Kate awoke with her body curled into a ball beneath a thick warm blanket. Everything around her was comfortable, and she had no idea where she was. Then the memories of the night before started to trickle back into her mind. Jack finding the wounds on her arm that she had made herself, and then him taking her back to his house, where he explained to his parents that he didn't want her to be alone because her father was out. They had understood, she had always gotten on well with his parents. Margo wanted nothing more than to take her in when she learned that her mother had passed, because it was perfectly clear what she was going through with her father, but she knew that couldn't happen.

She opened her eyes, and realised that she was in Jack's bed. Jack's father was a Chief of Surgery at the hospital, so he could afford a lot, and that was why Jack had a double bed in his room, and it wasn't the first night that she had shared it with him. It was never in an intimate way, just the nights when she had stayed over after parties, and had laid claim on one half of the bed. It was like there was an invisible line running down the middle of the bed that was never crossed.

She turned on her side, realising that Jack wasn't in the bed, and saw a piece of paper on the bedside table beside his alarm clock. It was 9.30.

Hi Kate.

Sorry I didn't wake you up this morning, but I thought you could do with the sleep. Dad's at work, and Mom's out with a friend until dinner, so it's just us until she gets back. The others are coming over for lunch, hope you don't mind, but Claire called and insisted that we all meet up because of the End of Summer Rule. Hopefully we can put a smile back on your face.

Jack.

XX.

How could she forget the End of Summer Rule? On the last day of the summer break, they all met up and spent the day together before they had to go back to school. It would be the last time they did it, as this was their last school year together. After this, they all went off to college and other places.

Kate got up, and got dressed into the clothes she had packed in her bag. The jeans and t-shirt felt a lot more comfortable than the skirt she had been wearing yesterday, but it was the only appropriate thing she had to wear. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, she went downstairs, and as soon as her foot touched the bottom step, she was met with the smell of bacon. She breathed in the smell, letting out a sigh afterwards.

"Oh, there you are." Jack said, his head popping out from the kitchen and then going back into it. "Feeling any better?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I'm good." She said, coming into the kitchen. "Jack, are you cooking?" She asked.

"Umm…I guess you could call it that." He realised, but although he thought he couldn't cook, he could - very well. "We were out of cereal, and I figured that with you not being able to cook and all-"

"It's not that I can't cook. I just choose not to." Kate corrected him.

Jack gave her that look. "Kate, you're not kidding anyone, I've tasted your waffles remember?"

"My waffles rock." She said half-heatedly, even though she knew that they didn't.

"Whatever you say." He said with a laugh, setting a plate of bacon and eggs on the table for her. She sat down and stared to eat.

"So…the others are coming today?" She asked.

"Yeah. Claire called and wouldn't take no for an answer." He told her, starting on his own breakfast. "I wish I could have seen her face when I told her you were here already."

"Imagine her face when she knew that I was upstairs asleep in your bed." Kate told him.

"Don't have to." Jack shook his head. "She dropped the phone and started squealing to Shannon."

Kate rolled her eyes. "When are they going to get off out backs?" She asked.

"I asked her that. She said when we get married and have seventeen kids." He laughed.

Kate shook her head. "As easy as that would be on your part, I am definitely not giving birth seventeen times. I don't even think I'd do it seven times." She told him.

"How many times would you?" He asked. "Five?"

"Nope."

"Four?"

"Jack, I know that someone obviously told you where babies come from by now, but did anyone ever tell you where they come out?"

"Yes."

"Well, there's only a certain amount of times that a girl could fit something roughly the size of a watermelon through that." She told him. "I think my limit would be three." She mused. "Yeah, three-"

"Two girls and a boy." He predicted. She gave him a look. "What? I know you too well." He reminded her.

"I know you just as well." She pointed out.

"Go on then. Amaze me."

"You can't wait to be a dad. You want as many kids as possibly, with lots of girls, but at least one boy to keep your sanity. You want to be a doctor, a surgeon, and you want the nice dreamy house in the suburbs with a white picket fence and a mini-van, which you're going to need for all those kids." She said, as if she was reciting from a book.

"That's just bad." Jack said.

"Why? Because I know you better than you know yourself?" She teased.

"That works either way." He said.

"So, how much of our life has Claire planned now?" She asked.

"Wedding, honeymoon, children names, and we have a dog as well now."

"Don't forget the three cats. She's done so much that I've almost forgotten half of it." Kate added.

"I haven't." Jack said, but then quickly covered up with, "She reminds me of it everyday. Wedding in Hawaii, on the beach, honeymoon in Paris, two weeks, our kids are going to be called Allie, Leah, Becky and Jordan, and the dogs name is Bob."

"Bob?" She asked strangely. "Bob isn't a dog's name."

"Claire says that the kids chose it." Jack shrugged.

"She does know that these kids don't exist, doesn't she?" Kate checked.

"I don't think so. After what we just spoke about on the phone, she probably thinks that one of them is going to exist soon."

"Great thinking, Jack, spur her on."

"It's almost like she's forgotten that you have a boyfriend." Jack said.

Kate went silent for a minute. Over the past few days, even she seemed to have forgotten that fact, and she had been with Tom for just over a year. At the moment he was on holiday in Nigeria with his parents, but he would be back at school tomorrow with them.

"Kate?" Jack asked, noticing her silent mood shift. "Everything okay?" She didn't answer. "Kate, did you ring Tom?" He asked her. She shook her head. "You mean, you called me before him?"

"It wouldn't have done a lot of good." She pointed out. "He can't do anything where he is."

"Katie, he loves you, he would want to know."

"I know he does." Kate said, "but I-"

She stopped herself before she said too much. Even she hadn't known she was going to say that.

"But?" Jack asked. "But what?"

"But nothing." She shrugged, "I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"Kate, talk to me." Jack said. "But what?"

"I don't."

"What?"

"I said, I don't."

"Don't what?"

"Love him."