He spent the next 36 hours by her side, keeping her warm when she was shivering uncontrollably and applying cool cloths when she was so hot she was sweating. He managed to get her alert enough to get the necessary medicines in her, the narcotic in the cough syrup combined with the exhaustion the pneumonia brought on kept her sleeping in-between doses of medication. She was very sick, teetering on the edge of needing to be hospitalized and monitored, but he knew a hospital couldn't do any more for her than he was doing at the moment, so he trudged on, hoping the anti-biotics and steroids would kick in and she'd finally turn the corner.
She was on her side resting and he used the opportunity to listen to her chest again, moving the stethoscope over her back and then her upper chest, the lack of normal breath sounds and the crackling not as bad as when he initially diagnosed her, but still indicating a fairly significant pneumonia. He pulled down the t-shirt he'd put on her about 12 hours after the bath he'd given her and pulled the blankets back up around her. He put the thermometer into her ear and let go of a bit of a sigh of relief when the number he got back was 100.6, a number she'd been holding steady at now for the past 5 hours.
Feeling like the crisis was finally over, he stripped down to his boxers and crawled into the bed beside her. He hadn't slept more than an hour here or there in two days and was dragging, dragging like he hadn't dragged since he was a first year intern. He had just medicated her again so he hoped to grab at least three or four hours of sleep before she began stirring again.
She remembered very little of the past 36 to 48 hours, but the things she did remember all included him and his nonstop care as she battled the worst illness she'd ever had in her life. She recalled how patient he was with her as she fought the medicine, not because she was being difficult, but because she was coughing and miserable and nauseous and couldn't stand to swallow anything more than water. She recalled how she'd gone into a coughing fit that strangled her so bad she ended up covering both of them in a combination of vomit, cough syrup and the phlegm that had been strangling her, bringing all of that up seeming to be the first steps on the path to recovery.
He didn't freak out, he cleaned her up and helped her into a t-shirt and scrub pants, put fresh sheets on the bed and sat by her side applying a cool cloth to her face until she fell asleep again. She lay on her back with her eyes closed thinking about the things she could remember as she debated over whether to open her eyes or just sleep some more. She finally opened her eyes and worked to regain her senses. She could feel his warm body next to hers and just listened to him for a few minutes. He was sleeping and very deeply judging by the sound of his breathing.
She turned onto her side and looked at him, taking him in for a moment and feeling overwhelmed with an emotion she thought she had experienced before, but apparently not, or at least not as intensely as she was experiencing it now. She was completely head over heels in love with this dear sweet man lying beside her, so much so just the sight of him next to her, finally resting, but still on guard, ready to spring into action if she needed him again, put a big lump in her throat.
She smiled and snuggled up next to him, letting her head rest on his chest. He either woke up enough to notice her or it was just an instinctive reflex, but as soon as she settled in he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer, keeping her safe and she closed her eyes again, both of them sleeping, a sleep that would last another four hours before her cough would kick back in and wake them.
He quickly shook the cob webs from his brain and sat up. She was coughing, but she looked so much better, her eyes no longer bleeding red with sickness and fever and her skin was less clammy and pale looking. He pushed the wild hair on one side behind her ear, his hand brushing her cheek and immediately noticing that for the first time in over a week she wasn't running a fever and he smiled at her.
"Welcome back Kate." He said.
"How long have I been asleep Jack?" She asked.
"You've been in and out for a couple of days. Stay here, I'll get your cough medicine." He said and moved off the bed.
"No Jack, it knocks me out." She argued.
"That's kind of the point Kate. The more you sleep the quicker you're going to recover." He told her.
"I want to stay up for awhile, maybe take a bath and I'm a little hungry." She said.
He moved back to the bed and sat beside her. He kissed her in the center of her forehead and smiled at her.
"You had me pretty worried there for awhile Kate. I really need you to do what I ask and get well, but since an appetite is a good thing, you get to win this small battle of wills, but only long enough to eat and then it's back to sleep. Okay." He said.
"A bath Jack, I want a bath too." She haggled with him.
"Okay, a bath too, but not too long. I'll wash your back for you if you want." He offered with a warm smile.
