s e v e n

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FOUR A.M. was not a time to be awake. Alex and Eli had fallen asleep long before the clock even struck 1, while Jamie was stuck staring at the little red numbers changing.

Fed up with her tossing and turning, Eli mumbles from his bed, "J, go the fuck to sleep already."

"Don't you think I'm trying?" she bites back, picking up her phone and walking into the hallway.

Dialing the first number she thinks of, it rings for a few moments, before a groggy Amber answers. "Hello?"

"Hey, were you asleep?" she nervously bites her lip, leaning against the wall.

"Trying and failing. Why?"

"Well, are you down for a late-night shake run? I can't sleep, and apparently, I'm disturbing the prodigal son," she rolls her eyes. "I would bother my dad but he's in detective mode."

"I'll be there in 20," Amber smirks, seeing this as a perfect opportunity.

"Great, let me know when you're downstairs," the brunette grins, quietly walking back into the room, careful not to disturb her siblings.

Ten minutes later, Amber arrives, smiling as Jamie gets in the car. "Nice PJs."

"Shut up."

"No, really, you really rock the messy chic look," she winks.

"Drive," she chuckles, glad to get a bit of a distraction from the events.

"As you wish," she pulls out of the lot rather quickly, driving down the road towards Shake Shack.

Meanwhile, Ross really was in detective mode, currently looking over the facts of the case that he'd gotten from the kids and what little information he could pry from Judy.

He knew someone attacked Tara's sister Sam right after Vince was found dead, which had to mean there were two killers, and quite honestly, he was shocked Judy hadn't come to that conclusion herself.

"Why did he call Alex and only Alex?" Ross narrows his eyes, reaching to pour more ice into his cup, only to see the bin empty. "Tara Carpenter's parents went to high school with Jen, Vince's mom was her ex-best friend. What's the motive?"

With a sigh, he walks down the hall to the ice machine, wishing to be in and out, when his phone starts vibrating in his pocket.

"Hello?" he immediately gets put on high alert, checking the halls for danger.

"The infamous Ross Hoss," the sinister voice chuckles from the other side.

"This is he. To whom do I owe the pleasure?" he rolls his eyes, walking back towards the room.

"Must be hard being here, right? All these reminders of your dead wife and soon-to-be-dead kids. You must be so worried about your sweet little babies."

"Touch my kids and I'll kill you."

"Not if I get you first. Let's face it, bud. You are not 19 anymore, I could take you out in seconds," Ghostface laughs.

"You'd be surprised what I can do for my family."

"How sweet. Too bad you couldn't save poor Jen. Jamie looks just like her, but clearly she didn't get her brains. Always going off alone, making it so easy to end it all for her."

Angrily, he reaches for his gun, walking towards the kids' room. However, before he can begin to check, a figure tackles him to the ground, coming out of the closet.

Truthfully, he was not in the shape for this fight, with a set of lungs at half capacity from Jill's attack and age wearing at his once agile body.

Punching the killer, he grabs the gun, shooting them in the chest but not before he gets a stab at his thigh, bringing him to the ground and knocking the gun under the desk.

Hearing the shot, Eli and Alex wake up, both concerned about the fact that Jamie was nowhere to be found and that a gunshot was coming from the direction of their dad's room.

They run over, Eli knocking the door down to see Ghostface menacingly holding a knife up at their father.

Immediately, he and Alex grab a makeshift weapon, his being a fire poker next to the fireplace and hers being a vase of flowers.

Alex knocks it over his head, and Eli hits him as hard as possible in the back with the metal, helping their dad up as soon as the killer goes unconscious.

"You gotta..." Ross winces, pointing to the gun. "You gotta shoot him in the head."

"Dad, there's no time, we need to get out of here," Alex shakes her head, dialing 911.

The killer then grabs her leg, tackling her to the ground. She pushes her hands out before she can hit her head, but before she can correct her footing, the killer grabs her.

She lands on her back as Eli runs over to the desk, reaching for the weapon frantically as he watches the killer and her begin to wrestle on the ground, making it hard to tell where to shoot.

Her eyes widen as the killer lifts the knife, prompting Eli to shoot the gun near his head, too afraid to hit his sister, and instead hits the wall.

This spooks the killer just enough to get him to scurry out of the room, leaving them to deal with the mess.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Screw this, we'll get there quicker in the car," Eli grabs the keys on the counter, helping his dad walk out of the room and towards the elevator.

