Disclaimer: This is a waste of time. You all know I don't own it, and I don't claim to. Lets get on to the good stuff, shall we…..
Detour: Chapter 6
Just One
The sun was just beginning to set over the vast, flat horizon when Jack turned the white SUV into the parking lot of the roadside diner and rest stop. The sky was mottled with purples, blues and pinks as the orange tinged glow of the sun faded into the distance. If not for the obvious tension that sparked the air, this would be a marvelous sight for the two passengers of the SUV to behold, but in this moment a nuclear bomb could have taken out the nearby diner and it was likely neither Jack nor Kate would have even noticed.
Though they both had managed to come to some sort of silent truce since leaving both Menchendo and the hotel behind, neither could quite escape the awkwardness that laced the air around them. Secretly, both wanted all of the tension to go away so that they could enjoy the rest of their time together, but neither of them wanted to be the one to break the ice.
As Jack pulled the SUV in between the faded white parking lines in the lot in front of the diner, Kate stared distantly out the car window. The old diner they had found was made up of one mid sized building. It was painted a pale, faded green and the paint was peeling in the more weathered placed. Along the front wall, facing the road and oncoming traffic, were three long windows that gave a view of the entire interior of the diner. The wood shingled roof was in obvious bad shape, as most of the shingles were either cracked in several places or split entirely.
To the right of the old diner stood a tall, aluminum sign painted in the same color and fashion as the old building itself. Neon lettering lit up the sign, illuminating the words Rag Top Diner for passing cars to see. Kate and Jack approached the main entrance, Jack quietly stepping forward to open the swinging glass door and holding it open for Kate to step inside.
Following Kate silently through the door, they both stopped near the front counter, waiting to be seated. The diner itself was one large room filled with small booths that lined the walls and a long strip of counter that served as the bar. Each individual booth was made up of a small linoleum table with the same pattern as the bar and a pair of faded green plastic covered couch type seats. Above each booth hung a multi-colored stained glass light fixture that looked to be from the sixties.
"Take a seat wherever you like!" came a deep, throaty voice from the other side of the counter. Both Kate and Jack looked up in time to match the voice with a tall, slender waitress as she moved quickly across the room with a coffee pitcher in one hand, and a steaming plate in the other. The woman was dressed in a pale purple blouse with a stained off-white skirt that came down past her knees. She had a frilled and stained white apron tied loosely around her waste and her white streaked gray hair pulled back and pinned into a tight bun.
Jack turned to face Kate and she nodded, indicating with a twist of her body to a nearby booth. Both took a seat on either side of the table and gazed awkwardly down at either their hands, or the mottled white linoleum pattern of the table. The awkward silence ensued until finally, the waitress that they had seen before came to their table with two menus in hand.
She placed a laminated menu in front of each of them, then voicing, "Coffee?"
"Ummm, yeah," Jack mumbled, caught off guard by the question. His mind had drifted off into too many distant places at once, distracted by the awkward silence between himself and Kate that he so desperately wished would disappear, "Thanks…"
"And for you, miss?" the waitress continued, eyes now on Kate as she expertly lifted Jack's chipped white coffee mug and filled it to the brim with the steaming liquid from her pitcher.
"I'll have some too, thanks," Kate said politely, voice solemn. She couldn't begin to express how much she wished she hadn't gotten herself into this situation with Jack. What had she been thinking, letting him give her a ride? She should have known that it could never be so simple as him giving her a ride to Seattle. Not with such a stubborn man as Jack. And then there was her own self control. If she couldn't manage to keep herself in check, how could she expect any better from Jack? This whole thing was becoming a mess for her, and she had little doubt that she deserved it. She had, after all, accepted Jack's help back at the filling station.
Both Kate and Jack were pleased and relieved to find that the next ten minutes or so would not be held in another awkward silence, but was instead occupied by reading their menus and deciding what to order. Kate could not remember the last time she had been able to go into a restaurant, any restaurant, even one as run down as this one, and be able to order whatever she wanted. Life on the run really didn't accommodate even the most basic human needs, let alone something so trivial as the privilege of eating out.
Before either of them knew it, the waitress had returned, this time with a pad of paper and a worn down pencil, ready to take their orders. During the time they both had had to read their menus, it seemed neither Jack nor Kate's mind had really been on the food. Both were too lost in thoughts of their circumstances and even where they stood in the other's eyes since the incident at the hotel.
The waitress inhaled deeply, a rushed look of determination on her face as she turned to Jack first, "What'll you be having?" the waitress all but crowed, voice deep and husky. Her very presence seemed to put the doctor on edge and Kate could not help but laugh inwardly at watching him squirm. It seemed that just about everything on this little road trip of theirs was completely foreign to Jack. Men…Kate thought to herself.