He ran a bath for her, helped her from the bed to the bathroom and then left her alone at her insistence that she could do it by herself, her strong will returning and making him smile. She had turned the corner and was going to be fine, and he had seriously wondered if she was going to fine, considering calling an ambulance at least twice when her breathing became so labored he thought she might need some oxygen, but he had managed to settle her down with the inhaler both times.
He straightened the bed coverings while she was enjoying her bath and found her a clean pair of scrub pants and a sweat shirt and put them in the bathroom for her, nagging at her to get out of the tub and get dressed before she over did it. She argued almost to the point of whining so he reached into the tub and lifted her out, wrapping a towel around her an sitting her down on the side of the tub, kneeling in front of her.
"Kate, I now you're excited to finally be feeling better, but I don't want you to come crashing back down or perhaps even relapse so you'll do what I ask you to do or I will take you to the hospital where they will admit you and make sure you stay quiet. Is that what you want?" He scolded her without raising his voice, but making the threat stern enough to let her know he was serious.
"No, and you're right. I'm pretty out of breath, could you get that inhaler for me?" She asked.
He picked her up and carried her to the bed. He handed her the inhaler and kept a calming hand on her back while she took two puffs from it. He sat beside her, eventually letting her head rest on his shoulder, while she did her best to find the energy to get dressed.
"I don't understand, I felt so good, now I feel like I couldn't walk myself to the bathroom." She said softly.
"It's the steroids Kate, they make you feel perky and give you a false sense of energy, energy you really don't have." He told her.
"I'm tired of being sick Jack, I just want to feel better." She told him and began crying, which led to her getting so upset she began coughing, which led to another couple of puffs on the inhaler.
He got her calmed down and dressed and fixed the bed so she could sit up and watch television for awhile, deciding she needed a bit of normalcy before he pushed the sleep issue again. He sat down beside her, leaned in and kissed her softly on the mouth.
"I know you're frustrated, but I promise you are through the worst of it and by this time next week you'll be so much better this will seem like a bad dream. Now, about that appetite, what can I go and get you?" He asked sweetly.
"I'd really love some soup, maybe broccoli and cheddar or potato. Is that too hard?" She asked.
"No, the deli down the street has all kinds of soup. You stay right here in this bed and I'll be back in 15 minutes." He said and kissed the tip of her nose.
Kate sat on the bed with the remote flipping through the channels. She heard a knock on the door and assumed Jack had forgotten something, namely his key. She eased herself out of bed and slowly made her way to the door, ready to tease him for making her get out of bed to let him in. She opened the door and once again there stood Sarah.
Sarah looked at the brunette standing in front of her wearing hospital scrubs and Jack's Columbia sweatshirt and for the first time since Jack had left her the reality of it sank in. Her husband wasn't having a fling, he was in a full blown relationship and apparently a pretty serious one. Sarah moved forward, forcing Kate to stumble backward slightly and she closed the door, but it didn't latch and popped back open, leaving it ajar about an inch.
Jack came off the elevator and immediately noticed that the door to his apartment was open. He could hear the sound of a panicked woman's voice, a voice he knew very well and found himself nearly running for the door. Once inside he found Sarah hunched over Kate who was on her hands and knees on the floor, holding her chest, unable to catch her breath, her face turning blue. He dropped the sack he was carrying and immediately went to her.
"There's an inhaler on the table beside the bed, get it for me." He told Sarah.
Sarah sat motionless, dumbfounded and not fully processing what he'd just asked her to do.
"Sarah! The inhaler! Get if for me now!" He yelled snapping her out of it.
She hurried to the bed, found the inhaler and brought it to him. He managed to get her mouth open and got her to relax enough to take a puff and then another, holding her close and rocking her slowly while she calmed down, coaxing her to take slow breaths and relax. Sarah stood and watched him, watching the concern and the care and perhaps even love he was pouring into his efforts to help this woman, this fling, this affair she was certain she could just wait out and he would eventually come home to her.
He finally picked Kate up and carried her to the bed, setting her down gently and leaning her against the pillows, his hands gently caressing the sides of her face, happy to see the color returning to normal, wiping away the tears that were starting with his thumbs.
"Shh...you're okay babe. I know that was really scary, but everything is going to be okay now. Just sit here and relax for a few more minutes and I'll bring you that soup you wanted. Okay?" He spoke to her in his kindest, most caring tone, not caring that is wife was watching and listening.
