Author's Notes: I just wanted to thank all of you who took the time to review and offer suggestions on where this story could go. I am very grateful for the inspiration I got from those suggestions and although I may not be able to use them in this story, they still got me to thinking of what to write. I still have a long way to go before this story is finished, though. In fact, I am currentlyworking on Chapter 17.
The reviews are just as important as they serve as encouragement to me. You guys are great!!
Quick note to Jeril: As of right now, what I have written so far is as shippy as I am going to get in this story. I am an avid Jack/Sam dreamer, but I also feel they wouldn't destroy their careers. Don't worry though, I have a Shipper story in the works to be published later.
The house was silent when Mac slipped out of bed, careful not to wake his wife. She had been up late the night before making travel arrangements and talking to both of her sisters over the phone, discussing the accident that had nearly taken the life of Lanie's nephew, Steve. Steve had been out riding around with friends when a drunk driver slammed into their car. He was in critical condition, but the doctors had great hopes for his recovery. In the meantime, Lanie was insistent that they go and stay with her sister to help out, so that Steve's parents could spend as much time with their son as they could.
Mac had mixed feelings regarding this. On the one hand he would be heading out to Colorado. On the other hand he'd be stuck in Grand Junction, babysitting Cyndi's other kids. As much as he liked his nephews and nieces, the call of the wild was a much stronger temptation, one that he was going to have to resist on this trip.
This whole thing was giving him fits as it was. News of family members involved in any kind of accident always brought on the nightmares and this one was no exception. He would always wake up from the nightmares feeling lost, alone and scared out of his mind. He knew the nightmares stemmed from the memories he had of losing his father and grandmother in a car accident when he was a child and nearly losing Lanie because of another one, but that thought didn't ease the loneliness he felt upon waking up.
He made his way to the bathroom to splash water on his face, stopping to stare at his reflection in the mirror. The images of the dream that had wakened him came back clearly at that moment, terrifying images that had him trembling all over again. He had been in his backyard flipping hamburgers on the grill when he'd heard the squeal of tires and the sound of metal twisting under the force of a crash. He ran out to the front only to find Jack standing in the middle of the road, holding a limp and bleeding Pete in his arms, while standing over the body of his other son, Sam, who was lying under a motorcycle, his sightless, empty eyes staring at Mac. "No one should know what it's like to lose a son," Jack had said.
"God!" Mac groaned, as he turned on the cold water. He filled his cupped hands with the cool liquid and put his face into his hands, hoping to rid himself of the images. He stayed that way for a few minutes, then dried his face before heading quietly to his son's bedroom. Pete's soft snores were music to his ears. He stayed there watching him for a few minutes, feeling the love he had for his son flow through him.
He finally moved off toward his own room, wondering if Sam would kill him if he called him right then. The urge to pick up the phone and call him anyway was strong, but Mac knew that it really was just a nightmare. He'd just wait until a more decent hour before calling his son. Come to think of it, Sam lived in Wyoming. Maybe he could take some time off to visit with Mac in Grand Junction or in Colorado Springs, if they got a chance to go there. He got back into bed, putting his arm around his sleeping wife. The images of the nightmare fading away as he fell back to sleep.
Lanie was making breakfast the next morning, ordering the children off to school, while at the same time picking up the phone to call someone. She was a model of efficiency at times like this and he knew better than to get in her way. He smiled at the children as they rushed past him, grabbing Lindsay as she passed by to give her a quick hug. Pete gave his father a grin and a wave before heading out the door and Mac called after them, "Be careful out there."
He picked up the glass of orange juice that was waiting for him and leaned back against the counter shamelessly eavesdropping on Lanie's end of the phone conversation. It turned out she was talking to someone at the kid's school making arrangements for their little trip. That woman didn't miss a trick, he thought with a grin.
"Morning," he said when she finally hung up the phone. "Were you able to spring them out?"
"Yes," Lanie said, smiling at him. "You make it sound like they were in jail or something. Want something to eat?"
"Yeah," he replied, still leaning against the counter. "What's the plan for this trip?"
"What am I, your travel agent?" she asked with a grin.
"Yep, so what's the plan?" he repeated as he reached over and pulled her into a hug.
"We leave for the airport tomorrow morning, arriving in Denver by tomorrow afternoon. I thought we would rent a car and drive to Grand Junction, maybe swinging by to see Jack on the way there, or on the way back, whichever works best for him."
"Assuming, of course, he'll be available to see us. Not to mention if he even wants us to 'swing' by," Mac said with a smile.
"You said that he wanted us to come for a visit," she replied. "Besides, I have to call him today to get a status report. I'll ask him then."
"Just make sure you 'ask' him. I don't think he would appreciate you ordering him to be ready for us," he told her as he hugged her. He let her go so that he could take another drink of the juice before telling her, "You know, I was thinking of calling Sam to see if he could come down for a visit. It'd be nice to see him again."
"Oh Mac, that's a great idea!" she said excitedly. "Do you think he'll be able to make it?"
"Won't know until I ask," he replied with a shrug, secretly pleased she was so agreeable with this. She and Sam got along well and for that he was grateful.
