1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** It's going to be a longer note, but I think I should say a few things before I leave you to reading. Firstly, I promised to myself I'm not going to publish this story until I have some chapters written, so I'll be able to publish regularly. I have 7,5 chapters, five pages of plans for all the characters and even though it's not exactly what I had in mind, I decided to show it to you. For now I will update this story once a week, on Saturday (European time). According to my plans, it's going to be long, probably my biggest one, including all the characters. Of course, Jack and Sue are going to be the most important, but in contrary to my other stories, others will play a big part in it, too. Secondly, it is an AU story, but not completely. I change the way things went after Jack's heart attack, but a lot of things, which we watched in the show happened, either the same way or adjusted to better fit my idea. I am making sure not to let anyone get lost and describe everything I have changed. Lastly, the story starts ten years after Jack's heart attack. I imagine it taking place around March 2003, and the story starts at the end of November/beginning of December 2013. Obviously, a lot happened during all those years and things and people are not exactly the same they used to be back then. I guess some of you may think that my imagination went a little too far with some things, well... I certainly hope you're going to give this crazy little idea a chance and end up liking my story!

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**CHAPTER 1**

He sighed, when he made his way into the bullpen and took the place behind his desk. There was nothing more he wanted than going home, but there was this high-profile case they were working on and as long as the investigation wasn't finished, he could forget about spending a night asleep in his bed. Instead he would be drinking more coffee than he actually should. It was Thursday, the last time he was at home was on Monday and he missed his family terribly. It was so difficult to believe that a little over ten years ago he didn't really look forward to going home, but his life was so different back then. There used to be an empty apartment and lonely evening in front of TV awaiting for him, now he had his girls.

If someone had told him then, that at this point in life he would have a wife and four kids, he would have called the person crazy. There was only one woman he could imagine his life with, but as long as they kept being in the same unit, the rules were clear – they couldn't be together. It was only after his heart attack that his eyes finally opened and he realized, that he had to act if he didn't want to lose the possible future with her. This whole thing made him understand, that they had no idea how much time they still had left, and they shouldn't waste a precious second of it. He decided to take this risk, take a step forward in their relationship and now he knew that it was the best decision in his entire life. It brought him such a huge happiness, that he didn't even know such existed and the sole thought that it could be any different was painful. He just couldn't imagine his life without Sue and their four daughters, and anyone, who thought that he would be happier if he had a son, couldn't be more wrong. The girls all had their good and bad features, but just the simple fact that they were the result of his and Sue's love made them absolutely perfect in his eyes.

He took one of the framed pictures, standing on his desk and a dreamy, loving expression appeared on his face. It was taken by him barely few weeks earlier, and he could see Sue surrounded by their four little angels.

Michelle, their oldest, was the best daughter and older sister anyone could imagine. She was a spitting image of his wife, with her blonde hair and beautiful, hazel eyes. Since the earliest years of her life, she always wanted to help her parents and was overly excited when it turned out she was going to be a big sister. Even though she was still very young, everyone could see that she was a caring, protective person and it only was only becoming more obvious as she grew older. She was very polite and kind, and her wonderful personality was able to capture everyone's heart.

Emma, born about two years later, was their little genius. She had dark hair and hazel eyes, hidden by a pair of glasses she needed to wear since a very young age. She was a very curious child, wanted to know everything and was in heaven when she could listen to one of Uncle Myles' lectures. The man, too was delighted that he found a person interested in them, even though there was still going to be some time before he wasn't going to have to watch his language and the topic. The stubbornness she inherited after her mother made her never give up, until she knew something or did it correctly and she also learnt very quickly. She was also very hard-working, and it was visible even in the kindergarten. She always wanted to be the best, at absolutely everything.

Vanessa, born almost three years after Emma, was her daddy's girl. She had his dark hair and, much to the delight of her mother, also his big, brown eyes. But it wasn't just his looks she inherited; if she was a boy she would be an absolutely perfect copy of little Jack. It was not uncommon to hear, that even though he didn't have a son, he had Vanessa and she was the one, with who he could do everything that men always dream about doing with their sons. She was a little bit of a tomboy, from early years making it visible in her fights that she didn't want to wear a dress or have a nicely done hair, not to mention that she seemed to dislike everything, what was clearly girly. As much as her sisters usually were following their mom, whenever Jack was at home it was clear that she was going to be with him. It didn't matter if it was watching him repair something, playing in the garden with him, or just watching a game on TV. Her family and numerous aunts and uncles (not necessarily related to her by blood) called her Vane, because she was exactly like a vane, turning and changing her mind about everything all the time. The only thing that seemed to be permanent was her huge love for sports, hockey in particular and while there were a lot of things she wanted to do over the short four years of her life, one could always her that she couldn't wait to be old enough to start practicing this sport.

And when speaking of the Hudson girls, one could never forget about the youngest one. Jade was a family star. Even on the day she was born, she got all the attention focused on her, being the first baby, who was born in the hospital in 2011, few minutes after midnight. She was stunningly beautiful little girl, with golden locks, big brown eyes, long lashes and a charming smile. Since the very beginning, she seemed to know how to use her charm. Even though her parents made sure to be resistant to it, much to their displeasure, others weren't able to do it the same way. She was very stubborn – her grandfather often joked that she was as stubborn as his wife and daughter combined – and always wanted to make everything her own way, no matter the circumstances. Jack and Sue quickly got used to the fact that she didn't want to listen to them, but there were situations when both were just losing their patience, like the time she wanted to wear a thin, summer dress in the middle of cold winter.

He sighed again, his heart aching at the thought that he simply didn't know when he was going to have the chance to go home to them. He looked around the empty bullpen, his eyes stopping at every empty desk, as everyone else was elsewhere. It was amazing how the team managed not to change much during those ten years. Him, Bobby, Myles and Tara still kept working together. The FBI obviously pleased with results of their cooperation, was very far from breaking one of the best task forces in its history. Changes were, of course, inevitable. Sue was the first one to leave the team after they pursued their relationship, and later the FBI after Michelle was born. Lucy wasn't very much behind her, when she found out she was pregnant. After almost losing the baby, she was sent onto the doctor's leave but it turned out to work for the best, as it allowed her to see that the father of her baby, who she met about a year earlier, was a good man and cared for her very much. It brought them even closer together, and they got married when their son was about eight months old. It was the wedding he was never going to forget; he has never heard Sue complain as much about her look as then, when she complained she looked like a whale, and threatened to do something to Lucy for choosing such a date for it, when she was nine months pregnant. But he also had a heart attack, when in the middle of ceremony, she informed him that her water had broken. Yes, all of the people, who attended as well had to have the fun of their lives, watching him. Lucy had never returned to work after maternity leave, because when she was just about to go back to work, Jonathan received a better job offer in Florida. It wasn't an easy decision to make, as they were both very fond of DC, but in the end decided to move to Florida. Still, they made sure not to lose contact with their friends, and they had a lot of visitors during the year, when they were all coming to them for holidays.

Hopefully, soon he will be the next one to leave. For a very long time he wasn't convinced that he could be satisfied by a desk-job, but the more time passed, the more certain he was becoming that it was what he wanted. He needed to think about his family, he wasn't as excited by going into the field and risking his life than he used to be. He wanted for his working hours to be more regular, to spend more time with his wife and children.

"Jack?" he almost jumped at the sound of D.'s voice and looked up. For few years now the man was their supervisor, and all of them were sure that they couldn't dream about a better one. He understood their team perfectly, thanks to being a part of it for so long, and they could never complain. "Go home. You are much more needed there at the moment, than here."

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Sue sighed, glancing through the window in the kitchen as she was preparing their dinner. There was still no sign of Jack, who she hadn't seen since Monday. She knew he was working on a very import_ant case, and was terribly worried. She was constantly scared that something might happen to him, but this time she had a horribly bad feeling. She wished he would finally come home, so her nerves would get some rest but also for their daughters. They all missed him very much, and even though they understood he was at work, they had troubles with accepting this explanation for such a long absence – especially younger ones. They kept asking when he was going to be back, and it was breaking her heart every time that she had to tell them as soon as he could, because she simply didn't know. They were all occupied right now; Michelle and Emma were sitting behind the table and doing their homework, while Vane and Jade were in the living room, watching a cartoon. There were no questions, but she was sure that one of them was going to ask about Jack during dinner.

She was so lost in thoughts that she didn't even notice the car pass the house, and few seconds later, the girls jumping up from their places to run to the door. It was one of those things he loved about returning home, the moment he stepped inside he was always greeted by two happy brown-eyed girls, and in situations like this, when he wasn't at home for quite a while, his two other daughters joined their younger sisters. He smiled, giving each of them a tight hug and a kiss. It felt like he wasn't home for three months, not three days. Then he went to the kitchen, where he knew he would find Sue at this hour. He prevented Levi, who was sitting beside her, from informing her of his presence in the room as she seemed to be completely focused on she was doing, but he was sure she knew he was there anyway. It had to be this bond, this connection between them but they always felt when the other was around and he got certain, when she completely didn't seem surprised as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, hiding his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent.

She closed her eyes, relief spreading through her but it soon stopped being enough. She turned around in his arms, wrapped hers around him and rested her head against his chest. She was about to move away when his embrace tightened and for a moment longer they just stood there, enjoying the closeness of each other. He let her go a little only to move his hand to the back of her neck, lean closer and capture her lips in a kiss. They quickly got completely lost in it, the passion inside them raising only to be stopped by a loud 'Eeewwww" coming from their daughters.

"So good to be home…" he smiled, and left the kitchen to go upstairs to their bedroom to quickly shower and change.

Soon, all six of them were seated behind the table eating dinner. Eating meals together was something Sue always insisted on, and he agreed with her wholeheartedly. He glanced across the table at Jade, who played with her fork and chewed on the meat with a huge pout on her face and puffy, red eyes. Just few moments earlier she did one of her scenes, that she wanted to eat her dinner in the living room, so she could watch a cartoon. Just like she usually did when Sue didn't let her and he was at home, she went to Jack, even though he has never disagreed with his wife when it came to allowing something to their children or not. Yes, he sometimes had a different view on something, but never showed it to the girls, only talked straight to Sue either in the evening when their daughters were asleep or occupied with something in another room. It wasn't that he was uninterested, but it was Sue, who was with them all the time, while he was at work all week and sometimes on weekends too. Telling her how she should raise them - while much to his discontent, he was spending more time at work than at home - just wouldn't be right. Still, whenever Sue told her no, Jade was stubbornly trying her luck with daddy. Even at two, she knew that he was much more receptive to the look of her big, brown eyes than mommy, and it was easier to get what she wanted if she went straight to him, so she always tried to 'negotiate' with him. Her negotiating, however, usually ended in the same way – hearing a 'no' from him as well, starting to cry and – in response to his attempts to calm her down – kick and squirm, what resulted in him losing his patience. It was a surprise for everyone, but it turned out that he had much more of it towards Jade than his wife, and the girl seemed to understand that when daddy was raising his voice, she really could be in trouble, as it happened rarely. This time Jack just picked her up, resentful towards the whole world, carried to the kitchen and sat in her high-chair..

"Is something wrong, Ems?" he asked, seeing the distant look on his second daughter's face and she just sighed.

"She got a pink heart instead of a red one for today's math task." explained Michelle, with a voice, telling them she completely couldn't understand her sister, because the pink sticker meant that she's made a _small_mistake.

Jack only smiled slightly and gently nudged the girl, so she was going to cheer up. He was probably never going to know who she was so overly ambitious after. It wasn't like he and Sue didn't care for those things, but not as much as she seemed to and she was only in the first grade! He couldn't even image what it was going to look for her in high school, if this attitude wasn't going to pass. Emma glanced at him, and when there was still this sad look in her eyes, he stole few slices of cucumber from her plate.

"Hey!" she immediately protested and the 'fight for food' began between them, as the child tried to steal the slices back.

Sue only rolled her eyes at her husband's behaviour; sometimes he really acted like an overgrown little boy. Still, his childish attempts to cheer up their kids always seemed to be working, and soon she saw a big grin on Emma's face and was sure that the girl was laughing along with him. It mattered the most. He wasn't perfect, nobody was, but she couldn't imagine anyone being a better husband and father than he was. Even though he worked a lot and came home tired, there was nothing that could stop him from spending the evening with the girls. When only he was at home, it was the time of the day, when she didn't have children. They were all with him and no matter what, he wasn't going to share with her. It was him, who read them a bedtime story, leaning against the wall between Michelle and Emma's beds, with Vane cuddled to his side and Jade on his lap. At first he thought it was going to be better in younger girls' bedroom but the older ones were falling asleep quicker and because they were bigger and heavier, it made them more difficult to carry. This way it was just working better.

He tucked Jadie in, gently stroking her hair and kissing her forehead, and after glancing once again at Vanessa, turned off the light and left the room, silently pulling the door close but leaving them slightly ajar, so he – or Levi – were going to hear them at night in case something was happening. Then he went to his and Sue's bedroom, finding his wife sitting on the bed with her back leaning against the headrest, completely lost in the book. Levi was sleeping curled in her legs, snoring quietly. He was an old dog now, being thirteen years old. He was tiring easily and sleeping and resting a lot during the day, and there was a well deserved dog's retirement in front of him in a close future, when Sue's new hearing dog was going to finish the training.

He took his shirt off, changed into a pair of sweatpants and smirked, when he noticed his wife watching him. It's been ten years and he didn't really look the same way he did back then. Still, the passing time was much less visible in him, and nobody wanted to believe him that last month he has turned forty-three. He gained a little weight – he believed it was impossible not to with his wife's amazing cooking skills – but not too much; his body was still in a good shape, his muscles outlined gently but visibly. His hair wasn't as thick as it used to be, and there were some small, gray places on it but he was far from turning gray or going bald. Of course, the passing time – with the addition of four pregnancies – had the influence on Sue, as well. She said goodbye to the figure she used to have before Michelle was born some time ago; she lost most of the pregnancy weight but not all, and her hips were wider than they used to be. It wasn't anything surprising that wrinkles were starting to grace her face more visibly, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be covered by some make up. But no matter what, she was always going to be the most beautiful woman in the world for him, and there was nothing what could make him see her as less attractive. Obviously, the same could be said about her.

He approached the side of the bed, and slipped under the duvet, making himself comfortable. He didn't even realise it earlier, but he was absolutely exhausted. Sue didn't waste any time and snuggled to his side, but there was something about her that just didn't let him doze off. It was the way she was gently moving her fingertips over his chest, just like she always did when there was something on her mind, and she wanted to talk but she didn't really know how to start it. Fighting with the tiredness, he carefully rolled over to his side so she had no problems reading his lips. His hand cupped her face, his thumb gently stroking her cheek and he just kept watching her; he knew her well enough to know that all she needed to open was an intense look and the chance to gather her thoughts.

"Promise me you'll be careful, Jack..." she finally spoke, after a long moment of silence.

"You know that I'm always careful." he was a little taken aback by her request. 'Be careful!' was something she always told him, when he was leaving in the morning and he knew that there had to be something more to this sudden anxiety.

"Yeah, I know, but... I have this feeling that something bad will happen... And now you are working on this investigation... I know only as much as they say in news, but it seems these terrorists are very dangerous... We can't lose you..."

"And you are not going to. We always take any precautions, and I am not going to go against them, putting my life at risk..."

"There are situations when you don't have a choice..."

"And I do everything I can to avoid them. We all have too much to lose, and neither of us wants to be in this situation. Why do you think I asked D. to keep an eye on a vacancy, which would allow me to stop working in the field? But you are aware of all of this..."

"It's just... It's been a long time ago and there are moments when I wonder if there aren't any or you just deliberately don't apply for any..."

"Hey, Sunshine, where did those ridiculous thoughts come from? I go to D. every now and then to ask if there isn't anything, and there are only positions in other cities... I don't apply because we agreed that we want to stay here..."

"I just know how much you love to work in the field..."

"And I love you and the girls indescribably more! Sue, you know that family is in the first place for me... I have beautiful, wonderful wife and four amazing daughters... What could I want more, other than spending more time with you?" he leaned closer and pressed his lips against her forehead, placing a loving kiss there.

"Perhaps a fifth amazing daughter..." he chuckled, but his eyes widened when he looked into hers and noticed, that there was no playfulness inside them. She looked completely serious and the way she was biting her bottom lip, while watching him carefully told him that she was also slightly worried.

"Are you suggesting that you're..." she nodded her head before he even managed to finish. "Are you sure?"

"As sure as I can be after taking the home test... Tell me you're not angry..." she added after a moment, when he didn't say anything.

"Angry?" he asked, shocked. "Sue, we're going to have a baby! Why should I be angry?"

"Well, after Jadie was born we did agree that we aren't going to have any more kids..."

"Obviously God had a little different plan for us, considering that we were careful and still, we got this little one." his hand made its way to her abdomen and his fingertips gently caressed her skin. "So, just for the record, there is no way I would be angry. I'm happy! Surprised, yes, but happy!" he moved his face closer to hers and placed a lingering, loving kiss on her lips. "She's going to be as great as her older sisters."

"What if it's a boy?" she asked, and Jack's eyebrows moved up.

"He will be great, too. But I'm telling you, it's a girl." he kissed her again, his arm tightening around her waist and pressing her tightly again him, before he rolled them over, so he was lying on top of her, supporting his weight on his arms and knees, never letting go of her lips.

"I thought you were exhausted..." she teased, when he moved his kisses to her neck and she could feel his hand slip under her shirt, raising it as it was moving higher. The only response she got were his lips back on hers, preventing her from saying anything else.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks a lot for the wonderful feedback you've given me! Keep sending it, please, it's really encouraging! I hope you're going to enjoy this a little shorter chapter :) Next one - next Saturday :)

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For Jack and Sue, morning came way too quickly. It felt as if they have just fallen asleep, when Sue's alarm went off and it was time for her to get up. Jack just groaned, awaken by its sound as well, even though he didn't have to leave bed as long as he wanted unless he was called by one of his team members. He felt his wife carefully slip from under his arm, wrapped possessively around her waist and holding her close, and instead just snuggled closer to her pillow, breathing in her scent, dozing off again. But not for everyone it looked like this.

Bobby Manning was lying restlessly on one of the sleeping cots set for them, but was completely unable to sleep. The rest was in the bullpen, trying to find any smallest piece of information, which would help them get any closer to find people responsible for the explosions. All they had was fuzzy pictures – mostly from the side, which weren't very useful, and the DNA, which was nowhere in their database. It was still better than nothing, but not enough to satisfy the higher-ups, so they worked day and night in order to move forward, resting in turns. Only last night D. came and suggested to choose one of them to go home and take real, proper rest because it wasn't going to do any good if they were all exhausted. They all agreed for Jack to be the first one, because he didn't really try to get any sleep after he failed to fall asleep few days earlier. He only kept going on coffee, so it was out of question that he should be the one to go home, not to mention that spending some time with Sue and the girls was surely going to make him feel better.

Crash missed his family as well. He has never been one to think that he was ever going to really settle down, as he enjoyed the freedom of bachelorhood very much. A wife and kids were always the image of the distant future, which might come _one day_, and even when in relationship with Darcy, they both never really talked very seriously about the future. Yes, there was this assumption in their heads that they were going to be together and it would probably continue to be unsaid, if it wasn't for the job offer in California she got. It was in that moment, that Bobby understood that they couldn't go on this way forever, no matter how much they were both comfortable with it. He realised that he did think about this relationship as a very serious one, and when she decided to give it a try - encouraged by his words - he was ready to follow her. She told him to stay in DC, so they would see how it was all going to look like before making any other decisions, and even though he was heartbroken at that moment, he couldn't deny that in the end, it worked out for the best.

She was back in DC within three months, and if he had followed her the way he wanted, it wouldn't have been so easy for everything to get back to the way they were before. She wasn't sure he was going to want that and for him, it was the most ridiculous thing ever. Those three months apart made him see, that his life without her in it just wasn't it and another two months later he proposed. Soon she was Darcy D'Angelo-Manning, and some time later they even began thinking about a child, but they quickly realised that it wasn't going to be easy for them to become parents. No matter how many tests they did, the doctors couldn't find any reason for it but Darcy couldn't get pregnant and when it finally happened, she was losing a baby before the end of the first trimester. After almost four years and three miscarriages they lost hope that they will ever have their own child, when they finally succeeded.

