A/N: I have nothing to justify myself for such a long lack of update, but RL left me with absolutely no time to write. Luckily, I should have much more of it around Christmas, so hopefully I'll make it up to you then. Right now, I can only hope you will enjoy what I have for you today.
Now that he thought about it, he knew that he should have expected it. His parents always had the tendency to be overzealous, especially when it came to him and his brother. Ever since his father started his company and it turned out to be a success, they never had to worry about lack of money and even though they weren't ones to show off, they never saved it when it came to their sons. They wanted to give them a good education and start into an adult life, and as much as they managed to accomplish it perfectly with Tim, with Jack it was a little different story. He never felt satisfied by getting a lot of things only thanks to the advantages his family had, he always wanted something more. He didn't want to be given everything, he wanted to achieve something in life. It wasn't a surprise for his grandfather, who was always the one to know him the best, that he relinquished the inheritance of his father's business and the half of family house, which would belong to him, much to Charles and Elisabeth's discontent. They never got the chance to give him anything more than this education, and he should have predicted that they were going to use this opportunity to make it up.
Yet, he still couldn't help but felt slightly irritated when he saw the state of the house when he followed Sue inside. It stood empty for a couple of years and now there were some things needed to be done before it could be inhabited, but not a general renovation and it was exactly what his parents made. He started to regret asking them to make it ready for their coming, knowing that it had to cost a lot and there was absolutely no way they would allow him to give at least a little of the price back. Not, that he couldn't appreciate what they have done, but it made him feel bad. One could call him crazy, but he never felt comfortable with people spending a lot of money on him, even if those people were his own parents, and it wasn't any different this time.
"This place is beautiful…" said Sue, looking around.
All the walls were freshly painted, most of the furniture was new and everything was very nicely arranged. The shades of colours, the placement of everything was very pleasant, and even though they would probably do it a little differently if they were to make the renovation by themselves, they still liked it very much. Jack immediately took Sue on the tour around the place, knowing the arrangement of the rooms pretty well, and wanting to see how much they have changed.
As they entered the house, they saw was a staircase leading to the upper floor, a corridor leading to the part of the house located behind it, and two rooms on both sides of the anteroom. On the right, there was a living room. The first thing that caught their attention as they walked inside was the sofa and armchairs, very comfortably looking as well as a huge TV hanging on the wall opposite to it. There was also a tall and wide shelf, waiting to be filled – as Sue later noticed, the book placed on it was a photo album with pictures from Jack's childhood. Her eyes lit up at the realisation and she was really looking forward to watching it. There were also few frames placed there, only two of which were equipped with pictures – one being a very adorable one of Jack as a five-year-old, looking right at the camera with a huge grin on his face, which placed the biggest of smiles on Sue's, another being a photo from his graduation day.
Next, he took her to the rooms behind the staircase. They had no doubts it was arranged to be a guest room, and agreed that it was a very good place for it. If someone visited, it would allow them to have some privacy in it and even though it didn't have an adjoining bathroom, it was located nearby, in the corridor leading to the room. It guaranteed that the visitors wouldn't have to go upstairs to the main one every time and if it was late at night, the chances of waking up everyone in the house was smaller. Then, on the left from the main entrance to the house, there was a kitchen. When they entered it, Sue immediately thought that it resembled the one she always wanted to have very much. It was spacious, had a lot of cupboards to hide everything and was joined with the dining room. The table was now only half its size, as it could be unfolded, but the place for six people, that could easily sit behind it was more than enough for them. The chairs were pretty simple, yet elegant and comfortable.
Finally, they went upstairs. The first thing, which caught their attention was the only closed door. There were squares with letters attached to it, which looked like blocks for kids to play with but were flat, forming the name "EMILY". Sue felt slightly worried, as they were about to open the door and enter; the first colour everyone thought about painting the room for a girl was always pink, and even though she couldn't deny that it was nice, she still thought that others could be nice as well, and it was very visible in the way the girl's bedroom was arranged in the flat in DC. She let out a sigh of relief, when she noticed a very beautiful, pastel turquoise on the walls. The furniture inside was white and most of the additions were kept in the darker shades of the turquoise. There weren't a lot of toys already placed inside, but there was a huge teddy bear sitting on the windowsill and the very familiar, huge kangaroo standing in the corner. Even though all of the rooms were very carefully arranged, he had no doubts that his mother and sister-in-law – as he was sure his brother and his wife were helping his parents – had the biggest fun with this one. Neither of them had a daughter, only now they got the chance to use their creativeness to make a room for a little girl, and he had to admit the result was wonderful.
"Garoo!" exclaimed Emily, when she noticed the huge toy and wriggled out of Jack's arms to run and hug it.
