Jury's Out

[Jacob Foley]

Jake stirred in his bed, limbs snaked slowly under whispering sheets as the first wedge of morning light invaded the guest room. It had been a fortnight since his talk with Aidan, and a week following his unceremonious bedroom eviction, it marked the first time in years when a good night's sleep came to him not as the elusive prize at the end of a forty-eight hour nightmare but as a natural part of his day. A normal day. But as he turned through folds of clammy linen, he was visited by black shapes and monstrous sounds, at once distant and deafening, like an oncoming storm. There was a rattle of wood like thunder and he jolted upright with a start.

"Anna?"

Peeling bed sheets from his skin, he leapt onto the chilly floor and approached the door which was shuddering in its place. On the other side, his sister was calling, her voice burdened with panic. There was a snap of the lock and the door swung open. He inspected the woman stood before him, sedate lines of concern crept into his face, still heavy from sleep.

"You okay?"

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna had her hand lifted to knock on the door again, her robe pulled around her and belted over her growing belly, and she stared at Jake who was rubbing sleepiness from his eyes. "Are you okay?"

She poked her head in the door, looking around. Everything seemed to be in place, although with Jake it might be hard to tell if a tornado had whipped through his room in the night - the effect would be generally the same as how it usually looked. "You were shouting for me." Anna drew back and studied his face with concern.

[Jacob Foley]

"Shouting you?" he repeated, and took a glance over his shoulder into the room, but there were no clues to be found, "I was?"

She gave a nod, confusion blending in with big-sisterly concern. No longer interested in supporting his own weight, Jake slumped lazily against the door frame and folded his arms.

"Sorry. I must've been dreamin', I guess," he frowned, feeling a little clueless, "Did I wake you?"

[Anna Fernandez]

She looked at him.

"Did you wake me? Qué te parece? Es una coincidencia que estoy despierto?" Anna shook her head. "You are lucky the whole house isn't awake right now."

Her exasperation almost made her turn and leave, but she stayed, leaning her shoulder against the wall, across the open door from him. Looking at his sleepy face reminded her of when he was little and having to drag him out of bed for breakfast. "What is going on? Are you okay?"

[Jacob Foley]

"Anna, seriously, I'm fine."

The corners of his mouth curled. If nothing else, it was a unique way to start the day, this peculiar discussion. And what was more amusing was that for a change it was his sister who was grouchy first thing in the morning. He glanced at the clock in the hall, it was early, but by Anna's standards, not that early. He smiled.

"Tell you what, go and settle down, and I'll make us some breakfast."

[Anna Fernandez]

Anna stared at him a bit incredulously, unsure what to make of him. "Okaaay..." She reached out and tentatively poked him in the shoulder. "What did you do with the real Jake?"

[Jacob Foley]

"The real Jake slept like a baby last night."

He retreated into his room and pulled on a pair of sweatpants that were clinging feebly to the end of the bed and dug out an old faded shirt from the drawer. Moments later, he reappeared, and plodded barefooted down the hall to the kitchen. The house was remarkably placid.

"Aidan has been helping me to control the visions and I think it's turned me into a morning person. What can I get you?"

[Anna Fernandez]

"He has?" Anna followed Jake down the hall. "And... bacon sounds so good to me right now. I suppose we should do eggs, too."

A big plate of bacon sounded better, though. "I'm glad that the visions aren't bothering you as much..." She settled in at the island, watching her brother dig around in the fridge. "But you must have been having some dream. You scared me."

[Jacob Foley]

"Well, I don't remember it," he muttered with disinterest as he unhooked a couple of pans from the rack.

"Okay, let's do this: bacon and eggs. Bacon and eggs. He helped Tess, too. You know when she turned Vipul into soup? Sorry, not before breakfast."

[Anna Fernandez]

"Thankfully," Anna said dryly, "I missed that entire episode. And Vipul had himself all, or almost all, cleaned up before I got home. But yes, I know what you're talking about."

She eyed the empty coffee pot with longing, but she was trying to be good and stay away from caffeine. "Aidan has been a great help to all of us, in many ways. I thank God he came to us, especially if he has been able to help you with your visions."