She nodded at him and he kissed her softly. He moved off the bed, the kind, caring man quickly replaced by an angry man who would've hit the person standing in the middle of his empty apartment if she weren't a woman and his wife.
"What the hell did you do?" He accused.
"Nothing Jack, we were arguing and she got upset and then she couldn't breathe and that's when you walked in. Does she always over-react like that?" Sarah asked her tone hateful, jealousy oozing from her pores.
"She's sick Sarah." He defended her.
"Of course she is and you're right there to make it all better aren't you?" She spat back hatefully.
"Shut up!" He finally snapped.
Sarah took a step back, a little shocked by the coldness in his eyes.
"What are you doing here? Why do you keep coming here? What the hell do you want from me?!" He yelled completely flustered with her.
"I don't want a divorce Jack. Please, I'm sorry. I just want you to come home." She pleaded with him.
He looked at her and while he should've been so angry he could've spit at her and not given it a second thought he wasn't because for the first time since he'd left, he saw it in her eyes. She did still love him in some manner and was regretting having pushed him away. He should've felt guilty and a small part of him did because he really was hurting her, but he had tried, tried harder than most men would've and she refused to try with him.
"Sarah I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you, but it's too late. I can't come home because this is home for me now and while I'll always care about you, I don't love you anymore." He told her, his voice soft and calm now, but with no regret.
"You're in love with her aren't you?" Sarah asked as a few tears escaped down her cheeks.
"We aren't going to talk about Kate. My personal life is no longer your business or concern. I will take care of you though, I promised to do that and I will keep that promise for as long as you need me to." He told her, her tears getting to him.
"Go to hell Jack!" Sarah snapped the sudden change startling him a bit. He reached out and gently held her upper arms.
"Sarah, let's not do this, not here." Jack said and then backed off when she violently jerked away from him.
"You're going to pay for this Jack Shephard. You want a divorce. Fine! Be prepared to give up at least half of everything you own and then some!" She screamed at him.
"Great. Look Sarah, if you want to turn this into a war I can't stop you, but save your threats for someone who might actually be intimidated by them." He told her, his eyes cold again and his voice back to angry.
"My family has money Jack, we'll crush you." She threatened.
"Yeah, well my family has more so you do whatever you feel you need to do and I'll see you in court." Jack said taking hold of her elbow and escorting her to the door.
He never gave her a chance to respond, escorting her out the door and closing it quickly and locking it. He prepared a bowl of soup and an ice cold glass of lemon-lime soda and walked them over to the bed. He handed Kate the soup and sat beside her.
"She's pretty pissed huh?" Kate asked.
"Yeah, but let's not talk about it right now." He sighed.
"Taking more than half of what you've got, that's kind of huge." Kate reminded him.
"Not really. I'm not going back to her Kate and her threats aren't going to change that, I promise." He told her.
They didn't talk about it anymore. She ate her soup and enjoyed the ice cold soda and per her doctor's orders was asleep again an hour later. He spent one more day at home with her and returned to work after that, so far behind his days were 12 to 14 hours long, leaving her sleeping in the morning and coming home to her sleeping at night, sneaking in quick examinations without waking her. Five days after he'd gone back to work she was restless and ready to go back to her own house.
"Kate, I'll take you home in the morning, I promise." He told her as he slowly and tiredly stripped out of his clothes.
"I've missed you." She said.
"I know, I'm sorry. I got way behind, but I'm caught back up now and I promise we'll spend some time together this weekend." He told her.
"No, I mean of course I've missed having you around hovering over me like a mother hen, but I mean I've missed you, us, making love to you." She told him.
He sat on the side of the bed, shirt off and pants unfastened. He leaned in and kissed her gently.
"I've missed you too." He said and started to stand and finish undressing, stopped by her grabbing his forearm.
"Then let's do it, we haven't made love in over two weeks Jack." She said.
"That's probably not a good idea Kate. You getting hot and sweaty and out of breath is probably the last thing I'd suggest if you were my patient instead of my girlfriend." He chuckled.
"So we'll have to go slow, you like to go slow and since it has been a couple of weeks, slow will probably keep you from getting off before you get in." She teased making him laugh.
He leaned in and kissed her again, longer this time, pulling back when the passion began to over power his common sense.
