8
Thanks for the reviews guys! Not as many as I'd hoped for though… does that mean that no ones longer interested in this story? :sniff: :wipes away tears: Thank you to all who read/reviewed the last one though, it means a lot that some people are still reading.
This chapter may not seem like much, but my beta reader and I think it's necessary. I hope you all agree. Anyway, here it is. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and review it.
--
Jake was sat on the floor of the living room, his eyes wide with fascination as he watched the small Thomas train race its way around the track. A small smile played at his lips as the train made its way across the bridge.
"Good call on the train set Jack," said Jacob as they watched the little boy stare in wonder at it.
"Thanks, thought he would like it," Jack smiled, proud he had done something right.
They continued to watch Jake for a few more minutes before Jack had to ask the question that had been on his mind for the past few days.
"Jacob, what's with his name?" he blurted out.
"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, confused.
"He gets called Jake, which I'm assuming is short for Jacob. Sam told me that was his middle name," Jack explained.
"Your right, Jacob is his middle name. Charlie is his first," Jacob surmised. "When he was born, Sam decided she wanted to name him after me - for some reason. She told me, eventually she would tell you about him, and wanted to honour your first son and have Charlie as his first name.
"Mark knew she had been raped, he figured that much out on his own. When he found out she knew who it was and that she worked with you, well lets just say I had to hold him back from getting on the next plane here. He's always been protective of his 'baby sister'.
"I don't know how, but he managed to find out that your first son had died in an accident and that his name was Charlie. He put two and two together and told Sam that there was no way he was going to call his nephew by his first name. He was known as Baby Jake from then on.
"Jake knows his name is Charlie Jacob, and answers to whatever he's spoken to as. He'll answer to Charlie, Jacob, Jake, Jay, and CJ," Jacob stood up as he ended the last sentence. "I'll be right back."
Jack nodded as he took everything that Jacob had said in. Sam's entire family knew he had raped her, and her brother had even tried to get to him. He didn't notice Jacob was back beside him until a piece of paper was held in front of his face.
"What's this?" Jack asked, taking the paper from Jacob's hands.
"Jakes birth certificate," the older man replied.
Jack held the piece of paper in both hands and really looked at it. He read the part about the parents and saw that he was on it. He knew Sam had probably put him on it and not just unknown or left blank, but to actually see it written down was something else.
His mouth fell open when he read and re-read Jake's details over and over again.
"He's an O'Neill?" Jack eventually stammered out, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.
"Why wouldn't he be?" Jacob laughed.
"I just thought he would be a Carter…"
"Nope, Sam thought it would be best if he was an O'Neill from the start so she wouldn't have to change it later."
"Change it?"
"She was considering having him a Carter, but she knew one day she would tell you about him. She thought you'd want him to have your name, so instead of changing it later on she just put it down as O'Neill," Jacob explained.
"Bet Mark wasn't happy with that one," Jack mused.
"No he wasn't, he tried to get her to change it but Sam wasn't having any of it. Eventually she turned round to him and said 'Mark he's my child, not yours. I'll call him what I want, not what you say he should be.' That shut him up for a while," he reminisced.
"I really need to make things up to her Jacob, how do I do that?" Jack asked as he looked at his son who was still playing with his new train set.
"As long as he's happy, I think that's all she wants right now."
--
It was just after 6pm when Sam pulled up into the drive. She sighed as she rested her head on the steering wheel, it had been a long day. She couldn't help but worry about her son. Although she knew perfectly well that he would be well looked after, a little voice at the back of her mind kept nagging her.
'You shouldn't have left your son with him, who knows what will have happened,' it taunted.
'He'll be fine. He's with my dad too, nothing bad will have happened, everything will be fine,' she argued with it.
'You can't know that. It could've gone horribly wrong, Jake could be in pain. A lot of pain. And it's all your fault for leaving him,' it said, making her feel incredibly guilty.
With speed she didn't know she had, Sam was out of the car and in the door within seconds. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the telltale sound of her son laughing. He was okay. He was happy.
She took off her coat and hung it up on the peg beside the door and kicked off her shoes. After picking up her bag Sam made her way into the living room and saw all three of 'boys' sitting on the floor re-arranging the blue track then setting Thomas back down and watch him race round the track once again.
She watched as a huge grin appeared on Jake's face as the train started moving and followed the new track.
"Mummy! You is home!" he cheered as he caught sight of her standing in the doorway watching.
