Chapter 4

Back again guys and yes we'll start to see some kind of jate progression commencing from this chapter onward. So without further adieu here it is and I hope you guys will like it. Thanks so much for the reviews and as always please keep them coming.

P.S. As always I would like to apologise for the delay in an update guys, but I temporarily lost my sense of focus with this fic but I'm back on task and have also gained a better sense of clarity with the direction I want to take this in. So I hope you guys will stick around with me. I've even got a brand new fic already in the works, but I'm gonna try and finish some of the ones I've started before I even think of posting that one lol.

Enjoy

"Mr. Shepherd?" a soft voice suddenly announced itself from behind the two men. The physical appearance of the voice both worrying them immensely, because they knew that this was the person who could decipher the fate of the woman they both cared for. Maybe even loved.

"How is she?" they both asked at the same time. The Doctor looking upon them with an unreadable expression in turn.

He had never felt this way in his entire life. It was honestly a weird combination but it's outcome was enough to award him with an endless surge of urgency. Urgency to know if she was gonna be okay because he had already convinced his mind that he wasn't going to accept the possibility of something fatal happening to her as a result of his mistake.

No, not when she just came back into my life, he affirmed himself while trying to focus on what the Doctor in front of him started to say.

"Mr. Shepherd, can I talk to you alone for a minute cau………………."

"Whatever you gotta say Doc, you can say it to the both of us. In fact if it weren't for……………………" the Southerner grumbled while folding his arms and positioning his form in a defensive stance, his expression accommodating his attitude considerably.

"Sawyer." the man next to him warned because he had already beaten himself up enough about this. The last thing he needed was a reminder and from a annoying source to say the least. Much to his relief the shaggy haired man he loathed with every fibre of his being gave up the tussle, his focus presumably on the same path as him, or at least he thought so.

"Sir?" the Doctor decided to interrupt the amazingly tense moment between the two men before him. The smartly dressed man disengaging himself from the staring battle he had going on with his opponent.

"Is she alright?" Jack finally managed to ask again once his mind was completely focused on the task at hand, and that was tending to her well being.

"She's……….." the Doctor started out but he was momentarily interrupted by the incessant beeping of his beeper and as he made the move to get it, the corridor they were in at the moment was suddenly filled with the anguished yell of a woman both men knew all too well, and without displaying any sense of hesitation Jack was off like a shot. His ears taking note of the strength of the sound while his feet got him closer to it, the Southerner following in the same manner.

Two doors later and both men were suddenly met with a sight that forced their hearts to wince and their stomachs to churn at hearing the full extent of her pain, the level of her screaming silently telling them that the pain wasn't subsiding in the slightest but within minutes the working Doctors around her had managed to calm her into a light slumber, but there was honestly no cure to the way Jack felt at this very minute.

The whole way here he had been scared to death over the status of her condition. A thing he knew she wouldn't have to deal with if it wasn't for his careless mistake. Now he wasn't sure what he was feeling. It was a mix of guilt, pain, compassion and most of all regret.

"You happy now Jacko. She's in that bed because of your damn mistake and all I gotta say is that she better make it outta this, cause if not then you and me have got a problem." Sawyer warned him, his tone running on pure fury at seeing the oddly disfigured form of the dormant brunette.

"I'm sorry" was the only thing Jack could offer as his eyes took in the painfully horrific scene. His vision becoming extremely blurred as he heard the man behind reminding him that he was responsible for this, and when the pain got too much for him he turned around and headed out, leaving the other man to obviously pick up the pieces, and he wasted no time in seizing the opportunity.

He was like a wild man now as he drove aimlessly around the streets, his mind reciting the incident over and over and each time it ended with the last image he had seen of her. A considerably wide contrast to the last time he had caught so much as a glimpse of her. At first he couldn't make head no tails of the things he had seen that day, the disguise being the most important one of all, but now it all made sense.

(Flashback 7 years ago)

It was a day unlike any other for one Officer Shepherd. It still hadn't sunk in that he was getting to live his childhood dream of becoming a cop despite his family's wishes, mainly his Father's doing to make him see otherwise.

"A dream is a wish your heart makes."

Those words alone were what kept him going the whole time. Even when it seemed like everything had gone to hell. Those words had always reined true in his mind and the fact that she had said it comforted him all the more.

It had been exactly a week since he had last seen her and he still couldn't let the shock subside. Mainly cause he hadn't seen her for so long, but what willed him to smile was the fact that she looked exactly the same with the exception of a few minor changes here and there but apart from that she was still the same old Katie he had grown to befriend fiercely and possibly love if he was given the slight hint that she felt the same way. He was well aware of her attachment to the loner, Sawyer and over the course of their involvement as he interpreted it, he grew less and less convinced that she did in fact feel the same way, but never the less he kept an open mind.

