As promised. Happy Holidays!
Jack was taken back for a moment by Julie's confession, trying to understand why she would do that and it became clear to him. She wanted his attention, positive or negative, it didn't matter. He had already assumed that her bad behavior had been about seeking attention, but it hadn't occurred to him that it was his attention specifically she was seeking. She was jealous of the attention he showered Riley with, not the relationship he had with his daughter. The revelation startled him a bit, but he knew he couldn't let Julie see that, he needed to understand exactly what kind of attention it was she wanted from him and not assume the worst so he acted like he was still confused.
"Julie, why would you do that?" Jack asked.
"I don't know." She answered.
"You're going to have to do better than that." Jack pushed.
"That's the best I've got to offer." Julie said.
"Your best is unacceptable so dig a little deeper." Jack said.
"I'm so weird, what is wrong with me?" Julie asked to no one in particular.
"Why do you think you're weird?" Jack asked.
"Because I like it when you're around, look forward to you coming home, want to spend time with you, but not in the way you're probably thinking right now. I don't have a crush on you or anything. You're just really awesome. I feel safe when you're around." Julie admitted slowly and cautiously her explanation bringing him both relief and a twinge of sadness.
"Julie, I'm really not all that awesome, but I'm flattered that you feel that way. I'm also happy that you feel safe because keeping you and Kate and Riley safe and happy is my top priority these days. There is nothing weird or bad about the way you feel about me, it makes me feel good that you would actually want to spend time with me." Jack tried to calm her, help her not feel so embarrassed and strange.
"I'm sorry Jack. I don't know why I feel this way. I don't normally latch onto people, but that first day you seemed like you cared and I liked the way that felt and now its like I have to have that and I don't understand why or what to do about it. How do I stop caring what you think about me or feeling so happy when you pay attention to me? It's stupid and no matter what I do I can't seem to make you mad enough to send me away." Julie said fighting to keep her tears in check.
Jack suddenly realized just how out of touch with Julie's feelings and needs he had been. He'd kept an open mind about her struggles, but he never picked up on just how much his approval and one on one attention meant to her. He felt terrible, his propensity to be insensitive coming back to bite him once again.
"Julie, I care very much about you and you don't need to be sorry or ashamed about liking the way it feels to have somebody care about you. Other than Kate, you've probably not known what that feels like. It's not stupid for you to want or need that from me and if I weren't such an insensitive jerk I would've picked up on it." Jack said.
"No, see now it's going to be weird and uncomfortable and you're going to walk around pretending to care so I'll stop acting crazy." Julie argued.
"No it won't. Get your shoes and I'll get Kate and Riley. I want to show you something." Jack told her.
Jack left the room in search of Kate and Riley. He found them in their bathroom. Riley was sitting on the counter, while Kate gently brushed her hair back. He stood and watched for a moment, fixing her hair obviously a routine for them as Riley held onto the barrettes and handed one to Kate when asked. He smiled and shook his head, amazed how watching something so simple could make him feel so good. Kate felt his presence and looked toward the door.
"She wanted her hair fixed. Is Julie okay?" Kate asked.
"We've got so much to talk about when we get a moment alone, but right now I think it's important that we show Julie the house." Jack said.
"You don't want to wait until tomorrow?" Kate asked.
"Actually I was planning on taking all of us to San Diego tomorrow. My dad has a beach condo there. I thought it would be fun to get away and just play for a couple of days." Jack told her.
"Sounds nice, we really haven't been near a beach since we got back. A home on the beach with running water and electricity and beds to sleep in, what a novel idea." Kate teased.
"So are you up for a quick trip to the house and then maybe some dinner?" Jack asked.
"Sure, take your daughter and find her sandals and I'll change my clothes, freshen up a bit." Kate told him as she lifted Riley off the counter and handed her to Jack.
Thirty minutes later they were in the car headed to Pasadena to the neighborhood where their house was located. Julie quietly watched out the car window as the car drove slowly down the residential street that displayed fairly large homes with perfectly manicured green lawns, a sidewalk running up and down each street with couples pushing strollers or children riding bicycles. It was by no means a neighborhood full of mansions, but it was definitely what would be classified as affluent. It was beautiful, like something you see on television, but never really considered it existed for real.
Jack finally pulled the car into a driveway and turned the engine off. Julie looked up and through the windshield. The house was beautiful, a modern two-story home with a covered porch that appeared to go around the entire house, the long driveway extending back beyond the home to a detached 4 car garage.
