Title: Muted
Author: Shea Pierce
Rating: PG
Summary: Jack visits Kate in prison.
Note: I am Canadian, and Kate did say Canada in Tabula Rasa, and that could have been Iowa in Born to Run, which looks like Saskatchewan, so I'm going with Saskatchewan. I live in Saskatchewan.
Jack Sheppard had gotten off the plane in Regina, Saskatchewan. Since the crash, flying had made him nervous, but he was not really focussed on that. His reason for being here was on his mind, and he couldn't decide exactly why he'd come.
He'd been close to Kate Austen on the island, but this was not the island. This was the real world. Real people, real problems. Back to real life.
Jack hadn't stepped foot in a clinic or hospital since they'd been rescued and all examined in the ship's infirmary. Not to work, nor for any medical needs. Hospitals reminded him of the past, his father, and his reason for being in Australia. He knew he was hiding from it, but he didn't rightly care.
The taxi ride to the women's prison was quiet. He wasn't sure if all Canadian taxis were this way, or just this driver. Out the window, Jack could see for miles. It was flat, and the fields were bright yellow, ready to be harvested. It was a nice day, nice enough for a t-shirt. Jack was wearing a coat, though. He'd been cold since he got back. Everything was quiet, like the volume on life had been turned down. He was going through the motions of readjusting to society without any feeling at all.
Maybe that was why he was here, maybe he needed to cut this loose thread off, so he could continue with his life. The remains of it, anyway. Kate was his unfinished business, and the lack of closure was keeping from continuing on to the next life.
The guards and admin at the prison had been very friendly. They were glad that someone had come to see Kate, she'd been alone since she'd gotten there, and sat on her bunk every chance she got, and stayed there, hours at a time. Jack had waved off all the questions they'd asked about how he knew Kate, he wasn't even sure he knew Kate at all.
He sat in the orange plastic chair and waited for them to bring Kate. He stared at the wall, beyond the glass the orange chair on that side of it, until Kate sat down in the chair. She picked up the phone and held it to her ear. She said nothing. Jack picked his up. Kate was concentrating on something at the table, trying to avoid Jack's eyes.
"Kate," Jack spoke the single word with no emotion.
"Jack. Hi," Kate said, echoing the lack of emotion in her voice.
There was an awkward silence. Jack cleared his throat. Kate shifted in her chair.
"It's uh, a nice day. Sunny." Jack didn't know what else to say.
Kate nodded. "Yeah, it is."
They chatted for the rest of their fifteen minutes, and then the guards took Kate, and led Jack out. The taxi had stayed there for him, meter running, counting the minutes and the dollars. Jack got in, and the taxi drove away.
Jack didn't feel any different. He didn't feel like he'd done what he needed to, or even if the visit had accomplished anything at all.
But this was his life now. Muted, detached, colourless, emotionless.
He felt he could stay here forever.