California

Chapter 14

"What are you doing here? How are you here?" Jake asked in disbelief.

I shrugged as I leaned against the wall. "Things are really bad out there, Jake. They extended the Cordon. Which means my office is now in it. People were getting shot down right outside our building. It wasn't safe for us anymore and we figured Cannerts could use the help."

"Fuck. I haven't been outside since it all started but your friends told us what they saw on their way here. I can't believe this is really happening. This is Hollywood shit. It's not supposed to be real life." His voice is strained and it's all I can do not to reach out and console him.

"Jake! There you are!" A small voice interrupted us and I turned to find a boy about 9 or 10 approaching.

"Oh hey Q. Sorry man I didn't mean to leave ya." Jake ruffled the boys hair.

"Who is this?" Q asked as he looked over at me.

"This is Charlie. She's a very close friend of mine." Jake smiled up at me. "Charlie, this is Quentin."

Quentin stuck out his hand and smiled. "Also a close friend of Jake's."

I laughed as I shook the boy's hand. "Well it is always an honor to meet Jake's close friends. Pleased to meet you, Quentin!"

"Hey buddy, why don't you go find Peggy. I'll be there in just a second." Jake nudged Quentin.

"Okay." He shrugged. "Nice to meet you Charlie." He called out as he walked away.

Jake watched him for a few seconds before turning back around and giving me a sad smile. "He's cute. Close friend, huh?" I joked.

"You remember the woman who died after the first failed batch?" His voice was solemn as he spoke. I nodded but said nothing. "That's her son. We..." he rubbed his head, resting a hand on the back of his neck. "Hung out. She was here with her students for a field trip when everything happened so they had to stay here and be quarantined. I was here already and we just got talking. A lot of the kids were able to leave. So I stayed with them to keep Quentin calm and keep them all occupied." He stopped and leaned against the wall, sighing heavily.

"Jake?"

He glanced up at me. "When she realized she was infected, she begged me to take care of Quentin if she didn't make it. His dad is hardly in the picture to start with, but he's outside of the Cordon. She has no one else in here."

I couldn't help but wonder just how close Jake and this woman had gotten by the way he fidgeted but I was definitely not going to ask. "Well I'm glad you're keeping your promise to her. He seems like a sweet kid. How is he handling his mom's death?"

"He cries at night mostly, when he thinks no one is listening. During the day he puts on a brace face. Peggy kinda took him under her wing when she got here. He seems to really like her."

The mention of Peggy's name makes my stomach knot as I think about Steve. We almost kissed. He wanted to try "us" again even though he's dating Peggy and I'm with Jake. Yet I brushed him off and now he saw Jake kiss me. What the hell am I going to do?

"Well I'll be damned." A gruff voice sounded from behind me. I whirled around to find someone I hadn't seen in years. "When Cannerts told us you all were here, I couldn't believe it. I didn't think you were in contact with Steve and Bruce anymore."

"Sam Wilson." My voice cracked. "It's a long story."

"Looks like we've got a lot of catching up to do then. Get over here." He opened his arms and wrapped me in a hug.

"Don't let Cannerts see this. He fussed me out for kissing her since we don't know if any of them are infected or not." Jake quipped.

Sam looked at him before turning to me with a raised brow. "A LOT of catching up to do it seems."