#foggyjack

A quiet evening falls upon Wellington Wells as Edie and George have dinner. After they finish eating, Edie diligently does the dishes while George gets ready for his night shift. When George is ready, he returns to the kitchen.

"I'll wish you a good night later, take care, and don't go out. See you in the morning. I love you, Kitten," he says, giving her a final kiss before Edie sees him off to the door.

"Take care, my Puppy," Edie replies, closing and locking the door after he leaves. After finishing the dishes, she prepares for bed in the bathroom, putting on her pajamas and brushing her teeth. When she's done, she turns on the bedroom television, and Uncle Jack's Good Night Show begins, with the second episode of Hansel and Gretel playing. She lies down in bed and falls asleep quickly.

George's shift is relatively quiet until he hears something in a dead-end alley. It's a foggy night, making it difficult to see with his flashlight. He grips his nightstick and cautiously enters the alley.

"Hello? Is anyone there? Show yourself!" he calls out, but there's no response. He continues further, scanning the area. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

Suddenly, a rat leaps out from a trash can and runs past George. "Damn vermin!" he exclaims, startled. He retreats to his post and continues his rounds.

A few calm hours pass until he finds himself in the same alley again. This time, he hears something, but he dismisses it, thinking it's another rat. "Not again," he mutters, moving closer and catching a glimpse of a shadowy figure with two red eyes in the fog. He stops, fear creeping in. "Is someone there?"

Naturally, he receives no answer but takes a few more steps. "You'd better not be another rat..." He looks around but finds nothing. Suddenly, a figure appears behind him and laughs.

"I'm afraid you've come to the end of your time." the figure says, startling George. He reaches for his nightstick, but before he can strike, he receives a cut on his arm. "Damn it!" he cries out in pain, dropping his nightstick.

Before George can react, the figure in the fog strikes again, causing George to fall to the ground, screaming. George isn't dead yet; he struggles to defend himself. He manages to grab his nightstick and hits the figure's legs.

Suddenly, the sound of approaching Bobbies can be heard, likely drawn by George's screams. The figure in the fog vanishes as the Bobbies arrive at George's side. They rush to him as he fights for his life, trying to stop the bleeding.

"George! Hang in there, buddy... a doctor will be here soon!" one Bobby says, but George can barely see anymore, mumbling.

"Foggy... Jack... it... was... Foggy... Jack," George stammers before closing his eyes and dying in the arms of the two Bobbies.

Both of them, who tried to keep him alive, remain silent and briefly remove their helmets. "Thank you for your service, George. You were a good comrade."

When the doctor arrives with the third Bobby who fetched him, they pronounce George dead. They take him away and cordon off the alley. The Bobbies continue their night shift.

The Bobby who had spoken with George makes a detour to the Pride residence. He hesitates as he stands before the house, just as the sun rises. He knocks loudly on the door.

Edie is awakened by the knocking and rushes to the door. "ONE MOMENT, PLEASE!" She goes down the stairs, forgetting to put on her Joy mask, and opens the door. She is surprised to see a different Bobby than George.

"Good morning, what can I do for you?" she asks.

The Bobby looks at her with a serious and sad expression. "Miss Pride? I have something to tell you..."

He struggles to deliver the news, knowing how much she loved George. Normally, Bobbies and doctors only say that the deceased are on "holiday."

"I'm sorry to have to tell you, but your husband George passed away during his duty last night..."

Edie can't believe his words, and tears start to flow before she can speak. She hopes it's just a bad dream, but the Bobby's hand on her shoulder makes her realize it's not. She breaks down in tears and collapses into the Bobby's arms. He allows her to cry and comforts her as best he can. It's hard for him not to cry as well, but he tries to remain strong and hands her a Joy. He knows that Edie often forgets to take her Joy, but he doesn't want to burden her with it now.

Several minutes pass, and Edie is still crying in his arms. The television sets in the house turn on, playing Uncle Jack's Good Morning Show.

"Edie... I know this is difficult for you, and I'm here for you. Stay home for now and be with your friends. I'll come back later this afternoon to check on you. George asked me to tell you the truth, even though it's difficult, but I wanted to be the one to tell you. Take care, and George still loves you, and he's always with you," he says before giving her another brief hug.

Edie looks at him with tear-filled eyes and nods. "Thank you... Constable."

With that, she closes the door and collapses to the floor, continuing to cry. She repeats to herself through sobs, "George... I love you... why did this have to happen?"

A few hours pass, and Edie is still sitting on the floor, her tears now dried up. Suddenly, there's a knock at the door. Edie startles and gets up, wiping away her tears. She remembers to put on her Joy mask before answering the door.

She opens it to find a doctor standing there. "Good day, Miss Pride. I must inform you that Mr. Pride is on leave starting today. After such strenuous work, he's earned it."

Edie knows he's lying, and due to her fear of doctors, she only nods slightly. The doctor sniffs lightly and extends his hand with a Joy pill in it. "I think you should take your Joy, Miss."

Edie silently takes the Joy, but this time, it doesn't seem to have any effect. The doctor doesn't notice and bids her farewell.

Edie is puzzled as to why her Joy isn't working anymore. She knows it should make her feel better, but it doesn't. Panic sets in, and she picks up the phone and dials the number of the Bobby who had been with her earlier that morning. A woman answers, but before Edie can say anything, the Bobby picks up the call.

