Thanks for the reviews. I'm not sure if you can tell, but this fic is nearing it's end -- my guess is somewhere between chapters 25 and 30. ;)
Chapter 21.
"What d'you think?" Kate asked Jack, studying her reflection in the full-length mirror inside her closet. She smoothed the dark pencil skirt over her hips.
"I think you'll get the job," he teased her from where he sat on the end of her bed.
"Okay, then – what do you think I should wear?" she complained, peeling off the blue silk shirt she saved for special occasions and tossing it into the pile with the rest of her clothes. She stepped out of her skirt, not realising what a mistake this was until his eyes locked on her body, hidden only by the lacy fabric of her underwear, and the corners of his lips curled up into a smirk. "I'm not going to your parents' house naked, Jack," she insisted, rolling her eyes and giving him a playful shove as she threw her cotton robe over the top of it and sank onto the edge of the mattress beside him.
"I think you should just be yourself," he told her, his mood turning serious, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against him.
Easy for you to say, she thought, fingering the buttons of his maroon dress shirt. He could just wear what he usually wore to work or on dates and no one would think any less of him. She settled deeper into his embrace, letting her head fall to his shoulder. "I just want them to like me." Tom's parents had never approved of her or her family, but now, with Wayne out of the picture, she hoped things would be different this time around.
"I know some of the things I said the other night were a little… harsh," he agreed, rubbing her bicep, "but you were right – my dad loves me." He squeezed her shoulder, drawing her tighter against him, pressing his lips to her hair, which was still damp from the shower. "And when he sees how happy you make me, he's gonna love you too…"
"Are you sure you don't wanna come with us, Claire?" Jack asked when he and Kate stopped by his apartment to say goodbye. They were due at his parents' house in half an hour, but if she hurried, she could still change and get Aaron ready in time.
"I just don't think I'm ready to face your mum yet," she confessed, and he was almost relieved, until she added, "Besides, I have plans. Charlie's coming over."
What was it with her and this Charlie guy? He still didn't know anything about him besides his name. What if he was some kind of deviant? Was that really someone he wanted alone with her and Aaron? He opened his mouth to protest, but Kate cut him off before he could finish.
"Then we should probably clear out," she announced, pushing him towards the door. "Have fun."
"We will," Claire called after them.
He definitely didn't like the sound of that. "But—"
"But nothing, Jack," Kate warned him once they were standing out in the hall. She raised herself onto her toes so that her face was almost level with his, punctuating her words with short, tantalising kisses. "Let… your sister… enjoy… her date…"
"Or…?" he asked her, resting his hands on her sides; he slipped his thumbs beneath the waistband of her jeans, intending to tease her a little too.
"Or," she repeated with a coquettish smile, sliding her palm down his chest, "I might not feel like coming home with you tonight." She stopped when she reached his pants, withdrawing her hand abruptly.
He was afraid that her threat would be something like that. "You're good," he told her with more than a hint of admiration.
"I know," she agreed as she turned and made her way to the lift.
Kate was grateful for Jack's hand around hers as he led her up the drive of his parents' sprawling two-storey manor and rang the bell. She hated that she was so nervous when they were both adults, so it shouldn't matter, but she knew how much his father's approval meant to him and she wanted to make a good impression.
"Mom, this is Kate," he said when a woman with the same dark hair and rich brown eyes opened the door. She could see what Claire meant when she'd said that he took after his mother: she was beautiful in a carefully polished sort of way.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Mrs Shephard," she greeted her.
"Come in," was all Margo said in response, stepping aside so that they could enter.
Kate was taken aback by her coolness, but she forced herself to smile as she looked around at the place Jack had grown up. "You have a lovely home." She snuck a glance at her navy jeans and emerald green top – usually one of her favourite outfits – and was afraid that she was way underdressed.
"Thank you," Margo told her stiffly as Jack helped her out of her coat and hung it in the closet with his own.
If there was one thing Kate's mother had taught her, it was never to show up for dinner empty-handed. "I wasn't sure if you wanted us to bring anything, so…" She held the plate she was cradling like an infant out as a kind of peace offering.
"What is it?" Margo asked, staring at it as if she'd never seen a cake before.
"Just a new recipe I decided to try out." She'd agonised over what to bake before settling on one from her mother's cookbook. "Banana and almond."
She couldn't tell how well her gesture had gone over. "You didn't have to do that," Margo told her with the same neutral expression, and Kate wondered if the subtext behind it was that she really shouldn't have. "Jack, why don't you take Kate through to the sitting room while I put this in the kitchen?"
"She hates me," Kate complained as soon as they were out of earshot. She'd imagined his mother being a lot more impressed by her thoughtfulness.
"She doesn't hate you," Jack insisted, stepping up close behind her to knead her shoulders. He kissed the side of her neck. "She just doesn't know you yet."
As much as she wanted to believe him, she knew that he was only saying it to be supportive. "She hates me," she repeated, leaning back against him, giving in to her self-pity for moment before composing herself and following him through to where his father was waiting.
