4x12 - There's No Place Like Home

"Dr. Shephard," a voice behind him calls as he approaches his car in the hospital parking garage.

He sighs and debates turning around, sure it is someone from the hospital asking him to return to help with another patient when he had promised Kate that he would try to get home early tonight. Just a few steps away from his old truck, he slowly turns around and finds an unfamiliar face before him. "Can I help you?"

The gentleman steps over to him, "Yes, I believe you can since you are dating my daughter."

"Kate?" Jack asks after a brief moment of hesitation.

"Do you have more than one girlfriend?"

"No, sir," the doctor says quickly.

The other man holds out his hand, "Sam Austen."

"Nice to meet you," Jack shakes his hand.

Sam looks away for a long moment, unsure what he wants to say to the doctor now that he has introduced himself.

"Look, I'm heading home to see her right now. I can give you a ride; I'm sure she'd like to see you," the younger man offers, unsure why her father is approaching him instead of his daughter.

"No," Sam says quickly. "I said some not so nice things last time I saw her, and… well, I doubt she'll want to see me."

Jack looks down at his feet, remembering his own relationship with his father. While his dad also had not been the greatest, he is glad that Sawyer had been able to give him some peace of mind. Her relationship with her biological parents is fractured, but he hopes that he can help to mend this one. "You know, she talked about you sometimes on the island. Or… I assume it was you that she was referring to given what she's told me."

"I'm sure she had nothing good to say."

"All of us probably owe our lives to you. You taught her to track and hunt," Jack says, playing in to the lie he had told in court while still telling the truth.

"She was a natural," a small smile graces his face at the fond memories of his daughter. "But I never intended for her to have to use those skills when I taught her."

"Well she didn't let you down," Jack returns the smile.

The older man's smile fades, "No… but I let her down. I didn't come to the trial, I didn't fight hard enough for her to live with me even if she wasn't really my daughter… I knew that Wayne was beating her mother, and I did nothing."

"She doesn't blame you for what happened," the doctor tries to assure him.

He shakes his head, "The Katie I know is incredibly stubborn. She said her goodbye after she killed him; I don't think she wants anything to do with me."

"She can be very stubborn and hates being told what to do. But she is also one of the most caring people I know and has an incredible capacity for forgiveness," he rests a hand on the other man's shoulder. "If you want to be a part of her life again, I think you should let her know, at least give yourselves a chance to work through whatever issues you had before."

After a long moment, Sam nods, "Okay. I guess the worst that could happen is I find out she still hates me and that's really no worse than where we've been for the last four years anyway."

Jack gestures to his car, and both men get inside.

"You drive my daughter and grandson around in this thing?" he looks around the old vehicle skeptically, debating if he wants to get back out.

The doctor laughs as he starts the engine, "No, sir. She refuses to get in it."

Traffic is heavy, and fifteen minutes pass in relative silence as they slowly make their way to Kate's house.

"The baby… my grandson…" Sam starts, eyes shifting from the car in front of them to Jack. "Is it yours?"

"No, sir. She was pregnant when we crashed, and we didn't meet until after the crash."

"Did you deliver it?"

"Uh… not exactly. She went into labor earlier than we expected; I was off looking for food and water at the time," he lies, though he had missed the boy's birth for other reasons. "His name is Aaron."

"Aaron," her father repeats.

"He just turned two."

Sam recognizes the look on the younger man's face, the same loving look that he would have on his own face whenever he spoke of his daughter. "I knew right when Diane told me she was pregnant that it wasn't my child. I always thought it would be so hard to be her father knowing that she was someone else's, but all it took was one look at her… holding her in my arms for the first time… and it no longer mattered. Loving her was the easiest thing I've ever done, and being a part of her life was worth all of the trouble I went through with her mother."

Jack stays quiet. Although he does love Aaron, he is still nervous and struggling with his role as father, and he can't exactly sympathize with the army sergeant's feelings. They get off at the next exit, leaving them with just a few short minutes until they reach her house.

