Selena lied straight through her teeth and she even gave herself reasons to believe why she did it, such as her not wanting to hurt him by telling him that she had a disease instead and him being in prison while knowing that would eat him alive, knowing he couldn't be there for her.

But she knew the real reason was because she didn't want him to leave her, not yet at least. She wanted to work on things, but even this made her feel worse. She felt like she was pulling an Alana on him, but she didn't know what to do since she already told him. Eventually she was gonna have to tell him, but now wasn't the time.

"Is Daddy coming home for Christmas?" Naomi asked as they pulled up to the airport.

Selena glanced up in the rear view miorror to see both Dylan's and Naomi's eyes shine with hope, and it broke her heart that they had to spend Christmas without their father.

"No, baby. I'm so sorry." She told her, watching the both of their faces drop. "It'll be okay though. We can still do everything we usually do and we'll be with your uncles and aunts and cousins, it'll be fun."

After she parked near their private plane, Selena got out and took Naomi out of her booster seat. She seen Dylan run off, making her head snap his way. "Dylan!" She shouted over the aircraft.

"It's Monica!" He shouted back.

Once Selena zipped Naomi's coat, she grabbed her hand and her small suitcase and got onto the plane where she let out a sigh when she seen Monica hugging Dylan.

"Thank you so much for doing this for me. You have no idea how much this means." Selena said, pulling her in for a tight hug.

"Of course. I don't think I could pass up on a private plane ride." She joked.

Monica flew to L.A. just so that the kids wouldn't have to travel to Detroit alone since Selena was staying for another few hours to be at the hospital even if she just got off hours ago to give the kids a Christmas when they couldn't have one at home with their loved ones.

"Okay, Monica is gonna take you guys over to Uncle Bobby's and I'll be there later on then we can go to the house."

"Are you coming before Santa comes cause we have to be in bed before he does or else he'll skip over us." Dylan told her.

Selena let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, I'll be there before then. And I'll make sure your dad calls you guys today and tomorrow, I promise."

She seen their faces fall again at the mention of Jack, and nothing hurt more than to see them miss their dad so much when she couldn't do a thing about it.

"I love you guys." Dropping down to their level, she hugged them as tight as she could and kissed both of their heads. "I'll be there later, just call if you need me. I love you."

After telling her kids and Monica goodbye she drove to the hospital and gave the kids a Christmas that they couldn't have with their families.

Jack rolled his eyes once he seen Slick walking into his room for no reason. "What man?" He sighed, putting the book he was reading down.

"I got some good shit." Slick whispered up to Jack.

Jack shrugged. "I don't care. I don't want it."

"C'mon man. We're gonna get fucked up in Tuchie's room, stop being a punk."

"If I'm a punk cause I don't wanna snort your bullshit then I guess I am."

"You still don't know who I am?"

"Don't have a clue."

Slick snickered then gave Jack a slow growing smile. "I'm Vince's brother. Your uncle."

Jack waved it off, not believing him. "Bullshit."

"Yeah, I swear. He was living with me when he moved out here until I got put here. It's fucked up what happened to him...They can't even find his body, huh?" Vince shook his head, his eyes becoming menacing and dark. "I'm gonna get that son of a bitch when I get out."

"Really?" Jack asked dryly, not phased by his threat.

"Yeah, really."

Jack changed the subject, still wondering how they were related. "How do you know I'm your nephew or whatever if I was adopted. My last name is Mercer, I don't get how you would know who I am if we don't have the same last name."

"Man, Vince always bragged about you. He knew he fucked up and he only wanted to be closer with you."

Jack rolled his eyes with a tsk. "Yeah, well he should've thought about that when he put me up for adoption."

"Son, you don't know half the story. Be grateful that you didn't have to grow up in the alleys every time a homeless shelter got shut down or burned to the ground. You probably would've been a crackhead if it wasn't for them putting you up for a adoption. Your famous cause of them, you owe every bit of respect to them."

