Ding-dong ding-dong…ding-dong…ding-dong…
The sound of the doorbell ringing awoke Kate from her mid-after noon daydreams. She daydreamed often, about her time on the island mostly. She never forgot her narrow escape from the law, and how she was lucky to have friends in high places…Hurley had paid millions to get her out. She walked through the living room into the foyer and opened the door.
"Jack?" she said, obviously sounding disappointed, because he responded, "Nice to see you too Kate."
"Sorry. Here come in," She closed the door behind him and watched as he surveyed the small suburban house. She led him up the stairs back into the kitchen.
"You want some coffee or something?" she asked. He nodded, and she put a pot on, and then sat down opposite him at the table.
"Nice house."
"I thought so," she said smiling. "But all the others on the street are identical to it."
"Welcome to Suburbia." Jack said laughing.
"Yea. So what have you been up to?"
"Just got a job in the local hospital, Chief of Surgery. I moved in just down the road" She nodded. "Hurley said you lived just down the road. Figured I'd stop by."
"Yea. So…" Just then, the doorbell once again interrupted Kate's train of thought. "I'll get it." She said, getting up. She opened the door to reveal Claire carrying a toddler in a yellow shirt and baby jeans.
"Daycare delivery!" She said cheerfully, handing the baby over to Kate. She then noticed Jack. "Oh, hi Jack." She looked at Kate.
"You want some coffee?" Kate asked.
"No, I gotta go, Charlie's trying to make stew. I don't trust him to not burn the whole house to the ground." She rolled her eyes. "But Winnie is dead tired from playing with Aaron, so she'll sleep for a couple of hours. "
"Okay thanks. See you tomorrow."
"Yep." Claire left, leaving Kate all alone with Jack again.
"Do you mind if I put her down?" Jack shook his head and Kate left to go and set her down in the nursery. When she came back the coffee was ready.
"Sugar and crème are on the shelf behind you."
"Okay thanks." He got them down. "So what have you been up to?"
"Nothing really. Mostly I've been on maternity leave."
"How old is she?"
"Almost one year."
"Who's the…" Jack didn't get to finish his sentence, as someone came through the door and entered.
"I'm home!" Came a familiar southern accent as none other than James Ford himself entered the kitchen, and hung his leather jacket on a hook by the telephone. He looked up and noticed Jack.
"Well, hello Doc," He said, not missing a beat despite his surprise. "Fancy meeting' you here."
"Hello yourself Sawyer."
"Jack just dropped in for some coffee. He moved in next to Libby and Hurley." Kate said to fill the silence.
"Yea, but I better get going. My first shift at the hospital starts in about an hour." He walked out and picked up his jacket. "I'll see you guys later."
After he left. Sawyer opened the fridge and too out a beer. "So, what's old Jack-hammer up to these days?"
"Apparently, he got a job at the hospital. Chief of Surgery."
"Ah, well, old habits die hard."
"Yea, guess so."
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As soon as Jack left he headed for a bar. He actually didn't start work till next week. He never knew Kate and Sawyer got together after rescue came. He thought maybe he had a chance with her. But he was wrong. He had nothing to do but drink his disappointments away. So he did.
After about his second drink, he heard a voice that he knew, but couldn't quite place it.
"Hey, isn't this how we met the last time?"
Ana-Lucia.
"Yea, but let's hope we don't go through that scenario again." Jack laughed back.
"Yea." She was about to say something else, but the bartender came.
"What do you want?"
"Tequila and Tonic, with a wedge of lime."
Once he was gone, Jack questioned, "I thought you took lemon."
"Yea, I decided to shake it up a bit." She replied reaching for her wallet.
"I'll pay."
"No."
"Yes."
"You sure?"
"Yea, why not?"
"Thanks man." Ana Lucia replied, looking back at him with a newfound interest.
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"So, guess who moved in next to Hurley and Libby?" It was dinnertime, and Charlie had just come home from a sound check.
"I don't know. Jin and Sun?"
"No they're still in Korea."
"Shannon and Sayid?"
"Touring France. They're coming at the end of next month."
"How you amass this information never ceases to amaze me Claire. So who was it?"
"Jack. I saw him at Kate and Sawyer's when I dropped Winnie off."
"Really? What was he doing there?" Charlie asked, thinking something he probably shouldn't have been.
"Having a cup of coffee."
"Mmm-hmm. For now it's coffee. But in a couple of weeks of him, we're going to be living on Wysteria Lane."
"Charlie!" Claire gasped.
"What? There was a lot of tension between those three on the island! What makes you think it will be any different now?"
"That Kate an Sawyer are married…"
"Cough. Las Vegas Drive-Thru. Cough. " Charlie interrupted."
"…And they have a child."
"That's a child? I often mistake it for a…"
"You finish that sentence and you sleeping on the curb wouldn't be far enough away." Claire said testily.
"Sorry."
"Here, can you take Aaron? I have to call Shannon and let her know."
"Why?"
"Because…she loves The Desperate Housewives."
Charlie chuckled, reaching for Aaron, but secretly, he really was worried about how far this Wysteria Theory would prove to be right…
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A/N: Okay, so what did you think? It's just a default chapter, but from now on it will get more soap opera-ey. And just so you know, some of the things aren't going to be what I necessarily want to happen; they just do because it makes chaos.