We All Go Down
Summary: Everyone's healing after the Red Eye flight, but none more so than the two women Jack left behind; the woman tangled up in his mess and the woman he was trying to protect. They both have the ability to heal each other or will one let the other go down?
Chapter Three
He sat in the dimly lit apartment that he had called home for the past couple of days. He had been lying low; ditched his credit cards and switched up his cell phone for a burner. He knew how to hide all too well for his liking. Jack waited anxiously for his contact in Miami to get back to him, he had to know how his family was doing; knowing that his boss' men could be sniffing around his family panicked him.
When the shrill ring of his phone filled the quiet, it made him jump. "Well?"
"She was at the doctors, couldn't see what she was carrying to tell you what's wrong with her."
"Abbie's due a vaccination shot soon, it was probably information on that."
"The girls weren't with her. Lisa Reisert approached Emilie, looked like they were arguing."
"Was she the one to approach Emilie?"
"Yeah, but once Emilie realised who she was, she became hostile."
Jack smirked a little and leaned into his chair. "Good girl. Thanks for filling me in. Let me know if any of my boss' men land at the house."
"I'll keep a close eye on them, just you stay hidden."
"I'm planning on it."
Lisa waited anxiously in the cafe, holding a warm cup of coffee between her cold hands. She had so many bad thoughts about how this encounter with Emilie would go; that is if she would even show up, she was already late. The thought of Emilie showing up with Jackson right beside her played in her imagination, even though that was very unlikely.
When the exhausted Emilie finally turned up, hair frazzled and baggy gym clothes on her frame, Lisa breathed a sigh of relief. Emilie sat across from her and gave her a sheepish smile.
"Sorry I'm late, I usually do this yoga class when I'm pregnant, just to stop my back from getting tight and sore."
"No need to explain," Lisa smiled and took a sip of her coffee as she finally started to relax, "I'm just glad you came."
"To be honest, I thought about just avoiding you at all costs but then I realised after my class that I'd be home alone; Jack used to be at home after all my classes when I was pregnant with Abbie." she looked away from Lisa and rested her chin on her hand.
"I'm sure that your husband wants to be with you, especially when you're having his baby. "
"You can say his name, it won't piss me off, I won't cry or anything." Emilie tried her best to put Lisa's mind to rest, she was so tense and rigid.
Lisa shook her head, "I can't say his name yet unless I really have to. It makes what happened seem a little less real."
Emilie watched her every tiny movement and realised how torn Lisa was to be sitting with her; Emilie felt like that too. In Emilie's mind she was betraying Jack and she just knew that he would freak out if he found out. She shook those kinds of thoughts from her head, her healing was important. It was bad for the baby to harbour so much anger and stress.
"Jack doesn't even know that I'm pregnant, I'm sure he misses being with us but with all the prep he had to do for the Keefe plot and then the threat he faced when he failed, I couldn't tell him; he would've stayed and ended up being killed."
"That was really selfless of you." Lisa was sincere, she could tell that the Jackson she knew wasn't the same person Emilie knew; she saw the way she cared for him in her hazel eyes.
"I feel guilty for not telling him. He loves being involved in every aspect of our kids' lives."
"You did a good thing, if the police didn't get him, my dad would've."
"Or his company. The they sit outside our family home every day. The morning after the red eye flight, two men that I know well, as Jack's friends came in to my home when I was taking the kids to school and tossed the place. Worst thing was they waited for me to come home to ask questions, but they couldn't look me in the eye. I also think someone's following me. I don't know if I'm just being paranoid, but I could've swore that I saw the same car parked outside my class that was parked so close to me at the doctors. It's probably just a coincidence or maybe it's just my hormones."
"How do you cope? If I was in your shoes I would go nuts."
"What good would becoming unhinged do? I have to keep a sense of normalcy in the girls' lives."
Hours passed like minutes, Emilie didn't know who needed this more, all she knew was that, the feeling of the weight of the world was taken from her back and it felt amazing. When she got home, a small package was waiting for her on the porch. She took it inside and opened it carefully; anything could've been in there. Inside was a small, black phone and a note.
'Emmy, use this phone if you ever want to contact me, even if it's just to hear my voice because I really want to hear yours. My new number is the only contact saved. Call me when you get this so I know my friend delivered it to the right house. I can't even trust the mailman right now.'
