Where Have You Been?

"Hun, you be good with uncle Jack, okay?" Savannah said as she kissed the top of Shane's head.

"Not like I'm going to abandon him or anything." Jack whispered as he kissed Savannah's cheek quickly. "Besides, Shane will love hanging with me and the boys."

"Good luck, mom." Shane said as he hug his mother.

---

It was barely lunch time when Jack realized his apartment was a complete mess. His kitchen looked a lot much more like a battlefield after Shane accidentally dropped a bottle of an orange juice. The fact that Shane just left a stain on his brand new carpet made Jack a little upset, especially, but that's what he gets when he raise a kid.

"Sit tight, buddy." Jack commanded as he walked toward the door and found his best friends on the other side. "Thank God." Jack sighed as he grinned.

Zack brought his skateboard, meanwhile Alex decided to bring his collection of pokemon card, and Rian brought some of Mary's brother's old hot weels collection that he decided to give away when he started high school. Alex put on his best grin as he started calling out for Shane, but he didn't seem to respond.

Jack walked toward the kitchen but he couldn't find Shane anywhere around, he freaked out, knowing Savannah would kill him if something bad happen to Shane, he also thought that he wouldn't be able to bear the thought of the worst things. Jack froze up for one good moment as then Rian walked into the kitchen with Shane.

"I asked uncle Rian to get me a mop to clean all the orange juice I spilled." Shane said as he leaned down and clean the carpet.

None of the guys could believe everything they saw, they couldn't believe Jack let his own son clean the tiny stain he made on his brand new carpet by himself while he just stood still looking down to what his son did. Jack didn't know what to do, but as he look up to his friends, he knew they were not happy.

Quickly, before Jack could even move, Alex decided to take Shane out of the kitchen to play inside the living room. Jack knew he did something stupid, he knew he shouldn't just let Shane did the cleaning, he knew he was supposed to bond with the kid, but it wasn't easy. Something went wrong and Jack didn't want to figure it out just yet.

Leaving Jack alone inside the kitchen, Zack and Rian came to play with Shane and Alex. In fact, Zack himself was glad Savannah decided to come back home and bring Shane with her. He had set his mind to propose Riley and Zack knew he had to be able to handle kids in order to be a good dad.

"Lunch time, guys." Jack said as he scratched the back of his head, walking toward the boys.

"What do you have for lunch, Barakat?" Alex asked as Jack shrugged. "What do you want for lunch, Shane?" He looked back down to Shane.

Shane didn't answer to Alex's question he kept looking down, looking through Alex's collection of pokemon cards. Jack didn't say anything as he sat down behind the boy and stroke his hair gently. Lifting up Shane to his lap, Jack nicely asked what Shane wanted for lunch as the boy whispered some chinese food, so that's what they went for.

Jack felt terrible for letting his own son felt scared around him, but Jack didn't know what to do and how to make things not so awkward. Jack loves Shane as much as he loves Savannah, but the kid inside of him freaked out. Jack didn't think he could be a good dad just yet, he was afraid of what fatherhood might bring to him.

***

Savannah on the other hand was drown in her work with Riley. Entering her mother's office after years without Martha herself made Savannah gets a little emotional, but she kept her head straight. Commanding Riley to take care of the summer line designs, she gets behind her desk and started to brainstorm how and what would she do to advertise her new collection.

Running out of ideas of marketing, Savannah groaned in frustration. Just outside her new office, Riley was waiting her cue to come inside, and the groan was indeed the best cue she could ever heard. Coming inside her new boss' room with a jar of cookies and a bottle of an apple juice, Riley grinned.

"I thought you would be frustrated, so I brought this cookies and save it for the best time." Riley waltz inside Savannah's office.

"I'm glad I work with you." Savannah smiled, taking a cookie out of the jar.

"Its lunch time, maybe you can give it a break a little, I'm done with all the designs and the clothes for our summer line, and I'm pretty sure we can do online marketing, well I don't know much about it, you know better." Riley grinned.

There was a calming sense down Savannah's spine. She felt safe and secure talking about her business with her very own best friend, not have to think about her son because she knew Jack would take the very good care of him. Nothing felt wrong, and she was glad she came back.

