Chapter 3 of 3 today … don't miss Ch 48 and Ch 49.

To the readers: Thank you to all of those people who spend the time to leave a review, especially the regulars (you know who you are!). I realise sometimes you might not like the way the story is heading but I appreciate the support and positivity that is generally in all of your comments.

(7/10/2018)

CHAPTER 50

After Jack assuring Shane that everything was okay between him and Elizabeth, the camping trip plans were set to go ahead on Friday afternoon.

On Thursday afternoon, Elizabeth came home from work and was in the garage, trying to pack all of their camping gear into the car. She had their tent, inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags all in. Shane and Katy were taking all the cooking gear as they had a trailer so at least she didn't have to worry about that.

"Elizabeth!" Jack called out.

"In here!" she yelled back.

"What are you doing?"

"Packing all the camping gear."

"When are we leaving?"

"Viola is going to meet me at school with Eve and she will take Oscar home and then I can swing past the base and pick you up. Should save us about twenty minutes that way."

"Okay. What do you need me to do?"

"You need to pack some clothes for yourself. I did the girls bags last night." With that Elizabeth put each of the girls' bags in the car. "I'll be up in a moment to give you a hand."

"Okay" he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek as he went.

Elizabeth looked over everything, hoping she wasn't forgetting anything obvious. Viola was going to mind Rip for the weekend, so she had to bag up some food for him for the morning before she forgot.

By the time she made it upstairs she collapsed on the bed.

"What have you packed?" she asked Jack.

Jack showed her everything in the pile he had pulled together. She made a few suggestions from her spot on the bed and then he threw it all into his rucksack.

"Have you packed your own things yet?" he asked.

"No, I'm always last and then I forget all my own stuff anyway" she said with a laugh.

"Are you looking forward to it?"

"Honestly it's all a bit daunting until we're driving up there. Once the trees surround the car and then we stop down by the lake, only then do I feel calm about the whole thing. The rest of the time I'm trying to remember what I've forgotten."

"Well thank you. I know I'm not much help with this kind of thing at the moment."

"You're welcome."

"How about I organise some dinner and that will leave you time to do some packing?"

"That would be great."

When they drove through the trees on the edge of the camping ground the following afternoon, Elizabeth could finally relax.

The girls were overly excited in the back seat and couldn't wait to see their friends. When they pulled up, Shane and Katy had arrived only ten minutes before them.

The men set to work putting up the tents with the kids help. Thankfully the weather report was clear skies for the weekend and there weren't too many people around so they had their pick of sites.

An hour later, the tents were set up and the kids had all excitedly claimed their spots. The five girls ran around playing hide and seek. Philip was with Shane and Jack as they picked up sticks for the fire.

"So Shane told me what happened last weekend" Katy said from where she and Elizabeth were preparing dinner.

"Oh yeah."

"He actually called me on Saturday night frantic because he couldn't find Jack."

"Really?"

"Uh huh."

"Jack said he left his phone in the hotel room. Did Shane tell you what happened?"

"Yes, you are a much more understanding woman than I am, Elizabeth. I hate tattoos."

"I know. I normally do, but I honestly thought it was something worse, so a tattoo didn't seem that bad. Plus it was quite tasteful, at least I thought so."

"Well, I haven't even been able to see it."

"It's along his shoulder and down his arm. You can just see it poking out of his t-shirt."

"You don't cease to surprise me, Elizabeth" Katy said shaking her head. "This whole thing with Jack's memory, you've just taken it in your stride. A lot of other women wouldn't have handled it as well as you."

"Thank you, Katy." Elizabeth couldn't help the blush that rose in her cheeks.

"I mean it. All of it."

That night they sat around the campfire after dinner toasting marshmallows. Jack was helping Eve and she giggled in delight as she got it all over her face.

Elizabeth sat beside them laughing. "Oh, you're going to be so sticky!"

Gracie and Halley were much more successful, getting most of it in their mouths.

Katy ushered them all to bed ten minutes later. It took a while to get all five girls to calm down and get ready to sleep but Elizabeth soon had her three girls asleep in the room of their tent.

Elizabeth came back to sit beside Jack. Shane had disappeared to check on Phillip.

"They asleep?"

"Yeah" Elizabeth said as she moved into Jack's side.

"So I've been thinking about your stories."

"Mmm."

"Did I make it back for Gracie's birth?"

Elizabeth laughed. "You tried your best."

Six years and seven months before … (March 2012)

Jack and Elizabeth's second baby had been due at the end of April. Elizabeth was still working two days a week coming into March and Jack was still due to be deployed until the end of April – within a day of Elizabeth's due date. Her doctor, however, was expecting another early birth not for any other reason than because Halley was born early.

Elizabeth had Charlotte and Katy on standby in case she went into labour. Katy lived on base only three houses down the road so at least she was close.

Elizabeth appeared confident on the outside but on the inside she was terrified that she was going to go into labour in the middle of the night and be totally alone. Luckily, it was the total opposite.

She was doing morning assembly at school exactly four weeks before her due date and her waters broke. Right there. On the stage. In front of 500 students and many of their parents. She froze midsentence before she turned to Molly, the principal who was standing on the stage to present the awards.

"I have to go" she blurted out.

Molly looked at her strangely and then realised what was happening and then it was chaos. Molly helped her off stage and there were teachers running all over the place trying to clear a path for Elizabeth to get out. They all knew how fast Halley had arrived and they were terrified that Elizabeth was going to deliver right there in the school auditorium. By the time Elizabeth got to the front of the school, there was an ambulance waiting and she was whisked off to the hospital.

