CHAPTER 44: DADDY'S LITTLE ANGEL

Twenty minutes later, Jack found himself in the downtown area, the road of the street blocked off at either end, staring up at the top of an apartment building. The police handed him some binoculars, which he looked up at the top of the building with, where the rest of them where. He had first expected Kaia to be with Sarah inside the apartment building, but clearly this was different, because they had blown up a large inflatable that he had seen on television before. Skimming along the rooftop, he came to rest upon the image of Sarah holding Kaia in her arms, sitting with their legs dangling off the edge of the building.

"Holy shit." Jack muttered breathlessly, and then he turned to Evans. "Get me up there now." He said determinedly and he followed Evans and Colson up through to the roof access of the building.

Once up there, they remained back by the doorway, with some other officers and negotiators, but Jack continued on to the edge of the building. Cautiously, he sat down beside her, forgetting how high up they were and looked at the pair. Kaia was gazing downwards, having not even noticed that he was there, and Jack noticed the fear in her eyes. Even though she was always up in the trees, she hated large heights. He remembered a time where she had disappeared, and Jack had found her shivering with fear near the edge of a cliff, too scared to move in case she fell. It was the same look in her eyes now.

"Sarah?" He said softly, but she didn't answer. "Sarah, talk to me." He said. Still she said nothing. "Kaia?"

At the sound of her name, Kaia turned her head, and Jack brought out a hand, stroking her hair softly. "Daddy," She said gently.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Wanna go home now, Daddy." She told him. "Wanna go home to you and Mommy."

He nodded. "I know, baby, we'll go see Mommy." He said to her, but she didn't smile at all. "Don't be scared, sweetheart. I'm here now; everything's going to be fine."

"Up high." She said simply. "Want to get down."

Jack understood, and nodded. "Close your eyes, honey." He told her. "Close your eyes, and count to five. Can you do that?"

Kaia nodded, and closed her eyes, starting to count like Jack had taught her. Jack turned back to Sarah, seeing her far off expression.

"Sarah. Talk to me."

"I'll only talk to him." She said in a forced voice.

"It's me. I'm here." He told her. She turned her head and looked at him, seeing for herself that Jack was there. "What are you doing, Sarah?" He asked her.

"Everything's as it should be now." She said.

"No it's not." He told her.

"We were trying for a child, Jack." She told him.

"That was thirteen years ago, Sarah. A long time ago. You left, and we both moved on." He reminded her. "I met Kate, and I've got Kaia and Curtis now."

"We can still try." She said. "We can still be together."

He shook his head. "No, Sarah, we can't." She turned her head back out to what was below them. The movement panicked Kaia, who still had her eyes closed, as she fidgeted, Sarah held her tighter to still her, but Jack's heart leapt into his throat as he thought for a terrifying moment that if either one of them fell, Kaia would still be taken to the ground. "Sarah, please, just give her to me." He said desperately, losing the calm he had managed to keep before. He reached out for her.

"Don't touch me." She said bitterly.

"Don't do this." Jack pleaded. "Don't hurt her."

"You caused this, Jack." She told him. "You're responsible."

He shook his head. "No one's to blame, Sarah."

She looked at the many police officers down on the ground. "Are they going to arrest me?" She asked.

Jack swallowed, of course they were. "No." He lied.

"Liar."

"Sarah, please…" He said, almost afraid that the softness of his voice had been carried away on the wind. "…if you let her go, they won't do anything to you." He tried to reason. "Just please, give me my daughter."

"I'm not letting my little girl go." Sarah said, tears streaking down her face as Kaia let out a whimper between the numbers three and four as she counted.

"She's not your little girl, Sarah." Jack reminded her. "Look at her, she's my daughter, but she isn't yours, she's Kate's." Sarah said nothing, and Jack continued. "Kate carried her for nine months, she went through a hell of a lot to have this child, and she loves her more than she loves her own life. When she was born, she wasn't crying. She wasn't breathing. I was so scared, Sarah." He admitted, tears forming in his eyes. "Kate was scared too, and she was crying, and I wanted to cry, holding my baby in my arms, but I couldn't, because her life was counting on me. I got her to start breathing again, and she started to cry, and I'd never been so relieved in my entire life. From the minute she was born, she was counting on me to help her, to protect her, to be her father. Then you took her away, and I couldn't do any of that." Sarah let out a sob. "Please, Sarah, being a father is everything that I live for. I need her, and Kate needs her. Let me have my daughter. Don't do this."

Sarah looked at him for the first time, and he could see how much pain she was in, but he didn't care. All he cared about was Kaia. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Jack."

"It's all right," He said, "Just give her to me."

"I can't." She said quietly.

"Yes you can, just hand her over." He said.

"No, Jack." She said. "I have to do this."

It was then he realised that Sarah was slowly leaning forwards. As the uttermost fear took him over, panic setting him into automatic response, he lunged forward to grasp Kaia before Sarah could make her attempt to jump and take Kaia with her.

There was a struggle, screams, and then…it was too late.

A/N: Gotcha