Savannah let Riley order their lunch as she called Jack's phone just to check in with Shane. Even though she knew that Shane was with his very own father, the mother inside of her felt like she had to check in. Moreover, Jack was not her husband, just yet.

“Hi pretty.” Jack said from the other line of the phone.

“How’s everything there? Is Shane okay? Has he had his lunch? Don’t forget his nap time is at two and he usually wakes up at three, then he should have his juice. After the juice, you should bathe him and he likes to play outside after 4pm. But only until 5.” Savannah said all in a breath.

“Woah, slow down! We’re having lunch just now.” Jack said.

“Sorry. Can I talk to him?” Savannah asked nicely as Jack gave his phone to Shane.

“Mommy, when are you going to pick me?” Shane asked the moment he heard his mother on the other line.

“Didn’t uncle Jack tell you? He would be dropping you off by dinner time, Shane. Until then, you have a whole day to play.” Savannah chuckle as Shane nodded and Alex took over the phone.

“We’re going to take your son to the pirate island to find some jewelry after lunch. You may want to say something..” Alex grinned as he put the phone on speaker.

“Good luck for your treasure hunt!” Savannah giggled as Alex ended the call.

Just as Alex ended the call, Rian and Zack cleaned the dining table as Shane, Alex and Jack turned the living room into a pretty fun place called the pirate island. Jack hid the treasure box that has a few bars of chocolate and candies in it under the couch, while Alex helped Shane with his pirate equipment.

“Ahoy, capt. Shane! The ship is ready to sail!” Jack yelled from the back of the-so-called-ship.

“Leggo!” Shane shouted happily acting like he was the captain of the ship.

“Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen!” Jack said, already consider himself as the co-captain.

These pirates journey didn’t last too long since Jack didn’t quiet hide the treasure well, and Zack was just too smart of a guy who ‘innocently’ pull out the box and grinned toward his captain currently, Shane. With a huge grin, Shane ran toward Zack and the five of them ate the whole thing inside of the box.

“It’s already 2pm, mommy said it’s nap time.” Jack said but Shane frowned. “I know playing is fun, but…”

Before Jack could even finish his sentence, Shane stood up and ran all around the living room, pretending like there was a monster chasing him, and he just wont stop running until the four of them tried to catch him, but nobody did.

“Shane, if you don’t take your nap, your mother wont let you play with us anymore!” Jack shouted, as he ran, still trying to catch the little boy.

Shane wouldn’t stop running, in fact, he kept on running until he ran onto the TV and fell back, followed by some stuff falling over, including Jack’s X-box. Jack didn’t mind his stuff, because he was glad Shane was okay. Gently, Jack took Shane out of the mess and made his way to his bedroom.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Jack…” Shane sobbed.

“It’s okay, Shane. I can just buy a new one, I’m happy and glad you’re okay.”

“Mom would get mad at me.” Shane curled on Jack’s bed.

“Then I wont tell anything to your mom.” Jack said, handing Shane his chocolate milk as the boy fell asleep.

Jack meant everything he said about him didn’t mind his X-box, it’s just, he couldn’t avoid his fear of being a father. Playing with his son for just one day, it’s okay. But Jack didn’t know if he could do something like this in every day of his life. Closing his eyes, Jack let the thoughts ruled over his mind. Just when Jack started to think about his fears, his phone rang and he found himself a good news – tour.

Running out of his room, Jack ran toward Alex and jumped onto him.

“We’ll be on tour by the end of this month!” Jack yelled.

“We know, Jack. I can’t wait to hear the feedback from our fans about this new album. I can’t even believe we’re only 5 days away from the release date, and pretty much 8 days away from the tour.” Alex stated.

“But how about Shane and Savannah?” Zack asked.

Zack’s question was simple and he was only asking the ordinary question with an ordinary tone of voice, but it stopped Jack from shouting like a kid.

“Well, this is what we do for living. I’m sure Savannah would understand.” Jack answered lightly.

But Jack knew that the tour meant something more than what he did for living. The tour is his perfect escape.