"I-ummm," Jack quickly fumbled, entirely unprepared for this demand, "I'll just have a cheeseburger." Jack supplied quickly, covering for himself.
"And for you?" the waitress wasted no time in turning to Kate for her order.
Like Jack, Kate also had not paid her menu much attention, so she just decided to follow his lead, "I'll have the same."
Without another word, the waitress hastily scribbled down the orders, mumbling to herself as she rushed away to turn in the order and wait on other customers. Once again, Jack and Kate found themselves in a formidable silence, both wishing the food would hurry along so that they would have an excuse to ignore each other.
As the silence hovered over them, Jack let out a tremendous sigh of both exhaustion from the long driving and also frustration from the situation itself. Kate looked at him expectantly, as if she thought he meant to say something. Coming up short, Jack simply voiced the first thing that came to mind. Work. "I don't know if its going to be a relief or a letdown, getting back to work next week," Jack said lamely, not really knowing how Kate might respond to that.
"When do you have to be back in LA?" Kate asked, hardly able to mask her discomfort at the mention of their parting.
"Next Monday, so in about eight days," Jack said, he too having mixed feelings about this topic of conversation. Did he really want to admit, even to himself, that part of him dreaded it?
"Oh.." Kate said, forcing all thoughts of parting ways with Jack out of her mind. It had to be done, and the way things were headed, the sooner the better. The sooner they reached Seattle and said their goodbyes, the less the both of them would get hurt. "I still don't know why you were coming this way in the first place."
"Vacation," Jack answered, taking a sip from his coffee. He felt the uncomfortable sense of awkwardness slowly begin to melt away as the hot liquid slid casually down his throat, "My boss thinks I'm a workaholic. He sent me on a forced two week vacation."
Kate could not help but laugh at this newly discovered information. It sounded just like the Jack that she knew. On the island, being the doctor and the hero had been all that he seemed to be able to focus on. His complete dedication to his "job" on the island had perhaps been what had continuously caused a rift between them. But, Kate admitted inwardly, she couldn't fault Jack for his dedication and work ethic. She respected and admired him for it.
"So what made you come up this way? When we met at the gas station, you really didn't seem to be going anyplace in particular…" Kate prompted, still mildly amused by Jack's previous admission.
"Honestly?" Now Jack too shared in Kate's amusement, a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth, "I had no idea where I was going."
"Then I guess it was just random fate that we met at that gas station," Kate mused, hardly able to stifle a laugh at the look on Jack's face. She knew exactly what he thought about fate and what kind of reaction she would get from him at mentioning it.
"Now you sound like Locke," Jack replied, once he had gotten over the shock of her comment. It hadn't been the shock that she would use a word that she knew he disagreed with, but rather that she would consider it a good sort of fate that they had met up once again. Could she actually be grateful that they had found each other? If she was, then she had a funny way of showing it, he thought to himself. 'Only to Seattle,' she had said more times than he cared to remember. It had become a taunting sort of mantra in Jack's mind this past week. Not knowing how else to continue this sudden pleasant stream of conversation, Jack countered Kate with a question of his own, "Do you believe in fate?"
"No, I can't say that I do," Kate replied, her features twisting into that distant, thoughtful look that Jack had come to know so well during their days spent on the island, "But I'm not one to knock it either. What about you?"
Jack's eyes traveled up for brief moments to the ceiling, a quick time of thought, before meeting her eyes once more and replying, "No," Jack said, carefully choosing his words and treating the conversation itself as though it might break at any moment, "No, I don't. I can't let myself believe in something that takes away any chance any of us has at making our own future. If fate is real, then that would mean we're all doomed to whatever its chosen for us from the day we're born to the day it chooses to let us die."
"And what's so wrong with that?" Kate questioned, never having spent this much time with Jack analyzing his thoughts. Usually when they talked like this he would dance around the subject, never giving her a clear answer. Either that, or he would twist the question around to be pointed at her. This was a rare treat for Kate.
"I don't know about you Kate, but I'd like to think that everything I do and the choices I make are what builds my future, not something that was predetermined before I was even born," Jack stated simply, taking a long sip from his coffee, "What is it that makes you so open about the subject anyway? You're usually too headstrong to not be absolute on anything."
"I'm headstrong?" Kate said with amusement, a grin tugging at her lips as she forced her expression into a mock pout, "If I remember correctly you were the one that was so bent on risking your life that you hid dynamite in your pack so I wouldn't have to carry it."
