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Walt pulled into Johnny’s driveway the next morning holding two coffees and still bouncing in excitement. They were going to have a baby! JJ was going to be a big brother!
He beamed brightly as he turned his car engine off, turning to grab Johnny’s drink as well before he slid out of the car with more energy than he’d had in years. A baby!
In his excitement, it took several seconds for him to realize something was wrong. A car was running.
His smile dimmed as he focused on his surroundings, searching for the reason his instincts were screaming potential danger.
A car was running. Johnny’s car was running. It was parked as close to the front door as possible, idling on the driveway.
Walt frowned at it, subtly loosening the lids on the coffee cups in lieu of his usual weapon, slowly prowling around the running Jeep, examining the windows as he passed.
No one was in the back, but there was one person in the driver’s seat, slumped limply over the steering wheel. Johnny.
Walt threw the coffees to the side with a cursory check of the surrounding scene and ran to the Jeep, ripping the door open.
“Johnny?” he asked, voice cracking as he reached out a shaking hand to search for a pulse.
He found one with a huge sigh of relief, soaking up the feel of Johnny’s warm skin and pumping blood before he moved on to other triaging.
He seemed to be breathing more or less fine, apparently asleep except for the disconcerting lack of snoring.
Walt carefully reached around him and turned the engine off, not wanting Johnny to accidentally throw the Jeep into gear if he woke up flailing.
With that done, he tentatively reached out and gently shook Johnny’s shoulder, confidence bolstered when Johnny moaned slightly.
“John?” he asked. “Johnny?”
He ran light hands over Johnny’s head and neck, searching for bumps or cuts that might indicate a concussion.
When he found nothing wrong, he moved his search down to the limbs and torso, lightly skimming over arms and ribs to check for broken bones, then bending to glance at his friend’s legs.
Nothing. He found nothing wrong.
“Johnny?” he called louder, tapping his cheek.
This time Johnny blinked a few times, brow furrowing in confusion as he let out a noise of protest.
Walt tapped his cheek a few more times, then gently helped Johnny sit up straighter in his seat, noting distantly that the psychic’s seatbelt was still on.
Johnny looked around in confusion, apparently just as bewildered by the situation as Walt.
“Wha’?” Johnny croaked, squinting at Walt in confusion. “W’lt?”
“Yeah, Johnny, it’s me,” Walt said, watching him in concern. His family had dealt with too many scares lately, he really hoped they weren’t about to add something else to the list.
Johnny looked down, befuddled by the steering wheel in front of him and the seatbelt holding him in.
“Why’m I in m’car?” he slurred, giving Walt a puzzled look.
“I was hoping you could tell me that, buddy,” Walt said apprehensively.
Johnny looked around his car, but seemed no closer to finding the answer.
“Alright,” Walt decided. “Let’s get you inside and then we’ll figure this out.”
He put a hand on Johnny’s chest when the man tried to follow his direction, reaching across his friend to unfasten the seatbelt, his worry ratcheting up a few notches that Johnny had forgotten he was wearing it.
Once freed from the harness, Walt pulled him out, plucking the keys out of the transmission and shutting the door.
He dragged Johnny to the front door, the man trying to help, but really shuffling far more than he was walking, barely supporting his own weight.
Walt held up the key ring in question, and Johnny pointed at a well-worn brass key.
With a nod, Walt slid it into the lock and let them in, pulling Johnny over to the alarm keypad to put in the code.
Johnny stared at it for a long second, seeming vaguely confused as to what he should do before he caught on and started typing in his code, Walt looking pointedly in the other direction as he did.
With the door shut and relocked, and the alarm off, Walt began the long and arduous task of getting Johnny to the living room, which seemed to have moved further away since the last time Walt had visited.
Eventually they arrived, and he settled Johnny on the couch.
Johnny was marginally more awake, sitting up under his own power, but still looked in danger of passing out at any moment.
“Anything coming back to you, man?” Walt asked, sitting on the coffee table in front of him and leaning forward worriedly.
“No,” Johnny said, shaking his head and looking distinctly disturbed by his lack of memory.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Walt asked.
“Uh.... we -, we found Sarah. The... we... we were in the waiting room. With JJ. The doctor said she and the baby were going to be fine... and then... and then... and then I woke up in my Jeep.”
His explanation did not help Walt’s rising anxiety levels, but he tried not to let it show.
Johnny’s face was oddly open, his distress and confusion dancing across for anyone to see. It seemed inherently wrong to see Johnny’s every emotion flash across his face, the man usually so reserved, but it also made him seem so much younger, and Walt felt a flare of protectiveness at the sight.
“Johnny, man, listen to me,” Walt said reassuringly, patting his knee, “we’ll figure this out.”
Johnny nodded, looking relieved that Walt had enough calm for the both of them.
“Oh,” Walt dug into his pocket, “let me give you these back before I forget,” he said, dangling the keys out to Johnny.
Johnny took them, freezing when he made contact, falling into what Walt internally referred to as Johnny’s vision zone.
This one took several long seconds to fade, but when he came back Johnny blinked and most of his confusion faded away, embarrassment taking its place and painting faint spots of pink in his cheeks.
