Thanks for the reviews. What is it with you guys and fluff, though? Those chapters always seem to get the weakest response... I guess it just goes to prove my theory -- angst is more fun! ;)
Chapter 49. Good and Bad News
They were rescued a year after the crash, when Christian was three months old. Kate was in their tent, changing him, when Jack burst in to tell her the news.
"How?" was all she could think of to say as she stared at him, shocked, but he didn't have an answer; no one did. All anyone could come up with was that someone had finally seen Sayid's signal fire, which had burned continuously throughout the twelve months they'd been stranded there.
After obtaining their flight number, the Search and Rescue team radioed through for a copy of the manifest to separate the living from the deceased. Hanging back with Jack, holding onto him with one hand, and their son with the other, watching their friends give their names and embark on the boat, Kate felt her stomach twist up in knots, afraid that someone would recognise her. She couldn't go to prison, not now that she'd begun to settle down, where she would only be able to see her family from the other side of a glass wall.
"Surnames, please," the team leader said when it was their turn to board, his pen poised over the pages in front of him as he prepared to check them off.
"Austen," Kate told him softly, trying not to think about it too much, tightening her grip on both Jack's hand and Christian, but when he met her eyes it was with confusion rather than fear.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but there's nothing under that name," he said, all apologies, as if he thought she was going to make a scene, and it came rushing back to her: she hadn't boarded the plane as herself. She'd been Kate for so long now that she'd almost forgotten.
"Oh God, I'm sorry," she said with a quick glance at Jack, afraid that he would single her out as suspicious, her cheeks flushing with what the other man must have taken for embarrassment. "That's my maiden name."
She was relieved when he laughed, nonplussed. "Don't sweat it," he agreed, turning back to his clipboard. "My wife used to do it all the time when we were first married. Surname, please."
"Callis," she answered, her voice coming out unusually high, the instinct to lie dulled by months of telling the truth.
"Okay, Monica," he said with a smile as he put a tick next to it. "And this must be Kevin."
It was Jack's turn to look embarrassed as he said, "Actually, that's Kevin," pointing him out before adding uncomfortably, "I'm Jack. Jack Shephard."
"Shephard…" the team leader repeated, finding it on the list, his eyebrow slightly raised when he glanced up at them again, noting the grip that Kate had on Jack's hand. "Mind if I get the young fellow's details?" he asked, his lips forming an O of surprise when Jack said, "Shephard, as well. Christian."
"That's great," he told them, concentrating on making a note of this in the margin next to Jack's name, waiting until one of his colleagues had helped Kate and Christian into the little rowboat to look up.
"Jezebel," Jack mouthed, seated across from her, teasing her, as the other man began to row, causing her to blush and dissolve into giggles. "Scarlet woman."
"Homewrecker," she retorted, and he laughed too.
Sobering up, neither of them spoke for a long moment, until Kate asked softly, "What's gonna happen now, Jack?"
Staring down at the bottom of the boat, he considered her question, before confessing, "I don't know. But I meant what I said – I want this to work."
They didn't talk about it on the boat, using the time to say goodbye to their friends, some of whom they weren't sure they would ever see again. Kate thought about saying something to Kevin, knowing that once the ship docked, he would fly home to Miami, while she went with Jack to L.A., but when she tried, her mind went blank; it saddened her too much to acknowledge the fact that their relationship had finally come to an end.
When they reached Sydney Harbour, many of their families were already there, waiting at the crisis centre set up for that purpose. There was no one there for Kate, her only living relative, her father, oblivious to the fact that she'd been on the plane to begin with, so she sat on a bench outside with Christian while Jack went to look for his mother. They'd agreed that he should talk to her before she was confronted with their relationship, and a grandchild she hadn't known existed.
Christian didn't seem to be handling the transition too well, the unfamiliar sights and sounds making him fussy; Kate had climbed to her feet, and was pacing with him against her shoulder, trying to soothe him, when she heard a voice she recognised behind her.
