A/N: Another long chapter ;) I can't say I like it, but after who knows how many rewriting I just don't see a way to make it better anymore. So yeah, it's not the best of my chapters, but it just had to be written. Please, don't kill me at the end (I'm saying this especially to you, Fanka, remember what I told you!). I used some French in this chapter, and I admit I completely don't know the language (but I have a reason for using it, I'm going to explain it in future chapters), so I used translator to make those sentences. They're probably full of mistakes and I'm open for correcting them but I'd have to know how at first.
So, here you go, enjoy! And I'll try to give you another update as soon as possible (hopefully around the end of the week).
They were sitting in absolute silence. They didn't exchange one word for a very long time, but they were completely unneeded. Just the presence of the other was enough for both of them, and it seemed to be speaking much more than any of them would be able to transfer to words. The sensation of holding Sue, pressed against his chest, with her arms embracing him, her so familiar scent present all around him was much more soothing that he would even imagine it could be. It made him realise that he really was the biggest idiot of the universe, trying to stay away from her; she didn't make the fear, the scary thoughts go away, but she was making it all easier to bear. She felt really glad as well; her little girl being missing was one horrible painful thing, but Jack's attitude towards her was only adding the pain to it all. The relief she felt at the sight of him was difficult to describe, and she wasn't even able to be angry at him.
"I can't lose her..." he heard her whisper one moment, and tightened his arms around her in response. It was way too dark for her to see his lips even if she would look at him, and neither one was eager to move to lit the light up. It was the only way he could try to let her know, that she shouldn't think this way, even though he perfectly understood that it was easier said than done. "She is my everything... She was the only thing that kept me going after they said you weren't coming back... Only thanks to her I didn't lose it completely, to the consciousness that this little human I was carrying needed me... I thought about her as about a gift from God... He took you away from me, but left at least a part of you inside our daughter... A much bigger part than I could even imagine before she was born... She is so much like you it hurt, but at the same time it was reminding me that you're always going to be with me, with us... And she was such a wonderful, cheerful baby... Even back then she had this amazing ability to make my day better no matter how horribly depressed I felt... She helped me get over this consuming pain, brought the light back to my life... She's the best thing that happened to me..."
She made a pause, when her voice broke and new tears flowed down her cheeks. He tightened his grip on her, caressed her back and swallowed the lump, which formed in his throat; she didn't really talk much about how it looked for her when he was gone, but others did tell him how much she was hurting and he suspected that their little girl played a huge part in helping her pull herself together. But even if it wasn't this way, he had absolutely no doubts that Emily was the most important part of her life. Sue always had a great maternal instinct and he was certain that her own child was at the same time her whole life.
"Her first word was Sparky..." he heard her talk again and looked down at her, shocked. He could tell she was looking at him, and there were tears glistening on her cheeks, but the lack of light really limited what he was able to see. "I guess she picked it from Bobby's nickname for her, Miss Sparky... Whenever he came to us, he always greeted her with "Hello Miss Sparky" and one day after it I noticed everyone in the room freeze... What I took for babbling was in fact her first actual word... Lucy says it sounded more like "spiky", but none of us ever had any doubts what she meant to say... Even back then, she was unconsciously a daddy's girl... But it was also the first time I really wished I could hear... That I could hear her chatter or those simple words she was picking every now and then and repeating... Sometimes she was looking at me and I could see she was trying to tell me something, but it was unintelligible for me... It hurt so much... I still have some problems sometimes, but it's much easier now that she actually talks... She's a little chatterer, I guess that in a way, it helped me learn to understand her and now I don't feel so horrible when she's talking to me..." there was another pause, and then a sob left her mouth. "I want to hold her in my arms, tell her how much I love her... I just want her back with me..."
"She will be, Sue, I promise..." he kissed her forehead, it didn't really matter that she couldn't know what he said, but he felt as if she knew despite this.
Neither one of them knew how much time they actually spent sitting this way. Some time later they were joined by Levi, who decided that he had enough of lying next to the door to Emily's room, and instead got onto the couch on the other side of Sue, placing his head on her lap. Jack only stood up at dawn to go to the kitchen and prepare the coffee; he could feel that his back wasn't really glad for the way he spent the night in, but he didn't care. All what mattered was being with Sue as long as he could, at the same time ridiculously hoping that it wasn't going to be very long because it would mean that the team had a lead. Thanks to this he was very torn, and a few times already reached to his cell phone to call one of them, but decided otherwise. It was very early, they were working the whole night and if they were to discover something, he didn't want to be the reason for anyone to lose focus. He believed they didn't deceive him and were indeed going to call him the moment they had something, and they didn't let him down. It was about eight in the morning when his phone finally rang, waking up the hope in both of them. It showed an unknown number and his heart sank; he didn't remember the number the kidnappers used to call him earlier and his hands started shaking when he touched the "Answer" button. He let out a sigh of relief when it turned out to be Tom.
