What's My Age Again?

She wanted to protest, thank him for the kind gesture and thought but claim she had a duty to the survivors in getting food to them. However, she knew Jake’s reputation, and while she hadn’t interacted too much with Jake, she knew he would probably throw her over his shoulder for a dance. 

“Fine, fine. Okay.” Taking off her apron, Lydia placed it on the counter, running a hand through her long brown hair. “I’ll be right back,” the woman told her fellow worker as she walked next to Jake. “Just one song and then I gotta get back to the kitchen.”

Jake threw his fist in the air as celebration when Lydia finally agreed to stop working for one moment and have some fun with him. He held out his other hand to Lydia for her to take so he could lead her to the makeshift dance floor, which no one (yet) had started to dance on. So far, people lined the edges of the dance floor, as if waiting for someone else to lead the charge. Tonight, Jake and Lydia were gonna get this party started!

Smiling at yet another happy survivor to have their stomach full. When the hunters came with a plethora of dead deer, Lydia knew she was going to have her work cut out for her. Hours in the kitchen after the hunters skinned the deer, Lydia put in the work; watching her fellow survivors around her smiling made it all worth it. 

As she noticed someone else approaching, Lydia began preparing yet another plate. She was halfway done when Jake proposed a dance - causing her to stop mid-scope into her pot of rice. Looking up at him, her arms frozen in air. “Excuse me?” she inquired with a soft chuckle. “Jake, I appreciate the gesture, but my post is right here.”

Of course Lydia wasn’t going to agree to giving up her post immediately. Jake should have known better and perhaps asked someone a little more open to leaving their post early in order to dance the night away. But Jake wasn’t the kind to give up easily and his mind had been made up already. He and Lydia were going to dance one way or another.

With the Mighty Ducks tucked up in bed (or at least they were supposed to be and Jake had suspicions that he may spot one or more them trying to sneak into the party later), Jake was given a rare night off. He could be himself, not Dad, for the next couple of hours and boy was he looking forward to it. Except, his thoughts kept going back to his kids, hoping they were OK. Maybe shaking off the responsibilities of being parents wasn’t as easy as he had thought.

--closed thread with @lydicdonovan​--

While Jake had only been a part of the community for a short time, he felt the drastic change in the atmosphere. People were actually in good moods, making eye contact and even smiling. It was like they were going to be able to forget their troubles for one night and Jake was on board for that. 

———— Heart felt dense within an encumbered chest, descending lower into her frame for reasons she did not comprehend. Time slowed as her gaze transferred from the children to his, eyes meeting in somewhat of a daze. Her feet transferred weight, body shifting in discomfort - it felt as though she was observing a ghost of a life she no longer lived. Each second that passed causing dread to seep deeper into the depths of her soul. He was a stranger traveling the line between two lives - one lived and one presently experienced. A man who danced in different aspects of her mind, consistently bouncing between the memories she cherished and those she yearned to rid herself of. How dare he emerge at this a time, in a world so different than the one she had loved him in? Where she had gifted him her most valuable asset and he had given her nothing but agony to ponder for years to come. She partially blamed this man for the events that tormented her dreams. Had he stayed with her, grown and changed for their relationship’s benefit as she requested, her path would never have crossed with the despicable man who was previously her fiancé. However, she had a grasp on the fact that it was truly her who was to blame for her poor decisions - but at the moment, there was no opportunity to shake such blame from him.

Her feet made their best effort to provide her with an escape - running had always been what she did best. An obstruction rapidly presented itself in the form of a child, referring to her ex-lover as Dad. Dad. The word nestled itself in the cracks of her golden crown - setting forth the notion that Jake had indeed met someone else to love in her place. This thought was not akin to happiness, rather it disturbed her unexpectedly. She had once considered herself the owner of the hope that he would change in her favor. Lacey had pined after the idea that he could cherish her enough to change himself into the man she hungered for. How desperately she had pursued the outcomes she wanted. However, these things never came to fruition. He had always loved himself and the taste of freedom on his tongue more than her. How she craved for time to turn back, so she could prevent herself from providing him with her heart. She could stop him from smiling at her beneath the light under that street lamp among the inky sky, that was the moment she had become weak for him. As these thoughts devoured her clear head, her emotions flashed obviously across her delicate features. The talent of concealing things of emotional nature had never been something she learned. This had once assisted her in her career, but now it only betrayed her. There had once been a longing within her to mother his children, yet someone had clearly taken up such a role already. Perhaps the female was even traveling with him, residing beneath the same roof as she - pride should have overtaken her for he was clearly opening himself to someone else, yet jealousy took its place.

