An hour later everyone was assembled in the Quartermaine foyer, and a pile
of six suitcases stood waiting by the door. "Where is your man?" Collin
asked Jax as he checked his watch.
"He'll be here, don't worry," Jax reassured him once again. He turned back to Skye and continued the conversation they'd been having for the past five minutes. "Skye, really, three suitcases is too much," he pleaded with her. "Can't you just put one back?"
"No," she shook her head firmly.
"Please can't you travel light, just this once?"
"Jax, I'm a woman-"
"I'm very aware of that," he nodded with a knowing smile.
She glared at him and continued as if she hadn't heard him. "Women don't travel light, it's just wrong. I'm just doing what every other woman does when she goes on a trip-"
"Since when have you done what every other woman does?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm planning in advance!"
"So you need a whole suitcase devoted to shoes?"
"Unlike you, I can't wear the same shoes with every outfit!" she exclaimed angrily.
"Skye-"
"I'm not doing it Jax, so deal with it," she cut him off and stomped across the room and sat on her suitcases with a defiant glare.
Collin laughed and crossed the room to Jax's side. "You will never win with her."
"I'm beginning to realize that," he grumbled.
"Just let her have her suitcases, it'll make her happy for the moment," Collin suggested quiet enough so only Jax could here him. He smiled when he noticed Skye leaning forward, trying to hear him and spoke louder. "Women can't comprehend the idea of traveling light, they never have and they never will."
The doorbell rang, putting an end to their conversation. "I'll answer it," Jax told them and crossed the room to open the door. "Hi there Dan," he smiled and shook the man's hand as he led him into the room. "Everyone, this is Dan Barker."
"Hi." "Hello." "Nice to meet you." Were the responses.
Dan nodded to each one in turn. "No need to introduce yourselves, I recognize you all."
"Do you have the information I requested?" Jax asked him, turning the conversation to business.
Dan pulled an envelope out of his suit coat and handed it to Jax. "It's all there. Four aliases, three male, one female."
Jax pulled out four fake driver's licenses, two from New York, one from California, and another from Georgia. "This doesn't even look like me," he protested as he looked at the three male licenses. Jason and Collin's had their regular picture on it, but his was a completely different person.
"Don't worry," he replied.
"Jeremy Johnson?" he questioned as he looked at the name.
"Your parents had a cruel sense of humor," he informed him with a grin.
Jax frowned but heard Collin laugh behind him at Dan's little joke. He pulled out four passports, three plane itineraries, and a marriage license. "A marriage license?" he questioned as he observed the messy signature of Jeremy Johnson and the neat one of Grace Thompson.
"Just in case," Dan winked. "Besides, I figured since you two just got married this morning that you'd naturally have your marriage license with you."
"Married? This morning?" Jax repeated.
Dan smiled. "It's your honeymoon, that's why you two have first class tickets."
Jax looked down at the itineraries he held in his hand, and sure enough Jeremy and Grace Johnson had first class seats. Nicholas Evans and Jordan West had coach seats. "Where they hell did you come up with these names?" Jax asked.
"Went to a baby names website and typed in your names, gave me a list of similar ones so I just picked one and viola," he motioned to the papers in Jax's hands.
"Well that's one way to go about it," Collin said with a nod. "Besides, I like my name, Nicholas."
"Speak for yourself," Skye mumbled. "Your name's not Grace."
"I don't know, I think it suits you rather well babe," Collin answered with a grin. Skye scowled at him but didn't say another word on the subject.
"Your plane leaves in two hours. I suggest you take different cars," he pointed to Collin and Jason, "and you two better take a limo, just to keep up appearances," he added speaking to Skye and Jax. "Oh and I've made the reservations for a hotel in Liverpool, the cards are in the envelope."
Jax pulled three cards out and nodded.
"Wait a minute," Skye said suddenly standing up. "How are Jax and I gonna' get by security?"
"What do you mean?" Collin asked curiously.
"I mean Jax is a billionaire playboy and I'm the daughter of two very rich men," she said pointedly. "Anyone who reads the papers is going to recognize us, our wedding ::was:: publicized you know."
"I've already thought of that," Dan replied and held up a plastic bag no one had noticed before.
