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Disclaimer: I still do not own any of these characters.
Dreams
"Are you mentally disturbed?" Jack winced as he entered the house to find his mother livid and waiting for him. This was most certainly not what he expected or needed at the moment. Shrugging past her, he attempted to walk into the living room. She blocked his way.
"You answer me, Jack. That was a serious question."
"No, Mom, I'm not. What are you talking about?"
"You know! You know exactly what I mean! I talked to Lorraine yesterday and I was just horrified. Horrified!" Deborah sniffled.
"This is my life to live."
"And your life to ruin, apparently too. Do you realize what you are doing? You are giving up the life you have for a dream, Jack. A dream." By this point, she was hysterically crying. "I.. I love you, Jack. I can't bear to see you throw your life away for this."
Jack stepped forward and hugged his mother tightly. "I'm not going to, Mother. It's over."
She sighed with relief. "Okay. But still, you can't miss the appointment I scheduled you for. It's with a new psychologist, he came highly recommended. His name is Dr. Consaw."
"Oh, Mom…"
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Claire heaved a sigh and slammed her fist into the bed that she was sitting on. Charlie looked up from the morning paper in surprise. "What is it, love?"
"That dream again. It just won't let me be."
Concerned, Charlie walked over and sat down next to her. "The same one from last night?"
"I think so. You know I don't remember…"
This dream had been irritating Claire for days now. She felt it creep around the edge of her consciousness, dancing and prodding, but always remaining just out of her grasp. Try as she might, she could not catch hold of the fleeting ghost of a dream. She saw only the briefest of images, uncertain flashes: a circle, fourteen points, a plane, fire, the island…
When she explained this to Charlie the first time, he told her that she was probably just thinking about the crash. But he doesn't know, thought Claire. He hasn't felt this. Something was new, different somehow… Just what that thing was, Claire had no idea. She didn't understand anything about the dream, which was why it terrified her.
Charlie took her hand in his. "Sweetheart, you know that you are due any day now. You need to take things slowly. Don't worry about a dream, okay?"
Claire smiled and said gently, "Right. Because dreams mean nothing, Charlie?"
Charlie blushed, caught. "Well, no… Sometimes, but not in our case, of course… I mean… Know what, Claire? I promise that I will protect you, from dreams or reality. Okay?"
"Thank you. You don't know what that means to me." Claire smiled again and pushed the doubts from her mind. Somehow, she always felt safe with Charlie. "Will you be okay on your own, here, Claire? I have that interview today, but if you'd rather I stayed…"
"No, of course not. Anyways, Kate and Hurley will be here all day. Go. Good luck!" She kissed him quickly, then watched his retreating form. He had found a possible position as a mixer at a well-known production studio, and she didn't want her qualms to get in the way of a great opportunity for him.
When he was out the door, Claire turned her attention to Kate, who was walking into the kitchen. IN pursuit was Sawyer, wearing a business suit and a cowboy hat.
"No, I'm not going to kiss you, Sawyer! Forget about it already."
"Not even if I buy you a pretty diamond necklace?"
"Not even then. Come on, though, like you could afford one."
"Trust me, Freckles, I can get the money."
"And just how do you plan to accomplish that feat? I mean, you are currently residing in Hurley's apartment. You're not exactly rolling in dough at the moment."
"I have my ways. Trust me on that one."
"Whatever. Nice getup, by the way," she added sarcastically. He tipped his hat to her and bowed slightly before walking out the door.
Kate rolled her eyes and sat down next to Claire. "Can you believe him?" she asked, laughing.
"Not really. But still, it's nice to hear you laugh. I was really worried about you the other day."
"Well, thanks to you, I'm okay now."
"Good. One another thing. About Jack…"
"Please, Claire, I really don't want to talk about him right now."
"Okay, then. We'll have to talk about Charlie, then."
"I'm all ears."
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Jack strolled annoyedly into the office of Dr. Consaw, PhD. He raised his eyebrows at the relatively shabby appearance of the office, surprised. He wouldn't have expected those conditions of a highly recommended psychologist. Why am I even here? he asked himself for what must have been the hundredth time.
If his mother hadn't threatened to intervene in his life further, Jack would most certainly not have come to this place. He walked up to a tired-looking who he assumed to be the secretary. "In there," she murmured in a throaty voice before getting back to her romance novel.