He was sitting in stuffed wingback chair that she was sure must have cost as much as her entire living room suite. "You remember Kate, Dad?" Jack said once they'd exchanged awkward hugs.
"Of course," his father agreed. "Good to see you again."
"You too, Dr Shephard," she told him, relieved that he, at least, seemed willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
"Call me Christian." He crossed the room to a carved wooden liquor cabinet. "Now what'll it be? We've got beer, wine, spirits…"
"Your dad is my hero," Kate whispered to Jack as they watched him pull out an array of glass bottles.
A low chuckle escaped his throat. "Scotch on the rocks for me," he told his father, glancing at her, "and Kate will have…"
"Wine. Lots and lots of wine," she added to him under her breath.
"So, you never told us how you two met," Christian reminded them once they were all seated with their drinks.
"Jack and I live in the same apartment building," Kate explained. "Claire—" She froze when she felt the tension in the room increase.
She sighed inwardly when Margo pursed her lips and her frown deepened.
"Kate was new to the area, so I offered to show her around," Jack continued, fixing her with a reassuring smile when she turned to stare at him in surprise. In a few words, he'd managed to gloss over the entire first month of their relationship, making it seem as the whole thing had been his idea. "And the rest is history."
It was as if Claire didn't exist; sneaking a furtive glance at Jack's mother, watching her expression relax, it occurred to Kate that in this house, at least, she probably didn't. No wonder the invitation had made her so uncomfortable: it was unlikely that she or Aaron would be welcomed into their family with open arms.
Kate was forced to let it go when Margo changed the subject. "Jack said you're a teacher?"
A quick glance at Jack told her that he was as puzzled by her mistake as Kate was. "There's some teaching involved," she agreed, "but I work with kids in their homes mostly, on a more… ah… casual basis."
"Like a babysitter?" Margo supplied.
"Actually, I'm a nanny," Kate corrected her, flustered by her obvious disdain for the profession.
"Jayden and Sophie are both great kids," Jack said, coming to her rescue. He picked up her hand, massaging the back of her palm with his thumb. "She's doing an amazing job with them."
This interested Margo enough to pull her attention away from Kate. "You've met them?"
"We took them to Disneyland last week," he agreed. "Sophie – she's one and a half – was scared of all of the characters except Captain Hook." He lit up at the memory, and Kate couldn't help grinning too. He was so sweet with her.
"I think I have a picture of him holding her..." he said, taking out his cell and flipping thorough the menu until an image of the costumed pirate crouching with Sophie on his knee filled the screen. "There."
He handed the phone over so that they could see it. "She's cute, isn't she?" he said, like a proud father, and even Margo managed a genuine smile.
"Looks like you had a good time," Christian remarked as he scrolled through the rest of their pictures.
Kate knew them almost by heart: her favourite was one a passing tourist had taken of the four of them in front of the castle, because the first time she'd seen it, she'd thought they looked like they could be a real family. Even Rebecca had teased them about it when they showed them to her later that night.
She caught Jack's eye as he returned his cell to his pocket, and to her surprise, he leant in, cupping her cheek to steal an impulsive kiss, his gaze holding hers as he agreed, "We did."
"Spit it out, Mom," Jack hissed when he found himself alone in the kitchen with her. Kate had excused herself to go to the bathroom, giving him a brief opening; he wanted to get the shouting match over and done with before she came back.
"Spit what out?" his mother asked, continuing to wash up, as if she hadn't just spent the last few hours making his girlfriend squirm.
"Whatever's on your mind," he demanded. He was tired of trying to guess what she was thinking and he could tell that Kate was too. "What is it about Kate that makes it so hard for you to accept that I'm in a relationship with her? Is it because she doesn't make enough money for us? Or because she's the help?"
His mother was silent for a long moment. "I just don't want to see you get hurt again," she confessed, finally putting her cloth down, her quiet tone catching him off guard.
He was so busy bracing himself for a fight that he hadn't stopped to consider that her concern might be about him. "That's it?" he pressed. "That's all you're worried about?"
"There's no 'all' about it, Jack," she insisted. "When Sarah left you… You barely survived."
He didn't need to hear her recount it to remember what a mess he had been. He was angry at himself and her and anyone else who got in his way, and so bitter that he doubted he would ever trust another woman again; it wasn't until Claire came into his life that he was able to pull himself together enough to be there for her and Aaron.
"And now you're finally getting back to your old self—"
"Because of Kate," he argued. She was the reason he'd stopped dragging himself out of bed in the mornings. "Because she makes me happy." It was all because of her, not in spite of her: because being with her made him feel like he was worthy of love.
"She's nothing like Sarah, Mom." It was hard to imagine her walking out on him after everything he'd confided in her.
Still, his mother didn't look convinced. "I hope, for your sake, that you're right…"
Next chapter(s): Jack and Charlie finally meet, Christian reveals what he thinks of Kate, Claire makes a decision about her and Aaron's living arrangments, and Jack and Kate contemplate the future of their relationship with surprising results... ;)