When the child was removed from her path, she felt as though she was unable to move - her feet refusing her orders to take another step. There had been so many things left unsaid, it was as though they were being gifted a second chance at something - even if it was to merely work through the bad blood. Recollections of their past mostly inhabited the joyful section of her head, but there were certain moments she filed into the sadder sections of her brain. It would be wonderful to sort those out, so she could live her life without a chip upon her shoulder.

“Jake, what are you doing here.” It escaped her lips more as a statement than a question, her gaze studying him intently. There didn’t seem to be any malice present on her tongue, as such things had faded long ago. She had left him anyhow, it was her choice to ultimately end their relationship as it seemed to be going nowhere. “I mean… How did you get here?” The question was posed to cover the fact that she already knew why he was there. Water seemed to collect itself within her eyes, as she pulled air through her nose to cover her emotions as best she could.

-*-

Lacey was Jake’s ‘the one who got away’. The one he let slip through his fingers due to his inability to love anyone but himself. She had very nearly gotten through to him and made him realise that there was more to life than his own selfish desires. But her patience worn out before his stubbornness had and so she walked away with her broken heart and Jake carried on like he always did, as if he hadn’t lost anything. 

It took facing the end of the world with the company of a two year old for Jake to finally learn how to love someone other than himself. That two year was the now the very wriggly 7 year old he held in his arms. Through Erin, Jake opened his heart and was able to put someone else’s needs above his own. Because of that, he ended up adopting four more kids, his Mighty Ducks and now, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself if anything happened to any of them. 

There had been times over the last five years when Lacey crossed his mind with thoughts of what might have been. It was useless chasing after what ifs because he assumed he’d never see her again. There was no way for him to make amends of his past behaviour which he now recognised to be extremely shitty. Lacey had deserved so much better than him. 

But here she was, in front of him with tears in her eyes. He wanted to pull her into his arms but he had no right to that or her in any way, shape or form. He was lucky she hadn’t tried to hit him or kick him in the nuts; even if she had done those things, he wouldn’t have blamed her for it. She was not happy to see him.

Erin poked Jake in the cheek. “Hey,” she demanded. “Why’s the pretty lady crying? What did you do?” By now she had figured out it was Jake’s fault Lacey was upset. Erin was a smart kid, smarter than he’d ever be, and despite her limited education she was able to pick up on emotional cues that most other people missed. 

Jake ignored Erin’s queries because he was too busy trying to figure out how to explain himself, and by extension the Mighty Ducks, to Lacey. Everything he had come up with so far sounded more and more ridiculous in his own mind. But Lacey had asked the question and she deserved the truth.

“So we started in Vancouver-” oh Jeez, he was going to try and tell her everything all at once “-and by we, I mean me and Erin here. I’m not actually her Dad. Well, I am but not biologically.”

“He found me!” Erin interjected.

“Right, thanks. We travelled down from Canada and then across the US and then we found Cody-” Jake motioned behind him at the older boy who was currently holding his younger brother and spinning around as fast as he could. “Cody, put Leo down before you both get hurt! Anyway, we found Cody, then we found Cass, Leo and Willow. And then I have these five kids and kids are hard work and I needed help so we came here because they have a school here. So that’s the short version of how we got here.

When the guy first walked up and started talking, Victor couldn’t help but debate whether this was some sort of prank someone was playing on him. Javi would probably do that, thinking that some person approaching him with an outlandish story or some silly statement might throw a smile onto his face. That he’d find it funny. Which, in fact, Vic kind of did - but he wasn’t convinced it was a prank…and he couldn’t just completely laugh in the guy’s face and blow him off if that were the case…not if he wanted to pretend to be good natured, anyway. 