"What's in it?" Jason asked.
Dan grinned and pulled out two boxes of hair color, one black, one brown, a fake mustache and a pair of glasses. "It's only temporary," he added at the look of horror on Skye's face. "It'll come out in a couple washes."
"It'd better," she retorted.
"You'd better hurry and put it in," he said handing her the box of brown hair color and the glasses and the other two items to Jax. "You've got to check in an hour before the flight leaves for international flights."
"Thanks again Dan, we really appreciate this," Jax said.
"No problem boss," Dan shrugged. "And Good luck," he added as he opened the door and stepped out into the afternoon sun.
* * * * *
Skye and Jax stood in the security line waiting patiently as a very bored looking woman directed people to different lines for the metal detector test. They were somewhere near the middle of the very long line while Jason was proceeding through the metal detector and Collin was just now checking his bag in. Until they reached Liverpool and checked into the hotel, none of them were to acknowledge each other's existence.
"Where are you Skye?" Jax asked her softly. She hadn't said a word for the last ten minutes as she stared blankly at nothing in particular.
She jumped at the sound of his voice and looked up at him as if she didn't quite recognize him. "Humm?"
"I asked you where you were," he repeated. "You've been a million miles away ever since we got in this line."
"I was just thinking of Dawne," she admitted sadly. "I can't imagine how scared she is right now."
"I know you're worried about her, we all are," Jax replied. "But don't worry, we'll find her."
"I can't help worrying," she answered and welcomed the arm he placed around her waist. "She's my baby."
"I know Baby, I know," he said as they finally reached the woman security guard.
"Tickets and identification please," the woman asked. Jax handed her the tickets and they both handed her their driver's licenses. She looked at the IDs then back at them, then back at the IDs. She then verified their names on the cards to the ones on the first class tickets. She nodded slowly and handed them back and motioned for them to go to separate lines.
Skye let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding as she and Jax walked past the woman. "Wait for me on the other side," he told her.
Skye nodded and gave him a faint smile as they split up and went to their separate lines. She turned and looked back at the line and noticed it was even longer than it had been before. She spotted Collin who winked at her and motioned for her to back turn around. She frowned and did as he bade and waited patiently for her turn to walk through the metal detector.
Twenty minutes later Skye and Jax sat down in two empty seats at Gate E12. Jax set his laptop case in front of him and sighed tiredly. He spotted Jason sitting across the room and locked eyes with him. Jason gave him a slight nod of acknowledgment and pulled out a magazine to read.
Jax turned back to Skye and chuckled as she took her glasses off and cleaned them. "What're you laughin' at?" she asked.
"I think I kind of like you with brown hair," he replied.
"Well I certainly don't like you with black hair, or a mustache," she answered tartly.
"You don't like my mustache?" he repeated and pretended to look hurt.
Skye shook her head.
He grinned and leaned over and kissed her thoroughly, pulling away only because he'd been running out of oxygen.
"It tickles," she told him, a bit breathless herself.
Jax grinned and leaned back in his seat. "You liked it."
"I did no such thing," she retorted with a sour face that quickly faded into a smile. She wanted to slap herself for not being able to hold the face, she was loosing her touch.
Slowly Jax leaned over to kiss her again. Skye closed her eyes, waiting expectantly for his lips on hers. When nothing happened she slowly opened her eyes to find Jax staring at her, his lips barely an inch from hers. "That was the first real smile I've seen since we found out," he told her.
The smile faded out of Skye's eyes. "I wasn't thinking about it when you were kissing me," she answered and sat back in her chair.
"But now you are?" he asked and wanted to kick himself for reminding her that her daughter was missing when she nodded her head. Doing the only thing he could think of he placed a hand on either side of her face and kissed her softly.
Skye was surprised by the passion in such a soft kiss. The kiss slowly deepened as Jax let his tongue slip inside her mouth. She moaned softly and found her hands winding around his neck and pulling him closer as their tongues dueled.
The sudden desire to take Skye where they sat surprised Jax enough to pull away. "I don't think we should do that again," he said breathlessly.
"Definitely not until we're alone," she agreed, nodding her head. She smiled to herself when she realized she couldn't wait until to be alone with him.
