Author's Note: Wow, I'm so glad you guys aren't hunting me down for the way that last chapter ended! Yes, I agree that Jack needs to work hrd to get her back, just like he should when (not if!) the writers come to their senses and put them back together on the actual show. ;-)
Anyways, this chapter is probably in my top five favorite chapters that I wrote because it was just so much fun and a nice break from the angst of before. Not to mention, I just think that when guys are so adorably clueless that it sometimes takes a round table of other adorably clueless men to help them figure stuff out. I hope you enjoy reading this one and laugh out loud a few times, like I did when I was writing it!
~JP

True North
By Jaclyn Parker

"In order to plan your future wisely, it is necessary that you understand and appreciate your past."
~Jo Coudert
************************************************************************************************************************************************

The next morning, Jack curtly told Carly that he would go pick up Sage and Elena from the sleepover and left without another word. Parker had driven Emma's car back to the farm as promised the night before. However, since Mattie was there helping with the horses he elected to stay with her until she was done and then go back to her house to watch a movie...under the watchful eye of Molly, of course.

After dropping Sage back off at home, Jack had told her to tell Carly that he was going out and didn't know if he'd be home for dinner. Ignoring the confused look on his daughter's face he just sent her a tight smile and waited until she entered the house before pulling away. As he drove towards town, he called the only people that he knew could help pull him out of the angry funk he was in after Carly's rebuff last night.

Now, as the last member of his little support group entered Yo's, Jack waved him over and pointed to the empty stool on the other side of him.

"Hey dude, we were waiting for you. What took you so long?"

Brad flopped down in the stool at the bar counter with a sideways look in Jack and Holden's direction. After raising his hand to order a beer, he dropped his head down on top of his arms and groaned.

"What happened to you?" Jack asked, peering at his younger brother.

"Cause you look like a hobo." Holden added, eyeing Brad disdainfully.

Brad's normally pristine hair was unkempt, his shirt was rumpled as well as only being half tucked in and his socks didn't even match. Not to mention he had large dark circles under his eyes and what could only be described as a "seven o'clock shadow" instead of a five o'clock one.

"Colic was invented by the devil." Brad mumbled then groaned again. Holden and Jack tossed each other a glance and then looked away as they tried to contain their laughter. Unfortunately Brad heard their snickers anyway and lifted his head to glare at them. "What in the hell is so funny?"

"You, in the new role of parent to an infant." Holden managed to get out before almost choking on his beer because he was laughing so hard.

"Brad, you were going on for months before Robby was born about how easy it was going to be a father. And I quote 'how much trouble could one little baby be, anyway', end quote. You were driving us all nuts, remember?" Jack said, shoving Holden slightly to try and get him to stop laughing. He wasn't doing it for Brad's sake; he just knew that if Holden didn't stop Jack was likely to lose it any minute too.

"Yeah, but that was before…" Brad said, running both hands through his hair and shaking his head.

"Before what?" Holden asked, wiping tears away from his eyes and trying to settle back down.

"Before I became convinced that my son is possessed." Brad said and while he was mainly joking, there was a slight air of seriousness to his statement.

Jack choked back another laugh and gave him a cautious look. "Are you sure you should be here? What did you do, leave Katie home alone with the baby?"

"No, Margo came over and she's watching him while Katie takes a nap." Brad shook his head and sighed. "Although, I don't know why. During the day, Robby really is no problem. It's almost like he lies in wait for the sun to go down before turning into something out of a horror movie."

It was only because both Holden and Jack knew how much Brad really loved his son and the fact that he was going through something that many other new parents had been going through since the beginning of time, that allowed them to derive such entertainment from his misery. The two of them exchanged another look before they covered their new laughing fit with very bad fake coughs.

"You know what? Thanks for the support." Brad said glaring at them before drinking from the green bottle of beer the bartender laid in front of him. The man gave Brad an understanding look before returning to his other customers and Brad gave a loud huff. "You see that? Even Joe is giving me more sympathy than you two."

"Sorry, man." Jack said, patting Brad on the back and shaking the last of his laughter out. "I know it's hard but it gets easier."

"So you're having the same trouble with Emmy?" Brad asked hopefully but Jack just snorted.

"Are you kidding me? My baby girl just turned three months old and she is an angel." Jack said proudly, raising his beer up. "Even Dr. Maynard said she has a very sweet personality. Not to mention, for a preemie she is already almost dead even for the average percentile of babies her age."

