14 Months 09-10: Valentine's Day

"It's Jack," the distinctly male voice said softly, and Sophie's eyes widened. "I need you to trust me, I would never hurt you or put you in unnecessary danger, but I need to prove to those two idiots that their security is far from tight and I need some answers of my own. Will you come with me, please? I will have you home in time to get to the gallery event tonight, or I will take you there myself."

"Answers about what?" Sophie whispered. She wasn't scared of Jack. She could feel it in her gut that she could trust him and that he was being honest about his motives for approaching her like this.

"Now that you know the truth about yourself and your mother, I need to know what you want before all your choices are taken away from you for good," he said seriously. Sophie considered him and nodded. If nothing else she owed this man an apology, and he was right, Trent and Leo were far too relaxed about being with her in public. Everyone around her could be in danger if she were recognised again by the wrong people, and they seemed uncaring of the fact.

"This is going to have to be quick then," Jack seemed to let out a breath he had been holding and pulled the shopping bags at his feet closer. Within minutes he had transformed her into a little old lady with wrinkly skin and grey hair. Even Sophie couldn't recognise herself when she looked into the mirror. "Ready Nana?" he asked, placing her bag inside another larger one after removing her phone, switching it off and placing it in his pocket, then handing it to her. Sophie nodded and grabbing the bags Jack took her elbow as one might a little old lady and guided her out of the bathroom. Sophie hobbled along hampered by the too-tight shoes that seemed to have gravel in the bottom that pressed painfully into her soles as she tried to walk with Jack holding her arm.

Once past the two men, Jack guided her towards the information booth in the centre of the plaza. He paid for a courtesy wheelchair for Sophie to sit in as he took her through the shops again to a side entrance and a waiting car. The doors flew open at their approach and Sophie slid into the passenger seat while the driver exchanged places with Jack taking Sophie's phone from him and turned to take the wheelchair back inside. Jack then pulled out of the car park, driving at a reasonable pace as if he had not a care in the world while Sophie hunched in her seat. Ten minutes later they pulled into the garage of a quaint little house and sat in the car until the garage door closed behind them.

"You can take the shoes off, and I will help you with the disguise once we are inside," Jack said, quietly opening his door and stepping from the car. This was either the best or absolute worst idea he had ever had. He walked around as Sophie got out of the car and guided her into the house. They walked through a functional kitchen to a dining room area filled with various tech devices and into a lounge room which was set up more like a casual board room with a bank of networked monitors on one wall showing a variety of screens. Jack sat at one of the computers around the conference table and began typing as he spoke to her.

"I know you just had lunch but are you hungry? Do you need anything to drink? The bathroom?" he asked solicitously.

"No," Sophie said, watching him curiously. "Tell me what you want, Jack?"

"I want to explain and tell you that you have options," he said without missing a beat. Looking up at the monitors satisfied, he stood and waved her with him to a comfortable seating area near the bank of monitors.

Sophie sat, looking up at the bank of monitors. Darius's work building featured in one, as did the restaurant where she had left the two men which was now swarming with her security team as they tried to find her.

"Do you still have my phone," she asked, wondering if they would try to use that to find her.

"No, but you'll get it back when I return you to them," he pointed to the lower monitor. "My man has it and is driving towards the bus terminal and then will do a lap around the airport before heading to the docks just to confuse everyone if they can track it even though I turned it off.

"I see," she said and if I have tracker implants?" she asked.

"This is a white space, nothing in and nothing out unless it's connected directly to the server. We are safe here for a while at least," Jack reassured her.

"Okay, so," she swallowed. "Look I'm sorry I put you in that awkward position the other night, but you shouldn't have had to go. I should have gone. The guys are really worried about you," she finished lamely. "I just so sorry, I didn't realise how hurt you were by them."

"I've done a lot of digging since you showed up in my studio and shocked the shit out of me," he gave a small smile. "The truth is they were good little soldiers for the Alliance. The council found you first, sent Michelle after you, and then Darius. I guess Zander was just right place right time," he shrugged.