Kate fixed him with an accusatory glare, her lips twisted into a mocking smile that Jack had grown to love. "Well, I wouldn't have had to do that if you hadn't insisted on carrying the dynamite yourself in the first place," Jack said casually, all the while smiling with a knowing look. He knew how stubborn he could be, "Besides, I'm the hero. I couldn't let you steal my thunder."
Kate's lips parted in an amused surprise as she took in his words. She could not help but laugh at his admission as she rolled her eyes. Both of them were caught in a fit of laughter before they even knew what was happening. All traces of awkwardness or lack of belonging had disappeared without a trace. Finally, since the incident at the hotel, the two were at a peaceful truce. They actually enjoyed one another's company.
The two continued to talk in a cheerful bliss until the waitress returned with their food. She placed the bill at the end of the table and refilled their drinks before once again disappearing to wait on the rest of the tables in the little diner.
Jack and Kate finished their food in a peaceful silence, both happy with this strange turn of events. All thoughts of having to part once they reached Seattle had fled for this brief time from both of their minds. Without realizing it, Kate had stopped worrying about how badly she would be hurt if she allowed herself to let Jack in as she had on the island. Jack too had allowed his confusion about the entire situation to slip his mind in exchange for this newfound peace they had with one another. It didn't matter that he still had no idea what had happened to her and where she had been for this past year. She was with him now and they had the chance to enjoy this time together, however short it might be and they should do just that.
After paying the bill and asking for directions to the nearest hotel, Kate and Jack made their way out of the little diner and back to Jack's SUV. As they stepped out of the diner and into the run down parking lot, Kate shivered ever so slightly at the feel of the chill night air against the bare skin of her shoulders and arms. She wore only her thin tank top and jeans. Noticing this, Jack stopped and pulled off the navy blue fleece pullover sweatshirt he had been wearing and draped it around her shoulders.
"Thanks," Kate said quietly, almost shyly. By now, both of them had stopped walking and they now stood facing each other in the middle of the run down parking lot. Jack's hands still lingered on her shoulders where he had secured the sweatshirt around her. Without even noticing what he was doing, he began to lightly trace circles on her shoulders with his thumbs. He looked down at her and when their eyes met, she quickly let her own green orbs shift away shyly, knowing where things were once again leading.
Leaning up quickly, Kate gave Jack a hasty kiss on the cheek before turning away from him towards where they had parked the SUV. "Its getting late, we should find that hotel," she said simply, not knowing what else she could say to escape from this situation. After their conversation in the diner however, she wanted to let herself go with Jack more than ever. Kate began to doubt her choice to not let herself get close to him, wondering what good it could bring her.
"Alright," Jack said, disappointed that she had pulled away so quickly, yet at the same time thrilled that she had shown him any sort of affection at all. He had been afraid that since the incident at the hotel, she would never let him touch her again. He was even more surprised when he felt her chill fingers reach for his hand, lacing his calloused fingers with her own. Without another word, they walked the rest of the way to the parked SUV hand in hand.
The conversation that had taken place in the diner did not continue in the drive to the hotel. It was not far to drive and both Kate and Jack seemed lost in their own thoughts about what had just been shared between them that talking really wasn't on either of their minds.
Jack pulled up in front of the hotel office, putting the SUV in park, "If you want, you can just wait here while I take care of the rooms," Jack offered not failing to notice Kate's sudden silence and trying to determine if it was just due to her being tired.
"That's alright," Kate said quickly, unbuckling her seatbelt and hopping out her side of the SUV, "I'll go with you." The truth was, Kate didn't like the idea of being left alone in the car this late at night. I'm losing it, Kate thought briefly to herself as she followed Jack into the hotel office.
This hotel was definitely a step up from the last one they had staid in, Kate noticed as they made their way to the office. It was a cement type building with two levels rather than one, and iron railing wrapped around the second level. The building itself was painted with a none too old coat of beige and the roof was neatly tiled. The office was a smaller cement structure that stood a small distance away from the hotel building itself. It was made with a similar design, only it looked as if it had been more recently remodeled. The best thing about this hotel that differed from their last one though, Kate thought to herself, was the absence of that grubby old hotel clerk, Menchendo.
When they reached the office, Jack held the swinging glass door open for Kate as the little bell attached to the door jangled loudly, alerting the clerk that there were customers. Immediately, a short little man stumbled swiftly in from behind an old beige curtain that led to some sort of back room. He was an older man with only a few tiny wisps of white hear atop his head and a buzzed white stumble on his face. He was dressed simply in a red plaid flannel shirt that was tucked hastily into his faded blue jeans and small, round rimmed glasses sat atop his nose.