"Monica!"
Hearing the name now, after so long, made her cringe. Swallowing hard, she turned, steeling herself for what was sure to be an awkward conversation. "Suzanne."
"Monica," Kevin's mother repeated, hugging her before she had the chance to say anything more. "You have no idea how relieved I was to get that call." When she pulled back, Kate saw that she was crying, her eyes shining with tears as she shifted them to Christian.
"And who is this dear little creature?" she asked, more to the baby than to Kate as she tickled his chin, making Kate's throat constrict painfully as she tried to figure out how to answer that without hurting her. How could she tell her that while she'd gotten her son back, she'd lost a daughter-in-law, and the grandchild she thought she now had?
"Suzanne…" she began, but she was saved from having to finish the sentence when Kevin spotted them.
"Mom…"
"Kevin!" Suzanne cried, pulling him into a fierce, drawn out hug while he shot Kate an apologetic look over her head. "You told me Monica wanted to wait before having children," she reminded him, swatting his arm affectionately when she released him.
"I know, I was surprised too," Kevin agreed in what Kate thought was probably the understatement of the year, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish look.
Behind them, Kate could see Jack scanning the crowd for her; excusing herself, she rushed over to meet him, relieved to escape that uncomfortable scene.
"Who's that?" she heard Suzanne ask when she was gone, confused by her abrupt exit, and Kevin sighed, half exasperated, half sad.
"That would be the boy's father."
"I thought you were his father," his mother insisted, and Kate could hear the indignation in her tone. "You're her husband."
"We're separated, Mom," he explained with another sigh. "And before you go jumping to any conclusions, she didn't cheat on me. We didn't know each other as well as we should have when we got married, and when we realised that, we decided to call it quits," he went on, choosing his words diplomatically. "She met Jack around the same time, and she's happy now."
"What about you? Are you happy?" Suzanne pressed, still sounding uncertain. Kate couldn't blame her: now that she was a mother herself, with a son of her own, she understood her desire to protect him.
He was silent at first, and Kate found that she was holding her breath, waiting to hear that he was okay, until he said, his tone lightening, "Yeah, Mom, I am. There's someone I want you to meet."
Smiling to herself as their voices faded, blending in with the crowd, she turned back to Jack. "Did you find your mom?"
"Yeah," he agreed, laughing as he slipped his arm around her, leading her inside. "She was pretty confused to hear that Jack and Christian Shephard were safe, and on their way back to Sydney, after I called and told my father was dead."
"I hope she wasn't too mad," she said, cringing at the mistake. "Or disappointed."
"No, I think finding out that we named her first grandchild after him softened the blow," he told her with a grin.
They were still searching the crowd of mother and fathers, husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, and children, when Jack stopped her so suddenly that Christian let out a shriek of protest. "While we're alone, I wanna ask you something," he said, pulling her off to one side, away from the others, all seriousness as he rested a hand on each of her biceps.
"Sure," she agreed, apprehensive. "What it is?"
"I've been thinking about it since we got on the boat," he explained, and she felt her stomach tighten, remembering the question she'd asked him minutes before that, "and I think we should get married."
"What?" she asked, gaping at him; she was expecting him to talk about lawyers and appeals and fighting, and here he was proposing to her. "Jack, you know I—"
"Can't, right," he agreed, nodding, seeming to have anticipated this response, "Legally. But what you had with Kevin wasn't legal and you were willing to accept that – and so am I. I just want to be able to call you my wife." He grinned, looking smug as he added, "Besides, they're looking for Kate Austen, not Kate Shephard."
He had her there; it was win-win. "Okay," she agreed, her face splitting into a matching grin as she let him pull her into his arms. "On one condition."
"Anything."
She laughed, only half joking as she said, "We go on a cruise for our honeymoon."
Okay, so that was chapter 49. One more to go, the usual epilogue... ;)
