Hey guys, once again thank you for reviewing. I love to hear what you guys thought about the story. I know in the last chapter I said there wouldbe a surprise. But I lied. There's two! So huzzah! Anyways, this chapters for all you Jack/Kate fans!
New Life Chapter 4 Bingo
In the distance, an ambulance wailed as it jutted through the busy city roads. With the persistent heat building up around the city like an invisible dome, the sounds of sirens on the streets was becoming natural over the past three weeks.
As one final shudder coursed through her body, she pushed herself away from him. The denim material of her jeans slid up her sweat covered legs. Her hair was sticking to the side of her face and the back of her neck. Her arms were slick with sweat and glistening in the moonlight as she fumbled with the zipper on her pants.
She gave a quick glance over her shoulder and saw Jack tucking his shirt into his jeans. His shoulders were drooping and his eyes were half open. Biting down on her lower lip, she turned and watched him, noticing how his body language spoke when he refused to.
There was a lot she wanted to tell him about her life. They barely knew anything about each other. Aside from the fact that he was still suspended from the hospital and battling a drug addiction she knew nothing.
Kate wanted to tell him about her life. About her monotonous daily routine, about how the heat was boiling her from the inside out, but the guilt for cheating on Sawyer wasn't doing anything to her at all. She wanted to tell Jack that they had been looking for a house for almost a month now, something modest and a little out of the city.
But the only thing she managed to do was chew her bottom lip until Jack looked up and noticed her staring. A lopsided grin met his lips.
Sighing, she went directly against habit and walked back over to him. She wanted to tell him that what they just did. Going against morals placed by society, it was the only thing keeping her sane. Knowing that she was going to see him eventually was the only thing keeping her sane.
He gestured towards the ledge on the side of his jeep, and took a seat next to her when she rested. His back hunched over so that he could rest his head in his hands.
For a brief moment, she could hear the faint sound of waves crashing against the beach. She could feel the soft sand curve to her body as Jack sat beside her silently. Both of them trying to relax when so many thoughts were flashing through their heads.
Kate wanted to tell Jack, that what they had just done, even if it was in the middle of an abandoned road, it made her heart soar. That he still made her feel special even though things would never be the same as before.
Bowing her head, she watched as the soles of her sandals drew lazy circles in the thin dust. "I'm sorry Jack."
With her sudden words, his head picked up as he stared at her in disbelief. "You're sorry?" His hand came up to rest on her bicep, she felt the warmth of his body move against hers once again, and "Why are you sorry."
She lean her head against his broad shoulder and allowed him to brush her hair back away from her face, "I want to be with you, Jack."
His hand fell still, frozen in midair, and she swore that for a second, he stopped breathing. "You want to be with me?" His hand came down and wrapped around her shoulders.
"But I want to be with Sawyer too," she couldn't look into his eyes; she couldn't see the hurt in them again.
Jack's cheek pressed against the top of her head, pillowed by the mounds of hair that she managed to pin up and out of the way, "Do you love him?"
Did she?
"I love him. He takes care of me, and he loves me but I thought things would change when we got ahead, when things were settled financially but they didn't. I don't think that I could ever love him the way I love you." There it was. The words had just slipped out of her mouth in a casual sentence.
Her body tensed against his, waiting for him to push her away. There was always some reason for them not to be with each other.
Surprisingly, his hand found hers, and their fingers laced together. She could feel the bits of dirt that lingered between his calloused fingers. "I love you too."
She thought the words would make her feel different, but they didn't. She blamed it on the fact that Sawyer had been saying it for the last four years and it never really fazed her.
A humid wind blew pass them and in the distance another ambulance siren screeched to life. They sat in silence, yet remained perfectly content and Kate realized that the first time in four years she let Jack actually comfort her, was the first time she felt relaxed.
"I'm going into rehab," his announcement puzzled her. She gently pulled away from him, so she could see his expression; Jack's voice had long ago fallen useless at depicting his emotions. "I was going to tell you that before all this."
