Thank you guys so much for the sweet sweet reviews, it completly makes me happy! about Jack smoking, i think I did it because Matthew Fox smokes and it seems kind of hot, in the story, it was supposed to be sort of a latent college rebellion thing, everyones gotta have a vice, right? I might get more into it in the next chapters. But yes, a doctor smoking is a bit ridiculous!
Anyway, heres the next installment...
Chapter 8
Kate sat in the exam room, waiting for Jack. It seemed like that was all she did lately, wait for him. When the guards had let her into the room, they hadn't undone her shackles and she perched on the edge of the bed uncomfortably. At least she didn't have to wait long for him.
As he was let into the room, his eyes met hers, then shifted quickly away. Shit. The thing she had tried to avoid thinking about all night and all morning was brought suddenly to the surface. He had definitely looked at the file.
"Can we just pretend that this is you being awkward about the kiss?" she asked after a few more moments of him looking around the bare room. He smiled briefly and finally looked at her.
"Kate." He said, his expression growing serious again.
"I mean it Jack," she said before he could continue. "Just do what you always do, pull up a chair and tell me about your really boring day."
"Alright." He said, looking around for a chair that wasn't there. He leaned against the metal table bolted to the floor. "I closed my bank accounts yesterday."
"You didn't." she answered quietly, shaking her head. She tried to sit up straight but was impaired by the chains. "I told you I'd think about it!"
"I know you did." He answered.
"Why are you doing this, Jack?"
"I told you why I'm doing this, Kate. The answer hasn't changed in 24 hours."
She looked from him to the door, then down at the floor. "What if I'm just using you? It wouldn't be the first time you know."
He nodded slowly, "Nice try, Kate."
She sighed, "If you're doing this out of some delusional need to fix me, or save me, or, or somehow make it all better, this is not going to work."
"I'm not." But he said it quickly, as though he wanted to believe it, but even he couldn't be sure that his motivation didn't come from wanting to keep her safe.
She continued like she hadn't heard him at all, "Because you knowing about…..about me, about the file, it doesn't change anything."
She shook her head and a curl came loose from behind her ear. She raised her hands to push it back, but she couldn't reach. She brought her hands down roughly and the chains jingled loudly. He closed the distance between them and pushed the tendril back out of her face. His hand lingered on her jaw line and she looked up at him. "I'm still the same person, Jack." She said.
"I know you are." He held her gaze for a moment. "One sec." He turned from her and headed for the door, rapping loudly until a guard finally unlocked it.
"How am I supposed to examine her when she's cuffed like this?" Jack demanded. After a small argument, the guard finally relented and removed the chord linking her hand cuffs to the ones around her ankles. He refused to remove the actual cuffs though.
After the guard left, Jack examined Kate rather quickly. When he was satisfied that she was fine, he sat on the edge of the bed next to her, their legs dangling in air.
"If we do this, I'm in charge. You listen to me, you do what I say when I say it. None of this 'the dynamite's really in my bag' bullshit. Okay?" Her voice was steady and determined.
Jack nodded "Okay."
"I'm serious Jack, I need you to say it."
"Alright," He looked at her, "You're in charge. God, you're stubborn." He grinned.
She smiled back at him, "Yep, and you're controlling, but I like you anyway." She nudged him with her shoulder and he laughed a little, looking at his hands.
"Okay, now how do we do this?" he asked.
She leaned back as far as she could and pulled a small card out of the waistband of her pants. She handed it to him and he stared at it.
"This is a security clearance card, how did you get it?" He asked, astonished.
"I'm a resourceful girl, Jack." He just stared at her, waiting for a better explanation. "I pretended to trip and pulled it off a guard's belt on the way over. Of course, they'll probably realize its gone and change all the codes, but I had to do something."
"So where does this leave us? Are we going now? Cause I didn't get the car yet, and where are we even going?"
"Stuff like this, its basically dependant on opportunity. Creating opportunity and taking advantage of existing opportunity." She looked over at him, "Don't freak out on me Jack, we're not going now."
"I'm not freaking out." He said, trying to maintain his cool.
"Actually, your help might make this a little easier." She said it like she was surprised by it. "I may have an idea. What day is it?"
"Uh," Jack paused, all the days seemed to run together, "Saturday?"
Kate nodded slowly, formulating something in her head. "could probably be set up for Monday or Tuesday…" she muttered under her breath.
"You wanna fill me in on this?" Jack asked, his curiosity barely in check.
She told him her plan, or rather, the beginnings of a workable, yet not fully formed idea.
"That's so simple, it might actually work. If they let me do it. Every time I ask, it gets harder and harder to get what I need." He nodded towards the door, indicating the guards behind it.
"You seem pretty good at getting what you want." She said not so subtlety. "Did you really close your bank accounts?"
"Yeah," he said, "Why, is that bad?"
"Aside from the fact that I told you to call my sister for cash, yeah, its not good. It's a red flag that we don't really need." She said.
"I told them it was because of the crash, I'm higher profile now, need a more secure, private bank. They didn't seem to question it."
"The feds might question it though, I guess there's nothing we can do about it now."
She was interrupted by a loud rap on the door. "Two minutes!" a guard called through the door.
Jack stood up reluctantly and looked around the room for any of his belongings. Of course, there were none, he hadn't brought anything with him. He turned around to look at Kate who was standing behind him. They both stood there rather awkwardly, Jack with his hands in his pockets, Kate with her arms loose in front of her, bound by the hand cuffs. They were both thinking about yesterday's kiss and wondering how to say goodbye today.
After a pause, Jack turned to the door, "See you tomorrow." He said as he started to walk away.
"Jack, wait." Kate said, and walked the few steps to where he said. "This is ridiculous." He didn't know if she was referring to her cuffed feet or the way he had said goodbye. She raised her arms and encircled his neck. She tilted her head up to his mouth and he leaned his whole body into her. As their kiss grew heady, he slowly backed her into the wall, his arms tight around her waist.
Another loud rap on the door forced them to break apart. Kate hugged him hard as they heard keys jingling in the door. "Thank you" she said, her voice low. He nodded into her neck, then brought his head up, kissing her light and quick. He lifted her arms from his neck and backed away from her just as the guards pushed the door open.
The guard looked at Jack, he still had Kate's hands in his. He shook his head with a light smile as Jack dropped them quickly. "You crazy kids." He chuckled. "Time for you to leave Dr. Shepard."
Jack put his hands back in his pockets "Bye Kate." He said and walked out of the exam room.