CHAPTER 10

One glance at her husband when he returned home was all Sue needed to get answers to all the questions she wanted to ask. It was a late evening and she was already preparing to go to bed after putting the girls to sleep. She stepped out of the bathroom after taking a bath, dressed in her pyjamas and noticed him standing there. His lips were clasped tightly against each other, forming a thin line on his face, his eyes were absent and his mind was completely elsewhere. He didn't even move when she approached and it seemed like he noticed her presence only when she touched his arm.

"Jack..?" she made him turn around, so he was facing her and wrapped her arms around his waist. "What is it?"

"I promised Cassie and Alex I'm going to bring Myles home and there's absolutely nothing I can do to actually keep this promise. We're still waiting for results of a few tests, but I doubt they will bring anything into this investigation. We're stuck again and it's so… infuriating!"

"I'm sure everything will turn out well." she closed the distance between them and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "Your mom called today."

"My mom? What did she want?"

"She asked if we didn't change our mind about spending Christmas and New Year with them. And also, she wanted to know what to buy the girls for Christmas and birthday."

"Damn, I completely forgot it's this time already…"

It was very clear in his voice that he wasn't happy to be reminded it was already the beginning of December and Christmas, as well as the birthdays of two of their daughters, were approaching quickly. If there was something about this time of the year that they didn't really like, it was the few weeks before the three occasions. With the presents for four girls needed to be bought, it has never been an easy thing to decide what to get them. The fact that Jade and Vanessa were born so close to Christmas wasn't helping at all. Still, it wasn't their fault and it wouldn't be fair to buy them just one gift for both occasions, especially that their older sisters were getting something for their birthday as well. They didn't buy absolutely anything, what they knew the girls wanted; they preferred to buy a few but cheaper things instead of one, which would be very expensive. It didn't mean that they didn't consider what would make them happy at all, quite the contrary; still, they didn't want to spoil their children, make them thing that they should get absolutely anything they would ever want to have and luckily for them, their daughters weren't very demanding. Of course, they did want all the newest and the most expensive things, especially if they saw an advertisement on TV, but they were happy with what they were getting because Sue was making a list of what she heard them mentioning or knew that they actually needed before looking for anything. And, they also couldn't deny, that instead of spending all the money on toys, they preferred to save it and go somewhere in summer.

When it came for holidays, they had an agreement with their parents that when it came to Christmas and Easter, they were spending one of them in Wisconsin and the second in Ohio, and next year the other way around and so on. This year it was time for them to go to the Hudsons for Christmas and the girls were asking them every day when they were leaving. Usually the worst thing was that Jack wasn't sure he was going to be able to go until the last minute and there were already a couple of times, when he needed to stay in DC because of the very important investigation which they were working on at that time. Then, Sue was taking the girls and he was either joining a little later or not and his parents didn't really like the latter situation. One could say that Ruth's main focus were her granddaughters and she didn't even notice the lack of her son's company, but it wasn't true at all. No matter how old and how much taller than her he was, he was going to be her precious little boy forever and as happy as she was with his daughters, she missed him a lot, too. This year, however, it was Jack's turn to be the one, who would get leave no matter what, as they had an agreement with Dimitrius that one of the team members was on leave during Christmas every year, and they even made a list so it was actually fair.

"I told her that our plans didn't change at all and the girls absolutely can't wait to go to Wisconsin."

"We need to go shopping…" he stated, obviously unhappy at the thought.

"I'd worry more about figuring out what to buy for everyone. We can always order it online, but we need to know what, first."

Jack winced. As much as it seemed an easy task, it wasn't. They needed to think what would satisfy the people they want to give the things to, as well as consider its price and in result, it could take quite a bit of time to think it over.

"I know how much you hate it, so I've already done some searching… I have a few ideas for the girls that I'd like to discuss with you. I also found a beautiful jewellery box, which I think your mom may like… And when it comes to your dad, I'm pretty much at a loss… The only thing that comes to my mind is the new book of his favourite author, which was released two weeks ago…"

"Add some current pictures of our daughters and my parents will be happy." he moved his face closer and pressed his lips against her forehead. "You're an angel, Sue."

"Nah, I just know my husband." she smiled at him. "I have some dinner left for you, do you want me to reheat it?"

"Sounds tempting, but I'm afraid we've ordered a pizza with Crash. We didn't know how much more time we were going to spend in the office. I think I'll just go take a shower and head to bed."

Sue simply nodded and when he went to the bathroom, she sat on the bed and started working on brushing her wet hair. She wasn't surprised at all, that he added one additional thing to what he said he was going to do. She smiled, when she noticed him leave the bedroom only to see him go to their daughters. He returned only after tucking in and giving a goodnight kiss to all of them and joined his wife in bed. He was way more tired than he realised and was asleep within seconds after finding a comfortable position. Sue could only smile wider, when she turned off the light and soon dozed off as well.

