I'm changing the format a bit on this – got tired of typing "Future Kate" so for the flash forwards I'm using italics and present time in regular text. Hope it doesn't get confusing.
Chapter 9Tom took Kate's hand in his and led her through the wall like Boone had before. They came out to a residential street with several houses along the street lined with lemon, orange and oak trees.
"We're in Los Angeles." Tom explained. "Or rather a neighborhood about 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles."
Kate looked around at the almost tranquil setting of the older style houses with their green lawns and bright blooming flowers. It was relatively quiet and she guessed it must be in the middle of the day when most of the residents were at work or school. There seemed to be a peaceful and calming sense of the area that Kate liked.
"Jack lives here?" she asked softly not able to ask if she and Jack lived there.
"Yeah, he apparently bought the house after his divorce. He wanted out of the city."
The two walked up to the sand colored house before them. Kate noticed that while the lawn was the cut it looked like the front entry way had been neglected with only a single potted plant in the corner that had seen better days. Once inside they found the house appeared to be empty. Kate started looking around curious to learn what kind of place Jack might live in. She found a Spanish style house with an archway entrance to the dining area and a warm open kitchen. A picture window framed the dining table and looked out into a spacious backyard in need of a landscaper. The archway led in from the large living room with a brick fireplace as its focal point. The furniture looked like Jack probably had hired a decorator, but it lacked any real personal items that would make the house more him, she thought. Very few photos and hardly any knickknacks populated the rooms. But she liked it – especially the hard wood floors. It gave it such a rustic feel.
"This is nice." She stated as she ran her hand along the back of the couch. "I like the style."
"Can you see yourself living here?" Tom asked.
Before Kate could reply they heard the key in the front door open and second later Jack, wearing a suit, walked in followed by a tired and anxious looking Kate.
Here we go, Kate thought.
Throwing the keys on the table near the front door Jack motioned towards the living room. "Go ahead and make yourself at home." He told Kate.
Clutching her overnight bag Kate nodded and made her way over to the couch.
"Want something to drink?" he offered as he took off his jacket. "I've got juice and soda."
"Actually some water would be good." She replied looking around the living room as she sat down. "This is a nice place, Jack."
"Thanks." He said from the kitchen. "I really liked it the first time I saw it…especially the hardwood floors. Hey, you hungry? I'm thinking we can order a pizza."
"Sure"
Kate turned and looked at Tom with a 'what's up' look on her face.
"After the rescue boat came, they took you into custody. You had decided it was time to face everything and at least try and stop running. Jack convinced you to trust him to help you through all this."
"I gave myself up?" she asked surprised.
"Well, it's not like you had much of a choice with the rescue and all. But yeah, you did. And you lucked out. The judge placed a $250,000 bond on you and when you were released the court put an ankle bracelet on you. You're out on bail until the trial provided you check in once a week with your attorney and once a week with the pre-trial officer. You also had to have a place to live and Jack offered you his house immediately."
"Did he pay bail too?"
"Actually, Hugo Reyes or Hurley as you guys call him, paid it."
"Hurley posted bail? Boy, I guess he wasn't kidding about winning the lottery." She was taken by surprise that Hurley would do a gesture like that for her especially how he seemed to somewhat be guarded around her at times.
Tom put this hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Katie, you made some solid friendships on the island. People care about you, even if right now it doesn't seem like that."
"Are Jack and I together?" she asked shyly.
"You were together while you were still on the island and it was going good, I might add. But when you were rescued being the bull-headed independent woman that you are you broke it off with Jack not wanting to, as you told him, burden him with all of this. Lucky for you, Jack is as bull-headed as you are and refused to walk away. So right now your relationship is on the backburner while you focus on your legal problems." Tom explained.
Jack came out with a couple of glasses of water and handed one to Kate and sat down next to her.
"Thank you." She said
"So what do you like on your pizza?" he asked.
"Lots of cheese." She replied quickly without really thinking.
"Okay," he laughed. "Lots of cheese it is. How about we do half meat and half veggies with extra cheese on both sides?"
Kate took a long drink of her water nervously. "That sounds good."