"I guess you found a lead if you're calling me." he said, looking at Sue, who was watching him carefully. The lack of sleep was clearly visible in her eyes, but at the same time there was this huge, desperate hope inside them. He really wished they had something and they were going to bring Emily back to her, that he was going to do it, and never see her in such a state again.
"Something better than a lead. We believe we found the place where they're being kept and we know that they're alive." Jack's heart jumped. The surprise on his face, the way his eyes widened when the meaning of those words truly reached his mind made Sue stand up and approach him, unable to wait for him to repeat everything to her. "One of your friends went to get you. Well, both of you as I hear your wife is with the FBI as well, and she might be useful in case your little girl was insistent she wants her mommy."
Jack didn't care if there was anything more the man wanted to say, he just finished the conversation. Whatever he had in mind was completely forgotten and he caught Sue's face and kissed her. He had a huge grin on his face, his heart was beating wildly in his chest.
"They've got them?" she asked, her hands curling into fists holding the material of his shirt, wanting to make sure he wasn't going to walk away or turn around before he answers her.
"They know they're alive and where they are! We're going to get them."
Before she was able to respond he gestured to the door and few moments later they were already sitting with Myles and Bobby in the car. As it turned out, they convinced Manning to go home at one moment as well on the condition that he'll be allowed to go with them to the place where they were kept and go inside with the team, and that Sue will be taken as well. Jack was really surprised to find Steve waiting for them in his car, quite a distance from the old, abandoned warehouses near Centreville in Virginia, but then was informed that only thanks to the fact that he made contact with them, they were able to locate the place. Sue was really grateful, and didn't see a problem with staying in the van with Tara and waiting for the development of the situation, especially that it was always this way for her, but Jack wasn't comfortable with doing the same and voiced it quite loudly at the brief meeting and discussing of the plan.
"It might not be such a bad idea..." said Myles one moment and everyone looked at him surprised, including Jack. He was one of the last people Hudson suspected could be on his side. "They might be alive, but we have no idea how they treat them. Emily is just two, she's probably terrified and who knows what she's going to do. It might be new for her, but you'd have to be blind not to notice that she started to see him as her father and his presence with us can really help us..."
Even though they could see that Leland kind of had a point, they weren't very eager to agree but eventually did when it became clear that Jack wasn't going to give up. So it was decided and they split into four pairs – Jack and Steve, Bobby with D., Myles with Tom and Sue with Tara, the latter two staying in the van.
"Jack!" Sue called out, when they were all ready to start moving towards the building and the man turned around. "Be careful!"
"I will." he signed to her, and few seconds later started following Steve.
Sue could feel herself shaking, watching them through the window but they soon moved too far for her to see anything well. Their van was parked quite a distance from the warehouse, so they could remain unnoticed by the people inside it, and she turned to Tara, who had the view from cameras, placed on the men's clothes, at her monitor. They soon split and took the position they agreed on earlier. It was difficult for Jack to hold back all the questions he wanted to ask his companion, but he knew that time for it will have to come later as they needed to be as quiet as possible. They didn't want to alert anyone of their presence, so they had to limit the talk as much as possible, what meant that they only responded to Tara's words in their headphones and in hushed voices. According to Steve, there were only four people inside plus Nancy, Darcy and Emily, but they still needed to be extremely careful in order not to provoke them to do anything to hostages. Soon it became too much for her and she had to get out of the car. She didn't walk away, though, but was standing outside the van, staring at the warehouse and the cool morning air was soothing the dizziness she felt. Her heart was thundering inside her chest and she was whole shaking with worry, for both Jack and Emily. Tara could see that and didn't say a word, just glanced in her direction every now and then to make sure that she was okay.
