Author's Note: Chapter Three! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR AMAZING COMMENTS! Sorry it's been so long but I've been busy with classes! I hope everyone joins. Also, I am looking for a beta-reader if anyone is interested!
P.S. Who's excited about Jack seeing Kate in the shower on Wed!
Chapter Three
Kate awoke the next morning to the very distinct smell of coffee. And in a comfortable bed, none-the-less. A very comfortable bed. She jerked up, her eyes darting around the room, her nerves on edge. Where was she? Suddenly, all the events of the previous evening came rushing back.
She was with Jack.
Letting that thought sink in, she relaxed back into the pillows. A happy sigh escaped her lips, and she almost drifted back to sleep. However, the thought of Jack downstairs, and the smell of coffee became too much. She threw back the covers and got out of bed, heading for the door. However, the quick glance of herself she caught in the full length mirror stopped her. Her clothes were very wrinkly, and a bit sweaty. Frowning at her reflection, Kate tried to figure what to do about it.
Her gaze fell upon the robe draped across the chair next to her bed. Quickly discarding her clothing, she slipped the robe on, making sure it was tied securely. She took the steps downstairs two at a time and breezed into the kitchen. "It's like one of those Foldger's commercials!"
Jack looked up from the paper he was reading, a bit startled by her sudden appearance, and puzzled by her remark. He gave her a questioning look, and stood up, making his way to the coffeemaker and pouring her a cup.
Taking the coffee from him, she smiled. "You know, something like Jimmy gets home for the holidays in the middle of the night and wakes the entire house up with the smell of coffee. And then the whole family gathers 'round the table and they all embrace!" She took a sip.
Jack laughed and shook his head, "Whatever you say, Kate." His eyes traveled across her body, and for a split second he wondered what, if anything, she had on under the robe. He quickly pushed the thought from his mind. As he tried to focus on something else, he noticed how small she looked in his robe. She was so tiny.
"Have you been eating alright, Kate?" Jack questioned, taking a step closer to her. He cupped her face in his hands, and looked into her eyes. Despite her happy expression, she looked exhausted. "Do you sleep okay?" Kate had been thin on the island, but she seemed even skinnier now. And she didn't have weight on her to lose. "Let me make you breakfast, alright?" She even looked paler, which he supposed could be attributed to the fact she probably wasn't baking herself in the sun for numerous hours a day.
Kate smiled at his concern. That was one of the parts of him she'd missed most. Hardly anyone in her life had ever seemed to care about her well-being as much as he did. "I'm fine, Jack. Really. Things have been rough, but I've been eating. And sleeping. And you don't have to fix me anything, I've never been much of a breakfast person."
Jack was almost annoyed at her lack of concern for herself. She had never seemed to want to put her well-being first, and that had driven him crazy on the island. Clearing his throat, he sat back down. "I have to be into work in an hour, but feel free to make yourself comfortable again. There's a shower two doors down from the room you stayed in last night, and I can show you where the laundry room is. . ."
Kate sat her mug down on the counter. He wanted her to stay another night? Did she even want to, could she? "Jack," she started. "I don't want to --"
"There has to be some reason you came here, Kate," Jack interrupted her. He glanced out the window, as if trying to find the right words. "We haven't even gotten a chance to talk yet. You don't have to leave. It's not like you have anywhere you have to be, right?"
Momentarily stung by his last few words, Kate glanced down at her feet. "No. Nowhere I have to be. . ." She took a seat on the stool next to him. "I've been in a small Oregon town."
Giving her his full attention, Jack nodded, waiting for her to continue. "Really small. Hardly anyone has a TV, I don't think they'd even heard about the rescue. I worked at a little diner, slept in an abandoned van. It was okay for awhile, I mean, there was no way anyone would have ever found out who I really was. They just knew me as Lilly. But after awhile I. . ." she stopped talking for a moment, and looked away from him.