They still remembered the shock they experienced, when the doctor told them that the pain she was experiencing was actually the beginning of labour, and they were going to meet their baby very soon. For a moment they were convinced that he was saying that because of April Fool's Day, but when he started to explain that because of the position the baby was in, the best way for it to be born was a C-section and everything what was connected to it, they realised that he was completely serious. Aiden was born a little premature, but still generally healthy and it was very clear that he was the apple in his parents' eyes. A bigger surprise, however, was that they had Cody. The doctors were shocked, when it turned out that Darcy was pregnant again because there was a really small possibility that it will ever happened. And yet, it did, and in comparison to what it took for them to have Aiden, it all happened very easily. They always heard that it was a one in a million chance but Cody was born without bigger problems as a full-term baby and was probably forever going to remain in everyone's heads as the biggest miracle they have ever witnessed, in addition born on the twenty-ninth of February of all the days in the year. They both had brown hair and blue eyes, although Aiden was a little more similar to Darcy, while Cody was a spitting image of Bobby. They were both curious, lively boys and their parents' whole world.

A sad smile made its way onto his face, as he thought about Darcy and their boys. He talked to them on the phone, but it simply wasn't the same. He called when he knew that his wife was at home, but it usually meant the time when she was busy preparing dinner, and her attention was mostly divided between her actions and watching their younger son, so there wasn't much left for him. Cody was only twenty months old, and he wasn't really a good conversationalist at all, not to mention over the phone and simply kept repeating "Daddy!" to the receiver, as if calling him to come. Aiden, three years older than his little brother, obviously talked much more but the conversation wasn't any easier. He kept drowning Bobby in questions like when will he be back, when will they go buy the new game he promised him and others, which Manning simply didn't know the answers for.

He sighed, raising himself to the sitting position. The truth was that they all missed their families. Life has really moved on, and over the past years fate allowed all of them to find their soul mates and start families. He knew that Tara called her six-years-old son few times a day – her husband being on yet another business trip - the expression on her face after they would hang up didn't leave any doubts for anyone how much she would rather be with her little boy than in the bullpen. And even though he didn't show it as much as the others, they all knew that Myles didn't want to go home any less than the others. If a stranger looked at him, sitting behind his desk they would call him indifferent, but his friends knew better. They could see him glancing at the picture of his wife, son and daughter every now and then, and it was clear that the smirk coming to his face every time he got a text message was the result of something Louise sent to him. This woman really had an uncanny influence on Leland; there were moments when they really didn't recognize him. Only Charlie, a young agent and Jack's trainee, who joined them just few months earlier, couldn't say that there was someone waiting for him at home but he wouldn't mind going there either, even if only to sleep in his bed.

The information that they were going to get few days off after the investigation will be over, which Dimitrius shared with them earlier in the week, wasn't at all comforting. It didn't seem like they were getting any closer to catching the people they were looking for, and when he walked into the bullpen he noticed that it didn't really change since he went to rest. Charlie looked like he was simply staring at his computer's screen but not really focused on whatever was there, Myles was close to dozing off sitting with his head supported on his hand, and Tara's eyes were so red that he wasn't sure he has ever seen them like this. How much he envied Jack, who was probably still lying in his bed, refusing to even think about getting up.

"I've got it!" exclaimed Tara, staring at her screen in disbelief. All three man almost jumped to their feet at the high tone of her voice. "I've got a match!" she pressed few buttons and they could all see her computer on the monitor hanging on the wall between Bobby's and Myles' desks.

They noticed that indeed, one of the huge amount of recordings they got had a much better shot on their terrorists. One of them looked straight at the camera, while the others weren't really trying to escape the view, probably unaware that it was even there, because they managed to hide their faces from practically every other on the way they had chosen.

"It is the recording from this witness, who came here earlier – actually, yesterday. The man, who told us that he wasn't even aware that he had it as his son was holding his cell phone at the time they were around the cinema." she looked around, and seeing that they all were nodding their heads, knowing who she meant, continued. "It turns out that releasing the information that we are looking for people, who were driving in the white van was a good idea. It's the only reason, why he brought it here, and look."

They watched how the program analysed the facial features of the people on the snapshots from the recording. Four men were standing in front of a white van, and soon they had results – all were matches with the poor pictures they had taken earlier.

"Finally!" shouted Myles, raising his arm "Now you only need to analyse the cameras all over the city, so we'll hopefully locate their hideout, go there and arrest them!"

"I wouldn't agree that I _only _need to do this. It's not that simple considering how slowly the other program works, freezing every while… I really need a new computer if this software is supposed to be effective for us."

"Try to mention this to the director, when he'll personally come here in fifteen minutes to check the progress." stated D., joining them in the bullpen.

As it turned out, she didn't really have to because the man was actually surprised that they didn't have newer computers and promised that they will get them when only it was possible. Their doubts about that weren't important, though, as he was much more interested if they had anything and was glad to see that it seemed that they did move forward. It was a good news after few days of nothing other than two explosions following the first one. They weren't big, and luckily nobody was killed but the number of people hurt was quite big, because terrorists chose popular, much frequented places, but ones that no one would suspect could be the target – a cinema, a restaurant and an internet cafe. There was a big number of people in hospitals, along with their families, waiting for some answers and for justice.

"I need Hudson to be ready for the press conference in two hours, unless you have a lead and are going to follow it. Where is he, by the way?"

For a short moment an awkward silence fell in the room; everyone's eyes moved to D., who wasn't sure what to say. He knew that the man wasn't going to be happy hearing, that he sent Jack home, no matter how much Hudson needed to go there, and have real rest. He was responsible for the success of potential operation; he was the team's leader and made important decisions. He wouldn't want to learn, that because of his exhausted state, he made a very meaningful mistake and the whole thing was ruined. Yet, he didn't believe that those would be good arguments for the director, no matter that Dimitrius believed he was right.

"His wife called in the middle of the night that one of his daughters is sick. They needed to take her to the doctor, but Sue didn't have anyone to leave the rest of the girls with. He should be here by now, but there must be a queue in the shop; he promised to bring us some breakfast." said Myles, who was the first one to recover and quickly come up with what could be a logical explanation for their friend's absence.

The director wasn't convinced, but decided to let it go, realising that he probably didn't want to know the truth. He wasn't going to push them; their team was effective and it was what mattered to him the most, so he just nodded his head and left the bullpen. And, the truth was, that Jack was still very much asleep, hugging his wife's pillow tightly. Just like they suspected, he wasn't thinking about waking up anytime soon, and even though somewhere deep in his mind he knew that he shouldn't, he just rejected the call when his cell phone rang, and turned it off. It didn't work for long; knowing what he has done, their friends didn't hesitate to call Sue and all she needed to do was sent their little hurricane to the bedroom. He groaned, feeling Vanessa jump onto the bed and then right onto his stomach, her knee pushing against his ribs. Wrapping his arm around her, he carefully took her off himself and sighed with relief.

"Okay, okay, Vanie, I'm up!" he said, raising himself to the sitting position before she had the chance to continue her attempts.

Rubbing his eyes, he turned his head to the side and opened them to look straight at the grinning face of his daughter, proud of herself that she accomplished the task so easily. But Jack knew, that if Sue wasn't coming herself but sending Vanessa, it was better to wake up not only because their child could be really inventive if he ignored her, but it had to be something important. Despite this, he couldn't stop himself and started tickling her. Her laughter quickly brought Jadie to them and when Sue walked into the room a moment later, after the older girls were picked up by the school bus, she shook her head at the three, fooling around and laughing together.

"Okay, Mr. and Misses Hudson, the end of the party!" she announced and sighed, when she noticed all of them pout and send her the look of those brown eyes they shared, which always made her heart melt. "You know it's not going to work. Come on girls, time to brush your teeth!"

"But Mommy, we just want to play with Daddy some more!" protested Vanessa, and Jade immediately agreed with her sister.

"I know, but Daddy needs to get ready and go to work."

"Come on, listen to your mommy." added Jack, seeing that Vanessa was already opening her mouth to say something else.

Noticing that Sue was adamant to finish their small play, and Jack wasn't going to be on their side, both girls crawled out of the bed and obediently went to the bathroom with Sue on their heels. They soon found Jack seated behind the table in the kitchen, slowly eating his toast and drinking coffee; he had drunk quite a lot of it during the past few days, but none of it tasted as good as this one.

"I see you decided to get rid of your beard." she smiled, upon seeing the most noticeable change in his appearance other than clothes and Jack just shrugged. "And I was thinking you might have decided to keep it."

"I did read somewhere that women prefer men with facial hair and was actually considering letting it grow, but I have to admit I feel way better when I'm clean-shaven." Sue chuckled at his statement, while he wrapped his arm around her waist when she approached, pulled her close and sat her on his lap.

"In that case, you should feel lucky that your wife is not one of those women you mentioned earlier, and thinks you look much better this way."

"I am indeed a very lucky man to have her, not only because of it." he moved his face closer to hers and placed a lingering, loving kiss on her lips.

He felt her smile and respond to the kiss, and despite gaining a life of its own, it still stayed pretty innocent. He groaned, hearing the sound of his cell phone somewhere in the background. Using the hand, which made its way to her face somewhere in the middle of the caress, he stroked her cheek with his thumb as he broke the kiss and moved away enough for her to be able to read him.

"I'm afraid I really have to be going..." he sighed, stealing another, much shorter kiss from his wife before reluctantly releasing her from his grip.

He gathered his things, and after making sure that he had everything, getting a goodbye kisses from his daughters and wife, he made his way out of the house.

"Be careful!" he heard Sue shout behind him, as he approached the car and looked at the house to see her standing in the open door, watching him carefully while Vanessa and Jade were standing at each of her sides, waving to him as he was driving away.

He smiled, and responded with the same before they were out of sight and Sue closed the door, hoping that it wasn't going to take him another three days to come home.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Thank you very much to everyone, who reads this story and even bigger thank you to those, who decided to leave me a review. To those, who celebrate - Happy Easter! I really hope you will enjoy this chapter! :)

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**CHAPTER 3**

Jack definitely wasn't pleased, when his friends told him the reason, why he was so needed in the office. Of course, he was aware that their investigation was a widely discussed topic in the press and media; everyone was demanding answers, which they simply couldn't give them at this stage. He didn't really want to be the one to face the reporters, he has never been attracted by the public relations work. In fact, he wasn't sure he didn't prefer working for Randy for a week to attending the press conference, what a lot of people would call suicide. Pitts has always been annoying for everyone, even if they couldn't deny that his nature was very useful for his profession. However, it seemed that his infuriating features were only enhancing with passing years, so most of the FBI tried not to be in his company as much as it was possible and they would definitely call Hudson crazy if he voiced his thought. He tried to talk to D. only to learn that it wasn't his decision to choose Jack to represent the team, but the director's. Dimitrius tried to talk to him, knowing that the team's leader wasn't going to be eager to attend the event, but the man was very adamant he wanted nobody other but Sparky. Why was something nobody knew, and they had no other choice but to follow his wish.

He just stood up from his desk and was about to head to the director's office, when Tara exclaimed that thanks to using the face recognition program, she was able to localise the place, where their terrorists were probably hiding. She showed them the recording, on which they could see three of the four men parking the white van in front of the old, abandoned building, getting out and being greeted by the fourth one before going inside. It happened just five minutes ago, and the view from this camera in the corner of her screen indicated, that nothing has changed since then. They didn't have any time to lose, and all started to gather their things quickly and head to the exit. They passed the director on the corridor, as the man was heading to their bullpen to see why Jack hasn't arrived yet, only to be informed that they were on their way to the suspects' hideout to arrest them.

During the relatively short ride, Tara was constantly watching the monitoring, in order to be aware of any smallest change but there was none upon their arriving.

"What we know is that there are four men inside the building and it is very possible that they have explosives there. Judging by the fact, that we were looking for four suspects, we don't expect to find anyone else there, but we should be prepared for this possibility. There are two entrances to the building; we're going to split into two teams. One will go with Bobby and Myles to the back entrance, which is exactly here." Jack pointed at the paper with the layout of the building. "Me, Charlie and the rest will enter it from the front, right here. We don't know where exactly they're located, and we don't know if they're armed, so it is best to prepare ourselves that they are."

The briefing wasn't long, and soon they were all with their full equipment, taking their positions and waiting for the signal to enter. The moment it came, it all happened very quickly. They stormed into the building, and immediately saw three men sitting in the huge, open space which was the main room in there. There were materials to prepare bombs, as well as few ready ones. It went very easy and very quickly to handcuff them, and Jack had a bad feeling about it. He didn't believe they simply gave up after making sure it was going to be so difficult to find them and avoiding them for so long. And, where was the fourth man? He could hear the exclaims "Clear!" coming from around him, as they were checking every corner of the building. Hudson didn't believe he would manage to escape, he would have to go either past him, standing alone in the small room next to the exit or past others, but he still asked Tara about it.

"He has to be inside, nobody left the building." she informed him.

Suddenly, he heard movement behind himself and turned around quickly, to see the man standing not far from him, looking at him with a smirk on his face and extended hand. He was holding a gun with a silencer, and before Jack managed to react in any way, he felt a huge pain in his chest and fell to the ground. His hand immediately made its way to the place where it was the strongest, and it took him a second to realise that he had his vest on, of course. It was however the last thing he thought about, because in the next moment it all turned black.

The man immediately started to run towards the exit, but much to his misfortune, Tara immediately realised that something was wrong when she felt the strange sound coming from Jack, as if he was hit; she didn't see much from the camera he had on himself, the lack of light inside giving her no view. She alerted the rest, who rushed to where the man was; they noticed one of the huge boxes was opened, obviously it had to be where their suspect hid, as well as him running out of the building. Two men hurried after him, while Bobby looked around the room for Jack, who according to Tara should be somewhere there. He ran to his side, when he noticed him lying on the floor, his gun next to him, a cut on his forehead and noticed the bullet stuck right in his vest. He immediately thought how lucky Sparky was; if it wasn't for the protection, it would go straight through his heart.

"Jack's down, call the ambulance!" he shouted to Tara, who stated that it was already on its way, and he carefully shook Jack. "Sparks, can you hear me?!" his heart jumped, when he heard groan come out of his friend's lips.

"You yelled right into my ear, what do you expect?" he mumbled and Manning grinned, and placed his hand on Jack's shoulders, preventing him from standing up. "Crash, I'm fine…"

"You better be, or Sue will tear my head off."

Bobby helped Jack stand up and both men slowly headed in the direction of the front exit. Hudson touched his head and winced in pain, noticing some blood on his fingers when he moved it back away. His chest hurt a little, as he was breathing, and not for the first time he silently thanked the person, who invented bulletproof vests, because without them he would most probably be dead. His friend's mentioning his wife also made him think about her words. Jack learnt to trust her intuition a long time ago; not for the first time she mentioned to him that she had a feeling something would happen and it indeed did. They soon left the building, and he was immediately surrounded by his friends wanting to make sure he was fine, and then taken by the paramedics to be examined.

He didn't need stitches, and from what it looked like, he was generally fine. He didn't need to go to hospital, but was informed not to hesitate to come if he noticed any undesired symptoms. Despite his friends' protest, that it would be better if he went home, he insisted on going with them back to the office and soon found himself sitting behind his desk in the bullpen, with a pack of ice against his forehead. The wound started to swell and bruise, looking much worse and more serious than it actually was and he was sure, that Sue will fuss when he arrives at home. He was sure she was going to do it anyway, he could even picture her freaking out after telling her what happened. Yes, there was no doubts about it, but even thought it was annoying, it all was a result of the fact that she cared about him very much and didn't hesitate to make him feel it, in contrary to some people.

His eyes moved to Tara, hers as always fixed on the screen in front of her. She wasn't exactly the same cheerful person he met all those years ago, and even though nobody has ever dared to tell her about that, they all were sure that it was all because of her husband. They never really had the chance to get to know Jason Smith and Tara wasn't sharing a lot of details about him with her friends, but they all could see that it definitely wasn't as happy marriage as he, Bobby, Lucy or even Myles had. They couldn't be sure it was really this way, they didn't know how it all looked at home, but from their perspective, the man had the tendency to treat Tara like she was his personal servant, and completely wasn't interested in raising their son with her. But, they didn't say anything, the first and last time they tried to mentioned that it wasn't right ended in the explosion of their usually calm friend but they all secretly wished that something will change for her.

Still, nobody could deny that she had a lot of happiness in her life. Eric was a wonderful little boy and the kind of son everyone dreamed about. He was always very obedient and didn't cause troubles, it was enough to give him something to play with and Tara could do whatever she needed to do, only keeping an eye on him, but without having to worry that he will think of something crazy. He always wanted to help his mom with everything and from the very young age; he tried to tidy his own room, including trying to do the vacuuming in it, and there wasn't one time when he didn't choose to help her cook the dinner even if his father told him he didn't have to and invited him to play a game with him. Jack was aware that his wife knew much more about it, since Tara was the most open with Sue when it came to Eric. He was Emma's age, and even though it wasn't exactly the closest school for her, Tippy decided to send him to the same, which the Hudson girls' were going to. It was considered to be one of the best in the city, and she thought that having a person he knew would be good for a generally shy boy, and she was right. But even before that, the kids played often together – in fact, all of the team's kids were close, although the three oldest were more often playing without the younger ones – and it was inevitable for the mothers to talk. It didn't happen often, but when she felt bothered by something Tara has said, Sue mentioned it to him. He couldn't help but thought, that it seemed that Jason not only didn't try to be a good example, rather showing him that Mommy was someone, who should do everything around them while they could simply lay on the couch whole day; it seemed like he even tried to encourage Eric to be the same way, but with no success. Hudson didn't know how much of his thoughts were true, perhaps there were simply moments like this and they didn't happen often or he was simply completely wrong in his assumptions, but it didn't change the fact that he didn't feel sympathy towards Tara's husband.

His thoughts were interrupted, when Myles and Bobby came back into the bullpen, informing them that neither one of the men they arrested earlier wanted to speak. It wasn't like they had any doubts about their guilt, but all the materials they have found in the abandoned building made them realise, that they might be dealing with something way bigger than they realised. As much as it could be called so, the materials were marked by a logo, which they found few months earlier during much smaller investigation about a bomb planted at the small shop, which luckily was neutralised before it had the change to go off. It was certain that the four men weren't responsible for that, because they caught the man red-handed and there weren't any doubts about his guilt either. They tried to get at least a hint, if they could be dealing with a new organisation, which was selling the materials to prepare explosives as well as ready ones, but their lips were sealed. They could only hope that at one moment at least one of them would start to speak; the director was clear that their emergency working-hours (which practically meant being at work day and night) wasn't going to be over until they know it for sure and after four days they really had enough.

Luckily for them, the miracle happened and one of them decided to speak, in hope for a lenient sentence. They agreed to negotiate with the prosecutor, and even though they couldn't promise him anything, he still decided that it was worth a try. As it turned out, he was in it only because he owed a big sum of money to one of the other men and being a specialist in explosive materials, he was supposed to pay his debt this way. His story was later confirmed to be true, and the way he simply told them what seemed like everything he knew could definitely suggest so. And even though it was already in the evening, they all sighed with relief that they could spend the night in their homes.

Just like he thought, the moment Sue saw him her eyes widened and she immediately asked him what happened. He explained that he was hit, that according to the paramedic he was fine and he felt good whole day. He didn't mention getting shot at that moment, but he didn't even think about hiding it. It wasn't possible, she would find out one way or another and she did by walking into the bedroom at the very same moment, as he was changing, when all the girls were already in their beds, asleep. He was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, checking the bruise with the door open and turned around, when he saw her reflection behind himself, having no doubts that she saw it.

"You were shot!" she exclaimed, approaching him quickly, her fingers very gently moving to his coloured skin.