"Over-achiever." Brad mumbled and then yelped when Jack smacked him upside the head.

"Hey, where's Lee?" Holden asked, sipping his beer and frowning. "Isn't he our new fourth Musketeer?"

"Weren't there only three Musketeers?" Brad asked, frowning as well.

"Technically yes, in the beginning since d'Artagnan only started out as someone who wanted to be one. But, by the end of the novel, he actually was made a lieutenant in the Musketeers, therefore making the title of the novel null and void." Holden explained and both Jack and Brad just stared at him vacantly.

Holden held up his hands and shook his head.

"Hey, don't judge me. Luke had to do a huge report on it for a project in junior high school and for weeks I saw Musketeers in my sleep!"

"Uh huh…" Brad said, still giving Holden another strange look before turning to Jack again. "So, back to the earlier question…where's the Kangaroo Kid?"

"Lee is on call at the hospital but he did say that the first round was on him." Jack said, rolling his eyes at his brother's nickname for Lee, and made a gesture to order another beer.

"Yeah, I figured it was work. I didn't see him missing out on this conversation for anything else seeing how close he and Carly are." Holden said and also gestured for second beer. "That and the fact that Molly would have wanted specific details about what we're going to say."

"By the way, we are here to discuss your date last night with Carly, right?" Brad clarified and at Jack's nod, he smiled. "Well then, how'd it go? I know you were thinking about doing it but…did you actually get to ask her?"

Immediately Jack's mood soured and he stared down at the red-lettered label on his dark brown beer bottle.

"Yeah." Jack said shortly and both other males frowned.

"Well, what happened?" Holden ventured to ask and Jack frowned even harder than the two of them.

"She said no. She said that she loved me, but couldn't marry me again."

"Really?" Brad asked, his jaw practically hanging open wide enough to catch flies. Then his brow furrowed and he pointed his beer at Jack. "Did you ask her right? I mean, some women are very picky about how they get proposed to."

"I thought it was going amazing. I mean, the whole evening was perfect. We were laughing the way we used to and talking the way we used to. I even got her to dance with me to one of our favorite songs. I was going to do it during dessert but then I realized I left the ring in my desk at work. So I thought maybe it was a sign, ya know? That I should just wait for another night."

Holden and Brad nodded, although both of them were sort of inwardly hoping that Jack would get to the point rather quickly. They were curious but they were still guys and had relatively short attention spans when it came to any story-telling that didn't revolve around sports, naked women, or food. Or, better yet, some type of combination of the three.

"Then later, when Emmy was asleep, we were standing over our daughter's crib, looking down at this perfect tiny person that we had made together and the moment just felt right. Or…at least I thought it felt right. I don't know. I guess it wasn't because she said no, kissed me goodnight and by the time I got over my shock enough to speak properly again, the boys came home from the dance. By the time I got her alone again, it was nearly one in the morning and she was already half-asleep in bed. Although it might be a good thing because I think that if I had been able to talk to her I probably would have said some things I would have regretted. "

"Wow…I'm sorry, man." Brad said, reaching out to place a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I really thought she'd say yes."

"Me too." Holden said quietly but something in his voice made Jack look at him closely.

"You know, you don't seem too surprised by my news." Jack said, narrowing his eyes at Holden.

His cousin sighed and then setting his beer bottle back down, scrunched his nose up and mumbled, "Yeah, that might be because I already knew."

"What? How the hell did you…" Brad started to say and then he and Jack exchanged glances.

"Lily." They said simultaneously and Holden nodded.

"Carly called Lily this morning when you went to go pick up Sage from her friend's house. She was terrified that you wouldn't come back and that she had messed everything up."

"Well while she was telling your wife all this did she happen to mention why she turned me down? I mean, we've been apart for almost four years now! One son was kidnapped, one went on trial for murder, our daughter ran away, I almost died, she almost died twice, our new daughter almost died...it was never ending! And now, when everything seems to finally be normal again, what possible reason could she have of not being a family the way we should have been in the first place?" Jack asked, finishing his mini-rant in exasperation.

"Um, it appears that, those are her reasons pretty much word for word." Holden said and Jack just stared at him for a long moment.

"Okay, you lost me." He finally said, shaking his head in bewilderment.