"My dad was stabbed, it was Ghostface. We're driving to the hospital now, but he got away."

"Stabbed where?"

"His thigh. He's fine, but the attack occurred in Room 097 at the Hilton Hotel."

"And you don't need emergency services?"

"No, we're driving him to the hospital now."

"Okay, we'll send officers to check it out, okay? Thank you for calling," the operator ends the call, while Alex goes to grab her own phone and ID from the room.

As she moves Jamie's jacket off the chair to grab her purse, she sees a little baggy fall out, nearly sending her into a conniption.

"Alex, come on!" Eli shouts from the elevator.

"I'm coming!" she yells, putting it in her pocket and mentally preparing for the conversation she'd be having when she sees Jamie.

Wherever she was.

____

If you asked her, she was doing just fine, laughing in the Shake Shack parking lot with Amber as she slurps a strawberry shake.

"No way you called that guy a hobbit!" Amber gasps.

"He was a dick, and he wouldn't leave Alex alone. You can't be short and a jerk around me, it's insulting," Jamie says in mock annoyance.

"Right, how dare he," Amber chuckles, offering her a hit of the weed pen in her hands. "Want?"

"Nah, I'm alright," she hesitantly shakes her head.

"Jamie Roberts not wanting to get high? I'm shocked," she gasps. "Now that I think about it, you didn't drink at the bar either. Are you feeling sick?"

She even goes so far as to dramatically check her forehead, making Jamie laugh as she pushes her hand away.

"I'm not sick, I just... I may have made a mistake of the highest order and am trying to avoid it again."

"Is that why you and Alex seem so tense around each other?" she feigns concern, touching her thigh. "You can talk to me."

"Ah, so I'm not the only that sees how much she hates me these days? Great," she sadly chuckles.

"What happened?"

"It was a rough day at school. I failed an Econ test, my cheers were all off, and it was a month before the anniversary of our Mom's death, so I was just... all over the place. Sometimes when things get too intense I just take something to numb it all. Get a little drunk, smoke a little weed, it takes the pain away at least for a moment."

Amber nods along, almost amazed at how well she is playing the concerned friend card right now.

"But it wasn't enough so I... I leveled up. Took way more pills than I should've and the next thing I knew, I was in a hospital bed with Alex sobbing in the chair next to me. I'd never seen her so distraught, I mean, you know her, she's practically a robot."

"Yeah, Miss Perfect is tough to crack."

"Yeah. Apparently, she found me in my car at the Home Depot, barely breathing. And now, well, you see how everything I do bothers her. She hates me and I can't blame her."

"She's your sister, she doesn't hate you."

"My mom's sister murdered her."

"Your mom's sister was psychotic."

"I guess. I feel bad, you know. Eli, he tries not to say it but I can tell he's disappointed. My dad definitely is, but I've let him down so many times I think he's given up. And now we might die, so that's fun," she sighs, sniffling. "Sorry. You shouldn't have to deal with my shit. You can just take me back."

"Or you can stay. We can pretend for a few minutes that nothing is going on. That it's just you and me hanging out in the Shake Shack parking lot with the Twilight soundtrack blaring through my shitty car speakers," she suggests, meeting Jamie's eye with a grin.

"I like that idea," Jamie smiles widely. "So what's new with you?"

"Oh nothing, really. You know how Woodsboro is, either it's so boring you could die or well..."

"You actually just might die, yeah."

"I missed you though. I was actually hoping for us to hang out before the whole Ghostface thing."

"Isn't that what we're doing now?" she raises an eyebrow, subconsciously moving closer.

"Kinda. I was thinking something more along the lines of this," Amber grins, pulling her in for a soft kiss.

"I could be on board with that," Jamie smiles into it, before her bubble gets burst by her sister calling. "Hel-"

"Where the hell did you go?" Alex paces the hallways of the hospital. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm at Shake Shack with Amber, why?" she responds, confused by her tone.

"Dad got stabbed. Get to the hospital as soon as you can," she begins to hang up, but immediately adds, "He's okay."

"Okay," Jamie lets out a relieved breath, ending the call. "I need you to drive me to the hospital."

"Oh my God, why? Is Alex okay?" she gasps, pulling out of the driveway, smiling to herself when Jamie looks away.

