A/N: Thanks for reading and to Fanficfan24 for reviewing. If you've missed it, I've posted Chapters 9 & 10 over the last few days. And be sure to check out my one-shot "Target Practice" under the M rated category too!

Chapter 11

Jack and Audrey were enjoying their dinner together, finally kid free. In the car, Audrey had been her usual self, obsessing over whether Jack Jr. was safe with Kim. Jack could now see what went through Audrey's head whenever their son wasn't with them and couldn't help but smile to himself about how much of a basket-case she was. But, by the time they arrived at the restaurant, Audrey had calmed down and was focused completely on Jack.

Jack laughed as Audrey told a story about their prior friend and coworker, Jen, who had nearly fainted when Audrey had told her she was pregnant.

"I thought for sure she was going to quit her job to be my personal baby protector. She banished coffee from the staff room so that I wouldn't be tempted to have any," Audrey told Jack.

"She must hate that you moved out here," Jack commented, knowing how close Jen and Audrey were.

Audrey shrugged. "Yeah, she came out to visit when Jack was a month old. But, we're both so busy so we don't talk nearly as much. Her kids are thirteen and ten. She's always driving all over the place for sports games. I miss her."

Jack nodded, seeing that Audrey's eyes were getting teary. Jen was her best friend and Jack knew that not talking to her every day must have been a difficult adjustment for both of them. Jack changed the subject, going back to their safe topic of their son.

When Audrey got up to use the bathroom, Jack allowed himself to think about his future with Audrey, like Dr. Trost had suggested. He imagined marrying her, Jack Jr. walking clumsily down the aisle, soon followed by Audrey looking completely breath-taking. Jack let himself be hopeful that this could be his future. Just as that feeling of hope settled over him, however, a crash in the restaurant pulled him from his thoughts.

The crash was a tray of dishes that a waiter had dropped, but in Jack's head, he was back in China. Two men dressed in black clanging open the metal door to his cell. Following these men blindly through the Chinese prison until arriving at a field where Agent Hong stood in the clearing.

"Hey, you okay?" Audrey asked, sitting back at the table. She noticed the sweat on Jack's forehead and that he seemed to be staring into space with hollow eyes.

Jack cleared his throat to gain his composure. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

After dinner, Jack and Audrey headed home. As they drove, Jack's phone rang. The caller ID said it was Marilyn Bauer.

"Your sister in law?" Audrey asked.

"Yeah," Jack said, confused as to why she would be calling at this time on a Friday night. He pressed a button on his phone to forward her call to voicemail, having promised himself that he would be 100% focused on Audrey tonight.

But, when his phone rang out again, he became worried and Audrey told him he should answer it.

"Jack, Josh is missing!" Marilyn exclaimed as soon as he answered. Her voice was frantic. "He was in his room and when I called him down for dinner he didn't come and so I went upstairs and he's gone."

"Okay, Marilyn, calm down," Jack said, gently, unable to understand most of what she was saying. "When did you last see him?"

"Around four," she cried.

"Could he have gone to a friend's house?" Jack asked, but he already knew where Marilyn's mind was at. That Phillip Bauer had returned and taken Josh.

"I called all of his friend's parents," Marilyn insisted. "His phone and wallet are still in his room. Jack, please help me. I know Phillip took him."

Jack looked at Audrey who looked concerned. He felt bad that their date was about to be ruined. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

Jack hung up the phone and looked at Audrey again.

"Your nephew is missing?" Audrey asked.

Jack nodded. "I'll drop you off at home."

"No," Audrey insisted. "I want to help."

Jack thanked her and sped off to Marilyn's house. When they arrived, Marilyn threw herself into Jack who hugged her and assured her that it would be alright. Audrey glared for a moment, finding that the hug was a bit strange. She never realized that Jack was that close to his family. She shook it off and remembered that Marilyn was just very emotional because of her son right now. She was looking for comfort.

Jack barely introduced Audrey and Marilyn to each other before rushing upstairs to Josh's room. He looked around seeing how Josh's wallet and phone were still on the desk and the window wide open.

"No sign of a struggle," Jack told Marilyn. Jack looked at Josh's computer. "Can you unlock it?"

Marilyn typed in the code. One of the windows open on his computer was for directions to Eastside Cemetery, where Graem had been buried. The other was for a bus ticket.

"He went to the cemetery," Jack said.

"Why would he go there?"

"To see Graem," Jack reasoned, making his way back downstairs.

"But, why?" Marilyn questioned. Audrey followed along, unsure as to how Marilyn could seem so confused by the prospect of her son going to see his dad's grave.