Just like the plan was, the men got into the building and slowly moved forward from different directions. Jack had a very bad feeling, when they didn't encounter anyone as he and Steve were walking further inside, and then suddenly felt Steve push him aside while the sound of the gun being fired came to his ears. If not for him, he wouldn't even have chance to react and could only hope that the bullet would hit his vest, but at the same time was aware that it wasn't highly likely. The man continued shooting at them and he tried to find any way to aim at him, but the way he landed made it impossible without risking getting shot. Luckily, Steve had a better position and few seconds later the man was down. They exchanged a look, when they got out of their hiding places; they recognized him with no problems.
In their earphones they could hear that they weren't the only ones in this kind of situation, in fact all three twos were. They all handled it pretty easily, and only when Jack turned to look at Steve again he noticed the red spot on his sleeve. His eyes widened, but before he was able to say anything they heard noise and turned around to see another person looking at them, holding a small, rectangular thing. He was another one of those people, who they knew quite well, and the way he was looking at them was at least strange. It was as if they were completely aware that they're going to come, and as if he didn't even care if they were going to shoot him or not and he didn't have a gun.
"Pensez-vous que nous n'étions pas prêts pour cela ? [Do you think we weren't ready for this?]" he asked, the corner of his mouth moving up as he pushed the button on the thing, and they heard a short squeaking sound. "En fait, vous nous décevrons pas, nous avons pensé que vous allez nous trouver plus tôt ... [You actually let us down, we thought you were going to find us sooner.]" he dropped the device to the floor and stepped onto it, crushing it.
"Où sont-ils? Où est ma fille? [Where are they ? Where is my daughter ?]" asked Jack and the man only laughed.
"Ce n'est pas grave maintenant, Jacques. Elle va mourir, ainsi que tout le monde dans ce bâtiment. En fait, j'espère que vous allez survivre à voir votre deuil de femme mignonne et continuer à vivre avec la conscience que c'est de ta faute ... [It doesn't matter now, Jacques. She's going to die, as well as everyone else in this building. Actually, I hope you will survive to see your cute wife grieve and continue living with the consciousness that it's all your fault...]"
Almost in the very same moment they heard Myles' voice that they found them, coming not far from where they were standing. Jack didn't hesitate, knowing that Steve could easily handle the unarmed man and started running in the direction. He soon found most of them gathered either around or inside one of the underground rooms.
"How dare you even come here, you bastard?! At first you treat me like a whore, and now it turns out that all of this is because of you!" the redhead, who he realised had to be this Nancy Tom mentioned, kept hitting the man angrily with her fists.
He looked to the side and noticed Darcy curled on the floor, as well as some blood around her and soon was pushed to the side by Bobby, who noticed her as well and came rushing to her. He looked around once more, and then again but with every passing second he was getting more convinced that Emily wasn't there. Only when Tom shouted at her to calm down because he was here to get her out, Nancy calmed down and noticed Jack. She immediately guessed that he had to be the father of this little girl she saw earlier.
"Hey, you!" she shouted at him and groaned when he didn't pay attention to her.
"Jack!" tried Tom, and this time Hudson's head turned into their direction.
"There is a locked door on the right side of the hall, they kept her there."
Jack nodded his head and rushed out, followed by Myles. They found the mentioned door with no problems, but had to struggle quite a lot to actually open it. And then, finally, they gave in and Jack stormed inside, looking around. At first he didn't notice anything; the small window near the ceiling wasn't giving much light and it was quite dark there. He walked further in, having no reason not to believe the woman that his daughter was there. He didn't see Emily curled in the corner of the room, hidden in the shadow and at first, she didn't really recognize him, as she could only see a shape of a person. But then he stepped into the light and she screamed.
"Daddy!" he immediately moved to her, dropping to knees and sweeping her into his arms. He hugged her tightly, holding her as he heard and felt her cry, carefully standing up.
"We have to go, Jack. Steve says there is a bomb and it's going to explode soon."
"It's okay, Honey, I'm here... Shhhh, don't cry, you're safe now..." he kept saying, slowly following Myles out, holding the child against his chest.
They saw the rest leaving and were almost out as well, when a noise and scream came to their ears. Jack recognized the voice as Steve's and stopped. A part of him wanted to get out as quickly as possible and carry the girl straight to Sue, but at the same time he believed that he should go, see what happened and help Steve get out in case it was needed. He owed him his life and when Myles called out to him, he has already made the decision. He passed the girl to Myles, ignoring her discontent moan and noticed a surprise appear on Leland's face.
"Take her to Sue."
"You can't stay here, we have to get out or we'll die."
"I know and that's why you have to take her and get out of here as quickly as possible!"
