SECRET AGENT DAWSON
Chapter Thirty-Seven

Upon arriving in Tokyo, Japan, Jack and Tobey got their bags from the baggage terminal and started walking into the busy airport. It was a mess. People were everywhere. It was crowded. Jack walked up to the car rental station and ordered a car for them. When everything was said and done, they got into their car and headed off to where they would be staying during their mission.

At a private location, Jack got his and Tobey's bags out of the trunk and set them on a chair upon entering the little apartment. "So, what's first?" Tobey asked.

"Uh…Ashley mentioned there was a dinner for Jason tonight at a restaurant. So we will be going there tonight. We're gonna need our gear to get in, but once we do, we have to get out of there as soon as possible." Jack knew the procedure all too well.

"Understood. So, when's the party?" Tobey asked, yawning.

"We’ve got a few hours. Do you have a tux?" Jack looked at him, wondering why he was so tired.

"Yeah." Tobey yawned again.

"Great. If you want to go shopping or something, then you should do it now." Jack had no time for shopping. He was starving.

"I will do that later. Right now, I just need some sleep," Tobey said, not wanting to do anything but go to sleep.

"Sleep? You used to be up all night, back in the day." Jack looked at him.

"Yeah, but having a family is tiring. Holli is teething right now and I haven't been able to sleep much. Not that I am complaining. I love that little girl. She's my sunshine." Tobey gave him a lazy smile.

"All right. You get your sleep. I am gonna go see what I can find out and get something for us to eat," Jack said, holding his stomach to stop it from growling.

"Great. Tell Keiko I said hi!" Tobey yelled out from the bedroom.

"I will," Jack said, leaving Tobey to his sleep.

Jack left the little apartment and took the car, driving around. It had been quite a while since they had been there. Tokyo was a beautiful city. He went to his favorite little restaurant. Inside, it was beautiful. The furnishings and the tables had changed, but his favorite waitress still worked there.

When little Keiko saw Jack, she smiled, full of happiness. "Alex?"

"Hey, Keiko. Nice to see you again." Jack walked in and hugged her.

"You, too. Wow. You’ve changed." She was surprised at how much he had grown.

"Yeah. Married life can do that to you." Jack snickered.

"Married?" Keiko hit him in the shoulder.

"Yeah." He hit her back with a little punch.

"Wow. I never thought you would settle down." Keiko was surprised to see how much he had changed.

"Me, either. I guess I just found the person I wanted to share my life with. So, how's the business?" Jack asked, and took a seat at the counter.

"It's going great. Daddy is doing okay, and Momma--she is going to have a cow, seeing you here again." Keiko did not know how her mother would react to seeing him again.

"She's not still mad at me, is she?" Jack cringed.

"No clue, but I know she will be glad to see you." Keiko grabbed him by the hand.

"It's nice to be back. You've grown," Jack said, checking her out.

"That I have, Alex." She smiled at him. He was like an older brother to her.

"Is your mother in the kitchen?" Jack asked, wondering where they were going.

"Yeah. Come on." She took him into the kitchen. Inside the kitchen, Keiko's mother was cleaning the dishes in the sink.

"Momma?" Keiko tapped her mother's shoulder.

Keiko's mother turned around, meeting the familiar blue eyes she had always loved. "Alex!"

"Yeah. It's me." He put up his hands, as if to surrender.

"What are you doing back here?" Ivana was surprised to see him.

"Came for a visit and some food. Think I could get some to go?" Jack heard his stomach growl again.

"Yeah. Did you want a little of everything?" Ivana didn't ask too many questions after hearing his stomach growl.

"Nah. Just the specials and anything else you think is good." Jack wasn't too particular. He was starving.

"Okay." Keiko's mother, Ivana Chan, went to get the trays for the food.

Jack waited, sitting on the counter. "So, what have I missed, Ivana?"

"Not much goes on around here, Alex. But Keiko has learned to play the violin and Ron is working in a big industry." She mentioned only the good news, not the bad news, to him.

"Good to hear. I haven't been so lucky. I got into some trouble with a virus and then I messed up my marriage." Jack sat on the stool, looking down at the floor.

"You, married? I thought you never would get married," Ivana said.

"Yeah. Well, people change." Jack looked up at her.

"Did you ever find that thing you lost?" Ivana asked.

"What thing?" Jack was clueless.

"Last time you were here, you were depressed and you said you had lost something." Ivana had no idea what he had lost. The only thing he had mentioned to her was that he had lost something and his heart ached.

"Oh, yeah. Now I recall. Yeah. I found it, all right. That's why I came back." Jack remembered that he was grieving over Chloe at the time.

"How long are you staying this time?" Ivana wondered.

"No clue. Probably a few weeks." Jack had not made a timeline this time. He wanted to see how things would go.

"Did you bring any friends with you?" Ivana knew he always had a girl with him, and wondered if he might want something special to add to the menu.

"Just one, but he's cool. Don't worry about your place being trashed. I’ve got money to cover everything now," Jack said, not letting her worry about the mess from last time.

"Great. I just hope nothing happens like before." Ivana didn't care about the restaurant being trashed. She just wished he could have helped her replace everything.

"I don't think it will." He knew better, this time around.

"Here's the food. Enjoy." Ivana gave him a plastic bag with the food trays inside.

"Thanks so much, Ivana. I owe you." He kissed her cheek.

"You’re welcome. Bye, Keiko. Oh, and Tobey says hi," Jack said before leaving.

"Tell him I said hi, too." She waved him good-bye.

"I will." He smiled, winking at her.

Jack was walking to the exit when he met the familiar, most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen.