"The council found me first?" Sophie asked.

"Let's start from the beginning and everything will be cleared up instead of chopping in and out of the story," Jack said running a hand through his long wig and pulling from his head tossing it to the coffee table. "Let's go get out of these costumes while I fill you in on what I know." He stood and led the way deeper into the cottage to a small but functional bedroom with an attached bathroom. "Sit on the bed while I change back into the man you know. Tom told you my story as he knows it and I'm guessing it was pretty accurate. He's all about the truth that guy. He hates the bullshit that comes along with the Alliance and jobs like mine." He chuckled, and she nodded to confirm that he had told her.

"Your mother was my angel," he admitted. "I knew she was older and belonged to another, but it never stopped me from dreaming about finding an angel of my own or being an angel for someone in dire need of it. I dreamed you into existence. The best bits of your mother but with definite differences," he smiled. "You're everything I could have wished for, strong, smart and funny. Able to hold your own and stand up to the bullies in your world. I know you think it's all a fantasy, but it's not, you are the girl in need of an angel of her own because life for you has not been easy. I won't ignore the past, but I won't dwell on it either because everything that you have endured has made you the person you are, and those hardships are just as important as the strength you grew in surviving them against all the odds."

Sophie stared at Jack, saying nothing as he spoke while removing the disguise and the makeup that held it all in place. She couldn't help but appreciate his body as he discarded the dress and fake breasts and continued to put himself back together as a man.

"I became obsessed with finding her to thank her for saving me once I had the wherewith all to do it on my terms," he admitted. "I was twenty-four when she died, and her AFP file became public information. Almost a decade ago. I put the alert on that file that Darius triggered when he searched for it. I didn't know why at the time and I thought the Alliance were checking loose ends left by the family when the battle for the underground occurred twenty years ago. I wasn't concerned about the alert because all of Frankie's family, her husband and three daughters had died with her in the fire. Then there was you, as large as life just as I had always believed you would be and my world turned upside down in one brief moment. I didn't know you had survived that fire."

"I had no idea about the family; my mother was Isabell White as far as I knew. She was warm and loving and the perfect Mum. I never even imagined she was the Frankie everyone thought I looked like," She said sadly, seeing a vision of her mother in her mind's eye.

"Why would you know? She walked away from that life to start a new one with the man she loved. They'd pulled strings to make that happen with the little information she gave investigators about the main players in the underground. When the file was opened after her death, and you showed up alive a quick-thinking cousin of yours pulled every string, he could to hide you in the foster care system. That animal of a foster father you had was being paid well to keep you safe when your cousin found out that you had been taken to the hospital and why, he went to kill the man and claim you, but you had already disappeared onto the streets," Jack finished dressing in worn jeans and an old school rock t-shirt.

"This is where the hunt for you starts and the Alliance discover you exist. In you, they see an opportunity to take over the underground if you can be strategically placed with a strong generation, the Black Jacks. Seeing the potential, they hunted down other women also linked to the old families who lost the last battle for supremacy, and we have the six girls you know are being watched over carefully by the Alliance. Only a handful of people in the Family knew of your existence, however, and they wanted to keep it that way, so they continued to search on their own. One of them tracked you down to Michelle's club the very same night Darius took you," Jack continued to explain.

"You see if they could make a good match with you within the underground their family's prestige could rise again, but they needed that power over you before they told anyone of your existence. So now we have your cousins desperately seeking you as more and more people get caught up in the rumoured sightings of your mother. We have the Alliance council planning on using you to create their own underground dynasty. Thirdly, we have my brothers and I wanting you for ourselves because we fell in love with the perfect fantasy girl at fifteen and have discovered you are real," he let out a breath as he used makeup remover on her face to turn her back into the pretty young girl she was.

