Chapter #3
Jack's mind was in another place as his body drove back to the hotel. He was surprised to find himself already in the parking lot. He sighed as he turned off the ignition and stepped out, slamming the door behind him. The door of his room also took a beating as he stormed in and collapsed on his bed. He was frustrated with himself for not having found her earlier, for allowing them to take her away from him in the first place. He should have done more to stop them; he should have fought harder. He let out a ragged sigh, knowing no matter how hard he fought he would have lost her to them eventually. They did have the advantage of numbers and weapons.
Jack had lived through hell in the last ten days, not knowing where she was, not being able to be there for her. He had made a promise to her that he would always be there, a promise that had taken some time for her to believe, but there she was, sitting in a prison cell all alone, broken. He had never expected it to turn out this way. Any time his thoughts had touched on rescue, he imagined calmly explaining the situation, getting a lawyer and winning a court case. He chastised himself for not being prepared. Kate's one big mistake in life had been running. It made her look guilty. The case had been closed before ever truly being opened. He knew they would have their work cut out for them to re-open and win this case. He knew he should get out the phone book and start calling lawyers now, that he should be calling the investigators who had been in charge of her case, but he couldn't force his exhausted body to do anything more right now. Laying fully clothed on the still fully made bed, Jack fell into a troubled sleep.
Jack grimaced as he tried to find a more comfortable position. His back was killing him, and rightly so. He had been sitting on the floor for the past two days. He was camped out as close to the office of the head of the Sydney police force as he could get. He had managed to get through the main desk, but couldn't enter the more restricted section unaccompanied. The man he was waiting for, superintendent Shaffer, was well aware of his presence. Jack had talked to him briefly the day before, but the older man had brushed him off. Jack had nodded and calmly told the man he would wait. He made sure to make eye contact with Shaffer ever time he passed by. The uniform at the front desk had taken pity on him and brought him a bottle of water, but other than that he had not eaten in almost forty-eight hours. He wasn't about to leave, though. He wouldn't leave until he had the information he had come for.
The ominous door to his left opened and Shaffer stepped out, motioning him to get up. He was much older than Jack, probably in his mid-sixties, with grey hair and a stern expression. "Okay, son I get the point. You are obviously not going to leave me alone. Come to my office. I'll give you ten minutes, then I'll have two of my officers escort you out of my building."
Jack nodded and followed his through the door. "Thank-you, Sir."
Shaffer led him down a hallway and into a large office at the end. "Mr. Shepard was it?"
Jack nodded.
"You mentioned something about your girlfriend getting arrested?"
"She was taken into federal custody. Six days ago. I need to know where she was taken."
Shaffer raised an eyebrow. "Federal custody, huh? And what makes you think I can help you?" He asked.
"Because I spent four days fighting with the consulate, who told me you would know. They said this was your town and you would know where every federal convict came from and was taken to. They said you were the man to go to."
Shaffer allowed himself an inward grin. He was impressed with the way this man handled himself. This Mr. Shepard was obviously much younger than himself, but his eyes were much older. This man had not had an easy life. Shaffer had developed into a very good judge of character over the years, and he was impressed with this young man, very impressed. "Well, Mr. Shepard, your consulate, American I assume, was correct. Now there are correct channels to go through to obtain this information, which I assure you takes quite some time, however, you have proved to be quite determined. I assume that if I sent you away, even if I have you escorted out of the building, that you will not cease to leave me alone?"
Jack nodded, not breaking eye-contact. "You assume correct."
"As I believed. You know I have always found you Americans to be quite annoying." He joked.
Jack smiled.
Shaffer turned to his computer and promptly typed in a password, bringing up the screen. "What is the name of your lady friend?"
"Kate Austin."
Shaffer typed in the name and scanned down the result. "Ah, here we go, been on the run since she was a teenager, spotted outside the United States, taken into custody in Australia in September 2004. 2004? Is this some kind of joke? You told me she was arrested six days ago."
"Keep reading," Jack prompted him.
"Put on plane to the states, flight 815, plane was never seen again. Was found with group of survivors in October 2006, taken into custody and put on flight for the second time. Blimey," the older man's façade slipped momentarily as understanding washed over him. He looked at Jack. "I knew you looked familiar. You've been on the front page of every damn newspaper for the passes week." He reached over and picked up a newspaper from the table beside his desk to make a point.
Jack nodded. "I need to know where she was taken."
Shaffer scrolled down. "Flight to Newark National Airport, to a holding cell in the city. She would have been transferred to somewhere more permanent soon after, but I'm afraid I don't have access to that information."
"She's already been taken back to the States?" Jack asked. "When?"
"Four days ago."
"Damnit!" Jack slammed his hand down on the table, all the frustration he felt boiling together. "I've spent the last week fighting with people, and she hasn't even been in the country for most of that time. Why couldn't someone just tell me that?"
Shaffer remained silent, knowing the younger man was not looking for a verbal answer from him. He actually felt sorry for him.
Jack took a shuddering breath and pulled his emotions back into check. He sighed. "I'm sorry."
Shaffer shook his head. "Don't worry about it, totally understandable." He passed Jack a sheet of paper, "here is the contact information for the holding cell. They should be able to tell you where she was taken, or at least direct you to someone who can."
Jack took the paper. "Thank-you so much for your help."
"My pleasure. God luck, son." Shaffer offered a hand, which Jack shook.