"You're going to live here?" Julie asked, her eyes still taking in the view her mouth hanging open just a little.
"No, we're going to live here. Come on let's go inside." Jack said and opened his car door.
Jack retrieved Riley from the back seat and followed Kate and Julie to the front door where Kate put the key into the deadbolt and then the handle and opened the door. They went inside and Kate excitedly showed Julie the different rooms in the house, the kitchen that was three times the size of the one in the condo with a breakfast bar, a booth and a small dining area, the formal dining room that was already furnished with a brand new solid oak dining room table and hutch, the large family room that was empty, awaiting the arrival of the furniture from the condo, the formal living room that was also furnished with brand new furnishings as well as a study/office that was also newly furnished.
"This is really nice." Julie said.
"Yeah can you imagine not tripping over each other anymore?" Kate said.
"Let's go upstairs." Jack suggested, leading the way with Riley bouncing on his hip as he took the stairs at a quickened pace.
Upstairs there was a loft with bookshelves on one wall. A large flat screen television was mounted on the other wall and the furnishings were simple, made for kids and lounging and rough housing. A hallway ran the width of the house with 3 bedrooms on one end and two bedrooms on the other end.
"The master bedroom is down there and we'll put Riley and the baby in the two rooms close to ours. They'll even have their own bathroom to share. What do you think?" Kate asked.
"It sounds nice." Julie said wondering about a bedroom for her, but still feeling weird over the conversation she had with Jack and almost hoping she wasn't in the plans at all.
"We thought you'd like being on the other end of the house where you could have some privacy, not have Riley always in your stuff." Kate said and pointed toward the other end of the hallway.
Julie looked toward the door at the end of the hallway and then back at Jack and Kate.
"You'll have your own bathroom too." Kate said.
"Cool." Julie said not moving.
"So are you going to just stand there or are you going to go check out your bedroom?" Jack asked chuckling lightly.
Julie nodded and walked toward the closed door with Kate right behind her. Jack hung back a little and let them enter the room together. Julie stopped just inside the room looking around her eyes wide and disbelieving. The room was furnished with brand new bedroom furniture a vanity and a desk. There was a small flat screen television mounted to the wall, a compact mini stereo on a small table in the corner and a laptop computer and cordless phone on the desk. The room was decorated in her favorite color and was the biggest bedroom she'd ever seen in her life. Julie was overwhelmed. She turned to Kate, the look on her face everything both Jack and Kate had hoped for when they put the room together.
"This is mine?" Was all Julie could manage.
"Yes, it's yours. Do you like it?" Kate asked.
"Are you kidding, it's great, but it's too much Kate, I don't deserve this. I can't take this from you, I've caused too much trouble." Julie told her with tears in her eyes.
"This was Jack's idea Julie so you'll have to take that up with him." Kate told her and hugged her.
Julie looked at Jack who was standing in the doorway with Riley. She approached him and looked up at him.
"Why would you want to do this? I wrecked your house." Julie said.
"Well, we had this room done before that happened, but it wouldn't have mattered. I wanted to do this for you Julie because I care about you and want you to feel like you belong here with us. Nothing is going to be weird between us and I won't be pretending I care just to make you feel better because as you can see I already did care and probably have since you showed up at our front door." Jack told her watching the tears stream slowly down her cheeks.
"Thank you." Julie squeaked out.
"Come here." Jack said softly and pulled her into him, hugging her with his free arm.
Kate watched the two of them, warmed by how much Julie seemed to look to him for comfort, understanding how easy it was to want, need and expect that from Jack. She also picked up on the strain between them and remembered Jack said they needed to talk and understood that Julie was one of the things they needed to talk about.
"I'm sorry for everything Jack, I promise I'm going to behave." Julie told him as she wiped the tears from her cheeks.
"How about you just do your best to be happy, enjoy all the friends you're going to make once school starts and try to make good decisions and Kate and I will be around to pick you up and dust you off when you don't. I don't expect you to be perfect Julie, I just expect you to be honest with me so please no more trouble just for the sake of seeing if you can make my head explode." Jack said making her laugh lightly.
They left the house, found a restaurant and had a quiet dinner. Julie seemed to be genuinely excited about spending a couple of days at the beach and even more so when Jack suggested they invite Nicole to come along so she'd have someone her own age to hang out with. They arrived home to spend their final night in the cramped confines of the condo. Riley had fallen asleep in the car so while Jack put her to bed, Kate walked down the hall to Jennifer's condo to see if Nicole could join them for the weekend. Jack was relaxing on the couch when Kate returned without Julie.