In about the same moment, Tara opened her eyes and raised herself to a sitting position on the bed. At first, she had no idea what was going on and looked to the side, at the boy sleeping right next to her. Eric came to her some time ago after a bad dream and she allowed him to stay with her, but now was sleeping peacefully on his side. And then she heard it, there was somebody in the house beside her and her son. She quickly stood up and moved in the direction of the door only to notice that the sound of footsteps was getting louder; the person was approaching them.

She was reaching out to the bedside table, where she left her gun when the door suddenly opened. She froze, turning to it with her eyes wide open and sighed with relief, when she recognized her husband's figure. Jason smith was just slightly taller than Tara, and had the same sandy blonde hair and green eyes as his son. Staggering, he slowly walked inside and threw the small bag he had in his hand onto the floor.

"Jason, you scared me." she spoke but the man completely ignored her.

He went to the wardrobe and after a moment of going through half of shelves and drawers, he finally took out a T-shirt. She winced, when he started to take off his clothes and his movement brought a strong smell of alcohol to her nose.

"You're completely drunk!" she said, and he approached the bed unsteadily.

"So what?" he asked simply and she managed to stop him in the last moment before he crashed onto the bed.

"Be careful! You'd crush Eric!" she said, feeling her anger rise inside her.

"I have the right to sleep with my own wife in my own bed. He has his bed, he should be sleeping there."

Lately, she really didn't need that much to lost her temper when it came to talking to Jason and that evening only confirmed it. He was there for what, five minutes? And already managed to make her angry. Preventing herself from saying too much, she reached her hand to Eric and shook him gently, trying to wake him up. There was no way for her to carry him, he was too heavy for her now and there was no sense in asking Jason to do it. The boy stirred and raised himself a little, looking at his mother questioningly.

"We have to go to your room, Honey. Dad wants to go to sleep." she said and he turned to his other side, and his eyes fell on his father, standing impatiently on the side of the bed.

She could almost feel her heart snap when he just crawled out of the bed and started to walk out of the room. So many times she watched the children of her friends greet their fathers and they were always so happy to see them. The moment they recognized them, they were running towards them and giving as well as receiving a huge hug, not to mention clinging to them for the next couple of hours or even days. Eric did that just a couple of times, and each one of them the only thing Jason did was ruffle his hair, but it was after he got scolded for putting a little bit of paint on his trousers. She still remembered how she was trying to calm him down for a very long time and the argument she had with her husband that day. She really couldn't understand the big fuss he made, especially that it was a special paint for children, so there was no problem with washing it off. Yet, from that day on, Eric has never tried to greet his father upon coming home; in fact, he didn't look happy to see him at all and it was what hurt her the most.

"Where are you going?" asked Jason, when she stood up as well.

"If you think I'm going to spend the night here, you're more drunk than I thought." was everything she said and followed her son out.

She was certain that he was going to say something else, but she was in no mood for arguments. It was a late evening, she had to go to work in the morning and she needed to get some sleep and so did Eric. Once again, she thought that getting a normal-size bed instead of one for the child for his bedroom was a very good idea and even though it was very big for a six-year-old boy, now she could at least spend the night on something comfortable. The couch in the living room was good for everything but not sleeping and she would be barely able to walk if she was to sleep there.

"Mommy…" she heard Eric's quiet voice, when she was lying comfortably on her side almost dozing off after tucking her son in.

"What is it, Honey?" she opened her eyes to see the boy look at the duvet, biting on her bottom lip gently. "Eric?"

"How long is Dad going to be home?" he finally mumbled out and her stomach clenched.

His question and the way he asked it was just a confirmation of what she hoped was just her imagination – that he wasn't really happy about Jason coming home. The faint light of the moon, which was falling into the room was just enough to allow her to see his face expression and it pained her to see his gentle, sad pout.

"I don't know, why do you ask?"

"I don't want you to cry…" she gasped upon hearing those few words.

That was something that didn't cross her mind. As much as she had to admit it was painfully true, since the helplessness she felt when it came to talking to her husband was making her cry. There was no perfect marriage, there were always smaller or bigger arguments and crises. Even Jack and Sue, who were considered the best example of what the married couple should be like were fighting, it was something nobody could avoid. Yet, as much as everyone tried to overcome the problems, to reach an agreement, she felt like she was the only one trying to do that. There were moments when Jason was acting like he didn't care about anything other than TV, remote control and joystick. How was she supposed not to lose her patience, if all he did sometimes was sit in front of the screen and play, while she had so many things to do that she had no idea what to start with and he even dared to ask why the dinner was not ready yet, when he remembered that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to eat something. She really hated that for the last couple of months, whenever he was coming home, he was completely drunk but when she tried to talk to him, she only heard it was his money to spend.