"My dad was stabbed, but he's okay," she nods, seeming to need to remind herself of that. "He's okay."

"Come on, your dad's badass, I'm sure he's alright."

"Eli and Alex are gonna kill me."

"Look, just take a few breaths, maybe talk to Tara while you're there. I can stay if you like? I love Alex, but I have no issues telling her to back off."

"No, it's fine, really. Thank you for listening, and everything else aside, I had a good time," she smiles softly.

"Me too. And don't worry, J. I've got your back," she winks.

_____

"Alex!" Jamie runs upstairs after aimlessly walking the halls, trying to find her family.

Alex pulls her into a hug, tears streaming down her face.

"Is he..."

"He's in surgery, the doctor said we're lucky we got here so fast. He was losing so much blood, and it's all over me and-and I-" she rants, hands shaking as she gestures to her now destroyed white sweatpants.

"He's gonna be okay," she clutches her tighter.

"Yeah," she calms herself down, eyes lingering on the hospital bed where her father was.

____

A few hours later, the doctor wheels Ross back into the room, waking Eli up with a start. "He's alright?"

"Your father lost a lot of blood in the attack. The knife hit a few nerves, but because you two got him here so quickly, we were able to keep him stable."

"So is he gonna be okay?"

"Yes, he just needs to take it easy for a while. He should be up soon and if all is well, he should be discharged in 48 hours," she assures, leaving the room as the other two wake up.

"What'd she say?" Alex yawns.

"He's gonna be fine," he smiles.

"Great," Jamie stands, making Alex tap her. "Can we talk for a second?"

"Sure," she lets the two lead her into an empty room, nerves beginning to fill her. "What's up?"

"Where were you?"

"I was out with Amber," she crosses her arms. "I couldn't sleep."

"We agreed not to go off alone," she narrows her eyes.

"I was with someone else."

"That's not the point, J. Something could have happened to you," Eli crosses his arms as well.

"But it didn't! I'm fine and I'm so sick of you two treating me like a criminal. You might as well put a goddamn ankle monitor on me."

"Can you blame us? You don't know when to stop, it's like you forgot that someone is actively trying to murder us. Just like you forgot that pills can kill you, or alcohol is toxic, or whatever else it is that you've decided to do next," Alex shouts.

"Alex," Eli looks at the ground as he sees Jamie sigh in defeat.

"No, Eli. She does this all the time. You think you're the only one who's hurt? She was our mom too, J," she frowns, tears in her eyes. "You don't know how it felt that day and obviously, you don't care."

"I'm not like you two. I can't just... I can't just let it go, or pretend all is well. I can't channel my pain into good, all I have is the hurt. And I am so sorry that I scared you that day, I really am. I go overboard sometimes, I know. But I'm getting better. And I swear I haven't done anything since."

"Then what is this?" Alex holds the bag up, and Jamie shakes her head frantically as she watches Eli's expression turn into indifference.

"No. Guys, I swear. It's old. You see I haven't touched them!"

"Were you going to?"

"No, I swear."

"Then why didn't you throw them out?" Alex sighs.

"Because it's all I have left, and a part of me thought... I might need it."

"You-" Alex starts but trails off, deciding she'd ripped into her character enough for the night.

"Yelling at each other isn't gonna fix anything. Jamie, you need to figure something else out because we can't live our lives if we have to worry that every time you leave our sight, you might end up in a body bag," Eli sternly remarks.

"Newsflash, we're at the center of a murder investigation, so it's too late for that!" she retorts, making Alex roll her eyes.

"Which is why we have to stay together. Amber is cool and all but the only people we can truly trust are in this room," he explains. "So enough with the arguing and the disappearing, alright? We have bigger problems."

She then meets both of their gazes, seeing complete disappointment in Alex's and sadness in Eli's.

"You really weren't gonna take it?" Alex quietly asks, not sure if she even wanted to know the answer.

"No," she shakes her head. "I don't... I don't wanna end up like that. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Alex then looks down at the ground, pulling her back in for a hug with her eyes squeezed shut as the girl sobs into her shoulder. "I'm glad you're safe."

"You too," she holds her tighter.

With that, they go back into Ross's room, patiently waiting for him to come to.

_____
a/n:

kind of an emotional chapter, but that's what happens when you have 3 ocs with more baggage than an airport