Do I like what I have, mcanj? Sometimes. ;) I do until I post it, then I spend the next however long until I check the reviews wanting to take it down… At the very least, I'm pleased with how different it is, since as you pointed out DJRyce, it has all the makings of an Odd Couple style sitcom.
Since the general consensus so far is that you'd like to see more of that, I've pushed Kate's return back, but don't worry, it's not going to be all hugs and puppies when she and Jack next meet. She's going to be timid and guilty, and of course Jack will be self-righteous and angry, so she'll need someone to stick up for her, which is where Sawyer continues to come in handy…
By the way, I know I promised you the Kevin story, and I will get to it, but I think updating two fics at this rate might kill me, so you may have to wait a while on that one. ;)
Chapter 9. Mr. Mom
In spite of his vow to be out of their hair in the morning, Sawyer didn't appear all that eager to leave, so the next day he went with Jack and Annie to the airport to drop Charlie, Claire and Aaron off for their flight.
His presence in the car proved a problem when they pulled up in front of the Littleton-Pace residence and realised that there was only room enough for five; to Jack's amusement, the southerner offered to hold Annie rather than be left behind, but since both her capsule and Aaron were small, they managed to buckle them into a seatbelt together, wedged between Charlie and Claire. It wasn't exactly legal, but with an adult on either side of the children, Jack figured it would do for the fifteen minutes it would take them to get there.
It would have been easier to leave Sawyer at home, he knew, but in the back of his mind, he couldn't help wondering if, once they were standing at the boarding gates, it wouldn't be possible to stick him on a plane to Florida or somewhere far away, so that they could both get back to their own separate lives. It wasn't that he hated him, because he didn't; he never had, even during the brief time he was with Kate; it was just that after three days of sleeping on his couch, eating his food and drinking his beer, he was beginning to wear out his already tenuous welcome.
If he and Annie were going to get by, Jack knew that they needed to settle into some kind of domestic routine, and they couldn't do that with the southerner still in the house. He could only imagine what the nanny he hired would say if she came face to face with him in the hallway.
On second thoughts, this was Sawyer they were talking about…
After Jack parked the car, Sawyer helped Charlie with the luggage while he and Claire took Annie and Aaron inside. It was the first time the little boy had been to an airport since arriving in the States, so the four of them fell behind as he wandered off course, taking in the sights and sounds.
"You left in such a hurry yesterday that I never got to ask you what happened," Claire said as she dragged Aaron away from a gift shop, steering him in the direction of the check in desk. "It was Kate, wasn't it? She called you?"
"Yeah," Jack agreed as he followed her with Annie, reluctant to go into the details again after his conversation with Sawyer. "I'm sorry if I made a scene," he said sheepishly, remembering the look on her face when he smashed his cell.
She shook his apology off with a sad smile as her free hand came up to rest on his bicep. "She's not coming back, is she?"
He knew it was true, but still, the words shook him. He bit his lip, staring down at the carpet as he tried to keep his emotions under control. "Not any time soon," he agreed.
When Claire didn't speak again right away, he added, "I thought maybe she would ask about Annie, but she didn't."
"That doesn't mean she doesn't care," Claire told him gently, lowering her voice with a pointed look at Aaron. "It just means she cares too much. You're not a woman, so you'll never know how hard it is to carry a baby for all that time, thinking you won't be around to see it grow up. It's easier if you don't think about all the things you're going to miss, trust me. She probably didn't want to know." They had reached the check in counter, so with a gentle, reassuring squeeze, she let go of his arm, leading Aaron over to where Charlie was waiting for them.
Jack waited with Sawyer while they showed their boarding passes and checked their luggage, then they said their goodbyes. In the midst of all the hugs, Claire promised to call Jack from New York to let him know that their plane had landed safely, making him promise to email her with pictures when she realised how much Annie was going to grow in the two months they would be away. Sawyer scowled when she hugged him too, and Aaron, referring to him as "Uncle Sawyer" at Charlie's encouragement, insisted on giving him a goodbye kiss, just like he had Jack and Annie.
Jack stayed at the gate to humour his nephew by waving him down the tunnel, then, when all three of them were out of sight, headed back to the car with Annie and Sawyer still in tow. The southerner's stuff was still back at his house, strewn across his usually neat living room, so he figured he had to at least return there long enough to reclaim it.
"So what're ya gonna do now that your backup babysitter is somewhere over Las Vegas?" Sawyer asked as they pulled out of the parking lot. "Quit your job an' become Mr. Mom? 'Cause I'll have to get you an apron." He chuckled to himself as he no doubt pictured this, eliciting a wry smile from Jack.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"I sure as hell wouldn't hate it," the southerner agreed, flashing his dimples as Jack returned the conversation to the question at hand.
"I've been thinking about hiring a nanny until Annie's old enough to go to day care."
"You sure you want some Mary Poppins wannabe raisin' your kid, fillin' her head with all sorts of foreign ideas?" Sawyer said, frowning as he added, "You sure Freckles'd want that? 'Cause I remember her sayin' when she was a kid, her folks were never around, an' look how that turned out for her."
"Annie is not going to turn out like Kate, Sawyer," Jack snapped, growing testy at the southerner's interference, especially since he was using Kate as leverage. It wasn't an easy decision for him to leave his daughter in the care of someone else, to give up on her like that, but she hadn't given him a choice. "I thought that was the point of all this."
"That's exactly what I'm sayin'," Sawyer agreed, surprising him. "She coulda given the kid up to strangers, but she went outta of her way to bring her to you. That's gotta mean somethin', right?"
"It means she didn't think this through," Jack corrected him as they stopped at a red light, causing Sawyer to frown again, looking offended on Kate's behalf. Ignoring this, he went on, explaining, before Sawyer could protest, "I can work anywhere up to eighteen hours a day, and then I'm usually so tired that I pass out in the on-call room. She knows that – she lived it for months. If she has a problem with me hiring someone to take care of Annie, then she's welcome to come home and do it herself, but until that day comes, I'm gonna need help, and since I can't rely on Claire anymore…" He trailed off, certain he'd won, until Sawyer cleared his throat.
"I could watch her while you're off bringin' home the bacon, or whatever it is you honest men do," he suggested, looking uncomfortable. "Just until Freckles changes her mind, or Uncle Charlie an' Aunt Claire get back from their Magical Mystery Tour, I mean," he added hastily when Jack opened his mouth to tell him that he didn't think it would be a very good idea.
As far as short-term arrangements went, it still seemed a little crazy. "Do you know anything about babies, Sawyer?" Jack asked, incredulous that he would even offer. "Anything at all, except that you don't like them? Because I remember how you were with Aaron, back on the island. You couldn't wait for him to grow up."
"I know they sleep a lot," the southerner said defensively, firing up at what he must have seen as a challenge. "Especially that one. How hard can it be? You don't seem to be havin' any trouble."
Next chapter: Sawyer has to prove to Jack that he can be trusted with Annie…;)
