Chapter Text
Rachel pushed her heel back into her shoe as she steadied herself out of the pick up truck. Looking ahead, she saw the City Hall sign. She leaned against the truck, looking around the street, lined with county vans and parking meters.
She vaguely recalled passing this building, when a fresh blanket of snow had draped the roads and steps leading in. Now seeing it again in the hazy spell of August, she felt nothing had changed.
It had been over two decades and she had hoped to never be in this town again. After the first wedding-less years she started to carve out her life. There was no playbook to being the Witness. She settled into a routine in a small town in Pennsylvania. She was able to ask questions out loud in a quiet dark room, knowing that the cold blackness had no answer. No one heard her questions, there was no connection to anyone, or anything concrete.
Until three months ago. She felt a pull. It felt innate, almost ingrained in her.
Be at the city hall on August 19th. Be there by 1.
There was no one left of her family. She waited for years for another Cunningham to dare to make their marriage vows. She had no idea who was all left, but she knew as she felt the magnetic pull, that it was for Jude . The haunted child who survived the worst of the hauntings. The last time she saw him, he had embraced her with a self-seriousness that she knew would linger. She understood he would carry this curse in his heart, and would wait in solemn fear until he saw her again on his wedding day. She knew he wouldn't have a wedding day unless he was certain.
But then again she had been certain.
She began to walk towards the steps, when the front door opened and she saw a familiar face, pale, with a blank expression.
His eyes locked with hers, the same dark, impassive eyes that laid into her when they met in the kitchen all those years ago. He drank her in and she watched his brow furrow and soften before he nodded, and walked down the steps to her.
“ I expected you would come for this.”
Nothing in twenty-two years had changed. It was in Jules’ demeanor to sound accusatory for such a basic statement, with those dark eyes examining her. A slight smirk showed he wanted to greet her peacefully, reaching out an arm and pulling her in close.
As Rachel moved toward his one arm embrace, she took him in. His hair was shorter and thin, with specks of grey fluttering throughout the crown of his head. Soft lines edged around his eyes, and mouth.Pulling them apart, she sighed.
“So how have you been?” she asked a smile on her lips, knowing how loaded the question was.
Jules grunted quietly, before gesturing to a nearby bench to sit down.
“I don’t think we have time to go into everything. But the main bullet point is my son is here to get married, and I think you understand how scary this is. Even if he says she’s the one.”
Rachel found herself reaching for Jules’ hand. She traced through his knuckles before giving him a small squeeze. They sat for a few beats of silence before she spoke again.
“Where is Jude? All I know is I’m meant to be here by 1pm. I wanted to talk to him.”
“He wanted to come together with Emilie and her mother. They’re supposed to pick up Nell too.” Rachel raised her eyebrows, and gave Jules a knowing smile that he shrugged off.
“ Yeah Nell and I are together still, she’s stuck with me really. I know she is curious to see you.”
“And so here I am. “ Rachel answered wryly. Jules smirked again, but his smile didn't reach his eyes.
“Nicky is supposed to be coming too.” he said quietly, mumbling the ending syllables. Rachel scoffed and looked at Jules.
“Nicky and I, we don’t really talk or get together. Jude insisted that I invite him because after his mother died last year, he has no other family besides Nell and I.”
“What about your dad?” Rachel asked
Jules sighed, dropping his eyes,and shaking his head.
“Dad killed himself that night.I don’t think he could have lived knowing that my mother didn't believe she was his soulmate.” Jules said bitterly.
He looked back up at Rachel and continued “I think that realization would have killed him.”
“I’m sorry Jules. For all of it. I wanted to stay out of the way, and hoped this day wouldn't come. It’s been years, and I haven’t been summoned to witness before. Until now.”
“Until now.” Jules repeated. “Until my boy.”
“I’m scared Rachel.” He whispered, a slight tremble to his voice. “He’s my son, and I’ve begged him not to do this. We searched for you, Nell and I. We saw your body was gone when we left the next morning, and we hoped that meant you knew something.
Rachel shook her head “No it meant I neede to get away from everyone, especially you Cunningham men. “
“Is there something to get us through the next step. I don't think Jude is up for cutting his toe off.“
Rachel shook her head again sadly.
“It’s too late. This-” she gestured to herself and to the building “This is the next step. Showing up to witness a wedding. The only thing I can do is convince others that it’s about faith in the fact that they are your soulmate. There was never any magic in it. There was no fate in it. Just faith”
Jules looked at her, cocking his head, taking in the word “faith” before he nodded.
“I think that’s it. I think it was always just about putting your faith in something and just trusting that. That’s why I’m here today. And you probably don't want to hear this, but it’s why Nicky is still here too. It why he started telling everyone he could about the curse.”
Rachel breathed deeply before answering.
“Nicky survived because the curse wasn’t real to him. In his mind, he proposed, I accepted, and we were getting married because that’s what he wanted. For him, everything would fall into place. He only put on faith that everything was going to work out for him, because everything always did”
“ I warned your brother, and told him we had to trust each other, how to take this leap together because it was faith in each other, and not fate. He could never believe me. He never saw me, and what it meant to actually put his faith in what I believed in. “ Rachel continued.
There was no anger in her voice. She was stating her truth. She had given it her all to believe, but Nicky had shown his true colors, and the realization he could never understand her fully, whether it was belief about curses, or not had sunk her.
A red SVU rounded a corner, parking a few spaces away from the old pick up. Jules stood up and took a few steps forward. .
“Here they are.”
The engine cut off, and Jules stood motionless, not ready to greet his wife and son, knowing there was one important thing to say..
“I need to apologize to you.” Jules said quietly, his back still turned to Rachel.
“ What do you mean? I heard you in those last horrible moments you did. Besides it was beyond you, beyond Nellie, beyond any of us by then” Rachel answered. Jules turned and softened his gaze.
“No.I need to apologize for letting you die out there alone. I…we let you go outside alone. Someone should have been with you.”
Rachel closed her eyes. Memories of her blood on her hands and on that borrowed gown flooded her mind. She could remember the warm rush as it engulfed her lying in snow, waiting for the inevitable. She knew she was alone, just as she had always been alone. She remembered walking away in resignation that she had landed here despite her efforts. She heard Jules moving, and opened her eyes to see him staring at her.
“I was there when you were born, I should have been there when you died. It’s the only way I could make it up to your mother.” he whispered.
Tears clouded Rachel’s eyes. A small release left from her chest. It was recognition that she was alone, but there was someone who cared that she was alone.. A someone that did not really know her, but deeply understood her
They both turned to face Nell coming out of the car. Her eyes met with recognition when she saw Rachel, a faint smile creeping to her cheeks.
“I always knew she was the one,” Jules muttered. “I knew she was my destiny.” He reached out his hand, and together they walked greet the next Cunningham man.