Favorable (Jamilton)

40. Jefferson

Thomas paced the floor with Lee at his side. He called Charles there as soon as John left to get Alex.

He figured that if anyone else had a right to be there, it was Charles Lee. Of course, he didn't want to be in a room alone with him so he invited his sisters over. Lafayette and Mulligan would already there, which made it a full house and kind of crowded. They had the news playing on the T.V. that Alex brought in, hoping to get some word in before John got back. 

Thomas would have felt better if John would have told him where the place was in case something went wrong, but all he got to know was that it was a cabin out somewhere so there wouldn't be any signal on his phone and some half-hearted assurance that nothing would go wrong that he couldn't handle. Jefferson would just have to wait for something to come in. 

While he and Charles were pacing, Laf and Herc were listening to the news and the girls were hovering around a phone with a downloadable police scanner buzzing. Thomas counted the steps that he was taking to keep his mind focused on something that wasn't his still-technically-missing boyfriend. As much as he wanted to hope for something good, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was going wrong. Every time he thought about Alex or something to do with the situation, he started his counting over. 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-- what if John got caught? 

Start over. 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8-- they're dead, I know it. 

Start over. 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5-- they'd be back by now. Or we would have heard something. 

Start over. 

1, 2, 3-- something happened.

Start over. 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7-- John lied, he's just going to hide Alex even more. 

Start over.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-- 

"They should have said something by now, why isn't anything happening?"

Thomas didn't realize he'd said anything out loud until Jane answered him. 

"Tommy, come on, we just need to wait. You have to give John time--" 

"Oh, time my ass, I gave him time. This is just bordering the line of building suspense and it's getting on my nerves. The only thing I want to know is whether or not they're alive." Thomas sat down on his bed and within half a second he was back up to pacing with Lee, who was taking nervous glances at the television.

"They?" Jane asked.

"Yeah, they. Sam and Alex. The only two people that really matter right now." 

"Thomas," Mary cut in. "John is goin' in and risking his life to get those two out of there." 

"Yeah, he's the reason Alex is gone in the first place, Mary," Thomas snapped. 

"He's trying to redeem himself!" 

"He wouldn't have to redeem himself if he didn't--" 

"Would you two knock it off!" Herc said, shushing them from Alexander's bed. He motioned to the T.V. where a flaming building was shown. "Something's happening." 

Charles and Thomas both rushed over to the screen, watching closely for a second. They shared a look that they knew meant 'maybe it isn't them', but then they heard the sirens wailing down the street. They bolted out of the room and ran down the stairs, ignoring the shouts coming from the other rooms.