He didn't spend long at the gym, he had a quick work out on the weights and a thirty minute run on the treadmill. That done, he was beat, it had been a long day. He drove home slowly, tempted to drive faster to get home quicker, but knowing he was too tired to speed, he would probably cause an accident.
The house smelt nice when he opened the door, he could smell food and some sort of fragrance. Kim, he soon realised, was the answer to both smells. She was cooking something in the kitchen and after flicking the living room light switch on it was clear she had been cleaning the place up too, something she never tired off. The place was never messy but still she tidied - it kept her occupied, she had claimed. From what, he didn't dare ask; he knew only too well of what she might want to stop herself from thinking of.
"Hey," she called from the cooker, seeing him over the counter separating the two rooms. "I just got off the phone with Casey, she was giving me hell over you leaving without letting her know you was even there."
"Yeah," he grinned shrugging his jacket off onto the back of the couch and dropping the backpack containing his gym cloths onto the sofa. "How's your day been?"
"Good. College let out early today so I gave the house a mean going over."
"I can tell, which is surprising - I didn't think this place could get any cleaner. You continue to surprise me," he laughed, happy to see her smiling along with him as she checked on her food.
Satisfied it could go unsupervised she left the oven and moved round the breakfast bar to give him a hug. She moved back instantly screeching a high pitched, "dad!" when she realised how sweaty he was. His laughing increased as he hugged her tighter as she laughed and squirmed out of his grip, "you pig go take a shower!"
"Pig? I don't ever remember calling my father a pig!" He joked.
"Yeah well I bet grandpa would take a shower before going near anybody after a session in the gym," she said continuing to jest with him, she enjoyed these moments.
She watched in anticipation for his remark as his face straightened out and his tone turned serious. "No you know your grandpa Bill wouldn't step foot in a gym…"
"Dad," she gasped in mock shock as she slapped him on the arm before pointing down the hallway. "Take a shower, try not to drown, dinner will be ready in 10."
He had a quick, warm shower and was surprised by how much better he felt afterwards, it had certainly woken him up. He padded into his room with a chocolate brown towel wrapped round his waist tightly. He sauntered into his room locking the door behind him before he looked through his draws for a pair of shorts and a tee. After pulling the blue shorts on he dried his hair and chest off while looking about his room, he noticed a box sat at the foot of his bed and sighed.
He stalked over to it surprised he hadn't noticed it until now. It was half full with cloths and on top of that sat a book, some toiletries and a framed photograph of himself and Kate Warner. He closed his eyes as he pulled it out, it was a great photo. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and they were looking at each other, smiling, it was like a personal snapshot of there relationship when it had been at its best. Only it hadn't lasted very long, they both agreed to end it and stay friends a few weeks ago.
The first week without her had been hard but he had felt better during the second, surrounded by his family he realised he and Kate had made the right decision. Three weeks after the separation he took her out to lunch which was surprising nice, they chatted like old friends not ex lovers. As he had dropped her off home she had given him a friendly kiss on the cheek, telling him everything he needed to know. It felt just like that, a sign of appreciation from one friend to another. Appreciation for making the break up as painful as possible, he knew.
She had called two days ago leaving him a message and he had been too busy to call back, things were starting to heat up at CTU. He assumed she had called by with the last of his things and given them Kim. He pulled a neatly folded v neck tee from the box and pulled it on before Kim shouted him, dinner was ready.
They ate quietly making small talk, Kim informing him of her day at college and reminding him that he had tomorrow off of work so there was no need for him to even talk to anybody from CTU. He smirked as he ate thinking about how alike she and Carol were.
"I see Kate dropped the last of my things off, did you see her?"
Kim started to pick at her food and looked a little nervous at the mention of Kate, she hid it well Jack thought, but he wasn't oblivious to it.
"Kim?"
"Do you want the good answer or the bad one?"
"Kim…" he started, annoyance now present in his voice.
"I did see her, but I pretended I didn't. Which I think was the best course of action," she continued in a tone which suggested she had done nothing wrong, "If I had spoken to her things could have gone much worse."
"Did she know you were in and ignoring her stood outside the house like a fool?"
Well that depends on whether she looked through the window or not," she smirked, clearly impressed with her handling of the situation.
"She never did anything wrong to you, you know," he started, sounding fed up.
"She left you," Kim replied quickly sounding equally fed up as she continued to pick at her food.
"Kate did not leave me, it was a joint decision Kim."
"Sure," she said humorously getting a smile from her father despite the annoyance he felt at her words about Kate.
"You can be a real green eyes monster something, y'know?" He knew he had got her back now for her actions.
Kim's head shot up before she smiled seeing the grin on his face, he had her. "Well done dad," she laughed, "but I have to tell you, I don't ever remember grandpa looking so smug after getting one over a child."
"A child? Well I guess you'll be staying in on Friday night doing your homework like all the other children do then?" He laughed, catching the tea towel she tossed at him as she laughed at the thought of staying in on a Friday night.
"I'm falling asleep here," he muttered taking his plate to the sink, "dinner was great thank you," he whispered before giving her a hug and leaving the room.
He shuffled down the hallway stretching his arms over his head as he yawned, smiling at the memory of his father.