Work Text:
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For the first week Sansa was gone, Jon took off from work. He had vacation time to use and with his wife in Peru and both he and their daughter adjusting to the next month without her, it was the perfect time to finally put in for some time. If a case did come up, Jon knew that Jaime would be able to handle it without bringing him into it.
Sansa knew her husband could cook. He had practiced and made himself fantastic at the grill. And he was excellent at preparing breakfast. But Sansa worried because that was what she did and she had spent time, making dinners for her husband and daughter and putting them in the freezer to help them get through the time she was gone. Not enough to last them the whole month but plenty to help them along. Jon went to the refrigerator now, opening the bottom freezer drawer and looking down at the Tupperware containers, all neatly labeled. Ros hurried to join him and peered down to see what there was.
“What do you have a taste for tonight?” Jon asked.
Ros’s eyes landed on the several cartons and boxes of ice cream treats. Both mama and daddy loved ice cream and they always had plenty in their house. Her eyes lit up. “Klondike bars!” She exclaimed quite excitedly.
Jon smiled but he shook his head. “We had that last night. How about chicken stir fry?”
“Sounds good!” Ros easily agreed and Jon took out the appropriate Tupperware.
When Sansa had shown him what she had done, loading their refrigerator and pantry with a stockpile of food, Jon expected to be insulted. He hated the idea of his wife treating him like an idiot-sitcom dad but Sansa told him that she would be gone for a month and taking care of their family was what she did. A month away or not, she was still going to do it.
She and Jon had also sat down to go over everything – both her own schedule and Ros’s summer schedule. Sansa flew into Miami with Daario and the small group of grad students. After a layover, their flight then took them to Lima, Peru. When they went into the jungles, Daario had a satellite phone but it would only be for absolute emergencies and even then, it could be a bit spotty. It wasn’t as if she would be able to call every day to check in. She called them from Miami and then she called again from Lima and then it was off into the Amazon for the next month. Sansa had sounded nervous but so excited and she had cried when she had to hang up with Jon and Ros for that final time in Lima. Jon told himself that she was going to be just fine and he wouldn’t dare show his own fear around Ros.
The majority of people just didn’t go traipsing into the jungles of the Amazon for a good time. Jon had gotten a book from the library but after just beginning to read about all of the animals, snakes and bugs that could kill a person, he decided that ignorance, in this case, was bliss. He tried to take a page out of Ros’s book. For being so young, she seemed to have grasped what was happening with perfect understanding. This was for Sansa and it was something a young Sansa had always wanted to do. She should be able to do it while she still could. Ros missed Sansa, of course, but it being just her and Jon for the next month was something new and different and if Ros Snow loved one thing, it was a new adventure.
Just as Jon was figuring out the best pan to cook the stir-fry in – where the Hell was their wok? – his cell phone, left on the counter, began to ring. “Can you go see who that is, Rosie?” He asked as he continued searching the butler’s pantry for what he needed.
“Yep!” Ros ran to the ringing phone and picking it up, she saw Jaime’s name on the screen. “It’s Uncle Jaime! Can I pick up?”
“If you want! And ask him what he wants!” Jon called back.
Ros giggled as she answered the call. “What do you want?” She barked, mimicking her daddy as best as she could.
“What? Who answers the phone like that?” Jaime barked from the other end.
Ros dissolved into laughter. “Daddy told me to!”
“Well, you tell him that he’s a bad dad.”
“You’re a bad dad!” Ros dutifully announced to Jon as he came out of the butler’s panty with the wok successfully in his hand.
“Give me that.” Jon frowned at her but Ros kept laughing because she knew he didn’t mean it. He took the phone and swatted her lightly on the butt with the wok, which just added to her laughter. Ros went running off into the family room and threw herself onto the couch. “What’s going on?” Jon asked. He knew something had to be going on for Jaime to be calling him like this. If Jaime just wanted to shoot the shit, he would come over after work and eat dinner with them. Jaime wasn’t the kind of guy to call someone just to chat.