Still, he snickered a bit before managing to compose himself somewhat. “Hunter Hawk, you say?” His brow furrowed before he looked back to his craft, tucking away the knife a moment later while murmuring to himself. “Dunno why the council would’ve thought that would be a good idea…” His eyes lifted back up at the guy curiously. “Have you even hunted before?” 

There was something about him that made Vic think he probably hadn’t. Perhaps he was just filing a role that needed a little help around these parts. Feeding a whole camp of hungry people wasn’t exactly an easy task, not to mention hunting itself wasn’t all that easy, either. It wasn’t like you were just out there picking up whatever supplies you could find and bringing it back. You weren’t just guarding the group from zombies by arbitrarily shooting at the things that moved. Hunting took patience. It took skill. You had to know the way around the weapon, how to take down the animal with one shot - for the sake of not drawing excessive attention to yourself and for the sake of the animal. And, you had to have the stomach for it. Of everything, Vic felt like this Hawk character might not have that in him. But hey, maybe he’d be surprised by Mr. Jazz Hands. 

With that he got to his feet, brushing off scrap tree bark from his pants. “You any good at learning on your feet?” He gestured vaguely towards the gates, “I was just about to head out on a hunt myself if you’d like to…tag along.” 

-*-

This guy hadn’t given Jake the warmest of reactions but Jake wasn’t going to take any of that to heart. Years of auditions, failures and rejections had hardened his ego in some ways. He knew better than to accept the first or even second impression and to keep going to get the job done to the best of his abilities. As a result, Jake viewed a lot of his interactions with others like auditions; doing whatever it took to achieve the desired outcomes, moulding his personality to fit the needs of others (or what he thought to be the needs of others, he didn’t always get that bit right). It had gotten him this far in life so why stop now?

Learning from this guy’s reaction to him so far, jazz hands and other frivolity was going to be completely unnecessary. Jake was going to have to rely on more subdued use of body language. No song-and-dance numbers, that was for sure.

“I had to feed family before we came here, so yeah I’ve hunted before,” Jake informed Victor. It hadn’t been easy for Jake to adapt to the hunting lifestyle. He was a born-and-bred city boy and meat had always been provided him in neat little containers. It had been a steep learning curve, and he still had much to learn, but he had gotten pretty good at it; good enough to provide for him and his Mighty Ducks. But Victor wasn’t going to know any of that just by looking at him so it made sense that there was a little condensation in the way he asked Jake the question.

the fact that jake cared so much made rebekah smile as he continued his ranting. sure, it was a bit different to have a few more kids in her class - more importantly, it was a little different to have to advise them to not eat the dirt they were using for planting, but hey, kids were kids and rebekah loved teaching all ages. 

if she hadn’t gotten into STEM cell research and virology, childhood education was next on her list. however, due to wanting to please her parents, rebekah took the research route. 

“jake, you’re doing an amazing job raising these kids who aren’t your own. in fact, it is admirable for you to be doing this especially now in this new world; don’t beat yourself too hard,” she confirmed putting a hand on his arm. “besides, a few kids eating dirt is less of a concern for me and nothing i can’t handle. plus, it’ll built their immune systems, no?” her question was more rhetorical and meant to be humorous than anything. “but i’ll tell you what, if you want to be part of the next lesson, you are more than welcome to join if it’ll make you feel better.”

-*-

Jake appreciated Rebekah’s attempts to reassure him. If anyone was going to know about teaching kids the right things, it was going to be a teacher like her. He didn’t know her all that well yet but she seemed like the type to be honest, rather than saying what she thought the other person wanted to hear. If he was going to improve his parenting skills, he needed honest and constructive feedback.