"Where's Julie?" Jack asked.
"She is spending the night with Nicole. I told them to be ready by 9AM." Kate said as she straddled him and relaxed onto his lap.
He wrapped his arms around her lower back and pulled her closer.
"So we are alone, just the two of us?" He asked with a sexy grin.
"Well there is a sleeping two year old in the next room, but if you're wondering if we're about to have that private moment we needed so we could talk the answer is yes." Kate answered amused at how obvious it was that talking wasn't what he had on his mind.
"Can we play first?" Jack asked kissing her softly.
"We both know if we play first we'll never get to the talking part because you'll leave me too pleasantly exhausted to stay awake." Kate told him.
"If I agree to talk first can I play for as long as I want?" Jack asked and kissed her neck lightly.
"Sure, but that means I get to play for as long as I want too and that kind of sucks for you because I'll last longer." Kate teased.
"You don't last longer, you're just lucky enough to be able to get off 50 times in an hour if you want to." Jack laughed.
"I'm certain that would put me into cardiac arrest. So tell me Jack, what happened today, with your mom?" Kate asked.
"It's a long story but I found out today she's not my mother, not the woman that gave birth to me anyway, that woman came to see me to today." Jack said.
"Good grief Jack, that's must've been awful for you." Kate said.
"Should've been huh? It was actually somewhat of a relief. At least now I know why my mother can't stand me. I'm the product of one of my father's numerous affairs. She didn't even try to deny it when I confronted her with the information, so I think she was a little relieved too, glad to finally be rid of me and not have to pretend anymore." Jack said a slight hint of sadness in his voice.
"I'm sorry Jack. It's sad that any person would be willing to allow you to walk out of their life. I can't imagine life without you in it." Kate said making him smile.
"You're biased I think. I've come to realize that I really never had much of a life before flight 815. Sure, I had the best of everything, even had the adoring little doctor's wife there for a little while, but I never realized just how miserable I was until I met you so I'm okay, as long as I have you three beautiful girls to come home to every day, I'm the luckiest man in the world." Jack said pulling her closer and kissing her, a lingering kiss that Kate finally pulled out of before things got out of control.
"What happened with Julie today?" Kate asked.
"I really blew it with her Kate. I assumed Julie has been acting out to get attention, but I guess I didn't bother to notice how much she wanted my attention. She made up that whole pregnancy story. She says she's never even had sex." Jack told her.
"Jack, you've been so good to her, don't beat yourself up for not being able to read her mind. Julie is going to be 17 pretty soon, but she is very immature emotionally, which is why I was so shocked that she'd actually had sex. I'm glad to hear that she really didn't because I really don't think she's ready for that." Kate explained.
"It makes me really sad to think about her growing up with nobody giving a shit about her, it's not surprising she's not grown much emotionally, probably hasn't progressed much at all since you dropped out of her life. Knowing that you would have to drop out of her life and leave her with nobody to care about her or leave her in a situation where she'd suffer sexual and emotional abuse. That was a hell of a choice to have to make Kate, I can't imagine. I wish we had more time with her, more time to allow her to grow up feeling safe and secure." Jack said.
"She's not ready to be a senior in high school emotionally or any other way for that matter. Her transcripts from her school in Iowa came the other day. Her grades are horrible and she has no where near the required amount of credits to graduate. She made me promise not to tell you she was stupid, so I told her I'd give her a few days and we'd figure out what to do together, but it would probably be best to just have her repeat the 11th grade, give her some time to adjust and grow up and hopefully learn." Kate suggested.
"That would probably be better than trying to make it up and it gives her a couple of years to just be a kid." Jack said.
"You don't mind that she'd be with us longer than we initially thought?" Kate asked.
"Kate, I love your little sister. When she isn't busy pushing my buttons she's a sweet kid. I don't want or need for her to be gone. It would be great if she could get used to being a normal kid, get her grades up over the next couple of years and want to go to college and eventually want to get away from us, but that's up to her. Right now we just need to focus on her current needs and you need to cuff me in the back of the head when I'm being insensitive and not noticing that she needs my attention." Jack said.
"You're entirely too hard on yourself Jack, you've given her more attention over the last few months than any male authority figure ever has, that's why she loves you and wants to be someone you care about." Kate said.
