In the Beginning - part 2

by DeboraDyess

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If you missed the first half of this chapter, it's still awarding member cents. It's not too late to et caught up. :)

Previously

Jack's sister-in-law planned this little get-together, and pitched it to him and Laine with eagerness. The surprise would not just be Cody's birthday party one week early, she'd explained, but the odd assortment of gifts he would be opening. Diapers, rattles, wipes and baby clothes would all be wrapped as birthday gifts for him, and set the stage for the bigger surprise. It was a crazy idea, but that was Pam, Jack thought.

When she'd presented the plan to Jack and Laine the week before, Pam almost burst with excitement.

"After all," she'd beamed, "How often do I get to give him a baby for his birthday?"

Jack screwed up his face into a crazy imitation of concentration, mustering all the drama in his soul. Michael's birthday fell in the fall and Katie, the four-year old love of Jack's life, made her debut in mid-July. "Never," he'd answered Pam in mock solemnity. "Unless you're not telling us everything."

"It was rhetorical, Goofy," Pam pretended to be exasperated with his efforts.

"Yeah," Katie mimicked her mother, down to the folding of her hands on the table and tone of voice. "It was re-dorable."

"You're re-dorable." Jack made a face at his niece.

Katie returned the warped, ghoulish glare immediately, in true McClellan fashion.

"John Thomas McClellan!," Pam chastised Jack with pretend indignity. "What are you teaching her? What kind of role model are you for my child?"

Jack arched his eyebrows at her, mouthing the word 'me?' He raised a finger to his chest and shook his head in innocent wonder.

"Who's John Thomas McClellan?" Katie asked. She frowned at her mother.

"Your Uncle Jack."

Katie looked dubious, glancing from her mother to her uncle and back. "Uh-uh."

Pam nodded. "Yes, it is. It's his 'in-trouble' name."

The little girl took Jack's face in chubby hands, her eyes rounded as she regarded Jack in pity. "Be careful, Uncle Jack. When Mommy calls me Katherine Marilyn McClellan I'm in bad Dutch."

"That wouldn't be fair," Jack commented, leaning close to the blond pixie. You started it."

"Right," Pam agreed dryly, trying not to laugh. "Because Uncle Jack never starts anything."

"It's true," Jack informed his listening audience, leaning back in his chair and lacing his fingers behind his head. "I'm a finisher."

"A finisher, huh?" Laine smiled as smugly as if Jack had just fallen into an elaborately laid trap, which he knew couldn't have happened. "Great! You can finish the dishes, then grab the trash and fold the laundry. Then we'll both be finished."

Katie, who missed most of the conversation, frowned again, her brow furrowed in concentration. "What's Daddy's in-trouble name?"

"Oh, darlin'," Jack said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Daddy doesn't have an in-trouble name. Never has. Daddy never, ever gets in trouble."

"He uses his brain before he uses his mouth," Laine commented, smiling sweetly at her husband.

"Now, Laine, you know you married me for my brains." Jack reached across the table to take his wife's hands in a gentle massage.

"I knew there had to be some reason..."

"Yeah, first time I saw you, I sauntered over to you with a smile and a wink of the eye and this." Jack tapped the side of his head and cocked his eyebrows.

"Your hair?" Katie frowned in confusion.

"Yes, honey," ‘Laine laughed, "with his hair."

Jack smiled at the memory, hoping to keep the hair-gag alive with Laine for at least another week or two.

The phone rang, pulling Jack back to the present, detouring him away from the desired spot beside his wife to a small phone table across the room from her. He almost ached with the missed opportunity to hold her. Pam had called earlier, worried that she was running late, so Jack assumed it to be her again. It was weird that she hadn't called his cell phone, like she had earlier.

He picked up the phone. "Y'ello," he said, his voice booming to be heard over the steady hum of conversation. If it were Pam or Cody they would answer 'red' or 'purple' or 'green' or, on occasion, 'magenta'. No one else played the old family-phone game, obviously not impressed with Jack's humor.

"Jack." The voice belonged to Rudy Sotello, Cody's partner.

Jack glanced at the owlish face of his inexpensive Timex. Rudy was in on the gag, of course, but he and Cody still had ten minutes on their shift. Jack frowned. Too much paperwork would destroy the timing of the party and wreck the plans. "We have a glitch in the works?"

"Jack ..." Rudy choked the word out.

Cold, hard fingers clutched Jack's chest, stealing his breath. He felt his throat tighten. HIs mouth was suddenly dry. "Is it Cody?" he asked quietly. The room felt too hot suddenly; the banter of party guests too loud.

"We responded to a shooting, Jack." Rudy's voice sounded hollow, dead.

Jack could hear sirens and noise in the background and realized dispatch had patched Rudy into a phone line. His fear leapt. "Is it Cody?" he repeated. His voice sounded harsh and tight. His stomach began to knot.

"It's Pam."

Jack frowned, shook his head in disbelief. "What's Pam?" He waved impatiently at Laine and their guests to be quiet. Laine looked at him, mild confusion marring her beautiful, unconcerned face.

Rudy took a deep breath. "Pam's gone, Jack. Cody can't handle it, man. When he realized it was their car..." Jack listened intently to a moment of quiet as Rudy clinched his teeth and swallowed the lump clogging his throat. "I shouldn't have told you this over the phone, but … he needs you here. Now."

Jack felt the room spin around him. The cordless phone felt hard and ice-cold in his grip, but for a moment it seemed to be the only solid thing around. Laine watched him, concern growing into real fear. She started to speak, but instead walked to him and laid her hand softly on his shoulder. He realized at her touch that he was shaking.

"It can't be Pam, Rudy. I just talked to her ... not 15 minutes ago. She's on her way back here. She's just running a little late. She'll be here any minute."

"No, she won't, Jack." Rudy stopped talking abruptly, trying to maintain control. The wail of another siren drifted hollowly through the phone line. "It's her."

Jack squeezed his eyes closed. The smell of catered barbeque drifting in from the kitchen suddenly nauseated him. He stared at a crocheted pillow top on the couch. "What happened?" he asked, too stunned to put Rudy's comments together and make sense of what he'd been told.

"A robbery; a stupid robbery. They shot her for forty bucks."

Jack shook his head again, horror blocking out the room around him. His mind reeled and he grasped frantically for a reason that this couldn't be true.

"We're at Remy Square. Near the ATM."

The bakery was at Remy Square. Jack shut his eyes again. "Damn."

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This is the second part of chapter one, with another segment to go If you missed the beginning of 'In the beginning' (redundant, I now!), it's still awarding points and member cents. It's certainly not too late to get caught up. :)
For thos who did read last night, I added one line to the very beginning of that segment. Where it says, "It was a single day that nearly broke Jack" I added, "It could have broken them all." THis is a story about Jack, yes, but the tragedy waffected the whole family, so it seemed misleading not to include the clan. :)
I appreciate any corrections or comments. Thank you.

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It started like any other day. It wasn't.

A chapter in the book Looking for Orion - 2

In the Beginning - part 2

by DeboraDyess

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