June, 1914

Vanessa's vocabulary had grown a lot in the past few months. She was very intelligent for her age. Jack and Rose were amazed by how fast she picked up words. The only problem was, sometimes she repeated some things that she wasn't meant to hear. But they took the good with the bad.

Rose was feeding Vanessa her dinner, waiting for Jack to come home. "Come on, Nessa. Don't spit out the peas. You're making a big mess. Rose giggled as she wiped Vanessa's chin.

"Mommy I want Bankey." Rose rolled her eyes. She wondered what would happen, if god forbid they lost that blanket.

Awww Ness, not now. When you're finished eating, you can have Blankey." Vanessa began to sob.

"I want Bankey." Rose sighed.

"Alright. You've eaten most of it, anyway. Stay here and don't move a muscle." Rose ran upstairs and got the pink blanket from her cot and ran back downstairs. "Here you go, Nessie."

"Blankey!"Vanessa hugged the blanket. Rose lifted her out of her highchair and on the living room carpet so she could play.

Just then, the door swung open as Jack walked in. "I'm home!" he called.

"Daddy!" Vanessa ran up to Jack and hugged his leg. Jack picked her up, and kissed her forehead.

"Hi Nessa!"

"Hi Daddy!"

Rose walked up to Jack and embraced him "Hi honey, how was your day?"

"Good. How was yours?"

"Good. I missed you, though." Jack kissed Rose on the lips.

"I missed you too. Did the little rascal cause any trouble today?"

"Rose shook her head "Not really."

"That's good to hear. At least she's giving you a break." He chuckled and looked at Vanessa. "Have you been playing with that thing all day today?" he touched her blanket.

Rose giggled. "No. Actually, I just got it for her. She just finished eating." Jack looked at Vanessa. She smiled at him with her little white teeth, before resting her head on Jack's shoulder, and shutting her eyes.

"It looks like someone's tired." Jack chuckled.

"She barely napped today; she kept on waking up."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Huh. That's unusual. Do you know why?"

She shook her head. "No. And she was fine for the rest of the day."

Jack and Rose put Vanessa to bed early that night. They dressed for bed and went under the covers. They gazed at each other for a few moments.

"I love you, Jack." Jack kissed Rose on the lips. Rose kissed him back as she gently placed her hand on his neck. The kiss grew stronger as it went on. Rose moved on top of Jack and unbuttoned his pants. Jack placed his hands on Rose's back, and let them slowly fall, lower and lower. He kissed her throat, and then her jawbone. He whispered in her ear

"I love you."

They heard a little voice from Vanessa's room.

"Mommy!"

"Dammit!" Rose rolled her eyes. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to put her to bed so early" She thought. Rose got out of bed and walked into Vanessa's room. "What is it, baby?"

Vanessa lifted her arms. "Up Mommy, up!"

Rose sighed. She knew she couldn't leave her there. "Alright. Come on." She lifted her up and kissed her forehead. She walked back into their room.

"Aww Rose, no."

"What am I supposed to do? Just leave her there to cry?"Jack sighed. He knew she was right.

"Daddy!" Jack smiled. He couldn't be mad at her.

"Come here, Nessa" Jack held his arms out for his daughter. Rose put her in his arms. "Alright Ness, what's up? Why are you awake?" Vanessa purely answered with,

"I wove you, Daddy." Jack smiled. "She has me wrapped around her little finger, that's for sure."

"I love you too, Nessie" Vanessa nuzzled her little head into Jack's chest before turning to her mother.

"I wove you, Mommy." Rose smiled.

"I love you too, baby girl." Rose Joined Jack and Vanessa under the covers, as the three of them drifted to sleep.

January, 1915

Vanessa's little blue eyes opened. She looked on either side of her to make sure that her mother and father were still there. She crawled toward Rose and opened her eyelid with two fingers. "Mommy? Wake up mommy! I want dinner!"

"Hmm? Oh hi Vanessa." She was still mostly asleep. She rolled over. Vanessa crawled over to Jack hoping to get better results from him. She crawled over to him and poked his forehead repeatedly. She lifted his eyelid.