Jack had promptly returned to his hotel room, called the airport and booked himself a flight. It wasn't until the plane had already taken off that he realized he was on a plane again. He took a deep breath and settled his suddenly frantic nerves, convincing himself that it was practically statistically impossible for the same person on the same flight path could be in two plane crashes in the same lifetime. He took one of the sleeping pills that the doctor on the rescue boat had prescribed. Most of the flight was spent in a deep, dreamless sleep. Upon landing, he got a rental car, and drove to the address on the sheet. It was late and the uniform at the front desk had told him to come back in the morning, and although Jack fought it at first, he eventually gave up and booked himself into a hotel room for the night. He returned early in the morning to get the same run around that he usually did, but after another sit in, he eventually got the necessary information.
It took him most of the day to drive to the prison, only to be told visiting hours were over and to come back the following day. Finally, after six days of fighting with people in Australia, two days of fighting in the US, one day of driving, one sleepless night of knowing she was so close and almost forty-five minutes of security checks, he had found himself sitting in front of her, holding a phone.
Kate awoke early in the morning, wincing slightly as she got up. You'd think that after two years of sleeping on the ground that she could deal with a hard, thin mattress. She stretched, trying to work out the knots and moved behind her bed to change. The cells were set up to give very little privacy. She had a twin size bed, small dresser, desk and surprisingly, a television. She had turned it on the first day she had been here, but all she could find were newscasts of the story she didn't want to hear anymore about. She had not turned it on since. All of her meal were brought to her and slid through a hole in the door. She was taken out once a day for exercise. They had slowly begun integrating her with a few select others during her time in the 'gym.' It was her understanding that newcomers have very little contact with others and are carefully tested to see where their social boundaries are. Eventually she would have meals in the food hall, and go to class and even have the option of therapy. But Kate really didn't want social contact, she didn't want to talk, she had barely said a word to any of the guards and had not even uttered a single word to any of the other inmates.
She picked at the breakfast that had been brought; she rarely had an appetite these days. She had now been living in the small ten by ten cell for almost three weeks. Jack, true to his word had been to see her every day for the past two weeks. He had found her a lawyer, who was working hard on re-opening the case. Even a few of her fellow survivors had been to see her, although she wished they hadn't. Although Hurley, Charlie and Claire and even Sawyer had believed their actions to be supportive, Kate had been devastated. It was bad enough that Jack had to see her like this, but others as well? She was ashamed of herself, of how she must look to them, of the pity in their eyes. She hated the look of helplessness she saw in his eyes every time he came to see her. He seemed so determined to clear her name, but Kate had accepted her fate. She was going to die in this building. She was never getting out. She didn't want to deal with his daily promises of hope, with the meetings with the lawyer. She was ready to give up.
"Ms. Austin, you have a visitor," the security guard standing outside her cell pulled her thought back to the present.
Kate saw Jack already sitting on the other side of the table when she was led into the stale room. She was seated and handcuffed as usual. She had to force herself to return the encouraging smile Jack produced on the other side of the thick glass. She picked up the phone.
"Hey, you sleep okay? You look tired."
Kate shrugged. "I'm okay," she really didn't feel like talking.
"Are you sure? Cause you look like something's bothering you," Jack pushed.
Kate almost laughed. Of course something was bothering her. She was in prison. Everything was bothering her. "Yeah, well…" She trailed off.
Jack understood. "You just seem really down today. You've been getting lower for the passed week, but you seem really low today."
Kate rolled her eyes. "Thanks doctor for keeping tabs on me." She said sarcastically.
"Hey, that's not fair."
Kate sighed and averted his eyes, knowing he was right. She felt tears fighting their way into the back of her eyes. She knew how hard this was on him. "I'm sorry." She tentatively looked back up.
Jack sighed. "It's okay, Kate. You're living in hell right now. I get that and I understand. Just remember, we're in this together. I'm not going to give up. We're going to get you out of here."
It was then that she realized. Jack was undoubtedly an amazing man. He was understanding, loyal, heroic, famous and not too hard on the eyes either. And this amazing, wonderful man was going to spend the rest of his life in love with someone he couldn't be with. He didn't deserve that. He deserved so much better than he. Kate couldn't let that happen.
"Jack," she started.
"Kate, don't," he said, immediately recognizing her tone.
"Jack," she repeated. "You have to stop. This is killing you. You need to fix things, but you can't fix this. I'm not going to get out and we're not going to live happily ever after. We both know this. Now, God knows how much I love you, but we can't keep going like this."
"Yes, we can."
"No. No, we can't. Give it up, Jack. It's over."
"No, its not."
"Yes, it is. We can't be together, Jack. I need for you to leave this place today, call the lawyer and tell him to stop and then move on with you life. You're a great man Jack. Go and live you life to the fullest. Please don't come back." Kate felt her hand shaking. She had to get out of there soon or he was going to see her cry and she knew he'd never leave her while she was crying. She did her best to look neutral as she went to hang up the phone.
"Don't you dare," came the voice from the other end.
AN: So sorry for the really long delay. I kind of momentarily lost interest in the show, but it's coming back. Again, I don't know much about the criminal justice system, so if you do and I have anything wrong, please let me know. Thanks for reading, and to everyone who has reviewed. Oh, and to FanOfLOST, I totally agree about the whole 'sweetie' thing. I actually spent like 5 whole minutes debating that. I knew it was out of character, but I really wanted him to call her something that wasn't Kate, and I thought Katie was out cause it doesn't sound right and I think that was what her mom called her. So I was left with pet names, and I don't see Jack as a 'babe' kind of guy. So I thought 'sweetie' seemed kind of neutral. What do you think he would call her? If anyone who is still reading this far has any ideas on matter, I'd love to hear them. Anyway, hopefully I will update again soon.