For a moment neither of them spoke and the silence was almost unbearable to Kate. "Jack, thank you." She finally said looking up at him as he loosened and took off his tie.
Meeting her gaze and holding it he smiled. "You don't need to thank me, Kate" he said softly. "I told you I would help you with this."
Kate's heart raced for a second as she looked into his hazel eyes. She remembered the countless times she looked into those same eyes on the island and would get lost in them. Neither one seemed to want to break the gaze until Jack finally cleared his throat.
"Ahum…I guess I should show you your room so you can get settled in." he stood up and took her bag. "Come on."
Kate followed him towards the back of the house into the hallway. "My room is here and I thought you could take the one across from it" He opened the door and took a step back to let Kate go in first. The guest room had soft muted green walls and a double bed in the middle under the window. A chest of drawers stood across from it with a small tv on top and an older oversize chair in the corner with a lamp next to it.
"This is nice, Jack" Kate commented as she looked around. The definitely beat a dark cave in the jungle.
"The bathroom is next door. I put fresh towels out, thought you'd probably want to take a bath." He explained as he followed her into the room and placed her bag on the chair.
"Thanks." She replied looking at some clothes on the end of the bed. "What's this?"
Jack blushed slightly. "I didn't know how many clothes you've got so I left you a pair of my sweats and a tee shirt if you want."
Kate smiled. He seemed to be trying hard to make sure she was comfortable. "A shower should really good."
"Ah…okay. I'll go ahead and leave you to get moved in. I'll order the pizza that way it'll probably be here by the time you're done."
Kate looked over at the young doctor next to her and had a feeling of security wash over her. He seemed to have this natural ability to make her feel safe no matter what else was going on around them. Smiling she stood up on her toes and kisses Jack's cheek impulsively. "Thank you for everything, Jack. I know you didn't have to do any of this, but I'm grateful." She said softly.
Jack reached up and gently caressed her cheek dragging a finger down her hairline and tucking a loose curl behind her ear. "You're right. I don't have to do this…I want to do this. I meant it Kate when I said I would be there for you and help you fix this."
Kate bit her bottom lip and fought back tears. She had never met a man quite like Jack – one willing to put so much on the line for her. She didn't know what she had done to deserve him in her life but she silently said a quick prayer that he was.
Jack's thumb continued to caress her cheek as he swallowed hard. Being this close to her was affecting him more than he realized. Part of him wanted to pull her into his arms and devour her in kisses but the rest of him remembered Kate's request to put their relationship on hold so he reluctantly pulled back his hand. "Enjoy your bath." He said hoarsely and walked out of the room.
Kate cleared her throat watching it all play out. How does Jack manage to make her feel okay with being under house arrest, she thought to herself.
"Probably because he believes in you, he cares deeply for you and he believes this will all work out." Tom commented out loud answering her question.
"Don't tell me, you read minds?" Kate asked.
Tom laughed and nodded. "Helps. Especially since you've always had a habit of internalizing. I don't have to guess what you're thinking…like when we were kids."
"Great" Kate mumbled. "And just for the record you were always a good guesser."
"Look Katie, what I'm trying to show you is that you need to start trusting your feelings. It's okay to trust yourself and others."
"Like Jack?" she asked.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Like Jack."
"But what if he doesn't trust me completely?" she wanted to know. "I know right now he doesn't"
"Well, maybe that's in part because you haven't been completely honest with him, have you? He has reason to feel that he doesn't really know you and what you might be capable of."
"I know." Kate said softly already knowing what Tom was telling her.
"Katie, you know you want to trust him. What are you afraid of?" Tom placed a hand on her arm.
She shrugged her shoulders. "That if I tell him everything he'll go away." She admitted.
"Well," Tom pointed out. "He didn't run away in this, did he?"
"And he knows everything?" She turned and looked at her friend in surprise.
"Ah huh. You told him the whole story when you decided to get involved with him."
"And he didn't run away?" Kate said more to herself than to Tom.
"He didn't run away. " Tom replied.
Ch 10 preview: We find out what Kate did to make her run as she takes steps towards taking back her life.