Anxious Jeopardies

Chapter Nineteen

He waited for a day.

Then a week.

After a month, it became clear that Ana was never planning to return. Jake wished, of course, that they had left each other on better terms. He didn't know if something had happened to her or if she left because she was scared of the commitment. He supposed it didn't really matter. She was gone. She'd taken everything with her, too, which confirmed that she wasn't planning to come back.

Sophie was devastated at first. She asked constantly when Ana was coming home. It took Jake too long to be able to verbalize his fears. "She's not coming back, sweetheart. I'm sorry."

It was an abrupt finish to an abrupt story.

Sometimes he dreamed about her. He knew subconsciously she would never return. It made the mourning period easier. 

The door opened at two in the morning. He thought it was another dream until Ana came in, drenched, wearing a trench coat. She shut the door as quietly as she could and looked down at Jake. Her face fell. She hadn't wanted him to miss her.

She stepped back, wondering where Sophie was, and then went into her room only to find the sleeping girl. When she turned around to exit, Jake was standing in the doorway. He didn't talk to her, he just grabbed her arm and dragged her into the kitchen.

"Where the fuck were you? Do you know how fucking worried I was? You could have told me something! Even Derek came up here to see where you were. I understand that you need time alone and I get that you don't have to tell me everything, but you were gone for at least eighteen hours with nothing! And your weapons were gone. You can't just disappear leaving me thinking you're out there getting yourself killed! I don't mind if you want to keep working. I just want to know you're safe. I wish you would've told me."

She stood in front of him looking down, obviously ashamed. "I'm so sorry, Jake. I needed to get out and I didn't want you to worry," she whispered coarsely.

"I worried more not knowing where you were than I would have otherwise. I know you can protect yourself. I know you can fight and defend and I know you're smart." She didn't respond. Her eyes never left the drips coming off of her and splattering on the floor. "It's hard to lose things you care about, Ana. It always is. Just... Can you please fucking tell me next time?"

Jake turned around and walked pointedly out of the room, slamming the door to his bedroom. Ana collapsed in the kitchen, consumed in her own self-doubt. Her new bruises hurt and after the adrenaline rush that day, she lacked the energy to get up. She fell asleep there.

This was the first of many disappearing acts she pulled. He never knew how long she would stay. Eventually, for Sophia's sake, he managed to break it off himself. The relationship wasn't healthy anymore. Ana cried, which he knew was a rare phenomenon. 

When he heard of her death a decade later, it did not surprise him that she had been shot while on duty somewhere. Sophia was more upset about it than he was; he had moved on and married by that point. Sophia still remembered the strong woman who took care of her more times than she could count. 

It was time to be finished. The story had run its course, no matter how unsatisfying the ending may have been.