"I've missed my sweet, naughty, sexy lover more than you'll ever know. We can make love Kate, but you have to lay back and relax and let me do all the work because I want you well again, well enough for me to fuck you senseless without sending you into a coughing and loss of breath fit." He told her and winked.
"Mmmm...the anticipation of that is enough to make me behave." She told him, rubbing her hands over his chest and down into the opening of his pants.
He didn't resist or push her away, he wanted her as bad as she wanted him. He finished removing his pants and crawled toward her, quickly stripping her of the t-shirt and panties she was wearing and moaning at the sight of her, her breasts taught and awaiting his touch, her nipples hard and ready to be sucked on, her pussy already wet and eager to accept him.
He closed his mouth over one nipple, swirling his tongue around and sucking it gently while his hand caressed the other breast, pinching the nipple between his fingers and then alternating while she rubbed her hand softly over the front of his boxers, his erection hard and impressive and ready to love her.
"Jack please, I just want you inside me, all of you, fucking me the way you do, making me feel so good." She pleaded with him.
He pushed his boxers away from his body, put himself into position and filled her slowly, her moans telling him that it felt good and she wanted more so he pushed in all the way, holding his position and allowing her walls to stretch and adjust before he started moving.
"God I've missed this." He whispered in her ear and began moving in and out of her.
"Oh Jack, you feel so good. You're so hard and I'm so wet for you. I'm going to come, ah, ah..." She panted as her walls clenched around him.
He stopped and kissed her hungrily, the orgasm flooding her hole with more wetness, so much wetness he thought he might go crazy trying to contain his hunger and his need to fuck her hard.
"It's okay Jack, just push my legs back and go for it, I promise to behave." She told him.
He looked into her eyes, her sweet face slightly flushed from the sex, her eyes welcoming him and anything he wanted from her. He loved her so much, the illness bringing that to light and making him understand just how much he loved her, a love that went so much deeper than anything he'd ever felt for any woman including the one he was currently married to. He covered her mouth with his and calmed himself down opting to make slow, sweet, soft, warm and passionate love to her this time, the moment as intimate as any they'd shared.
He made her come again and pulled out of the kiss, moving in and out and hitting her just right, making the orgasm last and last, his eyes watching her eyes as he moved and then stopped allowing himself to release, filling her with his seed and wanting to tell her he loved her, but stopping short, the moment too good and too special to chance ruining it by telling her something she wasn't ready to hear. They never discussed her love confession while she was delirious with fever. If she had brought it up he would've, but since she didn't he decided to let it go, hoping he might hear it again while she was alert and focused and wanting him to know how she felt, not sick, tired and feeling obligated to say it.
They slept for a few hours and then he loved her again, spooning her from behind and gently moving in and out, his dick as hard as it had been a few hours ago, his need and desire for her never waning and judging by how wet and warm she was for him every single time the feeling was mutual.
She went home the next day and they resumed a somewhat normal schedule. He worked and she went back to work and he typically ended up at her house for the night and this night would be no different or so he thought.
It was Christmas Eve and she had invited him over for dinner and her favorite Christmas movies. He wasn't sure if he had a favorite Christmas movie or if he was even familiar with the concept, but he'd watch anything as long as he had her wrapped up in his arms while watching.
He arrived at her house at 6 PM as requested and she answered the door dressed in a Santa hat and nothing else. She immediately began removing his clothes and before he knew what happened he had her on the floor, head between her legs, his mouth slowly licking her crease, their bodies glowing in the firelight and the twinkling of the white lights on the Christmas tree.
"I love it when you make me come with your mouth Jack." She moaned still wearing the Santa hat.
He moved up her stomach, kissing all the way up to her mouth, hovering just above her face.
"I love to make you come with my mouth, fuck you with my tongue and then fuck you with my fingers while I suck your clit. Is that what you want Kate?" He asked.
"I just want you to fuck me Jack, all night long. That's all I want for Christmas, your hard dick in me all night. It feels so good when it's in me. Put it in me Jack, please." She begged and then moaned excitedly when she felt him slip inside of her.
She pulled the Santa hat off her head and put it on his, smiling and pulling him in for a kiss, her tongue licking his lips while her fingernails dug into his back just below his shoulders, becoming so painful he winced and pulled out of the kiss.
