Now, I really thought this was going to be a short chapter. However, it took a hold of itsself and just went crazy. There's a character in this chapter who was never supposed to make an appearence in this story, but she kind of just invited herself in -- and this is what came of it.

Also, the original character I promised you is in here, as well. I hope you enjoy him!

I am thinking that this fic is going to run about twenty chapters. . . so we're over half done.

As always thank you all for reading -- and I hope you like this chapter because I do. Something you should remember as you read this is that Kate has not told Jack what she did. Nothing about her past. Just so that's clear.

And per usual, a special thank you to Gabbi 'cause without her encouragement and all around awesomeness these chapters would just never get finished.


Chapter Twelve

Two and a half hours and twenty speeches -- that had nothing to do with Jack -- later Kate was more bored than she could ever remember being in her life. Hardly anyone had even talked to her yet, outside of Margo, who had given her a somewhat obligatory peck on the cheek upon her and Jack's arrival. So much for people wandering who she was, no one even seemed to care there was a woman with Jack.

His aunt Marti had introduced herself, but had forgotten to ask for Kate's name. A few of Jack's high school friends shook her hand, A hefty man with a cigar Jack was talking to, pointed to Kate, laughed heartily and told him, "That's quite a catch you've got there, son. They don't make 'em like that too often anymore!" Kate hadn't wanted to stick around to find out what he had meant by the comment, she had excused herself, and was now sitting alone watching the action take place.

She was just about to finish her sugar-cube sculpture of the Eiffel Tower when Jack, who had been off shmoozing with God-knows-who for God-know-how long, rushed over to her. He grabbed her by the elbow, causing her Eiffel Tower to fall to the table. "Hey! I had been working on that for fifteen minutes!"

Jack gave her an odd look, "Those are for tea, not for you to play with. Come on, there's someone I want you to meet."

"Someone you want me to meet?" Kate asked incredulously. She didn't move from out of her seat, "No, I don't want to meet anyone. At least not if they are like the two hundred other people who are here. Which I'm sure they are because apparently your aunt put an ad in the paper seeking the most boring, self-centered people in Los Angeles!"

Jack let go of her arm, "What is your problem?"

"I don't see why you wanted me to come tonight, Jack," Kate shook her head. "You're doing fine by yourself. I'm sitting here, alone, making buildings out of sugar cubes!"

"I'm sorry," Jack told her, glancing quickly over his shoulder. "I know I keep getting distracted. But do you know what the one thing is that every single person I've had a conversation has said to me?"

Kate gave him a withering look. "What?"

Jack smiled, leaning over and brushing his lips across her cheek. "How absolutely stunning my date is."

Kate smiled in spite of herself, "Nice try. Okay, who is this you want me to meet?"

"I've been looking for them all night, but they just got here. She works at a nursing home, and she had to stay over today," Jack took her hand and led her over to where a man and woman stood. They looked nice, she decided. Not quite like the rest of the bunch. She smiled at them awkwardly, waiting for Jack to speak.

Instead, the other man spoke first, stepping forward and wrapping Kate into a hug. As he let her go, she saw his wide smile, "It is so good to actually meet you, Kate. I'm not gonna lie. For awhile, we thought Jack was making you up! When he told me that a woman he'd met in Australia before the crash had looked him up in America, I was sure he was full of it!"

Kate glanced from the man to Jack, confused. Jack laughed, and placed his hand on Kate's back. "Kate, this is my best friend, Marc Silverman, and his lovely wife, Megan. We're still trying to figure out why she puts up with him."

Marc started to say something, but Kate interrupted. "Oh, you're the one who calls and tries to set him up on dates!"

Marc laughed, "Guilty as charged. Jack hadn't been on too many dates in a long time, so Megan and I do our best --"

Interrupting him with a laugh, Megan spoke, "Marc does his best."

"I do my best," Marc said, smiling at his wife. "To try and find some solid women for Jack here to date. He's never been very good at picking them out for himself, so I've just been offering him some help lately. He kept telling me he didn't need. He said that he'd found himself the perfect girl all on his own. I guess you were telling the truth after all, Jackie."

"Well," Kate said slowly. "Not quite the whole truth."

"Oh?" Jack looked to her, not sure what she was getting at. "And how's that?"

Kate smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I found you."

"Yes, you did," Jack agreed in a whisper, leaning over just slightly so that his lips met hers.

Their moment was interrupted by a collective, "Awww." They glanced up to where Marc and Megan were smiling at them.

