convey to him that everything would be okay every time his younger brother looked over at him.

Meanwhile, Frank had noticed all of this going on and knew something was up with his sons, but decided not to say anything and just let things play out. Which is exactly what he did as the rest of the dinner went on as normal. It wasn't until everyone was stuffed and the adults had asked the three kids to clear the plates off the table (with some grumblings made by the boys), that a throat was cleared by his youngest.

"Um, I have an announcement to make," Jamie started. He suddenly got worried again when the whole table looked over, all eyes on him. 'I shouldn't be worried…Danny's right, they're my family. They'll support me no matter what,' he thought as he looked over to his older brother.

"It's okay kid," Danny told him softly as he gave him a slight nod of his head, a small smile on his face.

Jamie took a breath and looked around at his family. "I've contacted the channel 7 news and I told them that I would do an interview with them. We discussed all the details and it's gonna take place this coming Wednesday the 29th and it'll air the next day on the 30th," he told them.

There was a brief silence as both Jamie and Danny looked around the table at their surprised family members. Their dad was the first to say something. "Wow," he said almost hesitantly. "And you're sure you want to do this?"

"I think it might be the best thing to do, considering that there are still some people who keep bugging me for one," he told Frank.

"But this could set off a domino effect," Erin said gently as she looked at her younger brother.

"Yeah, what if by doing this one, they harass you even more?" asked his grandpa. "All of the different reporters with the different agencies, they could think that since you talked to one channel that you'll talk to them all," he continued, apprehension for his grandson about this interview.

Jamie looked from one to the other as they each spoke. "That's a possibility that could happen," he said as he shrugged his shoulders. "But…I've realized that people have forgotten about the guys. All anyone cares about anymore is either the person who did it, who's now dead, or the kid who lived, who now everyone knows is me." He shook his head as he continued. "Eddie gave me the idea to do this…that there's no one better than their best friend to tell everyone, remind them, who they were and that all of this isn't about me or…Justin. It's about them and preserving their memory."

Erin and Danny gave their brother a smile, the former putting a hand on his arm, while Frank and Henry looked and smiled at each other. "Well, how can we say no to that?" Frank told his son as he looked proudly at him.

"Yeah Jamie, that's really sweet," agreed Linda as she looked to her brother-in-law and then her husband, knowing he had given his brother advice on the matter earlier.

"Now a days, people only seem to care about the person behind the crime, with all of the true crime enthusiasts that are out there," Erin said. "The people who were affected by that crime seem to get forgotten about, so it's nice that you're going to be doing this Jamie."

"See kid, I told ya. They'll support you no matter what," grinned Danny as he looked at his brother.

Jamie rolled his eyes in response, a smirk on his face. He became serious as he looked at everyone around him. "So if any of you guys want to be there, you're welcome to come…I'd really appreciate it having some moral support because I know they'll probably ask some difficult questions and then just reliving the events and all of the memories…it's—it's gonna be hard. But I'm willing to do it for my friends," he told them.

"Of course we'll be there," Henry told him. "What kind of question is that?" he asked, half joking.

The family laughed at his remark. "We wouldn't miss it Jamie," Danny replied quietly.

"Will it be at their station?" Linda asked.

Jamie cocked his head slightly and looked down as he grimaced a little. "That's the thing," he began. "They let me choose where to have it and I was wondering if I could have it here? Where I'd be the most comfortable…" he finished as he looked up at his grandfather and father.

The two elder Reagans looked at each other, each of them nodding their head. "Of course you can have it here," Frank told his youngest as he gave him a smile.

"Good because I kind of already told them it would happen…" he said with a sly grin on his face.

That received another chuckle from everyone. "What's everyone laughing at?" Sean said as he came in from the kitchen, his brother and cousin right behind him.

"It's probably something they'll explain to us later," sighed Jack as Nicky just smiled and shook her head.

The adults made similar faces as her as they stood up to help clear off the rest of the table.

A/N: I'm not too sure if that whole 'filming without consent about his personal life' thing is true, but...this is a fiction story about a fiction tv show, so...*shrugs* lol!