Okay fair warning that this isn't a very sexy chapter. Sorry :( , but it is more of a transitional chapter to where I want the story to go. So please bear with me :) And again thank you all for the support and great comments.
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"Kristen?"
"Yeah?" She answered softly. They'd been lying in bed for over an hour, neither able to fall asleep.
"Are we going to be able to leave these people here? They don't even know that they are in a prison. These are our friends and neighbors. I've saved these people's lives, and for what? They are chattel." His voice didn't have any outrage left, it seemed to have dried up over the last several days.
"I don't know Jack. If it is the only way to keep our family together then we'll do what we have to."
He nodded. They had had variations of this conversation repeatedly. "It isn't right. They are punishing the people who only wanted to protect their families."
"I know." Kristen gently ran her fingers through her husband's short dark hair. Both lied on their sides, Kristen behind Jack.
He sighed."Was I a coward? For not joining the effort. Should I have helped them? Could I have saved some of them?"
"And killed others?"
They were silent for several minutes. Kristen continued to absentmindedly stroke Jack's back comfortingly.
"Jack?" Kristen suddenly stopped with her rhythmic stroking.
"Yeah?"
"What about Malia? What if he's hurt her?" Her voice was uncharacteristically small and fragile.
"I will take great pleasure in killing him slowly." Jack stated with no hesitation. Normally such a statement might have made Kristen laugh coming from her gentle pacifist husband. However, there was no doubt in her mind that he meant every word he said. She was silent for a moment.
"Jack, what do you think he wanted with her?" Malia had explained nearly everything to them and assured them that she hadn't been harmed, but she had kept away from the subject of why she'd been taken in the first place. Jack didn't want to contemplate the question let alone talk about it, but it was the first time Kristen was talking about Malia's kidnapping instead of shutting down. He rolled to his other side to face his wife.
"We don't know why. To contemplate the worst scenarios will just drive us crazy. We saw her." He forced a smile he hoped was reassuring. "We saw she was okay, remember?"
Kristen nodded as a single tear slipped out of the corner of her eye. Jack wiped it away with the pad of his thumb.
"It's just," She took a deep breath to hold back her sobs. "I can't stop thinking that he wouldn't have any reason to take her unless it was sexual."
Jack gritted his teeth. He had never felt so violent as he had since that prick took his daughter. He was someone who fixed problems, and he felt so damn helpless. He couldn't fix any of this and it made him furious to be so vulnerable. He should be able to protect his family! When he saw the general again it had been the first time he'd ever wanted to kill a man. Jack was a doctor, he'd seen rape victims. When he imagined his daughter bruised and bloody a rage ran through his veins making him see red. He felt like a caged animal ready to strike. Only a handful of days and that cage door would open. Then, if a single hair on his baby girl's head was out of place, he could kill General Cain Malcolm.
A crash of thunder interrupted his violent thoughts. He hadn't noticed the storm approaching until it was over them. The walls shook with the intensity of the thunder. Derek and Aiden were instantly awake on the bed across the room. They ran over to Kristen and Jack's bed simultaneously and jumped onto the mattress fluidly from much practice. They slithered up the bed and created their own space between Kristen and Jack. Olivia wasn't ashamed to follow almost immediately after. It had become a family tradition since moving to the unit. It should have been cramped an uncomfortable in the full sized bed, but when it stormed it was like a personal den that seemed unable to be breeched. Except it had been breeched, because there was one less body squeezing into the bed.
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"Daddy?" Jack had just gotten home from working a double at the hospital and shouldn't have been able to hear the soft whisper, but it woke him nonetheless. One of the superpowers that came with parenthood.
"Malia?" He asked into the dark room, still groggy from the hour of sleep he had managed to get so far. He opened his eyes and could see the tiny silhouette of his four-year old daughter standing directly in front of him on his side of the bed.
"Can I sleep in here?" She whispered even softer, he had to strain to hear her. Lightning lit the room and Malia jumped and squeaked.
Jack smiled despite his sleep deprivation. "Of course you can baby." He leaned over and lifted her small body over him to the middle of the bed.
"Well hello there stranger." Kristen's groggy voice mumbled from across the bed.
Malia giggled. "Hi mommy." She made herself at home instantly in their bed and ended up kicking the hell out of both Jack and Kristen all night long. It was his most precious memory of his oldest daughter.
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"I hope you're satisfied." Cain said moodily as he walked into the formal parlor where he knew his brother sat alone, waiting for him.
Tristan laughed. "How, pray tell, did you get away from your doting girlfriend?" Tristan was overly amused.
Cain leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. "Mockery isn't one of your good looks brother."
"Oh, I'm sorry, a sore spot?" Tristan said snidely.
"Malia is okay, as you can see. I think I'll go enjoy some cake if you've nothing constructive to say." Cain pushed off of his shoulder and turned towards the door.