It wasn't the first time she saw a bruise like this on his body, since it wasn't the first time he got shot over the time they were married but it always made her heart clench. It always made her think, how close she was to losing him, only a piece of specially designed clothing saving him from getting seriously hurt and possibly dying. Her eyes filled with tears and a sob escaped her lips, when she felt his fingers move over her cheek, something he always did when she was on the verge of crying, but this time they failed completely. Sighing, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his arms, feeling her own go around his waist and hug him tightly, making him stiffen a little when the sore place hurt. He only managed to stop her from withdrawing by tightening his grip, and he held her in his arms with one of his hands caressing her back. One would say she was overreacting, that she should feel relieved, happy that he was fine – and of course she was! But even the sole thought that she could lose him was a little too much for her to bear; she loved him with her whole heart, every cell in her body, the strength of her feelings so huge she didn't even think it was possible to fall in love with someone so much, and she couldn't imagine her life without him in it.

When he felt that she calmed down, he slowly led her to the bed. The moment he lied down next to her, she moved closer, wrapping her arm around his chest and resting her head in the crook of his arm. He smiled, kissing her forehead and soon they both drifted off to sleep.

The Hudsons, however, weren't the only one happy at the turn of events, which allowed the team to go back home and spend some time with their family.

Little Eric was very excited, when he saw his mom walk into the room, where he was sitting on the couch and watching a cartoon. For the past three days, the only contact he had with her was over the phone and he missed her very much, just like Tara missed him. He immediately jumped off the couch and ran straight to her open arms, staying in them for a very long time until she eventually released him from the tight hug. He knew that his mom didn't have a choice, that with her working in the FBI – something he was extremely proud of – it was inevitable that there were going to be moments, when she simply couldn't come back home in the evening. Of course, he would prefer for her to have some more time to spend with him, so they could play together more, but both of them simply tried to get everything from what they had.

Linda Cavanaugh smiled, looking at the two. She was very fond of them from the moment they moved to the house down the street from hers, when Eric was just six months old. She lived alone, and didn't have any family – her husband passed away almost ten years earlier, and their only daughter was gone for over twenty. When she was just sixteen, she disappeared on her way to a friend, living just few blocks away and has never been found. Nobody knew what happened to her, and it was only a matter of time before everyone assumed she was dead and stopped looking for her. Only in Linda's and her husband's heart, the faint hope that she was alive still existed, and she chose to cling to it, believe that her beloved little girl was somewhere there, leading a happy life. She somehow learnt to live with this loss and upon meeting Tara and Eric, her maternal instincts were in a way passed onto them. She didn't really know Jason very well, and was convinced that the man simply couldn't appreciate what he had, but his long working hours and often absence gave her a chance to spend more time with the boy – taking care of him when Tara was at work - and also his mother, something she was grateful for.

Not wanting to take the precious time together away from them, she just invited them for dinner on the next day and allowed them to go home. Tara was grateful it was Friday, because there was no doubts her son wouldn't be able to wake up in the morning to go to school if it wasn't. Even though it wasn't happening often, she let him stay up much later than usual and the two spent a very long evening on playing together, completely forgetting about the passing time and falling asleep cuddled together on the couch, while watching a movie on DVD, almost at midnight. She only woke up at two, but didn't feel like releasing her son from her arms, waking him up so they could rest properly in their beds. Instead, she just turned the TV off and watched the sleeping boy. Reaching out her hand, she brushed a strand of his sandy blond hair away from his forehead, making him stir and she noticed him opening his green eyes only to close them again and snuggle more to her, before falling back asleep. She smiled, placed a kiss on his forehead and closing her eyes once more, she dozed off as well.

Bobby was met with the exact same sight he expected to find upon coming home. The boys were already asleep, and Darcy was using the free time to catch up on the article she was expected to write. Ever since Aiden was born, she was working from home. Thanks to achieving quite a lot as a journalist, writing a lot of good articles and earning respect from a lot of people in this trade as well as a very good reputation. Everyone, who cared about such things, knew who Darcy D'Angelo-Manning was and practically everyone wanted her to work for them. This allowed her to negotiate good conditions; her boss had nothing against her working at home, coming to the office every now and then – at least once a week, as long as her articles weren't going to lose the good quality. She managed quite fine, and even though neither of the ones she wrote since that moment became very known, they were still considered good.

She was so engrossed in writing, that she didn't even realise he went into the apartment. He grinned to himself, approaching her quietly and she gasped loudly in shock, when he whispered "Good evening." into her ear. She turned around quickly, and smiled at the sight of her husband, placed her laptop on the side and stood up from the couch, as he went around it, to embrace him.

"So nice you're home." she stated, snuggling into his chest. "We've missed you very much."

"Me too. It feels like I wasn't here for a year, not a couple of days." he placed a kiss on her temple.

"I know." she smiled, looking up at him right as he muffled a yawn, sending her an apologizing look. "Don't worry about that. I'd love to have you for myself for some time, but I'm sure you must be way more tired than you allow me to see. Go, take some rest, you're going to need your strength tomorrow. I'm sure Aiden won't let you out of his sight, and Cody will probably be clingy as well."

Nodding, he went to the bathroom to take a quick shower and after checking on both of the boys, sleeping peacefully in their beds, and giving each a tender kiss, he went to the bedroom to go to sleep as well. The apartment was so quiet, that he could hear the sound of Darcy's fast typing and soon joined their sons in the dreamland.

Myles had the worst luck of them all, even though he was the only one to call his wife ahead that he was coming home. He chose the road deliberately, wanting to avoid the possible Friday traffic, only to get stuck on the way by the accident, which blocked the whole road. He would have turned around and drove home another way, but the cars behind him and lack of place to turn around made it impossible, so he had no other choice but to wait until the road was cleared. It resulted in him coming home after ten, and he had no doubts that everyone will be asleep.

He was actually surprised by the glow of TV he noticed through the window, and for a moment thought that Louise might be awake. It was certain she was waiting for him, passing the time on watching a movie on TV, but at one point she fell asleep. He found her lying on the couch, curled under a blanket, her cell phone right next to her hand. Sighing, he took off his jacket and shoes before walking into the room, turning the TV off and slipped his arms under her, lifting her easily. She was generally small, much shorter than him and slim, and it also didn't make her very heavy, so he didn't have any problems carrying her upstairs. He held his breath, when he felt her move, but she didn't wake up, only adjusted herself in his arms and continued sleeping. He went straight to their bedroom, placing her on the bed and covering her with a duvet, smirking when she immediately moved closer to his pillow, wrapping her arms possessively around it.

It was then, that he felt something – or more exactly, someone – collide with his legs, and felt small arms coming around them. He leaned down and took his daughter into his arms, slowly moving with her in the direction of her room. The girl rested herself against his chest, making a whimpering sound, which he was sure was supposed to show him that she wasn't happy with him being gone for so long.

"It's late, Cassie. You should be sleeping." the only response he got was another whimper, and sighed.

Soon she was back in her bed, and he was sitting on its edge, trying to explain her that she really should sleep, and there was no need for her to stay up to spend some time with him, because he was still going to be there in the morning.

"Okay…" she finally gave up, and pulled the teddy bear she was sleeping with, close to her.

"Good night, Princess."

"Night, Daddy. I love you."

"I love you, too."

He sat there, stroking her hair until he was absolutely certain she was asleep and only then left the room. He then made his way to the room right next to hers, but in comparison to her pink one, filled with a lot of kinds of teddy bears and dolls, this one was blue and full of cars and planes, with just a few teddies. The boy on the bed, however - in contrary to his twin sister - was peacefully asleep, and didn't even stir when Myles covered him back with the duvet, which he kicked to the legs of the bed.

As he made his way to the bathroom, he had one of those moments when he couldn't help wondering, how did it happen that his life turned this way. He definitely didn't see himself as a family kind of guy, and even though he didn't see commitment as the biggest evil of the world, he was pretty sure that he was never going to settle with one woman for the rest of his life. It wasn't like he didn't want it, but he didn't really think that he was ever going to find one, who would make him want it, until he met Louise. What she saw in him, nobody – including him - could understand but they knew each other for nine years now, were married for five and were really happy together. But, the biggest shock everyone got when he proudly admitted that he was going to be a father – knowing his attitude towards children, nobody could see him in this role, and neither could he. It was only thanks to his wife's faith in him, that he didn't freak out when few months after they reached a compromise on the topic, agreeing on a child – and perhaps a second one sometime in the future – she announced that she was pregnant. Fate, however, had a little different plans for them and he was sure that his facial expression was absolutely priceless, when the doctor informed them that the shape next to what she pointed to as their baby wasn't just a spot on the monitor, but a second child. It was when he did start to panic – he was terrified by the idea of being a father in general, he couldn't see himself being an example for another human, let alone two little ones. After they were born, he probably didn't settle into the role as perfectly as Jack, or as easily as Bobby, but he promised himself that he wasn't going to be like his parents were and tried his best to take care of them – even though sometimes it made Louise feel despaired – and never show any preference to either of them. Everyone was convinced that he was going to care about Alex much more, being a boy and obviously, the son every man wanted to carry on the name but despite being a girl, Cassie didn't wrap him around her little finger any looser than her twin brother.

If at one point in the past, someone had told him that this was how his life was going to look like, he would have called the person crazy. He wouldn't have believed that he would have a wife and two children, he simply couldn't see himself being happy leading such a life, but he was. Louise, Alexander and Cassandra brought something special into his life, and now he simply couldn't imagine it being any different.

Walking out of the bathroom, he checked if Cassie was sleeping once again, and then went to the bedroom, the only thing on his mind being slipping under the duvet and sleeping. He only felt Louise subconsciously move closer to him, while she murmured something unintelligible, and dozed off.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** A big thank you to all, who left me a review for this story, I really appreciate all of them! I'm glad you enjoy this story so far. Now, I leave you to another chapter :) Enjoy.

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**CHAPTER 4**

Sue grinned widely, when she saw her husband walk into the bedroom, looking absolutely exhausted. He had no idea when the weekend has passed; the girls were ecstatic that their daddy had more time to spend with them than just an evening, and made sure not to leave him much opportunity to do anything other than spend time with them. Yet, he definitely wasn't going to complain; if it was only possible, he would willingly spend every day like that.

Even though it was now the end of November, the weather was still pretty nice, and he didn't hesitate to use the warmer day to take girls to the park. Sue and Levi stayed at home, after he insisted that she deserved some time only for herself; at first she wanted to come with them as well, but later she decided he was right. Their daughters didn't mind at all, because at least for a while, daddy was perfectly capable of being all they needed, even if after some time they would all want her mommy as well. So, they were all fooling around, all five of them running, squealing, giggling and making most of the people turn their heads in their direction. Jack didn't really pay attention to it, but when he did he saw on his own eyes, what Sue was always repeating – that everyone was looking at them with a mix of curiosity, confusion, admiration and some, also a slight jealousy. Whenever they were out, he didn't hesitate to have some fun with the kids, being one of not so many fathers doing it so openly.

He couldn't imagine he could act any other way. Sue and the girls were his everything, and he didn't hesitate to make them feel it whenever he had the opportunity to. Family was something he saw as the most important thing in life and always cherished more than anything. It was one of those things that his parents showed him, and even though for a long time, there used to be only him, his mother and his father, it never changed. This feeling only grew stronger, after he fell in love with Sue and their daughters were born. He didn't really remember his grandparents, as they passed when he was just a small boy; his parents didn't have many siblings, and those they had didn't really keep in touch with them. He himself was an only child, but now he understood his mother's words, which she spoke to him any time he asked her if he could have a brother or a sister, that they would give him one if only they could. It wouldn't be anything strange nowadays, but back then it wasn't very common for people to have the first child when they were almost forty and even though he never really asked, he was pretty sure that they simply couldn't have a child and it was also explaining their slight over protectiveness, as well as being called their special little boy. Yet, it didn't change a fact that his family was always small, and he wanted it to change.

If someone had asked him one day, how many children he would like to have, he definitely wouldn't have said five. Not, that he didn't want that many, because he actually hoped for five or six, but he needed to be realistic. Where would he find a woman, who would share this dream and be willing to give him as many? He didn't think he would, and as the time passed, he was only getting more convinced in this belief, because practically all the women in his life cared more about the career, and thought about one child, if any. But then, Sue stepped into his life and he was soon lost for any other woman in the world, and even though it has taken him a heart attack to start a relationship with her, it definitely wasn't going to take any less to make him let her go. She gave him four amazing daughters, who he was sure were going to grow up into wonderful women, and he couldn't forget about this little one growing under her heart. Could a man ask for more? He definitely didn't feel the need to. If anything, he would only wish for everything to happen earlier. He was going to be over sixty, when his youngest child was going to turn eighteen, and when was time for him to get the chance to take care of his grandchildren, drive his kids mad while endlessly spoiling the little ones?

He sighed, climbing into the bed next to his wife. Perhaps he was going to get the chance to do all of that, who knew. Sue smiled wider, seeing him practically fall asleep, when he positioned himself comfortably on his back. He didn't even have strength to lean to her and give her a goodnight kiss, like he always did. She was practically only waiting for him to join her, so she could snuggle to him in order to doze of a little easier, and placed the book on the bedside table, turning off the light and moving closer to Jack. She was sure he mumbled something, when she placed a gentle kiss on his cheek before resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes as well. They were both going to need their strength for the following day, and it wasn't long before they were both sleeping peacefully.

Next morning, they found themselves amongst all the other people sitting in the waiting area and waiting for their doctor's appointment. She was very close to postponing it, because she didn't want Jack to miss it, but now was glad she didn't do that because she didn't have to wait much longer to see the baby for the first time. She was soon asked by the nurse to come into the doctor's office, while Sparky remained there a little longer, coming in only after he was asked to. He found his wife and the doctor already waiting for him, and sat on the stool next to the bed Sue was lying on, taking her hand in his. She smiled at him, and the corner of Jennifer Matthews mouth also moved up, as she watched them; she knew this couple for quite a few years now, witnessed the birth of all their daughters, but she was always amazed by the strength of the bond between them.

They've both already been through it four times, but it didn't mean that they felt any less excited than the first time. Even though it was only on the monitor, and at this point, it didn't really look like a little human, they were going to see their baby for the first time, see that it was really there and in a couple of months they were going to get to see it for real, as well as hold it in their arms. But no matter what, in no way they were ready for one of the biggest surprises in their lives, and both stared at the doctor with their eyes wide and full of disbelief, when she showed them the familiar shape of the baby, only to move the device a little on Sue's abdomen after a while to show them a second one.

They were really surprised. Even though somewhere back in their minds, there was a thought it was possible, especially that twins weren't such a rare thing in Sue's family, but they didn't think it would happen to them. Yes, they did think about it during the first time, even second, but now when they had four kids, they didn't really consider it anymore. They knew it was a stupid thing to do, as it could happen any time, and it did now. It couldn't really reach them, even as they listened to the doctor, explaining them what was going to be different and what they should do another way than they did previously. The pictures weren't lying, and they could both see it very well, but it seemed they simply needed a little bit more time.

"I know that I'm saying that every time we see for sure, that the home test wasn't wrong, but I feel scared…" stated Sue, only after they arrived at their favourite restaurant for lunch, where they drove to in almost complete silence.

It's been a while since they had the opportunity to be there or even spend some time without the kids. There were few days in the year, when their friends always took the little Hudsons, so they could have a date night. They were also spending two weeks every year at each of their grandparents', and Jack and Sue didn't need much to start missing them horribly. It never took more than three days for them to want for their girls to come back home to them. Now, however, that the older two girls were at school and Darcy was looking after the younger ones, they decided to use the time as much as they could.

"**It's going to be fine.**" he signed and spoke at the same time, in case she wasn't focused enough to read his lips as he could see that she was still a little lost in her thoughts.

After so many years of learning and practicing the language, he became pretty fluent in it and even though there were still words he didn't know, especially those more difficult and rarely used ones, he had absolutely no troubles communicating in ASL and didn't even need someone to sign slower for him anymore. He was taking her to signed performances, accompanied her to The Little Bookworm Club meetings whenever he could, and often amazed a lot of people by his openness to the world of the deaf. With Sue's skills to read lips and speak, it was unnecessary for him to learn her language, and yet he decided to do not only that, but even try to understand her world better, earning respect and admiration from a lot of people.

Sue nodded and felt him take one of her hands into his, squeezing it. She sighed and reciprocated the gesture, giving him a small smile. He was right, of course she knew that, but she still couldn't stop feeling at least a little afraid. It wasn't any different previously; she was very close to freaking out when she found out she was pregnant with Michelle, so soon after their wedding. She was terrified she wasn't going to be able to manage to take care of a child, be a good mother for them. Then, when they found out about Emma, she knew what to expect and how to deal with it, but was afraid if she was going to be able to do all this with one, and later with two and three more little children. Jack, of course, was helping her as much as he could, still most of the day she was alone with them. And even though she knew that she will work it out, right now she felt scared. He knew and understood it perfectly; it was the same way for him and in his heart, there was also happiness next to those feelings, just like in hers. There was no way it was going to be easy with six kids, just like it wasn't now with four or even with one. Yet, a big family was their dreams come true and agreeing for it, they were both aware of both sides of what it was going to bring to their life.

They were brought back from their thoughts to reality, when the waiter approached their table with their meals. Just like they always did, they chatted about everything and nothing, simply enjoying each other's company, while eating and later went for a walk in the park. It was the tradition they started at the beginning of their acquaintance, continued when they began dating, got engaged and later married. Even though now it wasn't as regular as it used to be, they were still known by others, who had similar habits and didn't change them over the years. Those never had any difficulties recognising the dark-haired man and blonde-haired woman, who were almost always coming there together. Those, who had the opportunity to meet them since the beginning, could admit that they actually watched how their relationship progressed, from what seemed to be friendship - balancing on the border of relationship, to a very happy marriage with four beautiful daughters.

Jack watched his wife carefully. It was almost as if he could see the thoughts whirling in her head and he was wondering what was on her mind. He really wanted to ask her what was so obviously bothering her, somehow he thought it wasn't something, what came to her only upon learning of the fact, that in about seven months, they were going to have not one, but two more children. And even though his curiosity was slowly getting the better off him, he managed to keep it at bay and give her some time for a longer time, until they reached their house. At first they enjoyed the difference from what it usually was there, but after a while they both agreed that without the girls, it was too empty, too quiet, lifeless.

"Sue..." he started, not able to hold himself off any longer, gently touching her shoulder to get her attention. They were sitting on the couch, one of his arms wrapped around her, holding her against him. She gently shifted, so she was able to look at his face. "What is it, Sue..?" he asked and a sigh was all the response he got. "Hey, Sunshine… Talk to me…"

"I'm scared…" she said after a moment, the expression in her eyes making his heart clench.

"We're going to be fine. It might be difficult at times, but we'll be fine. No matter how many children we'll have, we're going to love them and give them the best life we can."

"Yes, we will, if everything goes the perfect way. But what if it won't? What if something is going to happen and shatter this dream life we lead right now?"

His eyes widened, at the sight of tears slowly filling her eyes and realised, that he was right and it was indeed something way deeper than what one could think at first.

"Jack, I almost lost you, just a few days ago… You may say you were wearing a vest, that everything is fine, and thank God it is, _this time_. " she put a huge emphasis on the last two words. "But what if another time, it's not going to be? What if you get shot when you will not wear it? Or something else is going to happen? And don't tell me you're careful and whatever else, because it means nothing. I live in this constant fear that something will happen to you, that you will leave us and…"

Her voice broke, and she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but the tears from her eyes fell down her cheeks anyway. The grip of his arm around her tightened much more, pressing her tightly against him. She hid her face in his neck and he held her, doing everything in his power to give her as much comfort as it was only possible.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about them…" she said finally, placing their hands over her abdomen, her voice shaking less. "A little scared at the thought of two babies and four lively, stubborn and sometimes moody little girls in less than a year, but happy. I love our children with all my heart, they are the best thing that happened to me, along with being with you… And I just can't imagine, that one day I… _we_ may lose you…"

For a moment he had absolutely no idea what to say. He considered a lot of things to be the reason for her distress and now that he thought about it, it should, but it haven't crossed his mind that this could be it. He knew she was scared about him; it was something she was completely right about – no matter how careful he was, he could never be sure it was going to be enough, and if it was the other way around, he would be worried sick as well. And even though he was trying not to show it, he was afraid too. He was aware that no matter the precautions, the life-threatening situation may appear out of nowhere at any moment and catch him completely unprepared. Just the sole thought of it terrified him horribly; he didn't even want to think that one day he may go out to work, and never come back to his wife and their children. It was also a part of why he had gone to D., why he wanted to change what he was doing, because no matter how much he liked his job, it was absolutely nothing in comparison to the love he felt for his family and he would be willing to do the most boring, annoying things the FBI just could give him, if only it meant that he would have the certainty that he was safe.

