A/N: UPDATED UPDATED UPDATED (does happy dance). This chapter focuses on the reunion between the four friends, but it leans more towards Vanessa and Jack. Thank you SO much to all my reviewers, I really appreciate it.
Don't own them, never will, original characters belong to me, blah blah yada
Reviews always welcome
Chapter 29
Robbie watched Jack wince as he gestured putting milk into both cups of coffee.
"Did I touch a nerve there?" Robbie asked.
"Just a little…" Jack took the offered cup of coffee and walked with Robbie to the kitchen table. "Michael's the sweetest little kid, but his mother leaves something to be desired."
"Do you guys get along?"
"We try, for Michael's sake." Jack chuckled. "I love the little guy, and we explained very early on that both Natalie and I loved him very much, but we didn't love each other any more."
"Simplest way to do it," Robbie took a gulp of coffee. "You see, that's why Erica and I never got married."
Jack looked at him, a confused look on his face.
"If it ain't broke, why fix it?" Robbie clarified. "After we had Colleen we both agreed we were going to stay partners. I didn't want to marry her and she didn't want to marry me… simple as that."
"Seems like a rather confusing way to grow up."
"Colleen's adjusted just fine, and Marian will too." Rob smirked. "Our relationship has had a few bumps in the road, sure, but what relationship hasn't?" He got up and refilled his coffee cup. "She's a figure skater, I play hockey for a living, and we've learned to live with it."
Jack was silent.
"My point is, Jack," Robbie exhaled sharply. "If you love Michael as much as you say you do, and I don't doubt it, it doesn't matter what your relationship with his mother was like. If you can get along for his sake what do you have to lose?"
As Robbie and Jack conversed downstairs, Erica was now sitting on her bed, Colleen curled up with her watching an episode of the Care Bears for the fifth time that morning. She had the phone to her ear and a smile on her face.
"You will not believe who showed up on our doorstep this morning!" she almost squealed. She almost felt like a giddy schoolgirl, confessing something her crush had done the night after it happened. "Jack O'Callahan!"
"You're kidding!" came the reply from the other end.
"No I'm not; he is in my kitchen with Robbie right now!" Erica insisted. "And damn, he looks good!"
"Has he changed much?"
"No, not really. He's got a little boy now, but he didn't bring the kid with him." Erica informed them. "You haven't seen him in what? Two years?"
"Something like that, yeah…"
"Why don't you come to the house for a few hours?" Erica suggested, rolling over to keep an eye on the baby monitor. Marian slept soundly. "I'm sure that after two years he wouldn't mind seeing you and Jimmy."
"Sure…" the voice answered. "We'll be over in a few minutes."
It was about an hour before the doorbell rang once again.
Erica smirked as she opened the door. Placing a finger to her lips, she let the two visitors in and silently walked them into the kitchen, where Colleen sat on her father's lap regaling both Robbie and Jack with tales of finger painting and the complicated relationships of a senior kindergarten classroom.
"And then Joey said…" Colleen stopped in the middle of her sentence and turned her head to see Vanessa and Jimmy walking into the kitchen. "Auntie Nessa!" she jumped off Rob's lap and ran into her aunt's arms.
"Hey!" she smiled as Jack got up and went toward Jimmy.
"Jimmy Craig!" his sly smiled spread across his face. "I haven't seen you this happy since the wedding." He held out his hand as Jimmy shook it.
Jimmy's smile radiated across the room, infecting Rob at the same time.
"Yeah, well, it's been pretty tough the past couple of years, and I think this is the first time since the wedding that we haven't had tears first thing in the morning."
Jack looked to Rob, and then back to Jimmy. It didn't make sense.
Vanessa put a hand on Jack's forearm and got him to sit down again. Robbie took his daughter from her and retreated with Jimmy to the living room. Erica had decided to stay upstairs, in case Marian woke up again, but mostly it was because she knew it was an emotional reunion for four players of the 1980 Olympic hockey team. She hadn't played on the team, she'd come in later. Frankly she thought it would be better to let them catch up without her interference.
As they disappeared, Vanessa reached across the table and placed her hand over Jack's.
"Jimmy and I got pregnant about a month after the wedding…" she told him. "I went through my pregnancy just fine, but I had an extremely tough delivery…" she paused, inhaled sharply, and continued. "When I pushed the baby through the birth canal the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, and we lost her."
Jack's mouth dropped open.
"And just after that, there were a lot of complications. I was suffering from a uterine fibroid, and because of it I was bleeding into my stomach…" She waited for his reaction. "To save my life the doctors had to remove my uterus…" she paused again. "I can't have any more children…"
Tears were welling in Jack's eyes. Had he known what had been going on he would have come to see them earlier. Now he felt guilty… he had a wonderful little boy and here Vanessa and Jimmy couldn't have any.
"Is there anything I can do?"
Vanessa smiled. "When you come out here next time, bring your boy… what's his name again? Michael?"
Jack nodded and chuckled.
"Because it's my job to spoil him rotten!"
He chuckled again. Vanessa was a fantastic aunt to Colleen, and when Michael met her Jack was sure he would fall in love with her vibrant personality; he could only imagine what a brilliant mother she could be given the chance.
"Besides, Jimmy and I are looking at adoption," she reassured him. "There are plenty of children out there who don't have homes, and there are plenty in need."
Jack smiled at her. "You have such a big heart, Vanessa."
"So I've been told." She wiped away a tear.
He got up and hugged her. "Good luck, honey," he whispered in her ear. "You've made Jimmy extremely happy, and I know that when that adoption goes through you'll give that kid everything."
He leaned just a little closer and kissed her cheek. "I love you."
And with that he left her sitting in a state of shock at Erica's kitchen table, a full cup of coffee slowly losing its heat around her hands.
