Author's Note: This chapter was inspired by the lyrics to the song "Long Long Way to Go" by Def Lepard. To get the full effect of the chapter, it is suggested you are familiar with the song.

FIVE YEARS LATER

"Daddy, Daddy, I'm hungry," the little boy's voice rang out. Looking up as he finished buckling the child into the back seat of his SUV, Jax sighed.

"Connor, listen, we'll be at the restaurant shortly, okay? If you can just sit still for ten more minutes, we'll meet Grandpa Alan and Grandma Rae at the restaurant and get some dinner, okay?"

"I'm hungry!" the little boy yelled.

Sighing, Jax locked and shut the door as he said softly, "Why can't you take more after my side of the family than your mother's?"

"I heard that!" A voice suddenly chided Jax from the opposite side of the car.

Looking up, Jax laughed somewhat sheepishly as he said, "Well, if he didn't learn it from spending all that time with either Edward or Adam, where else would he have picked it up?"

Skye narrowed her eyes as she opened the other side of the car and moved to buckle the infant carrier she was holding into the empty seat next to Connor. "Even still, it's not funny, Jax."

The baby in the carrier suddenly started to fuss. Bending down, Skye immediately moved to place the teething ring in the infant's mouth.

"She okay?" Jax asked.

Looking up, Skye said, "Yeah, Anna's just teething. She's got a new upper tooth coming in, and she keeps trying to bit her tongue to help with the pain."

"You sure?" Jax asked uncertainly.

Skye nodded with a smile. "Uh huh. Connor was the same way."

At the sound of his name, the little boy screamed louder, "I'm STILL hungry."

"Connor, quite it, will you?" Skye called. Looking up, she nodded at Jax as she said, "You ready?"

"Yes," Jax said as he moved to get in the passenger's side. "I just don't know why you have to insist to drive. You were up with Anna all night, and I know you're tired. I don't mind driving, Skye."

As the couple got into the car, Skye buckled her safety belt before she leaned over and said, "Humor me, hmmm?"

Jax's eyes twinkled as he said, "Haven't I been doing that for five years?"

"No," Skye said as she shook her head. "More like three and a half."

Jax immediately raised an eyebrow as he said, "How do you figure that?"

"You only get to count from the auction," Skye said.

"And why's that?" Jax asked as he reached forward and gently lifted the locket from around Skye's neck. "As I recall, you're the one who showed up with the out of the blue story about time traveling, forced me to fall in love with me, then disappeared before showing up back in Port Charles with Connor at the auction, an entrance which topped mine in several ways, despite the meticulous care I went into planning that entrance, thank you very much."

"Aww, poor baby," Skye said as she gave Jax a light kiss.

"Well," Jax said playfully indignant, "If you wouldn't call me responding by humoring you, I don't know how we'd of gotten from there to here."

Skye smiled. "Oh, I don't know. I kind of like to think that this is how things were supposed to end up no matter what. Some things are just predestined."

"Like us being late for dinner?" Jax asked.

"We have a four-year old and a six-month old, Jax - I think my parents will understand if we're a bit late for dinner."

As Skye glanced at the clock, she slowly put the car in gear and pulled out into traffic. As they approached the intersection at which the hotel was located, the traffic suddenly began to slow to a crawl. Jax glanced at the clock again as he nodded at Skye. "See, I told you we were going to be late. Something must of happened to cause the traffic to back up."

Looking in her rearview mirror as Skye saw an ambulance pull out into the opposite lanes of traffic and begin to travel away from the direction in which they were headed, Skye shook her head. "I think there was an accident... A very bad accident"

"Why do you say that?"Jax asked as he tried to look out his window to see what was going on ahead of them.

"Oh, I don't know," Skye said as she looked at the clock again and smiled sadly, "Just a guess."

"I'm hungry!" Connor yelled again in the back of the car.

As her older brother continue to yell, the baby began to cry again.

Jax, obviously flustered with the commotion said, "It looks like we could be a while. You want to call your parents?"

Skye shook her head, "No, I already told them we'd be late, Jax."

"And how did you know that?" Jax asked as he reached into Anna's diaper bag and pulled out a bag of trail mix for Connor.

Skye shrugged, "I just know, that's all."

As Jax handed the bad of trail mix to his son, Connor immediately began to quiet down. The baby still fussed until Jax put her pacifier back in her mouth. At last, the only sounds the family could hear were the hum of the engine and the far away sounds of sirens.

Looking up at Jax, Skye reached across to the passenger's seat and pulled her husband to her. "I love you, Jax."

Smiling Jax nodded and said, "I love you, too."

And, as Skye looked back and forth from Jax's sparkling eyes to the two children in the back seat of the car who had the same eyes as their father, Skye knew that everything she had done was worth it.

~The End~