Author's Note: This is a songfic about Jack and Kate's childhoods. The song is Breakdown by Plain White T's. I don't own LOST or Breakdown.
I've seen 'em both fight and try to figure it out.
A seven year old Jack sat on the couch in the living room as his mother and father fought.
"Why the hell do you have to go and drink?"
"Why the hell do you care Margo? If I drink, I drink! Why the hell do you give a shit about what I do?" Dr. Christian Shephard snapped.
"Because I love you!" Mrs. Shephard exclaimed.
Jack sat there listening to his parents fight.
I've seen a man cry. I've seen a man shout out, afraid of losing the woman he loves. I've seen a woman lying to her man flat out 'bout who she's been with, and where she's been.
A six year old Kate sat on her bed playing with dolls as her mother and father fought.
"Where the hell have you been, Diane?" Sam Austen shouted.
"What does it matter to you?" Diane snapped.
"Were you with that Jansen guy again?"
"No! Why the hell do you think that?"
"Diane, tell me the TRUTH!" Sam exclaimed.
"Fine! Yeah, I've been with him. There? You happy now?"
The young Kate heard her daddy stomp past her room. She stood up and walked by the door. She listened for a moment and then walked into the hallway. Kate walked into her father's room and peeked inside. Sam was on the floor crying.
"Daddy?"
Sam looked up and noticed Kate. He wiped his eyes. "Hey, Katie."
"Daddy, are you okay?"
"Yeah, Katie. I'm okay."
Kate walked over to him and hugged him.
Sam hugged her back and murmured, "I love you."
"I love you too, Daddy."
I can't stand being around this yelling so I'm finding my way out.
Jack, sixteen at the time, hated his parents. Every night his father would come home drunk and his mother would get pissed at him. Jack told his friends about the fights and all of them told him to leave.
One day when Jack came home from school he packed his bags, took some money, and left.
I'm gonna drive and never ever slow down. I'm gonna drive until I breakdown. Packing my things and getting out of town. I'm gonna drive until I breakdown.
Jack didn't know where he was going or what he was going to do. All he knew was that he wanted to get away from his parents.
It won't stop if they don't stop yelling. It's not the way of working your problems out.
Kate, fifteen, became used to her mother's fights with her new husband. Kate's step-father Wayne was always drunk. He and Diane got into fights every night. The fights were usually over Wayne's drinking.
I've seen a man shout out.
"Why the fuck do you care Diane?" Wayne shouted.
Kate was sitting in her room trying to do her homework.
"I love you! That's why I care!"
Kate heard Wayne yell out in frustration. The alcohol was kicking in. Kate heard a slap and her mother's cries of pain. The teenage Kate set her pencil down on her desk and picked up her phone. As she dialed her best friend's number, Kate heard her mother yelling at Wayne.
"Get the fuck out of my house, Wayne! Get the fuck away from my daughter and I!"
The phone rang a few times and then a boy answered.
"Hello?"
"Tom, they're doing it again."
"Katie?"
"Tom, can I come to your place?"
"Katie, what happened now?"
"He was drinking again."
"Oh God." Then a pause. "My parents are out of town. You can come."
"Thanks Tom."
Not ever knowing what it's like to be in love.
When Kate got to Tom's twenty minutes later she just walked into the house.
"Tom!"
"Katie!" Tom ran over to her and hugged her quickly. He pulled away, blushing slightly.
"Thanks for letting me stay, Tom."
"You're welcome, Katie."
I'm gonna drive until I breakdown. He blamed himself because they couldn't get along. I'm gonna drive until I breakdown. Hold it inside until I breakdown.
Jack sped down the highway. He had been driving for two days and made it to Colorado. He drove quickly, and only stopped once a day. Jack wanted to get as far away from Los Angeles as possible. Jack didn't know where he was going to end up. But that didn't matter. It was his fault his parents fought. That was what he thought when he was little. Even now he still thought that sometimes. Most of the time he knew better.
So I'm finding my way out.
Kate had been staying with Tom over the summer break. Her mother didn't even notice. She was missing Wayne terribly. So Tom had let Kate stay with him. His parents didn't mind and finally Kate was happy.
One night Kate went home to collect some of her things. When she entered the house her mother was screaming.
"Get the fuck away from me!"
"No! I just want to see her!"
"I won't let you see her! She's not here anyway!"
"Well then where the hell is she?"
Kate crept up the stairs towards her room.
"You don't need to know that!"
"Yes I do! I have the right to know that! She's my daughter after all!"
The fifteen year old stopped dead in her tracks. Wayne was her father? That couldn't be possible. The teen dashed up to her room and pulled out one of her father's-No, Sam's, Kate thought to herself-old military photographs. She flipped it over and glanced at the date on the back. January 1975 it read. Kate stared at it shocked and dropped it. Then she packed her clothes as fast as she could and climbed out her window.
I'm gonna drive and never ever slow down. I'm gonna drive until I breakdown. Hold it inside until I breakdown.
Kate sat on Tom's bed, devastated. Sam was not her father…Wayne was. The drunk bastard fucked her mother even though she was still married. That bastard. She broke down crying.
Jack stopped on the side of the road at an emergency pull-off and rested his head on the steering wheel. He didn't know where he was going to go, or what he was going to do. After a few minutes of sitting there he broke down crying.