John Doe

Chapter Thirty Eight

Disclaimer: Nah, not mine. :(

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The drive from the airport to Mark's house was fairly busy. The family spent the entire fifteen minutes chatting away about things that had occured since the last time all six of them were together, Josh's seventh birthday party (which had been just two weeks before), Elizabeth's ballet recital, wherein she was the star, the cases that both Tracie and Mark had worked (and solved of course, the ongoing one's they couldn't talk about), things of that nature. Then, Mark too the time to ask his father how retried life was going for him.

"I traveled to a little island the other month," Jacob told him. Which was the truth... when you ignored the fact that the little island was on another planet. "Spent some time soaking up the sun and relaxing."

Mark gave his father an incredulous look, "What island?"

"One of the Bahama's... I can't even pronounce the name. It was very beautiful."

Tracie smiled, obviously believing her father-in-law, "Did you get any pictures?"

"Yup," he informed her. "I brought them with me, I figured you'd like to see them. Who knows, maybe on my next spur of the moment trip I can take you guys along with me."

"How are you getting all this money?" Mark questioned of his father. "Certainly not from the military."

"Frequent flyer miles," Jacob replied with a shrug, "I've got hundreds of 'em."

Sam and Jack exchanged looks, whereupon Sam sighed, causing Jack to believe that this was something that happened frequently. Then again, Mark was a cop, and curiosity was in his nature. So was prying. And interrogating. Also, he knew his father well enough and he knew the military well enough and he didn't buy that the man was simply soaking up the sun on some obscure island in the south Atlantic. Moreover he knew that if his father wasn't going to tell him– because he couldn't or didn't want to– then there was no way he'd find out, even with his best questioning techniques.

They pulled into the driveway of a nice one-story house about fifteen minutes after they left the airport. Liz jumped out immediately, ranting about shower her auntie and papaw her new puppy, causing Sam to frown, no doubt thinking of her own puppy, which she had been forced to leave with Daniel. Jack followed after Sam, sliding his arm around her waist. "I'm sure he's taking good care of her, Sam. Don't worry."

"Yeah," she replied, giving him an incredulous look. "Tell that to Jonas, next time you see him."

Jack smiled, out of the many fish that Jonas had left in the care of Daniel, four were still alive– barely so. But those were fish, they never lived long. "You can call Daniel and make sure he's remembered to feed her, if you think he'll forget."

Sam sighed– knowing that's probably what she would end up doing. "You know how Daniel gets when he starts working, he doesn't even remember to feed himself half the time."

A frown passed across Jack's face, that was true. "Maybe... you should call Daniel."

Jacob laughed, having listened to the conversation and knowing how Daniel got when he was working, and as far as he knew Daniel was at his daughter's place (because the last thing he wanted to do was having a 40 something pound dog running around his apartment and chewing on his artifacts) working on some ancient rubbings of some kind. He agreed with Jack– somebody should call and make sure both had eaten.

"What kind of dog do you have again?" Tracie asked, having heard some of the conversation as well.

"A Husky. Her name is Pandora."

"Oh, I love Huskies. What color is she?"

"Silver." Sam supplied. "She's really beautiful, I think I have some pictures with me. What kind of dog did you guys get?"

"A Jack Russell. Her name is Daisy... Elizabeth picked it out."

"It's a very pretty name," Sam said to Liz, who had brought her dog out to the front yard where the adults were talking. "Does she know any tricks?"

Elizabeth nodded furiously and stepped back from the dog, "Daisy... come."

And Daisy did.

"Sit." The dog sat. "Up." Daisy stood on her back legs. "Dance." She twirled around, still on her hind legs. Liz looked up at her aunt happily, "Isn't she amazing?"

"She sure is," of course, Pandora knew that and much more, thanks to Jack. But, it was still very cute. "She is a very pretty dog."

The little girl beamed. Daisy sure was pretty! She gave her puppy an affectionate hug and then threw the ball she had brought out with her. Daisy rain after it, barking happily. The adults smiled at the scene and then headed up for the house, Jacob, Sam, and Jack still had to put their things away and it was past time for lunch. Joshua ran after them, watching Daisy run was pretty boring if you asked him, and he was getting hungry! He was a seven year old boy, anyway, and still growing, so he needed all the food he could get. And, he could get a lot of food.

"Come on in, Lizzie," Sam called out, using the nickname that Elizabeth had reserved for only her. Coming from anybody else it made her sound like she was Joshua's age again, she claimed, but Sam was special so it was ok for her to do so. "You want to help me unpack?"

Liz smiled, nodded, and then called out for Daisy to come inside with her. The two of them ran up the steps of the small concrete porch and followed the rest of the adults into the house. Liz claimed she would show Sam the room she would stay in, the guest room, and took off down the hallway, Sam and Jack behind her. She went into the first door on the left and Liz turned around to look at them, "This is it."

"Thank you very much, Liz." Jack said, giving the girl a genuine smile. He hadn't said much since they had gotten there, but that's because he wasn't sure how Mark was going to receive him. Sure, Sam had promised that her brother would behave, but she obviously didn't know the male race like he did. They lied... a lot. "How about we put our things up real quick, then you show us your room?"

The girl smiled, "Ok."

Jack and Sam put their things on the bed, deciding that they could always get everything situated later, before they went to bed, and followed the little girl across the hallway and through a door that said "Liz" in big, pink letters on it. When they entered the room Jack was a bit surprised, he had half expected dolls to be laying everywhere and things like "My Little Pony" or "Polly Pocket" to litter the dressers, but there was none of that. There was only one stuffed animal, a teddy bear, lying on the bed, and the rest of the room was covered in dolphins. It was like a dolphin sanctuary, he thought to himself. Not at all what you would expect from a 9 year old girl.

