Chapter Text
12:20pm - June 23, 1973 - Reno, Nevada
...
As his life spilled out from within him…
Pain.
it pooled across the cold concrete floor…
Pain.
watching it slowly creep to his arm in front of him…
Pain.
feeling it stain his sleeve red with his own warmth…
pain pain pain pain
—and fear.
…
…the last thing Jack Kennedy wanted to do was understand what had just happened to him.
afraid, so afraid—
…
Or why the man standing over him did it.
a…fraid…
…
…
…
…
…No, it was far easier to let his mind rest…
…He was done; he simply couldn't bear to stay here any longer.
…
…
…
…
…He just wished she could’ve… had a better birthday than this…
…
…
Tomorrow is another day.
3:15pm - Denver, Colorado
Peter had just gotten home from work and was now relaxing in the two hours’ silence it always took for his wife to come home from her work. Once she did, they were gonna give Dee a call and wish her a Happy Sixth Birthday! (And the first one Peter wouldn’t be there in person for...)
It was almost 3:15, and Peter was mindlessly watching some inconsequential game show to pass the time (and hopefully drown out the existential dread as his increasingly sore back reminded him how close he already was to his thirties, good lord). But most of all his mind was troubled with what they should have for dinner, or rather, what he felt like making for dinner, seeing as it was his turn to cook tonight and he was feeling admittedly lazy today.
The phone rang.
...Well fine then. Peter got himself up from the couch to go answer.
…
“Hello?”
“Washoe County Police Department. Is this Peter Kennedy?”
“Yeah…” Why are the police from his hometown calling him.
“This is Officer…” ...Peter didn’t remember the name. His stomach was sinking with a sickening case of deja vu.
“This is about your brother Jack.”
“...”
…
…His memory of the phone call was hazy after that point. He didn’t even remember how long ago he’d hung up.
He leaned himself against the kitchen counter for stability as he tried to digest whatever information his glazed mind latched onto during the call.
…
…Again? He almost laughed, it was so comically unfunny. What were the odds that getting a call like that could happen to him twice, anyway? But it did though...
Oh this was real real. Just like it had been last time with Mom and Dad. Unless he was going crazy, maybe that was just as likely as whatever this was—?
He was rapidly catastrophizing, because what if—no.He tried to focus on the neutral facts for now. He and Caroline needed to drive to Reno as soon as possible to pick up Dee tomorrow. Right now, they said she was fine and safe at the police department, and they were still questioning… her… about…
…what did happen to him...!?
His heart rate began to spike through the roof. He came up with any number of other ways or reasons he would have gone off somewhere, but bone-headed as Jack could be, every scenario was just a bit too out of character for him, which was doing the opposite of easing his fears—
Peter checked the clock—still a whole 40 minutes till she was done, that wouldn’t do—and he quickly dialed Caroline’s work number, shaky, numb fingers almost misdialing some numbers in the process.
Dee needed them now more than ever.
B-Because Jack—
Peter cursed to himself. It felt like he’d never waited so long in his life for someone to pick up the damn phone—
“Thank you for calling Denv—”
“—Is Caroline there? It’s an emergency, this is her husband,” he rushed.
“Uh—Yes, just one moment.”
“Thank you.”
“Carrie? …It’s your husband, he says it’s an emergency.”
After some shuffling noises:
“Peter? What's going on?”
“You need to come home right now. We’re going to Reno ASAP, I’ll explain on the way.”
“Why, are Jack and Dee okay!?”
Peter hesitated to answer at first.
“...Jack’s gone missing.”
“...I’ll be right there.”
Caroline immediately hung the phone up to Peter’s relief. Thank god she was always good in a crisis; certainly better than he was.
Honestly, Peter hoped she’d get home soon, because if he was left alone with his thoughts any longer he felt he was going to fall apart at the seams.
…
…
Oh god, this was becoming all too real again—
3:23pm
Caroline had sped home as fast as she could, uncharacteristically running a couple reds on the way.
Jack was missing.
Dee was all alone over there, probably terrified out of her mind, and on her own birthday no less—
And Jack… god she hoped he was okay in the end, and that this was just the result of some irresponsible miscommunication or something. Because if not…
He was still so young and she loved every interaction she’d had with him so far. Although she rarely heard the end of Peter’s over-concerned complaints over his various faults, she knew he was a good kid through and through.
And to her, he was still a kid at just age 22. She knew firsthand from last Christmas that he was still figuring himself out.