“You remember what happened?” Walt asked, knowing Johnny wasn’t going to volunteer the information without prompting.
“Uh, yeah,” he muttered, looking less than eager to share the news with Walt.
“Well, go on,” Walt urged. “What happened?”
“Um...” Johnny trailed off, clearly trying to find some way to circumvent the discussion and coming up with nothing. “Uh -, I -, I was in the hospital room, and I started to feel ... bad, and I didn’t want to rain on the parade, so I decided to go home.”
“Wait, so you were in a hospital, you didn’t feel good, and then you left?” Walt demanded, appalled by the man’s decision making skills.
“Wanted to sleep,” Johnny argued tiredly. “Can’t sleep in hospitals, people come in all the time.”
“Can’t sleep?” Walt demanded, “Johnny you passed out! We need to get you to a hospital!”
Johnny shook his head, flapping a hand at Walt to calm down as he replied. “No, no, I’m fine, it’ll wear off.”
“How do you know?” Walt challenged with a hard glint in his eye. If Johnny even went and died, Walt would never forgive him.
“Well...” Johnny hesitated, sending a quick glance at Walt before he dropped his gaze to study his own lap. “It did with JJ and Sarah.”
The resulting silence was deafening.
“What?” Walt asked in a deadly calm.
Johnny shrugged, watching Walt nervously.
“No, Johnny, what?” Walt said, more commanding this time. “Johnny did you get drugged by the Collected Crazy?”
Johnny winced and shot him an apologetic look as he gave a small shrug and a slight nod.
“When?” Walt exploded, feeling a resurgence of panic that had been previously doused by the happiness of finding Sarah and JJ and the giddy excitement of the new baby.
“Uh,” Johnny stalled ineffectively, “it was.. it was after the FBI agent sent us home for the night.”
“How?” Walt demanded, unable to string multiple words together to fully express his outraged questions.
“Well, you see....” Johnny started, looking like he desperately wished they could not have this conversation. “When I got home, I had a message...”
He looked down again, picking at a loose thread on one of his sleeves.
“It was Linda. She said if I came alone to where Sarah was taken, she’d let Sarah go.”
“And did it occur to you, genius,” Walt bit out scathingly, “that she was planning to kidnap you?”
“Um. Yeah, it did,” Johnny admitted reluctantly. “I thought it would be an exchange, me for Sarah, since I was the one that she actually wanted revenge on, not Sarah.”
“So,” Walt started, in a tone that promised consequences, “you got a message from one of the craziest people we’ve ever met that implied you were going to be kidnapped, and you did nothing to alert me to this fact?”
“I didn’t delete the message,” Johnny defended weakly.
“So your plan was that you were going to wait until I checked your answering machine for me to find a clue as to where you were?” Walt asked in disbelief.
Johnny shrugged, obviously sensing that ‘yes’ was the wrong answer.
“Johnny!” Walt yelled in frustration.
“It seemed like a fair exchange!” Johnny argued before Walt could keep going.
“No!” Walt insisted, “it wasn’t! We were not in this to exchange, we were in it to find!”
“Well, I was thinking we’d find Sarah a lot faster that way, and once you got her healthy again you could find me too.”
“Johnathan Smith, I am going to kill you,” Walt informed him seriously. “What part of your plan did you think was acceptable? That is not acceptable!”
“Yes it is!” Johnny exploded, meeting Walt’s frustration with his own for the first time since the whole ordeal had started.
“Me or Sarah? Are you kidding? Sarah is a mother, she is a wife, she is a teacher, she is a volunteer, she has a family! She matters! People need Sarah, people would be devastated to lose Sarah, Sarah is important! If Linda took me there would be exactly five people who noticed: you, Sarah, JJ, Bruce, and Purdy!
JJ needs his mother, you need your wife, this town needs Sarah Bannerman. It would be the end of the world if we didn’t find Sarah, but no one needs me, no one depends on me. If I got kidnapped, it would suck, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world, most people in Cleaves Mills wouldn’t even notice.”
“Wouldn’t -,” Walt gaped at him. “Wouldn’t notice? Don’t matter? John, are you delusional? You matter!”
Johnny rolled his eyes in annoyed exasperation.
“Walt,” he ground out in aggravation, “I don’t -“
“You matter to me,” Walt cut over him, his eyes fierce and determined. “Johnny Smith, you matter to us. You matter to me, you matter to Sarah, you matter to JJ, you matter to Bruce, you matter to Reverend Purdy, and you matter to Cleaves Mills! Don’t ever do something that stupid again!”
Johnny didn’t seem to have a response for that, so Walt plowed on, appalled that they even had to have this conversation.
“Johnny, you think Cleaves Mills wouldn’t notice you gone? That they don’t care? What about the kids you tutor? They love you, man. They all but sing your praises when they’re out around the town. I heard them gushing about how great of a teacher you are to their friends at the fair, and I heard the blonde one talking her mom’s ear off about how great your lessons were for over an hour in the grocery store.
What about Conrad Hurley? The guards told me just last month that the letters he gets from you are the highlight of his week. They said he’s one of their best behaved prisoners, and when they asked him, he said he had a friend who would be waiting for him outside the gates when he went up for parole, and he wasn’t going to be late.