Without hesitation, Emilie rang the only number on the phone and with every dial tone, she got more and more excited to hear Jack's voice.
"Emilie, I didn't expect you to call me so quick. I'm so glad to hear from you." His voice was still raspy, but she could hear that it was healing quickly.
She held back tears, her breathing hitching with every sharp breath. "Jack, I've been so worried about you. Where are you?"
"I can't tell you, just in case someone's listening. Are you alone?"
"Yeah, the girls are at school. God, I miss you so much. The girls have been asking for you non-stop."
"I miss you all too. I'm trying my hardest to make things right with the company, well not directly. I'd never compromise my location." There was a short pause as he cleared his throat delicately. "I've had someone watching over you all, making sure that no one approaches you directly. I know that Martin and Randall were round at the house, checking things over."
"Yeah they were waiting for me when I came back from the school run; the place was upside down by the time I got there."
"Well they got nothing useful, you don't even know where I am."
"That's what I told the two of them."
"My contact also told me that Lisa approached you, are you okay?"
Emilie knew that Jackson had no idea that she was just back from coffee with her or he wouldn't be sounding so sweet on the phone. She wasn't going to tell him what she was doing with Lisa until her cover was blown.
"She heard my name being called out at the doctors and followed me out; the woman is still hysterical."
"Well is everything okay? Why were you at the doctors? Is Abbie or Alex sick?"
"No one is sick. I was actually meaning to tell you this, I was going to tell you the night you left…"
"But I made you stop," he sighed a little, "sorry about that, I just couldn't hesitate…"
"I understand. I don't know how you're going to take this."
"Spit it out, Em. Are you fine?"
"I'm pregnant, Jack. We're having another baby."
Emilie felt like her heart had just fell into her stomach, there was no sound coming from Jackson's end and she was so scared about his reaction. With everything going on for him, not being able to be there and missing out on half of her pregnancy already; it was going to be a hard pill for him to swallow.
"I wasn't expecting you to say that… I don't know how to feel."
"You're happy though, right?" Emilie took a seat before her legs gave out, her knees buckled against each other and the only comfort she had was to pick at the inside of her sleeve.
"Of course, you know that I wanted to have more kids; it's just, this has happened at the worst time. I'm on the run… I can't even be there at your scans." He sounded devastated, she could hear the disappointment in his voice. "I've really fucked up."
"Don't be so hard on yourself. Tell me where you are so that I can find a safe passageway up to you. I desperately want to see you."
"It's far too dangerous… How much time have I got before the baby comes?"
"I'm pretty much halfway through the pregnancy."
"So, I've roughly four months to get myself out of the fire. This is going to be tough, Emmy."
"If anyone can do it, it's you."
He made a grunting noise and tried to think positively. "Is it a boy or a girl? I'm hoping for a boy because I'm seriously outnumbered."
Emilie laughed and ran her hand down the side of her face. "I've no idea, I don't want to find out without you."
"As soon as I put my hands onto that bump of yours, I'll know exactly what we'll be having. I mean, I was right both times with Alex and Abbie."
"I know, I can't wait to hear what you have to say, we'll place bets this time because I think you'll call it wrong."
"I never call it wrong, I've a high success rate at this guessing game."
"We'll see. Jack, I've got to go… I need to get the girls from school."
"That's okay, if the girls want to talk to me, call me. I'd love to talk to them."
"Expect a call before their bedtime."
"I'll set an alarm."
"Stay safe. I love you."
"Love you too, Em."
Jack threw the burner phone onto his bed and leaned back in the chair, placing his hands over his face. Things were starting to get hard for him, but he wouldn't tell Emilie; he didn't want her to stress out. He was a victim to his own thoughts; he was starting to have plenty of dark ones. Loneliness was a killer for him, he was so used to being around his family; tucking his girls in at night, being with his wife constantly and being around people that he thought were more than co-workers. Now, most of them had turned on him like a pack of wild wolves and he was an injured deer.
The only thing he could think of doing was completing the job. Once Keefe was dead then there would be no reason for his boss to keep sending people after him. He'd be able to move on with his life and he'd be there for the birth of his third child. All he had to do was to get his boss to agree to his terms.