"I just wanted someone to call me by my name. I just wanted to be me for a little while again. And I knew you lived in L.A., so I took a train. I didn't know where anyone else lived, and you really weren't too far from where I'd been staying. . ." Kate shrugged, that was as much of an explanation as she could give him. She didn't want to delve into the fact that she'd been wanting to see him since the second she stepped off that raft.
Her reason for choosing him wasn't exactly what Jack had been hoping for, but it was good enough. She was here now, that was all that mattered. The reasons why weren't what was important. He wanted her to stay for as long as she needed.
Jack was silent for several moments, not knowing quite what to say. "Come upstairs, I want to show you something."
Interested, Kate followed Jack back upstairs to the bedroom she had spent the night in. He stood for a moment, in front of the closet doors, just staring at them. Finally, he opened them, revealing to her an entire woman's wardrobe. It was nearly a full minute before he spoke, "I think. . . I think she was a little taller than you. But everything should fit okay. If you don't want to wear that robe all day, you can take whatever you want out of here."
Kate stared at him, confused. Who was a little taller than her? These clothes had belonged to a woman, but who? Not his mom, she figured. They looked more like something someone younger would wear. Had a woman been living here with Jack? Who was she? Instead of asking any of these questions, she just nodded, "Thanks, Jack."
Jack spent the next several minutes giving Kate the tour of rooms she would need to use during the day. The large bathroom contained a whirlpool bathtub, and Kate decided she was definitely going to take a soak in it before her visit was done. The laundry room was downstairs, off of the kitchen, and he began to explain how to work the washing machine.
Kate interrupted him with her laugh. "It's okay, Jack. I'm not that primitive, I've used a washing machine before." She began to play with her hair as another awkward silence fell over them. Glancing around the laundry room, she began to mentally panic. Why was it this way? Maybe all her fears were right, and they wouldn't be able to get along in the real world. Maybe whatever they had shared on the island, whatever feelings she might have had for him, had meant nothing.
When she looked up to him, Jack was staring at her intensely, a small smile on his face. "What?" she asked softly.
"It's just that I can't believe it," Jack said shaking his head. "That you're here, Kate. I . . . I wondered about you, you know? I hoped you were okay." He stepped forward, and in one quick motion, had her wrapped in a hug. He held her tightly, and whispered into her hair, "I'm really glad you're okay, Kate."
Kate allowed herself to wrap her arms around him. The only time she'd ever been this close to him before was their good-bye hug on the island. Then she hadn't wanted to let go, she'd been afraid she'd never see him again. Now she was afraid that if she released him, what she was feeling would disappear, and she wouldn't be able to find it again.
Jack pulled away first. Not completely though, just far enough to look into her eyes. She stared back wordless, and the overwhelming desire to kiss him seized her. But she didn't. Clearing his throat, he spoke, "I better go, Kate. I have some paperwork to do. I'll see you tonight. You don't have to wait up."
With that he was gone, and she was left alone feeling more overwhelmed and confused than she had in a long time.
In the span of three hours Kate had put her clothes into wash (along with some of Jack's, she couldn't just wash hers alone, now could she?), showered, dressed in an outfit (that, in her own humble opinion, was entirely WASPy and bland for anyone to look good in) from the closet, put all the clothes into the dryer, washed dishes, and cleaned Jack's living room. She had allowed her hair to dry in its usual messy style of curls. As she glanced in a mirror she noticed that her particular coif didn't exactly match the style of clothes she was wearing. Kate felt as though she should be blonde. And maybe tan. She just didn't feel right in a stiff-collared polo, and she probably never would.
Then, Kate tried to read magazines. That lady who had been on Lois and Clark, the old Superman show, on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. That baseball team from Boston on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Tom Cruise and the girl from Dawson's Creek on the cover of People. Charlie and Claire on the cover of People.
That one stopped her. They looked so happy. Charlie was smiling at Claire, and Claire was gazing down at Aaron. The photographer had captured such a real moment between the two of them, that Kate had to try and catch her breath.
