Chapter 2

(So, I decided to add another chapter to that story, with absolutely no idea where I want it to go. I just felt like posting something after I haven't done so in ages, due to the lack of time and writer's block. So, I personally see this chapter as an attempt to get out of this block.

This chapter was written throughout the last months, whenever the mood would strike me or I got something useful out of my head. Not much drama in this chapter. Just a bit of a light and nice time between our two favorite people that find their way back to each other after Lisa's return and Jack's accident.

I recommend re-reading the first chapter to get the feels for this second chapter. Enjoy!

P.S. English is not my native language, so please excuse any mistakes.)


Her hand reached out to grasp his but instead of getting closer, something seemed to pull her back. There was a fierce grip on the backside of her jacket and an evil laughter echoed in her ear. Lisa ripped her eyes from her drowning husband to turn around. What she saw sent chills down her spine. White teeth peeked out from a mouth that grew wider and wider every time another scornful laugh escaped out of it. Teeth that belonged to someone dear to Lisa but this time they were exposed by a wide and wicked grin. Aunt Evelyn's grin. A bad version of aunt Evelyn who impeded her niece from saving the person she loved. With wild and desperate wiggling Lisa tried to free herself from her aunt's forceful gripper arms. In bewilderment her eyes snatched back to Jack. He was still there. Still reaching out for her hand with a mute scream. Panick stricken eyes. Yet, this time he wasn't alone either. Jack was pulled further and further into the pitch-black gloom of the river by no other than Will Vernon.

Something pulled her back and Lisa's eyes flashed open, startled by this sudden real sensation. The air in her lungs got stuck for a moment before it was released in an heavy gasp. Everything around her lay in darkness first. Only slowly the dim surroundings came back into life and Lisa didn't find herself up at the fishing cabin anymore. Bit by bit the horrific pictures of the nightmare died down and were replaced by the recent memories of yesterday's happenings. Everything was fine. She was home.

"Bad dream?", a low and raspy voice rolled across her shoulder and the warm breath of words was blown into her hair. Only now Lisa noticed the pressure around her waist caused by two arms which held her close against her husband's body. With that frame of security more of the held breath in her lungs finally found its way out and Lisa tried to calm down. Her hand covered his that lay on her stomach.

"Yeah...", she admitted quietly. Her pulse had run a marathon. Now that it finally crossed the finish line, it slowed down to a normal pace that her bloodstream could keep up with.

"Just a dream.", Jack soothed her.

Yeah, luckily it was and the realization helped to relax. He was still here. They were not at the river. No cliff. No evil Evelyn. No emergency. They were still here in the bed, comfortably settled into the sheets. Together. She had missed that.

"I have to get going. Morning chores...", Jack said, tightened the hug on her once more before letting go. The mattress moved as he pushed himself out of bed.

"Jack! Come back to bed! You just had an accident yesterday!", Lisa almost cried, suddenly strangely awake and peeking over her shoulder at his barely visible silhouette moving in the dark.

"I'm fine. Lis'."

The alarm clock on Jack's bedside table showed digital numbers that were shortly past five o'clock. The usual time Jack got up. Even after that incident at the river yesterday. Lisa knew that she wouldn't be able to talk him out of those daily morning activities. Besides that she was just too tired anyway.

The slight roll in her eyes was the unnoticeable answer to his stubbornness and Lisa felt at least lucky that her turn to get up was not within the next hour.

"Hey, do you at least have somebody giving you a hand out there?"

"Tim said he would be there.", he grunted. She could hear the soft rustle of his clothes as he got dressed for the day.

"Okay good. Take things slow, you hear me?"

"I will, I will.

See ya in a bit."

"Mhm.", she just answered while rolling around completely now and underneath the duvet her hand slid over the mattress to rest on the warm spot he had just left beside her and dozed off again. Hopefully to rest more peacefully this time.

v-v-v-v-v

Another spoonful of dough found its way into the hot pan and let out an indignant hiss as it started to fry in the melted butter. Although Lisa wasn't the biggest fan of pancakes for breakfast, it was the simplest of the choices she had this morning. Besides she planned on doing an extra amount for the kids who liked to snack them throughout the day.

A satisfying tune was humming softly through her throat while Lisa stood in front of the stove. It wasn't anything specific, yet more a sign of her happiness to be back home. The stay in Istanbul for three months seemed much worse now that she was back. How did she manage to stay there that long? The time flew by so quickly and she hardly had the opportunity to think about home. Aunt Evelyn took good care of that by keeping her niece busy. Except during the nights. The only time of the day in which Lisa felt the loneliness that she had taken upon herself to travel to Turkey and help Evelyn through her illness.

Yesterday and the first night at home in her own bed hadn't been much restful. Nevertheless, the nightmare she had in the early hours of this day were already forgotten. The nap afterwards had gotten her at least enough time to rest and to look forward to meeting her husband in the kitchen for some coffee. Since the sun just started to emerge from the faint veil of clouds, the chance of taking the mugs outside and sit on the porch was an even nicer thought that just entered Lisa's mind. She smiled to herself realizing that it were those little things in her life that she cherished so much and that had been missing during the last months, making her life somewhat meaningless.