The more he thought about it, the more he understood why these worries were triggered in Sue just now. They were there all the time, of that he had no doubts, but she kept them inside her, only occasionally letting a little of them come out and only now he realised how strong they actually were. He wasn't sure what to blame, if it was the surprise they received, the hormones, or something he didn't even think about, but something finally let them free.

He sighed heavily, shifting a little. His hands immediately reached to cup her face, his thumbs were tenderly stroking her cheeks as he leaned closer and placed a lingering kiss on her forehead. It was followed by another, and the next one, his lips moving all around her face and placing the affectionate gestures all over it only to finish with another gentle, lingering one on her lips.

"You aren't going to lose me, Sue… Never…I promise…" he said, when he moved away just a little, but enough for her to read him.

"Don't… You can't be certain you'll be able to keep this promise…"

All he could do was nod. She was right, he had no way of being sure about it, but it didn't mean that he couldn't do anything to make it be this way. He only needed a little time to think about it, to figure out how to do it the right way. Until now, he has chosen the easy path – talking to D. and waiting – but perhaps he should try something else? The talk wasn't complete, there were so many thoughts in his head, so many things he wanted to tell her, to discuss with her, but he couldn't find the right words, or needed to think over them. And the way she snuggled back to him left no way for her to read him, and he didn't really feel eager to withdraw his arms from around her to sign.

They had no idea how much time has passed, while they were just sitting snuggled together on the couch, enjoying the closeness with one another. He was actually getting pretty close to dozing off, keeping his eyes closed, when he heard Sue speak up again.

"Can you imagine the team's reaction when they find out..?"

The first thing he did was chuckle. He could imagine it very well, he almost heard their voices in his head, having no doubts what each of them was going to say. Tara, for sure, was going to be happy for them. Lucy, who despite the fact that she didn't work with them for a long time now was still considered to be a part of it – just like Sue – was surely going to be absolutely ecstatic and he was pretty certain that most of her neighbours were going to hear her squeak, when they share the news with her. They could both see Myles rolling his eyes and giving some comment, as well as a goofy grin on Bobby's face. And Dimitrius - he was surely going to congratulate them. Yes, their friends were surely going to be happy.

"Can you imagine my mom's reaction?" he asked and his heart jumped when he saw the biggest of smiles come to her face.

"Of course! I'm pretty certain that by the end of the day we tell her, the whole town will know that she is to have two more grandkids to spoil!"

"If not sooner! She's just so happy about them… And also a little sad, that she doesn't get to see them more often."

"Yeah… If there is anything, what could make her happier, it's having them closer."

"Or having more grandchildren, but us living closer is definitely a number one."

"You know that I love our children with my whole heart, but she will have to be satisfied with us having six of them."

"Well, who knows what the fate still has stored for us… We agreed that Jadie is going to be our last, we were using contraceptives, and where it brought us? To expecting two more babies. And when I think about it, ten is such a nice, round number…"

"Ten?" she asked, with her eyebrows raised, while the playful sparks in her eyes were leaving no doubts that just like him, she wasn't entirely serious about it.

"Well, maybe I got carried away a little, but you know what they say about seven… It's a lucky number."

"Okay, I can agree for seven, even ten." she said, kissing his cheek, surprising him. "On one condition, though. You're going to be the one carrying them for nine months and giving birth." she gave him her best grin, and the expression on his face immediately matched hers.

"Of course."

He captured her lips in what was supposed to be a very gentle kiss, but quickly evolved into a much more passionate one. They were both breathless, when the sound of the doorbell made Jack jump, and break the kiss.

"**Door.**" he signed in response to the questioning look in her eyes and stood up to open it.

It turned out to be Darcy, bringing Vanessa and Jade home, just like they agreed. The girls immediately ran to the living room, and he could hear them – actually, mostly Vane – chatter about what they were doing. That would be the end of the peace, he thought, but didn't mind at all. Their house was finally almost back to normal.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Here we go, another chapter! I have a really huge flow of inspiration lately and I'm currently working on chapter 12 of this story :) Thanks to those, who left me the sign they're reading, as well as to those reading silently. I certainly hope you'll like this chapter, so enjoy!

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**CHAPTER 5**

Both knew better than to deceive themselves that they were going to be able to keep the news of the babies to themselves for long. When the surprise and fear moved into the back of their minds, they allowed the happiness and excitement to come to the front and they wanted to share those feelings with everyone they cared about. And one thing they had to admit, it went much easier than they suspected it would – at least in most cases.

Just like they suspected, Ruth Hudson was absolutely ecstatic when she heard her son tell her the news. Sue still couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of the wince on her husband's face and the way he moved the device away from his ear, when the screen was showing her a group of letters, which made absolutely no sense with each other, what meant that the older woman squealed. It was Samuel, who was the first one to congratulate them, only to get scolded after mentioning his hope that at least one of the youngest Hudsons was going to be a boy. Nobody could deny that he loved his granddaughters very much and even if he was to have two more of them, he wouldn't love them any less, but he still hoped for a grandson. Jack didn't really care about it, but he was aware that a part of Samuel hoped that he was going to have a son, who would carry on the family name. Still, he was much better than Carla Thomas.

There were moments when Sue was convinced her mother was obsessed about the fact, that she and Jack only had daughters. She could still remember the talk she had with her after Jadie was born, when the older woman expressed her worry that Jack can be disappointed with their family. Sue couldn't deny that the thought didn't cross her mind, because it did after they found out that they were going to have a fourth daughter. Jack, of course, immediately denied such possibility, but even though his words weren't something to completely convince her about that, his actions surely were. And those were only showing the honesty behind his assurance; his eyes, so full of love whenever he was looking at one of them, the way he was holding them in his arms, trying to comfort and calm them down or how he was ready to leave everything and run to them if he was needed, and so much more. She did, however, see no way of making Carla notice that and no matter how hard she was trying to do that, she couldn't convince her mother that she was wrong. Luckily, there was her father, who had at least a little bit influence on his wife and was able to stop her whenever she was very close to going too far. Despite this, they were both very happy for them and didn't hesitate to express it. They loved all their grandchildren very much and just like Sue has always been very close with her Peter, the girls were as well but they were also closer with Carla than their mother has ever been. She definitely wasn't spoiling them like Jack's mom, but gave them much more freedom than she has ever done to her daughter and there were moments when Sue wished she had been the same with her.

They were a little afraid about telling the news to their daughters. They sighed with relief when it became clear Jade and Vanie were even excited at the idea of having two more siblings to play with. Michelle seemed rather happy, too, she really loved her role as a big sister. Yet, they had really big troubles understanding Emma. It looked like she was very lost in her thoughts, completely quiet while her sisters were flooding their parents with all kind of questions, starting from silly, through pretty expectable to those uncomfortable ones, but not her. It was only when the others got completely quiet, unable to think of anyone else, that she finally spoke up.

"Can we have a brother this time?" she asked and it was only thanks to Sue nudging Jack pretty hard with her elbow, that he managed to suppress a laugh.

Her face expression was telling them that she was completely serious with this question – she didn't have any reason not to be – and they knew her well enough that if they didn't reat her this way, it would make her feel affronted. Michelle, Vanessa and Jadie were looking at them with the biggest attention as well.

"We can't promise you that, we don't choose whether the baby is going to be a little girl or a little boy. You may get two sisters, two brothers or a brother and a sister and we're not going to know what they are until later…" said Sue and Emma sighed.

"Okay…" she muttered, obviously not satisfied with the answer but a moment later smiled anyway.

The last one they told happened to be the team, and all the people in it did exactly the same thing they predicted. They realised something was going on the moment Sue showed up at the bullpen during Jack's first day of being back after the few days' leave. Charlie was the only one to be absent, as being given the information that they could use the additional leave one at the time, they made a small schedule and it was now his turn. It was just a matter of a while, before one of them guessed the reason for her sudden appearance.

"Perhaps they're going to continue their attempt to raise the position of 'Hudson' on the most popular surnames' list." stated Myles, not being completely serious about his words and rolled his eyes the moment Jack and Sue's expressions revealed his guess was actually correct. "Goodness, do the two of you ever actually sleep?"

Tara squealed happily, with the biggest possible grin coming to her face and didn't waste a second to run to Sue, hugging her very tightly, later moving to Jack.

"Good work, Mate." Bobby was grinning as well and patted his best friend on the back and gave Sue a hug.

"I offer my sincere congratulations, too." said Leland just in case, even though nobody had any doubts that he did mean that even if one could think something else because of his words. "Perhaps this one will be a boy and you won't be as outnumbered as you are now, Jack."

"Naah!" exclaimed Bobby and everyone turned to him. "Sparky hopes for another girl. Don't you remember him mentioning that he would like to have his own female hockey team? Only one more to go, Mate!"

"I may not be the biggest hockey fan in the world, but I'm sure six is quite enough." added Sue and for a moment, all besides her husband were looking at her quizzically but then the suggestion hidden between the lines dawned on them.

"Whoa! We have to come up with the name, then! What do you think about Hudson's Heartbreakers?" he offered playfully, and Jack rolled his eyes in a very Myles' style before sending him a glare.

"They have a lot of time before they will be breaking anyone's hearts." he hissed, making his wife laugh.

"If it is up to Jack, they won't be allowed to date until they're at least thirty."

"Well, I can agree for twenty five." mumbled Hudson, and if his wife's comment resulted in a chuckle, everyone started to laugh at his.

"What about Sparky's bullets? Sparky, for obvious reasons and bullets – he's using his gun every now and then…" started Tara and soon it resulted in a long list of potential names.

After a moment they both agreed, that honouring Jack's nickname was absolutely necessary but they couldn't really think of the other part. As much as they were coming with a huge amount of things, being able to explain the reasons for most of them, none seemed fitting.

"Hudson's Sparks." spoke Myles, tired of listening to the endless ideas, when the silence fell in the bullpen and everyone was lost in thought.

"I like it." stated Sue, smiling at her husband and it was clear for everyone that they could as well stop thinking.

They knew the look the two shared well enough to know, that coming up with anything else would be pointless, as it has already been decided. Yet, they all felt surprised that out of all of them, it was Myles, whose only one idea turned out to be the one they thought best.

"I hope you don't feel too disappointed, Bobby…" breaking the small connection with her husband, Sue turned to look at Manning, who pretended to wonder for a moment before shaking his head.

"A little… But you can make it up to me by naming your son after me."

"Yeah, Crash. Maybe in your dreams."

Another wave of laughter spread through the room and Dimitrius smiled, watching them from a distance. It was good to see almost all of the original team together, the bond they shared only grew stronger over the years. Whenever he was looking at them this way, he couldn't help but missed the time, when he used to be amongst them as well. It wasn't as if he wasn't their friend anymore, quite the contrary, but the supervisor position held much more responsibilities and he often found himself attending meetings and dealing with all kind of matters, what didn't leave much time to spend with them in the bullpen. He smiled, the comments reaching his ears and his eyes moved to Jack and Sue. It wasn't something a lot of people knew, but even before he met his blonde-haired angel, Hudson's biggest dream was to have a family. D. himself learnt about that only when he and Donna were having a small crisis and he started to spend really long hours in the office, being in no hurry to go back home, knowing that there was probably another argument waiting for him.

_"You have what a lot of people would exchange everything for, and instead of fighting for it, you sit here and only make the matters worse."_

Jack's words, which the man has spoken to him after losing his patience, while trying to convince him that he should go home, were the ones that most probably saved his marriage. He owed them a lot, but they also made him see Sparky in a completely different light than he used to. Up until that moment, he was convinced Hudson's life was the man's dreams come true, but then he realised that it was mostly a façade. All the people saw him as the man, who just like his best friend, loved the freedom of bachelorhood with occasional relationships, which usually didn't last long. And yet, the expression in Jack's eyes was sending a clear message, that it wasn't this way at all and it was very obvious now, that he had his own family. If anyone thought Jack Hudson was happy then, they should see him with his family and there were no doubts, that they would change their minds.

The whole day passed pretty uneventful. If it wasn't for the Hudsons' announcement, they could easily say that practically nothing happened at all. Even though for the last couple of days they were trying to find a lead on anything, what could bring them closer to find out if there was indeed an organisation behind supplying those explosives and revealing their intentions, they couldn't find any. It was only when their day started to end, and they all started to get ready to go home, that the notification appeared on Tara's screen. They all knew what it meant; they finally had something.

It took them a lot of time before they were able to get a picture of the logo, which would be good enough to give credible results when searching for it in other cases and they got much more results than they thought they would. Yet, they could call it a huge success; it was exactly what they were looking for and going through all of the information they have found was the first thing they planned for the next day.

They had no idea, that on the opposite end of the country, Special Agent Sean Turner was heading to the airport, so he could go all the way to the capital city. It was exactly the sign he was looking for, even though the thought of what it meant was terrifying him. He was waiting for it for almost a week, ever since Carter McAllister escaped prison; he was going though every single thing, which could give him any hint where the man went and now he finally had it. And, his contact turned out to be very reliable, after all. He didn't keep in touch with the man for over ten years, and he almost didn't recognise him when he showed up at the restaurant, where he always ate lunch, one day. Even though he didn't think he was ever going to hear from him again, he came informing him that The Enlightened, how they called themselves, wanted to use their leader's freedom to reconnect and their plan was to gather in DC, where he was headed to. Yet, he knew that McAllister didn't choose the place by accident, he wanted to take revenge on the person, who played the biggest role in his arresting and Sean had to do everything in his power to ensure, that he wasn't going to find Rosalie Bowers.

It was him, who convinced her that helping them was the right thing to do, even if it meant betraying her fiancé. It wasn't that difficult to influence her, not after she realised, who the man actually was and she almost ended up dead in result, but they caught him. There were no doubts for anyone, that she had to disappear; she wasn't going to be safe there anymore. It was clear, that if he was ever going to have a chance, McAllister was going to try to punish her for her betrayal, or ask his friends to do that for him. They all knew him very well, it was mostly thanks to the fact that he tried to involve her in his business that they had the chance to use her, and as badly as it sounded, it was exactly what they did. They had no other choice but to place her in the Witness Protection Program, so she could lead a peaceful life in another part of the country.

Even though the moment she was informed about it, she was convinced it meant that her whole life was destroyed, he now knew that it didn't turn out this way completely. The moment he learnt about McAllister's escape, he checked where she was living, so he was going to know if his suspicions were correct and the man was indeed going to try to find her. He knew that even though she had to leave everything behind, she managed to find happiness in life, if having a husband and children was any indication. Now, it was all in his power, that it all wasn't going to be ruined, he owed her at least that much.

At the same time, the man he was so obsessively chasing after, now arrived in DC. They surely chose this place to hide Rosalie, because it was practically on the other end of the United States, but they had no idea just how much they underestimated him. He had friends, who had friends and so on, and in the end, he could know everything he wanted from all over the country and locating the girl turned out to be much easier than it would seem. It wasn't like she was hiding, or even careful not to be seen; she didn't see any reason to be afraid of it and she was only going to know just how wrong she was in this assumption.

It was a complete accident, that he learnt of her whereabouts. She had no way of knowing, that a father of one of her students, who she decided to summon to school, was the member of The Enlightened, and one she should actually know. He changed his name, cut his hair short, even though he had it hanging down his shoulders for as long as Carter could remember, allowed his beard to grow – no matter how much worse, and older, it made him look like – but it was still one of his best friends. They were spending quite a lot of time together and she knew he had a child, but she still didn't recognise him. Carter suspected it wasn't only because the man looked really differently than he used to, but because it didn't even cross her mind that one of the people she knew would run away all the way to DC after the organisation was torn apart.

Now, he was standing across the street from the school she was teaching at. The lessons have already finished, and she was standing in front of the building with one of the students, who stopped her on the way to the car. Carter smiled; there might have been ten years since the last time he saw her, but he had no doubts it was her. Her hair was much longer than she used to keep it, tied in a ponytail at the back of her head, she was wearing glasses instead of the contact lenses and of course, the time had its influence on her appearance as well, but he would recognise his Rosie everywhere.

He snorted at the thought; she used to hate it so much, when he was calling her that and now he took even greater enjoyment in thinking of her this way. In fact, he loved everything what he knew would piss her off, no matter how trivial. Now, however, he wanted something much more than that, he wanted to destroy her life as much as she did so with his, if not more. He could take her life in the very same moment, if only he wanted; his gun and silencer were hidden in the loose pocket of his sweatshirt, there were so many people walking around, that nobody would pay attention to his approach and he was pretty sure she wouldn't even realise she was in danger before the bullet would penetrate her body. He contemplated it for a very short moment, but shook his head; no, it wasn't going to bring him as much satisfaction as his plan. She could be living a completely different life, but there was no way she could change her personality and dreams, and he knew that there was nothing, what could hurt her more than taking away what she cared about the most – her family. Gossips that she has gotten married and had children have reached him even before he came there, and now all he needed to do was to find them. Then, his fun could begin.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** One of the plots starts now... I'd really appreciate if you let me know what you think :) As I mentioned, this story isn't going to be completely J/S-centered, and this chapter is a good example. I hope you're going to enjoy it.

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**CHAPTER 6**

It was one of those days, which she just wished to end. She couldn't stop feeling like there was someone following her all the time. On her way to leave the children at the day-care, she was very close to calling her husband convinced, that the white Hyundai behind her all the way there wasn't just a coincidence. Then, there was a silver Toyota on her way to work, but just like the first one, it drove away when she stopped the car on her usual parking spot. It was definitely suspicious, that a guy she noticed when she arrived at her work was still there during her lunch break and when she was leaving. For a moment she even though he was actually watching her but realised her mistake when he was approached by another man, who came from her direction – he must have been looking at him. There was no point in calling Myles; he would surely tell her what her mind was suggesting – that she was freaking out. Yet, this strange feeling just didn't want to leave her and she was unable to understand that – perhaps it was the thriller, which she watched on the previous evening, making her imagination work a little too much?

She was more than a little surprised, when she saw Myles' car parked on the driveway. She glanced at the clock; it was way too early for him to be there and she was absolutely certain there was nothing special about the day, what could make him go home early. It wasn't anything uncommon for hers or the twins' birthday, their wedding anniversary, but this was just the most casual of the days and it made her stomach clench. There had to be a reason behind it, and most probably, it wasn't anything good.

The children jumped out of the car and immediately ran home, excited that their daddy was already there. She could remember her husband telling her, how he was not good with kids, how they never really liked him and she couldn't deny he was right. His way of being very often scared the younger ones and made those older ones think he was the most boring person in the world. Emma Hudson was the first one, who didn't start crying when she was in his arms, and the only one, who actually took a likening to him, later followed only by Cassie and Alex. It took her a while to convince Myles, that having a child wasn't such a bad idea, and that he was going to be just fine in the role of a father. It was obvious he was terrified by it, and even though he never really mentioned that, she knew it was in a very big part, because of his parents and his relationship with them.

