CHAPTER TWELVE – Nowhere to Run, No One to Blame

A few days passed after Jack and Lula's meeting with his son and the mother of his child.

One morning, mid-conversation with the boys, Lula had announced that she was not feeling well and that she was going to go and have a lie down. At the time, all three boys looked intently at Jack as to whether or not he would be following her, following up with how she is coping, or in this case, not coping.

Jack and Lula's three housemates that share a house with the young couple all view the only female occupant as a little sister. The other boys always have her back and they're always ready to protect her. They had been on especially high-alert lately, seeing as they know just how much the introduction of Billie to Jack and Lula's lives has impacted her.

With three pairs of eyes staring at him after Lula had left the room, Jack explains his intentions and the fact that he's worried following after her immediately will only make things worse.

"I'll just give her a minute. I think she's after space. I'll check on her soon."

Dylan, Danny and Merritt share a silent look, wordlessly agreeing that their friend's husband and fellow Horsemen is doing the right thing; they approve.

Barely twenty minutes after Lula's departure, Jack too gets up from his seat and leaves the lounge room, on en-route to his bedroom.

"Lula?" Jack whispers into his shared bedroom where Lula is lying on her side of their bed, with her back facing away from the door.

Jack knows that his wife is a very heavy sleeper so his whisper won't be enough to wake her up if she is already asleep but it will help him to determine whether she's awake or not.

"Yeah" Lula replies quietly. She hasn't slept at all, but she feels a little groggy from just lying there in one spot for so long.

From where he is standing in the doorway of their bedroom, Jack slowly moves away from beneath the door-frame, closing the door behind him before crawling onto their bed and mirroring his wife's current position.

Lying on his side too, Jack shuffles closer to Lula and presses his front to her back, spooning her. Their bodies slide together effortlessly, like two pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly in place.

To reciprocate and acknowledge his presence and embrace towards her, Lula leans her arm back as she reaches out to grab any part of her husband's body, ending up with her hand on his bicep, to wordlessly affirm that she wants him there beside her.

"Are you alright, babe?" Jack asks softly, pressing a tender kiss to her temple.

Just lately, Lula has mentioned she's felt unwell quite a number of times which is unusual for her.

"I'm okay... I just still feel sick to my stomach all the time. As sweet as he is, it's like ever since I found out about Billie, I just have this feeling I can't seem to shake."

Jack lets out a deep sigh. He can't help but blame himself for Lula's state. He can't blame her for feeling that way, knowing that he would feel the very same way with all the jealousy, anxiety and discomfort if the shoe was on the other foot and if he was only just now learning of Lula sharing a child with another man.

"That's not 'okay'... Can I do anything to help you?" he responds, shifting himself so he's sitting a little more upright, still with his arms clutching her body in front of his as he presses a kiss to her dark locks, stroking her hair with his free hand.

In answer to his question, she just shakes her head and clutches his arm a little tighter.

"I am so sorry, Lula. I am so sorry that you have had to go through all of this and I'm sorry for everything I've put you through lately."

"Thank you, but it's not your fault, Jack."

Jack sighs at Lula's comment. She's right. It's not his fault. But, even more so, it's not her fault. It's no one's fault, yet it somehow makes himself feel better by blaming himself for her pain and her suffering.

"... It's really not your fault... You can't be held accountable for the repercussions of a harmless decision that you were free to make six years ago" she says trying to reassure her husband, when just minutes earlier he'd been the one comforting her.

Even though there's no one to blame, it doesn't make it any easier. It's just awful. It's an awful situation that is challenging on them both as Jack is forced to struggle with sudden parenthood, while she is forced to deal with the fact that his child is not hers.

There's no-one to blame and there's nothing that can be done to mend the situation, beyond hoping that it will all get easier or, at least, a little less difficult over time...

#

Just a few days later, Jack walks into the kitchen where Dylan and Danny are whispering closely in hushed voices. After realising that he's interrupting something private, Jack immediately spins on the ball of his foot to turn around and walk straight back out again, before he is stopped on the spot.

"Jack... Just the man we want. Can we have a word? You might wanna grab Lula, too."

Jack looks at the two men strangely before calling out for Lula, telling her to come and join their little meeting in the kitchen.

It's only after both halves of the couple have joined them, when Dylan finally begins to explain the hushed conversation and why they had been summoned.

"Jack. There's something you need to know" Dylan states mysteriously. In his eyes he's trying to slowly work the younger man up towards the additional news he has for him.