What about Roscoe and the rest of them? You think I forced them to ask you to drinks these last few months? I didn’t even suggest it! They did that because they like you, John.
I saw that guy that does your lawn in the post office the other day, and he almost made me late to work going on and on about how great he thinks you are.
You know that corner store with the guy who doesn’t really speak English? I bought a newspaper from him on a day you were on the front page, and he pointed at it and grinned and informed me you were his friend.
Dana might be on sabbatical chasing that lead for her story, but she cares Johnny. If you died, she would fly back and murder me, I promise you that.
I was making fun of you in the grocery store to Sarah, and that little blonde girl that lives down the street walked up and kicked me in the shin and went on an almost ten minute rant about how you were awesome and I could shut up about it. Her mother was horrified, but Sarah and JJ thought it was hilarious.
What about Jack Jericho? He did yet another special on you last week, talking about all the great work you do and giving personal testimony that you’re an even better person.”
Walt leaned forward, holding Johnny’s shocked gaze.
“You matter, Johnny,” he finished earnestly.
Johnny stared at him with wide eyes for a long second before he muttered a short, soft, “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh, you idiot,” Walt scoffed, wondering how a psychic could be so blind. “Don’t ever say something that stupid again. Don’t even think it.”
“Ok,” Johnny agreed softly with a shy smile, ducking his head.
Most of Walt’s anger fled at the sight, and he shook his head fondly, wondering how a grown man who spent most of his time scowling could have such an endearing smile.
“Good,” Walt said firmly, sitting back in his seat a little. “Now that we’ve got that covered, next topic, when did she give it to you? You were fine when we found Sarah and were waiting for news.”
Johnny shrugged with a rueful smile.
“That was mostly adrenaline,” he admitted sheepishly.
“Ok,” Walt nodded, “so you got a message, and like an absolute idiot, you went out to the road. Then what?”
“Well, I went out and there was a box with a tape recorder laying there,” Johnny explained. “It had instructions. I was to go back to my car and... and drink the vial in the box.”
Walt took a deep breath, mentally counting to ten, and Johnny raced past that point before Walt could respond.
“It did its job and I woke up tied up in this mine shaft place. I had a vision of what she was planning to do to you, so I slipped the ropes and got back up the mineshaft.”
“She left you a cable car?” Walt asked in disbelief.
Johnny shook his head, leaning back a little as his tiredness crept back in. It had been momentarily dissuaded by the crisis of Walt’s anger, but he could feel it settling back in now that the sheriff was calm.
“Nah, that would have been way too nice. No, I climbed the pulley rope, which, by the way, is way harder than it looks in movies. I hadn’t climbed a rope since we had to do it in gym in grade school, and let me tell you, I am out of practice.”
“You climbed a mineshaft by scaling a rope?” Walt repeated incredulously.
“Well, chain, but yeah,” Johnny nodded. “Finally got out, flagged down a truck, hitched a ride into town and called you, but you weren’t answering, so I went straight to your house. Lots to do, plenty of adrenaline to keep me up and going, then we found Sarah, which gave me another wave, then I was worried while the doctors were checking, and when they said they’d both be fine, my energy reserve abruptly ran out. I drove home, but I barely got it into park before I was out. And then you found me, so that’s that.”
“What were you thinking driving to your house, man?”
“I was thinking it wouldn’t hit me as hard as it did. I thought it had mostly worn off, I didn’t realize I was just delaying it with adrenaline. By the time I realized, I was almost home and it would have been more dangerous to try to find somewhere I could pull over without getting hit in the dark.”
“Hmm,” Walt considered, unhappy with his explanation, but unable to fault his reasoning. “Well, next time you’re drugged, promise me you’ll at least get checked out before you go home?”
Johnny chuckled, his eyes slipping shut for a moment before he pried them back open. “Promise to consider it,” he agreed.
Walt huffed a laugh. “Fine,” he allowed. “Well, your coffee is currently all over your driveway, so why don’t you get some sleep instead.”
Johnny squinted at him in confusion as Walt gently tipped him over and pulled his legs up onto the couch.
“Why is my coffee on the driveway?” Johnny mumbled, sounding bewildered.
“Because that’s what happens to your thank-you-coffees when your idiot self goes and passes out in your Jeep and gives me a heart attack,” Walt said, mildly reproving, as he stood up to find some blankets.
“Oh,” Johnny said sleepily, “that’s fair, I guess.”
“Damn straight it’s fair,” Walt told him, snapping a blanket out and laying it over the already half asleep man. “Now you get some sleep, I’ll lecture you more when you get up.”
Johnny’s eyes drifted shut and his lips pulled up into a faint smile before he relaxed into sleep a few seconds later.
Walt looked at him in fond exasperation, wondering if he would ever be able to convince the man to make smart decisions or if he was doomed to play babysitter to him forever.
Walt sat heavily in the armchair and pulled out his phone to text Sarah.
Casting one more glance at his sleeping friend, he smiled softly and decided there were worse fates than being this man’s keeper.