* * * * *
When they stepped off the plane 6 (?) hours later it was in the wee hours of the morning. Most of their fellow passengers were asleep on their feet, but the constant anxiety over her daughter's safety had been all Skye could think of, leaving her wide-awake and restless.
She caught Jax's arm and held onto him as he slipped off the escalator stair. "I'm okay," he insisted as he shook his head. "I'm awake now."
"We'll have to get a hotel here for the rest of the night," she said as she looked around the Dublin airport.
"Dan emailed me when we were on the plane," Jax answered. "He's made reservations for us at The West Dublin. I don't think he realized how late the plane would come in."
She nodded. "Do the others know?" she asked and looked up to the top of the escalator. Collin was about fifteen stairs above them while Jason was just stepping on.
"I don't think so," Jax shook his head. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Here baby, call your brother and tell him we've arrived," he said a bit loudly as they stepped off the escalator and passed a security guard.
Skye dialed Jason's cell. "Yeah?" he answered, his voice was clear and awake.
"Hey little brother," Skye exclaimed in the happiest voice she could muster. Jax pulled her off to the side so he could wait for Collin and pretended to look for something in his pockets. "I just wanted to tell you we got here safe and sound. We'll be going to the hotel soon. The West Dublin," she continued emphasizing the hotel name.
She looked up and saw him nod. "Got it."
"Bye-bye," she said and flipped the phone shut.
Jax nodded to her and linked his arm in hers as he led her back into the crowd just as Collin stepped off the escalator. Jax bumped into Collin. "Oh, I'm so sorry," he apologized. "The West Dublin," Jax continued under his breath.
"Don't worry about it," Collin nodded and winked to signal he understood.
* * * * *
A man stood, unobserved in the shadows of a large marble pillar as he watched and waited silently. He studied every face carefully looking for three in particular. He knew this was the flight they should be on if they had chosen to fly into Dublin from New York. There were eight flights daily between the two cities, he had been watching all day and this was the eighth flight.
As he scanned the crowd his eyes came to rest on a man with dark black hair, carefully spiked. He wore a collared shirt and slacks, with his jacket thrown over his shoulder carelessly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture that had been sent to him by his boss. On it were three pictures, two men and a woman. One man matched the dark haired man on the escalator down to the mole on his left cheek.
He glanced at the other two pictures, a blonde man and a pretty little red headed woman. His eyes searched the crowd once again for the others. He watched as a man and woman stepped off the escalator and stood off to the side. The man handed the woman a cell phone and she dialed a number and waited with phone at her ear.
He let his eyes linger on her for a moment before searching the crowd on the escalator once again. As his eyes roamed he noticed a man pull out his cell phone and speak into it. He looked back at the woman who was now speaking into the cell phone and watched as the two conversed. It was a brief conversation, but he suspected they were speaking to each other. When she looked up at the man, he nodded to her, and then he knew for sure.
He reached into his suit coat and pulled out his cell phone and dialed his boss's number. "Bryant," a sleepy voice answered the phone.
"They're here," he replied. "The Dublin airport."
"Are you sure?" Bryant asked.
He watched the man the woman was with as he bumped into the dark haired man in the photograph. "It's them," he confirmed.
"Good work," Bryant replied.
"There's another one here with them sir," he informed his boss.
"Another one?" Bryant repeated. He was silent for no more than a few seconds. "Follow them."
"Got it," he nodded and hung up the phone as he locked eyes with the woman. She stared at him for a moment before looking up at the man she was with and answering whatever question he'd asked.
Slowly, he slipped around the other side of the pillar that had sheltered him all day long and stepped into the crowd. He kept his eyes trained on the back of the woman's head as he waited with the rest of the crowd for the train that would take them to baggage claim.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so there's the next chapter. Thank you guys for your support. I know I'm a very paranoid person when it comes to reviews. It just seemed odd that no one reviewed last chapter but my best friend. I don't really mean to sound conceited or anything but I'm used to getting 3 to 5 reviews a chapter and when I only got one it made me think something was wrong with last chapter or something. Sorry I keep freakin out on you guys. I promise I won't do it again.... Maybe. I don't know, I guess we'll see how it goes. Well, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!