"I'm sorry," Megan said. "We don't mean to be rude. It's just that we've both wanted to Jack to be happy --- really, truly happy for quite sometime now. And it looks like you've worked your magic on him, Kate."

"You'd better not let her go, Jack," Marc warned him. "I can't remember the last time I saw you so happy."

"I'm doing my best," Jack assured him, sharing a meaningful glance with Kate. If only it were that easy to hold onto her.

Kate smiled softly, reaching over and squeezing Jack's hand. "You know I'm not going anywhere."

"You two seem so close," Megan said, smiling. "And you haven't been together that long, have you? That's the best kind of love, you know. The kind that hits you when you're not expecting it. How long are you planning on staying here with Jack, Kate? Are you going to be moving to California?"

"I'm just kind of playing it by ear for right now," Kate said softly, sneaking a quick glance at Jack. "We're not really sure what the future holds for us."

Marc grinned at them. "So no plans for marriage in the near future?"

There was one topic they'd managed to avoid. Jack's hand immediately moved from Kate's back, and she stiffened, taking half a step away from him. Clearing her throat, she glanced across the room to where Margo seemed to be having some kind of fight with Marti. After a few seconds, Margo stomped out of the room, and Kate turned her attention back to Jack, Marc and Megan.

Plastering on a smile, Kate spoke, "That's something we haven't discussed."

"It's something I think about though," Jack said, not taking his eyes off Kate. "In fact, I've thought about it a lot. How about you?"

Kate tried to steer the conversation in a humorous direction, "If that's a proposal, your style really needs worked on."

Jack shook his head, still staring at her intently. "No. It wasn't a proposal."

Kate gave a short nod, "I didn't think so. If you wouldn't mind excusing me, I need to take a quick trip to the powder room." Smiling at both Megan and Marc, she quickly walked out of the ball room in search of a restroom.

Several minutes later, Kate returned to the room to find Jack seated at a new table next to Marc and Megan. His mother was across from him, looking a little less miffed than she had when Kate had seen her storm out of the room. She took her seat next to Jack, smiling a hello at Margo.

Kate was about to speak when Jack's aunt stood up, and clanged her spoon against her glass. After the room had fell silent, Margo spoke, "I spent many hours trying to come up with just the right gift for Jack's fortieth birthday! I couldn't come up with anything that seemed special enough. And then one night last week, the perfect idea hit me!"

She smiled at the sea of faces, then turned her attention to Jack. "So for your birthday, I had someone from your not-so-distant past flown in! I had made some calls to find out who a few of the friends you made on that island were. I was going to try to bring a bunch of people in, but everyone was just so busy! It is almost Christmas, so that's understandable. But, I digress. . . Jack, my birthday present to you is a visit from your dear island friend, Hugo Reyes!"

There was a moment of silence where Jack and Kate shared a quick panicked look. Then the audience slowly began to clap, and Hurley walked into the room from a side door. He waved to the clapping people, and a few cameras flashed. As Hurley made his way across the room towards them, Kate leaned into Jack, "What the hell do we do about this?" They both cast a quick glance toward Margo, and she smiled, then winked.

"Jack!" Hurley called as he approached their table. The clapping died down and everyone turned back to their own conversations as Jack stood up, and the two shared a quick hug. "How have you been, buddy? I haven't heard from you in awhile!"

Hurley turned his attention towards Kate, "And you have yourself a girlfriend now! You were always too busy playing doctor to pay attention to any of the hotties that crashed with us, Jack!" He leaned into Kate, as though telling her a secret, although the whole table could hear. "There was this one girl in particular who I knew had a thing for him. Jack never really seemed to catch the signals she was sending him. But I guess that worked out for the best because I don't think Jack could have found anyone nearly as beautiful as you are."

Kate blushed, and stuck out her hand. "Well, aren't you sweet? It's nice to meet you, Hugo. I'm Kate."

"Kate," Hurley repeated with a nod, taking her hand and shaking it. "You can call me Hurley."

Everyone at their table was more than anxious to hear Jack and Hurley share their accounts of antics on the island. Kate was surprised at how sad she was to be left out of stories that she had been a part of. She felt as though she actually was dead.

When she could take no more, she excused herself from the table and made her way back towards the bathroom. Opening the door she was surprised to find a blonde woman perched on the couch, crying. Her make-up ran down her face, and she didn't seem to notice that someone else had entered the room.

