True North: part I
by Jaclyn Parker

"Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard."
-David Mustaine

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It had been a long week. A very long week.

Jack Snyder walked in the door of the Snyder farm and immediately tossed his coat on the back of one the kitchen chairs. Forgoing any food, he grabbed a beer from the fridge and in one smooth motion had the top off and was taking a long drink. He slammed the bottle down on the counter and sighed.

"Careful there, buddy. Don't wanna hurt the beer's feelings." Came a voice from the kitchen doorway.

Jack smiled and turned to see his fiancée, Janet, standing there a smile on her face as well.

"Hey, you." He said and moved to kiss her hello. It was a soft kiss and when he pulled away she followed, slight disappointment in her eyes.

She could tell he was tired and upset, not that she could really blame him with everything that was going on lately. First, his kids don't take well to their engagement…at all. Sage and Parker even went so far as to set her up on a false date with an ex to try and break them up. Then she has it out with his ex-wife, Carly, making matters completely worse for everyone. And finally his brother, who is also the father of her teenaged daughter, was arrested for murder with a pretty shaky alibi.

Kissing his cheek, she went to the fridge and grabbed a beer for herself. Gently clinking the bottles together they drank in silence.

"Anything new on Brad's case?" Janet asked, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"No, nothing. Not even a damn body." Jack said and she could feel the tension in his shoulders.

"Well, I know it's not ideal but our engagement party is in a couple weeks and it might take everyone's mind off of things." Janet said perkily, trying to cheer him up.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry, sweetie. I completely forgot. Do you need me to do anything?" Jack said, finishing his beer and moving to get another one from the fridge.

"Just show up and look handsome?" Janet said, winking at him gaining a smile in return.

"That I can do." Jack said, popping the top off his beer.

"Um, have you talked to your kids yet about coming?" Janet asked but bit her lip at the end of the question. She knew that it was hard on him how much the kids disapproved of their marriage. Truth was, it hurt her a lot too but she was trying to make it work. But that did not include postponing her wedding just because his ex-wife suggested it!

"I've tried, but I don't get very far before they shut down on me. Parker's barely speaking to me as it is, JJ is pretending everything is fine but spends most of his time at friend's houses, and Sage…"

Jack trailed off at the thought of his daughter; his baby girl. He hated that the adoring look he usually saw in her eyes was now constantly replaced by sadness, anger, and betrayal. No matter how hard he had tried to prepare her for the fact that he and Carly weren't getting back together, Sage still dreamed of nothing else.

What he couldn't stop to think about was that up until a couple weeks ago that was all he had dreamed about too.

Jack shook those thoughts away and re-focused on Janet who was looking at him curiously.

"Everything okay?" She asked and he nodded, silently turning to put the bottle opener back in the drawer.

Jack paused when he caught sight of a sketch pad lying on the counter. Instantly recognizing it as one of Carly's from years ago, he picked it up and flipped through it.

Again familiarization hit him as he took in the designs. They were from when Carly had been working at Monte Carlo during her pregnancy with Sage. The star themed outfits were as stunning in the sketches as they were when she had made them, before everything had come crashing down. Yet, as he got further in he noticed designs that he had never seen before. He came to one design in particular and stopped, unable to take his eyes from the sketch.

A floor length wedding gown with a delicate lace overlay was gracefully and lovingly drawn across the page. He could make out small star like constellations every so often and the words "Swarovski crystals" written adjacent to them in Carly's neat handwriting. The gown was strapless and had an empire waist with a small soft train in the back.

The design was flawless but it was the name of the dress that made Jack swallow hard.

"The North Star," Jack whispered softly and traced the smaller words underneath the title. "A G-man exclusive."

"Jack?" Janet's voice interrupted his thoughts again and he hastily turned the page.

"Where did this come from?" He asked, trying to make his voice sound normal, and Janet shrugged.

"It was under the living room sofa. I saw Sage drawing in it the last time she was over, but she wouldn't show me anything." Janet replied, taking another small sip of beer.

Jack flipped forward one more and saw a couple of less sophisticated designs, but with definite signs of an un-honed talent. It looked like his daughter had gotten more than her fair share of her mother's creative genes.

"Can I see?" Janet asked and moved toward him. Jack felt panic hit him and quickly closed the sketch pad.

"No. I, uh, I think Sage would probably be upset if I showed these to anyone. I'm not even going to tell her that I saw them." Jack said and Janet eyed him for a moment before nodding in agreement. "I think I'll run this over to her, okay?"

"Um, sure. Are we still going to go to the movies?" Janet asked and Jack frowned at her. "We were going to see that new romantic comedy, remember?"

"Oh, right!" Jack said, vaguely remembering agreeing to that just before he nodded off to sleep a few days ago. "Yeah, I'll drop this off and then why don't I meet you there in about an hour?"

"Are you sure? Do you want me to come with you?" Janet asked, but at Jack's hesitation she sighed. "No, you're right. I don't want to make things more difficult with Sage than they already are."

"Thanks." Jack said and kissed her cheek, before grabbing his coat and keys. "See you in a bit."

"Love you." Janet said but found that she had said the endearment to the swinging screen door as her fiancée was already gone.