A/N: This chapter is more of a filler, than anything and doesn't really answer the question I placed in the back of the previous one. In my plans it was supposed to end in a completely different place, but as I was writing it started to get longer and longer, and this seemed like a good place for a stop. Hope you're going to enjoy it anyway!

The good mood he had after getting out of Sue's apartment didn't have a chance to last long. He managed to get back to his own place, take a shower, sleep for a rather short time until he was awakened by the sound of the ringing phone. Partially conscious, he reached to get it and answered it in a sleepy, husky voice, without looking at the screen to check who was so crazy to call him in the middle of the night. The moment he heard his mother's shaking voice on another side his heart sunk; it could only mean that something was wrong and the only question remaining was with who.

It turned out it was his almost ninety years old grandfather, who was taken to the hospital after he had broken his hip, while looking after one of his brother's sons. The man was in a good health, it was better than this of a lot of people, who were younger than him, so babysitting his great grandchildren was nothing unusual for him. They didn't really know how it happened, only that he fell, but the injury was bad enough to require a surgery. Everything would be fine if there weren't any complications during it, but most probably because of his heart - which was the only part of his body to cause him any, even smallest, problems – there were some, quite serious ones. Now the man was in a coma, and the doctors weren't sure if he was going to wake up from it.

He jumped out of the bed and as fast as he could, gathered the most important things and left the apartment to go to the airport. He had no idea when the next flight to Wisconsin was going to be, but he was going to do absolutely everything in his power to get onto it. Jack was always very close to his immediate family, which wasn't really big as his father had only a brother, who he didn't keep a contact with and his mother was an only child. Yet, a connection between him and his mom's father has always been a very strong one, and as long as he was still living at home, he spent most of his time with his grandfather. It was commonly known that as much as his older brother was a true Hudson by any mean, Jack was more of a Mayfield, taking much more after his mother's side than his father's, and was the apple of Samuel Mayfield's eye. And even though he knew that one day it will happen, even the thought of possibility of losing his grandfather made Jack sick.

The first plane was leaving at six in the morning, and was going via Chicago, but there was no direct flight from DC to Milwaukee and it was the fastest one. What mattered to him was to get to Wisconsin as early as possible, so he didn't hesitate a moment to buy a ticket, when the woman told him that tickets for it were still available. As he waited, he sent a text message to his mother when he'll arrive and then his first thought was to call Sue. He even reached for his cell phone, when his eyes landed on the clock in front of him. He couldn't call her at such an early hour! Yes, she was a morning person, but there was no way she'd be awake so early especially that it was Saturday and she didn't have any reason to wake up early other than Emily, and it was not likely for their daughter to be out of bed before nine. He'll have to wait and call her later, to inform her about the whole situation, because he didn't want to risk that she'll assume he didn't come because he didn't want to. He didn't think she'd do it, he was pretty sure she'll think something happened, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

Finally the boarding started and he was one of the first people in the queue, impatient to get onto the first plane. Thanks to the stress, there was no way he was going to sleep during the flight and even though it wasn't taking a full hour to get to Chicago, he felt like ages has passed since he sat in the seat. But then he was at least moving; almost an hour of waiting there was much worse to bear. Finally, half past eight in the morning he landed in Milwaukee and some time later he looked around the arrivals hall. His mother texted him that someone will pick him up at the airport, but he couldn't see any familiar face.

"Jack, over here!" he heard and turned around.

He noticed a woman, standing among the people waiting for others, waving to him and at first he didn't recognized her. Only when he came closer, he realised it was nobody else but his sister-in-law; the last time he saw her she was slimmer and had blonde hair instead of red, but it was definitely Caroline.

"My goodness, Jack! You haven't changed a bit! It's good to see you!" they exchanged a hug, and then started walking towards the woman's car. "I guess you want to go directly to the hospital, right?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

It wasn't the shortest of rides, and most of it Jack spent on answering Caroline's questions. He was in no mood for talking, and being a very inquiring human being, his brother's wife asked more than a few, which he decided to leave unanswered. He could only be glad that she didn't push him, the last thing he wanted was to shout at her. Even though she didn't show it so much, she was very concerned about Samuel, she just wanted him to focus on something else. Finally the silence fell between them and Jack decided it was a good time to try to call Sue without risking to wake her up, but the call was directed straight to the woman's voicemail. He tried once again, and one more time, but it was all the same, so instead he wrote her a text message that he couldn't come and to call him when she read it.

"How are Timothy and the boys?" he asked, when the silence started to be a little uncomfortable.

"They're great. Tim has just found his new obsession, which is paragliding and I can't wait for him to find something else. I mean, it's better than skydiving, but still gives me goose bumps. Tyler is nine and a star of his baseball team, Brian just turned five and of course, wants to do everything his older brother do, and little Xavier was born three months ago."