Kate sighed and sat down next to her, taking a handkerchief from her clutch. At least someone was having a worse night than her. She held it towards the woman, "Are you alright?"

The woman took it without glancing at Kate, and loudly blew her nose. Folding the handkerchief up in her hand, the blonde sobbed out a spew of slurred words unrecognizable to Kate. Ah, so the lady was depressed and drunk.

Kate did her best to be sympathetic. "I'm not having the best time either. Do you want to talk about it?"

The blonde finally turned her attention to Kate, "Have you ever done anything so stupid that you've hated yourself for it ever since you did it?"

Kate nodded, "Of course I have. Is that what happened to you tonight?"

"Not exactly," the woman seemed to calm down a little bit, and dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief. "I actually made a huge mistake quite some time ago. I came here tonight thinking I could fix it, but I was wrong. Very, very wrong."

She offered the handkerchief back to Kate, and Kate shook her head, motioning for her to keep it. "Are you sure there's no way you can fix it? It couldn't have been that horrible a mistake, could it have?" For some reason, Kate felt much more comfortable sitting in the bathroom giving advice to the strange sobbing blonde than she had out at the table with Jack and Hurley.

"I came here to fix things with my ex-husband," the blonde's eyes filled with tears ago, and she bawled for a few minutes in the handkerchief. "I really, really wanted to fix things. I was going to try my hardest. You see the dress I'm wearing? It was my wedding dress."

Kate thought to herself she would have never picked out such an informal dress to get married in, but kept her mouth closed and silently nodded, urging the woman on.

"As soon as I got here I saw him, standing in a corner, chatting it up with some old man. Every feeling I had ever had for him came rushing back! He is just such a beautiful man. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I wanted him back even more than I already had intended to want him back tonight," her arms flew in frantic circles as she talked, and her words were starting to make no sense.

Kate was confused. "If he's so beautiful, then why are you divorced?"

"He had a lot of issues," the blonde nodded, pushing a strand of hair that had fallen from her updo out of her face. "I'm sure he still does even though I hear he's gotten better when it comes to most of them. His main problem was that he always had to be doing something, fixing something. I think sometimes he forgot he was married. Oh, and I had an affair." She waved her hand dismissively as though the last fact meant nothing.

Tilting her head to the side, Kate continued out with her questioning. "Did you try talking to him? Why are you sitting in here crying, instead of out there with him?"

"I did talk to him," the woman's voice came out a squeak as she tried to hold back her tears. "And he told me he's involved with someone. Seriously involved with someone. He said she's here tonight, and that he would rather not introduce me to her. Can you believe that? The least the bastard could do is introduce me to the woman that's so much better than who he was married to. So I found a table as far away from his as a could and drank a whole bottle of wine. I'm starting to feel kind of better, actually."

Kate started to speak, but the woman went on, throwing her arms so far out to the side, Kate had to shift her weight in order to avoid being hit. "Why am I surprised? He's an adult, I've been with people since him! But everyone said he had such a tough time getting over me. I bet you I could have called him up a thousand times and we would have gotten back together! Why did I wait so long?"

Before Kate could respond, the woman was in a stall, getting sick. Kate sighed and made a face, waiting for her to finish. How did she manage to get herself into these kinds of messes?

A few moments later, the blonde stumbled out of the stall, crashing against the wall. Kate stood, reaching out to help her, but the blonde moved too quickly. "Now where did I put my purse? I really need to get out of here."

Motioning towards the couch, Kate shook her head. "How about you sit right here and let me arrange a ride home for you? I'll be right back."

Quickly making her way out of the bathroom, Kate walked over to where Margo was laughing at something Hurley had just said. Even in her hurried pace, Kate took time to stop and notice how odd it was to see Margo laughing at something. Maybe she was getting laid.

Laying a hand on Margo's shoulder, Kate spoke softly, "Could you come to the restroom with me real quick? I need some. . . assistance."

Margo and Jack both glanced at her as though she was crazy, but then Margo nodded. "All right, Katherine. . . If you'll excuse me, everyone. I will be back shortly."

"There's this woman in the bathroom," Kate spoke in a low voice as she did her best to walk quickly and not stumble in her high heels. "Apparently, she was here tonight to get back with her ex-husband but he's with someone else, and she wants to drive home, but she's really drunk . . ."

"I'll see what I can do," Margo muttered, pushing open the bathroom door. As soon as she saw the woman sitting on the coach, she cast a startled glance in Kate's direction.

"Sarah, what the hell are you doing?"