"Daddy?"

"Oh Hey Vanessa." he said sleepily.

"Are you awake?" Jack closed his eyes again. "Daddy! Wake up! Wake up daddy! I want dinner!"

"Mmm." Jack buried his face in his pillow. Vanessa went back to Rose.

"Mommy!" Rose opened her eyes.

"Alright, Alright! I'm up."

"Mommy I want dinner!"

"You mean breakfast, darling." Rose sat up with Vanessa in her arms.

Jack sat up. "She woke you up too?" Rose nodded. "Here let me see her." Rose gave Jack Vanessa.

"I go downstairs daddy!"

"You wanna go downstairs? Come on." Jack stood up and followed Rose downstairs. He sat down on the couch with Vanessa in his lap.

Vanessa squinted her eyes tightly. She smiled at her father. "Daddy I go poop."

Jack sighed. "Of course you did." He walked upstairs and changed her. Afterward, He walked into his room to get Vanessa's blanket. When he was leaning down to get the blanket, he saw a newspaper. He put Vanessa on the bed so he could pick it up.

CHILD RAPIST CONTINUES TO WALK THE STREETS OF NEW YORK.

Jack frowned as he read it. The crime in the city was getting worse and worse. He didn't like the idea of Vanessa growing up in a place like that. He shook his head and sighed

"Up, Daddy!" Jack smiled He picked Vanessa up and carried her downstairs. He set her down on the couch and started to walk to the kitchen. "No daddy, no no no!" She reach her arms out and waved them towards him. Jack chuckled.

"Okay Nessie" He picked her up and kissed her forehead "Calm down" Jack walked into the kitchen.

"Hi mommy!"

"Hi Nessa!" Rose looked into Jack's eyes and could tell that something was wrong. "Jack, what's wrong?"

Jack shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong. Don't worry."

"Jack, don't I think I know you well enough to know when you're okay or not? Well if you thought I didn't, then you're wrong. Now tell me what's wrong."

It's just that…look." Jack handed her the paper. Rose turned pale for a moment and shook her head.

"This isn't good, Jack. Eventually Nessie's going to get older. And she'll be no different than those children."

Jack nodded. "I know."

"What should we do?"

"I don't know if we can do anything. Except to be extra careful."

Rose nodded. "You're right." She reached out her arms and gestured for Jack to put Vanessa in her arms. She squeezed her tight. Vanessa laughed and pulled on a lock of Rose's fiery red hair.

"Mommy!"

"Nessa! Ness, how old are you?"

"Two!"

"That's right, baby!" Rose kissed her cheek and tickled her stomach. "You're so smart, baby girl!"

January 1915

"Jack?"

"Hmm? Oh, hi, Rob" Jack looked up from his drawing."

"You okay?"

"Umm…no. Why?"

"Listen buddy, you know you can tell me anything what is it? Is it Rose? Are you two having problems?"

"No, of course not! My marriage is fine."

"Then what's wrong? Is it Vanessa? Is she sick again?"

"No! It's just that… it's just… Rob… I think I want to move!"

"Move? why?"

"There's just so much danger here, now. I don't want Vanessa growing up in that kind of environment."

Rob nodded his head. "I understand. But, where are you thinking of moving?"

"I was thinking of… maybe… Santa Monica."

"Alright." Rob nodded "So you're really gonna move?"

"I don't know. I mean I have a good job, here. What if I don't get that kind of opportunity down in Santa Monica? I need to be able to provide for Vanessa and Rose. My family comes first. Before everything."

"Listen Jack. My brother has an art gallery in Santa Monica. He's looking for a new employee. I could recommend you to him. That is if you want to move."

"Are you serious?"

"Yup!"

"Oh my god! Thank you! But… I need to talk to Rose about it. I havnt actually told her that I wanted to move."

"Well, if you do move, I'll miss ya, Jack."

"I'll miss you, too. You're my best friend, Rob. And I really appreciate what you're doing."

"No problem."