Jack almost laugh, but he was to pissed to. "Are you serious? Do you hear yourself? I don't owe them shit. Get the fuck out."

"Or what?" Slick urged, stepping a foot closer.

A voice behind Slick spoke up. "Or me and my crew gonna stomp your ass out." Jack seen that it belonged to Dashawn.

Slick let out a menacing laugh and nodded his head. "It's a damn shame."

"A real damn shame." Dashawn repeated, eying him down as Slick slid past him to leave.

Jack picked his book back up and started reading again as Dashawn sat at the desk and started sketching on his saved pieces of paper.

"You good?" Dashawn mumbled. "You don't talk a lot and when you do, you seem like you on some sad shit."

"Well, there isn't much to feel when you're stuffed into this shit hole."

"Yeah, I heard you man, but life to short for this. I'm twenty and I'm in here for the fourth time. I spent my fourteenth and fifteenth birthday in jail, and just my nineteenth in here. Niggas like me ain't even gonna make it to twenty one."

Jack heard him chuckle, though it wasn't funny and he couldn't help but feel for him. No one wants to spend their birthday in jail, especially that many times.

"It's alright though. Don't got time to waste any tears on it...I ain't cry for nine, ten years straight...can't even cry no more to be honest." Dashawn crumpled up a piece a paper and tossed it to the side, starting on a new one. "Didn't even cry at my cousin funeral. My heart was heavy and I loved him and I wanted to cry, but I couldn't..."

Jack shook his head, intently listening to him, feeling for the shit that Dashawn had to go through.

Dashawn shrugged loosely and muttered, "My bad if I'm talking to much for you."

"You're good. Don't apologize for telling your story man, you're good."

Dashawn glanced up at Jack and shook his finger at him. "One thing you need to work on, is smiling more. Life to precious to not be smiling. This gonna be all over eventually."

Jack took in what he said and thought about it. If a nineteen year old was telling him this in only a week of knowing him, then he knew something had to change.

Selena sent Jack a weak smile through the glass, getting a small one back in return. "How you doing?" She asked softly.

Jack shrugged. "I'm breathing. How about you? You holding up?"

Selena nodded, then soon started to fall apart and cry. She brought her hand to her mouth as her eyes focused on the table beneath her elbows, trying to avoid his stare. Tears falling down on her cheeks and onto the table.

She sniffled and regained her composure then met his eyes again. "We just really miss you, Jack." She said, wiping her eyes. "And it's just gonna be extremely hard tomorrow."

Jack nodded in understanding, wishing he could somehow comfort her. "I know, it's hard for me too. I'll call you tomorrow and I'll talk to them and if you want me to, I'll call before it's time for us to be in our cells tonight."

"Okay."

"It's gonna be okay. I'll be out soon and we can work on us for the baby and I'll make everything up to Dylan and Nye."

"Okay." She wiped her eyes once more and brushed her hair behind her ear. "Do you want me to put more money on your books, so you can read more?" She asked, her voice still soft.

"Yeah, but I'm sure I read almost every book in the library. I'll just buy food with it. Can you do something for me though?"

"You got another minute, Mercer." The officer told him before leaning back on the wall and staring straight ahead.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Can you send me the poems you used to write? I'm gonna be in here for a bit and I need something...something that reminds me of you...to feel you somehow even if not physically."

Selena smiled. "You read all of them though."

"Write some more."

The officer walked over. "Say your goodbyes, Mercer."

Selena's gaze averted from the officer and back to Jack and nodded. "Okay, I will, I'll send them to you and I'll come back when we get back from Detroit." She said.

"Alright, I'll call you later tonight and I'll talk to them before they go to bed."

"Just don't call to late. I'll see you soon."

Jack watched as she began to hang the phone up, but he called her name before she could. "Selena..."

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

She fought a hard grin, but her eyes twinkled with some sort of relief she felt deep down. "I love you too."