Her hand moved up to rest on his opposite shoulder as she pulled herself closer to him so she was almost in his lap, "Jack, I'm all for you going to rehab, but if you leave now, it'll be a long time before we see each other again."
He moved a hand to cradle the back of her head, "It's only for six weeks. I'm not as bad as I was last year, I've been going to some NA meetings and it's been okay, but I needed a reason to get clean, and," he looked away and Kate saw his face slightly redden under his beard, "Well now I have one."
For the first time in four years, Jack's face held an authentic grin. He pulled her in closer, and kissed her passionately. "Jack," her voice was muffled as he deepened the kiss and let his hands move under her shirt.
"Jack, I need to go," she found herself reluctant to break the kiss and pull away from his arms.
Nodding, he still didn't drop his hands from around her body. She moved forward, ignoring the sweat rolling down her back, and placed her forehead against his. "You should go," His voice was barely above a whisper as it floated into her ear, "He's going to be wondering where you are."
The restraints of his arms fell from around her body and she placed a chaste kiss on his lips, "I'll see you in six weeks."
Jack nodded and held her hand even as she moved to get back to her car. When she turned around and shot an arched eyebrow his way he added, "You call me. I don't want to spark any unsettled feelings in Sawyer." When she smiled, he let go of her hand.
The entire drive home, she wondered if she did the right thing. Her head was spinning from all the revelations that became apparent so quickly. Did she really love Jack more than Sawyer? Could she love one of them more than the other? It was just a natural fact that they were both such a big part of her life; she couldn't just cut one off.
A faint ringing came from the seat beside her. With a glance over, she saw her purse and vaguely remembered bringing her cell phone. She gave Sawyer some lie about shopping or going for a drive to clear her head.
Signaling, she pulled over to the side of the street, and took the last spot before the intersection. Yanking her purse to her, she retrieved the phone, "Hello?"
"Where the hell are you?" Sawyer's irate voice streamed through the phone, "I've been calling you ever ten minutes for the last two hours. I left eleven messages on your damn voice mail."
Kate rolled her eyes and adjusted the rearview mirror, "I was just trying to clear my head. With everything that's happened in the last month, I just need to get things straightened out."
She heard him sigh with frustration, "Freckles, you've been going out at least three times a week to get your head cleared up."
"Maybe if we didn't fight every single day," she spoke bitterly and suddenly realized that her defense was up, "I am still a free person you know. I did my jail time already; you're not my probation officer."
"Easy," he exclaimed over the phone, "Jesus, I was just calling to tell you good news; I thought you'd want to hear it as soon as possible. I won the lottery."
Her face scrunched up in puzzlement, "You won the lottery," unsurprisingly she was skeptic.
"Yeah," his mood had changed and his voice was now full of mirth, "Me and a couple of guys from work buy a ticket each week. Last week it was my turn to pick the numbers and we got all six of them. The jackpot was only small, but that's still four hundred thousand dollars each."
"Okay Sawyer, we can talk about this when I get home," she kept her words curt, telling him that she didn't believe a word he said.
"Freckles I swear—"
Kate abruptly cut him off. She hated to admit it, but it was getting late, and the long day was beginning to get to her, "We'll talk about it when—"
In the distance, unexpected bright lights started to approach her car at a high speed. Squinting her eyes, Kate turned to look out the side window, before she even knew what was happening; a silver SUV that had been speeding and swerving down the road took an unforeseen spin and slammed directly into the side of her car.
See two surprises! Well actually like three now that I think of it. Anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and now for the news updates.
Next chapter more characters (including some of the other four people who got off the island) will be intergrated into the story. I'm really looking forward to writing the other characters, and if you'd like to guess who they are I'll tell you if you're right!
The next chapter won't be up until after monday, because I'm going away to check out my Univserity crap, but I'll try super hard to get it up before I go (Ha, that's what she said)
And last but not least, this will be the last Jack chapter for a few chapters (tragic I know) So bad news for Jack/Kate fans, good news for Sawyer/Kate fans.
Oh and Kudos to the person who noticed that Jack and Sawyer sort of swapped personalities. Maybe now they'll start switching back?