"Oh, really? Congratulations!"

They finally arrived at the hospital and Caroline led Jack to the room, where his grandfather was lying. The corridor was empty, but he noticed his mother sitting at the man's side.

"They must have gone home. The doctors said that only one person can be with him at a time, so now that he's somewhat stable there's no need for everyone to be here. I should probably go home, too, Xavier is going to be fussy..."

"Sure, go. I'll stay here with mom."

"Call us if something changes, we'll come later."

He watched Caroline walk down the corridor, to the elevator and then moved to the partially open door. He gently knocked, not wanting to scare his mother, and the woman turned around immediately when the sound reached her ears. He could see that her eyes were red and puffy, and she must have been crying, as well as not sleeping most of the night. She stood up from the chair and walked to her son, wrapping her arms around him as she reached him. He hugged her tightly, and feeling that she started sobbing again, didn't let go of her only held her, trying to comfort her.

"I really thought you'll come under happier circumstances, Jack..." she said, when she moved away from him a little.

"Yeah, me too."

"The doctors say that he's stable, but they can't give us any assurance that he'll be fine... His heart and his age are definitely not the advantages in this situation..."

"Let's hope for the best, Mom. Can I go inside?"

"Of course, you can! He'd be so happy to see you here..!" she added after a moment and her voice broke.

Only when he made sure she's going to be fine standing there by herself, Jack slowly went inside the room. It would be completely silent if not for the sound making by all the machines the man was connected to. As he approached the bed, the first thing Jack noticed was just how pale his grandfather was in comparison to his usual look. He could feel the lump forming in his throat as he was looking at him, fighting the tears. It was so painful to watch the man in such a state, and soon he wasn't able to stop it any longer, and let the tears flow down his cheeks. Oh how he regretted he decided not to come to Wisconsin after returning, that he thought it was better to stay in DC and fight for Sue and Emily. They were, of course, very important but he shouldn't have been focused so solely on the two of them! And now, as he was sitting in the chair, he couldn't stop reproaching himself; he didn't even want to think that Samuel wasn't going to wake up from his coma, and he'll never going to have a chance to spend some time with him again.

It took them some persuading, but they were able to convince doctors to allow the two of them to stay in the room, and when Jack's father and brother later arrived, they found them both seated at each side of the bed. It wasn't easy, but eventually they agreed to go home and take some rest and together they left the building. Jack tried, for who knew what time that day, call Sue but got no results. He made a mental note to call Bobby later and ask him to go to her in the morning, and drove home with his mother. As they arrived in his hometown, he could see that not much has changed there since the last time he visited. It wasn't very surprising, the life there wasn't very dynamic and for some it would be even horribly boring, but he has always felt a sentiment towards the place. The peace present there was something he always missed in DC, and the truth was that one day in the future he hoped to return and live there, or at least in a similar town.

"Uncle Jack!" he heard, when he stepped into the house and heard footsteps coming in his direction.

Soon, his oldest nephew was hugging him tightly and Jack couldn't get over the fact how much the boy has grew and changed. Only when Tyler moved away, he noticed Brian, standing in the door to the living room and watching him carefully. He wasn't surprised that the boy didn't remember him, the last time he saw him was when he was a little over two years old. It took him just a few sentences to get a big grin from the boy and a small hug and he noticed that Caroline was looking at him with amazement in her eyes.

"I have no idea what you whispered to him, but it seems to work miracles! He's never like this with anyone!" she said and looked at Xavier, who was in her arms and staring at Jack curiously.

"Hi Xavier." he said, reaching out his hand and taking the little boy's hand gently shaking it, smiling as it only made the child's look more curious.

It was quickly clear that the youngest Hudson liked his uncle, and Caroline was lost in admiration towards Jack. She has never seen her children so easily opening to someone, and with him it seemed to come naturally.

"One day, when you decide to have children, you're going to be a really amazing dad!" she told him and he looked at her with a surprise in his eyes.

She was visibly taken aback by the way he was staring at her, at the confusion in his eyes. Jack, however, didn't know how to understand her words. Was it possible, that they had absolutely no idea about Emily? Could Sue do such a thing and keep her away from his family? He has never thought she would do it, but he also had to admit that it wouldn't be so incomprehensible. After all, she has never met any member of his family, and could not feel comfortable with the idea of coming here, to tell a group of people she completely didn't know that she was his wife, and her child was his as well.

"Umm... I actually do have a child... A daughter, Emily... She's turning two next week..."

It was his mother's and sister-in-law's turn to stare at him in disbelief.