"Edie? Is that you? Should I come over? Can I bring you something?"

"Please come over... I'm not doing well... I..." Before she can finish her sentence, he interrupts.

"Don't worry, I'll be right there. Give me a few minutes; I'm on my way."

He hangs up and rushes over to Edie's house. Edie hangs up as well and sits on the sofa. She starts to panic, wondering why her Joy isn't working. She's grateful that the Bobby told her the truth.

After a while, there was a knock on her door. She got up and opened it; it was Bobby. He entered and closed the door for their safety. He was doing things for Edie that he shouldn't. They both went to the living room and sat on the sofa.

"What happened, Edie?"

"A doctor came... and told me he's going on vacation now. He gave me my Joy, but... it's not working."

"How? It's not working?"

He was confused, not knowing what else to do. "Do you want one of mine? I know they're not for regular use, but maybe it'll help you."

Edie nodded and took the Blackberry Joy he offered. But she showed no reaction either.

"Damn... I think it's not working for you either."

She panicked and didn't know what to do anymore. Bobby held her and tried to calm her.

"It's okay, Edie. No one will betray you to the doctors. You just need to avoid getting caught by them. Try to calm down for now."

Edie nodded slowly. "Yes, but George... he's gone... forever. I don't know what to do without him. He was... he was my everything."

The Bobby nodded. "I and the other Bobbies are here for you. Whatever happens, we'll help you. We're so sorry it happened to him tonight. He was a good person."

"Why? Why him? ...he didn't do anything to anyone... who was it?"

"We think it was Foggy Jack... he mentioned him, and the crime scene looked almost like the others, just not as severe... but we couldn't catch him, let alone save George... I'm sorry, Edie."

Edie remained strong, as she couldn't cry anymore; she simply stayed silent. After a while, she looked at him. "Can you stay here today? I can't be alone..."

Bobby looked at her and nodded. "Of course, I'm off today anyway, and I told my girl I'd let her know if I stay with you. I was prepared for this."

Edie was so grateful and hugged him. She was thankful that he told her the truth and that he was staying with her.

"Thank you... George would be proud of you for doing all this for me."

"I know how important he was to you. He only spoke good things about you. Plus, I heard you're a good cook?" He tried to lighten the mood. "Maybe I'll get something good from you tonight!"

Edie smiled slightly at his words and nodded. "Of course, whatever you want! We just need to go shopping."

He was glad to see Edie smile briefly. "It's on me today! We'll go shopping together, and then you'll cook us something nice."

Edie nodded. Suddenly, the TV turned on, and Jack with Famous Britons came on in the living room. Edie looked at the TV and rushed to turn it off.

Bobby looked at her in surprise. "Why did you turn it off? You love Jack!"

Edie sat back down with him. "I can't handle it right now... that was his favorite show..."

"Oh, I see. How about we go shopping now?" Bobby and Edie spent the rest of the day shopping for the evening and cooking together. The distraction seemed to help Edie a bit. Fortunately, the day passed quickly.

After dinner, they both sat on the sofa and talked when Edie suddenly fell silent and looked at him.

"Do you think we can secretly make a grave for him somewhere? So I at least have something to go to and talk to him?"

He looked at her and nodded. "We can try. We'll find a place for him. Don't worry about it. Try to get some sleep for now, and tomorrow we'll look for a place, okay?"

Edie nodded and got up. She brought a blanket and pillows for him to sleep on the sofa.

"If you need anything else, help yourself. I'll be upstairs... trying to sleep."

"Alright, Edie. Sleep well, and feel free to come to me if you can't sleep, okay?"

Edie nodded and went upstairs. "Goodnight." She turned on the TV in her room, Uncle Jack with Red Riding Hood part 1 was playing. It took her a while to fall asleep, and she didn't sleep through the night. She was plagued by a nightmare and woke up in a panic. She jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to Bobby, waking him up.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22737214/chapters/70950861

Chapter 47

It was still nighttime when the stream of memories finally released him. The house was quiet, only his own breath blustered in his ears. His glass was empty, but his head was full of thoughts. Everthing he had revisited now demanded an appropriate reaction, but Nick had no idea what to do. He only felt a heavy weight on his chest. The night is ruined, he thought, and he felt tempted to silence his misery with another dose of Joy. But he didn't want to make it worse. He had wanted to make it better.

When he left the kitchen and made his way upstairs to his bedroom, he tried not to make a single noise. He wanted to keep the peaceful silence that made his surroundings look invulnerable, as if at least in this precious moment nothing bad could happen. In front of the bedroom door he stopped, listening in awe. Then he fetched a pen and paper from the side room and wrote a message to Morrie, that he shoved through under his door.

Some time later he sneaked through the dark and dank town, that was his second home by now. It still attracted him, even though the person he had been looking for was now sleeping in his bed. Perhaps he hadn't been looking for Morrie, he wondered. Perhaps he had been looking for his sense, his ability to make the right decisions. Or he had been trying to run from himself. He didn't know what he wanted now. He only believed that there was nowhere to run anymore. Instead, walking around aimlessly was exactly what he needed. He knew the routes where he was most likely safe from the patrols and drones. And just in case, he carried a bottle of brandy with him.