Thank you to everyone who has been so good about responding to this. I'm sorry it's taken so long for Chapter Four to be up, but the rest of the story is outlined. . . and there will probably be one or two chapters a week. For anyone who's interested, this is also posted at size=1 width=100% noshade>Kate woke up the next morning with a dull headache pounding in the back of her head. She had made pancakes and scrambled eggs for dinner -- Jack really hadn't been kidding when he said all he had was breakfast food. They had hardly spoken a word while eating, and then Jack had retreated upstairs to his bedroom. Kate had tried to watch television for awhile, but in the end gave up on entertaining herself and went to bed.
She sighed, rolling over onto her stomach and burying her face into the soft pillow. She shouldn't have come, that was all there was to it. There was no need in involving Jack in what her life was now. Kate had hoped that maybe some of that chemistry she had felt on the island would still be there, but obviously it wasn't.
Or maybe the real problem was that obviously it was. She couldn't stand within two feet of Jack without wanting to kiss him. Had it been like that on the island? No. At least not so consistently. Maybe it was the fact that Jack had been close to the only thing on Kate's mind since she'd stepped off that raft. She was startled out of her thoughts by a tapping on the bedroom door.
A few seconds later, Jack opened the door, cautiously peeking his head in. A slow grin spread across his face when he saw her lying there, an expectant smirk upon her face. "Hey. You're awake."
"I'm awake," Kate murmured, her voice slightly hoarse. She snuck a quick glance at the digital beside clock. 9:12. "You have to work today?"
"I'm off, actually," Jack took a step into the room, and cautiously sat down next to Kate on the bed. It shifted under his weight, and Kate readjusted her position, trying to make herself comfortable again.
"I thought maybe I should go to the grocery," Jack smiled. "Maybe we can have something for dinner besides breakfast tonight. Is there anything you want me to pick up?"
Kate chewed on her lower lip, considering telling him that she would just leave, and he could have whatever he wanted for dinner, but something stopped her. She wasn't ready to move on from Jack yet. She cleared her throat, sitting up a little straighter. "Why don't you get some broccoli, and some chicken. I can make a casserole, or something."
Jack nodded wordlessly, unable to take his eyes off her. There was something unnervingly sexy about her tousled bed head and sleepy eyes. She had the ability to captivate him while doing nothing. No one had ever gotten to him like she did.
Leaning close to him, Kate took the list from his hand. As she leaned back, the tips of her hair brushed against his arm, and Jack let out a small gasp. Quickly, he covered it up with a cough, hoping she wouldn't notice the blush that was creeping up his cheeks. "Your list looks good," Kate smiled, handing it back to him. "Do you want me to come with you? It won't take long to get ready."
Jack stood up, quickly shaking his head. "You're joking, right?"
"No," Kate shook her head, throwing the covers off and sitting on the edge of the bed. She looked at him seriously, "I can't just stay in the house all the time, Jack. They're not looking for me anymore. At least, they don't have any reason to be. . . it's not like my picture is on the five o'clock news, or hanging up in the local post office."
The hopeful look on Kate's face was almost enough for Jack to agree, but he couldn't. He shook his head, "Maybe next time, Kate. The grocery store is boring anyway. I won't take long. . ."
She nodded, not letting him see her disappointment. "Maybe next time," she echoed with a nod.
Standing up, Kate walked Jack downstairs and then leaned against the garage door for several minutes after he left. She didn't know what had gotten into her, she shouldn't start being careless just because she wasn't on the run anymore. She shouldn't let the illusion that she was free get the best of her. Free was something that Kate knew she could never really be.
Slightly depressed by where her thoughts had taken her, Kate made her way slowly upstairs to get a shower. Afterwards, she dressed in her freshly washed clothes, and went downstairs to make some coffee. Sitting herself down a stool, she watched the coffee drip down into the pot. Drip, drip, drip. . . so much sitting still was becoming too much for her. . . drip, drip. . . Kate was so caught up in the monotonous dripping that she nearly fell of the stool when the phone rang.
"And you think you can go out in public," she muttered under her breath, making her way into the living room to check Jack's caller I.D. Silverman, Marc. Jack's machine picked up, and Kate waited to see if Silverman, Marc would leave a message.
"Hey Jack, guess your not in, thought you didn't have to work today," a cheerful man's voice spoke. "I haven't seen much of you since you got back, and uh. . . Well, Megan has this friend we think you should meet. I know you don't like when we do this, but come on Jack, it's been long enough since Sarah, don't you think? . . . Besides, it would do you good to get out a little bit. You're not alone on that island anymore. Gimme a call."
Kate stood for a few moments, after Marc hung up, staring at the answering machine. Sarah. Was that whose clothes she had worn yesterday? What had she been to Jack? Just a girlfriend, or a wife? Had she left him or. . . died? Deciding it was best to push it out of her mind, Kate went to take the pot of coffee off. It wasn't like she could just come out and ask Jack about it.
Sipping her coffee, Kate heard the garage door open. She hurried out into the garage to help Jack bring the groceries in. "Think you got enough?" Kate teased as she stared down at the trunk full of bags.
Coming around the car to stand beside her, Jack nudged her out of the way with his hip. "Bet I can carry more than you at one time." He picked up three bags in each hand, winked, and started towards the door.
Kate rolled her eyes and reached into the trunk. Walking into the kitchen she found Jack already unpacking and putting things away. Kate joined in and motioned towards the coffee pot, "I just made it, it's fresh."
Jack stepped over to the coffeepot, pouring himself a mug full and watching Kate as she unpacked the groceries, and searched for a spot for each item. She seemed to fit, in his kitchen, and more importantly in his life. She hadn't even been there 48 hours and Jack already felt panicked by the thought she might leave any given second. He allowed himself to slip deeper and deeper into a fantasy about her staying for a long time, maybe even for good, as she organized his kitchen.