She has seen them only once, when Myles decided he couldn't avoid taking her home and introducing her to his family forever. He didn't look forward to it at all, because he knew just well enough how they were going to react to her. She tried to ignore it, hoping that he was wrong, but she quickly realised he wasn't at all. The moment he stopped the rented car in front of his family house, she knew she definitely didn't fit into the picture. She knew that Myles did come from a rather rich family with a long history, but the house itself made her feel overwhelmed. She could see some of his traits, which he had to inherit after his parents, reflected around, but what hit her was how everything seemed to scream about being pedantically perfect. Just like he expected, neither of his parents approved of Louise; she wasn't a woman they expected him to choose in any way and they didn't really try to hide it. Quite the contrary, they made it as obvious as possible, not caring even about her presence as they were criticising everything about her.

They didn't succeed in changing his mind, though. No matter how much they tried to show them why she wasn't a good choice for him, starting with their age difference, through her looks, profession and everything else they could only think of. All they managed to accomplish was Myles severing any contact with them. She managed to convince him to reach out to them by sending wedding invitation, but when they didn't come, he refused to try again. He didn't even want to hear about giving them any notification that their children have been born or inviting them to the twins' christening. She had no idea if they knew about Cassie and Alex's existence; she suspected that Anne, who Myles managed to build a good relationship with, might have mentioned something to them but she never asked. She quickly realised that their parents were the biggest taboo topic possible with both of the siblings. She was really amazed by it. Her relations with her mother and father could not be called perfect, but in comparison to those between the Lelands, they were. It never even crossed her mind that they might not care about their children's happiness very much, but they definitely had a very incomprehensible way of showing it. She understood his worries that he was going to be like them, but she didn't think it very likely, not with how much he didn't want to. She did promise she was going to tell him if he would cross the line, though.

Despite this, he really turned out to be great. Perhaps he wasn't the most perfect of fathers with his diaper-phobia and very serious attitude, at least amongst people. She never really told him that she knew, that when he was convinced nobody was around or able to hear, he was not so serious at all. She did hear him cooing to the children through the baby monitor or found him being silly with them more than a few times. He tried his best and Cassie and Alex really loved spending time with him.

Their excitement died as soon as they entered the kitchen in their attempt to find him, running around and shouting out for him. He was there, sitting on his chair by the table, but the expression on his face made them stop dead in their tracks. She was surprised by the silence, but understood it perfectly when she stood behind them. She didn't even dare to walk up to him and give him the usual greeting kiss or ask him about his day. Everything about him seemed to scream it was only going to make matters worse. Just one glimpse was enough for her to know that unfortunately, she was right – something was wrong. She was even certain it had to be something she did, because of the look full of reproach he sent her, but she had absolutely no idea what it could be.

"Cassie, Alex, come on. Wanna watch some cartoons?"

The children just nodded, obviously discouraged, and followed her into the living room. They didn't even say anything about what they wanted to watch, they got suddenly quiet, way too much for her liking; it was not like them at all. She knew the reason behind it very well, yet she had no clue what could cause that and she really needed to find out.

"What is it, Myles?" she asked, walking back into the kitchen few minutes later and pouring herself a glass of water.

"We need to talk." was his only response, and even though she wanted for continuation, it didn't come.

"_That_, I have already noticed. About what?"

"Rosalie Bowers."

A loud gasp and the glass breaking on the floor were the only sounds that followed his statement. She was staring at him, her mouth partially opened, her eyes wide, a shock and disbelief visible in her every feature. Her ears had to be deceiving her, he did not say what she just thought he did. It was simply impossible.

x

A tall man with messy dark blonde hair and blue eyes stopped in the entrance to the bullpen and looked around, not giving any indication of his presence there. He has heard a lot about the team he came to work with and was very curious to meet the people, who were a part of it. At first glance, they were as different from each other as possible and his first thought was wonder, how they actually got along but it seemed they did very well, as they have managed to earn the name of one of the best counterterrorism teams in the country. Pretty and a little geeky looking woman, sitting behind the desk and typing quickly on the keyboard of her computer, with her eyes on her friends and a smile on her face. Three men, one in his late forties, giving the impression of being a little eccentric, another in mid-forties, speaking with a characteristic Australian accent and grinning widely, obviously the main teaser in a group and the last one, about the same age as the latter, and judging by the slight blush on his cheeks, the object of the teasing, who he was pretty sure had to be the object of desire of a lot of women. He was surprised to see just four people inside, but quickly realised it had to be only temporary situation, as there were three more desks, standing empty now.

"I see you've arrived." he almost jumped, when he heard a voice just behind himself and turned around to see a man with slightly darker complexion, who he later found out was the team's supervisor. The fact that he spoke up also got the attention of its members and they all turned around to look at them. "Allow me to introduce you to Agent Sean Turner, who arrived from Seattle to work with you on the current case. He's investigating the organisation since the very beginning and is surely going to be a very good addition to your team."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jack Hudson." said the dark-haired man, extending his hand to him with a friendly smile and Sean shook it. "This is Tara Smith, Myles Leland and Bobby Manning."

A moment later, when they were joined by the last member of the team, who was summoned to work despite his days off, he connected his flash drive with the computer and started to present all the information he gathered over the years. He was just a rookie and it was one of the first cases he was working on, but over time he became a real expert when it came to The Enlightened. There was no person, who knew more about the organisation than him other than its members, and Sean started to share everything he thought useful with them. He started from the very beginning, telling them of the most important attacks over the time that they threatened the safety in his home state as well as neighbouring ones, showing pictures, explaining their every move.

"It seemed that we were in a dead-end, when the investigation reached a turning point. Why he did that, nobody knows, but I suspect he just wanted to involve her in the activity of the organisation. Anyway, instead of going himself, McAllister sent his fiancée to one of the exchanges and it turned out to be his biggest mistakes. The girl had absolutely no idea what it was all truly about and it wasn't difficult at all for us to catch her. She told us everything she knew, what turned out not to be a lot , but we managed to confirm that the only thing she was guilty of was being in relationship with a wrong guy and agreeing to do him a favour. She did, however, have her suspicions and I somehow convinced her to help us."

"That's how you managed to arrest McAllister and few others members?"

"Yes, but I still think it was a miracle we did. Our plan was ruined very quickly; at one point McAllister realised what she was doing and it all went downhill from there. In the end, we managed to arrest the guy, but we lost two men, few others got injured, a lot of people managed to escape… Still, it turned out better than we would have suspected; they have dispersed all over the country and with their leader behind bars, they didn't really managed to reconnect. It's only now, when he escaped, that they plan to do that."

"Tell me one thing, though. Why 'The Enlightened'?" asked Myles and Sean smiled.

"They believe they were showed the right path in life, enlightened about the true evil in the world and their actions are to punish the people, who bring injustice and hurt others."

"As if killing innocent people was very noble act, which doesn't hurt anyone." snorted Leland.

"Still, sounds like a mix of sect and terroristic cell." added Bobby, and the rest nodded.

"You know them best, so what do you suggest we start with?"

"In my opinion the only reason why they're gathering here is because it's the place, where McAllister came to. He never hid the fact, that if he was going to get a chance, he will punish his now ex-fiancée for betraying him. I have no idea how this happened, but he managed to find out that after she was placed in the Witness Protection Program, she came here, to DC. I believe the first thing he will try to do is to find her and take revenge, perhaps with help from the other members of the organisation, and we should start with finding her, bringing her here and creating the plan to make sure he wasn't going to succeed."

"Do we know anything more specific about her whereabouts?"

"I've managed to find two women named Rosalie Bowers in the FBI files, one of which is currently serving a sentence in New York, and everything about the other is classified." stated Tara, switching the view on the main screen from the computer Sean was using to hers.

"Allow me." spoke Turner, approaching her and typing a special code into the computer, which was supposed to allow them access.

A moment later all the information along with a not too current picture appeared on the screen. Jack immediately choked on his coffee, Bobby let out a surprised sound, Tara kept moving her eyes between everyone in the room, while Myles just stared at the picture, his face looking completely indifferent but those, who knew him could recognize the hint of disbelief and growing anger in his features. Sean was watching them all with his eyebrows raised, unable to understand their reaction.

"Is it..?" started Charlie, almost unconscious and unnoticed until now, but with no intention of finishing his question. He didn't really need to do that for everyone – with the exception of the agent from Seattle – to know what he wanted to say. It wasn't needed though, the name next to the picture sent a very clear message.

"Yes. It's my wife." confirmed Myles, after all eyes turned to him.

He didn't look at any of them, just turned around and walked out of the room. Tara, Bobby and Jack exchanged glances and with a small nod, Hudson followed him out of the bullpen scampering, trying to catch up with him. The atmosphere in the room was at least awkward, with the three people unsure of what to say or do, while Sean stood completely dumbfounded. It was the last thing he would expect; even though he noticed that the man's surname was the same as hers, he didn't link the two, because he couldn't remember her husband's name and the agent didn't seem like the kind of guy she would marry. The silence was finally interrupted by Manning's snort.

"The world really is small."

Even though it was just a matter of few seconds that Jack left the bullpen after Myles, he lost sight of him behind the nearest corner. It was only thanks to the still slightly ajar door to the stairway, that he managed to find him there. He sighed with relief, when he noticed Leland sitting between the two floors, with his elbows resting on his knees, his hands on his head, fingers tangled in his hair. It was no surprise he chose this place; unless the elevator was broken, there wasn't a lot of people there. It was clear for Sparky that making his friend talk in this moment wasn't a good idea, as it seemed he had a real mess in his head, so he just sat next to him and waited, knowing from the experience of being in similar situation few times in the past, that he was going to tell everything when he's ready.

Myles really appreciated that. He had no idea what to think, let alone what to say. He really couldn't believe his eyes, when the picture appeared on the screen. His first thought was that it was absolutely impossible, especially that the picture was from before ten years and she looked much different, her hair much longer and having light blonde colour instead of brown, and the woman in the picture didn't have glasses. Yet, he knew it was her; there was no way he wouldn't recognise those green eyes or those freckles, covering the top of her cheeks and her nose, which he knew she hated so much. And apart from some changes, she definitely resembled the woman he met all those years ago. Also, every single detail surrounding the picture confirmed it was indeed Louise, from her maiden name through birth date, place of birth, gotten education, everything; even in the place, where the family members were listed, there was his name along with their children's.

"It seems like the most ridiculous dream I have ever had." he finally spoke, glancing at Jack. "I always found it rather strange that she was so secretive about her past or about her family… I thought she doesn't keep in touch with any of them because something between them happened to make her cut all her ties to them… I just accepted it, convinced that there has to be a painful memory for her or something like that… But of all the possible reasons, this one has never crossed my mind."

Jack had no idea what to say, what had to be going on in Myles' head or how the man was feeling. He couldn't even imagine what it would be like to find out that the person he loved, trusted, shared his life with wasn't who he thought she was at all. Yet, it wasn't fully true; as much as someone could change name, create a completely new background and everything, there was no way they could change their personality and it was exactly what decided, who they really were.

"Turner said that the best thing we can do is to find her and bring her here. She should be home in a little over half an hour, so as much as I don't have to look for her, I can do the second part."

"Myles…"

"No, Jack. I know that with these circumstances, I shouldn't take part in this investigation and I'm sure Dimitrius will make sure I'm withdrawn from it. Just allow me to go home and inform her about everything myself."

"Fine." nodded Jack, understanding Myles' desire to talk to Louise first. "I'll still call Sue in a moment, but I'm pretty sure she won't mind looking after Cassie and Alex for some time."

"Thanks."

It felt like he reached home in a record-breaking time. Just one glance, as the house came to his view, was enough for him to know his wife wasn't there yet as her car was nowhere to be seen. He decided it wasn't anything surprising, when he glanced at the clock; she was probably at the day-care now. He went inside and the first thing his eyes fell on were two pictures hanging on the wall facing the staircase. The corner of his mouth moved up, when he glanced at the photograph of the twins on the beach, behind the sand castle they built along with their parents, Alex's arm around his sister's shoulders as they were both grinning at the camera. The other one was of him and Louise, taken during their honeymoon on the Italian Riviera.

He shook his head, remembering the shock filling him as he heard that he didn't manage to buy himself on the Bachelor Auction. It was the night they have first met and she turned out to be the lucky winner. She quickly announced she didn't expect him to take her for those holidays, what was a huge relief for him, and agreed for the dinner at a fancy restaurant instead only because he insisted. It wasn't like he found himself attracted to her since that first moment; he couldn't deny she was pretty, but the first thing, which came to his mind when he saw her was that she was still a child. He later found out that she was actually twenty-two and it was her short height making her look younger, but his mind still marked her as too young, as he was in late thirties himself. He just thought it would be completely unfair not to do anything in place of this trip, and was later very pleasantly surprised by how much he actually enjoyed that evening. It was almost four years later, that he was looking for a good place to take her for a honeymoon and Crash mentioned the trip he owed her, more as a joke than a real suggestion, but he had no doubts it was exactly what he was looking for. She was so surprised, when she finally found out where they were going, when they were already standing in the queue on the airport...

He sighed heavily and made his way to the kitchen, sitting behind the table and waiting patiently for her to come home. The first thing he heard was the sound of the shutting door to the house, then the children's voices and later also their steps. He could feel his heart ache, when they both stopped dead in their tracks as their eyes fell on him, the smiles fading from their faces and no matter how much he tried to pretend everything was fine in this moment, at least for them, it didn't seem to work. Louise was right behind them and understood immediately, taking them to the living room, knowing they needed to talk, just the two of them.

"What is it, Myles?" she asked, when she came back and the truth was that he had no idea how to tell her.

"We need to talk." was the only thing, which came to his mind and he could sense she wasn't pleased with this answer.

"_That_, I have already noticed. About what?" there was an audible irritation in her voice and he stared at her for what felt like an eternity, but was in fact just a few seconds.

"Rosalie Bowers." he finally spoke up and noticed all the colour immediately drain from her face.

He heard a gasp and the sound of the glass, braking on the floor. Her mouth opened a little, her eyes widened and she was staring at him in disbelief. He held her gaze, the silence between them so perfect that they could hear the music from cartoons and the kids' chatting, not to mention the very loudly ticking clock in the corridor. After a moment she slowly approached him and sat on the chair the closest to him, facing him.

"Myles… It's not like it seems…" she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper, placing her hands over his.

"It seems pretty clear to me."

He could almost see the breaking of his heart reflected in her eyes, when he moved them away. She kept looking at him, her eyes immediately filling with tears, the internal pain only growing as she caught his cold gaze for a moment.

"Myles…" she whispered, very quietly. She could understand he felt betrayed, but he needed to let her explain..!

"McAllister escaped and is here, in DC. You're not safe anymore. I promised I'll bring you to the bullpen."

She sighed, hanging her head and just nodded. He was barely in the same area, she didn't see him, she didn't even know he was around, and it seemed he still managed to ruin her life, once again.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** A little later today, but that's because I only now returned from a birthday-shopping trip my parents took me for. It's funny to think that starting tomorrow, I'm not a teenager anymore! Despite the fact it's also tomorrow, using the opportunity, I'd like to wish our dear **Rebanut**a very happy birthday, and a huge amount of inspiration for next stories!

**Mjentrn: **When it comes to the number of Jack and Sue's children, I agree that four is quite enough and as I mentioned earlier in the story, Jack and Sue thought so, too. Yet, what we get is not always what we think about. Also, I wanted to touch a few subjects, that I've never really seen anyone writing about and their family will give me a perfect opportunity to do it. I hope you will enjoy it anyway :)

Now, here is the chapter. I hope you will enjoy it!

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**CHAPTER 7**

Sue stood in the open door and watched Myles slowly walk back to his car. She was very surprised when she got a phone call from Jack, and he asked her if she would mind looking after little Lelands for some time. He didn't tell her why and she immediately got worried, because the first thing that came to her mind was that something must have happened to either Louise or Myles. Her theory was shattered, when the car stopped in front of the house and he brought the kids and Sue noticed his wife sitting in the passenger seat. Yet, despite the lack of knowledge when it came to reasons, she had no doubts that the situation had to be serious. Myles looked practically grievous, while the expression on Louise's face, when she was watching her family, practically screamed that she was heartbroken and Sue was pretty certain that if she approached her, she could be able to see that the woman cried. Not to mention the children, whose behaviour was absolutely the best evidence that something was wrong.

Despite their parents' claims, they have never been known as the most social and lively kids, especially Cassie; from everyone's observation they were rather calm and quiet, well-behaved and always listened to what they were told. Now, however, they were horribly quiet and looked like they were on the very edge of crying, when they watched their father walk away, their mother waving to them and the car disappearing. Sue had no doubts they could feel something was wrong and just couldn't understand why; she has observed it a lot in her daughters' behaviour whenever she and Jack were fighting. They usually came to one of them, asking why they were angry at each other and trying to make tem reconcile, whether by pushing their hands together when they were sitting close, asking them to hug or kiss or any other little thing they could come up with.

She sighed, finally closing the door and looked down at two pairs of big, sad eyes looking at her. She was often amazed by how different those two were, especially when it came to their appearance. In general, Cassandra was a spitting image of their father, while her brother resembled their mother; with the exception of the eyes, as the girl's had Louise's green colour, while Alex's were blue-gray, just like Myles'. Despite their differences, there were many moments when one had no doubts those two were actually related, and this was one of them. When they stood in front of her, looking up, the matching expressions on their faces, they looked much more alike than one would think.

"Come on, Vanie and Jadie are in the living room. They just couldn't wait for you to come and play with them." she said with a smile, getting barely a small nod from a boy and they followed her to the room, where the sisters were sitting on the carpet and building something with the blocks.

They both immediately grinned, when they noticed the twins and just like she was always doing while greeting other children, Jade ran to them and gave each a hug. She caught their hands and pulled her to the place, where Vanessa was sitting. Cassie and Alex didn't hesitate to join their play, but Sue could see absolutely no enthusiasm in them. She went to the kitchen to get drinks for all of them, and also to continue cooking the dinner, knowing that the older girls were going to be back soon, and hopefully Jack, too. She really needed to talk to him, even if only to stop worrying about her friends.

At the same time, Lelands were riding in silence and soon arrived on their destination. Louise followed her husband a step behind, thinking how rarely she was there. Over the whole time they knew each other, she have been to the Hoover Building for just a couple of times, most of which when she was angry about something. The moment they spotted her standing in the door to the bullpen, all their friends knew something must have happened and it was better to leave them alone. And, despite the fact that either all of them were leaving or she and Myles were going to the usually empty conference room, she was sure they were just behind the door, eavesdropping. Bobby's comment upon seeing her, always the same – that it was going to be interesting, pretty much was giving them away.

They both felt like all the eyes were on them and felt a huge relief, when they reached the bullpen. Every member of the team was in the room, sitting behind their desks and engaged in a conversation. It died immediately upon seeing the two standing in the door, turning into a very uncomfortable silence. Sean was the first one to break it.

"It is good to see you again, Rosalie. Or, as I should probably say, Louise." he spoke and the woman's head quickly turned in his direction.

For the rest, her reaction was a clear indication she didn't notice him earlier. It was also obvious she definitely didn't reciprocate his happiness. She looked way more angry than glad to see the man.

Even though he has naturally aged over the years, there was no way she wasn't going to recognise him. She knew who he was even without looking at him, her mind immediately linked the voice to the right face in her head. The very same person, which she wished to never see again in her life, one of those she hated the most. The man, who ruined everything she had back then, having finished college and truly beginning the life as an adult. Her mind was suggesting he was also the one, thanks to who she now had the family, three people she loved more than anything else… But he just had to appear again and destroy it, too!

"Perhaps we should take her somewhere more private and talk?" suggested Jack, and soon him along with Sean, much to Louise's displease, walked with her to a conference room.

They chose the place mainly because they didn't want to truly interrogate her, but simply talk with her about the situation. She didn't hesitate to explain, how she felt watched the whole day, now knowing it might have not been just a strange, ridiculous feeling. She had a difficult time, thinking how McAllister's people could have watched her during the whole day, finding out where she lived, worked, where she was leaving the children while she was at work, how her family looked like, absolutely everything, what could make it easy to find or hurt either of them.

"I think it would be best if there was an agent with you all the time." stated Sean, and Hudson nodded.

"In my opinion, there should be at least one with you, one at the day-care, when the kids are there and one with Myles, because he's surely going to be taken off the investigation and most probably, sent on a leave."