"I know he was not a good guy," Jack reminded her. "But, he was Josh's dad. He still means something to him."

Marilyn nodded. It was hard for her to remember sometimes that he was a good dad to Josh most times.

"I'll go pick him up," Jack told her.

"I'll come," Marilyn said.

"No, I want to go alone. See if he'll talk to me," Jack explained. "Stay here in case he's already on his way back and call me if he gets back."

Marilyn nodded and Audrey stood there, not knowing if she should stay or go with Jack. Jack was already in the car and driving off so Audrey stayed.

"You think I'm terrible for thinking so little of Graem," Marilyn said to Audrey as she invited her to sit in the living room.

"I've heard what he's done, so no," Audrey told her. It was more so the lack of sensitivity towards Josh's feelings about his dad. Obviously she had nothing good to say about Graem which probably hurt Josh who didn't see his dad as a complete monster.

"If it weren't for Josh, I would have been out of that marriage years ago," Marilyn reflected.

"He must have been good at one point though," Audrey said, trying to get her to remember something positive about Graem, for Josh's sake. "Why were you with him in the first place?"

"Because I figured growing up in the same household would make both Bauer boys comparable. Guess I was wrong."

Audrey fidgeted uncomfortably. Was she admitting that she had a thing for Jack? Or at least did back when she started dating Graem?

"Graem got too much of Phillip," Marilyn continued, not noticing or perhaps not caring that Audrey was unsettled by her last comment. "Jack was - is - so different. I don't know how he came out so good."

"How long have you known Jack?" Audrey questioned.

"I moved down the street from the Bauer family in high school. Jack and I were in the same grade."

"When did you start dating Graem?" Audrey asked.

"Not until after graduation," Marilyn said. "Jack left and married Teri, and I thought Graem was a good idea."

Audrey's stomach churned. She didn't know why she felt so jealous. Who cared if Jack had dated Marilyn in high school? It had been decades since then. But, the pit in her stomach was still there. Marilyn obviously had never let it go. And, Audrey replayed Jack and Marilyn's interaction in her head. Had he lingered in the hug a little too long? Had he looked at Marilyn with longing? She tried to shake it off.

Jack found Josh sitting next to the Bauer headstone in the cemetery, aimlessly picking at the grass in the darkness.

"It's getting a bit late," Jack said, breaking the silence.

Josh looked up and then back at the grass, not surprised to see him there. Somehow he knew that someone would come for him eventually.

"I missed the last bus back."

Jack looked at the ground next to Josh. "Can I sit?"

"No, we should go," Josh said sternly.

"I think we should talk first."

Jack made a move to sit but Josh popped up and shoved him away.

"Hey!" Jack said, surprised by Josh's outburst.

"I'm not going to let you sit there and spit on his grave!" Josh said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked.

"I know you hated my dad! I know Mom does. I know that everyone does."

Josh was crying now and Jack wanted to hug him but knew Josh had more to say.

"But, he was my dad. He was a good dad. But, nobody remembers any of the good he did. Just the bad."

Jack nodded in understanding. When someone you loved died, people typically flocked to send condolences, share memories, and cry together. But, when someone was involved in something as heinous as Graem was, nobody was celebrating his life. Everyone was saying good riddance, leaving Josh to grieve on his own. Jack thought for a moment before speaking and chuckled to himself.

"When I was six, I lost my first tooth," Jack remembered. "Everyone at school, my friends and my teacher, told me to put it under my pillow for the tooth fairy. When I got home, I remember telling Graem about my tooth and the tooth fairy and how I was going to save all the money I got from my teeth to buy our butler, Sam, a nice Christmas gift. What I didn't know is that Phillip wasn't the tooth fairy type of dad. But, your dad knew that there was no tooth fairy and that I was going to be disappointed in the morning. He snuck into my room to put money under my pillow. When I found out that the tooth fairy wasn't real, I was confused because at that point, I knew my father never would have gone along with such a childish game. So, when I asked Graem, he denied it at first but eventually I convinced him to admit that he had been the tooth fairy for me all those years. I tried to give him the money back but he refused."

Josh looked at Jack skeptically, wondering if the story was true. He had never heard Jack or his dad talk about their relationship as brothers as kids.

"I know it's hard that everyone is focusing on the bad but you're allowed to focus on the good if that's the way you want to remember him. Nobody is fully evil. When you say he was a good dad, I know that you're telling the truth."

Josh wiped his eyes and hugged Jack. "Thanks Uncle Jack."

"Let's get you home," Jack insisted.