"I am baby, are you feeling better?" she asked as he ran into her arms.
"Jake feel loads better mummy! Daddy buy'd'ed Jake a present mummy! Look! Is Thomas!" he pointed towards the train set and the little tank engine zooming round the track.
"I see that baby, that was very nice of daddy, wasn't it?" Jake nodded. "Did you say thank you?"
Jake sat still in his mothers arms for a few moments before gasping and putting his hands over his mouth and struggling to get down. Once he was set down on the floor once again he ran over to Jack and threw his arms tightly around his fathers neck.
"Thank you daddy! Thank daddy for Thomas! Jake love Thomas!" he shouted in Jack's ear.
"That's alright squirt," Jack laughed, he honestly didn't know where the kid got all his energy, especially after being so ill.
--
Jack opened his front door and walked in. His house seemed so empty and quiet compared to the one he had just left. Sighing he walked over to the TV and put it on, hoping the noise emitting from it would help him.
Nope. Nothing. Still not noisy enough.
God, he couldn't do this.
He needed his son around him. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so at peace and happy, so full of energy. His life now had meaning again. How he was going to survive not having his son around him for so long, he didn't know. He knew he was going to struggle.
Looking around the room, he tried to look for ideas on what to do. Nothing caught his eye. The TV wasn't holding his attention, he very much doubted a book would, magazines wouldn't do either.
His gaze fell upon the phone. He would have to do that sooner or later. He figured sooner would be better in the long run.
He sighed as he walked over to it. Picking it up he looked at it as though it should be telling him what to do. Taking the plunge he dialled the still familiar number and put it to his ear. It started to ring.
"Hello?" a male voice answered, one he didn't recognise.
"Hello, is Sara there?" Jack asked, not knowing what to expect.
"Yeah I'll get her. Who's calling?" the voice asked, not overly impressed another male was calling.
"Jack," he answered.
He heard someone putting their hand over the bottom of the phone and some mumbling in the background, before hearing a voice he did know shout "Sara, that ex-husband of yours is on the phone!"
Jack chuckled at his ex-father-in-laws approach and a few stammers from the other male.
"Jack?" Sara asked, her breathing ever so slightly laboured after running to grab the phone off whoever was holding it.
"Hi Sara, is this a bad time?" he asked.
"Um yeah. Is everything okay? Are you alright?" she sounded worried.
"I need to talk to you about something. It's really important. I thought you should be the first to know."
"Oh God Jack, what's happened? You're not hurt or sick are you? Don't move! I'll be right over!" her voice full of panic.
"Woah woah woah Sara! Calm down! I'm fine, seriously!" Jack tried to calm his ex-wife.
"I don't understand, what's happening?" she asked, confused.
"I don't want to tell you over the phone, I need to say it face to face. Meet me tomorrow?"
"Sure Jack, where about?" her voice returning to normal.
"The park? The one with all the swings and slides near the river? Around eleven?"
"Sure, I'll be there, I'll see you tomorrow Jack."
"Bye Sara, thank you," he smiled.
"Bye Jack," she replied before hanging up the phone.
Jack put the phone back on the cradle and walked over to the sofa and lay down. Tomorrow he would have to tell his ex-wife about his new son. He wondered how she would take it.
--
Jack was sat on the park bench watching his son playing with the other children when he felt her approach. He looked to his left and smiled at her as she sat down next to him.
"Hi Jack," she said, confused as to why she was at a park filled with children with her ex-husband.
"Hi Sara," he replied as he turned around to face her, gently pulling her into a hug. "Thanks for coming."
"Jack what's going on? What was so important that you couldn't tell me over the phone?" she asked as they pulled back from one another.
"I didn't interrupt anything last night, did I?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Yes, you did, but it's fine."
"Who answered the phone?" he asked, curious.
"That was Mike, the guy I'm seeing. It's going really well," she said, unsure about how much she should tell him.
"Good, I'm really happy for you."
"Thank you Jack. Now back to the matter at hand. What was so important?" she asked as she took his hands in hers.
"Sara this is really important, I really need you to know, it's the least you deserve."
"Jack?"
This was it, he knew there was no way out of it now. She was probably dying to know why he had brought her here, to a park full of children. The same park they used to bring Charlie to when he was young.
"You see that boy on the slide over there? The one with the brown hair and blue jacket?" he pointed to the child he meant.
"Yeah, what about him?" her curiosity peeked.
"That's my son Sara."