"Can I help you folks?" he said quickly, his voice rumbled with age. He seemed to study Kate and Jack as they stood before him, as if sizing them up.
"Yes, we'd like two rooms please," Jack said quickly as they approached the counter.
Just as he reached back into his jeans pocket for his wallet, Kate interrupted him, "Actually, one room will be fine," she blurted out quickly, amazed that she had gathered up the nerve to be so bold. She had made some decisions during the short car ride from the diner. She was with Jack now, for however brief a time, and she was going to let herself enjoy that time and be free, no matter how much it would tear her up to let go of it all in the end.
Jack turned quickly to Kate, almost dropping his wallet in the process. The look on his face was priceless, Kate thought to herself. His eyes were wide with surprise, wondering what could have brought this sudden change over her. Kate smiled inwardly when she watched a look of satisfaction wash over Jack, knowing that what he had wanted all along was for her to let herself go.
The clerk's face twisted into a confused frown as he unconsciously reached up to scratch the top of his head. "What'll it be, then?" he pressed, unable to hide his amusement with the situation, "One room or two?"
Jack turned to Kate, almost expectantly, as if wondering if he had only imagined her outburst of moments before, hardly daring to hope that she was agreeing to stay with him. As if knowing what he was asking, Kate simply nodded as Jack turned back to the clerk, "One, please," he said quickly, drawing the correct amount of money out of his wallet and placing it onto the counter.
The clerk took the money from Jack and wobbled back into the back room from which he had come, disappearing behind the faded beige curtain. The man chuckled lightly as he went, shaking his head in amusement. After a few moments, Jack and Kate could hear him shuffling around and he returned from behind the curtain with a key in hand and a hand written receipt.
"Here you are then," the man said, reaching over the counter to hand Jack the key to their room, eyes twinkling. "That's just around the corner at the main building, ground level. First room you see on the right, number 603. If you need anything, just give me a ring. You folks have a nice stay, now."
"We will, thank you," Jack replied, taking the key and turning to head out the door. Kate followed quickly behind him, inwardly bubbling with excitement that she was no longer going to worry about reaching Seattle.
After unloading Kate's backpack and Jacks single duffle bag, the two made their way to their room. They found it easily, following the instructions that the man had given them.
Standing outside the door, Jack reaching into his jeans pocket and produced the key and began fumbling with the lock. With a click from the lock, the door swung open, "Kate, are you sure you're alright with this?" Jack said uneasily, not wanting another incident similar to what happened at the last hotel to occur.
Looking up to him, Kate felt her heart began to beat faster, now pounding in her ears. She loved that Jack was so careful about her. It made it so much easier for her to step around the walls that she had built around herself over the years. As if in slow motion, Kate let her backpack slip from her shoulders and fall to the ground. She stepped closer to Jack, slowly closing the distance between them. Hardly knowing what she was doing, Kate lifted her arms, wrapping them tenderly around his neck. She felt her insides flutter with relief when he pulled her into his embrace, holding her firmly in his arms. He pulled her to his chest, one hand pressed firmly to her back while the other gingerly traveled through her hair.
For a long moment, they both just stood safely in each others arms, neither really understanding this sudden feeling of helplessness that had passed over them. Kate hung limply within the circle of his arms, feeling utterly unable to control anything that was happening in her life and for once, seeking shelter in another person.
"We should go inside," Jack whispered ever so lightly in Kate's ear, his breath tickling the skin of her neck. Taking a deep breath, Kate lifted her head from Jack's chest, gently disentangling herself from him. Reaching down beside her, she lifted her backpack up from the ground as he once again threw his duffle bag over his shoulder. Looking her way, Jack's lips twisted into a small grin of reassurance, telling her it was going to be okay. They would worry about Seattle when they got there.
Reaching for her hand, Jack gently laced his fingers in between his own, lightly squeezing her hand. He then led the way into the room, flicking on the light switch with his free hand. Jack and Kate disappeared into the room, setting their stuff down and inspecting the place half heartedly, for their minds were elsewhere. As Jack reached for the door knob to close the door, he used his free hand to once again pull Kate into his arms, this time bringing his face down to lock his lips with her own in a passionate kiss.
A/N: Ha! Now all of you have to wait for Shiggity's chapter to read the "good stuff". I hope you guys liked it anyway. I promise, you'll get your fluff. Just bother Shiggity about it, not me. She's the one who volunteered to do the next fluff chapter so its out of my hands. Although I will be writing some fluff of my own in a few chapters, so look forward to that. Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review!