Believe me, I know as well as you do that it's been almost SEVEN months since I updated this thing, which is ridiculous even by my standards! Unless you've been incredibly patient and have been reading this throughout this LOOONG break, then you'll most likely need to go back through the past few chapters so you have some idea of what's going on. (I had to...HaHa!) I'd love to get some reviews, but of course I would understand if you didn't since I abandoned you all for so long! Hope you enjoy.

Tomorrow

"Umm, what are you doing?" Kate asked after she opened the door to Jack, watching him walk through her main living area and into her bedroom, taking an armful of hanging clothes from her closet.

He glanced over at her, a cocky smile on his face as he began the trek back through her living room. "Moving some of your stuff," he said simply.

Kate raised her eyebrows. "Moving some of my stuff?"

"To my place, of course," he laughed.

She had never dreamed that Jack would ever want her things in his apartment. What had started out as her toothbrush in his bathroom was now moving a giant step forward. "What, you think the walk across the hall is getting too strenuous?" she joked.

"Do you not want this?" he asked her, concerned, dropping the pile of clothing onto the couch below him. "I thought we kind of... talked about it?"

It was true that they had brought it up, but tip-toed around it, and Kate hardly thought they had made a decision. The last person she'd lived with was Greg. It was natural to have some skepticism.

She smiled, looking into the brown eyes of her boyfriend, the man all her friends from back home were jealous over. "So why your place? What's so bad about mine?"

He set his hands on his hips. "Come on, Kate. You know my place is better. I have a balcony," he laughed.

"What if I don't feel like moving all my stuff?" she pouted, moving over toward him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

He pecked her on the lips, unsure if she really wanted this now.

"I'll move it. Besides, it shouldn't be too hard. Half of it never made it out of the boxes in the first place."

She slapped him lightly on the chest, getting a laugh out of him, before resting her palm against his rough cheek.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" She couldn't help but ask, not after all she'd gone through to get him to this point. Not after all he'd done to move past Sarah. "I mean, it sounds like the right idea because I practically live with you anyway, but what if...?"

He knew she was referring to his past relationship with Sarah. He should be grateful, he thought, that she was potentially giving up what she wanted to make sure it was what he wanted. He'd had his doubts about living with Kate. He still had some.

On one hand, they could drive each other crazy in ways that he'd never experienced before this. But on the other hand, he'd never loved someone so much. He thought those drive each other crazy moments would be worth it.

"I know I can't promise that we'll work out, even though I want it to, but I think we need this," he told her seriously. "I've been pretty careful going into this Kate. If... if heaven forbid we don't work out, I know how to deal with that now. Okay?"

She nodded against him, not wanting to think about ever being apart from him, but comforted by the thought that she would never be taken in the same light as Sarah.

"So it's official now?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows, taking on a lighter tone. She'd heard everything she needed to. The last thing Kate wanted to feel was that she pushed him into something he didn't want.

"Sounds like it," he said with a smile, kissing her lightly again and squeezing her body against his, lifting her lightly from the floor.

When he set her down again, Kate surveyed all of her things. "Isn't it going to be a little tight with all of our stuff together?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. We could always look for a bigger place, you know. I'm not terribly attached to this one."

There was a noticeable lift in his spirit when he thought of moving to another apartment. Maybe even a house. Although he was happy with Kate, so happy in fact, sometimes it still felt wrong to have her hanging around the apartment that he and Sarah lived in during most of their married life. And asking her to live there? Maybe he hadn't thought it all the way through.

"Not attached to it, huh?"

"Nope," he smiled. "Just to the girl across the hall."

"Good to hear," she replied, suddenly shy. She felt so... adult.

"So you really think we're ready for all this? It feels so... big, I don't know."

He nodded, sitting on the couch and patting the empty spot beside him.

"It is big. But doesn't it seem right too?"

"Yeah. It does."

They sat for awhile, enjoying each other's company, the thoughts of moving in together revolving silently in their minds. Jack had begun to feel a bit stupid for barging into her apartment and moving her clothes.

"So when do you want to get started on this? Moving, I mean."

"I don't know," Kate shrugged. "There's a lot to talk about, isn't there?"

Jack agreed. "Well, I have today off, I don't know about you," he hesitated. He didn't want to sound too eager.

She laughed at his inability to hide his feelings from her anymore and realized she loved it that way.

"Yeah, today sounds good.

They underestimated the amount of differences they would have. After three hours of surfing the internet, arguing on whether to upgrade to a bigger apartment or go all out and buy a house, they were both frustrated and weary-eyed.

"I don't understand what's so wrong with this one," Kate said, pointing to the interior pictures of a large apartment spread near Jack's work. "It's beautiful," she gushed.

Jack sighed, all the while admiring her inability to give up. He was beginning to think they'd never agree on anything. "Look, it's obvious that we're not going to agree on anything tonight," he spoke up, rubbing a hand over her back while she stared hopefully at the computer screen. "Why don't we just go get some dinner or something?"

After a bit she agreed. "Yeah, okay."

When they got down to the parking lot of their building, they stared at their cars, parked side by side. Jack's car always won this debate. His keys were tucked into the palm of his hand, and he laughed when he felt Kate grasp his fingers and unwrap them from around the shiny metal.

"Let me drive?" she whispered into his ear, tippy-toed, kissing his neck with the lightest of touches.

"How could I say no to that?" he grinned, but not before warning, "Just don't kill us, alright?"

"Hey," she teased. "I'll have you know that I've driven this car a total of two times and it's still all shiny and stuff, right?"

"Yeah, Kate, it's still all 'shiny and stuff''," he mocked her knowledge of cars.