He went on to discuss how the underground worked as well as the leading families who had come out of the last battle for the streets on top. He held nothing back and gave her the gruesome truth about her heritage and why he thought her mother and lover had fled the family. He was patient and kind and answered her questions as best he could until they finally petered out.

"Now my question is, what do you want?" Jack asked. "What are your hopes and dreams because I don't believe for one moment it is to be used as a bargaining chip and married off for business purposes or alliances."

"It doesn't matter does it, my life is what it is, and I get swept along with whatever tide's pull is strong enough to carry me," she said with a resigned sigh.

"It matters because I am going to save you from the life you were born to just as your mother saved me. Tell me, when you first signed the contract with Darius for a year, what did you plan to do at the end with the money you earned?" Jack pushed and checked his watch. "Think about it for a minute while I get my guy to send a group text before my brothers tear this city apart looking for you," Jack grinned and winked. He picked up his phone and called his man. "Yeah send the text now," he paused for a moment. "Good, turn it off again and make your way back here slowly. Thanks, Bro."

"Bro?" Sophie asked.

"Kai, the quiet brother who tends to blend into the background. It's his gift," Jack laughed. "You met him the other night at house seven. Now tell me what you thought about doing when the contract with Darius ended. All the girls do it for the money initially although most of them fall in some way for their partners it's inevitable living like that for a year."

So, Sophie told him about her little piano bar in a quiet resort town on the northern coast with a wistful sigh of someone who knows it is only a dream and never going be a reality after all.

"Okay, but can I make a few suggestions," Jack began. "I can get you a new identity that's no issue. Neither is changing your look but, I would suggest maybe getting a paid gig somewhere first before committing to staying in one place long enough to become an established business with regular customers. Even better if you could get a gig on a cruise ship so even while making a name for yourself while deciding where you want to set up shop. That way, you get the experience in a place without any regulars, except the staff," he seemed to be considering all the angles as he spoke. "It's doable, but it would take time to set up. Are you any good? Piano and singing?" He asked seriously.

"Good enough," she replied, and now that the opportunity to escape her fucked-up life, was being made a reality by Jack, she wasn't sure she wanted to leave Zander or Darius. "This is all too much. I mean that's what I wanted in the beginning, but now I'm not so sure," she deflated as he turned a penetrating gaze on her.

"It's Valentine's Day, and I am your Fairy God-Father," he smiled. "Let me put things in place for you. Then if it goes all wrong down the track, with the family or the Alliance or even my brothers you have an escape hatch and all you have to do is sound the alert, and I will come and whisk you away from it all and give you everything you need to make a new life, one that you want."

"How would I alert you?" Sophie asked cautiously.

"Ah yes, how indeed?" Jack grinned. He picked up a box from the dresser and handed it to her. "Happy Valentine's Day, Princess."

"Thank you?" Sophie answered like a question frowning at the word princess.

"You don't like princess?" Jack asked. "If we are all the Jacks in blackjack then we are royalty, and you by proximity are therefore a princess," he grinned daring her to argue with his logic as she opened the box. Three golden blackjack charms sat in the box. They were lovely, but she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Anklet," he pulled on one charm revealing a gold chain. "Phone," he showed Sophie where she could plug it into the earbud socket on a phone. "And purse or keys," he picked up the slightly bigger one. "Press on the Jack details, and I will be alerted to where you are and that you need my help."

"Wow, so you're covering all the bases then," Sophie laughed to cover her anxiety.

"There's more," he chuckled. "I cut your shopping trip short, and although you may have got what you needed, I have something better for you to give them for Valentine's day and also to wear tonight. You can tell them it's my way of apologising for scaring them by pointing out the holes in their security. You realise now that anyone can get to you any time and you need to be more vigilant yourself?" He asked, picking up several bags from beside the dresser and passing them to her. "Change while I go and check on your boyfriends. I think you'll like it far better than the designer stuff they've had you parading around in." He left her then and went back out to the living room.