“You sure it won’t be too much of a distraction if I’m there too?” He asked. He was sure Cody and Cass would be able to fully focus on their lessons regardless if he was there or not but the younger three may be too easily distracted. “I don’t wanna disrupt the other kids’ learning time either.” He let out another long sigh. “Plus the council made it abundantly clear that I can’t miss any of my hunting shifts so the class might clash with that.” 

———— The world had been ending for years, the remnants of their old society falling to pieces. It was like a waterfall cutting through old ways, forcing those bathing in the water to float into a new order. Lacey had never been one to argue with nature and had adapted where necessary. She was not fond of some of the outcomes of their generation’s disaster. Many of those she had once trusted had been mutilated and warped by corruption since the outbreak. She often wondered if it was possible for anyone to have shifted their ideals in a productive way. Was it impossible for humans in possession of kind hearts to thrive in a world shrouded in chaos? Such an uncertainty rested in her breast, picking at the hope that survived within her.

Such a day had begun like most others. Lacey without fail, rose with the sun. Her father had always insisted that she was a child of the morning - her hair harbouring tiny shreds of sunlight that travelled through her features - blinding those who looked on too long. She travelled to the stables as per usual, her hair dripping down her shoulders as she worked. The animals required much attention and she was more than willing to give. Being allowed to care for them was rewarding in its own sense - even without the joyous memories, she carried from a childhood of tending to her parents’ ranch.

The silence that coated the barn as she worked was always welcome, as she had grown weary as years went by. Many were curious about her past as they had once considered her a mere piece for their entertainment. Of course, such thoughts had drifted as people became aware of her personality - yet there were many invasive inquiries she had no desire to confront. The white walls in their makeshift enclosure could occasionally feel suffocating, but they were mostly a source of solace.

The voice of a small child cut through the silence she was bathing in like thunder, the chickens she was feeding scattering across the room. Her wide eyes settled on a young girl, the other children following in tow, placing their hands all over the animals as though they were toys. “You should be careful, here let me show you how to hold them.” She offered, bending over and picking up a chicken with proper form and placing it in the younger ones hands.

When she rose, her eyes were met with an unexpected sight that caused her to reel back slightly. There were often surprises in their new world order. People came and went, changed and shifted, died and survived in ways she could have never foreseen. But this man before her, was the last thing she had anticipated - especially seeing as it seemed he was the caretaker of a group of young children. “J-Jake?” The name lingered on her tongue, a slight blush crossing her flushed cheeks as she stuttered at the mention of his name.

The children’s comments on her appearance were a welcome distraction, her attention transferring to them for a split second. “You’re very pretty too, thank you.” After responding to the compliment, she found her attention returning to someone who had ripped her heart from her chest years before. “I-I don’t know what to say.” She admitted, her hands moving quickly to gather her belongings. “Perhaps I should just go.”

.

-*-

“You hear that? The pretty lady said I’m pretty,” Erin squealed with delight. 

“I’ve told you that a million times,” Jake said, wincing as Lacey started to walk away and as Erin started to climb down from his back by going over his shoulder and practically crawled down his front, complete with a brief kick to the face from Erin as she went. 

“You don’t count since you’re my Dad-Duck,” Erin explained as she landed on the ground. “You have to tell me nice things.” 

Before Jake realised what she was up to, Erin dashed off to put herself in Lacey’s path. The small child grinned up at Lacey and Jake could see the all-too-familiar glint of mischief in Erin’s eyes. 

“Cody, Cass?” Jake called back to the older two of his kids. “Make sure Leo and Willow don’t harass the animals, OK?” Leo and Willow voiced their protests but Cody and Cass did their best to control their younger siblings and save the animals from being bothered too much. Jake could trust those kids to behave while he reigned in Erin and let Lacey get away.

Did it sting that Lacey’s first instinct after seeing him again was to run away? Yeah, it sure did, but he couldn’t really blame her. It wasn’t like the last time they had seen each other had gone all that smoothly. Even though it was more than five years later, Jake still didn’t have the vocabulary to apologise properly for his past behaviour but he did recognise that he didn’t deserve a warm welcome from Lacey.

“How do you know my Dad?” Erin asked Lacey. “Do you know him from the before-times?”

