The States

nothing I can say (to change that part)

The states are arguing again.

Jake wishes Charlie was still here, because Charlie always knew what to do. But Charlie was away helping other people, and Jake couldn't go with her because he was too little.

Charlie was one of the few people in this house that never felt like a stranger.

***

"What are they fighting over?" He asks Aidan when they don't stop for days.

Aidan looks down at him, but doesn't quite meet his eyes. "They're trying to decide whether they should find the new territory or leave them until the war is over."

Jake frowns. "We can't just leave them by themselves."

Aidan shifts uncomfortably. "It might be better than being here- seeing all this-" His gesture encompasses the entire house, the blood that has to be scrubbed off the floor and the war and the pain. "This isn't much of a place for a child to grow up in."

"I'm here," Jake says.

Aidan looks away. "...Yeah, Jake, we know."

***

Anna and Kit and Jules are the same age as Nate and Marisol, so Jake doesn't get why they aren't allowed to fight but Nate and Marisol are. And he's only a year younger than Nate and Marisol, and he doesn't get why they can fight but he couldn't go with Charlie. Riley says it's complicated.

Riley never gives real answers. It makes Jake miss Charlie more. Charlie would tell him why.

"What's the new territory's name?" Jake asks. Riley's only taking things off the clothesline, so he's not really busy.

Riley yanks a sheet off a little too roughly, turning to face Jake. "Who told you about that?" He asks sharply.

Jake doesn't answer. Riley sighs.

"Montana." Riley closes his eyes. "Their name is Montana."

***

The states are arguing again, and this time Del's voice carries upstairs when she tells someone that Alfred would be disappointed in them.

***

It isn't fair, but then nothing about this entire situation is fair.

Alfred is too delirious and sick to even remember how many new states he has half the time. Jake doesn't know the southern states, the ones who are supposed to be his family but left before he was born. The originals are too busy holding the north together and dealing with their own problems to worry about him. Riley and Cass already had their family. Anna and Kit had each other. Aidan was just looking out for him because Charlie had asked. 

Charlie was his family, but now she's gone too. 

***

Aidan is gone for a while, and no one will tell Jake why, not even when he screams at Riley. 

Cass tells him to stop yelling, and Jake does, because Cass is Cass.

Jake accepts that Aidan has probably left the same way Charlie did. He swallows the bitterness.

When Aidan does come back, he comes back with a girl clinging to his hand.

***

Montana doesn't have a name other than Montana for three weeks after she comes home because Alfred is too out of it to pick her name and none of the states want to take it from Alfred.

But Alfred shows no sign of being lucid anytime soon, so Cordelia caves.

***

Her name is Helena, and she has the bluest eyes Jake's ever seen, except for possibly Alfred's (or Brooke's).