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[ She gives barely a smile. ] Isn't that what something like the Dark Presence would be? An alien.

[ Jesse pauses at the door to the bedroom. She looks back at Alan, a small frown on her face. ] The apartment with your ex-wife?

[ She can already imagine all the problems that would cause. Alan Wake bringing home a younger woman after his vacation. The divorce still finalizing. Her gaze drifts to the side. Her hand clutches at the door handle. She doesn't want to be the center of the attention.

« Maybe its inevitable because he's famous. » ]

We could get our own place somewhere. New. [ She glances at him and opens the door once he's dressed. ] Somewhere with no leftovers memories.

Technically, sure, but the Dark Presence is a real threat. It's not some fictional thing that people say exists; it actually does exist, and it can actually hurt you. No, you're not crazy.

[ She asks about the apartment he once shared with Alice, and he realizes with a jolt that she's right in questioning it. ] ... Yeah. No, you're right, of course. We'll sell the apartment and buy a new one just for the two of us. We can set it up however we want and make it ours.

[ As soon as he's finished getting dressed, he steps over to her and reaches out for her, wanting to hold her hand, or just hold her. Whatever she lets him do. Whatever they have time for, before they need to get going again. ]

[ Jesse nods, understanding the difference in what he means by the term. Alan uses it to mean the fictional little green or gray beings. Not the actual alien from another plane, dimension, whatever they want to call it.

His decision makes her pause. Her expression softens. Somehow, the idea that he'd truly want to live with her is one she is still trying to grasp. The fact he'd be willing to fully close the book on everything with Alice--everything before Bright Falls--and just simply accept walking into a new life with her... ]

Where do you--[ she's cut odd even as she takes his hand. ]

"Al! You better get down here!"

Come on. [ Jesse squeezes his hand and leads him down the stairs. Slowly, as she imagines his headache is roaring with the hangover.

She can see Barry at the window. The moment their feet touch the last step, Jesse freezes. Polaris shimmers around her. A click is heard. Something cool and metallic goes to Alan's head. ]

Hold it right there, James Joyce! This whole thing is your fault and you're going to pay for it!

[ Everything in Jesse's mind screams at her to run away. They found her, they've caught up, they're going to take her away. Lock her up. Try to take away Alan and Polaris. If she runs? They'll take Alan. Barry. But, everything screams at her to let go of his hand and bolt through the front door. Keep running.

Her hand doesn't let go of Alan's even as it begins to shake uncontrollably.

Her eyes dart to Barry, who puts his hands up with another gun to his head. The police department of Bright Falls. ]

[ Alan opens his mouth to answer, but he doesn't get to even start, because Barry interrupts at just that exact moment, and it sounds pretty urgent. When Jesse squeezes his hand, he smiles at her once more and follows her down the stairs, appreciating the slow pace that she takes. He doesn't want to make a big deal about it, but his head does still kind of hurt, thanks to the bad choices he made the previous night.

As they make their way down to rejoin Barry, Alan almost stops to wave at his old friend and call out some kind of banter about how his hangover's doing, but he doesn't get the chance.

The unmistakable cold metal of a gun presses against his head, and of course, that click sound could only belong to one thing. Alan freezes in place, narrowly resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He knows that voice, and he knows only one person would insist on using those annoying nicknames.

He feels Jesse tense up, and looking sideways at her, she looks more than a little panicked. Alan squeezes her hand, but his focus is on how the hell they're going to get out of this situation.

He doesn't move or try to pull away, because that seems like a good way to get a bullet in the head. Instead, he just stands as still as he can, trying not to move, as he starts to talk. ]

Hey, how about we hold off on the fireworks and talk about whatever this is? I get it, it's my fault, whatever's going on here, but Barry and Jesse aren't involved. I dragged them both into this, okay?

[ Green eyes shoot next to her to look at Alan the moment he starts to talk. Something tells her the FBI Agent isn't interested in talking.

That fear still spikes through her. She can't run though. She can't abandon Alan or Barry like she did with Dylan. That can't happen again. She can't be that person anymore. Not if Alan really... ]

Shut up, Dan Brown! It doesn't matter if you "dragged" them in! They're just as involved as you. We're taking all of you in.

[ Jesse firmly places her feet against the ground. She hears the clicking of handcuffs. She tries to control the shaking, but knows she really can't. This whole thing isn't on her terms. It was a surprise.

Another member of the sherrif station comes up and grabs Jesse by the arm. They tug her away before forcing her arms behind her back and cuffing her. Barry protests the whole time about it. Jesse simply stares at the ground and locks herself down. Trying to control her emotions. ]

[ Alan's panicking but trying his best to not let it show. He doesn't want Barry or Jesse getting even more in the crosshairs than they already are, and if something happens to them, it's his fault. If he could somehow get them to run, well, he'd have already done it. ]

Damn it, that's not- [ He cuts off when he hears the sound of handcuffs, but maybe... maybe while they're busy cuffing Jesse and Barry, he can do something desperate and more than a little crazy.

It's hardly a graceful move because it's not supposed to be; it's dangerous and risky, but Alan would rather put himself in the line of fire than either of his friends. He reaches up to try and latch onto something: not the gun, because that would be stupid, but maybe if he can get ahold of Nightingale's arm, it'll be enough to buy them some time. ]

[ Nightingale yells out in frustration. Jesse jumps to the side, startled, but succeeds in pushing over the other agent. She starts to run towards Barry until a gunshot goes off.

It grazes her arm.

Jesse stops in her tracks. Heart pounding in her ears. ]

You better stop making this harder, R.L. Stine! It's just gonna get everyone else hurt.

Then you stop making it harder and let them go! [ Alan glares at Nightingale, suddenly seeing red because of how close the bullet came to hitting Jesse and probably Barry too. ]

If you let them go, you can haul me in or whatever it is you're going to do. Otherwise, I'm not stopping. No way in hell am I going to stop and let you do this.

No can do. They're at the least witnesses, and at the most aiding you in all this crazy shit! I'm giving you one last warning to knock it the fuck off!

[ Jesse glances at Barry who nervously looks between Alan and everyone else at the scene. Then, her gaze moves back to Alan. It's obvious she's terrified of what might happen. What if this crazy FBI agent decides to kill him? She can't really protect him. Polaris can't really protect him. Whatever he's going to do has to be on his own.

Whatever it is. ]

Alan...

Damn it-! [ Alan swears loudly, because he really has no idea what he's supposed to be doing here. Obviously, his focus is on keeping Barry and Jesse safe, because they got dragged into this because of him; the last thing he wants is them getting hurt. He hoped he could buy them some time, and convince Nightingale to let them go, but that obviously didn't work. ]

Okay, okay... say I knock it the fuck off, or whatever. What's your next move? I mean, what are you going to do with us?

[ He does his best to make his tone conciliatory, as if hinting that he's about to just give up and let Nightingale do whatever it is he has in mind. It's a long shot, but if Alan can just make Nightingale think he's giving in, maybe then he can find an opening and seize his chance.

... but his chance to do what, exactly? ]

oceanview (different path) || ❝ turn the page i need to see something new. ❞

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