Sophie was curious and dug into the bags. She grinned at the various pieces she pulled out. It was very retro bad girl stuff all black leather and suede. The half corset left her midriff exposed above a leather skater skirt. The simple lingerie included the garter belt for the black stockings rather than relying on elasticated tops and over the knee suede boots added to the whole daring peek-a-boo look. Lastly, she picked up the black leather jack and inspected the Dark Angel logo on the back with fire tipped wings below the wording. She went into the bathroom and scrunched her hair in her fingers several times, making it look tangled and a little messed like bed hair in the morning. Jack seemed to get that she was no angel. Unlike the look-alike drawing, he had done as a young boy. She walked back into the lounge room area, where Jack sat at his computer once more.

"Fuck, that was such a bad idea," Jack groaned as he took in her appearance. He thought he could do this. Be her friend, her guardian angel, her big brother and have a relationship with her built purely on wanting to keep her safe, protected and happy but fuck, she was the walking talking epitome of every wet dream he'd ever had as a teenager. At that moment he wanted her so badly he could barely breathe. It wasn't what she wanted or needed, though, so he buried those thoughts down deep and smiled at her. "Those guys you're going home to are lucky they're my brothers," he said with a half chuckle.

"I love it, thank you," Sophie smiled. "At least someone gets that I am not this innocent fantasy angel. Strange that it's you though," she admitted.

"Virginal fifteen-year-old boys think everyone is as innocent as them. Some of us grow out of it," he winked at her and pointed. "They're not happy, but they're home and waiting for me to return you."

"How much trouble do you think I will be in?" Sophie asked.

"You, none. Especially looking like that. Me, on the other hand. I'll be lucky if my brothers let me within a hundred metres of you again," he laughed. "Luckily for you that won't stop me from keeping you safe until you are ready for the great escape. It will take me a month or two to pull everything you will need together, but I'll let you know when it's all in place for when and if you need it," he said coming to his feet and walking back to the kitchen and poured two ice-cold glasses of water.

"I highly doubt that. I'm always in trouble for one thing or another," Sophie sighed.

"Call me if you want to, any time I won't mind. I know your world is full of men, and you don't need another making demands on you, but I want to be your friend, big brother, confidante, whatever. You can rely on me Sophie, I promise. I owe it to your mother to make sure you get more of the good things in life than the bad, and I won't act like an arsehole any more. I can deal with the fact that you are with them as long as I can be in your life in some way."

"Thank you, Jack. I think I would like that," she gave him a genuine smile. "When is Kai coming?" she asked spotting Darius and Zander pacing around the living room of their home looking anxious and upset.

"In a few minutes, don't worry, you will have plenty of time to get to the gallery. As long as my brothers don't detain you for too long," he grumbled but winked showing he was not very serious.

"Jack, I'm sorry," she said again.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," he waved off the apology. "You would have been three, maybe when I fell in love with the idea of you," he shrugged. "Darius, on the other hand, knew what this would do to me and never tried to soften the blow Zander delivered."

"I guess they deserved today then," Sophie raised an eyebrow at Jack.

"It didn't upset me to know I caused them a little bit of angst by taking you from them," he admitted. "I am returning you though, and in better condition, I hope."

"You seem to have more answers to my questions than anyone else," Sophie said. "I'm not sure if you are offering me an escape hatch that is real or if it's another trap being set for me to fall into if I am truthful. I guess time will tell, but I don't plan to say anything to you brothers about it either way."

"What are you planning on telling them?" Jack asked, curious now.

"That you confessed your undying love for me and asked me to elope with you," she replied with a perfectly straight face.

"And you said no because?" he asked, enjoying her humour about the situation.

"I want Asher to be my flower girl of course," she said as if that was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

"Of course," Jack nodded thoughtfully. "And he would tell Darius who would stop the wedding regardless. I understand now." Jack tilted his head as a loud motorbike broke the suburban silence as it rode closer and pulled into the short driveway. "Sounds like your ride's here," Jack got to his feet and went to the front door opening it to let Kai in the small house.