They ate at one of their favorite Mexican restaurants. Kate insisted on driving home too, and Jack agreed if only to get her to stop begging.

"Where are you going?" Jack asked her as she turned onto a side street they hadn't taken on the way there.

"I'm just starting to know my way around this place. Humor me why don't you?"

Jack sat back in the passenger seat and watched the scenery as they drove down quiet streets, a nice change of pace from the main strips of Los Angeles. The soft lull of the car pulled him into wonderment. Could they really survive living together? Weren't they both a little too stubborn to make it work?

He heard Kate sigh beside him, a small smile playing on her face, the late sun gleaming off her long hair. "You're so lucky to have this car, you know. I could drive it all day."

"You really like it, don't you?" he laughed. "I could, uh, you know... buy you one. If you wanted." Sometimes Jack had a hard time finding the right line between being graceful with his money and egotistical with it.

She let out a cackle of laughter. "I just love the fact that you can sit there and just offer to buy a car for someone. I can hardly make rent."

"But you do what you love," he pointed out.

Kate put her foot on the brake as they approached a stop sign. "But you love what you do too, right?"

She'd always been under the impression that while Jack's job was stressful, and often times not perfect, being a surgeon was what he was meant to be. What he was good at.

"I guess," he agreed. "I sometimes wonder if I'm in this because I wanted to be or because my father was."

"Jack, I think if it's really something you don't want to be doing, that you would've stopped by now. You're strong like that. You don't let yourself be unhappy anymore."

Yes, he would agree. But did she know that he owed that all to her? He squeezed her hand tightly, all of a sudden becoming a little overwhelmed at how much his life had transformed in such a short time.

Kate continued driving, winding through a neighborhood Jack had never been in before. He drummed his fingers against her right hand that was resting on top of the middle console. "Wait a minute, stop here."

He waited for her to put the car in park, then hopped out, surveying the grassy property lined with gorgeous town houses.

And a for sale sign.

"Think it's meant to be?" Kate asked, wrapping her arm around his waist.

Jack sighed with relief. The fact that they'd agreed on just the outward appearance was somewhat of a miracle after hours of finding out just how different their tastes were. First there weren't enough windows, or the garage was too prominent, or the layout was too open, but this time, it looked just right.

Kate stored the phone number for the realtor on the sign in her cell, and they drove back to the apartment complex, this time taking the main roads, the darkness making the meandering way home pointless.

"Could you do it again? Walk out on someone, I mean?" he asked, looking out to the lit up street. He'd been thinking through Kate's whole history on the drive, and he briefly wondered if he knew everything there was to know. It wasn't that he didn't trust her- he did, and he thought they'd worked their way past it. But after the shock he went through the first time around, when he realized his marriage with Sarah was over- or she told him, anyway, he thought that having a few doubtful moments was only his way of protecting himself.

If Kate was at all surprised by the inquiry, she didn't let on. Instead, her grip on the steering wheel tightened by a minuscule and she turned to face Jack briefly while there was a beat in the traffic.

"You mean could I walk out on you?"

Jack nodded with hesitance. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to... offend you, or question anything too much-"

"No," she said calmly, "I understand, Jack. You know that I walked out on Greg and after what happened with you and Sarah, and we're about to move in with each other, maybe kind of quickly too..."

"Too quick?"

Kate smiled, warmed by his genuine concern and regard for their relationship. "No, not too quick. Not for me."

He searched her eyes and cursed himself for even bringing this up in the first place. "So could you?"

It was easy to see that Kate was mulling over her words, knowing that one little phrase could cause all of it to blow up.

"Greg was different. Now that I've had some time away from him, away from the whole relationship, I can see all the signs right from the beginning. But I wanted something so badly, Jack, I wanted someone to take care of me, who I could rely on, and Greg was that for me. Or he pretended for awhile, anyway. I didn't leave just because I wanted out of the relationship. I physically had to get away from him."

Jack thought about her little speech carefully. "So, so, you don't see those sign things... with me?"

She shook her head. "Not one," she smiled, squeezing his hand. "You treat me better than I could ask for."

He blushed at her words of praise, ducking his head down in embarrassment. She pulled back into his spot in the parking lot, and giggled when he jogged around to her side of the car to open the door.

She laced her fingers through his on both hands, leaning into him, his back against the side of the car. "I think being friends first helped, don't you?"

"Yeah definitely, but it was pretty painful, admit it," he said, glancing down at her, his eyes sweeping across her freckles to her eyes, to the smile on her mouth.

"What, because you wanted me so bad?" she laughed. "Because you couldn't resist me?"

"Yeah, something like that." He leaned down to kiss her, wrapping his arms around her tightly, their kiss deepening. It seemed like they hadn't been together in forever- first with Greg, and then with both of them being sick.

Kate cupped her hands around his cheeks and swirled her tongue with Jack's, feeling the pit of her stomach drop like it had so many times before, his stubble rough but irresistible against her delicate skin. His thumbs grazed the slight line of exposed skin around her waist, and regretfully, he pulled away, giving her one last lingering kiss.

"Hmm, let's go inside," he said throatily.

Kate let her hands slide down his chest, then lower, a mischievous smile appearing when she felt his obvious arousal. She expected to see the amusement returned, but instead was met with Jack's dark eyes.

"You know, there's still time to call the realtor tonight," she laughed, hearing his mumble of protest as he tugged on her hand, pulling her into the lobby and swiftly into the elevator.

He kissed her again when the doors closed in front of them, pulling her body tight against his.

His eyes danced devilishly. "Tomorrow."