"Look, Jack. You and Carly have been getting along better than you have in years. But...you're right. After everything that's happened to you guys, especially lately, it's a lot to take in. Putting the other stuff aside, Carly lost out on a month of her life, man. Add the fact that you guys almost lost your daughter before either of you ever had a chance to meet her and, despite all reassurances, you know that she's still blaming herself for that." Holden said, trying his best to reiterate what Lily had babbled on about this morning while also putting it into easier, man-friendly, terms. "Carly thinks that if you guys get married again it will only be because you are afraid of something else going wrong, not because you really want to be with her."

"Wow." Brad said when he finished and rolled his eyes, taking another sip of beer. "Thank you, Doctor Phil."

"Shut up, Brad." Holden responded, narrowing his eyes at him. Jack waved a hand and both guys turned their attention back to the very confused man they were supposed to be helping.

"So…what you're saying is…that Carly does want to marry me again, she just is afraid to marry me again because she doesn't think that I really want to marry her again?" Jack said slowly, his face showing his complete bafflement as he said the words.

"Um, I think so." Holden said hesitantly, trying to go over the conversation again in his mind and then nodded more confidently. "Yeah, pretty much."

Jack furrowed his brow and then dropped his head onto his forearms like Brad had done earlier.

"My head hurts."

Brad chuckled at Jack's words and threw his arm over his brother's shoulders. "Ha! You think women are complicated now? Just wait until Sage is a teenager!"

"Don't make me hurt you." Jack's muffled voice floated up and then, after a long moment, he lifted his head to prop his chin up in the palm of his hand. "Okay, so what the hell do I do now? How do I convince her that I really want to be with her and not because of the kids or anything like that?"

"Do you love her?" Holden asked and Jack shot him a look that clearly conveyed his worry over Holden's sanity.

"Of course I love her, Holden." Jack said, the frustration he was feeling very evident in his voice. "God, words can't even begin to describe how much I love her."

"Well, then, prove it. Show her that you love her. Come up with a plan." Holden said and Jack frowned.

"Okay…do I need to remind you what happened the last time we decided I should come up with a plan?"

"Yeah, but the timing was all wrong for that plan." Brad chimed in and shook his head. "This time, it'll work. You just have to woo her properly."

"Woo her?" Jack repeated and even Holden sent his younger cousin a look.

"Who the hell are you, all of sudden? Shakespeare?" Holden asked, staring at him oddly.

"Yeah, yeah, make fun. But what I said is true and you know it." Brad said and pointed a finger at Jack. "You need a very romantic plan, Big Brother, and the sooner the better."

Jack sighed and sipped his beer, staring at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar. Holden and Brad seemed to sense that he had mentally drifted away from them and began to talk to each other, letting Jack have some thinking time to himself.

Suddenly, something in their conversation sparked an idea in Jack's brain and his eyes narrowed.

"Wait, what did you say?" Jack asked turning to Holden.

Holden exchanged a glance with Brad and then shrugged at Jack. "When?"

"Just now…not more than two seconds ago." Jack said urgently.

"Um, that it's going to be a cold…"

"Yes! That's it! I've got it!" Jack said his brain already forming ideas upon ideas before Holden finished his sentence.

"Got what, Bro?" Brad asked, starting to feel faintly concerned that Jack had finally snapped.

"I've got a plan." Jack said, his eyes twinkling as he glanced from Brad to Holden and back again. "But I'm going to need a lot of help."

"What exactly are you thinking?" Holden said slowly, suddenly wary of the gleam in his cousin's eye.

Jack gave them a basic run down of his main idea and when he was done Brad and Holden looked at each other again with wide eyes. But then, almost immediately, both men shrugged at the same time.

"Hell, I'm in." Holden said, raising his beer.

"Me too, especially if it gets me out of diaper duty every once and a while." Brad added and raised his up too.

"Guys, to the most important and elaborate plan I will ever come up with in my life." Jack said, raising his own bottle to meet in the middle of theirs. "Because if this doesn't work...I might just lose my damn mind."

The three men brought their beers together with a loud and resounding clink before taking long drinks. Brad thoughtfully stared at his nearly empty green glass bottle and shrugged.

"Look at it this way. If it doesn't work, in seven years, no matter what, she's considered your common law wife anyway."

This time, at least, Brad knew enough to duck when both of his companions reached out to smack him on the back of the head.