Kate watched bewildered as Sarah looked up at them, "Margo? How do you know Margo?"

Kate glanced back and forth from the two. "I - I. . ."

"Oh my God," Sarah placed her head in her hands and began to laugh. "Oh my God, oh my God. You're her, aren't you?"

"I'm Kate," Kate spoke softly, and took a step back. "You're Jack's Sarah." She glanced at Margo. "She's Jack's Sarah."

Margo waved her hand dismissively, "Oh, Katherine. She hasn't been Jack's Sarah in a very long time. Now Sarah, let me call you a cab. What are you doing showing up here anyway?"

"Marti invited me," Sarah spat out. "Apparently she didn't know Jack was seeing someone." She stood up, stepping closer to Kate, and pointing.

"You'd better watch yourself, Kate," Sarah told her evenly. "Like I said, Jack always needs something to fix. Has he fixed you yet?"

Kate crossed her arms, "No."

Sarah laughed, pushing the stray strand of hair back again. "Well, enjoy your time before he does. Because as soon as he's done with you, he'll need something else. And you won't even exist anymore."

"He's not like that," Kate said defensively, quickly shaking her head. "At least not anymore he isn't."

"Oh, really?" Sarah asked. "I was married to him. I know what it's like! You think you have something special. You think he's your hero. But really he's not yours, he's everybody's hero!"

"If being with him was so horrible then why are here trying to get him back!" Kate demanded, stepping towards her.

"Because no matter what an ass he tends to be. . . there's no one else out there like him," Sarah said, her voice softening for a moment. "But Kate, next time you talk to him why don't you ask him why exactly it is he wouldn't let us meet."

Kate started to respond but Margo stepped between the two. "Alright, that's enough. Come on, Sarah. There's some cabs waiting outside for people unable to drive home. Let's get you out to one. Now, did you bring a purse or a coat? . . . " Kate tuned them out as the three left the bathroom.

Walking back to the table, Kate felt as though she was in some sort of daze. Has he fixed you yet? The words wouldn't stop ringing in her head. Maybe it was true, maybe Sarah was right. Maybe the only reason she and Jack were working is that Kate couldn't be fixed. They would stay together because Jack would always be trying to fix Kate, and Kate would never be able to be fixed.

Clearing her throat, Kate tapped Jack on the shoulder. "Could I borrow a couple dollars? I'd like to get back to your place -- there's cabs outside."

Everyone at the table stopped speaking, and Jack turned to Kate, confused. "Those drivers are pre-paid. Anyone who can't drive home can use them for free. I can drive us home. What happened?"

"I'd like to leave," Kate spoke her words sharply. "You don't have to."

Arching an eyebrow, Jack stood up. "I just have to say good-bye to a few people, and we can get out of here. Can you give me like ten minutes?"

"I'll be standing outside," Kate muttered, not meeting his eyes. She turned to the rest of the table, "Marc, Megan, it was very nice to meet you. You too, Hurley. I loved you hearing all those island stories!"

Marc and Megan spoke their good-byes and Hurley stood, "Why don't you let me walk you out, Kate? I'll wait with you 'til Jack's ready."

Kate smiled softly, in spite of her current mood. "Thank you, Hurley. I'd like that."

He held out his arm and she looped hers through it as they walked outside. Once they were away from everyone, he spoke. "Dude. . . you and Jack?"

"Me and Jack," Kate nodded. She let go of him and leaned against the side of the brick building. "I came to visit him and now we are. . . well, we are what we are. Whatever that is."

"In love, maybe?" Hurley arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "You both look a lot happier than you ever did on that island."

"I do love him," Kate admitted. "For what it's worth, I'm crazy about him. But I don't know. It just doesn't seem real sometimes. It isn't real, you know?"

Hurley shrugged. "I think it's as real as you want it to be."

Kate smiled and put her hand on his arm. "Thanks, Hurley. How have you been?"

"Good!" Hurley nodded. "Great, actually. I just taped an episode of Dateline NBC. They're doing a segment called 'I Should Be Dead, but Hey, I'm Not!' or something like that. It's airing in a couple weeks. You should check it out."

Kate laughed, and nodded. "I will make sure we do, Hurley. Maybe I should go ahead and get your autograph right now."

Shaking his head, Hurley laughed. "See, you said we. You're not planning on going anywhere for awhile."

"No," Kate said slowly. "No, I guess I'm not. That doesn't mean there isn't a lot of stuff we have to work though still."

