Jude/Zero [Gideon] centric spin on S3E9, 'Loss'
As much as Jude wanted to stay with Zero, drink a bourbon and have some salmon, he knew he needed to head over to see Lionel before the morning. She had moved out of her Malibu beach house and into Oscar's Beverly Hills Tudor mansion. Not only was it more convenient to the arena, she knew that it would twist the knife just that much more for Oscar if Lionel were luxuriating in his hot tub, while he rotted in prison awaiting trial.
Jude punched in the security code and drove the Porsche up to the house, which was ablaze in lights. Since Lionel had taken over she'd not only given him security access, but keys to the mansion. Much like Lionel when it came to his apartment, he walked into the front door without knocking or ringing the bell. He went straight to the office that had once belonged to Oscar and found her sitting at the desk entranced in paperwork.
"Hey. Heard you came by. Listen, I hope you don't think my going to the board without you had anything to do—"
"-it's fine, Jude. I get that there have been questions. We're good."
He could hear the slight dismissiveness in her tone as she looked at him, then returned her gaze to the documents.
"Okay." Her ease and acceptance surprised him. A lot…"Well...I heard about Jelena and Terrence's 24-hour ultimatum to the League. We're gonna fight this, together."
"We are. With a little help."
"Help? What help?"
"Hello, son," said Oscar from behind.
'Fuck.' Jude turned around to his father's self-satisfied grin. He wore orange, but this time instead of a prison jumpsuit, it was a casual collared shirt.
"I can see my presence has come as a shock to you son. Do you two need a moment?" Oscar asked in a relaxed manner.
Jude felt his heart drop. "Yeah…we do!" Jude shot Lionel a look, as she rose from her desk and came and stood in front of him.
With a raise of his thick brows, Oscar receded back into the other room.
"Are you crazy? What were you thinking? Getting Oscar released?" he whispered.
"Relax, I still have him on a choke chain. If he so much as looks at me the wrong way, I'll use the proof I have of his racketeering to put him right back in his cage." She spoke in a low and assured tone.
Feeling anything but confident in Lionel's words, Jude crossed his arms close. Worried. "No, it just seems...drastic."
"Because it is. Do you think I'd spring him if I didn't have to? Terrence and Jelena are coming at us, hard. If anyone can stop them, it's him. Hate Oscar all we want, But he could mean the difference between us keeping the team or losing it."
He nodded his head in agreement, although he only agreed on paper. He knew Oscar and all that he was capable…"Fine…but, Lionel. Just be careful."
"I will. I've got everything under control," she reassured him. "I have a plan…"
~~~
He didn't bother to say goodbye or anything else to Oscar before he left.
~~~
The double doors that led to the patio were wide open as Jude made his way into the bedroom. Unlike the penthouse, the apartment had no surround sound. So, it was either listening to music on his phone or Jude's living room stereo, Zero chose the latter. He wore a familiar dark grey tee and black joggers. His sandaled feet were propped up on a wicker table, a lite beer against his chest. "So, how'd it go?" asked Zero.
"Oh…Oscar's out of prison…"
"Shit! Really?"
"Yeah, and it was Lionel who sprung'em."
He shook his blond head in disbelief, then took a sip of his drink
"I've seen the files. She's got enough on him to keep him on a leash…so that he'll do the PR slog and work on the League for us…"
"You believe her, think she can do it?"
"Fuck if I know," he said as he slid into the other chair next to Zero. He took the beer out of his hand and took a cold sip before he handed it back. Jude had never been much of a beer guy, but since the two of them had gotten together he'd tried and eased into a lot of new things.
"So, did you get in touch with Bilchek, today?" He'd meant to ask Zero earlier, but when he'd found out about Lionel coming over angry and on edge, he hadn't had a chance. Stafford Bilchek, P.I. was his 'guy.' In fact, he'd been the one to track down the M.E. Something Jude regretted every second of every hour since.
"Yeah, he seems cool. I told him what I could. What I knew. Wasn't much."
"I still can't believe your real name is Gideon Anthony Hill! It's so…ordinary? Like I should pay you to do my taxes!"
"Fuck, you," Zero said sheepishly.
"Yes, please," Jude whispered.
~~~
It was late afternoon, a few days later, and both men sat with Stafford Bilchek at the Devils Playground.
The P.I. was framed by the large grey padded booth. "A copy of your sister's foster care record." He handed the file to Zero, who looked at the information. "There's not much there. When she was taken out of care, no paperwork was filed. She basically dropped out of the system."
"So...you find people. Find her," Jude said plainly.