Jesus, how was Jake going to explain this to Lacey? One of the many things they used to argue about was his utter disdain of settling down and starting a family. Back then he had claimed he’d never be a father. Now here he was with five kids in tow, all of which called him ‘Dad’. He wasn’t their biological father but that didn’t matter to them. Together, they were a family and they were going to stick together through thick and thin. But his current situation was light-years from what he used to be, as Lacey knew him back then.

--closed thread for @ofamiable​--

“CHICKENS!”

Trying to get the Mighty Ducks to unpack their few belongings in their new rooms was proving to be difficult as their rooms overlooked the space outside dedicated to the community’s livestock. All five of the kids were looking out of the window, squealing and pointing at the animals outside.

“Yeah, yeah, chickens,” Jake said as he carried in the last of their bags. “But first, unpacking! We could make it a game. Whoever unpacks their stuff first, wins!” He was trying to make the chore sound fun but he couldn’t compete with the prospect of fussing a bunch of chickens, apparently.

“CHICKENS!” “I want to play with them!” “Can we go talk to the chickens?” “Do they know English?” “No, they only talk in chicken!” 

The Mighty Ducks all spoke over one another and somehow Jake was able to distinguish which one said what. Their excited jabbering meant no matter how fun he made unpacking, he wasn’t going to get anywhere until the Ducks met the chickens.

Not even five minutes later, Jake had accompanied the Ducks down to the farm to meet the chickens and the other animals. He was giving Erin a piggy-back as they toured around with Jake nagging the other Ducks to keep their voices down so they didn’t spook the animals. He noticed one of the livestock handlers was close by and thought he should probably go say hi, sorry my kids are running rampant around your farm, i promise they aren’t always like this as they do sleep sometimes. 

“Promise to be nice?” Jake asked Erin as he started to walk over to the handler. “I’m always nice,” Erin snapped which she punctuate by blowing a raspberry in his ear. Jake laughed but his laughter stopped when he realised who the handler was. A ghost from his past who wasn’t actually a ghost. She was very real and very much now stood in front of him.

--closed thread for @rdcnvcrs​--

It had been the Mighty Ducks’ first day in school and already Jake had been called into a parent-teacher conference. Actually, it had been Jake who had called the conference but only because he was trying to anticipate one being called. His five kids hadn’t experienced school like this before. Now he was expecting them to comply to a structure utterly alien to them. Of course there was going to be teething problems; teething problems that involved the kids eating and rolling in dirt. In the words of the ever-wise Charlie Brown, good grief!

There was a strength in numbers. That was a simple fact. Two could do more than one. Three more than two. So on, so forth. So naturally, there were advantages in standing with a group of survivors rather than battling against the world on your own.

Vic knew all these things, but that didn’t mean he liked any of it. He didn’t like the stifling walls of the hospital, white washed and still faintly scented with sterilizers and death. He didn’t like the people around every corner, asking questions, poking around in his business, taking his spoils. Fucking sharing all his hard work? Fuck that.

But he played his part. He brought back his game. He shared supplies. He continued to survive.  What other choices did he really have? There was strength in numbers. 

He sat on a rusted out bench that had once probably served family of loved ones in the hospital in another world. Would he rather be sitting on this bench processing the loss of his father in a past life, or worried about monsters lurking behind his shoulders? It was a toss up - neither was really desirable. 

He ran the blade of his knife along the edge of a stake, peeling back scraps of wood with each stroke and sharpening up the tip absently. A crude weapon, sure, but it’d be sure to serve it’s purpose if it were needed in a pinch. The approaching footsteps drew his attention, eyes raising only momentarily towards the visitor. Well, at least they weren’t one of them. The infected. The walking dead. Dead…ish, anyway. 

“What do you want?” @tfh-starters​

-*-

Jake had shown up at the entrance of the hospital with five kids in tow. He was already aware that he was going to have to pull his weight if this place was going to accept the kids into the community. He had prepared himself to do whatever it took to support the kids and get them the stability they desperately needed. Not that the kids knew that was what they needed but Jake had to refer to the bigger picture and do what was necessary.

