It's still dark and Jake is sleeping like the dead but Sam can't, this cramped little room some local was kind enough to offer them shelter and food in, some sort of resistance person or something he guesses, cautions about never venturing out in the daylight being about the only language barrier that got across. They're in some sort of border land here, exactly which border he isn't sure, just knows the curse of him and Jake is the only one strong enough to land two gay brothers in love with each other in the worst possible situation without fail.
He had seemed like a kind man, he looked to be in his sixties but with the weariness of a person who has been at war and in wars too long, something both brothers were now beginning to understand. The man had shown them to this underground cave of a room. What his intentions were beyond that was unclear, though Sam didn't feel threatened by him at all, the man looked to be about the least likely to want a fight from anyone at this point, the sort of man who jumps at a knock on a door and keeps his life and what little is left of his dreams buried in a cloth in a hole and maybe looks at them when it's dark and not a soul is left to see him with that last spark in his hands.
He flips on the telly, quick to turn it down before it wakes Jake. Though at this point he doubts a mortar shell on top of them would wake the boy up. Jake looks like he's aged five years in the past few weeks and this just makes Sam feel so sad. He brushes his hair which gets a grunt in the boys sleep and a passing smile from a familiar touch.
Only three channels and BBC World is fading in and out, the only one he can understand. Sam lights a cigarette, coughing, fuck these cigarettes are strong, and promptly drops it in his lap because he's looking at a photograph of himself on television.
'What the-' he hisses, and this wakes Jake up, rubbing the sleep out his eyes. Yes, there they are, both their photos, then Jeremi, and then there's the anchor.
'This afternoon, Royal Navy vessels operating in the Mediterranean were fired upon by Libyan gunboats. They returned fire, sinking the Libyan vessels, which has caused an international row. Yet more disturbing is the recovery of wreckage belonging to three boys, two of the British nationals on your screen, believed abducted in France. With the military engagement and now the discovery of this wreckage just off the coast of Libya, both the Royal Navy and French National Navy have begun moving additional resources into the Mediterranean. Already BBC has learned that UK authorities are now investigating a number of unsolved abductions of British nationals aged 15-20 in France, previously believed to be unrelated to one another. The Prime Minister has also taken the extraordinary step of issuing a strong warning to the Libyan government.'
'What the-' says Jake, sitting up now, grabbing his own cigarette.
And then there's something Sam never thought in a million years he'd hear, but just did, there's the Prime Minister saying his name, Jake's name, and he never particularly cared for the man but there's something very comforting about hearing a man with a Navy threatening anyone who tries to hurt you with the full power of that Navy and whatever else it takes.
The story rambles on to mention both Italian and Spanish military forces are joining in the cooperation.
'Oh, god,' mumbles Jake. 'Did we just start world war three?'
But now this could go any number of ways, he knows, cos if it's Libyan cops that find them the last thing they're going to want is for anyone to see them on Libyan soil. Of course there are other sorts operating round here that will simply see them as a fat paycheck. And as for their host...who knew. He didn't seem the type to consort with either of those two and definitely not the sort who wanted any attention. They were just a couple of kilometers from the coast but those had already proven to the longest two kilometers in existence.
'What are we going to do?' asks Sam, cos Jake will know, Jake always knows, right?
And Jake just looks at Sam with a look that says everything, he's worn out from figuring out 'what to do' and probably thinking every time he does figure it out things always go from bad to worse. The boy just lays back and takes a drag of his cigarette, and now Sam hears it, Jake's crying quietly, scared, but at least not alone he needs to let him know. So he just holds him and now he's really crying , curls up into a ball like he just wants to disappear into Sam, and Sam can't tell him it'll be okay cos he's not gonna lie to him, he honestly doesn't know anymore, just hopes that this all comes to an end that means they can stop running forever, yes, that'd be nice, the cottage, just them, Jake smiling at Sam over a bowl of hot oatmeal with extra raisins and sugar on top just like likes...