"Do you have everything taken care of or do you need any help getting things together?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"All I need to do now is finish the last load of laundry, pack ours and the kid's bags, make arrangements for someone to take care of Herman and to keep an eye on our house, call the post office to have them hold our mail and … um… oh yeah, I also need to let Linda and Bob know we will be gone for a few weeks. I'm sure Bob will mow our lawn when he does his own…. Mac, stop with the frowns. He really isn't all that bad… well, maybe he is, but he will help us and that's going to be a big relief."
"Whatever," Mac grumbled. He didn't like owing that jerk anything. "So you have everything going smoothly. Why am I not surprised?" he teased, trying to lighten his own mood. "Good thing you didn't get that job after all," he added with a grin.
"Comes from growing up in a military family, well at least my father's family," she replied, grinning back at him. "I pretty much have it all handled. My next order of business, though, is to call Jesse to see what he's come up with on your birth. He's been looking into Jack's background and 'coming up with squat,' as he so eloquently puts it. It seems your brother has done a lot more than the military wants the world to know and has decided to keep it all hush-hush."
"Jack did say his job is highly classified," Mac reminded her. "It would probably be in our best interest to keep it that way. Tell Jesse to back off on this, okay? We don't need to know what Jack's been doing lately. Trust me on this; the government doesn't play nicely with those who snoop where they shouldn't be snooping."
"Okay," Lanie said, giving him a worried frown, apparently picking up on his thoughts. He had been remembering some jobs he'd been on where the government didn't take too kindly with his 'investigating'. "I'll tell him to stick to details surrounding Jack's birth, although he seemed pretty excited when I talked with him yesterday. It appears that Jack is into something big…."
"Lanie, I mean it! Tell him to back off," Mac growled. "I don't care what he's found out, we don't need to know what Jack's been doing the last 30 years. Let him tell us if it's important."
"Okay," she repeated, her eyes wide as she stared at him. He knew he had scared her with the intensity of his demand, but he also knew first hand the undercurrents in the government and he didn't want her or the kids to ever find out the hard way.
"Look, I have to go and take care of some things of my own before we leave. I'll call Sam later today to convince him he should meet with us out in Colorado," Mac said, as he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. "Hopefully, he'll bring along our little grandbaby," he continued, then grinned at the wide smile she gave him, his apprehension leaving him as he watched the excitement build in her eyes.
"You tell him that he will be facing dire consequences if he even thinks of leaving that little darling at home," she demanded.
"Will do," he said, as he headed for the door. He got into the car, but sat there for a minute before starting it up. Something was wrong, he could feel it. He wondered if he was just overreacting to the news of Lanie's cousin, Jesse, digging in places where he shouldn't. He shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of his paranoia and started the car.
He had been gone most of the day making arrangements of his own. He pulled into his driveway just as Lindsay came out of the house with one of her friends. The paranoia building inside of him was getting stronger and Mac tried to fight off the fear he was experiencing. "Hey babe," he called out to his daughter, deliberately keeping his tone light. "Where are you going?"
"Hi Dad," Lindsay smiled at him. "I'm just going to Gina's house for a little while. She's going to take care of Herman for me," she added, as she held up Herman's cage for him to see.
He smiled as he nodded at her, but he continued to stand there, watching until both girls entered Gina's house three houses down. As he turned to enter his own house, he noticed his neighbor, Bob, watching him from his front porch. Mac stared at him for a moment with a mixture of dislike and the fear he was dealing with before turning to enter the house.
The first thing he did when he entered the house was call out for Pete, who answered from the back of the house. He followed his son's voice and found him in the family room watching TV with one of his friends. Mac waved at them before heading for the kitchen hoping to find Lanie there. She wasn't. Mac decided at that point to call Gina's parents to let them know that he would be picking Lindsay up in an hour - to keep her there until he got there.
"What's wrong?" Lanie asked him as he hung up the phone. She had apparently come into the kitchen and overheard him.
"I don't know," he told her truthfully. "I just have this feeling, the kind I rarely ignore," he smiled at her, but she saw right through it.
"What kind of feeling?" Her eyes were wide as she stared at him, conveying her fear.
"It's probably nothing," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Are we ready for our trip?"
"Yes," she replied. "What kind of feeling?"
She just wasn't going to let it go, Mac thought with a sigh.
"It's nothing Lanie," he insisted. No use worrying her over something that may be nothing, although his instincts had never let him down before. "Have you talked to Jack?"
"Not yet. I did leave him a message, though. I'll call him later if he doesn't call us first," she said, her face still creased with worry. "Mac, please tell me what's wrong. Please?"
"I've told you, I don't know," he snapped. He could see the hurt look on her face and he tried to soothe things over. No use taking it out on her. "Look Lanie. I'm sorry. It's just that I have this feeling that something's wrong. I can't explain it, but right now it wouldn't hurt to be extra careful. Okay?"
She nodded at him, still staring at him with a worried look. He pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her as he held her tightly. "I'm sure it's just my imagination," he continued, although in his heart he knew differently. He let her go as he wondered where he'd last seen that roll of duct tape.
