In Town

"I love you too, let's go curl up then. Want me to build a fire?"

I was walking through the village, checking on everything, when I ran into Charles. "Whoa, hold up man. What's wrong?"

I told him what Aurora had found "It's not true, Jack. I don't believe that they're gone, it's been awhile I know that. But anything could have happened but they all think the worst."

"It's hard not to, with something like that staring them in the face. And with Darlene being pregnant.... It's been awhile since I've been around a pregnant woman but if my memory stands they're rarely rational." I sighed. "What do you want to do?"

"Nothing. I'll wait for him to come home." I said "I can't go looking for him this time and take the risk. Not with Darlene pregnant, not to mention Elena and Timber too."

"And what if he doesn't come home?" He looked at me and I held my hand up. "I'm not saying I believe it, I'm just saying... it has been a long time since they've been gone."

"Then I'll just keep waiting won't I? I don't care how long it takes. I'd wait forever for those boys."

"I know. I know you would." I sighed. "You want a drink? You look like you could use one. Or a few."

"Yes, I'd give anything to be drunk right now."

I patted his back. "Come on. We can drink at the Mess Hall, no one's there. I don't think Erica would appreciate it if we got drunk at my home."

"Probably not, lead the way." I said and followed him to the mess hall. We filled ours cups with homemade moonshine "This is going to burn all the way down. I'm fairly excited."

I chuckled. "Yeah the men around here like it strong. Drink up. Forget about everything else tonight. I'll make sure you get home later," I said and took a drink.

"Thank you, Jack." I said and took a deep drink. It burnt my throat but felt good. An old memory came rushing in and I remembered that time the boys had gotten into some of my good stuff. The really, really good stuff. They were sick and hung over for two days straight.

"You're welcome," I said and took another drink. "You know, it helps sometimes to talk about it. You don't have to worry about being strong in front of me. I won't tell anyone and ruin your rep," I teased.

"I should have brought my boys out here after Susan was killed."

"You couldn't have known Charles. You never could've known. Don't blame yourself for this, it wasn't your fault."

"It's hard not to blame myself, because things could have been so different. I was a fool back then and still am now."

"You're not a fool Charles, why would you say that? Look... there's nothing I can say to make this better. Nothing I can say that will... bring him back. But if you'd left all those years ago... he wouldn't have found Timber, you wouldn't be expecting two grandchildren. He talked to me about her. He talked a lot about her. About how much he loved her, even though a lot of people didn't take too kindly to her. Said she was the best thing that ever happened to him. And now she's pregnant with his kid. He's not gone... not really. Just think, if she has a boy, or Elena does, there'll be a little mini-Asher running around, probably act just like him too," I said and smiled a little.

"That's true. God, he was always into everything. I couldn't have paid him to stay out of trouble." I took another drink "I was baffled by his relationship with Timber at first but you can't help who you love."

I chuckled. "I remember. I visited more than a few times where Susan would be scolding him over this or that." I refilled our glasses and took a drink. "And yeah, you can't help who you love. From what I understand quite a few people were more than baffled. The oldest Jacobs boy with that bastard Keeper's daughter. Quite the scandal huh. Course he always did like drama. And pissing off the Capitol," I said and laughed.

"God, I know it. Ethan is a lot like Susan and Mason is more sneaky about what he does, but he's never had me fooled." I sighed "I'll have to apologize later, I treated them badly earlier."

"You were hurting, it's understandable. I'm more than sure they won't be mad at you. How's Darlene doing?"

"Oh she's...highly upset with me right now."

"Oh boy. What happened?"

"I was an asshole. I treated her and the kids like shit, trashed the house...I really had myself a Jacobs fit. It's been awhile since that happened."