***Jonathan***
Jonathan and Jack were kept in the room till it was time to leave. Ace and Buck hustled them into the van and drove them to the airport.
They boarded the plane, and Jack and Buck headed to the cockpit while Ace and Jonathan stayed in the cabin.
About halfway through, Buck came out of the cockpit.
"Jack says he needs you in the cockpit, something about your plane isn't working right".
Jonathan got up and headed in there.
"Hey. I have an idea. What if I call for police to be at the airport when we land?"
"Ace has 2 guns on him, I think that's too risky. As soon as he knows they're out there, he could kill all of us".
"And we can't call in a fake flight plan, because the FAA will fine us about $35,000 a piece and that's on the low end. But we have to think of something".
"I could always do a distress call and land us in a field near the airport. Might be a little bumpy, but we could manage".
"I'm fine with that. I can always buy another plane if I need to. The sudden drop in altitude might give me just enough time to knock Ace out".
"Ok. Just trust me".
Jonathan stepped back into the cabin of the plane.
"Everything ok?"
"Yes, everything is fine".
Ace was sitting with his two guns right next to him.
Buck got up and headed back to the cockpit, with his gun in his hands.
Jonathan put on his seatbelt and began to mentally prepare himself for what he knew was coming.
***Jennifer***
Jennifer and Jessalynn were sound asleep, when her alarms started going off. Jennifer sat straight up and hit the button for the nurse.
"It's ok, princess. Mommy's here."
The nurses came in and adjusted some of her meds, and determined that her fever had spiked again.
After a few minutes, they got her back to a normal range on all of her monitors.
Jennifer sat up and rubbed her back and sang to her for about half an hour.
"Come on princess…you can beat this. You're a fighter, just like your mama".
After about an hour of just sitting and staring at her daughter, Jennifer finally laid back down and went to sleep.
***Jonathan***
It was just before dawn. Jonathan and Jack were still on the plane with the kidnappers. Jonathan could tell Jack was circling, trying to burn off fuel.
Jack came over the intercom.
"We are due to land in about 20 minutes".
Jonathan buzzed back.
"Thank you".
He sat there plotting his plan of attack, and trying to figure out when the best time to strike was, and what to strike with.
Just as Ace stood up to go to the bathroom, the plane dropped, causing him to go off balance. Jonathan seized that opportunity to tackle him and knock him out.
It only took a few punches before Ace was unconscious.
Jonathan barely had time to scramble to his seat and put his seatbelt on before Jack called out that they were going down.
All he could do was hold on tight, and hope to hell he lived through it to see Jennifer and the kids again.
***Jennifer***
Susan came into their room first thing.
"Morning. How was her night?"
"Fine, I guess. The alarms only went off once".
"That's good. Did they have to do anything?"
"Just some repositioning, I think. They said her fever had spiked again. Can I give her a bath today?"
"Yes, I think that's a good idea. It will probably help her feel better too".
"How long can I hold her today?"
"Well, actually, my goal for this afternoon, is to get her off the breathing tube. And that usually makes them want to be held, so if it goes like I think it will, you should be able to do that".
"Wonderful. How do we get her to where she needs to be in order to get the tube out?"
"We just have to slowly wean her off the breathing medicine and if she tolerates it well, we can then take the tube out".
Jennifer nodded.
"She's still going to sleep for another couple hours or so. I'll start weaning her when I come back through after I've made all my rounds".
"Thank you".
"Any news from Jonathan?"
"None. I'm trying so hard to not call the police and not freak out, but I just have this feeling in my gut something is happening".
"I'm sure he'll call you as soon as he can. He loves you, and she has him wrapped around her finger already. Listen, if you need a break, we have a program here called Hospital Buddies. Just call #8657 from the hospital phone and ask them to send you a buddy".
"Great, thank you".
Jennifer took a quick shower and washed her hair and tried to feel human again.
She picked up the phone to call the house, but before she could dial, her father came in.
"Morning, sweetheart".
"Hi Pa. Oh, I'm glad to see you".