According to the Council who ran the Hospital, what was necessary was Jake joining the other hunters and bringing in resources for the community to survive off of. Jake considered this to be fair, because his Mighty Ducks were always hungry. It made sense that he should help keep the amounts of available food as high as possible if his kids were around to eat whatever was available.

So once he was clear of quarantine and once the kids were (sort of) behaving themselves in their new classes, he went in search of the other hunters to find out what was what.

The hunter he found was Victor, who didn’t appear entirely happy to see him.

𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑      @tfh-starters​.

                              𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐇 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 for the good portion of the last hour. It’s exactly what happened when she had a nightmare. Well, not a nightmare, per se, more like the same scene replaying over and over. The one memory that wouldn’t let go of her. She was thankful that Claire didn’t get to see her father looking like that, but it still haunted her, his cannibalistic ways leaning over their oldest daughter. She would always wake up in a sweat and while Claire stirred a bit beside her, she didn’t wake up.

          𝐒𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 away from the comfort that was her daughter’s small arm around her, she tucked the stuffed bunny closer so she could have something to hold onto and not let go. All those months she still slept with her little hand gripping Hannah’s pajamas.

          𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐇 reached for the robe to wrap herself with and her feet into the slippers and made her way down the dark halls of the hospital, greeting some people who were still awake while making her way to the kitchen. There were hours for meals, but she needed some comfort food, because comfort booze had not been an option for a long time, she had never been the one to drink much anyway.

          ❛ 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 are you? Where are you? ❜ she spoke to herself while she reached on the cabinets. She knew that some colorful food had been brought in. Cereal, candy bars, things that  gave them a taste of what it used to be like and Hannah had been thinking about the Cocoa Puffs ever since one of the kitchen staff had said the hunters managed to find.. A low aha! came out of her lips and she reached for the cereal box, reaching then for a bowl and settling on one of the counters with crossed legs underneath her once the milk and the cereal was in it. 

          𝐈𝐓 didn’t take long for her to be joined, but she didn’t try to hide what she was doing, she just offered a sheepish smile. ❛ I really want to beg you not to tell on me? There is enough Cocoa Puffs and I promise I wont have my share tomorrow. ❜

-*-

You’d think having access to an actual bed would mean actual sleep. Like actual, good quality sleep that would lead to waking up feeling refreshed and energised for a new day. And yet, Jake had yet to sleep a full night since him and his Mighty Ducks had arrived at Crescent Hospital, which was just over a week ago.

Him and the kids had passed the necessary quarantine time and they had been given their own rooms. Jake had his own room while the kids had two rooms to share between them. So far, apart from the occasional nightmare, the kids slept soundly in their new, comfortable beds, as if they didn’t have any cares in the world. Which is what they were supposed to do, Jake knew that. And he was so pleased that they could sleep through the night here. But he still worried. A lot.

So it was the middle of the night and he couldn’t sleep. To him, there was only one option and that was eating. Booze wasn’t available and even if it was, it wouldn’t be a good idea since the kids didn’t know what hangovers were and wouldn’t care. Comfort eating it was! Apparently he wasn’t the only one with the same idea.

Ages are as of February 2025 which is when Jake and his Mighty Ducks arrived at Crescent Hospital.

Cody (male): 14

First met Jake in 2023 in close to Austin, Texas.

Skills: {more detail to follow}

Traits: {more detail to follow}  

Cassandra (female): 12

First met Jake in 2024 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Biological sister of Leo and Willow.

Skills: {more detail to follow}

Traits: {more detail to follow} 

Leo (male): 10

First met Jake in 2024 in Little Rock, Arkansas. 

Biological brother of Cassandra and Willow.

Skills: {more detail to follow}

Traits: {more detail to follow} 

Willow (female): 8

First met Jake in 2024 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Biological sister of Cassandra and Leo.

Skills: {more detail to follow}

Traits: {more detail to follow} 

Erin (female): 7

First met Jake in 2020 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Skills: {more detail to follow}