"I've been very naughty so you should probably fuck me good and hard Santa." She told him, feeling his cock twitch inside of her.
"You are a naughty girl that's for sure. Please don't ever change." He told her.
He pushed her legs back and began driving himself into her with everything he had, fucking her so hard and fast he had rug burns on his knees. He came just a few minutes after he had started, shooting his cum deep inside of her while filling the air with a string of profanity that would surely keep them both on Santa's naughty list for life. When he finished he stayed inside of her, his cock still hard and his body still wanting her. They sat up face to face, her in his lap and straddling him, his hands on her breasts and his tongue dancing with hers as she slowly rode both of them into another explosive orgasm and they stayed that way, connected at the center, his back leaning against a chair and her laid over his chest.
"Do you want me to get up so you can eat?" She asked.
"No, you said you wanted my cock inside you all night so I'm giving you what you asked for. Should I take the present I brought for you back though?" He teased.
"You don't have to buy me presents Jack, just having you here with me and having you inside me like this is all I could ever want or need, but I think I might need to disconnect for awhile." She told him and lifted herself, letting him slip out of her.
She found his shirt and put it on and he slipped his boxers on. They sat against the chair beside the tree kissing and holding one another. He finally pulled away enough to reach for his jacket and pull a small box out of the pocket. He handed it to her and saw the fear flash through her eyes briefly and he chuckled.
"Don't worry Kate, I promise to get divorced before I give you a ring." He told her and kissed her.
She rolled her eyes at him in an attempt to make him think that the thought had never crossed her mind and opened his present. It was diamond earrings, very nice and very beautiful diamond earrings.
"They're beautiful Jack, but it's too much and I didn't get you anything near this great." She told him.
"I just made love to the most beautiful woman in the world in front of a fire in the glow of a Christmas tree. That's the best present I've ever gotten." He told her.
"Well, that's the gift that will keep giving as I plan to fuck you all around this Christmas tree tonight, but I did get you something else." She told him and handed him a box, the type of box that typically held a tie.
"You got me a tie?" He asked biting back the laugh that was dying to escape.
"Just open it smart ass." She told him.
He opened it and began laughing. Inside was a tie unlike any tie he'd seen before. It had a woman's breasts and stomach and her pussy filled the widest part of the tie.
"It's me. I did it with my computer. Do you like it?" She asked.
"I love it and I promise to wear it and nothing else the next time we make love." He told her and kissed her.
"Then put it on because I plan on feeding you right before I get you to slide up my chimney again." She teased.
He pulled the tie out of the box and saw a key lying underneath. He held the key up in front of her.
"What's this?" He asked.
"It's a key to the front door. I want you to move in here with me, get rid of that empty apartment you refuse to furnish." She told him.
"Kate, I'm flattered and touched, but you don't have to..." He argued, getting cut off by her kissing him.
"I'm only doing this because I want that nice flat screen television you just bought hanging on my living room wall." She teased.
"I'll buy you a television if you want Kate, I don't have to be part of the package." He teased back.
"Yes you do." She insisted, no longer teasing.
"Why's that?" He asked.
"Because I love you Jack." She told him watching his face and eyes closely for any sign that he was about to bolt.
He leaned in and kissed her for a long time, a deep, wet passionate kiss that led to him laying her back and pushing himself inside her as deep as he could get, holding onto her underneath her bottom while he shoved a couple of throw pillows underneath, slipping his hands away and planting them on the floor on either side of her, looking into her eyes nonstop and driving in as deep as could before pulling back again, long steady thrusts that had her gripping his biceps and looking into his eyes with so much love he felt a lump form in his throat.
"Say it again baby." He whispered, his tone so sexy her pussy flooded with fresh wetness.
"I love you Jack, I'm sorry, I can't help it I do." She told him.
"Well it's a good thing because I love you too Kate." He said sweetly and then went to work to finish what he'd started, the fresh pool of wetness making his need to release reach the critical stage.
They ate dinner, drank wine, watched Christmas movies and made love until well past midnight. They lay in each others arms in front of the fireplace, throw pillows under their heads, the fire keeping their nude sleeping bodies warm, both in a bit of a sex and wine induced coma, him wearing his new tie and her wearing her new earrings and on the small table above their heads lay a set of car keys, a set of keys with a shiney new key attached to them.