"He'll be here, don't worry," Jax reassured him once again. He turned back to Skye and continued the conversation they'd been having for the past five minutes. "Skye, really, three suitcases is too much," he pleaded with her. "Can't you just put one back?"
"No," she shook her head firmly.
"Please can't you travel light, just this once?"
"Jax, I'm a woman-"
"I'm very aware of that," he nodded with a knowing smile.
She glared at him and continued as if she hadn't heard him. "Women don't travel light, it's just wrong. I'm just doing what every other woman does when she goes on a trip-"
"Since when have you done what every other woman does?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm planning in advance!"
"So you need a whole suitcase devoted to shoes?"
"Unlike you, I can't wear the same shoes with every outfit!" she exclaimed angrily.
"Skye-"
"I'm not doing it Jax, so deal with it," she cut him off and stomped across the room and sat on her suitcases with a defiant glare.
Collin laughed and crossed the room to Jax's side. "You will never win with her."
"I'm beginning to realize that," he grumbled.
"Just let her have her suitcases, it'll make her happy for the moment," Collin suggested quiet enough so only Jax could here him. He smiled when he noticed Skye leaning forward, trying to hear him and spoke louder. "Women can't comprehend the idea of traveling light, they never have and they never will."
The doorbell rang, putting an end to their conversation. "I'll answer it," Jax told them and crossed the room to open the door. "Hi there Dan," he smiled and shook the man's hand as he led him into the room. "Everyone, this is Dan Barker."
"Hi." "Hello." "Nice to meet you." Were the responses.
Dan nodded to each one in turn. "No need to introduce yourselves, I recognize you all."
"Do you have the information I requested?" Jax asked him, turning the conversation to business.
Dan pulled an envelope out of his suit coat and handed it to Jax. "It's all there. Four aliases, three male, one female."
Jax pulled out four fake driver's licenses, two from New York, one from California, and another from Georgia. "This doesn't even look like me," he protested as he looked at the three male licenses. Jason and Collin's had their regular picture on it, but his was a completely different person.
"Don't worry," he replied.
"Jeremy Johnson?" he questioned as he looked at the name.
"Your parents had a cruel sense of humor," he informed him with a grin.
Jax frowned but heard Collin laugh behind him at Dan's little joke. He pulled out four passports, three plane itineraries, and a marriage license. "A marriage license?" he questioned as he observed the messy signature of Jeremy Johnson and the neat one of Grace Thompson.
"Just in case," Dan winked. "Besides, I figured since you two just got married this morning that you'd naturally have your marriage license with you."
"Married? This morning?" Jax repeated.
Dan smiled. "It's your honeymoon, that's why you two have first class tickets."
Jax looked down at the itineraries he held in his hand, and sure enough Jeremy and Grace Johnson had first class seats. Nicholas Evans and Jordan West had coach seats. "Where they hell did you come up with these names?" Jax asked.
"Went to a baby names website and typed in your names, gave me a list of similar ones so I just picked one and viola," he motioned to the papers in Jax's hands.
"Well that's one way to go about it," Collin said with a nod. "Besides, I like my name, Nicholas."
"Speak for yourself," Skye mumbled. "Your name's not Grace."
"I don't know, I think it suits you rather well babe," Collin answered with a grin. Skye scowled at him but didn't say another word on the subject.
"Your plane leaves in two hours. I suggest you take different cars," he pointed to Collin and Jason, "and you two better take a limo, just to keep up appearances," he added speaking to Skye and Jax. "Oh and I've made the reservations for a hotel in Liverpool, the cards are in the envelope."
Jax pulled three cards out and nodded.
"Wait a minute," Skye said suddenly standing up. "How are Jax and I gonna' get by security?"
"What do you mean?" Collin asked curiously.
"I mean Jax is a billionaire playboy and I'm the daughter of two very rich men," she said pointedly. "Anyone who reads the papers is going to recognize us, our wedding ::was:: publicized you know."
"I've already thought of that," Dan replied and held up a plastic bag no one had noticed before.
"What's in it?" Jason asked.