"I do." Jack said.
"I know that and now hopefully she gets it too so let's just put the latest incident behind us and hope for better days. I'm so relieved she's still a virgin I feel like celebrating." Kate giggled.
"Does that mean we're done talking and can start playing?" He asked in an ornery tone as he slipped his hands up inside her shirt.
She smiled at him, kissed him lightly, and attempted to move off of his lap. She didn't resist when she felt his hand on the back of her neck holding her close as he brought his mouth to hers and kissed her passionately and longingly with a hot, wet mouth that instantly triggered all of her desires. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him back with an equal amount of passion and she could feel his hands moving over her back and over her thighs. She felt like after such a serious discussion they should share a tender moment, but he could and did rile so many of her senses that being tender was the furthest thing from her mind and she pulled out of the kiss and slapped at his chest.
"What was that for?" He asked slightly amused.
"That's for being you. Look at me? I'm ready to rip my clothes off and ride you until you beg for mercy." She answered.
"So what's stopping you?" He said with a grin.
She looked into his eyes, reached down, grabbed her shirt, and pulled it up over her head and off. She tossed it to the floor as his hands immediately found their way to the two breasts in front of him. He kissed her while his hands moved over her and she could feel his mouth moving down her neck and arched her back some as he closed his mouth over a nipple and sucked lightly. She was still straddling him and could feel him getting hard through his jeans as she slowly pressed her hips into him and urged him to suck harder. He moved his mouth to her other breast and ran his tongue over the hard nipple, biting lightly and then sucking it hard into his mouth. She continued to grind into him as he continued to bite and suck at her breasts. She felt his hands grip her around the waist, move her off of his lap and set her down in front of him without getting up.
He reached out and unbuttoned and unzipped the shorts she had on and pulled on them until they finally slid down her soft, creamy thighs and to the floor. He placed his fingers inside the elastic waistband of her panties and slowly pulled them down over her hips, slowly exposing her triangle of heat, providing himself his own personal strip tease. He had her panties to the mid-point of her thighs and stopped. He smiled at her and pulled her toward him, gently laying her over his lap, her body resting comfortably on the cushions on either side of him.
She could feel his hands gently rubbing over her back and the feeling of lying on him with her panties partially pulled down and exposing her ass to him sent a rush of electricity through her making her ache for him. She felt his hand glide over her ass and thighs and moaned and squirmed a little. He pushed her panties down to her knees and moved his hand back up over her thighs and bottom gently, making her squirm as she struggled to soothe the aching in her crotch.
He slid out from under her and laid her onto the cushions. She started to move and he stilled her with his strong, warm hand.
"Stay right there." He said softly.
She stayed on her stomach as requested and felt his tongue moving up the back of her thigh. She moaned as he continued to move his tongue slowly up over her thighs and into the space in-between them. She could feel him gently kissing and rubbing the cheeks of her ass as his fingers would just barely slide to the space between her legs and back out. He worked his way back underneath her and she was lying across his lap again.
He had undressed while he had her laid out on the couch and now she laid across his bare legs wondering if he would finally remove her panties all the way and give her what she was about to start screaming for. He continued to move his hand over her butt and when she felt him penetrate her with a finger she moaned loudly. He began moving his finger in and out as she pushed her most sensitive area hard into his thighs wanting and needing to come.
"Jack please, let me up. I want to….." She moaned.
"You want to what?" He asked.
"What do you think?" She replied, getting a little frustrated with him.
"I want you to say it out loud, just like you whisper it in my ear." He coaxed as he slipped a second finger in and quickened the pace making her cry out and push herself harder into his thighs.
"I want to fuck your brains out, now." She told him and could feel his erection twitch in anticipation.
"Come for me first, I want you to be so wet and slippery you'll try to bounce your way off of me." Jack said in a lustful tone as he slowly turned her onto her back.
He laid her gently onto the cushions, teased her for a few seconds, pulled his hand away, pushed her panties down the rest of the way and gently pushed her legs open, exposing her hot core to him. He reinserted his fingers and rubbed her clit with his free hand, pulling away to rub her wetness over her stomach and tease her nipples with it, knowing he'd have those nipples in his mouth soon and wanted to be able to taste her and smell her while she rode him into release, the thought of it making his hard cock twitch. He brought his hand back down again and gently massaged until she clinched around his fingers and came hard, panting through clenched teeth, trying not to scream and wake Riley.
