Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All rights go to the actors, writers and creators of the show "When Calls The Heart".

(24/8/2018)

CHAPTER 30

Jack drove to the army base the next day to see Frank for another appointment.

"Hi Jack. How did everything turn out on the weekend?"

"Great. Thanks for your help with everything."

"You're welcome. Your wife and daughters are all beautiful Jack. You have a precious family."

"That I do" he said with a smile.

"And back to work next week? Let's discuss your rehabilitation plan for work."

"Okay."

Frank had already discussed Jack's program with Sergeant Major Gowan and the two of them had come up with a tailored, outcome-based set of steps to help Jack return to work.

"On Monday, one of the officers will be showing you around, getting you familiar with everything again, introducing you to people. Then from Tuesday you will join in with fitness training with the rest of the junior officers. After that you will be assigned to sit in on some of the lectures.

"Our aim is to see how much you remember. You will have sessions with me on Tuesdays and Fridays from now on. The aim of next week will be trying to see where you fit in again and then after that, we will put the rehabilitation plan into action.

"Sergeant Cantrell should be back soon afterwards and Gowan thinks that will help you to move back into your position but only time will tell. What do you think?"

"Sounds fine" Jack said.

"What are your biggest concerns or worries about next week?"

"I've gotten used to having Elizabeth with me. I know that sounds weird but she has helped me navigate who everyone is and how I know people for the last five weeks."

"That is what Shane will be there for. He knows you better than anyone."

"I don't even remember him."

"No, but you didn't remember Elizabeth and now you rely on her again. You and Shane are really good friends as well as work mates. The same thing will happen."

Jack nodded, not sure that it would be the same thing. He hadn't remembered Lee either though and things had seemingly fallen back into place with him too. Maybe Frank was right and he just had to give more people a chance.

"I'm also worried about fitting in. I'm a Sergeant right?"

"Yes."

"But I will be back with the junior officers. Men and women a lot younger than me. Starting from the beginning basically."

"Sure."

"So if my memories and training don't come back to me, I will have to start again. Ten years of experience and training only to be back at the beginning again and to what goal? I've been told because of the head trauma I won't be deploying again, so what is the point?"

"Jack, there are so many avenues and roles for you here on base. You could become one of the training officers or move into communications or recruitment. We need to find the right fit for you and that is why I'm here. I help people find where they fit in after an accident."

That made Jack feel a lot better. Maybe there would be a position within the army that someone of his ability would be able to fit into. He could only hope.

As Jack left Frank's office, he heard someone call out to him.

"Hi Jack."

Jack turned around to see Garry O'Donnell approach him. He hadn't seen him since the funeral service a few weeks ago. "Hi Garry."

"How's everything going?"

"Getting there … slowly."

"When are you back?" Garry asked.

"Next week."

"It will be good to have you around again. Hey, a few of us are going out for drinks on Wednesday night. You should come."

Jack felt a bit uncertain but he knew that he had to throw himself back into things eventually.

"Okay, that would be good."

Garry told him the place and time and Jack agreed to meet him there before he said goodbye.

Jack stood there a moment looking around. There were officers everywhere as they were heading for home. Jack saw another couple of people smile and wave to him and he did his best to reciprocate their actions before he hurried to his car.

As Jack drove home, all he could think about was Elizabeth and his girls at home. His safe place. Jack knew he had always been shy but now more than ever he resented that trait. Next week was going to be way out of his comfort zone but it had to be done.

He pulled into the drive and parked out the front before opening the door and walking inside. Jack could hear the girls playing upstairs. He went to the kitchen and stood at the door, watching Elizabeth move gracefully around while she prepared dinner. She glanced up and saw him standing there, a big smile took over her face.

"Jack! How long have you been standing there?" she said as she came to greet him. She pecked him on the cheek.

"Not long."

Elizabeth could tell there was something wrong.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing" he said as he put his arms around her waist and drew her into a hug. She held him tight until he let her go.