"She, uh… she's told you what happened, right? I mean, you testified for her and you didn't really seem all that surprised when I introduced myself."

"Yeah, she told me," he replies, turning onto her street.

He hesitates for a few seconds before finally asking, "I tried to talk to her about it once, but she completely shut the topic down. Did… did he hurt her too?"

Jack pulls the car into the driveway and shuts the engine off. He frowns as he looks at the house in front of him for a moment before turning to her father, "I don't know, sir. I think that what she told me was true, but I suspect it wasn't the whole story. But I wasn't about to push her for more information, to make her feel more uncomfortable."

They sit in silence for a full minute until Jack opens his door. Her father follows suit and trails behind nervously as they head to the front door.

"Why don't you go take a seat in the living room? It's over to the left. I'll go find Kate and keep an eye on Aaron so you can have some privacy," the doctor offers as he puts his key in the door.

"Jack!" Aaron yells excitedly, running over to give him a hug once the two men have made it through the front door.

Jack bends down to hug the boy, then lifts him up as Aaron looks at the other man curiously. "Why don't we go find Mommy?" he asks, heading to the kitchen while her father goes to sit on the couch.

"Hey," Kate smiles when she sees her two boys enter the kitchen. She steps away from the stove where she had been waiting for the water to boil. "Dinner's almost ready. I wasn't actually expecting you to get home so early."

As they lean in to kiss, Aaron covers his eyes and says, "Ew."

Jack sets the boy down and then reaches for her elbow, "Kate… there's someone here to see you."

"Who?" she asks, frowning as she glances over his shoulder, expecting this person to have followed him in.

"I'll finish dinner," he says, avoiding her question. "You should go talk to him. Just… please don't get mad at me."

"Mad?" her green eyes warily search his for an answer. "What's going on, Jack?"

He stays quiet but nudges her gently in the direction of the living room. When her feet carry her forward of her own accord, Aaron moves to follow. Jack puts a hand on the boy's shoulder to stop him, "No, let's give Mommy some space right now. You can help me cook."

Kate freezes just inside the living room, "Dad?"

Sam turns from the photographs he had been looking at. "Katie…" he crosses the room in a few quick strides, wanting nothing more than to wrap his arms around her.

"What are you doing here?"

Her words cause him to freeze in front of her, and he takes in the hurt on her face. "I'm sorry, Katie."

"For what?" she crosses her arms over her chest. "Calling me a murderer? Not supporting me when I was on the run or during the trial? Lying to me my whole life?"

"I didn't mean to hurt you," he says, hand coming up to rest on her elbow. "I knew that you weren't mine when she told me she was pregnant. She insisted that it had been a horrible mistake and that it was over, and I loved her so I didn't leave her and decided I would raise you."

"Why did you keep pretending when you got divorced? I was five years old; I would have just gotten over you leaving."

"Because I loved you, Katie. I was your father even if we weren't actually related."

"How come you never told me the truth?" she bites her lip, trying to keep her tears from falling.

"She said if you ever found out that I wasn't your father, she would never let me see you again. I wanted to tell you when you got older, but… well, when I figured out what he was doing to your mother…" he looks down at the floor between them.

"You thought I would kill him if I knew the truth?" she closes her eyes.

"No. With what he was doing to her… what I suspected he was doing to you too, I just… I knew you, Katie, and I thought it would just be a matter of time before you did something. I thought I could spare you the pain of ever finding out that you were related to him."

"Well, you didn't," Kate backs away a few steps, pulling out of his reach. She glares at him for a long moment before her brows knit together in confusion. "Is that why you always took me hunting? You were trying to teach me how to kill him?"

Sam shakes his head, "No, that was never my intention. I just wanted you to be able to fend for yourself."

"I guess it didn't work. Because I just stood by for years and let him beat her. And when I finally did kill him, he wasn't threatening either one of us."

He turns away from her, the implication that he had been a threat to her before too much for him.

