Chapter Ten: Take What You Want From Me

"Maybe I should go."

Jack rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's nervous proclamation. Ever since she'd arrived at his house that evening, she'd been desperately searching for reasons to go.

"Come on," he entreated. "My mom's arriving in half an hour. If you're not there she's going to think I made you up."

"Claire and Charlie can back you up," she protested in vain. They'd already arrived, Aaron left at home with a babysitter.

He walked over her and kissed her. As desperately as she wanted to leave now, it could not fairly paint a picture of their relationship. They'd grown close in the last two months, and she'd become as comfortable in his home as he had become in hers.

And so, after a long string of extremely successful and varied dates, several spontaneous hang out sessions and some extremely unsatisfying make out sessions, she was meeting his mother.

And she knew, instinctively, that she would not be approved of.

Kate wandered into Jack's family room to find Claire, who was watching TV on the sofa with her husband. Kate smiled gratefully at her, suspecting that Margo Shephard had never fully approved of Claire, either. Which made her an ally.

"Don't worry," said Charlie, noting Kate's expression as she sat. "She can't possibly hate you as much as she hates me."

Claire scoffed.

"Sure she can. Jack's the golden boy," said Claire, silencing after a sharp look from her husband. Kate laughed nervously.

"I really don't know what to expect," she admitted.

"Understandable. Margo's unpredictable. But seeing as you're not meeting her for the first time after knocking up her daughter, you've pretty much got to do better than me."

Kate nodded, more calmed by this than anything they'd said so far. Charlie and Claire almost inevitably put her into a good mood – despite their unusual beginnings, and their hectic life, they were happy. They were normal. She couldn't help but admire how well they worked together, how they even seemed to match, both being so small and blonde.

The doorbell rang and Kate sprang up, instantly alert and thoroughly unwilling to meet Margo without Jack's protection. He smiled when they met up by the front door, back by Charlie and Claire.

"Hey Mom. How was France?"

Margo Shephard was an elegant middle aged woman, well dressed and groomed. Kate's immediate reaction was that the woman was nothing like her own mother. Her second was that she was nothing like either of her children.

"Wonderful. How are you, Jack?" she asked, smiling as her son put his arms around her.

"Hey Mom," said Claire nervously, as if anticipating anything her step-mother could send her way.

"Claire." Margo embraced her as well, and Claire sent a reassuring look to Kate over her shoulder before Margo moved on to frostily shake hands with Charlie.

Jack instinctively took Kate's hand in his as his mother turned to her last. Margo's eyes traveled slowly from her face, her wild dark hair and green eyes, down to her slim body. And finally to her hand, clasped firmly in that of her son.

"This is my girlfriend, Kate," said Jack. Margo produced a smile.

"Lovely to meet you." She turned to Jack as if Kate was no longer there. "She's nothing like Sarah, is she?"

After another frosty smile, Margo allowed herself to be hastily led away by her stepdaughter and son – in – law, who immediately began to fill the silence with news about their son.

Kate glanced nervously up at Jack.

"Is that a good thing?" she asked in a whisper, leaning up to speak into his ear. He kissed her quickly.

"I always thought it was."

Still hand in hand, they progressed toward the back of the house, where Margo was sitting, Charlie and Claire on either side. They were looking at baby pictures, which seemed to distract her. She frowned when she came across one from the birthday party, of her grandson being held between Jack and Kate. She glanced up at the real live couple, and seemed to be surprised as the subtle intimacy she saw.

"How long have you two been together?" she asked, slightly dismissively, as Jack sat down on the loveseat, pulling Kate to sit beside him as she sat down as well.

"Three months," said Jack, making Kate glad that they had a slightly more definite answer than when she'd first met Claire.

"What does your father do?" she asked pleasantly.

"He's a soldier," she admitted reluctantly. Margo nodded.

"I'm a secretary."

For a second, Kate longed to throw it in her face, wipe the smugness from her face if only for a moment: I'm a whore. Sort of. Your son is falling for me, and sooner or later I'm going to screw him over.

"And where..."

"Quit it with the third – degree, Mom," said Jack, semi – playfully.

"I was born in Iowa Mrs. Shephard," said Kate, hoping to avoid conflict. Margo nodded sharply, and they lapsed into silence.

"She seems secretive, Jack," said Margo quietly.

Jack rolled his eyes. He had intentionally not asked his mother her opinion on his new girlfriend, but she had managed to deliver it despite this, within their first moment alone together.

"She's mysterious. And I like that," he said frankly. "She keeps me on my toes."

Margo raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"I know her kind of woman. She's trying to be mysterious. We didn't need to worry about Sarah. She was well brought up, she was from our world. I don't trust Kate."

"You don't have to," said Jack in annoyance.

"You're independently wealthy. You're divorced. Your father just died. She's younger than you, Jack. Doesn't it all seem a bit suspicious right now?" she demanded.

Jack's eyes widened as he caught sight of another figure, over his mother's shoulder. Kate took a half step out of the room, and from the expression on her face it was obvious she'd overheard the entire conversation.

"Kate..." he said, sounding pained. Kate glanced at Margo's face, only to find her looking completely blank. She turned around and began to walk determinately toward the front door.

"So dramatic," muttered Margo under her breath, as Jack shot her a seething look.

"You don't even know her," muttered Jack angrily, leaving the kitchen to run after Kate.

"KATE!"

Kate stopped so suddenly that Jack almost ran into her, turning around sharply to meet his eyes.

"I can't handle this," she said. "I can't handle any of this, and I can't handle you running outside to me every time I freak out."

"I'm more than happy to run to you whenever you freak out," said Jack honestly. Rolling her eyes she turned away from him, heading toward the sidewalk where her car was parked.

For a moment Jack watched her, knowing how deeply Margo's words had hurt her, knowing that he should have stopped her before she'd had the chance to go so far. Knowing, now, that he had to make up for it.

Instinctively, he caught up to her in three long strides and grabbed her wrist to turn her around to face him again.

"Stop running away from me," he said.

"I'm a runner. I always have been," she said desperately. He nodded.

"I need to tell you something. I need to tell you, and I need you to hear it. Even if it's just this once."

Kate's look never stopped him nor pushed him forward.

"Look, my mom's suspicious. She always has been. And maybe Sarah was blonde and well brought up, or whatever, but I want you. And I know this is going to freak you out and make you avoid my calls for a while, and I'm fine with that, because you deserve the time to think. So I'll leave you alone if you want. But Kate..."

"Jack?" Kate was now curious, the anger all but vanished at her face, no longer annoyed at his intrusive hand on her wrist.

"I love you," he said fervently. She only had time to nod in confusion before his lips were on hers, his hands on her back, bringing her body in to his.

Without effort, without conscious thought, she found herself kissing him back with the same need and for a moment thought that the words would appear on her lips, as well.

However, as he continued to kiss her in plain sight, for all the world to see, she realized that he was not going to demand it of her.