So he… probably just left without Dee and… forgot to come back or accidentally took too long doing something…? That wouldn’t be entirely out of character for him, would it…?
…
Peter must be worried out of his mind right now. He needed her just as much as Dee right now. Knowing him, he was surely fighting off another panic attack right now waiting for her to get here as soon as possible, so doggone it, she pushed further on the gas, because she wasn’t gonna waste another minute.
3:40pm
And the first thing she did upon entering the front door was find Peter and trap him in a tight hug, which also happened to be his first idea too. Both of them held on to each other tightly, rocking back and forth in each other’s embrace, no need or desire for words in their moment.
Caroline could clearly feel how much he was shaking… and how much his heart was pounding, how shallow and quick his breaths were—
“Deep breaths, hon, just like we practiced.”
Peter didn't answer, but he consciously controlled his breathing just like he’d practiced at the doctor’s last year. They stayed embraced like this for another ten minutes or so until both of them had calmed down enough to have a clear head.
Then Caroline let go from their hug to face him, regaining her earlier determination.
“I’ll go get the map. You go pack some sandwiches and snacks. We’ll need to eat by the time we get to a hotel, and there might not be restaurants open as late as I think we’ll get there.”
“Thanks, Care,” he admitted lovingly.
They leaned in for a quick kiss before parting to distract themselves with their designated tasks.
It was going to be a long hell from here on out.
11:36pm - Salt Lake City, Utah
Today was devolving into such a patchy, hazy slog for the both of them. Caroline had been driving all afternoon and evening since about 4pm. It had been over seven hours of driving and being careful to follow their map route right (and not without their moments of road rage or directions bickering), so they were both wiped out by now. Which made sense as it was approaching midnight, and they were still losing their minds on the road.
But they were both incredibly relieved to finally reach Salt Lake City, which was their halfway point and where they were going to stay the night. They were both exhausted in every respect. It’d been an eight hour drive by the time they finally stopped at the first hotel they could find. And tomorrow morning they needed to prepare for probably another 8 hours from the looks of it.
And even though it would be his turn to drive tomorrow, Peter was worried he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink tonight despite his physical and mental exhaustion. He couldn’t wait to find a hotel already so they could find a phone and check on Dee; who knows how bad it was for her right now, it was worrying him sick—
And everytime his concern shifted to Jack, he tried to shift it away from mind. It was still too much, too much uncertainty—
Caroline had been more optimistic—“Try to have some hope, Peter. He’s missing, not dead; for all we know, he might turn up tomorrow like nothing happened and you can chew him out all you like. I don’t want to just assume he’s in danger just yet.”—but even despite her encouraging words, he couldn’t help but think of his brother in the past tense. Not after such a similar police call like that...
He couldn’t shake the feeling they’d already shared their last words with each other on the phone last weekend.
Which is why he avoided letting his thoughts wander in that direction as much as possible, at least for now. So Peter decided he’d focus his emotional energy on Dee who was alive—er, safe and accounted for—while the police worried about Jack for him. He wasn’t going to hope or mourn yet until the police found more answers.
Easier said than done, of course. Peter wasn’t actually that strong, he knew that from experience.
12:52am - June 24
“Dee? Hello?”
“Carrie…!” the young girl’s voice began with relief before devolving into bawling on the other end of the phone call. "Carrie, I don't know why—..." but the rest slurred unintelligibly through tears.
“Dee, Dee, I’m here, it's okay. Peter and I are in Salt Lake City in a hotel, we’re halfway there to come get you.”
“Is he there?”
“Peter? He’s fast asleep right now, he fell asleep as soon as we found our room. He really wanted to call you, but I’m letting him sleep so he can drive better tomorrow. I hope you don’t mind. Are you home right now?”
“M-hm.” She hummed through a sniffle.
“Is someone with you?”
“M-hm.”
“Are they nice?”
“M-hm.”
“Listen sweetie, I’m proud of you. You’ve been very brave today, and I’m proud of you for helping the police even though you’re scared.”
“Will Jack come back?”
Caroline bit her lip. “...I don’t know, hon. I just don’t know. But the police are doing the best they can, and you’ve been a big help to them.”
“What if he doesn’t, what’s gonna happen then?”
“...You’ll come live up with us. You’re going to be okay, I promise.”
“But what about Jack?”
“The police will keep searching for him until they find him, no matter what.”