Truth to be told, she usually didn't spend that much of the morning hours with her husband. Sometimes it was sad that Jack's and her morning routines were always done separately. He usually was the first to rise at daybreak while she took care of some breakfast which they seldomly enjoyed together due to their different time schedules of work. Perhaps she would change something about that in the future. Maybe driving over to Fairfield later. This would give her a little but precious extra time to spend more with him. Something she wanted to focus on more after the nearly fatal incident yesterday.

The sudden weight of someone's hands on her shoulders made her jump the second time today before she realized it was Jack who had sneeked up behind her and stood there now, letting his hands gently slide down her arms.

"Jeez, you have a way of startling me this morning, cowboy." Lisa sighed, still her smile broadened to the fact that he was back from work.

"Sorry. I just like the sight of this beautiful, humming woman being back in my house." Jack's nose nuzzled into her hair "I have missed that."

It was the scent of a crisp morning air mingled with the sweet but piquant smell of hay and straw that he brought into the house and clouded up her mind now that he stood so close. An irresistible urge to turn in his arms and press her nose against his skin just to take it all in was fighting its way through her body. Before giving in, Lisa found her voice first.

"You don't have to flirt with me Mr. Bartlett. I'm already yours."

They shared into the same chuckle, happy that their interaction still felt so unforced and comfortable.

"So, how are you this morning?", she looked up and over her shoulder to study his face. There was still a visible red mark around his temple, where he had hit a rock in the river that had knocked him out. Other than that, he seemed in a much better mood. She noticed by his moving eyes, which kept landing on her lips, that he was fighting his own desire to already close the gap between them.

Her hand still rested around the handle of the frying pan, ready to turn her attention back to the soon to be breakfast. If it wasn't for the enchantment through her husband's loving gaze which let her forget what was happening on the stove.

"Feeling better." His answer was instantly followed by him leaning down to softly set a kiss against her lips. A subtle smile pulled on the corners of her mouth as a long lost but familiar tickling feeling rose in the depth of her gut. Another thing that had been missed over the last three months.

"Much better indeed."

Feeling the light brush of his mouth and the warm breath as he spoke in a whisper, an uncontrolled sigh fell from her chest before he carried on to seize her lips within his. A kiss that lasted longer this second time around and made them both swim in a sweet pond of emotions. It was the first attempt to catch up what they had both missed during their long separation.

Her heart on fire, Lisa relaxed and sunk backwards deeper into the arms that lay around her. A private moment that they rarely lived out in the public of the ranch's kitchen. The process of baking pancakes was completely forgotten and it didn't take long before white steam and a burned smell rose from the pan in front of the love-lost couple, which eventually drove them apart.

"Oh shoot!", Lisa jumped forward to quickly turn off the stove and was at the sink within seconds where she held the pan under some running water. The hot iron protested with a loud splutter against the sudden change of temperature and spit out an even bigger cloud of smoke before it died in a pitiful way. Gone was the breakfast. Perhaps she should rather stick to the peanut butter and jelly sandwich option in the future when planning to cut some time from work to start the day with Jack more properly. This at least wouldn't set the house on fire when they were using that time other than eating breakfast. Lisa smirked to the images that were enfolding in her head to that thought.

She slowly turned around, tilt her head to the side, hand on her hip and looked at him with an rebuked expression yet an amused crooked line was drawn along her lips.

Yes, she did feel a bit like a teenager for letting herself being occupied like this by virility. This one coming from no other than her husband himself, who shrugged and smirked back sheepishly.

"Sorry again, I guess.", was all he had to say, obviously trying to suppress a laugh.

Lisa wasn't ready yet to let this fresh and youthful vibe between them slip away. She appreciated that their relationship was still capable of effortlessly bringing it up. Especially at their age, after that recent separation, with the near-lost experience yesterday and more over after twelve years of love and togetherness. The fire and intensity was still there. What a treasure to hold on to.

So, from her position she bend over and by the arm invited him back into her personal space.

"Sorry for what?", this rhetorical question was asked while their eyes lay heavily upon each other.

This time it was her turn to greedily lean up on her toes to meet him and bring her mouth to his. What started out as a hesitant return of her caress, quickly turned into something more confident.

With his hands on her waist, Jack gently nudged her backwards against the sink.

The moment was a close resemblance to the night before her departure to Istanbul three months ago. Back then they would have never thought to be standing here again, finding their way back together yet another time, proving for the umpeenth time that their close bond was true and constant in a world full of changes.