Dan grinned and pulled out two boxes of hair color, one black, one brown, a fake mustache and a pair of glasses. "It's only temporary," he added at the look of horror on Skye's face. "It'll come out in a couple washes."
"It'd better," she retorted.
"You'd better hurry and put it in," he said handing her the box of brown hair color and the glasses and the other two items to Jax. "You've got to check in an hour before the flight leaves for international flights."
"Thanks again Dan, we really appreciate this," Jax said.
"No problem boss," Dan shrugged. "And Good luck," he added as he opened the door and stepped out into the afternoon sun.
* * * * *
Skye and Jax stood in the security line waiting patiently as a very bored looking woman directed people to different lines for the metal detector test. They were somewhere near the middle of the very long line while Jason was proceeding through the metal detector and Collin was just now checking his bag in. Until they reached Liverpool and checked into the hotel, none of them were to acknowledge each other's existence.
"Where are you Skye?" Jax asked her softly. She hadn't said a word for the last ten minutes as she stared blankly at nothing in particular.
She jumped at the sound of his voice and looked up at him as if she didn't quite recognize him. "Humm?"
"I asked you where you were," he repeated. "You've been a million miles away ever since we got in this line."
"I was just thinking of Dawne," she admitted sadly. "I can't imagine how scared she is right now."
"I know you're worried about her, we all are," Jax replied. "But don't worry, we'll find her."
"I can't help worrying," she answered and welcomed the arm he placed around her waist. "She's my baby."
"I know Baby, I know," he said as they finally reached the woman security guard.
"Tickets and identification please," the woman asked. Jax handed her the tickets and they both handed her their driver's licenses. She looked at the IDs then back at them, then back at the IDs. She then verified their names on the cards to the ones on the first class tickets. She nodded slowly and handed them back and motioned for them to go to separate lines.
Skye let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding as she and Jax walked past the woman. "Wait for me on the other side," he told her.
Skye nodded and gave him a faint smile as they split up and went to their separate lines. She turned and looked back at the line and noticed it was even longer than it had been before. She spotted Collin who winked at her and motioned for her to back turn around. She frowned and did as he bade and waited patiently for her turn to walk through the metal detector.
Twenty minutes later Skye and Jax sat down in two empty seats at Gate E12. Jax set his laptop case in front of him and sighed tiredly. He spotted Jason sitting across the room and locked eyes with him. Jason gave him a slight nod of acknowledgment and pulled out a magazine to read.
Jax turned back to Skye and chuckled as she took her glasses off and cleaned them. "What're you laughin' at?" she asked.
"I think I kind of like you with brown hair," he replied.
"Well I certainly don't like you with black hair, or a mustache," she answered tartly.
"You don't like my mustache?" he repeated and pretended to look hurt.
Skye shook her head.
He grinned and leaned over and kissed her thoroughly, pulling away only because he'd been running out of oxygen.
"It tickles," she told him, a bit breathless herself.
Jax grinned and leaned back in his seat. "You liked it."
"I did no such thing," she retorted with a sour face that quickly faded into a smile. She wanted to slap herself for not being able to hold the face, she was loosing her touch.
Slowly Jax leaned over to kiss her again. Skye closed her eyes, waiting expectantly for his lips on hers. When nothing happened she slowly opened her eyes to find Jax staring at her, his lips barely an inch from hers. "That was the first real smile I've seen since we found out," he told her.
The smile faded out of Skye's eyes. "I wasn't thinking about it when you were kissing me," she answered and sat back in her chair.
"But now you are?" he asked and wanted to kick himself for reminding her that her daughter was missing when she nodded her head. Doing the only thing he could think of he placed a hand on either side of her face and kissed her softly.
Skye was surprised by the passion in such a soft kiss. The kiss slowly deepened as Jax let his tongue slip inside her mouth. She moaned softly and found her hands winding around his neck and pulling him closer as their tongues dueled.
The sudden desire to take Skye where they sat surprised Jax enough to pull away. "I don't think we should do that again," he said breathlessly.
"Definitely not until we're alone," she agreed, nodding her head. She smiled to herself when she realized she couldn't wait until to be alone with him.