Sparky wasn't wrong at all. The moment he, Louise and Sean left the bullpen, Dimitrius asked him to come to his office. He didn't even have to explain a lot to Leland; the man just went with him quietly and kept nodding his head, when he saying it was absolutely necessary, since one of the closest members of his family was a big part of the ongoing investigation. He was to return to work only after it was going to be safe, since they were aware he could become a target as well, and much to everyone's surprise, he didn't say anything at all. He only followed his wife, after they were allowed to go home with the first set of agents, assigned to watch them.

Tara, Bobby and Jack exchanged glances. Myles and Louise have never been two people to show the affection in public, their friends were able to catch only tiny glimpses every now and then, but what they could observe now was not normal at all, either. It was clear the woman felt rather resigned, when it came to trying to talk to her husband, and they were certain it was because of the distance he seemed to be putting between them.

The rest of the day passed almost completely uneventful. The atmosphere in the bullpen was somewhat strange; after so many years, it felt wrong when Myles wasn't adding his comments to the conversation. He could be annoying at times and there were moments, when they could only wish for him to stay quiet, but he was an irreplaceable part of the team and without him, it simply wasn't the same. The most interesting moment was when Dimitrius entered the room once again, finding them all behind their desks and trying to find anything, that could move their investigation forward.

"Can I interrupt for a moment?" he asked, wanting to get their attention and all the eyes moved to him. "I'd like to introduce our team's new rotor, Claire Wheeler."

All the eyebrows, expect of Sean's, moved up, when the mentioned woman stepped into the room. The first thing they all noticed was how much taller than D. she was, being generally tall and also wearing very high heels. They couldn't say she wasn't pretty, because in fact, she was beautiful, but Jack's first thought was that Michelle had a doll, which she was resembling. She had long, wavy blonde hair, blue eyes and a wide smile, showing her perfectly white teeth. She didn't, at least, had a ton of make up on herself, like their previous rotor, but seemed to at least have a knowledge how to put it on properly. It was also pretty clear she was young, and as they later got to know, it was her first job. They couldn't know how important for the reason, why she got it was that nobody was eager to be their rotor. The whole FBI knew that it wasn't an easy task and after Lucy left, there was no rotor, who worked with them for more than four months before they requested a transfer or, influenced by the constant complaining from the team, Dimitrius did that.

Jack felt really frustrated, when he finally got home. Even though they practically didn't move forward, Sean insisted they should try to until it was clear that their strategy wasn't working at all. Especially that they didn't have a real, very good strategy, which would allow them to do their job the best way they could. Their search reminded that of looking for one, specific person on a very crowded airport and succeeding without cooperation from the other part would be a miracle. It was the hour, which he knew Sue would be putting the girls to bed, and he wasn't happy there was going to be yet another day, when he won't even get the chance to spend a short while with them. When he was leaving, they were usually still sleeping, so only afternoons gave him such an opportunity, and now he wasn't going to have even that. When it became clear, that he was completely unsuccessful once again, he finally decided to voice his displeasure.

"We should find McAllister as quickly as we can. As long as he's out there, we have no idea when and where the people may become hurt, not to mention that your friend's family is very much in danger as well because of Rosalie, well, Louise." stated Sean, obviously disagreeing with Jack.

"We will spend a month and have nothing if we continue to look for him like this. I want to catch him as much as you do, but _this_ is wasting time. The only thing we have is that he is here, in DC, as well as the members of his group. We're like amateur astronomers, looking at the sky and trying to watch a star, which wasn't even discovered yet. It's not Tara's fault that with all the improvements in the program, it is working slowly on the computers, which we hear are to be changed for at least three months now. We all contacted our informants. Without anything more to base our work on, all we can do is wait."

"You're the boss here, but in my opinion, the best thing we can do is to continue."

"Then you have my blessing to do so. I, on the other hand, would like to go home to my family today, especially that what we do right now has no sense."

Just like he thought, when he stepped into the house it was completely silent and it happened only when the girls were out or asleep. He sighed heavily, leaning down to pet Levi, who came to greet him and followed him to find Sue sitting curled on the couch, reading a book. He didn't hesitate to approach her and leaned down, placing a short, greeting kiss on her lips.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, watching her carefully, easily noticing that her mind was far away.

"Yeah. Are you hungry? I'll reheat the dinner for you."

She didn't sound convincing at all, and he could see that there was something bothering her, but he was going to let it go, at least for a while. They were going to have some time to talk, and the truth was that all he dreamed about right now was a shower and food.

"How was your day?" she asked, when he joined her in the kitchen after refreshing himself and placed a plate in front of him.

"It was… long…" it was the first thing, which came to his mind and a corner of Sue's mouth moved up.

"Yeah, that I know, and of course you're not going to share details with me. At least tell me, what was that with Myles and Louise?"

"Of course, you are asking about it. It fits within the 'I can't say' group, you know?"

"I am pretty sure it does, but since you've already pulled me into this, I would like to know what has gotten all of them so distressed."

"Louise is a very important part of our ongoing investigation… Let's just say she's not, who we all thought she is…"

"You do realise it only heightens my curiosity? My first thought was that she's a wanted criminal, running away from punishment, but it seems completely crazy…"

"No, that's not it. But I'm really not supposed to talk about it, not only because of the investigation, but also because I don't know if Louise and Myles would want me to… I think they have to think it over by themselves first…"

Sue only nodded, and he continued the meal in silence, watching her carefully. All the time, she seemed very distant and there were moment, when he thought she was about to tell him what was bothering her, only to change her mind. It was only later, when they eventually moved to the living room, that he decided to address it again.

"That's nothing, Jack. Really."

"I know you too well to fall for that and it's not like you could ever lie. If it was nothing, it wouldn't bother you like this and you wouldn't try to avoid telling me so hard."

"Do you think I'm a bad mother?" she finally asked and Jack's eyes bulged out.

"What?! Where did this come from?"

"Jadie had one of those grumpy days, and you know how she is then… I took her and Vanie to a playground for a while and they were playing with Allyssa, the girl Vanessa's age, who moved in with her parents into the house down the street a few months ago." Jack nodded his head, signalising he knew who she meant. "I was talking to her mother when she turned to look at the girls and noticed a woman, who was practically dragging Jade towards us. You can imagine Jadie's reaction – screaming, squirming, kicking… When I got to them and asked the woman what was she doing, she started to yell at me, how can I let my child act in such a way, hit other children and a lot of other things… As it turned out, Jadie indeed kicked her son after he tore her teddy bear out from her hands, refused to give it back and hit her, when she tried to take it back. Apparently, it's not the first time this boy caused such a scene and has quite a tendency to take other children's toys, whether just picking them up while they're lying somewhere or by force, and expropriate them."

"And his mother doesn't see anything wrong in it?"

"Not at all. One woman said, that when she went to claim her son's truck and asked, how it is that she allows him to take kids' toys like this, she simply stated that it was lying abandoned so he took it, like it was the most casual thing in the world."

"Sue, but do you really care about something said by a person like this? She could have claimed you're the worst mother in the world, but what would that make her? I am not saying that Jade is an angel and even at such a young age, she has a difficult character and sometimes it's not easy to control her, but we are at least trying to make her understand that what she does is wrong. Whoever this woman is, she practically allows her child to steal, openly, and doesn't see anything bad in it!"

"I don't care about her opinion… It's just that I felt so helpless… I think Jade was shaken by being pulled out of the sandpit and dragged, and she did say her arm was hurting later… I didn't see it coming… All I could do was pull her into my arms and hold her… She has never clung to me like in that moment… Then, she when she calmed down, she tried to tell me what happened, why she did that, make me understand that she was sort of fighting back and I was completely unable to understand her… The more obvious it was that I had no idea what she was trying to tell me, the more she started to cry again and it was only getting worse… I admit, there were a lot of people looking at me with reproach, and I saw one woman ask another one what sort of mother I was, that I couldn't understand or calm down my own child… I feel so bad about it…"

Jack sighed heavily and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. He didn't meet any resistance on her side, she just leaned to him and hid her face in the crook of his neck, closing her eyes. It was amazing, how much better his embrace was always able to make her feel, no matter how bad her mood was. She really loved it, when they could have a quiet moment like this, when she could just sit in his arms and enjoy to feel so loved, so safe, allowing herself to forget about any worries she could have.

He was holding her, his hand was slowly moving over her back in a comforting gesture and he turned his head a little to place a loving kiss on top of her head. He knew that situations like the one she described always made her feel horrible, and now he perfectly understood her bad mood. He knew how difficult it was with Jade being grumpy, making scenes and crying all the time, when something didn't turn out the way she wanted it. It didn't really matter what it was, she was starting to fuss when he was leaving to work, Sue was saying that she should share something with her sisters and everything else, no matter how trivial or ridiculous. And as much as all their children knew ASL, and Jadie was better at it than her sisters were at her age, she was forgetting to use when her emotions were at very high level, especially those negative ones. It made it more difficult for Sue to know what they were telling her, and it was obvious for everyone that she felt really bad, when she had no idea what her children were trying to inform her about. No matter how great her day was, it could easily be ruined by something like this and he remembered a lot of days like this happening during all the years since Michelle was born. Even though she tried to hide it, he was always able to catch the sad expression in her eyes, when they were looking at her and babbling something happily, even if it appeared only for the shortest of moments and could easily go unnoticed by others. He would always go to her and give her a hug, acting as an interpreter, pretending that he understood them saying that they loved her, that she was a great mommy or something else, but always very positive about her.

"Don't you ever doubt that you're an amazing mom." he said, when he moved away a little, cupped her face and made her look at him. "I can't imagine I could have children with anyone other than you and they're extremely lucky to have you. In my opinion you're the best of moms and I'm sure the girls would confirm it without hesitation." he leaned closer and placed a gentle, lingering kiss on her forehead, while his thumb caressed her cheek.

"Thanks, Jack." she said, sending him a small smile.

He just leaned closer in response and touched her lips with his. It was a very slow, tender kiss, followed by few other ones, gradually gaining more passion. She shifted a little, wrapping her arms around his neck, while their lips caressed each other with love and passion and his other hand moved down her side, sending a gentle shiver through her body. It wasn't long before their tongues joined the play; she willingly parted her lips, when she felt his hand move to the back of her head and the tip of his tongue gently sweep over her bottom lip, granting him the permission to enter her mouth. A soft, quiet moan escaped her lips when their tongues met and she found herself slowly leaning back, pushed gently by her husband.

She smiled at him when they parted in need of an air and her back met the couch. Jack leaned on top of her, careful not to put his weight on her and looked into her eyes, his intense gaze making her blush. It made the corner of his mouth move up and he leaned to her again, but didn't claim her lips once more. Instead, he moved his kisses to her jaw, slowly travelling up to her ear and then down her neck, while his hands started exploration on their own. It felt like his fingertips, so lightly brushing against her bare skin, when he slipped them under the hem of her shirt, lifting it a little, teasing her so cruelly, were waking up every single nerve in her body. She moaned again, when she felt the tip of him gently suck her neck, in just the right place to make her melt and he smiled, ever so gently brushing his fingers against her breasts.

"Jack…" she whispered, trying to get his attention but he only made another soft moan escape her lips. "Jack…" she said again, more urgently this time and he moved his head up, looking at her, his eyes darkened with his perceptible desire.

As much as she really didn't want him to stop, their sweet little moment was really getting out of control and this wasn't a good place for that. The last thing they wanted was one of the girls walking in, and even though they were supposed to be asleep, they couldn't be sure if one of them wasn't going to venture downstairs in search of her mommy for whatever reason she might have, whether the need to be comforted after a bad dream or feeling sick, along with many others they have come up with over time. She didn't need to say anything for him to realise what she was thinking about, and he nodded, slowly raising himself off her.

She squealed, wrapping her arms around his neck, when he stood up on his feet and surprised her by slipping his arms under her and lifting her from the couch.

"You're crazy…" she said grinning, when he carefully placed her on the bed after carrying her all the way upstairs and to their bedroom.

She watched him go to the door to lock it, before joining her.

"I am, indeed, very, very crazy… I'm absolutely mad about one Sue Hudson, maybe you happen to know her… She's the most beautiful, loving, caring, understanding and…" he never got the chance to finish, when she placed her finger on his lips, silencing him.

"Just kiss me, Jack." she said, her voice longing and he grinned.

"As you wish." he stated, closing the distance between them and this time, allowing them to get carried away as much as they only wanted.

"I love you." he whispered later, hiding his face in her hair and breathing in her scent.

He heard her hum in response, right on the edge of falling asleep, even though she had no way of knowing what he actually said. Wrapping his arm a bit stronger around her shoulders for a moment, pressing her a little tighter against himself, he closed his eyes and it was just a matter of seconds before he has dozed off.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Thanks to Mjentrn and scifiromance for leaving reviews for the last chapter. I really appreciate the feedback! Here we go with the next chapter and as always, I hope you'll enjoy! :)

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**CHAPTER 8**

She sighed heavily when she woke up in the morning to find her children sprawled on her bed, making her sleep curled on the very side of it. The way they slept, when they were together always amazed her. How could it be comfortable for either of them, when Alex was lying on his back with his arms and legs extended in all directions and Cassie was lying across on top of him, as if using him for a pillow; she definitely didn't like it when the girl's legs were nudging her right into her ribs. But, she wasn't really surprised by it. Ever since they were newborns, whenever they were lying next to each other, they would sooner or later end up cuddled together, sometimes in the strangest of ways. They were very close with each other, and it was just one of many ways in which their bond was becoming very visible. Putting them to sleep together has always been the easiest way to calm them down at night. Even now, that they were older and sleeping through the whole night, she was sometimes finding one of them in their sibling's bedroom; they were missing each other, she was told and didn't have any reason not to believe that it was all because of the twins' bond, which she has heard a lot about.

As much as she loved to watch her children sleep, she felt disappointed to find them in the bed. She felt a twinge of pain at the realisation, that her husband didn't come to bed at night; it didn't happen very often, that he was sleeping elsewhere. They always had to have a really huge argument, so he would spend the night in the guest bedroom, but the truth was that this situation was probably way more serious than any of their fights. No, she had no doubts about that. He had every right to feel deceived and hold a huge grudge towards her, and she really hated herself for deciding to keep the truth for herself, for being such a coward. The reason why she decided not to tell him the truth- next to the fact that she couldn't think of absolutely any way to approach the subject – was that she was afraid he was going to push her way. She was scared that he was going to do exactly what he did after finding out.

The longer she was thinking about it, the worse she was feeling. There was no doubts he would have felt this way no matter when would have found out. She should have told him, he deserved to truly know her but she was too afraid she was going to lose him, informing him that almost everything she told him about herself was a lie. Yet, she was pretty sure that it would have been much easier for him to get over it earlier, especially that there was no reason why he shouldn't have understood. He was an FBI agent after all and knew perfectly well, that situations like hers were happening sometimes, and she didn't have to have any choice.

She got out of the bed, careful not to wake the kids up, very glad it was Friday, what meant that she had a day off. She slowly made her way to the guest bedroom and her heart sunk, when she realised that Myles wasn't there. In fact, the room looked like nobody has even been there since she tidied it. It made her start to worry; she knew Myles well enough to know that he wouldn't have spent the night on the couch no matter what, because one time he did that before they renovated the guest room, made him barely able to stand straight, not to mention anything less basic. Also, it was way too early for him to be up on a day off and the thought made her stomach clench. Was it possible that something happened?

She searched the whole house for her husband, but he was nowhere to be found. She checked her cell phone, but there was no sign that he tried to contact her. She really started to regret that she didn't argue stronger with him, when he said he would come back home a little later than she and the kids. She decided to give up, when she noticed he was very adamant to go somewhere before going back home, because she didn't want to make things between them even more and now she started to think it could be a bad decision. She should have made a scene that he could be in danger if that had been needed. Yet, there was a small part of her that doubted that. As much as he knew, the agents who were supposed to watch them parted, each asking for someone to join them, so both Lelands parties could be guarded. She had absolutely mixed feelings towards the thoughts that came to her mind because of that. While she would be very glad if he wasn't in danger, she really hated the thought that he made the decision to leave them. Would he do that? She wished he wouldn't, he claimed he loved her and their children! Putting her aside, he wouldn't dare to hurt the kids!

A sob escaped her lips. Her plan to call his friends to ask if they knew anything had to wait. She sat on the couch, resigned, and rested her back against it, drawing her legs up and wrapping her arms around them, pulling them to her chest. She wasn't able to stop tears, which wanted to flow down her cheeks and she started to cry, unable to even remember the last time she was crying so heavily. It was, probably, all those years ago, when she was informed she needed to start a new life, away from everyone and everything she cared about, leaving it all behind?

She jumped, when she felt something cold on her arm and opened her teary eyes to see her daughter standing right in front of him, watching her carefully. Oh how similar she looked to her dad; the same expression in her eyes, her eyebrows slightly furrowed in the same way and so much more! Because Cassie was just three – or almost three and a half, as she always insisted – she had no idea how much of it all she actually understood or what she was feeling and thinking. If she was older, Louise would have no doubts that the expression present in her gaze was a mix of sadness and worry.

"Mommy…" she said, her voice barely audible and made her feel even worse. The last thing she wanted was for her children to see her like this.

Cassandra climbed onto the couch next to her mom and when Louise put her legs down to the ground, she moved onto her lap, wrapped her arms around her and rested her head on her shoulder. The woman sighed again, kissing the child's forehead and embraced her tightly. She wasn't very surprised when she heard another footsteps on the floor and Alex did exactly the same thing as his sister. Just for the shortest of seconds, the thought how nice it was that they just adjusted to be comfortable like this instead of fighting over who was first to cuddle to her, appeared in her mind and she held them both close. What she wouldn't give in order to feel another set of arms go around her, trying to embrace all three of them at the same time…

It was truly amazing how her life managed to become one huge mess in a few moments for the second time in her life.

x

It felt like he has just fallen asleep, when his alarm went off. He groaned, reaching out his hand and patting the clock, getting rid of the annoying sound before Levi could react and jump onto the bed. He didn't want to wake Sue up, when she still had some more time to sleep and the truth was, that he would love to spoon her and doze off again. But, he couldn't. He opened his eyes and looked right at Sue, sleeping peacefully on her side, facing him. His mind drifted off to the day that changed their whole relationship and a small smile slowly made its way onto his face.