"Wow," he told her, looking around. The bedspread was a dark blue, with lighter colored blue sheets and pillows, and the walls were the same color as the sheets. A dolphin wind chime hung from the mirror of her bureau, various trinkets were scattered across the room on many different desks and tables, and there were a fair amount of lamps with dolphin shades. It was pretty neat. She even had a fish tank on her chest of drawers, although sadly, no dolphins inside. "Cool." he continued, kids said that right? Cool?

"She wants to be a marine biologist," Sam informed him. She had already been privy to the room, since the girl had bought most of the things for it when she was down the last time, but there was a good bit of newer items she had never seen before. A calendar hung above her study table and the wind chime hadn't been there before. All in all, however, it looked pretty much the same. "Well, come on then," she said. "Let's go see what your mother is making for lunch."

Neither one had any objections to that particular statement. Lunch was always acceptable. Even if Liz did want to show him the pictures from their vacation to Sea World, when she had gotten to sit on the whale and swim with the dolphins. That could always wait for later, anyway. They wouldn't be going anywhere.

When they got back into the living room Jacob had already dropped his things off in Mark and Tracie's. The two would be sleeping in the daughters room, since it had a full bed, and Liz and her brother would be staying in his, since he had bunk beds. Liz wasn't too happy about the arrangement, but it got her a visit from her aunt and papaw, so everything was alright. The two male adults, and Joshua, were sitting around the table, playing cards.

"What'cha playing?" Jack asked, standing behind Jacob and looking over his shoulder.

"Bullshit," Mark muttered, looking down at his hand attentively.

"Mark Lucas Carter!" Tracie called from the kitchen, "What did I say about that!"

The man sighed, "We're playing BS."

"Better." came his wife's reply from the kitchen.

Sam snickered, earning a look from her brother, but she just shrugged it off. "I'm going to go help Tracie in the kitchen."

"Why?" Mark asked a bit quickly. "Did we do something wrong?"

The female Carter glared at her brother and picked up the nearest object, which happened to be a (ring) napkin holder, and promptly threw it at him. It bounced off of his head and she ran into the kitchen, laughing to herself. Mark sneered good-heartedly, then went back to his cards. He picked two of them out and set them on the table, "Two queens."

"Bulls– BS." Jacob said with a grin. He had three queens in his hand.

"Sh... crap," Mark cursed under his breath as he turned the cards around. Sure enough they were a 10 and a 3. Not even close to queens.

It was the little man's turn, "One king."

Jack couldn't help but smile, along with the other adults. "Joshie," Jacob started, "the point of the game is to get rid of as many cards as you can... even if it means saying you have cards that you don't."

"But then I'd be lying..." the little boy informed his grandfather, as if lying was the worst thing in the world.

"I'll help him out, Jake," Jack offered, "if I can rub your head for good luck."

Jacob reached behind him to smack Jack, but the man was smarter than that and moved out of the way before he could get the chance. "Careful old man, don't get too worked up. We wouldn't want you having a heart attack on us, ya know."

Mark snickered from across the table, having watched the exchange between the two men. "Hey," Jack called, "what's so funny?"

"You're just not really the image of youth there, Jack," the man replied with a snort. "Sorry."

"Yeah, yeah," Jack grumbled, "it's not my fault both my parents had the gray hair gene." He traveled around the table and pulled a chair up next to Joshua, then allowed the boy to sit in his lap. "Alright now, little man, let's show them how this game is played, shall we?"

His soon-to-be father-in-law was the one who answered, "After we shuffle the deck, Jack. Don't think I'm dumb enough to let you play after seeing my cards."

Jack scowled, would he ever? "I know that Jake."

They shuffled the cards and then handed a new set out, Jack and Joshua went first. After the older man pointed out some cards he whispered something into Joshua's ear. The boy grinned, pulled out three cards and laid them on the table, "Three twos."

Jacob eyed his own hand, he only had one two. His son had to have one, though... right? "BS."

The two laughed and Jacob turned the cards over. "Well, shit." he cursed. There were three twos. He picked the cards up and laid another down, "One three."

"Two fours," Mark said, putting down two cards. Nobody called his bluff, although they should have, and Josh laid down his next hand.

"Two fives." It was a lie, but nobody thought to call them on it, and Jacob took his turn.

That's how the women found them fifteen minutes later, throwing down cards and hoping not to get caught in a lie. Jacob laid down three cards just as Sam walked up behind him, "Three Jacks."

Sam smirked and shook her head quietly, "Bull." Jack called out.

"Shi... oot." Jacob said, taking the entire stack of discarded cards into his hands.

"Lunch's done, guys," Tracie said, running her hand through her daughters long, curly hair. "We need the table to eat."

"Wait a few minutes," Mark said to his wife. "We're almost finished." He picked out two cards and laid them down. "Two Queens."

"Bull," Jacob said. He himself had three queens.

Mark sighed and picked the cards back up, and Jack took his next turn, laying down his last card. "One king."

Since there was nothing else to do but call his bluff, Jacob did just that. "BS."

"Ya think?"

He shrugged, there was a good chance. Jacob picked up the card and sighed, it was a king. "Alright, Jack... you win. Again."

Jack smiled down at Josh, and the two shared a high five. "I told you we would show them how to play the game."

"Your fiancé is corrupting my son," Tracie exclaimed towards Sam.

"I think your husband has already done that."

"Not to mention your father," the woman replied.

"So," Jack said, letting the seven year old slide off his legs, "what's for lunch?"

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A/N: Well, you know what to do by now!