Will Vernon's death was by far the most horrifying change that occurred and had affected them deeply. Everything could be gone so quickly. Death wasn't a two-way trip. Not like a journey to Turkey and back again. Will's ticket was checked in once while Lisa had gotten the chance to come back home. The chance to return to her husband who had been on his own voyage, lucky enough to acquire a ticket that got him back to life. Back to her. They both returned from their own journey that had driven them apart at first but reunited them in the end.

This sudden awareness caused them to grab onto each other even more. Their embrace was an entanglement of arms. Two fistfuls of his shirt were held in her clenched hands on his back while she sunk into the nearness of his body pressed against hers. Lips sealed and moving in a doubtless kiss of their love.--

"Jack, you in here? Before we go – Oh, sorry!", Tim stopped in his tracks and the expression on his face changed to some mixture of embarrassment and amusement as his unannounced entrance put an end to the unusual act of intimacy in the kitchen.

His appearance was met by the same embarrassment which yet was mixed with a great deal of annoyance about the uninvited disturbance.

"Didn't mean to interrupt your...privacy.", Tim added and watched the couple reluctantly stepping back from each other.

Lisa tried to hide her emotions by turning back to the sink and starting to clean up the result of her distraction. The round patches of burnt pancakes swam bloated in the water that the frying pan still held after the sudden extinction. While absentmindedly glancing at their poor figures, her head still spun and the feelings whirled through her body like on a wild carousel ride.

"In fact I kinda got used to you being alone and lonely up here, Jack.", she heard Tim's attempt to ease the sudden tense atmosphere that had come with his show up. However, this cut the last strand of the connection Lisa still felt with her husband, who still stood behind her, but turned to stare at the other man. She could feel that his annoyance turned into some kind of discreet anger. The usual way when the two men met.

Although compliments were a seldom thing they shared, Lisa knew how much they cared about each other. Especially Tim had proven more than once to be there and step in in tough times. Especially Jack's tough times. Lisa was grateful for that even though she understood her husband's annoyance towards his ex son in law. They shared a strange love-hate relationship.

"What do you want?", he snapped back, unsure of what to make of the uncomfortable situation and feeling a bit out of place in his own house. As much as he liked to have his family close by and the house being the open meeting center for them, he disliked the lack of privacy that came along. There was a reason why Jack had never wanted Tim to move in his house. He was the most annoying roommate.

Even though she didn't see her husband's expression, Lisa could sense by the tone of his voice how the lines on his face deepened.

"Just checking on the coffee. What is that burnt smell in here?"

"Don't you have any coffee in your lonely trailer?"

"Ha!", with two pointed fingers Tim indicated that Jack just hit a good counter argument there, but still answered, "and no."

"Sorry to disappoint you. No coffee here either.", Jack said and moved over to the kitchen table.

"Gotcha! Busy with other things, aren't you two?", Tim winked mischievously.

"I don't even know why you are still here."

"Coffee?"

"I take care of it. Sit down you two...", after listening to the men's crude change of words, Lisa decided to lead the tone into another direction and finally turned around.

"Lis', you really don't have-"

"Sit!", she commanded a second time and pushed him onto the stool before she got to work on the coffee machine.

"So, everything back to good in love paradies?", Tim kept teasing, sat down as well and took a red apple from the fruit basket that rested nicely decorated on the round kitchen table.

Although Jack had always disapproved of the other man's comfortable and ingratiating behavior in his house, he also got used to it over the many years. So the red apple was put on the terrible long list of things that one day he would make Tim pay back.

"You know what, yes it is. Better than yours. Oh wait, I forgot, you don't even have a love paradies.", Jack answered dryly instead.

"Okay, that's enough.", a suppressed laugh emerged from behind "You two sure you want to spend the rest of the day out there together?"

Lisa approached them now as the coffee machine was filling the background noises with gurgling sounds of brewing.

"I'd rather spend the day in here.", Jack grumbled under his breath.

"Seriously Lisa, how do you manage to live with that grumpy old man?"

"Oh, he isn't grumpy when I'm around.", she said with a flattering voice as she slid her arm around Jack's neck and and fell against his side.

"Yeah, I could see that."

She laughed lightheartedly and squeezed her husband's shoulder as he rolled his eyes and shook his head, finally giving up to counter Tim's teasing.

"Do all of us a favor: try to be home more often then.", Tim simply said and took a good bite from his apple.

That was exactly what she was planning on doing. The men's conversation had been a good resemblance of the grumpy mood Jack must have been in during the time she was gone. She wasn't entirely innocent with her decision to leave for Istanbul. Tim was right, Jack needed her, even though he would never stand in the way of her travel plans. This time she had experienced this given freedom in her marriage in a bad way. Almost the worst way which definitely gave her a lesson for life. The question about importance stood between her travels and the marriage to Jack. It has always been this question, yet this time the answer shifted. Saying goodbye to him had never been any easy, but it would get a lot harder in the future. It was time to seriously rethink her priorities.

Sensing that Lisa was lost in thoughts about the matter, Jack patted her hand sympathetically and was able to put a smile upon her lips. A concerned smile.