The article about them was absolutely beautiful. They had fallen in love on the island, they said. And they were living together now! And Charlie had proposed, two weeks after their rescue. Why wait, he told People. When you're in love, you just go for it.
Without knowing it, Kate had been crying. Crying out of happiness for her one-time friends, crying for things she would never be able to have. Hearing the front door open, and Jack's footsteps nearing, she quickly tried to wipe her tears.
"You're home early!" she exclaimed, hoping he hadn't seen her wipe away the few salty remains from her pity-fest.
Clearly, from the look in Jack's eyes, he had. However, he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he just nodded and her and headed over to a small cabinet and twisted a knob, opening it. He took out a bottle of whiskey, and poured himself a glass. "You look nice, Kate."
She laughed, and tried to ignore how weird she thought it was that the first thing he did when he got home was pour himself a drink. "Hard day, Jack?"
"Not really," Jack said, honestly. He took a long drink, and then refilled his glass. "Not too much to deal with today. The chief surgeon sent me home, told me I'd been working too hard, needed a break." He held up his glass. "Want something?"
Kate almost agreed, but then shook her head. "No, I'm okay. . ." She glanced around the room, trying to come up with a topic. "Did you see Charlie and Claire on People?"
Jack laughed, taking a seat on the couch next to her. "Yeah, he even sent me an autographed copy, it's around here somewhere. Their wedding is in a couple weeks actually, they're getting married here in the states. He told me neither one of them is too eager to get back on a plane yet. . ." He fell silent when he saw the expression on Kate's face.
She had become lost in thought. She should be able to attend her friend's wedding. . . but would they even have wanted her there? They all knew about her now, it had to have changed some of their feelings.
Jack spoke again, his voice softer. "Claire told me she wished you could be there, Kate. She said it wasn't fair that the woman who delivered Aaron wouldn't be able to come, wouldn't get to see how he grew up."
"He was such a beautiful baby," Kate said, her tone even, void of emotion. "He must be getting so big now, they must be so happy." She trailed off, and fell silent for several seconds. She then shook her head, and smiled at Jack. "You must be hungry, let me make us dinner."
Jack raised his eyebrows, an amused smile spread across his face. "You can cook, Kate? I never imagined you to be quite that. . . Domesticated."
Kate rolled her eyes, and stood up, hands on her waist. "I'm quite the homemaker. I even washed your clothes for you today, you're welcome, by the way. And I don't know how you didn't notice," she made an exaggerated gesture around his living room. "But I cleaned up for you today! Really, Jack, I don't know how someone as anal as you can live in such a mess. . ."
"I am not anal," Jack challenged, standing up, and setting his drink down. "And this wasn't a mess. It was just cluttered. A very organized clutter."
Kate took a step towards him, smiling brightly. "I can't even imagine what your bedroom must look like. Do you ever make your bed, Jack? And I'm afraid to even go look in your fridge. Do you leave it a mess too? Are there going to be living creatures in there?"
Jack smirked, taking another step forward, closing any gap remaining between the two. "You'll be lucky to find anything in there. Breakfast is the only meal I cook. Other than that, I eat at the hospital or take-out. The only time food ever gets fixed here is the once every other week my mother comes over for dinner. And I usually buy something pre-made at the grocery."
Kate laughed, leaning in a little. "Oh, and I bet that --" She stopped, mid-sentance, and for the first time noticed how close to two of them had become. Just an inch closer, and her lips would be touching his.
He seemed to have noticed the same detail, and quickly cleared his throat, taking a half a step back.
Tucking a curl behind her ear, Kate took a few steps back, towards the kitchen. "Well, I'll. . . I'll just go see what I can whip up then. . . Anything you especially want?"
Jack quickly shook his head, picking his drink back up again. "No, anything you can find is good." With that, she disappeared into the kitchen and he heard cabinets and drawers banging open and shut.
Refilling his glass, he took a drink and turned the television on, silently cursing himself for once again, letting the perfect opportunity slip away.