Shaking his head, Jack walked into the room and sat on the couch. He looked across a desk to a man seated in a swivel chair, faced away from him. Jack was growing more disgusted by the minute. "Um, excuse me, Doctor. Can we make this quick? I realy don't need to be here…"
The man jerked up and turned around, preparing a fake smile and declaring happily, "Welcome to the office of Dr. Consaw. With just one session, I will be able to cure…" The man trailed off as he looked at Jack in shock.
Jack looked back just as surprised. "Sawyer?! What the hell are you doing?"
Sawyer grinned sheepishly. "How tough could psychology be? I wanted to help my fellow man, Jack."
"Sure. Come on, Sawyer, we both know that you wanted to rip off rich old ladies."
"Yeah, pretty much. But its nice pretending. Anyways, are you going to rat me out or what?"
"I'd have no choice."
"Okay, then. One question before you leave, though. Why exactly did you come to a psychologist Jack? Having problems? Maybe with a certain girl? Name begins with a K?"
"Shut up, Sawyer."
"Let's make a deal. If you let me close up my business quietly and without a fuss, I won't tell Kate what your mother told me."
Jack looked horrified. "And what exactly was that?"
"All about how Lorraine caught you two together and how your mom is worried because you are ruining a relationship with Lorraine mooning over Kate and all that fun stuff."
"You have half a day to get out of here."
Sawyer grinned again and began to take his "graduate degrees" down off the wall. Leaning his head out the door, he yelled, "Margaret! You're fired!" Chuckling, he turned back to Jack. "See, I' doing what you asked, Doc. One thing, though. Now, I'm no professional, but may I suggest that you talk to her? I mean, that would probably be a good idea."
"Why the sudden friendly advice, Sawyer?" Jack asked suspiciously.
"Friendly? Honestly, I just want to be there to see her kick your ass. Man, you screwed her up. The meeting will be interesting to say the least."
Even more aggravated, jack turned and left the office. Despite his hatred of Sawyer, he had to admit that it would probably be a good idea to talk to Kate, if only to make sure that she wasn't hurt or angry.
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A little over an hour later, Jack knocked on the door to apartment 4C. He was surprised when Kate answered the door. "Oh. It's you," she said dryly, attempting to hide the surprise and pain on her face. She opened the door enough for him to come in, then she went and sat at the kitchen table with Claire.
Jack sat across from her. "Kate, can I talk to you?"
"About what?"
"I'm sorry if I hurt you…"
"Hurt me? Don't flatter yourself." Jack was taken aback.
Claire shook her head sadly. She could see right through Kate – putting on an act of toughness so she wouldn't get hurt again. "Do you guys want me to leave?" she asked.
"No!" they both responded quickly. Claire shrugged and looked away.
"Kate, look. At least we can still be friends, regardless, no?"
Now there was real hurt in Kate's voice. "Friends? You told me that you loved me. But that was all a lie, wasn't it? You loved Lorraine. You used me."
"No, you don't understand."
"I don't understand what?"
"Kate, I…" Jack looked up to see Claire's encouraging nod. In his head, however, he saw his tearful mother and his hurt girlfriend. Right and wrong blurred to him as he struggled to speak. "I…"
Kate had had enough. The bitterness came back. "And I? I need to take a shower, okay? See you around." She stood up and briskly walked down the hall, slamming the bathroom door behind her.
Jack looked down. Claire walked over to him slowly. "Why didn't you tell her?"
"I couldn't, I don't know, it's complicated. I don't really want to talk about it now, okay?"
"You and she have more in common than you think."
"Um, okay. Anyway, how have you been doing?"
"Great, except for this one dream. It's really bothering me lately."
Jack looked interested. He was snapping into doctor mode. "Oh, really? Tell me about your dream, Claire."
She opened her mouth to tell him about the dream with the plane, when suddenly another dream came back to her with the force of a blow. She dint' know why, but Claire found herself explaining this newly remembered dream. "Well, there's smoke and steel – a knife, I think. There' white everywhere, and lots of crying. And this one name keeps repeating over and over again."
"What name is that?"
"Lawrence Ragetta. Funny how clearly I hear that. I mean.. Jack? Jack, are you okay?"
The color had drained from Jack's face. Claire looked concerned. "What, do you know him? Jack?"
"I knew him. He was the man I killed."
Claire stumbled back and fainted dead away.
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