But, no matter what, it has never, ever crossed her mind that her son was going to mark the days when his dad was home as something that was making her cry. On the other hand, why wouldn't he? Eric was a pretty clever boy and always noticed a lot of things, so it shouldn't be that surprising for her that he made such a connection.

"You are always sad when Dad is at home… You don't smile and cry a lot… It's because of him…"

"It's not like this…"

"It is..! You always fight and you cry..! It's like we only disturb him, like he'd be better without us, like he doesn't love us anymore!"

"Don't talk like this, it's not true. Daddy loves you very much, Honey." she said, pulling him closer when she noticed tears escape his eyes and slowly move down his cheeks.

He wrapped his arms around her, hiding his face in her neck and sobbed, while she was caressing his back, whispering comforting words to him.

"Emma's Daddy loves her… He plays with her, praises her when she gets a good mark at school, he shows her he cares… Dad is nothing like him… It would be the same for him if I wasn't here…" he just mumbled against her and two wet drops moved down her face as well.

"Don't talk or think like this, Eric. Dad just has his own way of showing his feelings."

She held him close until she felt him calm down and later fall asleep against her. She placed him on his pillow and placed a kiss on his forehead, wiping out the wet traces with her hand. Her tears, however, were flowing freely. He managed to touch the most painful part of her heart, and for heaven's sake, he was just six! He was still just a young child, he wasn't supposed to talk about like this, about his own father, no less! She couldn't deny Jason wasn't good at expressing his feelings, he has never been, but she would never think that he may make Eric feel like he didn't love him! It couldn't be like this, she needed to do something but she couldn't really see what. Talking to Jason lately resembled conversation with a wall, but maybe he will listen to her if their child was to be the topic. She certainly hoped so.

x

Kenneth Davenport opened the door to the basement, holding Myles with his second arm and threw the man into the small, dark room. Leland was unconscious and rolled down the three steps just beside the entrance, landing on his side. He couldn't help feeling disappointed; he really expected something more from an FBI agent than passing out after just a few punches. It wasn't fun at all when he wasn't aware of what was happening and couldn't listen to all the threats and bad words which he had to say about his wife.

"Davenport!" he heard McAllister's shout and rolled his eyes.

What did the man want from him again? He agreed to help kidnap the guy only because of a promise that he was going to be allowed to have some fun with him, but it seemed like McAllister saw much more into this simple deal. The worst thing was that he had no other choice but to listen to him. He didn't really feel like ending up with a bullet inside his brain and he quickly realised that as much as the man could look pretty innocent, he didn't have scruple when it came to dealing with people, who didn't want to follow his orders or were his enemies. Leland was the only exception to this that he has seen since the moment they met, but it wasn't even about the man himself. McAllister didn't want a revenge on them, he wanted a revenge on his wife and was convinced that torturing and later killing him was the best way.

Another thing he was probably never going to understand was how a woman, who was a wife of an FBI agent, could at one point in her life date and even be engaged to a person like McAllister. For him, it was the best proof of what she truly was like and he thought that he should have known her quite well if they were so serious. He couldn't know what the man was thinking back then, but it seemed very foolish and naïve to think she would want to cooperate with people like them. If she was ready to marry someone, who was protecting the law, it was pretty clear she wasn't the kind of person, who would think about breaking it. But, it wasn't his business and McAllister seemed like he has learnt his lesson already, anyway. Who wouldn't, after spending ten years in prison because she gave him away to the FBI?

"Here you are, finally!" he said, when Kenneth stepped into the room, where most of their people were gathered. "I need you to deliver it to Leland's wife." he said, giving him a medium-size envelope and after taking a quick glance, he noticed the pictures they took earlier inside.

"She's constantly watched, there is no way to even approach the building she's in without getting caught!" he objected and McAllister rolled his eyes.

"Then find someone to go there instead, idiot! Use your brain sometimes, or muscles is all you've got?"

He clenched his jaw and his hands curled into fists, but he managed not to say anything else. He just turned around and walked out, swearing to himself that he was going to make McAllister pay for all the insults he was sending in his direction. Not yet, however, it wasn't a good time for it at all but it was going to come. Right now, however, he needed to find someone stupid enough to approach the house guarded by the FBI with an envelope full of pictures of one of their man being used for a punching bag. It was a good thing he was from DC, so he knew exactly where he could go to.