Unexpected Family (Oneshot)

Unexpected Family

A child.

There, hugged by the moonlight on the cliffside, was Jones. Young black hair glistened with droplets of water, an old, used mask cast aside onto a nearby rock. He could almost hear the man begging for a different solution, just as he could hear the hum of a car slowly fade into nothing but eerie silence.

Until a coo sounded.

Jones made a mistake. A big mistake. The costume he had obsessive built for hours stuck to his skin, unable to be removed as quickly as the mask. He had worn that mask during the encounter, Brad had no idea he was Mr. Jones from their college stay. Brad would never know it was their teacher who had betrayed them, the very man who had given them knowledge and sent their parrot into an asylum, forever stuck within a cage that would be his final resting place.

Everything was going fine! His plan had worked! The Mystery Incorporated Gang was separated, the blackmail had worked. Now only he was left with the knowledge of the discs, of the treasure, so only he could seek it out. It was a perfect plan.

Until Brad and Judy decided to try again.

Without any strength from the weight of his sins, Jones sunk to the ground. A gentle coo sounded from his arms, making the future mayor of Crystal Cove look down. Looks like the baby was waking up.

He was desperate. Ever so desperate. Jones had won, hadn't he? The first piece of six was his, and now he had a hostage. Brad always needed that extra push, and when blackmail didn't work, Jones worked on his adrenaline.

Thus, the child.

Their small chubby arms reached out, wide blue eyes peeling open as a gurgle escaped. Jones just made a mistake.

Sure, a hostage was a great idea on paper. The extra food costs and security to make sure a person wouldn't escape or die wouldn't be too much, but that was for a small period of time. Like using a hostage for money, or for knowledge. Movies often depicted it that way, Jones wasn't sure. But hostages were never supposed to be permanent.

Yet here he was, the rush from the last incident slowly winding down to utter horror when he realized his flawed misstep. It hadn't been a calculated decision like the others, it was sudden, out of fear. He was scared and alone, if his blackmail on Brad's parents didn't work, he had nothing else. Jones was scared.

That's why he dove for the baby seat when he saw it.

Frankly, Jones had no idea why Brad would be stupid enough to bring his newborn child to a place he was no longer welcome to. But, in a sense, Brad was never welcomed here. No one liked mystery solvers, people who asked too many questions and disrupted the peace and stagnant repetition of town. They asked questions, they solved mysteries, they changed lives. To some, who were comfortable in their ignorance, the sudden truth scared them.

Just as the sudden reappearance of Brad's trusty vehicle had started Jones. He hadn't planned to ever see him again, it had been over two years. Everything was going perfectly!

Jones only wore the costume as to keep the legends about hauntings in Crystal Cove going. It was a distraction, he wasn't doing anything bad with it, just looking around, doing research. Though research wasn't going too far, he was fine with that. He was in no rush.

This time, it had been Brad who chased Jones, the freak of Crystal Cove, all the way up the mountain to the old church they had first encountered one another. He was scared, alone, head spinning with a rush of adrenaline and utter fear. Jones only moved here because he heard about the treasure, he didn't have too many friends here, nor did he have anything to his name. If he was caught, everything would be over. The rest of their gang would come out of the shadows, they'd take his progress and find the treasure. There wasn't any doubt about that, they were talented mystery solvers who had put on thick skin against bullying and doubts. They could move on with their lives, but Jones couldn't! The treasure was his everything!