It's pretty late, and I'm feeling all cozy and sleepy, snuggled in my bed, reading a book. Jackson's asleep upstairs, and Jack's up and about the city, letting the Joker do his thing. I feel tired enough to sleep, but I know there is no point in trying to do so - for the last few nights, I kept on rolling and shifting around, in and out of sleep, until the moment I heard Jack's steps and felt the mattress give under his weight. Only then, I was able to let myself go and fall into deep sleep.

This night is no different, with the exception that Jack is a bit earlier home than expected, and I'm happy for it. He quickly gets rid of his clothes, and very sloppily removes his make-up, using a towel for it (and ruins it for sure), and he cheekily laughs as I roll my eyes in annoyance at his lacking manners.

"I'm sorry…I'll use that thing you've got me next time…what is it called?", he crashes into our bed next to me, "Molecular water by Gardenia..?"

"Micellar water by Garnier", I huff and he laughs out loud. He's teasing me about it for days now, and I only suggested that he could take his make up off in a way that is not only a lot less messy, but also good for the skin. He thought, and apparently still thinks, that my suggestion is a hilarious joke, and ever since, he keeps on finding the most annoying ways how to take off his makeup. Just last night, he used my shirt. While I was still wearing it!

I try to come up with something clever to say, when a loud thud coming from upstairs is heard. I immediately jump up in bed, eyes wide.

"Jack! Did you hear that?", I hiss.

"Yeah, I and the rest of the street, too…", Jack's completely unimpressed.

"What do you mean…hush! I can hear someone walking upstairs!", I'm in full panic mode, "Jack, the kid is upstairs and someone's broken in, DO SOMETHING!"

"What do you want me to do?", he looks at me blankly, in mocking surprise.

"I don't know..make them go away!", I whisper-yell at him.

"Oh, you wouldn't be happy if I did that", he waves me off.

"Would you stop with the stupid jokes!", I'm on my feet and grab one of Jack's knifes which he left on my night drawer. If he's not doing something about this, I am. Our son is up there!

"Oh, I gotta see this", Jack giggles as he follows me out of our bedroom and up the stairs. I'm a bit frightened as I do my best to silently and quickly master the stairs, but I'm also confused by Jack's relaxed stance-obviously, he knows something I do not. Or is it that he is so familiar with killing and fighting that a home invasion is like a walk in the park to him?

The upper floor of our house is ridiculously small, it's basically just that one room that Jackson uses and one even smaller one that is filled with all sorts of old furniture and other crap. I've been meaning to throw all of it out and redecorate that room for myself. Anyway, the window in the small hallway is closed and locked, and I don't even bother with the smaller room because its window is not only shut but hammered with boards, and this leaves me only with Jackson's room.

I stand in front of it in complete silence, for a few seconds, listening for any sounds, and then Jack pinches my ass, which startles me so that I let out a little shriek. In the same time, the door is opened wide, and in the darkness, all I see is a dark silhouette of a man, and I let out another terrified yell, and in my clumsiness, I drop the knife. Jack compliments me with one of his crazy laughs, and suddenly, the lights are one and I'm confronted with a very annoyed Jackson, staring down at me.

"Koji kurac radiš?!", he yells ("What the fuck are you doing?").

"Krumpiriću!", ("Little potato!"), I yell in relief as I throw my arms around my son, but in the next second, I pull him by the ear, "Ne psuj! Sram the bilo!" ("Don't swear! You should be ashamed!")

"Oprosti, mama", ("Sorry, mom"), he grumbles, "Al fakat, kaj radiš?" ("But really, what are you doing?")

"Guys, could you, uhm…refrain from speaking Russian..you're not being polite", God forbid Jack would be excluded from anything for even one second.

"We came upstairs to check on you, we heard a noise, it sounded like we had an intruder", I switch to English.

"Yeah, I…I stumbled a bit. That's all.", Jackson says but averts his eyes from me. He's lying.

"Što skrivaš?", ("What are you hiding?"), suddenly, I'm in full detective-mode.

"Ništa.", ("Nothing."), Jackson rolls his eyes, but still avoids looking at me. I sniff around him, not knowing really what I do, and then I catch a whiff of something sweet-like a girl's perfume, and then, I realize that his window is wide open. I look back at him and only then I realize that my dear son is sporting a plum-sized hickey on his neck.

"Tu smo, druškane." ("Here we are, buddy."), I sigh angrily.

"Ma daj, mama" ("Come on, mom"), Jackson blushes a bit.

"Language, please", Jack demands annoyingly.

"So it was our son who did the breaking and entering.", I explain to Jack, "Coming back from some girl."

"Oooh.", Jack comments as if surprised, "Well, son, I do hope you took all necessary, uhm, precautions. I'm a bit young to be called grandpa."

"This is not funny!", I yell between the two of them, "Jackson, we will need to have a serious talk about your…your…activities!"

And then they both break down in laughter.