"How is little miss doing?"
"About the same. Susan said they are going to try and wean her off the breathing medicine this afternoon, and if she does well with that, they will take the breathing tube out. And we are going to get to give her a bath today or tomorrow".
"Well, that's a step in the right direction".
"I think so too. How are things at the house?"
"Very well. I don't think your aunt is ever going to put Jagger down. She might have to move in permanently and I know that would drive you nuts".
"Nonsense. We will be thankful for the help and the company. Any return from your phone calls?"
"Nothing yet, sweetheart."
"Damn! Where could he be?"
Stephen wrapped his arms around her and gave her a long hug.
"If I know my son-in-law, something mechanical has happened and he is doing everything he can to get back home. He isn't the type to just run off and abandon everything he loves, including his wife, kids, and business. He'll be back".
"Pa, you don't think he could be off somewhere having some sort of mid-life crisis, do you?"
"Well, I suppose it's possible, but I think if that were the case, you would have seen the signs of it before he left, sweetheart. But if he is, then we will all deal with it and try to help him through it the best way we can when he comes back".
A few minutes later, Rachel came in.
"I think I know what happened to them".
***Jonathan***
The fuselage was smoking, and everything was dark. Jonathan slowly opened his eyes to figure out that he was lying under pieces of the plane and on top of the ground. He slowly stood up. His shoulder hurt like hell, and his head was throbbing, but otherwise, he was ok. He climbed out and realized that they had landed farther into the woods than they had originally planned.
He used his good arm to pull pieces of the wreckage away in hopes of finding Jack.
He was getting close when he heard a faint "help".
"Hey, I'm here. I'm coming".
He pulled a piece of wreckage off of Jack, and helped him up.
Buck was right next to him in the cockpit, dead.
"What the hell happened?"
"I remember telling him that the landing gear wouldn't go down. I remember telling him to hang on, because it was going to be bumpy. And then he grabbed the wheel, and took us into a nosedive a lot sooner than expected and he wouldn't let go. So, instead of us going down at an angle, we shot down vertically, almost. And then I think we flipped or rolled, I'm not sure which. We aren't anywhere close to LA though".
"Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm all right. Just a slight headache, that's all".
"Well, we better make our way out of these woods".
***Jennifer***
Jennifer and Stephen were in Jessalynn's hospital room, with Rachel.
"What do you think happened to them?"
"I think Jack decided to leave me, so he got Jonathan on the plane and then instead of flying back here, he just kept flying…"
"Rachel, that's ridiculous".
"I agree, Mushy. It doesn't make any sense. First of all, Jack loves you. You are everything to him. Second of all, Jonathan would never agree to that. And third, the plane would run out of gas at some point. Jack doesn't have the means to keep Jonathan away all this time. If Jack wanted to fly off somewhere and start over, Jonathan wouldn't have stopped him, but he sure as hell wouldn't have gone with him either".
"What about the text that you got from Jonathan? It makes sense, Squishy. Why else would he send that?"
"I don't know. But what you are suggesting isn't logistically possible".
"It could be. Who knows the plane better than anyone else? Jack. He could very easily have changed the serial numbers on the plane, he could have painted over the logo, he could do a lot of things."
"Planes aren't something that can just be hidden, Rachel. If my son in law and your fiance did what you are suggesting, there would be witnesses somewhere who would see them, who would have seen the plane, who would have seen something. And I just don't think Jonathan would go along with that. If Jonathan didn't go along with it willingly, that means Jack had to subdue him somehow, and I don't think Jack would do that".
"I just don't know what else to think".
"Mushy…this is hard on me too. This is hard on all of us. But we can't let ourselves think the worst".
"I think I'm going to go to the beach for a while. The waves will help me think".
Jennifer gave her a hug and tried to comfort her, but it was no use.
"I'll call you later. If you talk to your aunt, tell her I'll be there this afternoon".
Jennifer nodded.
Susan came in and started the first round of weaning Jessalynn off the breathing machine.