"It's not that simple." His brown eyes looked from Jude, then back to Zero. "Her last known foster home was...all over the news at the time. The state had to shut it down."
Zero stared down.
Jude looked from him to Bilchek. They both knew what that meant. Leo and Carla's had been a horror show. For the state to shut down a foster home and it to make the news…neither wanted to think about it.
"I mean, can't you dig deeper?" interjected Jude.
"I've gone through all the legal channels. Digging deeper means breaking some laws. It's gonna cost." He said it with a matter-of-fact ease. It wasn't a statement so much as a question to Zero.
"I've got the cash."
"Alright. If Laura Jaimie Hill is to be found. I'll find her."
~~~
While Zero set up a meeting with his business manager, luckily she was able to locate, and at times concealed assets, they knew it would be no problem getting enough money together quickly, so that it wouldn't trigger suspicion. Jude was more than a little relieved to receive a call, at the same time, which informed him that the sale to Jelena and Terrence was a no go.
Jude had gone to Lionel's office and found out that she'd not been in the office all day. He then called and texted. Nothing. He figured that she might have worked from home to keep tabs on Oscar. Jude excitedly made his way over. He found Lionel sitting at the large wrought iron picnic table in the backyard. He rushed over to her. "Hey, great news. No forced sale, we got..." He paused at the look of distress on her face. She was paler than usual. A half empty drink in front of her. "...the team."
"Oscar's got the team. He got off leash."
"How?" He sat down opposite her. " What does that mean for us?"
"Jude, I've been antagonizing him for months, and you left him in prison to rot. I don't know
what it means for us, but it's not gonna be good." She brought the drink to her red lips.
'Jesus, they were screwed.' Oscar was a vengeful sonofabitch. Jude expected The Disowning 2.0 via goodbye to EVP and as for Lionel, he knew the sort of things his father had done to women when they displeased him.
~~~
Jude watched from the sidelines.
The L.A. Devils were playing the Phoenix Blazers. He looked over at Oscar and Lionel as they sat courtside. It was a far cry from opening game. Oscar seemed to have called a truce with Jelena and Terrence. It didn't look like he was trying to wrest control of the arena away from the couple. Not yet anyway.
Terrence was cleared to play and was front and center on the court."Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back Number 18, Terrence Wall!"said the announcer. The crowd cheered, applauded and held up homemade signs. The handsome baller came ready; decked out in the red uniform, he stopped and waived to the crowd. Magnified on the Jumbotron he looked like an Ebony god.
~~~
He watched as Zero, Derek, Terrence and the rest of the team plowed ahead of Phoenix.
~~~
"That's halftime, folks! Devils are up by 20!"continued the announcer.
A moment later Sloane appeared on the darkened court. A spotlight shown onto her solemn face, which was framed with abundant, natural curls. "I'm Sloane Hayes," she began, as she held a microphone. "Director of the Devil Girls. The Devil Girls are going dark tonight. Out of respect for Raquel Saldana. Raquel is a Devil Girl alum who is battling a serious illness. Her incredible beauty has touched my heart and the hearts of so many in the Devils' family. If you could please join me in a moment of silent unity." Over the Jumbotron everyone could see her brown eyes mist with oncoming tears as she closed them and bowed her head.
While not religious, like everyone else in the arena Jude lowered his head. Regardless of the drama that had and continued to go on with Sloane and the Kinkades everything she'd said about Raquel was true...
~~~
"...there's just over two minutes left in the game, Devils fans..."continued the announcement.
Jude found himself looking from Zero on the court, and back to the obvious tension that he could see between a stiff and distressed looking Lionel and the smug and calm Oscar…
~~~
After the Devils had beaten the Blazers, 108 to 74, Jude and Zero walked out with the rest of the team and staff.
"Good game," Jude said as he lightly slapped him on his damp back. With a white towel slung around his neck, Zero seemed anything but happy.
"Hey." Suddenly Bilchek emerged from the side.
They turned simultaneously at his appearance.
"Hey. What're you doing here?" asked Jude.
"I got a lead on your sister. And I had to come down. Because I found her."
Zero and he looked at each other. He could see a combination of surprise and apprehension cross his face.
"Fuck, that was quick," muttered Zero.
"Money opens a lot of locked doors. I thought you'd wanna know right away. I sent it to you. Encrypted…considering. But, I did want to tell you in person. I can go over it with you, or you can go over it together then get back to me, with any questions."
The two lovers looked at each other once more. In silent agreement.
"I wanna look at it, alone…with Jude."
"Great. Still have more feelers out there. If I get anything else. I'll let you know." He then nodded his dark head and walked away.
~~~