Secretly, Elizabeth was glad. She wasn't alone when it all happened. But now she was laying down in an ambulance on her own instead.

When she arrived at the hospital, the contractions were regular, although not terribly painful.

"What's your husband's number? We'll call him."

"You can't. He's in the military. He's deployed."

A look passed between the nurses. "Is there someone else we can call?"

"No. I'll be okay."

When they got her into her room and she was relatively comfortable, she pulled her phone out and tried Skyping Jack but he didn't answer. So she sent a text instead.

E: I'm at the hospital. Baby is coming. I love you.

She texted Katy to let her know and then she waited. The contractions were regular but were not speeding up and so she stayed like that.

After a few hours of laying down though, she had to get up and move around. Walking to the bathroom and back made her feel better and so she stayed standing. The contractions began to speed up again.

"You were all alone?"

"Yes, well my parents were away on holidays and I didn't particularly want your Mom in the room with me. It was fine."

"It doesn't sound fine."

"If you weren't there, no one else would have been a good substitute. You were all I wanted."

Unfortunately though, as the delivery progressed, the baby began getting stressed. Elizabeth had to rest back down on the bed and they had additional monitors placed on her.

"Mrs Thornton, we will have to give you an epidural now. If the baby gets further stressed, we need to be ready to go in and get the baby out as fast as possible."

Elizabeth agreed but as soon as the epidural was in the contractions slowed down again. She was beginning to tire and was becoming bored with being in the room on her own. She would actually welcome company now. Any company.

Katy texted her, letting her know that she had Halley.

K: Are you okay?

E: Yeah. They're worried about the baby though. Might be getting too stressed.

K: What will they do?

E: Emergency caesarean if it gets too upset.

K: Is there anything I can do?

E: Can you try and get a hold of Shane and tell him? I tried Jack. No answer.

K: Yes.

Katy and Shane walked back over to the campfire at that moment.

"What are you two talking about?"

"I was just filling Jack in on Gracie's arrival."

Shane laughed loudly. "That one goes down in the record books."

Katy was laughing too. "It was crazy at the time."

"Shane and Katy can fill you in on what happened on your end."

They nodded and continued.

Almost the second that Jack had heard about his deployment, he was doing everything in his power to try and get home early enough. With the threat of early labour, he had requested a month reduction in his time. Normally they wouldn't have allowed it but since this was Jack's third deployment, they took it under consideration.

Jack got the go ahead but wanted to surprise Elizabeth in person. He was almost home when Elizabeth went into labour. Shane had filled Katy in so when she heard that Elizabeth was in labour, she called Jack repeatedly before he finally answered.

"Jack, it's Katy. Where are you?"

"Boarding the last flight. She's in labour?"

"Yes. Since this morning. How long is the last flight?"

"Four hours. My Mom is picking me up from the airport."

"I hope you make it Jack."

"Me too."

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, things weren't going well for Elizabeth. The nurse was staying with her, monitoring the fetal heart rate. An alarm had gone off and she hadn't left since. After a few more minutes of monitoring, she rushed off to get the doctor. The doctor appeared, checked the readings and made the decision.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Thornton. The baby is too stressed. We're going to have to take you into surgery."

All she could do was nod in agreement. They laid her bed back and wheeled her through to the prep area. Her gown was changed and her hair covered, all the while her stomach was doing backflips from nerves. She had tears in her eyes thinking of both Jack and their unborn baby. They topped up the epidural and wheeled her into the surgery.

At that exact moment, Jack flew into the hospital running straight for the delivery suite. He buzzed the door repeatedly until the midwife answered.

"Elizabeth. Thornton" he said breathlessly.

She took one look at his military uniform and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him toward the surgery. She pulled scrubs out of bays and handed them to him directing him to change.

Jack hurriedly threw the green clothes on before returning and the midwife handed him over to another nurse who took him through the surgery doors.

He looked around wondering what was happening and then he saw Elizabeth's head on the bed. Jack rushed to her side.

Elizabeth looked up to see Jack beside her.

"Jack! You made it" she began to cry now, the stress and nerves overwhelming her.

Just as Jack took her hand, they heard the cries of a newborn.

"It's a girl" the doctor called out.

Jack clung to her, kissing her cheek.

"You basically made it with less than a minute to spare. From the other side of the world. It was unbelievable."

"It sounds incredibly stressful" Jack said laughing.

"Everything just lined up for you. It was all so lucky" Shane added.

"Our daughters have sure made their presence known when they entered this world."

Elizabeth agreed. "Although Eve was a lot less exciting."

"Like our kids. They just came late and slow" Katy added.

They all stared at the fire for a long time.

"This was a good idea, Shane" Jack said, his arm still wrapped tightly around Elizabeth.

"Yes, I missed this when I was away. We normally go in June so when you left, Jack, this is all I could think of. Coming here with Katy and the kids. We always have so much fun here."

They talked for a little longer before Elizabeth let out a big yawn.

"I'm sorry" she said embarrassed.

"Staring at the fire will do that to you" Katy said laughing.

"I think I'm going to call it a night" Elizabeth said, standing.

Immediately, Jack felt her warmth disappear and be replaced by cold air.

"I think we all better. The kids will be up at first light. The fires almost out anyway." Shane moved around it making sure none of the logs would spark.

Everyone said goodnight. Jack followed Elizabeth to their tent. She led him in holding a small torch so that he could see and zipped the tent up behind him.

They fumbled around in the dark, changing their clothes before they slid into their sleeping bags. Laying there listening to the sounds around them, Jack felt a sense of peace.

"I see what you mean about this place" Jack whispered.

"It's calming, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It is."