A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I figured I should give Kate a flashback. Tomorrow starts the merging of stories:)
Chapter 20: Just Believe
Kate found Jack staring at her from across their room. The look on his face showing he was deep in thought.
"Why are you staring?" She asked.
He looked at her again and smiled. "I've never seen you this happy. It's a good change."
Kate's smile grew larger as she blushed. "I haven't been this happy in a long time." She sat down next to Jack and he wrapped her up in a hug. "I have you and my daughter."
"Our daughter." He corrected her and kissed her.
Kate then laid her head on Jack's shoulder. The scene was very similar to another time.
1994
"Kate, are you alright?" A young man asked as she walked into his house. She sat on the couch next to him.
"Yeah." She seemed tired. "I'm ok Karl."
Karl smiled and gently took her hand. "What did they say?"
Kate looked at him and smiled. "She's yours Karl!"
"It's not…" He tried to ask.
"No. She's ours." Kate said excitedly.
"Thank God!" Karl hugged Kate close. "So the baby is a girl?"
"She's due in August. I hope she has your hair." Kate ruffled Karl's sandy brown hair.
"Well, I hope she gets your eyes."
Kate laughed. "What's with my eyes? They're just green."
"A guy could get lost staring into your eyes." Karl gently kissed her.
"This changes everything." Kate said. "I can leave."
"You're only 17 Katie." Kate rolled her eyes. "That's why we should get married." Karl had an idea developing.
Kate stared at him shocked. "Your serious?"
"Tom and Beth can meet us at the courthouse. You don't have to stay with them anymore."
"But what about momma?" Kate worried.
"We'll try to convince her to leave Wayne. Everything will work our. I promise." He held her close.
"I hope so." Kate said.
PresentMaybe it's time to tell him. Kate thought to herself. She moved to face Jack. "Jack, before we move any further, I need to tell you what I did."
Jack cupped her face with his hand. "I told you I don't care."
"I know, but I need too." She looked into his eyes and saw his love for her looking back.
"It all started when I was 5. My parents divorced and I lived with my momma since daddy was in the Army. She married a horrible man. His name was Wayne Jansen. I never understood why she loved him. He drank too much and would hit her." She stopped and looked at Jack, who seemed worried. "And me." Kate pointed to her upper left arm.
Jack looked and saw old scars from cuts. He started to feel a hatred for this man.
"It got worse when I turned 14. Dad was in Iraq, so I had to stay the summer with mom. She started to work late and Wayne wouldn't go to the bar. He stayed home." Tears came to her eyes.
Jack wiped them away gently. He started to understand what happened. "He raped you."
Kate looked at him and nodded slowly. "Karl, Tom, and Beth tried to get me to leave, but I had to help momma. I never told anyone else at first but the 3 of them. Then I feel in love with Karl and became pregnant with Emma. We got married and tried to leave. Mom hated what we did and Wayne was obsessed with me. That's when Karl was murdered."
"Wayne killed Karl." Jack realized.
"After I gave Emma up, I spent the next six years trying to get him arrested. I finally told dad what Wayne did to me, but their wasn't enough evidence to prove my case. Things got complicated around my dad's birthday, 3 years ago. I was looking through pictures and found some from before I was born. My father was in Korea when my mom got pregnant. Then I saw one with 'him'."
Kate didn't have to say the world. Jack fully understood. "Wayne deserved to die Kate."
She looked at him surprised. "What?"
"No one in their right mind would do that to their child. I would have killed him myself." Jack admitted. "There is no reason you should be a fugitive. You did the right thing."
Kate was shocked, but what Jack said had made sense. If she wouldn't have run, she might have gotten off.
"Katie." He brushed her hair back. "It's the past. You have me, Emma, and maybe our child." Jack placed a hand on her stomach. "We'll have our future and a better life. Just believe it."
Kate smiled again and placed her hand on top of Jack's. "I will."
The kissed each other for a while. Each other enjoying their kisses, until everything changed.
A siren blared and the doors locked with a loud thud. Gunshots rang off in the distance. Jack held Kate close to him as they listened to the intercoms.
INTRUDERS DECTED! LOCKEDOWN COMMINSED!
