I just realized that I hadn't posted this last little bit to complete the story. Please accept my apology and I really have no reason for it since it was sitting complete on my desktop. I guess since the story was complete for me I had just moved on from it.

Here is the last little bit which is the only piece from Jack's POV. It is meant to tie the story into the actual series timeline as a plausible storyline for the time between seasons 2 and 3. I also always did intend that the events from this story would be the history of the pair as we meet them in Finding His Way Back Home and also imagine that Coming Back to Her would have occurred sometime before this epilogue but after the events of the previous chapters of this story. So that's the timeline in my head and I'm sticking with it:)

Thank you for reading (and if you waited for this little installment - for your patience). Reviews are always welcome as well. SS

Epilogue

Jack dropped his arms, giving in to the comfortable exhaustion that pulled on his muscles. He eyed the clock in the corner of the gym and knew that Kate would also be finished soon with her training. Her obsession with fitness hadn't really waned over the years but it had been redirected and he thought it was better than how she had initially dealt with her feelings after the events that had occurred the first day they had met. Kick boxing and self defence classes had given way to more formal Taekwondo training and Kate had been exceling at the martial art and making respectable progress through the belt system.

He appreciated that her skills had evolved. He had even trained with her on several occasions but had stopped offering when he realized that he couldn't challenge her sufficiently; he just couldn't stop himself from holding back. He was thankful that she had called him on it more than a year earlier. She would have never progressed so far if she hadn't and he would be more worried about the time away that was up ahead.

Especially now. He had spearheaded the investigation into the drug lords, his gut instinct leading him to the terrorism ties that had recently been found. The idea of undercover infiltration had been his as well. The reality that he had been the one best suited to the task had been apparent to more than just himself. Now, it was looking as though this assignment was going to be more involved and longer than what he might have originally anticipated.

He looked over to the ring and noticed Kate unwrapping her hands. She was much more capable of taking care of herself than she was on the day they met. For that, he could rest more at ease and focus on getting his undercover assignment completed as quickly as possible so he could return to her side. Not that he worried in the way that she worried - that she would once again be targeted as her family had been targeted on the day they had met. But he also felt relief knowing that he need not worry about the everyday kind of things like random acts of violence that still found their way into nice neighbourhoods like Kate's.

They were headed up the coast in the morning and he found himself looking forward to the trip but also dreading it as well. It would be their last weekend together before he went undercover. He hadn't told her yet and he knew that he shouldn't have left it to the last minute, but he had. He wasn't sure whether it had been because he hadn't wanted it to leave a shadow over their time together or because he just hadn't fully accepted it. Either way, he had been laying the groundwork to successfully infiltrate the Salazars in every aspect of his life except his life with her.

He didn't want to tell her that he was leaving at the beach house. He didn't want the memory of his telling her to taint her memory of all the other special times they shared there. As the thought occurred to him, he recognized the rightness of it. He would tell her tonight – before they left – so that although there would be some sadness marring their weekend, the memory of him saying he was leaving wouldn't be tied to the tidy little bungalow that had become their escape.

He would tell her at her house tonight over a late dinner. Not all the memories at her house were pleasant as it was. Especially as of late and he knew that the tidy little kit that was stowed under the backseat of his SUV played a big part in some of that unpleasantness. So, he would tell her that he was leaving and he would ask her to wait for him and he hoped that she would. If he was a bigger man, a stronger man, he wouldn't even ask her to wait. But he couldn't bring himself to end things between them. He loved her too much but not enough to let her go. He needed her and needed to know that she was there for him and couldn't imagine taking on this challenge without knowing that he had her to come back to. So he would ask her to wait and after nearly three years together, he was sure that she would.

She crossed the gym and joined him where he waited near the door. Her hair was messy and dots of perspiration were visible at her temples and he thought she never looked more beautiful.

"Are you ready to go?" she asked and although he nodded in answer, in his mind, he said the opposite.

I'm not ready. I don't want to go, but I have to. Please forgive me.

He held her hand as they walked out, something he hadn't done in many months and if Kate found it unusual, she didn't say anything.