Picking a fruit out of the bag, Kate felt as though she might start crying. "Jack," she whispered. "You got guava." She turned around, the fruit in her hand. It amazed her how such a simple gesture on his part could shake her down to the core.
Jack shrugged as if it were no big deal, taking a long drink of coffee. "I just thought it might bring back some nice memories. . ." She nodded, a small smile on her face, and turned back to putting away the groceries.
Finally, she finished. "I think I know what I'll make us tonight. You have a message on the machine, you might want to go check it." Kate followed Jack into the living room, and as he played his message, she pretended to be interested in the items on his entertainment center. She stopped pretending, when she found something she actually was interested in.
"You have the original Nintendo!" Kate let out a shriek of delight, and turned to face him. In an almost unnoticeable transformation, Jack's expression turned from sullen, into smiling.
"I do," he said with a laugh. "I haven't played it in. . . I don't even remember how long." So she was a Nintendo fan now? He doubted Kate would ever cease to surprise him.
"My best friend and I used to play for hours at a time," Kate said, her eyes dancing. She placed her hands on her hips, and gave him a challenging smirk. "I'll kick your ass at duck hunt."
"Please," Jack returned the smirk, with a roll of his eyes. "I'm the King of Duck Hunt." He quickly set up the game, plugging in one controller and handing the toy gun to Kate.
"Watch, and learn," she instructed, focusing on the TV as the first duck flew across the screen. BANG, down it went. This continued on for several minutes, Kate striking down each and every duck that flew across Jack's television screen. Finally, after what seemed like the thousandth level, Jack let out a loud sigh.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Kate drawled, turning the game on pause. "Did you want a turn, Jack?" She had moved past the ducks now, and was happily shooting clay pigeons into tiny pieces.
"You know," she said thoughtfully, sitting the remote down. "I always wondered why they were clay pigeons, they're really just clay. . . discs. They're not shaped like pigeons."
"I couldn't tell you," Jack shrugged, taking the gun out of her hands. "My turn." He turned out to be much worse than Kate. He managed to hit about one out of every four discs. Finally, he became so aggravated that he tossed down the gun with a scowl. His eyes burned and he didn't think he could take another second of shooting that gun if someone paid him.
"How long have we been playing this?" he murmured, glancing up at the clock. "Jesus Christ, Kate!"
She smiled sheepishly at him. "I thought about stopping you an hour ago, but you looked so intense. I was worried you'd turn the gun on me." She stood and stretched, letting out a long yawn. "I'll go start dinner."
Kate worked quickly, putting together a casserole made of broccoli, cheese and chicken. It was quick and easy, and she knew it was something she probably couldn't screw up. Returning to the living room, she sat down next to Jack. "30 minutes. It comes out in thirty minutes, Jack." She glanced at the TV and saw that Jack had inserted a Mario Brothers cartridge. "Thought you were done?"
"Done with clay pigeons. Mario is a different story," Jack tossed her a controller. "You get to be Luigi."
Five levels later, Jack hadn't died once yet. "You're boring me," Kate whined. He even knew some shortcut where he knocked out the bricks at the top of the screen and ran around until he got to skip levels. Kate had never seen someone so into a game. He cursed at the mushroom men, he egged his little Mario on.
"Sometimes you don't want to be the tall Mario," Jack informed her as a bullet whizzed over his crouched down mini-Mario. Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head, and then an odd smell caught her attention. She sat up straighter, sniffing the air.
Jack noticed, too. "What is that?" he made a sour face. A look of realization came over Kate and she rushed into the kitchen, "No! No, no, no, no, no. . ." She opened the oven and a cloud of smoke billowed out. "Jack, I said thirty minutes!"
Attempting to wave the smoke out of the way, Jack grabbed a pot holder and took the severely burned casserole out of oven. "I wasn't the one making dinner, why was it my job to tell you when to take it out of the oven."
Kate stood, glaring at him, obviously not having an answer. Sighing, Jack picked up the portable phone. "You like Chinese?"
An hour and a half later they were both well fed, and in better moods. Kate disappeared into the kitchen, and returned several minutes later, bowl in hand.
"Feel like dessert?"
Jack smiled, taking a slice of guava and chewing it slowly. "Mmm, tastes like the island."
Kate laughed softly, popping a piece of her own into her mouth. "I'm not sure if that's good or bad. . ." A comfortable silence enveloped them until Kate spoke again. "Do you ever miss anything about it?"
"No," Jack's response was automatic. He sighed, "maybe. It was just easier, with no one really knowing anything real about me. Everyone knew I was a doctor, but other than that. . ." His voice trailed off and he shrugged. "Can't say I'd go back though."
"Yeah," Kate agreed softly, not really having much of a response. Jack had been the only one who'd known that she was the prisoner for so long that part the time she spend on the island that didn't feel like her anymore. That feeling had passed quickly though, especially once she had to tell everyone she had been the one with the marshal. Glancing over at Jack, she caught him staring at her. "What?"
He sat the bowl of fruit down, and leaned closer. "You really do have a lot of freckles." Kate blushed, and quickly glanced away. She knew he was referencing Sawyer. He probably wanted to know if she thought about him, maybe even why it hadn't been his place she'd shown up at. She wasn't going to play that game though.
"So I've heard."
Jack brought his hand up to her cheek, and tucked a curl behind her ear. "I'm glad you're here."
"Me too," she agreed with a smile.
Kate saw it coming before he leaned in, and even though deep down she knew it was probably a bad idea, she did nothing to stop it. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck, almost inviting it.
And as Jack's lips softly touched hers, Kate knew she wouldn't be the first to pull away.
