Hey folks! I have finally decided to write a multi-chapter fic, exploring the adventures and marvels of Jack and Kate in their Afterlife. The ending of the show was so very complete and perfect, like it can't get any better than that, but a sense of calm falls over me when I think about where these two incredible characters are now, and most of all, that they're together.
My good friends and fellow Jaters, Franci and Cinzia, are the ones who pushed for this to be written, so this is for them. I'm not sure how many chapters there are going to be just yet (How can you plan the number of chapters for eternal life?), but I do have an idea about where I want to go and what I want to do with this.
Here's goes nothing! Enjoy!
Everything was happening at warp speed. He'd simply planned on spending an evening with his son at a concert that he wasn't even sure he'd enjoy, only to be held up in surgery, missing the entire event, yet, as if by fate, crossing paths with the woman who fell into his life without fail, never having remembered touching her, kissing her or making love to her, until she touched him, with the full view of a life with her that he didn't remember living in the palms of her small, delicate hands.
'I missed you so much.'
He still wasn't convinced, just shaken, scared, and oddly intrigued by what she meant to him, because from the moment she invaded his domain, he knew that he loved her, that he wanted her and she knew just what he needed to see to believe that what he saw of their life together, what he felt without any memory of feeling it, was indeed real.
'I know, you don't understand Jack. But if you come with me... you will.'
'I died too'. That was all he needed to understand. It was the only way that the man who inspired, yet frustrated him, who loved him in his own way and who gave him more than he thought he did, his father, could possibly stand here with him. It was the only way he could hold him. Suddenly he was that little boy again, eye darkened by the brutal assault of his foes, shirt torn in his attempts to fight back, in desperate need of his father's understanding and approval, only to receive, 'You don't have what it takes' in return. He finally received the affection he'd waited for his entire life in this one tight embrace, all the tension they'd ever brought about in each other draining from their spirits as he heaved with sobs in his arms.
It was the only way he could possibly say, 'I love you Dad' and hear the words, 'I love you too, son' being spoken ardently in retort.
He broke from the hug quickly, his chest constricted with the happiness he felt. He gripped his father's shoulder, pressing his fingertips into the shoulder-pad of the suit's jacket, the same suit that he picked out for the burial service, but this wasn't the prelude to a funeral, the empty coffin behind him proof that this wasn't another goodbye. This was a new beginning.
"You...are you real?" Jack asked, boring holes into the man who stood before him.
"I should hope so." Christian said through his excited laughter. "Yeah, I'm real. You're real; everything that's ever happened to you is real."
He smiled. "All those people in the church...they're real too."
Jack felt a lump catch in his throat. "They're all...they're all dead?"
"Everyone dies sometime, kiddo." Christian stated with such resignation, yet finality. "Some of them before you, some...long after you."
"But why are they all here now?" Jack asked.
Christian's face turned serious. "Well, there is no now…here."
Jack moved away slowly, unsure of how to grasp what his father was trying to tell him. That was the Old Man alright, cryptic and challenging, so sure that his son would come to the conclusion on his own, if he gave him enough clues to work with. Where is here? Why is there no now, here?
One question at a time Jack, he thought to himself. He took a deep breath, then patiently blew it out.
"Where are we, Dad?" He finally asked, summing all of his thoughts and confusion into one question.
Christian sensed his son's edginess. "This is the place that you...that you all made together, so that you could find one another."
Uncertain of whether or not that statement was sufficient, he moved closer. "The most...important part of your life, was the time that you spent with these people. That's why all of you are here."
His face softened. "Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you." He said, grateful that he wasn't alone after he died so long ago, obliged that he had people who depended on him and that he could depend on.
"For what?" Jack asked.
There was a pause, twisted with sadness, yet triumph.
"To remember…and to…let go." Christian stated.
Jack looked down, the memory of the gorgeous brunette who sat in the passenger seat of his truck just moments ago clouded his thoughts, watching him with such affectionate raptness, waiting and wanting for him to be ready to come with her. 'To leave.'
"Kate…" He said with a smile, a laugh dragging on the end of that one, faithful name. "…She said we were leaving."
"Not leaving, no…" Christian corrected, shaking his head. "…Moving on."
"Where we goin'?" Jack asked with a broken smile, his brow furrowed in curiosity, his tone excited, nervous.
Christian's lips rose into an adoring grin, his son's interest both fetching and contagious. There was only one thing left to do.
"Let's go find out."
His eyelids slid open quickly, as if he'd just woken from an imperturbable sleep, the barbed grass on the underside of his arm and the beaming sunlight over his body made him sweat uncomfortably, breaking through his slumber. Bamboo stalks reached to the sky from the ground where he reclined, as tall as skyscrapers with their bodies of leaves waving in the altitudinal wind.
A small pocket of the sky was discernible in his eyesight. He remembered a plane, soaring through the clouds like a missile, determined to reach freedom, moving the person who mattered most in the world to him away from a deadly situation that only he had the determination to die for. He remembered a rain of happiness and serenity washing away all the stabbing pains of death, like an analgesic traveling through his veins. He was there again, only this time, his body didn't quake with the final breaths spurting from his chest. He didn't feel wiped out from the physical and emotional battles that made stepping one foot in front of the other so tasking. There was no blood, no pain, and no tragedy.
Everything felt extravagant, luminous. His senses took it all in at a quickened pace, like he couldn't take in the details of his surroundings fast enough. He rose onto his forearms and looked down at himself, the dingy blue T-shirt he wore looked brand new now, void of the blood, sweat and tears he'd shed for the Island. His fingertips traced his lower abdomen for any traces of the fatal wound that took his life, and there was nothing. It was as if someone had magically erased it from his flesh.
His skin prickled with new life, a rejuvenation that made his blood warm. He sat up fully and marveled in wide-eyed wonderment at the stretch of trees and shrubs that grew outside of the bamboo patch he was embedded in, bright green and thriving with abundance.
In what felt like another world, he remembered a church and a sea of smiling, joyful faces, some he hadn't seen in a long time, while others he'd memorized, down to the very freckle at the curved tip of her nose. He saw himself moving along the affectionate gathering, handshakes and hugs fall upon him from every direction. Finally, with her dark curls parted, framing her face and shoulders with ease, her green eyes sparkling with awe, her mouth wide with a knee-buckling smile, she took his hand in hers and led him to peace he'd never known existed.
And then there was light. Blinding. Warming. All-consuming light.
He felt lighter, almost weightless and he wasn't sure if this was a dream or if he was just a phantom, destined to trail the grounds he died protecting. He knew it was much more than he could ever comprehend. A smile animated his lips while he supported himself on a nearby column of bamboo to stand. He immediately felt her, like his heart thumped the rhythm of steps that would lead him to her. He had to find her.
Within the shadows of the jungle, a figure watched as Jack rose and moved with purpose through the bamboo forest, intent on following close behind him.
Hmm, who could that be? :P
There you have it. A very expository, descriptive chapter, but a nice set-up to start things off.
I have never attempted to write a multi-chapter fic, so I will need your help along the way! This means reviews and comments, both positive and negative. Let me know what you want to see happen, because there's nothing more agonizing than working in silence!
So now it's up to you all. Thoughts? Opinions? You know where the Review button is! Hopefully, it will inspire me to write the next chapter faster, or a next chapter period. ;)