“But I don’t know where he went, he said he was getting in line for pizza—”
“Shh, I know sweetie, I know. We just have to be patient, okay?”
“M-hm.”
“I love you Dee, and so does Peter. We’ll call you again tomorrow before we leave the hotel, and then hopefully we’ll be there at your house before night, okay? Stay strong for us until then, okay?”
“M-hm.”
“I’m proud of you, hon. Love you.”
“Love you.”
“Okay, buh-bye.”
Caroline hung up the phone. …and then leaned back in her desk chair with a sigh and stared blankly at the wall ahead of her, finally letting her confident facade dissipate now that neither of them needed it from her right now.
…she didn't even realize until it was finally quiet and still like this just, but now she couldn't possibly ignore how much she'd stretched herself thin this evening.
And then she lowered her head onto the desk and began to sob as quietly as she could manage for the first time today, pent up emotions finally crashing over her in vengeance for being ignored for too long. Her husband was thankfully not stirred from his sleep, looking (from her blurred vision) the most relaxed he’d been since this all began, and she tried her best not to disturb it.
...
Goddammit Jack, you better be okay or else.
(She hadn't planned on that desk being her sleeping spot for tonight, but at least it was only for a couple hours before she was wide awake again.)
7:35am
Peter woke up to Caroline's bustling about across the room, and when finally opening his eyes to the soft early morning light…
He was in a hotel room. He was confused at first, until he remembered last night.
And then all of yesterday afternoon.
So this was still happening, huh? …That also meant he had another eight hour drive ahead of him.
Another eight hours Dee would have to hold on without any of her family around.
His stomach was hurting again.
“Morning…” he mumbled as a distraction.
“Morning… Did you sleep okay?”
“I must've passed out right away, huh... I don't remember much since getting to our room.”
“I thought it better to let you get your sleep in for today. I hope you don't mind.”
“No, thank you… Did you still call Dee last night?”
“Yeah. she’s… she’s being brave about it. She’s home now, I told her we’ll call her again before leaving.”
“Oh. Are you sure we should call? What if she needs to sleep in after yesterday? It's pretty early right now.”
“It’s 7:30, she’s used to it from school, and I think she’d be happy to wake up that early for a call from us anyway, even in better circumstances. Besides, I know how much you look forward to these calls.”
Though now that he was calmer and more relaxed from sleep, Peter became apprehensive at the idea. Yes, he was dying to make it back to Dee, and he normally loved the idea of hearing her voice right now, but…
“Sure thing, let’s call her after some breakfast.”
…he wasn’t ready to hear her distressed when he couldn’t be there with her in person to do anything; or how much would she say about what happened? Caroline already confirmed she was fine, and that was what he needed most, but there was still so much he didn't know, he was still in stressful ignorance of the details of what actually happened, what if Dee wasn't okay, what if things were just as bad as he thought—
Caroline handed him a bagged sandwich. Breakfast.
…Right. They’d be on the road pretty soon then, huh?
After a phone call, of course.
7:42am
He heard the distant voice of the woman who picked up call for Dee, saying it’s her family on the phone, and then some silence. And then—
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dee it’s me this time.”
“Peter!”
“How're you holding up, kiddo?”
“...f-fine…”
Dee always had a habit of holding the phone receiver too close to her face, so Peter could clearly hear her breathing. And it was very unstable like she was wanting to cry but wouldn't. How much had she been crying? It haunted him just to think about.
No, this was worse: she was still only six as of yesterday, she shouldn't have to be holding herself together to put on a brave face like this in the first place.
“Dee, I love you, I hope you know that.” And so does Jack, he almost added in between. (Except it probably would’ve slipped out as “did” instead, and that wouldn’t have helped.)
He felt Caroline's hand rub his shoulder in moral support. Which was much appreciated because Peter was rapidly losing his cool as fast as Dee was on the other end.
Seconds passed without any more words being exchanged. It seemed they were both at a loss for what to say next.
“...Dee, we're gonna be out on the road again very soon. It'll be a very long drive, but we'll be there before today ends, okay? Can you hold out till then?”
“Yep.” Her voice was far too defeated for his liking considering a phone call on her birthday should have put her in the best mood.
“I'm proud of you. How's the lady who's with you? Is she nice?”
“Yeah.”
Peter thought how to continue that more innocent topic but—
“…Peter?”
“What is it?”
“I don't wanna go to Colorado.”