"I know you, Jack. Talk to me."

"I'm just worried about next week."

"Fair enough. It's going to be hard. No one said it wouldn't be."

"I know."

Elizabeth kissed him gently before moving back to the stove to pick up a spoon and stir something in a pot.

"I made chilli for you for dinner."

"Really?" he said, smiling at her. Jack loved chilli, he definitely remembered that. Although his mother's chilli was lacking in, well, everything.

Jack moved behind Elizabeth, his hands resting on her hips.

"Do you want to try it?" she asked.

"Yes!"

Elizabeth held up the spoon and he leant over her and tasted it. He didn't remember tasting chilli that good.

"That's amazing!" he said as his hands slid around her and he hugged her from behind, his head resting on her shoulder.

"Well, it is your favourite" she said turning into him and giving him a kiss.

Jack pulled back. "I've been home for weeks and you're only just making it!"

Elizabeth laughed.

"Yes, but the girls don't like it so I've already made them something else for dinner. It should all be ready in about ten minutes. Can you call the girls down from upstairs?"

"Mmm hmm" he said as he kissed her again before leaving the kitchen.

Jack climbed the stairs two at a time and found all three girls had set up a giant cubby house made out of sheets in Jack and Elizabeth's bedroom. He couldn't see where they were but he could hear the giggles.

He climbed down onto his hands and knees and inched forward. Eve began squealing.

"There's a bear coming!"

Jack couldn't even see her. He crawled forward and saw a pile of blankets on the floor moving. He reached out, tickling whoever was underneath. He heard Gracie laughing hysterically. She pulled the blanket off her head and lunged for him, rolling over him and falling onto the side of his chest.

"Hi Daddy."

"Hi Gracie. Where are your sisters?" Jack said, now flat on his back.

"Here" Halley said, crawling toward him and laying on his free shoulder. "Hi Dad."

"Hi sweetie. Where's the little munchkin?" Jack asked as he ran his hand through Halley's long dark hair.

"I'm here. I'm here" Eve squealed as she rushed toward him, finding a spot between her sisters, climbing onto Jack's chest.

"Is this what you've been doing while I was away? Building a cubby?"

"It's a princess' castle, Daddy" Grace replied.

"Oh I see. So all three of you are princesses'?"

"Yes" Eve said.

"So who can I be?"

"You're the king, silly" Halley told him.

Jack could hear Elizabeth calling to him and then he heard her footsteps climbing the stairs.

"Sssh, someone is coming. Hide!" he whispered to them to which they burst into a fit of giggles, before Halley and Gracie scampered away. Jack pulled the blanket over him and Eve.

"Oh my goodness" Elizabeth said as she rounded the corner, probably seeing the mess in their bedroom. "What are you four doing?"

Jack could hear that Elizabeth had knelt down and was crawling toward them.

"There must be a princess around here somewhere …" she said pretending to try and find them. When she got close, Jack flung the blanket off and pulled Elizabeth onto him while Eve laughed beside him.

"You're not a princess! Who are you?" Elizabeth pretended to be shocked.

"This is our King" Halley said crawling toward them. "You are now his prisoner."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. That sounds good to me" Jack said with grin.

"What do I have to do to get out of this prison?"

"You are required to pay the King in kisses" Jack replied. Halley and Grace laughed at Jack's response.

"Oh, I don't know" Elizabeth said laughing.

"I'm sorry, milady, but that is the only way that you can leave."

Elizabeth leant in and kissed Jack on the cheek. "Can I leave now?"

"No."

Elizabeth moved up and kissed Jack on the forehead. "Now?"

"No."

She kissed him on the lips quickly. "Now?"

"What do you think?" he said, giving her a disapproving look.

She leant down and whispered in his ear. "How about I give you the rest of the payment later?"

Jack was definitely happy with that arrangement. "Okay, you can leave now" he said eagerly as Elizabeth laughed.

