[ for john - dated to november 3 ]

[off_the_ceiling]

Jess wasn't even positive she'd see him. She knew November the second had to be a pretty damn hard day for him, too, maybe even harder than she could imagine, and she wouldn't have been surprised if he was awol for a few days after it as well. But the island was only so big, and there were a few things that people needed to do whether they were

Comments

[wayward_dad]

He hated this damned week. Absolutely hated it.

It had been bad enough before coming to the island, knowing what happened when it did. But now it was even worse, Mary's grave just outside the hut he shared with the boys -- a constant reminder of what had once been and would never be again.

He'd taken to going off on his own lately, not saying a word to the boys about it.

John just needed his space. It didn't matter that Mary was gone for over twenty years now. She had once been John's whole life, had made him happier beyond reason.

Somehow he'd made it through the anniversary of her death -- and without so much as a drop of alcohol, even. But as John slowly walked up the path, looking for all the world as though he'd just climbed back outta Hell, anyone who came across him might have thought him hung over.

[off_the_ceiling]

Jess wasn't surprised to see him looking so rough. She knew she hadn't exactly looked so hot shit herself not that long ago. When Sam had told her that his mother had died on the same day Jess had, well, it started to make a lot of things make a little more sense.

"Hey," she said, giving him a casual wave, non-threatening, just sitting there enjoying a drink and whoever might come by.

[wayward_dad]

While he hadn't exactly been walking at break-neck speed, John slowed down considerably when he happened upon Jess. Though she'd been around for a while now, every so often he started when he saw her. There was a way about Jess that reminded John strongly of Mary -- her spirit. It wasn't hard to see why Sam was crazy about her; John had felt the same way about Mary.

"Hey, there," he greeted, one corner of his mouth attempting to entice the other to lift in unison and failing.

[off_the_ceiling]

"Join me?" said Jess, angling her head towards the empty seat beside her. She was drinking, but it was just juice, no moonshine to be had today. And the way John was looking, whether he'd been drinking or not he probably didn't need to be doing any more of it.