Till this day he could remember their conversation, word for word.

(A week ago)

All he wanted now was a nice hot cup of coffee and the batch at his work place was fairly different to say the least, but being the kind of guy he was he kept shut about it and said he was gonna run a couple of errands after making sure that he wasn't needed for anything.

A few blocks later and he was parking at the Sally's Diner. The same one he had been coming to since College and he couldn't but smile at the great times he had shared here, specifically with a certain green eyed brunette he couldn't seem to move on from, his heart still hanging onto the possibility that his feelings might just be requited.

Snap out of it man, he told himself, and with that he vacated his vehicle and breezed through the entrance of the coffee shop, his sights being welcomed with the cosy familiarity of his past. From the same people who worked there, to the booth in the far corner where he and the brunette had engaged in activities such as studying and so forth.

For some reason he just felt like planting himself in that very spot, and coincidentally it was the only booth in the diner which was kept vacant, and he spent no time in occupying it to hopefully experience those memories again.

The first thing he made a move to look for was the marking he had left on the underside of the table which fitted perfectly within the red framed seats.

"Is there anything I can get you………" the waitress approached and uttered in a monotonous tone, but it soon died down when the identity of her present customer became known to her as he resurfaced from under the table.

"Ja……..Jack.?" she mouthed as the shock of seeing him washed over her like an endless wave. Her belief that he was actually here and now not sinking in at all.

"Katie? What are………" he replied while masking a mirroring expression. A million questions roamed through his mind at that moment, the most intriguing one of all being what the hell was she doing here in the first place?

During their many conversations, she had constantly talked about the possibility of her becoming a photographer, the early evidence of her talent amazing him immensely and with that he had vowed to make that dream of hers a reality, just like she had constantly done when it came to pursuing his.

What happened along the way? He honestly wondered as he continued to stare at the woman who stood in front of him now. The subject of her present profession not suiting her in his opinion, but he wasn't about to make judgements on the way she should live her life. It was one of the things he didn't want to adopt in their friendship. So with that in mind he resorted to the next best thing. An attempt he was convinced would get her to open up to the reason she was here instead of having her talent gracing the covers of every hi- fashion magazine.

"So what have you been up to?" the brunette asked before he even had the time to ask her that very question, his plan failing within a matter of seconds, but within that space of time he started to formulate a B option.

"Uh……..not much." he responded, a clear attempt to pre-long the conversation with her, and if it weren't for her hollering Boss at the counter then he was convinced she would have told him. Told him the reason she was working as a waitress.

"Sorry Jack I've got to get back to work, but it was great meeting you again." Kate expressed in a hurried manner while trying to understand what her Boss was ordering her to do, the most obvious one of all being her present involvement with the man she had never expected to see today. She was also slightly surprised at the fact that he was even regarding her presence after what she done to him. The choice she had made which lead her to this kind of result, working in an old Diner to help pay her Mother's Hospital bills being that her Step Father Wayne was busily squandering his on the nearest form of liquid relief, but she could never tell Jack all of this. She wouldn't be able to bear seeing that look of shame and pity. Just the way she had imagined seeing it in her mind, but it seemed she didn't consider the very extent of his determination to know something and then fix it if it were needed.

"Maybe you and I could grab some coffee later or something." Jack suggested while stilling her movement with the hold he had initiated on her arm.

"Jack I……."

"Please" he begged off her while trying his best to show it through his hazel lit gaze, the sheer sincerity within them managing to weaken the brunette's resolve to politely turn him down, because the last thing she needed now was another thing to worry about, but the more she allowed herself to get lost in his eyes, the more she felt like giving in to the extent where she mouthed an agreement and what followed was the time she would be getting off work.

(End of Flashback)

The rest of what happened on that day was what changed his life considerably. The meeting and what was exchanged as a result of what progressed later on, and with that it suddenly made sense to him. His hands turning the steering wheel of the car around, and then heading back to the one place he was previously running away from due to what he felt he couldn't face again, the image of her bruised features reminding him of what he was responsible for but what about his undying love for her? Would that be sacrificed again at the cost of yet another obstacle?

Well there it is guys, and what exactly is this "progression" in the flashback? Well come next chapter we'll find out exactly what it was. So if you guys wanna know then please press that little review button and tell me what you thought of this chapter. Thanks guys ;)