"Good. Your dinner will probably be burnt now!" Elizabeth said as she crawled back out of their cubby.

The girls ate Spaghetti Bolognese and ended up laughing at Jack for most of the meal. The chilli was so good but Jack ended up having to drink a lot of water to cool his mouth down and the girls thought it was hilarious when his face went the colour of a tomato. Elizabeth managed the chilli just fine.

"Did you put extra chilli in my bowl?" Jack managed to gasp as he watched Elizabeth's calm demeanour.

"I only added chilli flakes to yours because that's how you like it."

"Yeah, maybe I like less chilli next time. I can't feel my tongue anymore."

Elizabeth joined in the chorus of laughter from the girls.

"I feel like you four are ganging up on me. I need a boy in this house to be on my side."

"You have one ... Rip" Elizabeth said with a grin.

Jack just shook his head at her. "You know full well a dog does not count."

"Well that is the only boy you're going to have."

"Is that so?" he said, sniggering as he saw her expression change to one of seriousness.

"Yes" she said with certainty.

Jack cleared up after dinner while Elizabeth took the girls upstairs to get them showered and ready for bed. Jack joined them in Eve's bedroom for story time. Jack sat against the wall, waiting for Eve and Elizabeth. Halley and Gracie were all set either side of him ready to go. The three of them were looking at the pictures in a book.

Eve walked in and immediately began to cry. Elizabeth was behind her.

"Eve, what's wrong?" she said, picking her up and carrying her to the bed.

"Daddy" she wailed. Jack looked up.

"What is it?"

Eve reached for him and Jack had to figure out where he could fit her. Elizabeth sat down and Gracie moved closer to her so there was a spot for Eve between them. Eve curled in to Jack's side and by the time Elizabeth finished reading the book, Eve was fast asleep. Elizabeth took Gracie and Halley to their bedrooms while Jack carefully manoeuvred Eve under the covers.

Jack looked down at his baby girl. She was a beautiful little thing, her curls covering the pillow. He smiled as he bent down to kiss her goodnight. She barely stirred.

Jack left the room, closing the door behind him and went into his and Elizabeth's room and began folding up all the sheets that covered their room. He was only half way through when he felt Elizabeth's arms around his waist.

Jack stopped what he was doing, his hands covering hers.

"Do I get the rest of those kisses now?"

"Maybe" she whispered as he turned into her. Her lips found his straight away.

"Now, that is more like it" he said when she stopped so that they could both breathe.

Jack woke early and although he knew he should go down to the basement and do some exercise, the fact that his wife's bare body was pressed into his side, her arm was draped across his chest and her head was buried into his neck, he decided he'd prefer to stay right where he was. He could feel her soft breath tickling his neck ever so slightly but he didn't care.

Jack was going to miss this. From next week he would need to leave early for work and he knew things wouldn't be quite the same. He absentmindedly began running his fingers through Elizabeth's long hair as he lay there thinking.

"What's wrong Jack?" she asked sleepily.

"Nothing."

"Jack?"

"Just work next week. I'm going to miss this."

"We will just look more forward to the weekends this way" she said as she kissed his neck. "And our holiday. We will have to book some dates in for that Hawaii trip."

"Yes. I am definitely looking forward to that. Seeing you in a bikini every day. Doesn't get much better than that" he said grinning.

Elizabeth moved onto her side, her head perched on her hand. "Well if you feel that way, do you want to go to the lake today?"

"Yes. Without a doubt, yes" he said as he rolled over her, kissing her as he pulled her hands over her head, their hands intertwined.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Jack pulled away and grabbed his t-shirt and boxers off the floor. He threw them on before he walked to the door and looked back at Elizabeth before he opened it.

"Eve!" Jack said excitedly, picking her up. "How did you sleep?"

"Good."

"What do you want for breakfast?" he asked as he walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him and carrying her downstairs.

After pancakes for everyone, they headed off to the lake for the day. They setup in their usual spot on the bank, close to the waters' edge. Elizabeth setup their towels while Jack set the girls up with their buckets in the sand.

