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Jackson woke up with a groan, face buried in the pillow. He realized it was the phone ringing that had awoken him and he briefly considered ignoring it. Squinting in the darkness, he saw it was a little after 2 a.m. Nothing good came from a call at this time of night.
The ringing continued and with a sigh he reached out, fumbling for the phone before finally grabbing the handset.
“What the fuck do you want March?” he growled. Who else would be waking him up?
“Um, Jackson?” came a tremulous voice.
“Holly?”
Jackson sat up, flicking on the bedside lamp, eyes narrowing against the sudden brightness.
“Are you ok? What’s wrong?” His stomach dropped as the possibilities flooded his mind. Holland shot, hired guns after them, car accident…in their line of work, the hazards were endless. They didn’t have an active case, but that never stopped old ones from coming back to haunt them.
“Yeah, I’m ok. I just—“
Her voice cut off and silence filled the line.
“Just what? What’s going on Holly?”
“Could you come get me?”
Relief coursed through his veins. That was it? He wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of having to drag himself out of bed, but it could have been so much worse.
“Yeah, yeah, sure. Where are you?”
“San Francisco” she said hesitantly.
Jackson waited, hoping she was kidding. She couldn’t be serious.
“San Francisco? Are you joking? What the hell are you doing there? Is Holland with you?”
“No, it’s not a joke. Dad’s not here and he doesn’t know I am. I didn’t want to call him because he’d freak out.”
“You think?” Jackson snorted. “Jesus, that’s like a six hour drive. There. And then back...”
He waited for an answer but just head a sniffle from the other end.
“Fine” he sighed, rubbing his face, his brain still working to catch up with the situation. “Of course I’ll get you. Where exactly are you.”
“Ok, so that’s the thing…”
He closed his eyes, just knowing something worse was coming. “Uh huh” he grunted.
“I’m in jail.”
“You’re what? Shit, Holly.” Jackson found himself suddenly very awake. “That’s the kind of thing you open with. Jesus, kid.”
“Yeah, well. I-I didn’t know how to tell you.”
Jackson just shook his head. Of all the people he’d expect to pick up from jail, Holly was definitely near the bottom of the list. Shows what he knew. “Ok, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
He threw on some clothes from the chair in the corner, he grabbed his keys and hit the road.
---
Five hours and forty-four very long minutes later, Jackson parked in the lot at the SFPD Central Station and wearily climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind him. The sun was up and people were already coming and going, starting their days.
Pushing through the glass doors, he walked up to the front desk where a woman barely glanced up at him disinterestedly, snapping her gum.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m here for Holly March” he said gruffly, in no mood to deal with anyone’s attitude.
“Are you her parent or guardian?” she asked, with another pop of gum.
He hesitated only for a second, not about to get turned away after coming this far. “Yeah.”
“Ok, well you need to fill out these forms and then you can take her home. She will have a fine to pay and may have to make an appearance in court. We’ll let her know.”
Jackson scanned the pages quickly, just wanting to get Holly and get on their way back home. They’d figure everything else out later. Scribbling his signature on all the indicated lines, he shoved the papers back across the desk.
“Have a seat over there and we’ll bring her out when everything is in order.”
Jackson wandered over to the small waiting area the woman had indicated, dropping into the molded plastic seat. His eyes watered as he yawned, dreading the ride back home when he was so exhausted. By his calculations, he’d gotten maybe three hours sleep at the most.
Time ticked by slowly, each minute seeming like an hour as officers chattered around him, walking in and out of the station while civilians came in to complain about their neighbors, file complaints, the usual minutiae of the public. Finally, after twenty minutes a tall, young-looking cop walked up with Holly lagging a few steps behind.
“Mr. March” the kid said, eyeing him up and down, “we’re releasing Holly to you and we hope she’s learned her lesson. We don’t want to see her here again. All information regarding the fine and the court appearance, if necessary, will be mailed to your house.”
He checked the paper in his hand, clarifying ‘their’ home address, which to Jackson’s surprise was his own.
“Thank you, officer. I assure you, nothing like this will happen again” he said, playing up the father role. He gave Holly a disappointed look and shook his head. “Is there anything else?”
“No, you’re free to go. Stay out of trouble” he said to Holly as she walked past him.
They walked out of the station in silence, both lost in thought.
“Thanks” Holly said as they got in the car.
“Sure.”
As Jackson pulled out and found his way back on the freeway, Holly curled up in her seat, falling asleep. Her soft snores filled the silence of the car and Jackson found himself glancing over at her every so often, a lump of emotions settled in his chest.
He was still worried about her, since he still hadn’t heard the whole story. It couldn’t be that bad, since she was let go and just had a fine to pay, but still. And she’d been halfway across the state without anyone knowing. This wasn’t like her.
---
The hours flew by faster this time as Jackson ran through different ways to talk to her. He wasn’t her father, but he loved her almost like one. He’d known her for almost four years now and she felt like family. But that didn’t mean he knew how to talk to a kid when she’d got mixed up in this kind of thing. What did he know about rebellious teenagers? Except that he was one once and he knew that he didn’t listen to shit anyone tried to tell him back then.
They were coming up on L.A. when Holly finally started to stir, stretching out her neck which had become cramped after the hours laying against the window.
“So what’s your plan now?”
She blinked sleepily at Jackson, everything taking a minute to come back to her.
“You want to at least tell me what the hell happened?”
“It’s stupid. There’s this guy –”
Jackson grimaced. “Oh Jesus, of course there is. Maybe I don’t wanna know.”
“No, it’s not really about him” Holly continued, staring out the window. “He’s a big environmentalist and there was a huge protest happening and he asked if I wanted to go, so I did. And then someone called the cops and we got taken in for trespassing and resisting arrest and shit.”
Jackson glanced at her, but she avoided his eyes.
“I don’t think ‘and shit’ is an acceptable substitute for ‘and stuff’” he said lightly, giving her a small smile. “I guess that could have been worse. So where does your dad think you are? I assume he didn’t agree to his 17 year-old daughter driving off to San Francisco with some guy?”
“No way” she snorted, rolling her eyes. “I’m supposed to be spending the weekend at a friend’s house. I told him I’d be back this afternoon.”
“Well looks like that part will be true at least.”
They lapsed back into silence, but at least this time it was a little more comfortable. Twenty minutes later, Jackson pulled onto her street and parked by the side of the road, leaving a couple blocks between them and the house.
“So are you going to tell him?” Holly blurted out suddenly, turning to face him.
Jackson cursed under his breath, thinking it over. He knew he probably should. But she had trusted him enough to call him and what she’d done hadn’t really been that bad…
“Ok, listen. As long as you can pay the fine when it comes in, and don’t have to go to court, I guess it’ll be our secret. I don’t think you have to worry about him so much though, you know how much he loves you.”
“And I love him, but he can…overreact sometimes. You know that.”
Jackson nodded, unable to disagree.
“Thank you Jackson” Holly said, leaning over to hug him tightly. He sat frozen for a moment before wrapping his arounds around her and hugging back. “I mean it. You were really there for me and you didn’t have to be. I really appreciate it, you’re like a second father to me.”
She pulled back, wiping a tear from her eye and ducking her head so Jackson wouldn’t see her blush.
“You know what? It’s – It’s not a big deal” he said gruffly, touched by words. “Just…be smarter next time, yeah? Your dad and I get in enough trouble, you’re supposed to be the good influence on us.”
Holly smiled, reaching for the door, and with a final wave she was off on her way.
Jackson watched her until she made it to the front door, just to make sure.
They sure do grow up fast, he thought to himself.