_He was lying in the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking. He really had a lot of time to do that and he wasn't really surprised that no matter what he started to wonder about, his thoughts have always been finding a way to turn back to Sue Thomas. When she entered his life not a whole year ago, he had no idea that she was going to have such a huge influence on it. She practically changed it upside down, in the most positive of ways. She has made him see so many things in different light than he used to, understand what was truly important and, finally, understand what the feeling of love truly was. _

_There was one woman, who he believed himself to be in love with –Allie, his friend and later girlfriend for so much time. Yet, the fact that during such a long time they didn't manage to really get together, once and for good, was probably the best sign that it wasn't it. Their priorities in life, dreams for the future, practically everything important for the relationship to work, were different from each other. They tried only to finally agree, that they were doing it more for their parents than for themselves and he was actually surprised, when his mother informed him that she was coming to DC for him. He had no doubts it had to be his mother's doing, he was very aware that despite all the things he told her, she still hoped they were going to be together. He, on the other hand, was more than certain that it was never going to happen because there was only one woman he could imagine his future with – Sue Thomas. _

_He wasn't struck with love the moment he saw her for the first time, like some people believed it to happen. He was surprised, a little amused and finally, curious, who was this woman, storming into the bullpen, calling herself some special project, giving him a lecture of how she didn't work for her whole life for a token position and demanding a transfer. He had to admit that the blush, which appeared on her face when she realised her mistake was sort of cute, and she was good looking, but it was his curiosity – raised even higher, when he noticed the dog at her side – that made him seek her out in the cafeteria. It was probably the best decision he has ever made in his life and he was often wondering, would they still find their way to each other, if he hadn't? _

_His feelings towards her grew stronger slowly; he was gradually falling in love with her and before he realised, he was head over heels in love with her. The worst thing was, that he couldn't do anything about it. The FBI regulations were very clear about the relationship between two people working together, and there was also this guy she met in the park, whose connection to him he wasn't really certain of. It seemed like he wanted something more, but what was Sue's opinion about it? It was the worst with this situation; he had absolutely no idea what her feelings were. Whether she was doing it by accident or purposely, she was sending him confusing messages and he decided it was better if he let the matter go for a while, wait some time and determine what he wasn't sure of. _

_But now, that he was lying there, bored out of his mind and thinking, he understood it wasn't a good idea. Yes, he needed to find out what he was standing on, but waiting wasn't the right thing to do. He reckoned that with his job, his life was very often at risk; he was of course, careful, but he could never be sure what was going to happen. Yet, he definitely didn't expect his own body to turn against him and it only reminded him that he really had no idea just how much time they had left, making him realise that they shouldn't waste any precious second of it. _

_He was happy to see her come into the room without their friends. As much as he was happy to see them all there, the sign that they obviously did care about him, he definitely wasn't in the mood for the whole team gathering. He really needed someone to talk to, to share all his thoughts with, and Sue was the best person for it. He knew she was going to patiently listen to everything he wanted to tell her without judging, without teasing him, perhaps even give him an advice. It was really nice to share his thoughts with her, to know she understood him. _

_ It felt so intimate in that moment, the way she was holding his hand, her thumb caressing his skin tenderly, a small smile lingering on her face, while she was looking at their joined hands, lost in thoughts. He watched her, wondering what it was that she was thinking about – all the things that she has never done but wished that she did? Yes, that was probably it and a part of him couldn't help hoping that at least some of them included him. Then, suddenly, her eyes moved up to his face and a corner of his mouth moved up at the sight of a faint blush, which graced her cheeks when she noticed his gaze. There were so many emotions inside his eyes, ones she did notice earlier but wasn't really sure what they were. _

_ "Go out with me…" he suddenly spoke, squeezing her hand a little, breaking the silence._

_ "W-What..?" she asked, not sure if she read him correctly. _

"_Go out with me." he repeated, gathering the courage not to claim he said something else. _

_The thought to do so crossed his mind, but he eventually decided against it. He promised himself he wasn't going to waste any more time, and this was one of the things he wanted to do the most. What wrong could go out of doing it? She could crush his hopes and say, that she wasn't interested, but perhaps it was better to be done sooner than later. If she was to say yes, it could turn out not to be __**it**__ and their close friendship could change, but wasn't it worth the risk if the other possibility was that something wonderful could come out of it? _

_He could see she was hesitant, unsure of what she should say. In fact, she wasn't even sure of what he truly meant by this request. Was it possible that Jack Hudson was asking her on a date? Her heart really wanted it to be so and the more she thought about it, she was becoming more sure that it had to be the case. There was this look in his eyes, which woke up all the butterflies in her stomach and made her understand, that he wasn't thinking about one of their casual, friendly meetings and dinners in the evening after work. Actually, thinking that he could mean one of those seemed very ridiculous in that moment; the expression on his face, the look in his eyes, the way his hand held hers, it all made it more than clear that there was more to it, much more. _

"_Okay." she finally said, sending him a small smile and he let out a breath he wasn't even aware he was holding. He could see she wanted to say something else, but the moment she opened her mouth Allie walked into the room and their magical moment was over._

He sighed, reaching out his hand and carefully brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. It was because of Allie, that he saw her insecurities truly come out for the first time. Up to the moment, when he came with her to the office, he was able to catch just a few glimpses every now and then.

_The moment they walked into the bullpen, his eyes moved to her. Just like he expected, he found her sitting behind her desk and she looked up after noticing the sudden animation amongst her friends. A small smile, which he had on his face faded, when her eyes landed on him and Allie, because of the way she looked at the two of them. It was the same one she gave them in the hospital, right before leaving. His first thought was that she looked like someone, who had their heart broken and she later admitted to him it was exactly the way she felt in that moment. It was exactly why he approached her desk, asking for help even though he didn't really need it, for the first time feeling really grateful that his friends decided to pretend they don't see a thing and just let it all be. _

"_Sue, about Allie… There's something I want to explain..." he started, when they were on their way to the elevator, trying to gather the right words in his head._

"_Explain..? Why would you want to explain anything?" she asked, looking at him with a hint of surprise in her voice. _

"_Because I want to, that's all." he said and mentally punched himself. Take a grip on yourself, Hudson, he thought and pressed the button to call the elevator to the right floor. "Allie was my first real girlfriend and through the years… There's just a lot of history between us…" _

"_And what about now?"_

_He watched her carefully, the distant and somewhat sad expression on her face was breaking his heart. In that very moment, he wished they were somewhere else. It really wasn't a good place for this kind of conversation, not for what he actually wanted to say. Everyone around could see and hear them and he needed to be really careful with his words and actions in order not to get them into any trouble. He knew it didn't need to be anything big; even one word could be meaningful if heard and misinterpreted by a wrong person. Yet, he needed to talk to her, right in that very moment. Ever since she left the hospital room after Allie arrived, he wished for a moment alone with her and was more than angry that she wasn't allowed to stay a little longer after her visit with the rest of the team. _

"_Nothing." he stated, reaching out his hand towards her with the intention to touch her face and remembering himself, pretending he was brushing something off her jacket. _

"_She came here all the way from New York after hearing about your heart attack… She brought your things and I wouldn't feel comfortable with a random person going through my closet… I heard you've been pretty serious at one point… It doesn't really seem like nothing to me…" _

_He groaned, closing his eyes. He was an idiot, that was undeniable. Now that he thought about it, it was pretty obvious that she was going to ask their friends about Allie after meeting her, even if only to know what she was actually standing on. _

"_Let's go out for a moment, to the park nearby, okay?" he suggested, looking around and noticing a few curious glances in their direction. _

_There was an obvious hesitancy in her actions and he sighed with relief, when she finally nodded her head. The silent ride in the elevator seemed to take forever, and the path towards the park has never been so long. They only stopped when they reached the bench, which they were practically always sitting on if they came out there for some fresh air, whether together or alone. _

"_Whatever has ever been between me and Allie, it's over. At least on my side." he added, seeing her eyebrows slowly move up after his statement. "It's true that at one point we were pretty serious, I was even thinking about proposing to her but then she took a job in New York, and it was just first of many things that made me realise that it wasn't going to work out. In general, our priorities in life and ideas for the future are too different… In the end we agreed that it would be better if we stayed just friends." _

"_Does she think the same?" _

"_I don't really know, but… Does it actually matter? Our relationship is over, I'm not getting back with her. I meant what I said to you in the hospital. I want to take you out on a date, a real one. It may be a bit too straightforward, but I care about you… More than I should care about a friend and… I want to give it a chance…" _

_He reached out his hand and she let out a quiet gasp. She understood that this gesture and the look in his eyes had a much more important meaning behind it than it normally would. It wasn't a comforting gesture, a sign that she was always going to have support in him. It was like an unspoken question if she was there with him, on the same page when it came to what was between them. He exposed his feelings, offered them and left it up to her to either accept them or push them away._

_She could feel her hand shaking a little when she placed it in his. He squeezed it tightly, smiling at her, her discreet glance in the direction of the Hoover Building telling him exactly what she was thinking about. _

"_Let's give it a try and if we decide that we want it to go on, we'll think about something…" he suggested and his heart jumped, when a small smile made its way onto her face. _

"_Works for me." _

He leaned closer and placed a loving kiss on her forehead. He thought he was in love with her back then, but he quickly realised was just at the beginning of falling for her. His feelings were only growing stronger the more time passed and he reached the point, when he couldn't imagine his life without her very quickly. Their undercover operation as a married couple - despite the difficulties to arrange it since the team Sue transferred to wasn't very eager to borrow her and the higher-ups weren't very keen on the idea of the two of them working together when they were officially in a relationship – made it clear that this was indeed _it_. He got a glimpse of what their life together would be and understood that this was exactly what he wanted. He proposed soon after it and less than a year later they got married. Here they were now, approaching the tenth wedding anniversary in August and parents to four amazing girls and two more little ones on the way. Their love wasn't exactly the same it used to be back then, it changed just like it does to everyone, but it never lost its strength.

Still, it didn't make her insecurities go away. He couldn't really understand why she didn't want to truly believe, that there was no other – better – woman for him than her. He suspected it had its roots in the fact, that she wasn't really accepted by her peers back at school, a wonderful example of what he had the chance to see accompanying her to her friend's wedding and rehearsal dinner. It took so much of his willpower not to punch a few guys right then and there, but he only managed to stop himself because she insisted not to do it. It seemed like over time he finally managed to convince her that he didn't want someone more beautiful, with more open attitude towards some things and somewhat different beliefs than hers, and her deafness or that she can pass it to the children they might have in the future didn't matter to him. She seemed to understand that he loved her the way she was, with all her good and bad features but then came the kids and he didn't know what he could do to make her really understand that she was the best mother they could have.

He froze, when she stirred and rolled onto her back and breathed out, seeing that he didn't wake her up. He smiled, noticing one of her hands subconsciously finding its way onto her stomach, the warmth inside the house making her push most of the duvet away. It probably didn't really have any hidden meaning behind it, just her body finding a comfortable position for her arm but it did bring his attention to the place, where their two smallest treasures were hidden. Her abdomen was perfectly in his sight with her pyjamas' top slightly raised and he smiled, when he noticed the tiny bump. It wasn't just his imagination last evening, it really was there – very little, practically unnoticeable but present. He did read a little about differences between single and twin pregnancy and he knew that amongst other things, she was going to start showing earlier, but he didn't really expect to see it so early. She did realise she was pregnant a little later than she did with each of the girls, mostly because she didn't think it was the case. They were using birth control – they could, in truth, use a method giving them more certainty but still – and the morning, or actually a whole day sickness which she experienced every previous pregnancy didn't happen this time. Still, it was earlier than he expected to notice, but it didn't make him any less happy.

"I love you." he said after moving his face closer to it and placing a gentle kiss on the small rounding. "I can't wait for the two of you to join us."

"We have just found out about them, and you're already conspiring against me?" he heard his wife's sleepy voice and looked up to find her watching him.

"Umm… I thought you were asleep." he said, moving up to give her a good morning kiss.

The sound of his cell phone ringing prevented him from saying anything else. He groaned, rolling his eyes and reached out for it. He wasn't really surprised to see Bobby's face on the screen.

"What is it, Crash? You just can't live without me for a second, huh?" he asked and Sue watched the smirk slowly disappear from his face. "Are you sure? I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Jack?" asked Sue, managing to catch him just before he jumped out of the bed to start getting ready.

"You know I can't tell you anything…"

"You already have yesterday, so cut it out. You know I'm not going to share it with anyone and I do want to know what made you so distressed."

"Two of the agents, which were assigned to watch Myles and Louise were found dead this morning."

"What..? What about the rest?"

"They're safely stationed outside their house, making sure Louise and the kids are safe. It seems they split after leaving the office yesterday and Myles didn't return home for the night."

"Is he okay?"

"All I know is that nobody has any idea where he actually is."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** After a glimpse into what changed the course in Jack and Sue's relationship last week, now you'll get to see just how exactly Louise appeared in Myles' life and how he liked that fact... I hope you're going to enjoy! Huge thank you to those, who give me feedback - I really love hearing from you!

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**CHAPTER 9**

A groan got out of his lips when he started to regain consciousness. His head was hurting so terribly it was difficult to think. The last thing he remembered was going out of the bar, yet he was absolutely certain he wasn't hangover. He didn't have that much to drink, he was simply sitting behind a bar and slowly sipping the beer, two mugs in total. And then, suddenly, something collided with his face, making him turn to the side. He tried to move, only to realise he couldn't; his hands and legs were tied to the chair he was sitting on. When he finally opened his eyes and blinked a few times, he noticed he was in a spacious, almost empty room of what seemed like a storage building. There was a very tall, muscular man standing in front of him with an ugly scar right over his left eye and a smirk on his face. His whole arms were covered in tattoos.

"Ah, you're awake! Right about time!" he reached out his arm and hit him again.

"Enough, Davenport!" sounded through the empty space and another man quickly walked into the room.

He was much smaller than him, but Davenport just nodded his head and stepped back. He didn't say a word, yet the expression on his face didn't leave any doubts what he was thinking about it. He didn't dare, however, object; it seemed like the other guy was a boss there. He had very short blonde hair and piercing blue eyes; Myles was certain that if the gaze was capable of doing it, he would end up stabbed with just his look. One of Leland's first thoughts upon taking a better look at him was that if he passed him on the street, he'd take him for just another random stranger he was seeing every day.

"So, Myles Leland the third…" he started, crouching in front of Myles, so their faces were at about the same level. "I'm finally able to make your acquaintance."

Leland didn't say anything, just kept looking at him. There was something familiar in this man, like he has already seen him somewhere. And then, suddenly, he realised why; he was one of the men, whose pictures Turner showed to the team. His eyes widened, when he finally matched the face with the right person in his head.

"McAllister…"

"Of course that's me. Who did you expect, Santa Claus?" he sneered and Davenport laughed, obviously finding his words very funny.

"What do you want?" he asked and McAllister rolled his eyes.

"Are you really that dumb that you can't guess something so obvious? You took one thing that belongs to me, without permission. You're going to pay for it and regret that you have ever met the little bitch."

"Don't you dare speak about her like this!" growled Myles, feeling his anger rise and McAllister snorted.

"Or what? What are you going to do, tied to a chair and completely at my mercy?" he asked, standing up slowly. "Take care of him, Davenport. Don't beat him too hard, though; we're going to have much more fun with him being alive." with those words he left, and Myles could only hope his friends were going to find him soon.

x

Jack stopped the car on a small parking in front of the side entrance to the park. He looked around and easily recognised one of the cars as Myles', but what was he doing there? Why didn't he go home along with his family, knowing that there could be people hunting for him as well as for them? The answer to this question seemed pretty easy. There was surely a lot on his mind and he needed some space, some peace to think everything over and it was something he probably wouldn't get at home.

Hudson easily recognised his best friend's tall figure amongst the group of agents gathered there. When he was closer, he noticed Charlie talking to a man with a dog, while Bobby was standing with a medical examiner. He watched carefully how a couple of men were transporting two bodies to a van, to take them to a morgue.

"Morning Sparky." Bobby approached and greeted him, but his voice lacked its usual cheerfulness.

"Hi Crash. What do we have?"

"A lot of bad news. According to the medical examiner, Kendrick and Jones are dead for approximately eight hours, so…"

"Eight hours?!" exclaimed Jack and Manning just shrugged.

"That was my reaction, too. It seems this place isn't really popular at night, I bet it's because it is completely dark. Anyway, they were found just few whiles ago by this guy, their bodies weren't really hidden." he gestured towards the man questioned by Charlie. "Also, we found this right next to a pool of blood."

He handed Jack a cell phone, hidden inside a special bag and Hudson lit it up. He winced, when Louise, Cassie and Alex grinned at him from the screen. As much as he could have mistaken the car, there was no single doubt that this thing belonged to their friend. He almost jumped, when it started vibrating, they heard Myles' ringtone, and Louise's name and picture appeared on the screen. He sighed heavily, when she finished the call and give the phone back to Bobby.

"Did anyone talk to Louise?"

"I didn't have enough courage to answer her call. It's because she called that we actually found it. It had over twenty unanswered calls from her, that's how I'm sure he didn't go home and she is aware something happened, too…"

"Let's go to her, then. I'm sure Myles didn't exactly show her support in this whole situation and she must feel even worse now, that she can't even contact him. She should know what happened."

Manning agreed and soon they were on the way to the Lelands' house. They reached it within half an hour and knocked. A longer while passed before Louise opened it; she looked very tired and they were certain she didn't sleep well at night. When their eyes fell on the kids, they seemed absent and barely acknowledged their presence with a glance.

"What happened?" she asked simply, when they sat behind the table after walking to the kitchen, which she thought to be the best place to have a conversation. "Just don't lie to me, please. Tell me what happened."

"The two agents, who were watching him were found dead this morning… There is no trace of Myles anywhere, but we are yet to analyse everything. We think he was kidnapped…"

Louise yelped and gave in to the tears, which were threatening to fall since the moment she saw them approaching the house. She hid her face in her hands and started to cry.

"What does it mean?" they heard Cassie's voice and turned to the door to see Alex standing there with his twin sister right behind him.

"Something bad. Mommy's crying." stated the boy and Louise only whined louder.

She really tried to keep the kids away from it, obviously without any good results, but it has always been difficult for her to pretend she felt something different than she actually did. How could she make them think that everything was more or less fine if she felt like her heard was going to explode, because pain and fear were practically consuming her from inside? It was clear they were curious to know why their dad wasn't home and their mom was feeling so bad.

Bobby moved to the woman and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. It seemed like a trigger, because the moment she rested her forehead against his shoulder she started to cry her heart out. Jack, on the other hand, stood up from his chair and walked to the children.

"Let's go somewhere else."

He walked them to the living room and they both sat on the couch. He kneeled in front of them and his heart started to ache, when they were looking at him with such a sad expressions on their faces. He could imagine his heart would shatter to tiny pieces if he was in the same situation with his girls. He didn't really know what to tell them. How was he supposed to explain such a situation to three year old children? How could he do that without scaring them? The last thing Louise needed right now were two terrified kids.

Yet, he somehow managed. They were listening to him carefully and he felt bad for assuring them of things, which he wasn't absolutely certain about. They didn't like his answer, when he stated he didn't know when their father was going to return home and he really couldn't tell them that he had no idea if he was going to be fine. In the end, he ended asking them to be good for Louise and make her feel just how much they loved her. They nodded their heads vigorously and jumped off the couch, running in the direction of the kitchen. He could hear that Bobby must have managed to calm Louise down, and something was telling him they were running to give her a huge hug. He stood up and slowly followed them, but stopped when his eyes fell on the picture standing on the bookshelf.

They were all in it. Dimitrius had his arms linked with Tara and Lucy, since his wife didn't manage to accompany him to the event. Jack himself had his arm wrapped possessively around Sue's waist and was placing a kiss on her cheek in the very moment, in which the picture was taken. Bobby stood between Darcy and the older woman, who bought him on the auction, embracing both women. Myles, on the other hand, was standing next to Louise awkwardly. It was when he was still very mortified about her sudden and very unexpected entrance to his life. Corners of Jack's mouth moved up, when his mind drifted off to the big day.