Elizabeth had worn a different bikini and if Jack was worried the last one was revealing, she knew this one didn't leave much to the imagination either. As she pulled off her black sundress, she saw Jack looking her up and down in the black bikini that had mesh panelling across the top.

He sauntered back up to her.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Nothing."

"Fine. I see you and I will raise you one" he said as he pulled off his t-shirt revealing his buff upper body. Elizabeth would admit that she liked what she saw. She bit her bottom lip as she watched him. He sat down beside her.

"Don't do that."

"What?"

"That thing you do with your lip" he whispered to her.

"What thing?" she said, doing it again.

Jack leant in and kissed her before pulling away. "Don't be a tease. You know what thing and I will get you back if you keep doing that to me."

"Is that a promise?" she asked in as seductive whisper as she could manage.

"Yes" he said.

No sooner had they set up then the sun disappeared behind the clouds and the wind picked up. Elizabeth watched as the clouds turned darker and more ominous. Jack and the girls had been having running races on the beach.

"Jack, I think we better get ready to go" Elizabeth said as she began to pack up their bags right as the sky opened up above them.

As the rain fell, the girls began screaming and running back to the car, leaving Elizabeth to finish throwing all of their things away. Jack ran up to her and grabbed the car keys, cooler and one of the bags before running to the car as well. Elizabeth picked up the last bag and towel and ran after them.

By the time she got to the car, the girls were inside while she and Jack were getting drenched packing the car. By the time they were done, Elizabeth and Jack had both given up with hurrying. They were drenched through.

Elizabeth and Jack had been in this exact same situation once before. Halley had been just a baby and Charlotte had insisted on looking after her for the afternoon while Elizabeth and Jack got some alone time. It had been this exact time of year, eight years prior.

Jack shut the boot as Elizabeth stepped out of the way and before she moved away he quickly grabbed her, leaning her against the side of the car and kissing her.

"We've done this before, haven't we?" he said, breathing heavily.

"Yeah" she said with a smile.

Jack kissed her again, only this time his hands went to exactly the same place they had been last time. One hand on her hip, the other resting below her jaw, holding her lips to his.

"You remembered …" she whispered.

The rain ran across both their faces, dripping off their noses and chins. Jack leant in and kissed her deeper, as her hands went to the back of his neck, gliding through his wet hair.

"We better get you out of this weather. Don't want you getting sick."

Elizabeth stood there stunned. "You remember that whole day?"

"No, but I remember kissing you in the rain" he said as he opened her door and waited for her to climb in before he went to the driver's seat.

At home, Halley, Gracie and Eve were set up in front of the tv with a movie while Elizabeth and Jack went for a hot shower each.

Jack waited in the bedroom in his dry clothes. He was laying down, his head on his pillow trying to remember everything about that day in the rain some years before.

Jack knew they had at least Halley at that point because he knew they had to get back to pick up a child.

Elizabeth came in all dressed but still towel drying her hair. She sat down next to Jack on the bed.

"What are you thinking about?" she said as she ran her hand through his hair.

"That day. Can you tell me the rest?"

Eight years before … (end July 2010)

After a bit of a tough start with the arrival of Halley, Elizabeth had gotten into a routine. By the time Halley was eight weeks old, Elizabeth still hadn't been without her except for one time she went to the grocery store. Elizabeth found that she was feeling really isolated.

"Lizzy, you have to get out. Find a mothers group and meet up with other moms in the same situation as you."

"I know I just haven't felt comfortable getting out until the last few days."

"That's okay. Why don't I look after Halley on the weekend and you and Jack can go for a walk or something. Just for an hour or so but you can ease into it that way."

Elizabeth was hesitant but she knew Charlotte was right. Elizabeth spoke to Jack and he agreed that it was a good idea.

On the Saturday afternoon, Jack dragged her out of the house away from their daughter. In the car, Elizabeth admitted she felt lost without Halley.