She stares at his back for several seconds, and when he doesn't speak, she asks, "If you were expecting me to kill him all along, why are you so angry with me for doing so?"

He takes a seat on the couch and looks up at her, "It's not you I'm mad at, Katie."

"Why did you come here, Dad?" she asks, taking a seat in the chair next to him.

"I thought I had lost you. When I heard that you were one of the survivors, I was so relieved. Your mother… well, she called me shortly after the trial; she said that she decided not to testify, that you were free. But you didn't want to see her and I didn't think you'd want to see me either, not after what I said."

"I was hoping you would come to the trial," she says quietly.

"I didn't want to see them put you in jail."

After a moment, she nods slowly and her green eyes meet his, "You were the best parent I had even if we aren't related."

"Given the other options, I hope it wasn't much of a competition," he smiles tentatively at her.

"No, it wasn't," she smiles in return.

"Katie, I know that I've hurt you too. But I don't want to lose you again," Sam reaches out to place his hand on her knee.

"Mommy, I hungry," Aaron comes running into the living room, having escaped the kitchen while Jack was busy dishing out the pasta. He pulls himself up into her lap, "We eat now? Pweese?"

She looks over to find Jack in the doorway giving her an apologetic smile. "Yes, honey, we can eat now," she kisses his cheek.

"Yay!" he says, crawling back down and running back to Jack.

After a few seconds, she turns from Jack and Aaron back to her father and hesitantly asks, "Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"Katie, you don't have to do this," he starts to stand, not wanting to intrude.

"No, stay. Please," she grabs his arm. "You did what you did be cause you loved me. I haven't exactly forgiven you, but… I don't want to lose you again either, Dad."

Sam wraps his arms around her, so very grateful that he had sought Jack out and that the doctor had not been wrong about her. She brings her arms up to embrace him as well.

"Mommy!" Aaron calls from the kitchen impatiently.

Kate pulls back, "Sorry. He's not used to eating quite this late, but I wanted to wait for Jack to get home from work today."

"He reminds me of someone else," he teases, following her into the kitchen.

Jack is seated next to Aaron, and there are two places set across from them. As soon as father and daughter are seated, Aaron starts shoveling spaghetti noodles into his mouth. "Slow down," Jack warns the boy, reaching over to cut up one of the meatballs on his plate for him.

"I Aaron," the little boy smiles at the man across from him once he has swallowed his noodles. "Who you are?"

Sam look hesitantly over at his daughter, who gives a short nod and reassuring smile, before he smiles at the blonde boy, "Hi, Aaron. I'm Grandpa."

Jack nudges her ankle with his foot and smiles at her once he has her attention. He is glad that she seems to have made up with her father, something he hadn't had a chance to do.

~Lost~

Kate comes back downstairs after putting Aaron to bed and finds the two men cleaning up the kitchen. "What are you two talking about?" she eyes them suspiciously.

They quickly wipe the gins from their faces, and her father says, "Nothing."

She looks from the army sergeant to the doctor, waiting for an explanation.

"Hey, you've gotten all of the embarrassing stories about me from my mom. I think this is only fair," Jack cracks under her gaze.

"Fortunately I don't think anything he has on me is as good as what your mother has on you," she smirks. "Tom was the one who had all of the embarrassing stories on me so you will never get them."

Sam dries his hands on a dish towel, "Well, I should probably be heading back to my hotel."

"Let me call a cab for you," Jack offers.

"Thank you, Jack. It was great meeting you. Take good care of my daughter," Sam extends his hand.

"I will, sir," the doctor shakes hands.

"Call me Sam," he smiles at the younger man, happy that his daughter had found someone to spend her life with.

"You could have stayed here," Kate says, walking with him to the front door.

"I've got an early flight back to Washington tomorrow morning, and the hotel is right by the airport. And I wasn't really sure that you would be willing to see me."

They step out onto the front porch to wait for the cab. "I, uh… I'm not supposed to leave California," she says hesitantly, broaching the subject of when they will see each other again.