_ "First, the bachelor that, to our surprise and delight, brought the highest price of all the entrance, Myles Leland the third. Please stand up, Myles." _

_Everyone around started to clap their hands, and the man raised from his place, looking around and thanking the people. His friends laughed, joining them; it would be lovely for them to see his face if it turned out to be someone else after all this boasting that he was going to be the best, but in the end he was right. _

"_And the lucky winner of the lovely Italian dinner with Myles on the.. Italian Riviera…" there was a very clear surprise and Eleanor couldn't stop the proof of it from leaving her lips. "is… Louise Stephenson!" _

_The smug expression immediately disappeared from Leland's face. His eyes widened and mouth fell open, causing his friends to exchange shocked glances. He looked like he was completely paralysed for a moment and only later he remembered where he was and started to look around in search for the lucky winner. It turned out to be a young, blonde haired woman dressed in a very beautiful and elegant, yet at the same time pretty simple, light blue dress. She seemed to be surprised as well and blushed, when all the eyes turned to her and she got an applause, too. _

"_It may cost you a fortune, but she's at least pretty." said Bobby, when Myles sat down and earned a furious glare from him. The rest just laughed, still unable to believe that out of them all, it was Leland, who the women paid the biggest amount of money for. _

"_Next up we have FBI Special Agent Bobby Manning." it was Crash's turn to stand up and just like Myles did a few minutes earlier, he looked around flashing his famous grin around the room. _

"_If you didn't buy me, I hope you didn't make a mistake you're gonna regret." he said to Darcy, flicking her chin teasingly with his finger. _

"_I'll take my chances." she teased back, smiling at him. _

"_For Agent Manning, the winning bid was submitted by Gladys Shelton." _

_Another round of applause sounded through the room, even bigger when the older woman sitting with a man, who they suspected was her son or grandson, admitted to be the winner. Bobby turned to her and clapped probably the loudest of all the people. He leaned to Darcy once again, commenting how she lost a chance to be a history before he sat down. The eyes of all the people sitting behind their table moved to Jack; it was clear it was his turn now and he didn't really look happy because of it. _

"_And last, but certainly not least, someone, who I can tell you from personal experience is a very special agent, Mr. Jack Hudson." _

_He slowly raised himself, looking around uncomfortably. Now came the moment, which he feared the most; he could almost hear Eleanor's voice announcing that she was the winner herself. Sue placed her hand on his and gave it a gentle squeeze, smiling at him widely with a loving expression in her eyes. He immediately felt way better. _

"_And the winner of the dream date with the captivating Agent Hudson is none other than yours truly…" the confident grin faded from Eleanor's face, when she was approached by another woman, who made her look at the actual results. "Sue Thomas." she added with a huge disgust on her face, and immediately demanded a recount. _

_Jack on the other hand, felt like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders and grinned widely, cheering and applauding for his girlfriend before leaning down and placing a long, loving kiss on her lips, what in turn elicited a very loud reaction from their companions. He was so happy, when he took his seat back that didn't even notice the shock in her features, when she looked at her friends questioningly. _

"_I didn't bet…" she stated and suddenly got enlightened, when Lucy and Tara exchanged glances. "What did you two do?" _

"_You didn't want to do it yourself, so __we__ had to do something. We couldn't stand by and let Jack be fed to the lioness." explained Lucy. "I think we've made our Jack a very happy man." _

"_And, after all, it's for the good of the kids." added Tara. _

_Jack on the other hand, turned to the guys. Myles was staring at an undefined point in front of him like he was informed he was about to grow another head those few minutes ago, repeating 'That's impossible' in a silent whisper. The woman, who he asked for the confirmation returned and said that there was no mistake and Louise Stephenson's bid really was the highest. It just made him hide his face in his hands and groan piteously. _

"_I don't understand what you are making such a huge scene of." stated Bobby, looking at him. "She looks very young yet at the same time, she seems mature. She's good looking, you have to admit and I'm sure there will be something you both like, what you can talk about…" he said, turning his eyes to Jack when he was voicing the last thought and it was clear neither of the two actually believed it. _

"_She wasn't supposed to win…" Myles spoke finally, looking at them. _

"_What do you mean?" asked Lucy, clearly taken aback by his statement. _

"_Do you want to say that you asked someone to pay for you, so you wouldn't have to take the winner to Italy?" inquired Dimitrius and everyone at their table stared at Leland in disbelief._

"_No, I didn't ask anyone to do such thing. The winner was supposed to be __me__."_

"_You wanted to buy yourself?!" exclaimed Lucy, goggling her eyes even more. _

_ "It was cheaper than taking a winner on a trip to Italian Riviera! Quoting Tara 'it's for the good of the kids'. Why did I even agree to take part in this auction?" _

_ "Excuse me, you were the first to say you're in!" spoke Bobby._

_ Myles rolled his eyes and everyone just laughed. _

He sighed, shaking his head. It was a wonder that Myles' hostility towards Louise managed to change into love. Back in that day, it was clear he didn't want to have anything to do with her, and only a sense of propriety made him ask her to dance that evening, just once and after Bobby suggested that it was the right thing to do. Yet, as much as he could understand his friend developing kinder feelings towards Louise, there were moments when he truly had no idea what made her fall for Myles. It seemed like she thought him to be interesting and always listened carefully to everything he was talking about, no matter how ridiculous it was. She was probably one of those scarce people, who found his jokes funny. Actually, the more he wondered about it, the bigger amount of arguments why they were meant for each other he was finding.

"She believes they're not going to hurt him." said Bobby, when they finally left the house and got into the car to go to the office. "She seems convinced that McAllister wants to make _her_ suffer and knows her well enough to be aware, that using her family is the best way to do it."

"I have to say I don't see logic in it. He is going to hurt her pretty much if he is going to kill Myles, even if he does it the moment he lays his eyes on him."

"Now that you say it, I have to say you're right but I understood that McAllister might want to make Myles suffer, too and in result, bring her pain… She said he likes to play with his prey…"

"I admit I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing."

Few whiles later they entered a bullpen to find all their co-workers behind their desks, focused on the tasks they were given. Sean immediately agreed with Louise's belief that for some time, Myles' life wasn't in danger but he couldn't be called completely safe. McAllister was pretty known to be a sort of sadist, he liked to make people suffer even if he wasn't always the one to give them pain. In fact, he was rarely doing it himself, only to those, who were 'special' in a wicked way. On the other hand, Louise was his ex-fiancée and also the one, because of who he was arrested, so her husband could be exactly this kind of person.

If there was one thing they had to give The Enlightened credit for, it was capability of covering their tracks. They had to have some kind of special training for it or have a good selection of people, but once again, it seemed like they didn't leave any trace behind themselves. It was more than frustrating for them to admit it, especially that their friend's life could depend on their ability to find them.

At the same time, Myles could only hope for his friends to find him quickly. It was obvious Davenport liked violence and it wasn't even to get any information out of him that he was beating him. And, during it, he was also talking everything bad about his wife that he could even come up with, no matter the fact that he didn't even know her well enough to say only what could actually apply to her. Still, it didn't make his anger grow any less.

Now, he was in what had to be a basement. They dragged him there after he passed out and he was lying on the floor with his hands and legs tied. He was certain his face was all bruised and swollen; he was barely able to open his eyes and look around through narrow slits. It was completely dark inside and quiet; voices from behind the door were reaching his ears but were practically intelligible. How much time could pass since he was attacked in this park, on his way to the car? He decided there had to be at least a couple of hours, since the sky outside was light the last time he saw it. Louise was probably angry or worried sick that he didn't return home. The second option seemed more right, especially if they found the two agents, who were supposed to be with him.

He sighed; he was an idiot. He should have gone home with his family instead of running away to have some time for himself. The only conclusion he reached was that he overreacted. Nobody could deny him the right to be angry at his wife for keeping the truth about her past from him, that was obvious. But, he had to admit that it wasn't his past, the story behind her that he fell in love with but Louise as a person, and as much as she could lie about a lot of things about herself, she couldn't really hide her personality. He thought her to be very beautiful and the most interesting person he has ever encountered, and it was what truly mattered. Now he only needed to survive long enough to be able to tell her.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 10**

One glance at her husband when he returned home was all Sue needed to get answers to all the questions she wanted to ask. It was a late evening and she was already preparing to go to bed after putting the girls to sleep. She stepped out of the bathroom after taking a bath, dressed in her pyjamas and noticed him standing there. His lips were clasped tightly against each other, forming a thin line on his face, his eyes were absent and his mind was completely elsewhere. He didn't even move when she approached and it seemed like he noticed her presence only when she touched his arm.

"Jack..?" she made him turn around, so he was facing her and wrapped her arms around his waist. "What is it?"

"I promised Cassie and Alex I'm going to bring Myles home and there's absolutely nothing I can do to actually keep this promise. We're still waiting for results of a few tests, but I doubt they will bring anything into this investigation. We're stuck again and it's so… infuriating!"

"I'm sure everything will turn out well." she closed the distance between them and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "Your mom called today."

"My mom? What did she want?"

"She asked if we didn't change our mind about spending Christmas and New Year with them. And also, she wanted to know what to buy the girls for Christmas and birthday."

"Damn, I completely forgot it's this time already…"

It was very clear in his voice that he wasn't happy to be reminded it was already the beginning of December and Christmas, as well as the birthdays of two of their daughters, were approaching quickly. If there was something about this time of the year that they didn't really like, it was the few weeks before the three occasions. With the presents for four girls needed to be bought, it has never been an easy thing to decide what to get them. The fact that Jade and Vanessa were born so close to Christmas wasn't helping at all. Still, it wasn't their fault and it wouldn't be fair to buy them just one gift for both occasions, especially that their older sisters were getting something for their birthday as well. They didn't buy absolutely anything, what they knew the girls wanted; they preferred to buy a few but cheaper things instead of one, which would be very expensive. It didn't mean that they didn't consider what would make them happy at all, quite the contrary; still, they didn't want to spoil their children, make them thing that they should get absolutely anything they would ever want to have and luckily for them, their daughters weren't very demanding. Of course, they did want all the newest and the most expensive things, especially if they saw an advertisement on TV, but they were happy with what they were getting because Sue was making a list of what she heard them mentioning or knew that they actually needed before looking for anything. And, they also couldn't deny, that instead of spending all the money on toys, they preferred to save it and go somewhere in summer.

When it came for holidays, they had an agreement with their parents that when it came to Christmas and Easter, they were spending one of them in Wisconsin and the second in Ohio, and next year the other way around and so on. This year it was time for them to go to the Hudsons for Christmas and the girls were asking them every day when they were leaving. Usually the worst thing was that Jack wasn't sure he was going to be able to go until the last minute and there were already a couple of times, when he needed to stay in DC because of the very important investigation which they were working on at that time. Then, Sue was taking the girls and he was either joining a little later or not and his parents didn't really like the latter situation. One could say that Ruth's main focus were her granddaughters and she didn't even notice the lack of her son's company, but it wasn't true at all. No matter how old and how much taller than her he was, he was going to be her precious little boy forever and as happy as she was with his daughters, she missed him a lot, too. This year, however, it was Jack's turn to be the one, who would get leave no matter what, as they had an agreement with Dimitrius that one of the team members was on leave during Christmas every year, and they even made a list so it was actually fair.

"I told her that our plans didn't change at all and the girls absolutely can't wait to go to Wisconsin."

"We need to go shopping…" he stated, obviously unhappy at the thought.

"I'd worry more about figuring out what to buy for everyone. We can always order it online, but we need to know what, first."

Jack winced. As much as it seemed an easy task, it wasn't. They needed to think what would satisfy the people they want to give the things to, as well as consider its price and in result, it could take quite a bit of time to think it over.

"I know how much you hate it, so I've already done some searching… I have a few ideas for the girls that I'd like to discuss with you. I also found a beautiful jewellery box, which I think your mom may like… And when it comes to your dad, I'm pretty much at a loss… The only thing that comes to my mind is the new book of his favourite author, which was released two weeks ago…"

"Add some current pictures of our daughters and my parents will be happy." he moved his face closer and pressed his lips against her forehead. "You're an angel, Sue."

"Nah, I just know my husband." she smiled at him. "I have some dinner left for you, do you want me to reheat it?"

"Sounds tempting, but I'm afraid we've ordered a pizza with Crash. We didn't know how much more time we were going to spend in the office. I think I'll just go take a shower and head to bed."

Sue simply nodded and when he went to the bathroom, she sat on the bed and started working on brushing her wet hair. She wasn't surprised at all, that he added one additional thing to what he said he was going to do. She smiled, when she noticed him leave the bedroom only to see him go to their daughters. He returned only after tucking in and giving a goodnight kiss to all of them and joined his wife in bed. He was way more tired than he realised and was asleep within seconds after finding a comfortable position. Sue could only smile wider, when she turned off the light and soon dozed off as well.

In about the same moment, Tara opened her eyes and raised herself to a sitting position on the bed. At first, she had no idea what was going on and looked to the side, at the boy sleeping right next to her. Eric came to her some time ago after a bad dream and she allowed him to stay with her, but now was sleeping peacefully on his side. And then she heard it, there was somebody in the house beside her and her son. She quickly stood up and moved in the direction of the door only to notice that the sound of footsteps was getting louder; the person was approaching them.

She was reaching out to the bedside table, where she left her gun when the door suddenly opened. She froze, turning to it with her eyes wide open and sighed with relief, when she recognized her husband's figure. Jason smith was just slightly taller than Tara, and had the same sandy blonde hair and green eyes as his son. Staggering, he slowly walked inside and threw the small bag he had in his hand onto the floor.

"Jason, you scared me." she spoke but the man completely ignored her.

He went to the wardrobe and after a moment of going through half of shelves and drawers, he finally took out a T-shirt. She winced, when he started to take off his clothes and his movement brought a strong smell of alcohol to her nose.

"You're completely drunk!" she said, and he approached the bed unsteadily.

"So what?" he asked simply and she managed to stop him in the last moment before he crashed onto the bed.

"Be careful! You'd crush Eric!" she said, feeling her anger rise inside her.

"I have the right to sleep with my own wife in my own bed. He has his bed, he should be sleeping there."

Lately, she really didn't need that much to lost her temper when it came to talking to Jason and that evening only confirmed it. He was there for what, five minutes? And already managed to make her angry. Preventing herself from saying too much, she reached her hand to Eric and shook him gently, trying to wake him up. There was no way for her to carry him, he was too heavy for her now and there was no sense in asking Jason to do it. The boy stirred and raised himself a little, looking at his mother questioningly.

"We have to go to your room, Honey. Dad wants to go to sleep." she said and he turned to his other side, and his eyes fell on his father, standing impatiently on the side of the bed.

She could almost feel her heart snap when he just crawled out of the bed and started to walk out of the room. So many times she watched the children of her friends greet their fathers and they were always so happy to see them. The moment they recognized them, they were running towards them and giving as well as receiving a huge hug, not to mention clinging to them for the next couple of hours or even days. Eric did that just a couple of times, and each one of them the only thing Jason did was ruffle his hair, but it was after he got scolded for putting a little bit of paint on his trousers. She still remembered how she was trying to calm him down for a very long time and the argument she had with her husband that day. She really couldn't understand the big fuss he made, especially that it was a special paint for children, so there was no problem with washing it off. Yet, from that day on, Eric has never tried to greet his father upon coming home; in fact, he didn't look happy to see him at all and it was what hurt her the most.

"Where are you going?" asked Jason, when she stood up as well.

"If you think I'm going to spend the night here, you're more drunk than I thought." was everything she said and followed her son out.

She was certain that he was going to say something else, but she was in no mood for arguments. It was a late evening, she had to go to work in the morning and she needed to get some sleep and so did Eric. Once again, she thought that getting a normal-size bed instead of one for the child for his bedroom was a very good idea and even though it was very big for a six-year-old boy, now she could at least spend the night on something comfortable. The couch in the living room was good for everything but not sleeping and she would be barely able to walk if she was to sleep there.

"Mommy…" she heard Eric's quiet voice, when she was lying comfortably on her side almost dozing off after tucking her son in.

"What is it, Honey?" she opened her eyes to see the boy look at the duvet, biting on her bottom lip gently. "Eric?"

"How long is Dad going to be home?" he finally mumbled out and her stomach clenched.

His question and the way he asked it was just a confirmation of what she hoped was just her imagination – that he wasn't really happy about Jason coming home. The faint light of the moon, which was falling into the room was just enough to allow her to see his face expression and it pained her to see his gentle, sad pout.

"I don't know, why do you ask?"

"I don't want you to cry…" she gasped upon hearing those few words.

That was something that didn't cross her mind. As much as she had to admit it was painfully true, since the helplessness she felt when it came to talking to her husband was making her cry. There was no perfect marriage, there were always smaller or bigger arguments and crises. Even Jack and Sue, who were considered the best example of what the married couple should be like were fighting, it was something nobody could avoid. Yet, as much as everyone tried to overcome the problems, to reach an agreement, she felt like she was the only one trying to do that. There were moments when Jason was acting like he didn't care about anything other than TV, remote control and joystick. How was she supposed not to lose her patience, if all he did sometimes was sit in front of the screen and play, while she had so many things to do that she had no idea what to start with and he even dared to ask why the dinner was not ready yet, when he remembered that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to eat something. She really hated that for the last couple of months, whenever he was coming home, he was completely drunk but when she tried to talk to him, she only heard it was his money to spend.

But, no matter what, it has never, ever crossed her mind that her son was going to mark the days when his dad was home as something that was making her cry. On the other hand, why wouldn't he? Eric was a pretty clever boy and always noticed a lot of things, so it shouldn't be that surprising for her that he made such a connection.

"You are always sad when Dad is at home… You don't smile and cry a lot… It's because of him…"

"It's not like this…"

"It is..! You always fight and you cry..! It's like we only disturb him, like he'd be better without us, like he doesn't love us anymore!"

"Don't talk like this, it's not true. Daddy loves you very much, Honey." she said, pulling him closer when she noticed tears escape his eyes and slowly move down his cheeks.

He wrapped his arms around her, hiding his face in her neck and sobbed, while she was caressing his back, whispering comforting words to him.

"Emma's Daddy loves her… He plays with her, praises her when she gets a good mark at school, he shows her he cares… Dad is nothing like him… It would be the same for him if I wasn't here…" he just mumbled against her and two wet drops moved down her face as well.

"Don't talk or think like this, Eric. Dad just has his own way of showing his feelings."

She held him close until she felt him calm down and later fall asleep against her. She placed him on his pillow and placed a kiss on his forehead, wiping out the wet traces with her hand. Her tears, however, were flowing freely. He managed to touch the most painful part of her heart, and for heaven's sake, he was just six! He was still just a young child, he wasn't supposed to talk about like this, about his own father, no less! She couldn't deny Jason wasn't good at expressing his feelings, he has never been, but she would never think that he may make Eric feel like he didn't love him! It couldn't be like this, she needed to do something but she couldn't really see what. Talking to Jason lately resembled conversation with a wall, but maybe he will listen to her if their child was to be the topic. She certainly hoped so.

x

Kenneth Davenport opened the door to the basement, holding Myles with his second arm and threw the man into the small, dark room. Leland was unconscious and rolled down the three steps just beside the entrance, landing on his side. He couldn't help feeling disappointed; he really expected something more from an FBI agent than passing out after just a few punches. It wasn't fun at all when he wasn't aware of what was happening and couldn't listen to all the threats and bad words which he had to say about his wife.

"Davenport!" he heard McAllister's shout and rolled his eyes.

What did the man want from him again? He agreed to help kidnap the guy only because of a promise that he was going to be allowed to have some fun with him, but it seemed like McAllister saw much more into this simple deal. The worst thing was that he had no other choice but to listen to him. He didn't really feel like ending up with a bullet inside his brain and he quickly realised that as much as the man could look pretty innocent, he didn't have scruple when it came to dealing with people, who didn't want to follow his orders or were his enemies. Leland was the only exception to this that he has seen since the moment they met, but it wasn't even about the man himself. McAllister didn't want a revenge on them, he wanted a revenge on his wife and was convinced that torturing and later killing him was the best way.

Another thing he was probably never going to understand was how a woman, who was a wife of an FBI agent, could at one point in her life date and even be engaged to a person like McAllister. For him, it was the best proof of what she truly was like and he thought that he should have known her quite well if they were so serious. He couldn't know what the man was thinking back then, but it seemed very foolish and naïve to think she would want to cooperate with people like them. If she was ready to marry someone, who was protecting the law, it was pretty clear she wasn't the kind of person, who would think about breaking it. But, it wasn't his business and McAllister seemed like he has learnt his lesson already, anyway. Who wouldn't, after spending ten years in prison because she gave him away to the FBI?

"Here you are, finally!" he said, when Kenneth stepped into the room, where most of their people were gathered. "I need you to deliver it to Leland's wife." he said, giving him a medium-size envelope and after taking a quick glance, he noticed the pictures they took earlier inside.

"She's constantly watched, there is no way to even approach the building she's in without getting caught!" he objected and McAllister rolled his eyes.

"Then find someone to go there instead, idiot! Use your brain sometimes, or muscles is all you've got?"

He clenched his jaw and his hands curled into fists, but he managed not to say anything else. He just turned around and walked out, swearing to himself that he was going to make McAllister pay for all the insults he was sending in his direction. Not yet, however, it wasn't a good time for it at all but it was going to come. Right now, however, he needed to find someone stupid enough to approach the house guarded by the FBI with an envelope full of pictures of one of their man being used for a punching bag. It was a good thing he was from DC, so he knew exactly where he could go to.


End file.