Offended and annoyed, I take the stairs down and go directly to bed. Jack comes after me in just a minute. He doesn't find it necessary to even try to act a bit guilty, but shoots me a boyish grin.

"You knew it was him all the time!", I accuse him.

"I knew it was him tonight, and the night before, and the night before that..", he laughs as he throws himself on the bed from a good distance. The beds shakes violently under him.

"So you knew he was stealing out of the house the entire time?!", I ask angrily.

"You're saying you didn't?", he snorts a giggle.

"No, I didn't! If I did I would have put a stop to it! This is not acceptable behaviour!"

"Really, mom?", Jack mocks me, "You're surprised that a handsome 16 years old boy uses every opportunity to get laid? Oh, the shock..actually, I remember when I was 16…so I had this cute little girlfriend…and lemme tell ya..I didn't waste even one opportunity to fuck that girl silly..", Jack's hands are already traveling all around my body, "Come to think about it.."

"Stop it!", I keep on hitting his hands away, "You can't compare us and him.."

"Us? What makes you think I was talking about you..", Jack teases me.

"As if there was any other girl in this town crazy enough to try something with you!", I snarl, but smile at the slightly annoyed look on his face, "Do you remember yourself when you were 16..? Angry, sulking, frightening, wouldn't talk to anyone…"

"And still the chicks found me attractive", he interjects, somewhat offended, "It wasn't just you."

"You had to blackmail me into dating you!", I point out, laughing.

"Ah, blackmail-shmeckmail. You had every opportunity to get out if you wanted to.", he smiles a bit, and his hands somehow find their way towards my panties again, "But you got hooked, once you tasted the goods, didn't you?"

"I just remember that I attacked you with a knife, after I kicked you in the balls", I smile back at him, but I don't really care about talking anymore. His fingers found my hot spot, and I feel myself turning into a pudding.

"Rough girl, though girl", his lips are on my neck and he bites me gently, and I shiver with my entire body, "That's my girl..how about we see how though you are in a few minutes…"

And again, he makes me forget about all the serious issues I wanted to discuss with him.

…

Hours later, I have a dream, a nightmare. I walk in a field, and it is dark outside, and there is a lot of fog, and I can't see clearly. The fog smells funny, and I'm lost. I want to call for help, but then I start getting so hot, and tired. I never felt like that in my life. I would love to just rest and sleep, but then the fog starts shining and glowing somehow.

And then Jack comes, and starts dragging me through this glowing fog, and he's yelling at me, but I don't understand what he's saying.

He carries me, and I'm so happy because he is so big and strong. I want to tell him this, but I choke on my words. He carries me to another field, a field that is much colder, but has no fog. On the contrary, the air on this field is so clear and delicious. I start breathing it in, desperately, and with each new breath of the fresh air I start to question myself…

..is this a dream?

And where is Jack? Is he gone, into the fog and the red and the hot?

This is not a field…it's our lawn. And the fog is smoke…the glowing and the heat…our house is on fire!

"JACKSON!", I yell from the bottom of my very soul, and my voice sounds like nothing I have ever heard before in my life. I try to get up and fall down repeatedly, so I crawl on my hand and feet towards the house. My son is in there.

Jack took me out, but where is he now? Did he go back for Jackson? The house is burning, it's burning down..

I feel like passing out, but I will myself to keep my consciousness and to continue crawling towards the house. I have no idea what to do, but my son is in there, so I have to be in there, too. Every move hurts, every breath feels like fire inside, and my head is swimming.

"Jackson. Jackson. Jackson", I keep on saying quietly with each crawl towards the house, to remind myself why I'm not allowed to quit.

"Mama!", it's his voice. Oh God, please let it be his voice. I'm not sure about anything anymore. It's all so blurry.

"Let's put her in the car", I hear Jack's resolute voice.

"Is she hurt?", it's his voice, I know it is.

"No, but she inhaled a lot of smoke", Jack explains and then I feel my body being lifted up.

"Mama, jesi dobro?", ("Mom, are you allright?"). I'm in the backseat of the car, laying down, and Jackson is sitting in the front, turning towards me with a very concerned look on his face.

"Jesam, milo" ("I am, dearie"), I answer, but I'm not sure if I managed to say it out loud or not. I try to get up to be closer to my son. My head won't let me, though, and I feel like it will simply implode if I move it again. I want to check on my boys, I want to see with my own eyes if they're ok, but I'm in no condition to do so right now. My head is heavy, and I feel like with every new breath, I get less and less oxygen. Finally, I feel the blackness consume me as I pass out in Jack's speeding car.

"Sonja? Sonja! Fuck!"

A/N

Hey guys, sorry for the delay! I had so much work, it's impossible! I've written this chapter in the one free hour I could find, so this is posted without proofreading or anything-sorry for the typos. Btw I would have taken my time with it, but I'm about to leave for a short trip and I won't be back until next week, and I didn't want to keep you waiting for another week because of a few stupid typos.

Lots of love to all of you! Next update will be at the end of next week!