I May Have To Steal You
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!
Epilogue
Lisa never ended up having to whack the crap out of Jackson—which was probably a good thing seeing as she was pregnant. She always worried that Jack might resurface, but Jackson showed no signs of letting his manager side through.
Jackson took excellent care of her. He was caring, always asking her how she was feeling, and he ended up being such a worrywart as time went on, that she accused him of being her dad. Jackson did not like the comparison and he gradually let go, yet he remained firm about not letting her leave the house. He went security crazy.
He was always changing the entry codes and kept weapons all over the house (knives for his use and guns and pens for Lisa). Lisa began to question his sanity when he started being paranoid about every day occurrences, such as the mail delivery.
Lisa (and apparently Jackson) remembered seeing a movie, where a mailman entered the house and he was carrying a machine gun. He had been sent to kill the man currently staying at the address because of a report that he wrote. Lisa was not allowed to answer the door, even when it was just Joe popping by for a visit. Jackson personally answered the door, with his trusty KA-BAR in hand, just in case it was a hit man.
Jackson's security measures drove Lisa insane, but she had to admit, she felt safe and nothing bad had happened. Jackson even left the house for short amounts of time to buy groceries and to check in with Joe about Lisa's condition. Lisa was allowed out only when she had an appointment with the doctor. Doctor's appointments had been interesting because Jackson always took a different route, would frequently check and shake-off any possible tails, and drove like a maniac. Lisa was always glad to get out of the car afterwards. Jackson would help her walk, because the car ride caused her to be unsteady on her feet. She could feel the knife on his hip, when he pulled her close.
Everything managed to work and they were not driving each other crazy. Lisa was unsure how much she liked being cooped up in the house, but she got through it.
Six months later, Lisa woke up from a nap to find herself in incredible pain.
"Jackson?" she cried, praying that he would hear her and come to her aid. "Jackson!"
No answer. Damn it! After all the planning they went through, he was not there. Usually she was running him over and scaring him away with her mood swings. Now, where was he?
Lisa fumbled with her cell phone, dialing Jackson's cell, praying that he would answer. She knew exactly how much he hated the phone (she had to replace it every time Jackson had an 'accident' with it) but he understood the necessity of it.
"Pick up!" she hissed at the phone, pain gripping her as another contraction tore through her body.
"Rippner," came Jackson's annoyed voice. He clearly thought it was someone who would ask him to do a job.
"Jackson," Lisa said, her voice panicky. "The baby's coming!"
"Leese? How far apart are the contractions?" he questioned, worried yet trying to keep his cool. This would be the test on how well Jackson could control Jack.
"Only a few minutes," she hissed as she felt another contraction. "Where are you?"
"In the car—heading home."
"What were you doing?"
"Nothing important. I'm coming to get you. Hopefully we'll make it to the hospital in time."
"Don't you dare get in a wreck trying to get me," Lisa warned, referring to Jackson's speedy, reckless driving. She knew that he was being careless. "Baby or not, I can still kick your ass to the next week and back."
Jackson smirked. She was always his feisty Lisa, even when pregnant. It made life interesting. "I know Leese, I know."
"Good," hissed Lisa through clenched teeth. The pain was getting more intense.
"Where are you in the house?" Jackson asked as the Beamer fishtailed onto the street.
"Um, still in the bedroom."
"I have a bag packed in the trunk, so I'll just grab you. Stay put, Leese," he said as he slammed on the breaks and the tires squealed in protest.
"Is that you?" Lisa asked half-heartedly as she heard the tires squealing.
"Um, yeah," Jackson said as he worked through the security and rushed into the house, calling out his name for the voice recognition.
Jackson took the stairs two at a time.
"I see you," called Lisa, as he ran into their bedroom and hung up her phone.
Jackson hung up as well and pocketed his phone. "Hey," he said softly, looking down at her on the floor beside the bed.
"Hi," Lisa replied as Jackson bent down and picked her up carefully.
"Let's go," he smiled as he carried her out to the car and helped her into the backseat. "Buckle up."
Lisa rolled her eyes and clicked the seatbelt into place around her large stomach as she lay down. With Jackson's driving, who knew what would happen? Satisfied that she was safe, Jackson backed out and expertly spun the BMW onto the street and zoomed away.
"I'm now calling the hospital," Jackson announced as he dialed a number on his cell phone.
"I'm now calling your hotel," said Jackson, dialing on the airplane phone. He listened to it ring before handing it over to Lisa, who hesitantly took it.
Only Jackson would speed in a car with Lisa about to give birth to a baby in the backseat and talk on a phone at the same time. Only he would have the nerve to even try. She would chew him out later, provided that they lived through the ride. Not that he would mind. He enjoyed having little fights with her.
A quick chat was all Jackson had, before hanging up and turning his attention to Lisa. "How are you doing?"
"As well as can be expected. We need to call dad…" she began, breaking off when a contraction hit.
"I'll do it," said Jackson with a sigh, dialing again. "Hello? Joe?"
Lisa ignored the conversation, trying to focus on ways to avoid thinking about the pain. Oh how it hurt!
"Almost there," reassured Jackson, stepping harder on the gas, pushing the car faster and growing more reckless.
The rest was a blur for Lisa. Jackson managed to safely get them to the hospital, where the staff was waiting for the Rippners and they placed her on a bed before they wheeled Lisa into a birthing room. Jackson followed, suit jacket flapping, as he ran to keep up with the bed. His grip on her hand was tight and reassuring.
Lisa vaguely remembered receiving an epidural and then the real labor began as the doctor told her to push. She struggled and after about half an hour of pushing, the baby made its way into the messed up world, followed by another baby.
Twins. A surprise for them both. They had never wanted much information about the baby, but neither one had suspected that Lisa was carrying twins.
Jackson never left her side and did not turn into Jack or show any signs of it. He seemed frightened by the amount of blood from the birth and had to look away when they stitched Lisa up.
"It's a boy and a girl," announced a nurse, as the twins were handed to the Rippners.
"Henrietta," breathed Jackson. "Henrietta Seabreeze Rippner."
Lisa laughed. "Are you serious? You want to name our daughter after a drink?"
"Just the middle name. It makes sense to me. Now, what about our son?"
"Jackson Joseph Rippner," she responded. "Another JR."
Jackson rolled his eyes. "It's only fair," he said with a sigh.
"That's right," said Lisa, sounding pleased with herself.
"You know that when this is over, I may have to steal you," said Jackson with a mischievous grin.
"Yes, you have yet to make good on your promise."
"True, but we've got our whole lives to go, and now we have kids. But everything seems to be right in the world at the moment. We're safe and so will they be. I'll make sure of it."
"I love you, Jackson," whispered Lisa.
"I love you too. Now rest, my lovely, lovely Lisa," Jackson whispered back, kissing her before taking JR from her arms and cradling both the twins.
Lisa nodded and closed her eyes. She was exhausted. She would need her strength for the road ahead. If only she could have known then, how tough life was going to get.
Author's Notes:
So much for being short! I couldn't stop writing! Reaching an ending point was hard.
The next story that I post (hopefully today) will be called "Finish the Job" and be more Jackson-centric than this one. It will be about Jackson and his plan for revenge against Lisa for what she did. He's going to end up falling in love with her, but the circumstances will be different than this story. It's going to be darker in the beginning I think and it will be at a slower pace with the romance than this story was.
The sequel to this story (as of yet, still untitled) should be posted on the 10th. So if you can live five days, you'll see how life is for the Rippners (all four of them!).
Until then, enjoy!