Before Hurley could respond, Jack came up behind Kate, placing his hand on her back. She took a quick step away from him. He glanced at her, hurt, before looking to Hurley. "Do you have plans for tonight, man? Do you want to stay at our place?"

"I already got my hotel room," Hurley shook his head. "My plane doesn't leave until tomorrow night though. You have my cell number, so if you two aren't busy tomorrow or something. . ."

"We will give you a call," Jack said with a nod. "It's good to see you again."

"You too," Hurley nodded. He stepped forward wrapping Kate in a hug, "See you later, dudes!"

Jack and Kate called their good-byes before walking towards his car. He reached for her hand twice on the way, and both times she dodged him.

After he started up the car, he finally questioned her. "What is going on with you? Where did my mother dissapear to?"

"We'll talk about it later," Kate said stoically, staring out the window.

Jack tried, but failed, a few more times at conversation on their way back to his place. By the time he pulled into the driveway he was no longer confused, but instead pissed. Opening the front door he loosened his tie and demanded, "Now tell me what the hell is going on with you."

Kate tossed her clutch onto the couch, and ripped off her high heels, throwing them into the corner of the room. "Anybody ask you to meet me tonight, Jack? Anyone that you said no to?"

After gazing at her for several moments, Jack shook his head. "No. Why do you ask that?"

Kate stared at Jack open-mouthed. "You just lied to me. You lied to my face and didn't even blink an eye about it, Jack!"

He swallowed hard, glancing away. "How did you know about it?"

"Well, there was this blonde in the bathroom crying her eyes out over her ex-husband, and I was a little slow on the uptake that her ex-husband was you!" Kate looked around the living room desperately for something to throw at him. She came up with nothing.

"I didn't think you'd want to meet her," Jack said defensively with a shrug. "Why would you want to? That's my past, Kate. I thought we had agreed to leave the past in the past!"

"When your past comes waltzing into the room, asking to meet me, you don't just say no, Jack!" Kate told him. "It's okay, I get it. I just don't measure up. Your ashamed and --"

"Oh, shut up!" Jack interrupted. "You know that's not true."

"I don't know what to believe right now, Jack. You just lied to me sixty seconds ago. Who knows what you're doing right now?" Her voice escalated with each word, "Who knows how many times you've done it?"

"I'm not lying to you!" Jack sounded annoyed. "I am in love with you, Kate. I think that's pretty obvious. You're the one always having doubts. . ."

"Why do you love me?" Kate asked, her voice dropping. "Because you think you need to fix me? I don't need you to fix me, Jack!"

His face registered acknowledgement, and he took a step closer to her. "What did you just say? What did Sarah say to you?"

"Nothing," Kate muttered, shaking her head, and moving towards the stairs. "Nothing I shouldn't have been able to figure out myself." Her voice quaivered and she felt dangerously close to tears. This time she would fight them.

Jack followed her as she walked down the hallway, past his bedroom. "Where the hell are you going?"

"The guest room!" Kate yelled. "I don't think I should be sleeping with someone who lies to my face and is ashamed of me!"

"Stop being so immature," Jack warned, right before she slammed the door in his face. He reached for the handle, but by the time he started to turn it, she had already locked the door.

Pissed, he banged his hand against the door as hard as he could. "Open the door right now, Kate!"

"No!"

"I swear to God, Kate," Jack warned. "You open this door, or I'll ---"

"You'll what?" Kate yelled. She didn't know why she chose the words she did, but they wouldn't stop. "Break it down? Unscrew the hinges? Go finish off a bottle of whiskey? Call your ex-wife?"

Jack was silent for several minutes, and she thought he had gone back downstairs. She took a seat on the bed, and his voice floated through the door once more. "I don't see why you think you should have such an active role in my past, when you sure as hell don't want to share anything about yours! You should know how it feels, Kate! You should know how it feels to not want to drag the person you care about into the sh-t that's your past. I don't want you in mine, so I know you don't want me in yours seeing how what you did is about ten times worse!"

Kate stood up, walking up the door, but not opening it. "You don't know anything about what I did, Jack. You don't know anything about me or what happened or how much worse it is than anything you've ever done!"

"Oh, really?" Jack asked, lowering his voice. "Because last time I checked divorcing your wife doesn't come close to blowing up your step-dad."

Kate opened the door, the expression on her face mixed with shock and anger. Jack glanced away quickly, not being able to take it. After a long minute, he turned back to her and the two stood staring, toe-to-toe, each feeling like they knew less about the other than they ever had before.