Future
Friday, 26th of September, 2018
07:22am LT, Fort Alexandria

Audrey woke up alone on the couch. She couldn't even remember falling asleep here. She wore Armstrong's large T-shirt again and was covered with a blanket, up to her chin. It was so warm and comfy that she didn't want to move an inch.

She looked around and found Jack and Jacob out on the little terrace, sitting at the small table, drinking a cup of coffee, both of them smoking a cigarette. Surprised she watched him. She had never seen him smoke before. He had told her that he had stopped years ago, as Kim had been born.

They were discussing something. From time to time they looked quite earnest, but in the end, they shook hands and seemed to have agreed to something. On the table in front of them was a sheet of paper. Jacob took a pen and signed it, thereafter Jack did.

Curiosity finally made her stand up.

Wearing no trousers, Audrey wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and went over to the terrace door.

Jacob stood up and came back into the house at the same time.

"Good morning", he said as he passed her, smiling.

Audrey realized that she hadn't even looked into the mirror up to now. She ran her hand through her hair and got confirmation that it was really disheveled after the past night.

Jack welcomed her with a big smile. He took a last puff of his cigarette and threw the stub out into the garden. Then he took the sheet of paper from the table, folded it together and put it into one of the pockets of his jacket.

"Hey…", she sighed, as she came over and sat down at his lap. "When did you start to smoke again?", she asked and kissed him. It felt familiar but tasted different. She couldn't have said that she didn't like that certain taste.

"Sorry. Bad army habit…", he answered, looking guilty. "I better stop… I started it again as I came here… I just thought that lung cancer is going to be one of my least likely causes of death."

Audrey slammed her hand against his chest. "Stop talking like that!", she demanded, but very soon after it started to smile again. "We're going to change that.", she spoke into his ear and kissed his neck.

He leant back, smiling and put his arms round her body. He was tired after that night. After all, they hadn't slept much more than two or three hours. Audrey leant against his chest. They had been talking for a long time during the night, about anything and everything. They had made up a plan how to run away.

Audrey snuggled up to him. "Do you really have to go to that appointment?", she asked and took his left hand into hers. He still wore that splint around his lower arm and his wrist. She took it carefully and had a look at it, but there was nothing to see.

His fingers started to play around with hers. "Yes, I have to go there.", he replied. "Definitely. They're going to be looking for me right away if I don't show up. But we'll leave right away after that." Jack placed a soft kiss at her forehead. "I talked to Jake. He's ok with our plan. He'll take you to the station. We're going to catch the nine thirty train to Chicago."

She looked up to him, surprised. "Chicago? How did you find that out? Do you have a timetable?"

He shook his head. "No. I've been to New York two weeks ago. I only know that specific one."

"Oh, I see." She leant back again. "What did you discuss with Jacob before I came out?"

"Just some… stuff from work.", Jack lied.

"And what was on that sheet of paper?", she asked.

He said nothing.

"Jack?" Audrey got suspicious. She rattled his shoulder as he stayed silent.

He took a deep breath and looked down at her. "I'll tell you when we're on the way.", he said.

She was even more suspicious now. "Why? What are you hiding from me?"

"Nothing.", he hesitatingly answered, "Will you trust me just for a moment? It's going to be a surprise." As he said these words, he unwillingly had to smile.

Audrey was confused, but she did trust him. "Okay."

"Do you know what day is going to come on next Wednesday?", he silently asked.

She thought for a minute. "First of October…? What else?"

"It's going to be nine years since I met you for the first time.", Jack answered, "I started to work at DoD on first of October, nine years ago."

She had really forgotten about that. Silently she lay there and thought back. She had met Jack the first day on which he had started to work in her father's office and she had to admit that she had liked him from the first second on.

It had needed a few weeks until they worked more and more together, quickly building a real good friendship and later on more than that.

She softly stroked over his arm. So much had happened in the past nine years.
"We should have made that decision so much earlier. To run away, I mean.", she said.

Jack sighed. "Yes, we should have." He held her close. Right now, he simply wanted to erase the past eight and a half years out of his mind. He thought back to the morning when they had woken up in a hotel room in L.A. and she had told him for the first time that she had fallen in love with him. Waking up today morning had felt exactly like that.

"We're going to make up for the lost time.", Audrey said, straightened up and kissed him onto his lips. "Starting today."

He kissed her back, and it slowly dawned on him that today they would be starting the rest of their lives together.