Another month had passed and Gina was getting bigger by the day, even though there was another 12 weeks to wait. Jack worked more and more, determined to have as much cash saved as possible, they both knew they needed it with Gina no longer working. She in turn spent more time knitting cloths for their child, and progressed to teddy bears which now littered the tiny wooden cot.
Jack and she went to her doctors appointments together and they were constantly pleased to hear that there were no concerns or problems with the baby. They both took bets on which gender the baby would be, but it was done in jest, as they had both agreed to keep it a surprise, although they both had their own private inklings on what it would be.
Gina liked to joke that she knew what it was, to tease Jack, but they both knew she was kidding, for he'd escorted her to each appointment; something he had never been able to accomplish when Terri had been carrying Kim.
They enjoyed breakfast together one morning, making more plans for the child. Almost every possibility had been planned for, but neither had mentioned naming the baby since there argument weeks ago. Gina knew it was a sore issue with him, she just didn't know why.
Picking the mail up Jack flicked through the few items passing Gina the ones addressed to her. Only one envelope held his new name, and he opened it with a sigh. He often received mail, but never anything other than bills. He tore the envelope open with no interest, his attention was on Gina who was talking in the background. He unfolded the paper and glanced over the document until he saw the format and his heart almost stopped.
The sheet was almost empty other than a few scarce words centred in the middle of the page : Call Me ASAP.
He could feel his heart beat faster as he screwed the letter up and threw it in the fire. Gina was watching him, and he realised she was waiting for some sort of response to whatever it was she had been talking about. He quickly kissed her on the cheek, as he did so she grabbed his hand and felt the tremble in it.
"What's wrong Ric?"
Scratching his head Jack was at a loss at what to say. "I need to make a phone call," he said edgily.
Gina looked up at him with a bemused expression on her face, now wondering what was in the letter he had thrown on the fire, she'd assumed it was junk mail, now she wasn't so sure. "Well we don't have a phone honey," she said gently, she could see the look of alarm in his eyes; something was very wrong.
"I gotta go find one," he said, before kissing her again and leaving the house, jogging through the streets until he found a phone box. He threw some coins down the slow before dialling the safe number he had memorised as he had left LA. This was the only safe contact number he had, so he hoped it was Tony who had sent the letter. It had to have been, who else could have traced him directly to his home? As he held the phone to his ear he smiled at the thought of Chloe tracking him down, before the phone was snatched up almost instantly, by Almeida.
"Jack?" He asked carefully. Jack was thankful the line was safe, he didn't want to have to talk in code. He was terrified of why the man might be calling him.
"I'm here," Jack said, hearing the panic in his own voice.
"I'm sorry to call you with this, but you asked me to tell you if anything of significance happened and-"
"Tell me." It was a demand, Tony knew he had to.
He held his breath as he tried to form the words in his mouth, wondering how this would affect his friend.
"Audrey's dead," he said, breathing heavily into the phone. He didn't go into details, he was sure Jack wouldn't be able to handle it if he knew the specifics of her death.
There was only silence from Jack as he tried to comprehend what the man had said. His head began to spin, he couldn't understand, think or feel anything.
"Okay," he said timidly, and then slammed the phone down as he staggered out of the phone box not knowing what to do. Leaning against the glass box he slid down it as the image of Audrey finally entered his mind. She was dead. Not being able to stop himself he threw up violently.