Both of her parents smiled at the sight; they remembered very well how heavily she cried, when they told her that she couldn't take it with herself. As much as they both agreed, that they had to have some of her toys brought here, because buying new ones was completely unpractical and there was one bag in the trunk, which was filled only with the girl's toys. The kangaroo, however, was too big to travel with them in the car and Emily was completely devastated that it had to stay, as next to the teddy bear she got from Jack as a baby, it was her favourite toy. Sue smiled, watching the girl; she was so focused on other things, that she didn't thing about having it transported here in any way, but Jack obviously did and she placed a tender kiss on his cheek, in a thank you for making their daughter so happy.
"It didn't feel right to leave it in DC…" he admitted, looking at his wife. "I guess it's crazy, but it's presence here makes me feel like at least a part of Bobby is with us… It reminds me what a great friend he is, of all the things he did with me and for me over the years we know each other, including taking care of you and Emily while I was away…"
"I don't think it's crazy. When I look at it I always see Bobby's grinning face when he brought it to us on Emy's birthday..." she linked her arm with his and pulled him to the door, while Emily was slowly exploring her new bedroom. "Let's go see the rest of the house."
They walked out of the room, leaving the door open and Jack looked towards the stairs. He smiled, seeing that his family obviously thought about the safety, and even though it was open now, there was a gate located there to make sure Emily wasn't going to fall down. Even though the girl seemed to be perfectly content staying in her room, he still closed it and only then walked with Sue to other rooms. There were two empty ones, another bathroom and what was prepared to be their bedroom. The colouring in the room was kept mostly in two colours – violet and dark brown. There was a huge, double bed, which looked very comfortable and Sue thought it practically screamed for them to lie down on it. The built-in closet didn't seem as big as it actually was, and they could be certain there was definitely not going to be any fight for space in it, as it could easily accommodate all of their clothing. On the opposite wall to the bed, there was a chest of drawers and another wide shelf with empty frames, and there was another TV, smaller than the one in the living room, but still a big one hanging above them. The last thing they saw there was the ajar door, leading to the adjoining bathroom.
"My parents changed this house much more than it seems at first glance. There used to be two smaller rooms where the kitchen is now, and only one bathroom in the whole house, the one down the hall from here…"
"It amazes me, how they managed to have it all done in such a small period of time…"
"I am sure my father used some of his connections, as well as paid the renovation team more, so it could be made quickly…" he said with a grimace on his face.
"Let it be, Jack. They simply wanted to do something special, for all of us." she stated, wrapping her arms around his waist and placed a short, tender kiss on his lips.
"Don't you think it's too much?" he asked, surprised, withdrawing his face enough for her to be able to read him.
"I do, but there's nothing to be done now. And as much as I have no idea how it used to be here in the past, it is beautiful now… It's almost like the house I used to dream about…"
"Almost..?" he asked curiously and a faint blush graced Sue's cheeks as she nodded her head.
"In my dreams, my house was always full of life… Me, my husband, four kids, a dog or two, maybe cats too, friends dropping by every now and then…"
"Well… When it comes to friends, there is no way I can bring ours here, but I'm sure you won't have problems making some here… People here might be very inquisitive and you'll surely feel it being the new one in this small society, but they're also very friendly. I am sure that we'll be getting quite a few visitors over the next couple of days, wanting to greet us. A husband you have, and he plans to be with you for the rest of his life. I'm sure those cats and dogs wouldn't be a huge problem to get, and finally, as for the kids…"
It only now hit him, that it was something they have never really talked about. Yes, they agreed that they both wanted children, but before he left it was simply an indefinite future, something they were going to think about more in detail after he was back. Despite it happening completely unplanned, they were both happy that they had Emily; even though for two completely different reasons, they both saw her as the most wonderful gift God could give them. For Sue, she was the light in her life, the reason not to lose herself in the pain and grief, to live; Jack, on the other hand, had no doubts that she was the reason why they managed to get to the place they were now. If it wasn't for their child, she would have probably kicked him out of her life for good. Still, when he was back, the circumstances definitely weren't good to have this kind of talk – how could they discuss the idea of having more kids, when even their marriage was in question?
"I could be happy if we were to have only Emily… She is everything I could ask for… She might have her flaws but for me, she's absolutely perfect in every way… But, if it would be something you'd want, I wouldn't mind having more children… In fact, it is the way I, too, always imagined by family to be..."
"I admit I would like that… Now might not be the best of times for it, but when this whole mess is over, I would like it… Perhaps not the three more, which I mentioned earlier as a part of what I dreamed about, but one… Maybe two…"
"Okay." he leaned in, to press a loving kiss on her forehead, before he pulled her to himself, wrapping his arms around her and holding her against himself.
A small smile made its way onto his face; he couldn't help but think, that they have just took another step forward in fixing their relationship. People, who were watching them could claim that everything was absolutely back in place between them, but they both knew that it wasn't exactly this way. And this awkwardness between them, when it came to having this talk, could be a good evidence of it. Back then, they didn't have any problems talking with each other, they shared everything with the other and were completely fine with it. Still, a small smile made its way onto his face; at least they were going in the right direction.