* * * * *
When they stepped off the plane 6 (?) hours later it was in the wee hours of the morning. Most of their fellow passengers were asleep on their feet, but the constant anxiety over her daughter's safety had been all Skye could think of, leaving her wide-awake and restless.
She caught Jax's arm and held onto him as he slipped off the escalator stair. "I'm okay," he insisted as he shook his head. "I'm awake now."
"We'll have to get a hotel here for the rest of the night," she said as she looked around the Dublin airport.
"Dan emailed me when we were on the plane," Jax answered. "He's made reservations for us at The West Dublin. I don't think he realized how late the plane would come in."
She nodded. "Do the others know?" she asked and looked up to the top of the escalator. Collin was about fifteen stairs above them while Jason was just stepping on.
"I don't think so," Jax shook his head. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Here baby, call your brother and tell him we've arrived," he said a bit loudly as they stepped off the escalator and passed a security guard.
Skye dialed Jason's cell. "Yeah?" he answered, his voice was clear and awake.
"Hey little brother," Skye exclaimed in the happiest voice she could muster. Jax pulled her off to the side so he could wait for Collin and pretended to look for something in his pockets. "I just wanted to tell you we got here safe and sound. We'll be going to the hotel soon. The West Dublin," she continued emphasizing the hotel name.
She looked up and saw him nod. "Got it."
"Bye-bye," she said and flipped the phone shut.
Jax nodded to her and linked his arm in hers as he led her back into the crowd just as Collin stepped off the escalator. Jax bumped into Collin. "Oh, I'm so sorry," he apologized. "The West Dublin," Jax continued under his breath.
"Don't worry about it," Collin nodded and winked to signal he understood.
* * * * *
A man stood, unobserved in the shadows of a large marble pillar as he watched and waited silently. He studied every face carefully looking for three in particular. He knew this was the flight they should be on if they had chosen to fly into Dublin from New York. There were eight flights daily between the two cities, he had been watching all day and this was the eighth flight.
As he scanned the crowd his eyes came to rest on a man with dark black hair, carefully spiked. He wore a collared shirt and slacks, with his jacket thrown over his shoulder carelessly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture that had been sent to him by his boss. On it were three pictures, two men and a woman. One man matched the dark haired man on the escalator down to the mole on his left cheek.
He glanced at the other two pictures, a blonde man and a pretty little red headed woman. His eyes searched the crowd once again for the others. He watched as a man and woman stepped off the escalator and stood off to the side. The man handed the woman a cell phone and she dialed a number and waited with phone at her ear.
He let his eyes linger on her for a moment before searching the crowd on the escalator once again. As his eyes roamed he noticed a man pull out his cell phone and speak into it. He looked back at the woman who was now speaking into the cell phone and watched as the two conversed. It was a brief conversation, but he suspected they were speaking to each other. When she looked up at the man, he nodded to her, and then he knew for sure.
He reached into his suit coat and pulled out his cell phone and dialed his boss's number. "Bryant," a sleepy voice answered the phone.
"They're here," he replied. "The Dublin airport."
"Are you sure?" Bryant asked.
He watched the man the woman was with as he bumped into the dark haired man in the photograph. "It's them," he confirmed.
"Good work," Bryant replied.
"There's another one here with them sir," he informed his boss.
"Another one?" Bryant repeated. He was silent for no more than a few seconds. "Follow them."
"Got it," he nodded and hung up the phone as he locked eyes with the woman. She stared at him for a moment before looking up at the man she was with and answering whatever question he'd asked.
Slowly, he slipped around the other side of the pillar that had sheltered him all day long and stepped into the crowd. He kept his eyes trained on the back of the woman's head as he waited with the rest of the crowd for the train that would take them to baggage claim.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so there's the next chapter. Thank you guys for your support. I know I'm a very paranoid person when it comes to reviews. It just seemed odd that no one reviewed last chapter but my best friend. I don't really mean to sound conceited or anything but I'm used to getting 3 to 5 reviews a chapter and when I only got one it made me think something was wrong with last chapter or something. Sorry I keep freakin out on you guys. I promise I won't do it again.... Maybe. I don't know, I guess we'll see how it goes. Well, PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!