"In another hour, I'll turn it down some more. Let's see how she tolerates this".
"Thank you".
"Sweetheart, tomorrow, I'm going to have to fly back to Hill Haven to attend to some business. If it goes well, I'll be able to come back at the end of the week".
"I understand".
"Aunt Marnie can stay, if she wishes. I'm sure she will want to, she loves Jagger and she loves helping you".
"I feel horrible that I'm not home to spend time with her".
"Don't you worry about that. She completely understands that you are right where you need to be".
"If you can get her to stay until we can get Jessalynn home, and then maybe for a few days after that, if she's willing, so she and I can visit, I'll buy her return ticket home. First class, whatever she wants".
"I'll pass that along".
Stephen stayed a couple more hours and then told her goodbye before he headed back to the house.
"I love you, thank you for coming".
"I love you too, sweetheart. I'll talk to you soon".
Susan came back in and turned down the settings on Jessalynn's vent once more.
"She's getting there. Her color is starting to come back a little too".
"If we could just get her breathing on her own, and get her daddy back home, everything would be ok".
"One step at a time".
Jennifer tried to get a nap in while Jessalynn was still sleeping.
About an hour later, she woke up when she heard a loud beeping noise.
"What's going on?"
"Jessalynn can't tolerate the lower levels of the medicine just yet. We are turning her vent back up a slight bit. We'll try again tomorrow".
She held it in till she and Jessalynn were alone in the room, and then laid back in the bed and cried.
***Jonathan***
Jonathan and Jack had been walking for a few hours. They were tired, thirsty, and ready to be home.
"I think we are walking in circles. In fact, I know we are. There's the plane wreckage".
They made their way back to the plane wreckage, and started to move some pieces around.
"We know where Buck is. Where is the other one?"
"I'm assuming he's in the wreckage at the end of the plane. I can't lift those pieces though, to look".
There were hundreds of broken tree limbs and branches all around them. Jonathan started gathering them, and putting them in piles.
"Jack, you got a lighter on you?"
"No. But Buck did. I'll see if I can find it".
He made his way to the front of the plane, and felt around in Buck's pockets.
"Here's a nice pile of cash. And here's a nice Rolex watch. And here…bingo. Here's a lighter".
"Perfect. We are going to start a fire".
"Here in the forest?!"
"Yeah. One thing Max taught me as a teenager, was if you ever get lost in the woods, or get stuck somewhere and need help, the number to remember was 3. 3 fires, 3 shots, 3 yells for help. So, we are going to build 3 fires, and hopefully the smoke stacks will attract some attention".
"Well, let's get started".
They got the fires going, and then Jack managed to pull two chairs from the wreckage that were mostly intact for them to sit on.
"Man, my head is really killing me. Maybe I'll just take a nap".
"No, you can't. Not till we get you checked out. I need you to stay with me".
"I'm just so tired…."
"Jack! Stay with me".
Jack's eyes were fluttering for a few seconds, and then closed.
"Damn."
Jonathan started looking around and spied the emergency kit. He quickly ripped it open, and activated the two ice packs. He put one of them on Jacks head, and tied it with some gauze. After wrapping him in a thermal blanket, he put the other ice pack behind his shoulder and leaned back against it.
"Ahhhh".
He had nothing else to do but sit down and wait.
***Willow Pond***
Aunt Marnie and Rachel and Jagger were inside the house.
"He's just been the happiest baby, all day long. Just smiling and smiling".
"He came out of the womb smiling, almost. He's always been such a vigorous eater, and a happy baby".
"Well, I think I'm going to get my gown on. He should be due for a bottle soon. If you want to feed him this one, I'll take the night shift".
"Nonsense. You were here last night by yourself. I'll take tonight. You can rest".
"Sure, whatever".
Neither of them noticed the shadowy figure outside the window, watching their every move.
Silently, the figure slowly turned the doorknob on the back door, as they all three disappeared from the room.
The person was happy to find that it opened, with ease.
"Now it's just a matter of time".