He didn't explain anything to him and didn't wait for any response, just started to run to the place where he believed Steve's voice came from. He found another room, just like the one they found Emily in and noticed that in contrast to the other one, this one was full of stuff. To his surprise, they were mostly household items; fridges, washing machines, kitchen stoves, and some of them were lying knocked down on the floor.
"Steve?!" he called out stepping in and his eyes landed directly at the timer. His heart jumped; there was about a minute and a half to the explosion, and no sight of the older man. He called out again and heard a groan coming from the direction of those fallen items. Only when he approached them he noticed that Steve was lying partially under them and gasped. "Steve!"
"Jack..?! What the hell?! Get out of here, immediately!" the man shouted, when he realised that Hudson was right beside him and trying to lift the fridge on his legs. It was much heavier than he suspected it would be, and he guessed that it had to be filled with something very heavy. It was, however, impossible to get anything out because the door to it were on the side facing the floor and it wasn't possible to open them without lifting the thing in the first place.
"I'm not leaving you here." he said and tried again, managing to lift it not even for two inches before dropping it and eliciting a scream from Steve's mouth.
"My legs are crushed, you idiot! Even if you manage to lift this damn thing, I am not going to be able to walk out!"
"I'll drag you out!" Hudson was adamant on trying again, when he felt a fist hit his fingers and shouted in pain.
"Listen to me! Trying to get me out of here is hopeless, the time is running away and there is no way you'll be able to get this thing off me. Your wife has already once thought that you are dead, she doesn't need to experience it again, this time knowing for sure that you won't miraculously come back! I am not going to let you waste your life trying to be a hero and save mine. You have about a minute, and you will use it go get out of here and go to your family! And then you will lead a happy life, perhaps have a few more children, and in a matter of time a nice bunch of grandchildren."
"Steve..."
"No. Do something for me and for once, stop being stubborn as a mule and follow my words! GO!" Jack could see insistence in the man's eyes and he was absolutely torn. What was he supposed to do? Should he listen to him, leave him there for certain death and live with the consciousness that he didn't do everything in his power to save him? Or he should stay and try to get him out, while the time was inexorably passing and it was very possible that he wouldn't make it out on time?
Sue stood outside and almost screamed, when she noticed the people get out of the warehouse. The ambulance Tara called for just arrived, as well as everyone else, who was informed. Tippy had to actually catch her, to prevent her from running to them; only when they were almost next to them she let her go and allowed her to run to Myles, in whose arms she noticed her daughter.
"Emily!" she shouted and took the girl from Leland's arms.
The child immediately snuggled into her mother, who was holding her tightly against her, relieved that she was there, safe and sound, back with her. She was crying again, only this time there were no dark thoughts inside her head that her little girl can be hurt, because she was very much alive and fine. She still went to the ambulance, so the paramedics could check her and was standing with her back turned to the warehouse when the explosion happened. When the explosive wave hit her, at first she didn't know what was happening. Then she turned around and looked at the building, which was now destroyed and partially on fire; her first instinct was to look around and her heart sank when she didn't notice Jack anywhere. She looked at Tara, who was now standing right beside her and one look into woman's eyes was enough for her to understand everything. She glanced at Emily, then back at Tara and in the next moment she found herself running in the direction of the warehouse, screaming his name.
Myles was the first one to notice her and managed to catch her; she was struggling to get out of his grip, but he was stronger his arms placed around her waist were enough to stop her. He just held her like this, having no idea what to do to try to calm her down, but a moment later he felt her stop fighting him.
"No..! It can't be..! Jack..!" her screams changed to sobs and soon she was crying out loud.
He could feel that if it wasn't for his arms, she would fall to the ground. He tightened his grip, pressing her against his chest and in the next was taken aback by her turning around and burying her face in his chest. He's never been good at comforting people, and he held her a little awkwardly and had the words that it was going to be okay at the end of his tongue, but then he bit it. He glanced at the remaining of the warehouse; there was no doubt that they were going to turn the place upside down in attempt to try Jack, but they didn't even see him running out before the explosion. There was only one door to the building, the one they used to get inside before splitting and unless there was another one, they had no idea about, which Hudson could use to get out, the chances of finding him alive were pretty low. He didn't dare to voice those thoughts, he once witnessed what was happening with Sue believing that her husband was dead and didn't want to see it again.
"You wouldn't dare doing this to her again, Jack..." he whispered to the air and slowly started to pull the woman in the direction of the rest.