*****

Chloe was astonished to see him again. It had been too long since she had last seen him. She had betrayed him, too. She hadn't meant to. She had had to.

"Chloe?" He pulled her outside.

"Jack?" She was in a trance.

Jack's heart fluttered. He pulled her to him and kissed her hard on the lips. She hungered for his kiss. It had been too long. When he pulled away, he left her lips red.

"We need to talk. Come with me." He took her hand, leading her to the car he had rented.

She didn't say a thing. She was happy to see him. She got into the car, not saying a word, just staring at him. The car started to move, and she didn't ask where they were going. But then, she didn't care. She hadn't seen him since New York, years ago, when she had supposedly died.

When the car stopped at his little apartment, he turned to her. "Why, Chloe? Why didn't you tell me you were alive?"

"Jack, there is something you have to understand," she started to say, then looked at him.

"I'm listening." He waited for her to continue.

"Well, that day in Romania, after you asked me to marry you, I ran into my father. I wanted to tell him the good news. He looked at me funny for a second and said I couldn't marry you. I don't know how he found out, but he did. He told me he had gotten into some bad trouble and that he needed me. He took me somewhere and told me to do some things and not ask questions. He told me that I had to act like I was going to die. I couldn't tell a soul. I swore to him that I would never see you again. I didn't have a choice. The men who wanted my father were going to kill his family and me, so at the time I couldn't tell you, as much as I wanted to. I love you, Jack, and it hurts to see you again, knowing what I kept from you." There was so much more she had to explain, but she just didn't have the guts to tell him.

"Don't worry about that. I knew it had to do something with your father. That's why I came here to kill him," Jack said, not caring if she knew his plans.

"What?" She looked at him, surprised.

"Chloe, in the past few months, I have had my life taken away from me. I was injected with some kind of toxin. It made me into a monster. I lost my identity and became someone else. Your father was involved with it." Jack wanted to hold her, but he fought off the urge.

"Are you sure? Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe he was covering for someone." Chloe couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I am positive. It's him. If I am wrong, help me, but all I can think about is having you in my arms and never letting go." Wait. He wasn't supposed to say that.

"Same here. I guess those feelings never die, no matter how much you try to deny them." Chloe felt the same way.

"Did you have somewhere to go or be at?" he asked.

"No. Nothing that can't wait." Chloe looked at him.

"Care to join me for dinner?" he asked, touching her face and smiling at her.

"Sure. I am starved." She was happy he had asked.

Chloe would have done anything to turn back time, but it was too late now. She didn't know him like before. Something in his soul had changed. She couldn't possibly know what it was like for him when she had died. When she died that day, a part of her died, too. She hadn't eaten, she hadn’t slept, and worst of all, she wasn't able to love anyone as much as she had loved Jack Dawson.

"Great. Come on. Tobey's here, too." He took the bag of food and found his keys, walking to the door and inserting the key into the lock.

Chloe walked behind him as he dropped his keys on the table. She had never been here before. Taking off her sweater, she looked over at Jack as he set the food on the table.

He looked over at her, feeling the love he still carried for her. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything in his life. But Rose was at home, waiting for him. She needed him, too, and he couldn't mess up on her, not this time. After remembering her, he excused himself, went into the bedroom, and made a phone call.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number. When the final ring came through, all he heard was the answering machine. "This is the Dawson residence. Please leave your name and number and we will get back to you as soon as possible." The machine beeped.

"Rose, I said I would call, and…well…I have. I found what I was looking for, but I am having a hard time resisting. I need you to call me back when you get this." He hung up, holding onto the phone for dear life.

"Jack, is something wrong?" Chloe came in the door and sat on the bed with him.

"No, nothing. I just am having a hard time seeing you alive. You don't know what you put me through." He looked at the ground. His old feelings were starting to come back.

"I have a feeling I know, because I've had the same feeling since that day." She put her hand on his thigh and looked at him.

"Chloe, I can't do this." He wanted to make love to her, to feel her just one more time. But he couldn't.

"Of course you can. Just let your body feel." Chloe moved his hand up her body, moving his hands on her.

Before he could even say a word, she kissed him. Unable to stop his feelings for her, he laid her back on the bed, savoring the scent and taste of her. Then the phone rang.

"Thank God." He got up and answered the phone.

Chloe looked at him with a strange look in her eye. Why had he said thank God?

"Hi, Jack. It's Rose. Having trouble over there?" Rose asked.

"Just a little. Hold on. Chloe, would you excuse me. I will tell you everything after I answer this call. Okay? It's important." Jack needed some space. He didn't want to hurt her feelings. He still loved her more than she would ever know.

"All right." She went out the door and went back to the table, eating the food without him.

"Rose, thank you, honey, for saving me. I almost did it again to you, sweetie," Jack apologized.

"Did what again?" Rose asked.

"I found Chloe. She's here with me." That was all he could say. He guessed she would probably know the rest of what was going on.

"You didn't do what I think you did, did you?" Rose asked, waiting for his answer.

"No. I am trying my best to not let that happen again, but all these feelings I have kept bottled up for years are coming back and I don't know how to stop them." He truly didn't.

"I'm taking the next flight out. I’ll be there in fifteen hours," Rose said, not taking any chances. She needed to be there with him.

"You sure?" Jack asked.

"Absolutely. The only person you’re gonna sleep with tonight is gonna be me, darling." Rose didn't want to lose Jack. She loved him, and she needed him to know it, too.

"I love you, Rose." Jack touched the phone.

"I love you, too." She made a kissing sound and hung up.

Chapter Thirty-Eight
Stories