Always Look Forward

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!

Chapter Three

Jackson drove towards one of the safe houses that he had set up recently incase they needed to hide. He would do whatever it took to protect his family. No one was going to hurt his Lisa ever again and no one would touch his precious children.

"Why are they after us?" Lisa questioned, once Henrietta and JR had fallen asleep in their car seats.

"I don't know," Jackson answered truthfully. He had not done anything lately to piss people off enough to attack his family.

"Are you sure that you didn't take any jobs behind my back?" inquired Lisa, wondering why after all of this time they had been left alone—only to be attacked without an apparent reason.

Jackson pulled the car onto the shoulder of the road and spun around in his seat, blue eyes flashing dangerously as he tightened a hand on her slender throat. His teeth were gritted and he had a menacing look about him.

"What did you say, Leese? I can't hear you," smirked Jackson, crushing her windpipe and feeling her writhe beneath his tight grip.

"Hi… Jack…" gasped Lisa.

"Bye, Leese," was his mocking reply as he tightened his hold again.

Lisa grasped her gun tightly and whacked him upside the head. Jack released her, knocked out by a well-placed blow. Her breathing slowly returned to normal as she allowed herself to relax. She tenderly touched the bump forming on Jackson's head. She hated that she had hurt him.

Jack was back. That was not Jackson, but Jack. Jack had attacked her. Lisa had no other choice but to fight back.

How was it until Jack took over fully? How long did she have until she might have to kill Jackson to save herself from Jack? How long until he harmed one of the twins who could not fight back? How long before it was no longer safe around Jackson for good?

Jackson's world was spinning when he opened his crystal blue eyes.

"Don't move, Jack," hissed Lisa, venom apparent in her voice, as she leveled a gun at him.

"Leese?" he croaked, straightening up in an attempt to stop the spinning. "What's wrong?"

"You attacked me, Jack! You could have hurt Henrietta or JR!"

Ah, it was all becoming clear. Lisa had freed his manager side and he had lashed out.

"'Fact: thinking when you should be acting will only make your head hurt...' I'm not making this up, Leese. It's all right here…" Jackson quoting the Dr. Phil book, while Lisa began to wake up from the head-butt.

"Lisa, put the gun down," hissed Jackson, a hand covering the painful bump upon his head. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Why don't I believe it? Why do I feel like you're lying?" questioned Lisa, not lowering the gun or even shifting it. She kept it aimed steadily at his beating heart.

"Leese, why would I lie to you? You know that I would never hurt you."

"That's just it. You wouldn't! But when Jack is in control, then you aren't you and you would hurt me! You could hurt the twins! You have to control it!" sobbed Lisa, the gun now shaking. If her finger slipped on the trigger, the gun would fire, and shaking or not, she would most likely kill him.

"Mommy, what's going on?" called a sleepy-sounding Henrietta from the backseat. "Why is your gun pointed at daddy?"

"Sweetie, mommy's just having a little talk with daddy—nothing more. Go back to sleep," Lisa said sweetly, as she glanced back at her young daughter. Henrietta was too young to understand what she was doing and why.

Too late.

"Where are we?" questioned JR, yawning as his blue eyes popped open.

"We'll talk later," Lisa mouthed at Jackson, lowering her gun. He was not about to get off the hook. He was dangerous when Jack took over and she was not going to expose Henrietta and JR to that side of him. Jack would kill the twins as well as her.

Jackson nodded and turned around to face the twins. "Who wants something to eat?"

"Me!" shouted Henrietta and JR simultaneously.

"Okay then, I'll go find somewhere to eat," Jackson said with a smile, before he pulled the silver Beamer back onto the road.

"Yay!"

There was no denying how good Jackson was around them. He had shown that he could open his heart and love someone else besides Lisa. He loved them both equally, but there was no telling what Jack would do to them. As much as she loved Jackson, there was no way that Lisa would let Jack hurt her children. She would kill Jackson first—to stop Jack—before she let him hurt the twins.

Jackson would understand too. It was twisted, but it was true. Jackson would probably prefer a bullet to the head or heart before harming his beloved children.

"Great job, Leese, letting them see you!" Jackson hissed at her later that evening. They had stopped for some fast food before finishing the drive to the safe house. Lisa and Jackson had tucked Henrietta and JR in before heading to their room to continue their talk.

"It's not like they've never seen me with a gun before!"

"True, but they've never seen you point one at me before! Do you want them to know what's happening? Do you want me to tell them that people want us dead? Do you want them to hear about Jack?"

"No," sighed Lisa. "I don't ever want them to know."

Jackson sighed as well and ran his right hand through his long, dark hair. It was a bad situation no matter how they spun it.

"Well? What do you want to do? Run? Hide? What?"

"Do you know who's after us?" Lisa questioned, avoiding a reply. She just wanted them to be safe and she needed to know as much as she could about the situation.

"It's the company," Jackson admitted after a long pause. He had been holding it back long enough. Lisa needed to know.

Lisa's jaw dropped. "But they promised…"

"They think I'm plotting against them. They warned me to stop or else they would attack."

"Did you plot against them? Are they monitoring us?" Lisa asked, trying not to get upset. She did not need Jack to come back for a visit again so soon.

"They were watching us, yes. But I swear that I was not plotting. I don't do that anymore."

Lisa looked into his blue eyes. He did not look away or try to avoid her inquiring gaze. He seemed as upset by the situation as she was. He would not bring this upon them.

"I trust you," Lisa whispered, drawing closer to Jackson, closing the gap between them.

"What do you want us to do?"

"What should we do? We need to protect them."

"We'll have to separate most likely. I have to draw them away from you," Jackson told her, though he knew that the company would not be fooled. They knew what he would try. They knew everything about him and his methods. But they did not know what lengths he would go to in order to save his family. No one knew.

"Okay," sighed Lisa, resigned. She did not want to separate, but if it made them safer, than she would do it.

Two different screams sounded through the silent house.

"Henrietta! JR!" Lisa cried at once, as she recognized the screams. She went to run towards them, but Jackson grabbed her, pulled her back against his chest, and held her. She fought against his grip, sobbing.

"Lisa, it's going to be okay. Everything's going to be fine. We can't fall into a trap," he whispered in her ear. Her cries were breaking his heart, as the screams from his children had. They had to keep their heads. If they lost their logic, then Henrietta and JR were doomed. They had to stay strong and not make any foolish mistakes.

"Jackson!" she pleaded, harsh sobs wracking her body. "Please!"

"I'm so sorry, Leese," his voice rasped before a heavy object slammed into her skull, knocking her out.

Lisa's unconscious body fell back against him. He had not wanted to knock her out, but there was nothing else that he could do under the circumstances. He had a plan now and she could not ruin this one. Not this time…

Author's Notes:

Sorry that it took so long for me to update! Just to let everyone know, the prologue is going to be swapped for another version at some point this week. I just read it yesterday and I realized that it is extremely far off the mark and I'll be fixing that hopefully later today.