When a child went missing, vacations didn’t mean anything. It was an “all hands on deck” kind of situation. Jon put the Tupperware container in the refrigerator to thaw out there for later and then looked to his daughter. Ros was scrolling through Disney +, looking for a movie to watch with dinner. Jon admitted that with Sansa gone, he and Ros had already developed the habit, after five days, of eating their dinners in bowls while sitting on the couch and watching a movie. And it seemed as if Ros had easily fallen into this new habit of theirs.
“Ros. This is not a drill,” he said. Ros immediately turned off the television and slid from the couch, turning to face him. “Just like we practiced,” he then finished.
“This is not a drill!” She exclaimed back and raced into the laundry room.
First, Jon called Olivia Ford, the grandmother of Ros’s best friend, Hannah, with whom Hannah lived. When Olivia picked up, Jon let her know what was going on. He then called Genna, who had a key to the Snow house, and she would stop by after work to take care of Ghost, Lady and Ros’s guinea pig, Sweet Potato. With everything in place, Jon made sure the refrigerator was fully shut, the television was off and the back and front doors were both locked.
In the laundry room, Ros sat on the bench, tugging on her tennis shoes, and Jon sat down next to her to do the same with his own. She then hopped off and turned, grabbing her book bag and slipping it onto her back. Jon unzipped it and double-checked that her “go bag” was ready to go. A pair of pajamas, a change of clothes, an extra toothbrush and hairbrush, and another of her stuffed animals. The stuffed capybara she had had since she was a baby would remain upstairs on her bed. Ros didn’t want to risk taking it somewhere with her and something happening to it. It was safe, staying on her bed at home.
“We are good to go,” Jon said and stood up.
“Let’s hit it!” Ros exclaimed. Since mama left, she and daddy have had “drills” for this very thing. Daddy would get called into work suddenly and something would have to be done with Ros. Thankfully, Hannah’s grandma, Grandma Olivia, was able to help daddy out and he had made other arrangements with others when it was needed.
It was another new adventure and as always, Ros was ready.
…
It was true. Kidnapped children had a very small window to be found safely. After that, the chances grew weaker and weaker and the possible ending grew worse and worse. Jon and Jaime stood in the Sheriff’s office after nine hours, watching Theresa Glass hug her two-year-old son, Jason, crying with joy, not wanting to put him down anytime soon. Jon watched and damn near started tearing up himself. Thank God it was a happy ending. Well, for Jason anyway. Theresa’s husband and Jason’s father, Jay, was currently wearing handcuffs and sitting in a cell. For the past eight hours, he had played the hysterical father, desperate to find his son, only for it to be discovered that he had hired a friend to “kidnap” Jason. Theresa’s mother was loaded and was prepared to pay whatever amount was asked for her grandson. Jay apparently had a gambling debt to people someone really didn’t want to owe money to – a fact which was finally unearthed by Jon and Jaime.
“Nothing was going to happen to Jason,” Jay tried to explain himself. “It was all harmless. Vic was just keeping him at his place and he was watching cartoons and napping the whole time. He didn’t even know something was wrong. He was perfectly safe the whole time.” He still didn’t think he had done anything wrong. Yes, he had planned the kidnapping of his own son so he could get his hands on some desperately needed mother-in-law money but Jason wasn’t hurt so what was the harm?
“I hope that woman divorces his ass,” Jaime said to himself and Jon nodded in agreement.
People honestly never ceased to amaze him. He wondered if people did the same kind of thing all over the world – even in the deep jungles of the Amazon, completely uncontacted to the rest of the world. After all, people were still people.
…
Joe and Olivia met and got married when they were both over forty. They didn’t expect to have children. They didn’t even plan for children. As Olivia said, “We met too late” for that to happen and were always happy that they found one another and would have each other for the rest of their lives. So obviously, the birth of their son, Sam, was considered to not only be a surprise but a miracle. They loved their only child so much and doted upon him. But drugs had a talent of reaching anyone no matter what their lives growing up had been like.
