Reunited

Chapter 6

A few days went by and Jack was back to his old self and they both were spending a lot of time together talking. Her name was changed at her work and Amanda felt good that she didn't have to hide who she was anymore. Jack and Amanda had many years to catch up on but what really happened with Amanda and her dad was never mentioned so one night when Jack was at her apartment having dinner it came out. They were sitting on the couch with their arms wrapped around each other watching a movie when Jack said "You know I have put off asking out this hoping that you would but since you haven't I'm going to ask... What really happened?"

Amanda took a deep breath before saying "It's not that I didn't want to tell you, I did, but I didn't know if I would be able to tell you." She said getting all teary eyed at the thought of it.

"Hey," he said tightening his grip around her. "I'm right here... you can tell me anything. You're not alone in this."

"Ok um... where do you want me to start?"

"From when you ran out of my life."

She nodded before saying "Ok well when I came back from your house my dad was throwing things in boxes. I knew something was wrong but he wouldn't tell me why we had to go. I had enough time to pack my things and say goodbye to you before my dad took off. We didn't settle down till we hit North Carolina and dad got a house and things went almost back to normal. He got me into karate classes and taught me self-defence. He then got us fake id's and we became Mandy and Dan Summers, so that's where Mandy came from. We were living our lives but dad always was looking over his shoulder as if someone was watching and following us. He would sometimes get me to run home and he would circle around the block a second time before coming home. One night though," she said and stopped to take a deep breath as tears fell down her face at the memory of that night.

"Hey... I'm right here I think you need to let this out... it's eating you up."

"Yeah... That one night changed my life forever. I was nine and my dad and I were walking home and I guess my dad felt like someone was following us so he sent me to go to the house before him and he would circle the block. So I waited at the house for a while and he still hadn't come home. I grabbed his real id from where we hid them and I went out to look for him. Probably wasn't the best thing to do under those circumstances but there was this alley that we would cut through to get to our house so I went down that and..."  She sniffed before barely getting out "I saw him curled up on the ground beaten," she then started to sob.

She curled into Jack and he tightened his grip on her and kissed the top of her head and said "I'm sorry Amanda." Once she calmed down he asked "So after that you were thrown in foster care?"

"Yeah... I never stayed in one house for very long. I isolated myself from everyone and my foster parents all felt that they couldn't help me so I always went back to the group home before I was shipped off to another home."

"And you stuck with Mandy?"

"I had to... when the paramedics came I said that my dad was my uncle and that my parents died so I had no other family, which was true. I met this guy in high school though, he was a wiz in computers and he taught me all he knew so when I was older I changed my name back to Amanda but still went by my old name."

"Why?"

"I guess it was my own personal way to stay close to my dad... I know it's silly."

"No, I totally get it... I'm sorry you had to go through that Amanda."

"It's not your fault... I then moved to DC and got a job, tried to live a somewhat normal life. There was always something missing though. Sure my dad was gone but the thing that made the bigger whole in my chest was you, how I wanted to be with you and find you."