"I'll come back down for a visit in a few weeks if it's okay with you," he says, shoulder bumping hers. "I was thinking I might even see if I can get transferred from Washington."

"Really?" she turns to look at him. "But you always loved Washington."

"I love you too, and I want to be able to spend time with my new grandson."

"He's lucky to have you… we both are."

Sam studies the setting sun on the horizon for a long moment before finally verbalizing the question that he had wanted to ask all evening. "He's not really your son, is he?"

Kate keeps her eyes forward and remains silent.

"It's okay, Katie. I'm not going to tell anyone," he rests a hand on her back.

"We lost his mother," she says quietly.

"You're just trying to take care of him even if he isn't yours; I can understand that."

"I guess it's kind of hypocritical of me to be lying about being his parent when I was so mad at you for lying about the exact same thing," she glances over at him. "We will tell him the truth when he's old enough to understand. I just didn't want to lose him."

"I've really got no right to judge you after what I did."

She hesitates before finally asking, "How did you know?"

"We may not be related by blood, but I still know you, Katie. You wouldn't have been careless enough to get pregnant while you were a fugitive."

"Maybe not. I was married for a couple months while I was on the run. To a cop," she admits with a small smile. "And I did think I was pregnant before I left him."

"Infiltrating the enemy," he says, thinking back to his combat days. "I'm pretty sure I did not teach you that. And I'm disappointed that I was not invited to the wedding."

"Kind of would have given away my cover."

"Well, I expect to be invited to the next one," he grins at her.

"Next one?" she frowns. He nods towards the house behind them. "What, Jack? I don't think that's happening any time soon."

His smile widens at her incredulousness, "He really cares about you and that little boy, Katie. And I haven't seen you this happy since you were dating Tom."

After a moment, she finally nods, "Okay, if we do get married, I will make sure you're invited this time."

The cab finally pulls up in front of her house, and he looks down at the sidewalk before him.

She is the one who eventually wraps her arms around him, sensing his hesitation after their last parting. "It isn't goodbye forever this time," she whispers.

He presses his lips to her forehead, unable to speak as his emotions overwhelm him for a moment. Their last goodbye had almost been just that - not only had she gone on the run, but he had almost lost her in the plane crash.

"I'm glad you came," she squeezes him one last time before pulling back.

"I gave Jack my phone number. Call me if you need anything."

"Okay," she agrees as he starts to walk away. "Let me know when you want to visit again."

"I love you, Katie," he says, turning back to her halfway to the cab.

"Love you too, Dad."

Jack waits for her just inside the front door when she finally goes back in. "You okay?" he asks nervously, worried that she might have just been hiding her anger from him earlier.

"Yeah," she nods.

"Are you… mad at me?"

"For trying to get stories out of my dad?" she asks, looking up at him.

"No, for bringing him here without telling you. He approached me after work, and it seemed like he really cared about you. I wasn't sure that you would want to see him."

"I'm glad you invited him to come over, Jack," she wraps her arms around him, head resting on his shoulder. "Things between us didn't really end on the best of terms, but he was the best parent I had."

"It seemed like you had good memories with him from what you've told me."

Kate pulls back after a moment, eyebrows knitting together, "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"Tell him what?" he asks, confused.

She bites her lip, then says, "He knows about Aaron. That I'm not really his mother."

"Oh… he asked me if I was the father. I told him that we weren't related, but I never said anything to indicate that you weren't his mother." Jack touches her cheek, drawing her eyes up to him, "Hey, parents have some sort of sixth sense for when their kids are lying. You'll probably be able to do the same thing with Aaron when he's older."

"Not all parents," she says quietly.

He is the one who looks away this time, not sure what to say and still not wanting to push her with what exactly she meant by that.

"Thank you, Jack," she says, leaning up to capture his lips. "When they said our families were there to greet us after the rescue, a part of me was hoping he would be there. And then I thought he would come to the trial. I was disappointed that he never came… but I'm glad that we finally got to see each other again. So thanks."

"Of course," he smiles, then leans in to kiss her again.