Peter was caught off guard and didn't know how to respond. Where did that come from? Though it was true, if Jack didn't come back…
He couldn't dwell on those up-in-the-air details just yet, but it seemed that Dee already had been. It seemed she’d been wrestling with them, in fact.
He still didn’t know how to answer.
“We’ll worry about that later, just… try to take it easy while we’re on our way.”
“But—”
“It’ll all be alright, I promise.”
…
…Nailed it. Brushing off her fears and making a promise he couldn’t actually promise? That definitely won’t come to bite him later.
“Peter, are they gonna find him? When are they gonna find him?”
This was all more than he was equipped to answer right now.
“What if they can’t find him, what if he's—”
“I don't know, Dee,” he snapped softly, just wanting her to stop.
And she did fall silent, in the way she usually did when she knew she said something wrong—
“Peter?” Caroline said quietly next to him, hand still on his shoulder as she listened to only Peter’s half of the exchange.
—Except it was Peter who mis-stepped, not Dee… dammit, it was probably time to just hand off the phone to Caroline before he made things worse instead of better.
“I’m sorry Dee—look, I’m just as scared as you are. I wish I had answers for you, but I just don’t. I have all the same questions as you right now, I’m sorry.
…Look, I’m gonna hand you off to Carrie now, okay? Is there anything else you want to say to me before I leave to get dressed?”
“...
Can we have ice cream when you get home? Jack promised we’d get ice cream…”
Peter couldn’t help but laugh with some inexplicable relief. “Yes, of course! We’ll get you as many scoops and flavors as you want!”
“Yay! Thank youuu!”
Dee was understandably excited because Peter wasn’t usually the one to spoil her rotten like that so easily (that jackass, always intentionally making himself the cooler brother by saying yes after he’d already said no… he hoped it wouldn't fall to him to spoil her a little more in his place…)
“That’ll be your reward for being such a big girl and waiting patiently for us, is that a deal?”
“Yep!”
“Alright Dee, I’ll talk to you later today when we get there. I'm giving it to Caroline now. Love you.”
“Love you,” she parroted politely as Peter handed the receiver to Caroline.
“Hi Dee, it’s me now!”
As Peter went to his bag for a change of clothes, he decided: once they got back home, he and Caroline would cover for Jack and give Dee the best birthday treats they could give her in these circumstances.
They would all certainly need the distraction.
12:28pm - Somewhere in Nevada
He had to admit, it was really calming to be back in his home state. He was only maybe halfway through it, and Reno was on the western-most border of the state opposite where they came from, and he was still far from any particularly recognizable roads or neighborhoods yet… but he was starting to recognize the local feel. And it felt good.
He glanced at his ungracefully sleeping wife with her mouth hanging open, slightly snoring against the car window…(falling in love with her all over again). She had fallen asleep shortly after entering Nevada.
It was only fair that she got her extra sleep in too. …Actually, now that he thought back on it, Caroline had already been wide awake herself and had prepared a lot of stuff for them to leave quickly before Peter had even woken up himself. Sure she let him sleep in a bit past their intended wake-up time at her discretion, but…
Well, she had a tendency to overwork herself up late at night, and he was starting to think she pulled another all nighter.
Peter chuckled satirically at himself for thinking he wouldn’t sleep a wink tonight when he’d fallen asleep like a baby without so much as a thought for how his wife was feeling through all this. Of course, she swore she was fine and acted like it too whenever Peter tried to reciprocate her concern for him, but that was no excuse for him to be so self-absorbed.
Idiot.
Well, either way, he was going to extend her the same favor and let her sleep in as much as possible until they got there.
He guessed it’d probably be just two or three hours left now.
…
…He was ready now. To be even half as strong as they’d been, to really be there for them; not just for Dee, but Caroline too.
...That's right, today is still another day. They can do this.
24 hours ago
12:28pm - June 23 - Reno, Nevada - 8 minutes after the incident
One man joined the other into the dark, blood-smelling room. But as his eyes quickly adjusted to the dim lighting...
…“Henry, why did you take two!? We only have one—”
“We only planned for one, yes.”
“But isn't he an adult—!?”
“—One must know how to work with unforeseen circumstances, Willy. This is hardly a problem. In fact, it may well be a new opportunity for us…”
“How so…?”
“You should be excited. We’ll be putting your little passion project to some use sooner than expected.”
William’s stomach twisted. He didn’t know why such an exciting prospect was also mixed with dread now that it was finally happening. Maybe he just never really planned for it to have a soul.