Thanks to Donny304 for reviewing. You said I should write how Jakes decision to run away affected the family. I have already wrote two chapters in which I hope this is shown, but I planned a third one and I don´t mind if it takes place at this point or later, so I write it now.

Filler 3

"I am not in the mood."

Henry saw his mother rolling her eyes, when Sarah said no to the offer to bake cookies.

While Sarah turned around and went upstairs, Kate let the spoon fall in the sink and sighed. Henry wondered if he should say something, but he decided it would be the best if he just went away.

With one sentence, Sarah had taken his good mood away. He had done a good job in football training this afternoon, the coach had comment his tactic with the best words, either Henry knew most of the time it was just politeness.

With a few steps Herny was out of the house. In the garden, Jessica and Kim put Christmas decoration on the walls of the house with their Dad.

It seemed wrong and suddenly Henry understood what Sarah´s sentence meant.

It was not that she was just not in the mood for baking cookies, she was not in the mood for celebrating Christmas.

No one was. But no one, except for Sarah, wanted to say. Perhaps they wished if they would celebrate Christmas a wonder happened and Jake would suddenly appear in the door.

"Die king Arthur!"

Nigel and Kyle were fighting on the other side of the garden, hide in two big blue jackets. Henry had to smile. The twins sometimes seemed to be the only ones who could forget it about several hours, get lost in their fantasy where nothing else mattered as the fight against a horrible dragon or a shoot out in the wild west.

It took a long time to decide if he should talk to one of the others and finally he decided against.

Watching his shoes, Henry walked out of the garden and sat down on the curbside. The wind was cold and Henry cursed himself for going outside without a jacket, but he did not want to stand up and walk into the house for getting one, just to sat down here again. It was senseless.

And then, how else, the one and only question came into his mind again. Why Jake ran away.

It made Henry feel sick, really sick like he was going to puke every moment, to remember the little note, the only thing that gave an explanation, but which did not give a real answer.

He could not imagine, what the hell, ride Jake to believe it would have been the best for them all when he ran away.

It had all come to the worst.

Think for Sarah for example, who was a ticking time bomb, exploding whenever you just say a wrong word. The first days Henry had tried to comfort her, because he knew how much Jake meant to her, but after a while you could not get through her anymore. Sarah had never hold back when she hated the idea of something, but, for everyone´s wonderment, when it came to the question how to celebrate Christmas, she exploded and cried out loud, that she could not believe anybody in this family wanted to celebrate and that it was very cruel. That were her words. Cruel. Cruel to whom? To Jake? No way, he was gone and he would not, wherever he was, care if they celebrate or not. Henry knew, what Sarah meant. It was cruel to everyone else to pretend they were a happy family, either, in the truth they were damaged.

They were damaged, because they could not be the twelve Bakers anymore, without Jake. This was, Henry thought, very ironic, wasn´t it Jake who had once said those words to Mark? Mark, to come to another point, now tried hardly everything to keep the family together, Herny knew he loved them all, but it was sad, because Henry also knew, that it was impossible for Mark to win his fight.

Mark had tried to comfort their mother, but Henry knew this was a fight that could not be won, too.

Being honest, a month before Henry would have given everything if she just would have stopped crying, but nowadays he would give everything he could see one emotion on her face.

"Hey Henry", said a soft voice behind him. Surprised he turned around and saw his older sister Lorraine standing behind him, a smile on her face and it was a real smile, so that Henry could not do anything else as smile back.

"Hey Lorraine", he said when she sat down next to him and gave him a short hug.

They sat there in silence until Lorraine asked the question.

"So...how is everybody?"

Henry turned his head away, frowned and looked down the street.

"Nothing new on the western front", he answered, not knowing by himself if this should be a joke.

She did not take it as one.

"Charlie and I will go to Chicago on Saturday."

Henry´s head flew up and he watched her with big eyes. He did not know what to say.

"I´m finished with it", Lorraine sighed, "I am finished with Dad hating himself, I am finished with Mum being so sad and I am totally finished with Charlie who thinks he is the worst big brother in the world because he let him go this day..." There was a small pause in which Lorraine turned her head to watch the garden and if Henry would have been able to see her face he would have seen a smile flew over it. But it was only there for a second.

She turned her head around and watched Henry and asked: "What do you think, shall we go to the shopping centre and buy ice cream and a Christmas present for Mum and Dad and some cookies?"

"I am not in the mood", he answered.

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