Dysfunctional ~ F.Hargreeves

13} Family Meeting

Jenna started to hyperventilate. She grabbed at her chest where a bullet had just been and collapsed to the ground sobbing. As she did so, a flash of light appeared in the corner of the room and the Hargreeves family started to yell, but she couldn't hear any of it. She didn't even hear the sound of her briefcase popping and sputtering dead next to her. All she could hear was shrill buzzing and the pounding of her heart in her ears. Her brother and two best friends were once again ripped from her and she didn't even get the chance to say goodbye properly. She just wanted to give Dustin another hug. Cuddle some more with Steve on his couch. Drink tea and Dr. Pepper with Alice. Just play Monopoly with everyone. But no. It once again slipped right between her fingers like falling sand in an hourglass. And all she could do was shake and sob from the emotional strain.
Please... come back to me. I need you, Stevie. So badly... just make the pain go away again please. It hurts worse than all of those times I almost died. Come back.

She felt a lingering presence run to her and grab both of her hands.
"Jenna!" Five pulled her to him, "Thank god you're alive. I thought I lost you again."
All he could think about was what the Handler told him before he left: Go, run away again to your little lover. You won't be able to get to her this time, though. She's dead. As she should be, that fucking traitor. You'll both be dead! Just like your son. You can't save them or bring them back no matter how hard you try, Five. You'll always come crawling back to the Commission and me. You know it, too, you little shit! You pathetic, fucking traitor!

"I- I," Jenna stammered through her choked sobs, "He was right there. Right- right there."
"Who was?" Five tried to soothe her by stroking her hair.
"Steve," She whimpered, "Dustin. Right there. Right in my arms."
Five wrapped his arms around her like her life depended on him and let her encompass him with her legs. He felt her shake and quiver in his hold and all he could do was try to calm her down. It pained him so much to see her in such a distraught state. All he wanted to do was absorb all of her pain and make it his own because she didn't deserve it; he did.
"I've got you. It's okay, Angel," He whispered sweetly in her ear.
"It's not okay, Five," She lifted her head off of his chest to look at him, "I got to see them again. They're gone now. I want them back. I just wanted them back again."
"Shhhhh," He shushed her, "You'll get back to them once we save the world. I promise, Darling."
"I just want to feel them in my arms again," A new round of sobs raked through her, "I miss them so fucking much, Five."
"I know. I know."

They sat like that for what felt like years until Jenna stopped crying and Five's siblings started to ask questions.
"Five-" Allison started to ask but got cut off by Five.
"Don't," He held a silencing hand up to her, "The apocalypse is in three days and the only thing that can stop it is us. I need her to feel better for that to happen."
"The Umbrella Academy," Luther added, referring to Five's 'us'.
"Yeah, but with my wife and I," Five elaborated, "You can't do it without us, obviously. So if you guys don't get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves, we're screwed," His tone temporarily changed when he felt Jenna shaking in his arms again, "Shhh. I've got you," Then looked back to his siblings, "Who cares if Dad messed us up? Are we gonna let that define us? No. And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I've come back with a lead. I know who's responsible for the apocalypse."

Allison walked over to him and took the piece of paper he sat next to him on the ground.
"I swear if it says Harold Jenkins," Jenna grunted in his ear.
"Harold Jenkins?" Allison read aloud.
"I tried to fucking tell you when we were doing that probability map, but no," Jenna sighed, wiping away the tear trails from her face with her sleeve.
"There's the snarky wife I know and love," Five smiled at her, kissing her on the forehead lovingly.
"Shut up," She whined, "I want MY family back."
"And we will get them back once we stop this," He reassured her.
"Hey lovebirds," Diego snapped his fingers at the two, "Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?"