[Jacob Foley]

"The way the guy speaks, Anna, you know sometimes I think- well, it's like he's already seen so much, I guess. But you're right, we lucked out when he came to the house."

The faint pop of oil became a hard sizzle as Jake spread a few bacon rashers across the pan. He busied himself with the eggs next but hesitated, as a familiar thought bubbled to the surface, and while no-one else was around:

"I know I shouldn't, but sometimes I wish I could just- well, you know how he can be with- hey, you want these eggs scrambled or fried?"

[Anna Fernandez]

She narrowed her eyes, trying to parse his partial sentences and understand what he was trying to not say. "Uh, fried. The whites have to be cooked through though, I hate when its runny. Unless its the yolk, the yolk has to be runny."

Anna pursed her lips, thinking. "Everyone is entitled to their secrets, Jake."

[Jacob Foley]

Jake risked abandoning the eggs and bacon while they cooked, long enough to help himself to the carton of orange juice in the fridge and pour a couple of glasses from it. When Anna spoke of secrets, she raised a meaningful look to him, which stated clearly that she was onto his clumsy implications. He shrugged.

"How many secrets are too many secrets?" he paused, affording her a moment's consideration, "Do you think my feelings towards Apollos were only a product of him being a jackass? The dude had issues, Anna, I mean from his past."

[Anna Fernandez]

"Well..." she said cautiously, "That is the catch, isn't it? People all have things they regret or aren't proud of, hidden in their minds. You can dig in there and uncover all their secrets, but I do not know that it will help you understand what sort of person they are today.

"I hope you aren't seriously comparing Aidan to Apollos, though." Anna sipped her orange juice, and then hopped up, picking up a spatula and giving the sizzling eggs a flip before Jake could protest.

[Jacob Foley]

"No, of course not," he was quick to answer, "You just can't help yourself, can you?"

He shook his head in disbelief when Anna reunited herself with the spatula and went to town with it on the contents of the frying pan. She was, as ever, immune to his objections and danced around the kitchen, intercepting his every move, equipping herself with cutlery and plates.

"I guess I'm just being paranoid, and what with everything that's been going on lately, can you blame me? It's my job to worry about you and the kids. Now, step away from the cooker, you kitchen fascist."

He sidled up alongside his sister and groped for the spatula.

[Anna Fernandez]

"Está bien, lo siento," Anna relinquished the utensil and meekly took her place at the island again. Her grin faded into a sigh. "You are probably right, I may be too trusting, but I honestly don't know how to rewire that part of my brain."

[Jacob Foley]

"That's not what I meant, and besides, you don't have the advantage of being telepathic. Between your arms-open friendliness and my suspicious scowling, I think we have all bases covered. We're good."

The food was transferred from pan to plate and was promptly delivered to the island, its arrival turned Anna's frown upside down. He sat opposite and toyed with his food absently.

"I'll be over at Julie's place for a few hours later, promised to help her with something, so I'll squeeze in the shopping run this morning, and..." he raised a glance to her, looking somewhat clueless, "Anything else I can do?"

[Anna Fernandez]

She had bowed her head for a moment over her plate, and was now enthusiastically dunking a bit of toast into the center of her fried egg. "Ronnie's taking care of the lawns today. I think he's the only one off work. Except Aimee," she added with a bit of a sigh.

Anna smiled at her brother. "Everything is good today. You enjoy yourself at Julie's." She gave him a knowing wink.

[Jacob Foley]

"Don't give me that look."

A hint of amusement tugged at the corner of his mouth and Jake busied himself with his breakfast to hide it. It was not that he tried to hide his feelings, in fact, for Jake that was often an impossibility, but he didn't like the idea of being an open book. After labouring strategically through a mouthful of toast, Jake looked up in earnest.

"Look, right now I'm just the guy painting walls and laying floors, that's it. And if anything happens, you'll be the first to know... but I don't want to jinx it."

[Anna Fernandez]

She couldn't hide her grin. "Okay, okay! Fair enough." There was a joke there that Joaquin would have made about laying floors but she left it alone. "How is it coming along down there? At the house. Looking less like a shack yet?"

Anna bit of a piece of crunchy bacon, her eyes rolling back a bit at the sheer bliss of it.