She sat up, pushed him back until his back was resting against the back of the couch and straddled him. With her arms wrapped around his head and her breasts in his face she slowly slid onto him, taking him in fully and began kissing him. She could feel his hardened length pushed up inside of her, her walls stretched to their limit and full and they held the position while they kissed, his hands moving over her back as he grew harder inside of her. He always had her in the position to beg and now it was her turn. She was in control, the walls of her vagina clamped tightly around him, her crotch pressed firmly into his and not moving. He needed her to move or he needed to move, but she wouldn't budge. She could feel his body temperature rising by the second and his cock pulsing inside of her. She put her mouth to his ear, whispering and asking him what he needed and "come on baby" was all he could manage
She wanted him to ask for it, just like he'd made her ask for it and the longer she held him off the more turned on both of them became. He finally lay back on his back pulling her down with him and said the words she wanted to hear. He began begging her to fuck him and as she began moving he encouraged her to fuck him harder. She came quickly and he let her get through her orgasm before lifting her off of him. He stood with her in front of him, her back to him and guided them both down to their knees. He kept her back pressed into his chest and reentered her. He kept one hand on her chest while the other moved gently over her hot, slippery center as he moved in and out of her at a slow, but steady pace. He kissed her neck and talked softly into her ear, telling her exactly what it felt like for him, her wrapped around him like warm velvety cloak.
He continued described the feeling of the slippery warmth as his orgasm began building and held tightly to her as her own orgasms hit. She admitted she was getting tired and he began pumping himself into her harder and faster, encouraging her to find just one more and come with him. She leaned heavily into him and let his hand work her swollen clit over while he pushed his cock in deeper, harder, and faster. She could feel it building, the climax she was headed for so intense she was holding her breath and could hear him softly encouraging her to breathe. As soon as she took a breath the orgasm began to rock her body. He pushed himself in as deep as she could stand and came hard, holding tightly to her, groaning at the pleasure and relief coming out of him in sporadic releases. She held onto the arm he had wrapped around her, closed her eyes, and allowed her body to become completely enveloped in the ecstasy. Still quivering from the experience she relaxed into him completely as he took them both all the way down to the floor on their sides. He wrapped his arms around her and held onto her as if she might be sucked away by some unforeseeable force.
They lay quietly for a few minutes, both catching their breath and allowing their bodies to relax and cool down. Being wrapped up in his arms always felt safe and comforting and she was in no hurry to pull away from him. She could feel his breathing becoming normal and steady and finally turned around to face to him. His eyes were closed, but he wasn't asleep because he had loosened his grip on her so she could turn around and now his hand was moving slowly over her back. His neck and chest were still slightly damp from the sweat he had worked up and as she scooted up enough to bring her mouth to his she wondered if she could ever get enough of him.
They lay together locked in a passionate kiss for a long time. She loved the way his skin felt and smelled and she loved the feel of his tongue in her mouth as he continued to kiss her and move his strong hands over her. He was the first man she'd ever been with that she allowed to see her completely naked and not in the physical sense, she'd allowed herself to open up to him emotionally and the wonderful feelings and sensations his kisses brought out of her still amazed her. He pulled out of the kiss and looked into her eyes just as he had done dozens of times in the past and just like all those other times she felt like she could see into his soul and she felt a comforting warmth encompass her entire body and she knew she'd love this man until she went to her grave.
"Now who was it again that lasts longer?" He teased.
"I'm at a disadvantage, I'm pregnant and tire easily." She said.
"Disadvantage? You've been so horny I can barely keep up with you. Admit it Kate, I am the master." Jack continued to tease.
"Okay Jack, you can be the master. Hopefully the master's batteries are recharged because I'm ready to go to bed and I'm not sleepy." She told him as she pulled away from him and stood.
He grinned up at her and pulled himself to his feet. They walked into the bedroom, pulled the bed coverings back and climbed in, meeting in the center, her snuggling up to him and resting her head on his chest and him wrapping her up as tight as he could without suffocating her and pulling the comforter over them. She lay quietly in his arms gently moving her fingers through the hair on his chest.
"I thought you weren't tired." He said.
"I'm not, I'm enjoying the moment. Nothing feels better to me than this." Kate said sweetly and kissed him before snuggling back in as close as she could get.
They stayed that way until they fell asleep, both ready to face the new challenges ahead, the last sensation Jack felt that night was the light fluttering of his son from within Kate's womb, making him smile, hold her a little tighter and let sleep overtake him.