"I know you're there," Kate muttered. Even laying on the bed with her back to the doorway she could feel Jack in the doorway, watching her. She tossed her head back for a split second; the silhouette of his shadow confirming her suspicions.

"I was just—"

"Worried, I know."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, moving to sit next to where Kate laid.

"Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong," she wiped her cheeks as she sat up.

"Talk to me."

"I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do," she admitted.

"Well, how do you feel about it all?"

"Did it make me happy to hear that he thought of me? Of course it did. Did I question his motives? I'd be an idiot not to. Do I trust him around Aaron? I don't even know."

"That's good," he kissed her forehead.

"None of that was good."

"What isn't good? Instead of shutting him out completely you're giving it thought so that you make the right decision. I'm proud of you, Kate."

"What do you think?" She finally asked.

"It doesn't matter, this is your decision."

"I'm not agreeing to do as you say; I'm simply curious to what you think."

Jack smiled; Kate was the most hardheaded and stubborn person he'd ever known and somehow it was one of the things he loved most about her. "When I spoke to him, I understood things from a fathers perspective—"

"What could you possibly agree with him over?" Kate demanded, inching away from him.

"If you and I weren't together and I couldn't get custody because of biology. If you were with someone—"

"I WOULD NEVER BE WITH ANYONE LIKE WAYNE!" She yelled, jumping up as if she'd been burned.

Jack lifted his hands in surrender. He hadn't meant that at all and knew what a deep wound Wayne was. Still, he couldn't pretend that there wasn't a parallel between Jack's hypothetical situation and Sam's real situation. "If I were in Sam's shoes, I'd do anything to have another chance with Aaron."

"You and I would work something out."

"What if we didn't? What if we ended things so sloppily that we couldn't even come together for Aaron? If you kept him from me to punish me?"

"It would never happen to us," she sighed.

"But what if it did, Kate?" He raised his voice but sighed when he realized he had let his frustration boil over instead of being the support Kate needed.

"So if Aaron were in my situation…"

"I'd do anything I'm the world to be at my child's wedding and be the Grandpa I always dreamed of being."

"I don't know if I'm ready to let him around Aaron," Kate scrunched her nose at the thought, a trait Jack found absolutely adorable.

"That's okay. No one is saying he needs to meet Aaron at first. You can meet him alone or I can go with you. Whatever you want."

"I don't want to do this alone," Kate said after a long pause.

"That's fine, I'll be right by your side." He pulled her against him and hugged her tightly. "I'm glad you're including me with this. I mean that," he whispered. He had worried if Kate wanted to do it alone that a bad experience would give her cause for a relapse of closing herself off. They'd come too far for those walls to build back up around Kate. "If you don't want him around Aaron, we could meet him at a restaurant," he suggested.

"I'm not afraid of him. There's no reason not to give him our address. He'd never go that route."

"Good. I prefer your cooking over restaurants anyway."

"You are so incredibly biased," she teased, pulling his head into a kiss so deep that he didn't immediately realize she was leading him to the bed; laying down on the blanket and pulling him down on top of her.

"It's not a bias if it's a fact." He took a step back, unbuttoning his shirt but also letting his words sink in. "Can we just agree to have him over for dinner next week, without Aaron?"

"And I'll cook," Kate agreed.

"Good, because I remember hearing something about a sleepover at Connor's and having the house to ourselves?" He unbuckled his belt, his eyes darkening with desire. He felt as though he had managed to pull Kate back towards her family while also protecting her. Ever since the island there hadn't been a chance for him to protect her. As much as he considered himself a feminist, he found the idea of being able to dash in and rescue the girl of his dreams intoxicating. He often wondered if he would have been half the leader on the island if Kate hadn't been on there.

"The entire night to ourselves," Kate purred.

"Best thing I've heard all day," Jack laughed as he turned the light off, his naked body covering Kate's as their lips found each other in the dark.