Sam and his wife had made a stupid choice and decided that cooking meth was something that they both could do and should do. They were lucky they had only gotten ten years. Olivia tried to remember the mistakes she had made with Sam so she didn’t make the same with her granddaughter. She wished Joe was here to help but he had died a few years ago from kidney failure. Olivia missed him every single day but she was also glad that he wasn’t here to see what came of Sam. Hannah was shy and cautious and Ros Snow was the complete opposite. That girl would jump off the nearest bridge and Hannah would be the one to grab her by the back of the shirt and pull her back. They were good for each other. The exact kind of friend the other needed.
The girls had fallen asleep on the living room floor in a pile of blankets and pillows while watching a marathon of Gravity Falls. Olivia fell asleep in her bed, able to hear their giggles from down the hall, and it made her smile. It was a wonderful sound to have in her home.
The next morning, both girls were awake by seven, and Olivia was, too. She had just finished brewing coffee for herself and both girls were enjoying cups of orange juice. She was going to make them fresh slabs of French toast but no one was quite wake enough to eat breakfast. When the doorbell rang, Ros gasped, perking up. Olivia smiled and went to answer the door.
“Good morning, Jon,” she smiled. The man looked half asleep but he smiled, too.
“Morning, Olivia. How was she?” He asked.
“Daddy!” Ros came racing past Olivia and half asleep or not, Jon’s reflexes were still quick enough to catch his daughter as she leapt into the air for him. “Did you solve it?” She asked. She never knew what case he was working on; just that he was working on one.
“You bet I did,” he smiled. Ros wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.
“I have coffee, Jon. Come inside,” she stepped back so he could come into the house.
“Thank God for you, Olivia,” Jon smiled at her as he carried Ros inside.
…
Genna had spent the night in the guest room in the Snow home. In the morning, she tidied everything up again so it looked like she wasn’t there at all. Not necessary, she knew, and Jon wouldn’t care about an unmade bed but she cared. She let Ghost and Lady out for a long while but she had to get them back inside so she could get back home to get herself ready for work. Jon and Ros came home just an hour after she left again but if Ghost and Lady were asked, they had been alone forever.
Ros went upstairs to empty her “go bag” and pack it with fresh things for the next time she would need it and Jon went into his and Sansa’s bedroom. He changed into gym shorts and a tee shirt and ignored the ache in his chest. Damn, he missed Sansa. He missed talking with her. He missed listening to her. He missed just feeling her presence in the house. He loved that he could have this time with Ros. Sometimes, he felt like he was working all of the time and Sansa got to have all of the time with their daughter. Sometimes, Jon felt like he was missing everything. So this month with just the two of them was something he was already enjoying but that didn’t mean he didn’t miss Sansa like Hell.
He smiled as he heard feet running down the stairs. No matter how many times both Jon and Sansa told her to not run down the stairs, she rarely seemed to actually remember. Ros appeared in the bedroom doorway and she was wearing her pajamas, too.
“I’m still tired, daddy,” she let him know. She was holding Sweet Potato in her hands.
“Me, too,” Jon agreed. He and Jaime had finished their reports and he had caught a quick forty minute nap in his office but that wasn’t nearly enough. “Nap time?” He asked.
“Nap time,” Ros nodded quickly. She hurried to the other side of the bed and set Sweet Potato down on the comforter so she could climb up.
“Ghost! Lady!” Jon called out as he climbed into bed, too.
Ros laughed and Jon grinned as both dogs came running down the hall and into the bedroom. She quickly picked up Sweet Potato again so neither dog jumped right onto him as they leapt onto the bed. It took a minute or so for everyone to get comfortable. Jon made sure Ros was covered with the comforter and he made sure that Ghost wasn’t pinning his legs down so he could still move.
“Good morning, daddy,” Ros smiled as her eyes were already closed and she then yawned.
“Good morning, Rosie,” he smiled back. He leaned over and kissed her on the head. As soon as he laid his own head down on his pillow, he was out like a light. They all were.
…