The sleight-of-hand groans, as his wife looks at the agent curiously, waiting for what is going to come next.

"Oh man... What have I done this time? Last time you said that led to me finding out I have a kid."

Danny's eyebrows rise in interest at Jack's comment as he and Dylan share a knowing look before the explanation continues.

"Jack, with that whole Billie thing, Danny and I have been talking about it. We felt like something was fishy and we wanted to be sure of a few things before you became attached and before you sold your soul to provide for this kid. Not to mention, before putting Lula through all this with you... Anyway, Danny did some research and we accessed some medical files..."

"By 'research' you mean 'hacking', right?"

Jack cuts into Dylan's explanation, using humour to deflect from his nerves as he waits to hear for what is coming next.

"Perhaps, but that's not important. Anyway, we found your medical records, Holly's and Billie's. In short, you have O+ blood, Holly has O- blood and Billie has A-."

"Okay? I'll get back to you when I have my medical degree... so what about it?"

Jacks response is just as sarcastic as his previous one, although the confusion on his face calls his bluff. Dylan and Danny share a look to confirm who's going to finish the explanation as Lula continues hanging onto every word of the two men.

"It's impossible for Billie to be your son, Jack."

Jack's eyes widen in shock as Lula's mouth drops open.

"We thought maybe, there could have been a mistake at some point. You know, a wrong letter typed on a computer or something, so we collected some DNA samples-" Danny adds before Jack interjects once again with his own commentary.

"And I don't even want to know how you did that..."

Honestly, it hadn't been that hard. All the time hiding out meant that Dylan has had time to occasionally work on and finesse his lock-picking skills after Jack had taught him the basics about eighteen months back. With this skill, it really wasn't that hard to walk in, swap two toothbrushes with brand new ones and leave again, and it was even easier to swap Jack's toothbrush from the bathroom upstairs.

"We sent the DNA off and got the results back today. It only confirmed what we thought... Holly must have either tampered with the samples or doctored the results. Either way, it was fudged. Billie isn't your son, Jack."

Lula looks like the weight of the world that she didn't know she'd been carrying has suddenly been lifted off of her shoulders; with her dream that she never imagined could ever come true suddenly being fulfilled.

Meanwhile, Jack just nods blankly, trying to unwrap his head around the news that he has only just managed to grasp in the first place, only to learn it was all a lie...

#

Immediately after the intervention, an unhappy Jack made one phone call demanding answers in response to the news from his friends, resulting in Holly pleading to meet up with him, to be able to explain herself and to offer him the truth.

"So, enlighten me. Why'd you do it?" Jack asks the second that the blonde he's waiting for comes into sight. His arms are crossed in front of himself and he wears an expression displaying the fact that he is anything but impressed with Holly who approaches him.

The woman in front of him is substantially less bold and less confident than she has been at every previous meetings, now that the tables have been turned and now that she's been exposed.

"Listen, first of all, let me just say that I am sorry. I always thought that there was about an 80% chance that Billie was yours, but I just never mentioned the 20% that he might not have been."

"Well why on earth did you manipulate the results then? Why weren't you honest? And why didn't you mention that 20% chance before you introduced me to him as his dad?!"

Jack is getting more worked up and angry with all the time that he spends thinking about it and thinking about all the lies that she hadn't fed only to him.

"I'm sorry. It might not seem like it, but I had good intentions. All along, I thought that the chance was far greater that you were the father, but I just made sure that the results fudged so that you were, either way."

With his arms crossed in front of him, Jack is still seeing red, like a blazing bull.

"You still haven't said why you did it."

"I know you must be angry with me, I don't blame you... But, I was trying to do the right thing for Billie. Listen, the other contender, the other 20% chance was my ex. I would have been more honest about it, but he passed away about six months after we broke up. He OD'd while I was still pregnant... So, I knew that you were Billie's only chance to have a father."

Hearing the explanation, he never, ever thought that he could understand why Holly had done this and how she could have justified lying to her son. But, suddenly, thinking about that little five-year-old boy who is going to go through life without a father, Jack understands; he sympathises. He knows what it's like to not have a father and to be quite honest; he can understand shielding a child from that void.

While his and Lula's life will undoubtedly go back to normal, there's no chance in the world that that little boy will have the void of his real father filled...


So, that chapter turns things around quite a bit! Did anyone see that coming? Does anyone agree with Holly and what she did for the sake of her son?

Next chapter: There's another twist around the corner for Jack and Lula...