Race the Storm

Chapter 14

"We need to talk about official fake names."

"You already picked yours."

"That was temporary..."

"Ah." Jax got out and leaned against the door of the pick-up, waiting for her as she scrambled out on her side. After breakfast at the little coffee shop, they had gotten back on the road and headed northeast. The plan was to eventually get to the east coast, but Jax didn't want to make it easy to track them. Therefore, they were going to have to take a somewhat windy route. Make it look like a road trip.

Which, if they were going to be on the road for a while, Willa needed clothes that fit. Hence their current stop. She had insisted on looking for a Target, saying they could also pick up snacks and other "essential car stuff." However, they hadn't been able to find one anywhere near the roads they were going to take, so they had wound up at a random shop that seemed to sell a little bit of everything. Or that's Willa had said the website for the shop stated.

"I can't use MJ permanently," she said, appearing at the tail of the truck, "I stole it from Spider-Man. The old movies."

"Um..." Oh, right. He remembered the movies, as well as the cartoons. He had been a bigger Batman fan himself, but he remembered Mary Jane and her red hair. Willa's own red hair was curly and long, and it wasn't too much of a stretch to realize why she had picked that name. "I don't think most people would make the connection."

"But some would," Willa argued as they headed into the store. "So I need a different name. You actually need one. Besides, don't we need fake IDs and everything?"

"Wes will get us some."

"And we could pick out the names," Willa said with a grin.

"That makes the fake ID even more complicated," Jax grumbled. He didn't really know why he was grumbling–it wasn't like he was the one who had to make fake IDs, and he doubted Wes would actually care if they wanted to pick the names–complicated technology was no issue for Wes.

"Oh, ok," Willa said, her disappointment almost palpable as she sighed and moved toward the store, shoulders slumped and her momentary energy gone. A surge of guilt struck him as he strode ahead of her to grab the door in a silent apology.

"But Wes won't mind," Jax found himself saying quietly as she moved past him through the doorway. "We just have to pick some soon before he finishes the IDs."

He was rewarded with a bright smile and a sense of relief that he'd managed to help recover her former chipper mood. Willa chatted on about various names she was thinking of as Jax followed her dutifully through the store, his mind partially absorbed in still trying to churn through the reason for his grumpiness this morning.

In fairness, he wasn't usually the most sociable, charming person. Most people probably wouldn't even notice the difference. But he knew himself, and he knew he felt off-kilter this morning. Most people would point out the sudden change in his life, his purpose, his job. Maybe the fact that he needed to pretend to be part two of a couple when it'd been a long, long time since he'd dated and was feeling extraordinarily rusty. Or maybe the fact that he had a kid on the way and the mother of his child was in constant danger. With him as her only protector. A sweet, cheerful, determined woman, who was most definitely going to create an amazing baby and be an even more incredible mother, depended solely on him right now.

There were a lot of things, when he stopped to think about it.

But it was the last one that struck a chord.

Jax had never tried to run from PsyOps before. He had to get this right, because there were no do-overs. If he made even one mistake, he could lose Willa and the baby forever. And something about coming up with the fake names–it felt like he was still flying by the seat of his pants. And Willa was right, he should think about things like people remembering an MJ better because of her red hair. Or just even the fact that she had red hair making her stand out. He was already messing up.