"She will be fine, Beth. We're going to be less than ten minutes away."

Jack drove her down to the lake and Jack took her hand as they walked. Elizabeth was quiet, clearly her mind was on Halley but soon Jack got her talking about other things. Jack pulled her to a seat and they sat watching the water. There was a family playing down by the water.

"Do you think that will be us one day, Jack?"

There was a mother, father and two little girls playing in the sand.

"Sure. Maybe one or two more children though."

"You want three or four kids?"

"Yeah" he said, his arm around her. "Don't you?"

"I don't know anymore. It's all too new right now. I don't really want to think about being pregnant or giving birth again just yet."

"That's understandable."

"I love Halley I just feel … inadequate."

Jack looked down at her but she avoided his eyes.

"Why would you feel like that?"

"I just feel like I'm doing everything wrong."

"Oh Beth. You're doing a brilliant job. Don't feel like that."

Elizabeth could feel the tears welling in her eyes again. Jack kissed her forehead.

"I thought you were feeling better about everything?"

"I have good days and bad days."

"So what's today?"

Elizabeth looked up at him smiling. "So far it's been good" she said, kissing his cheek.

The rain came out of nowhere. Jack grabbed Elizabeth's hand and they ran to the car laughing but halfway there they gave up running. Their clothes were drenched through. The smell of rain was strong and steam was coming up from the footpath.

When they reached the car, Jack lifted the boot door of the car and they sat on the edge of the boot under the shelter of it staring out into the rain. Jack leant in to kiss Elizabeth gently. His lips were warm and wet and the brief kiss left her wanting more. He stood up, stepping in front of her and kissed her again. Her hands pulled him down to her and then her fingers ran through his wet hair.

Jack pulled back. "We better get home."

Elizabeth was surprised at Jack's sudden request. She nodded as she jumped down from her seat in the boot. She stepped back into the rain, her disappointment must have been evident.

Jack grabbed her waist, before leaning her up against the car in the rain. His other hand went to her face, tilting her lips back up to his as he kissed her again. The water ran down both of their faces and she could taste it on his lips.

"I meant we should go home so that we can keep doing this properly" he said with a cheeky grin.

"You should have said so."

"You're not disappointed now?"

Elizabeth shook her head. Jack quickly kissed her again before opening her door. Once she had slid inside, he leant over doing up her seatbelt, all for the opportunity to kiss her again. Elizabeth held his neck tight, not wanting to let go.

When they got home, Charlotte took one look at them and laughed. Halley was still asleep and had remained that way the entire time they had been gone. Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief before heading into their bedroom to get out of her wet clothes. Jack followed her moments later.

"Mom's gone" he said as soon as he came into the room, pulling his wet t-shirt off over his head as he went.

"I will let you imagine what happened next" Elizabeth said with a grin.

Jack pulled her down to him, kissing her again.

Elizabeth made herself comfortable, her head resting on his chest.

"At the time, those days were difficult but now when I look back I wonder why I was so stressed. It definitely got easier with each baby though. The last month feels like it has been a lot more stressful."

Jack's arms were rested around her and he squeezed her in response. He couldn't imagine how hard it would have been if things had been reversed and she had forgotten him.

"I don't really remember anything else of that day. It must have been the smell of the rain or something that brought that part back to me."

Elizabeth thought for a moment. "Yes, it smelt the same today I guess."

"I am truly sorry about the last month Elizabeth."

Elizabeth pulled up, looking down at him. "It wasn't your fault, Jack. You did the best that you could under the circumstances. It could have been a lot worse too."

"I guess you're right."

"At least you can remember some things. Every day you remember something there's progress."

Jack ran his hand through her hair, avoiding her eyes. "Yeah."

"Even if you don't, we have each other again. New memories, right?"

Jack looked back at her. Her bright blue eyes found his. He could see she was happy now by the way they sparkled at him. "I like the sound of that" he said with a grin.