A/N - Oh my gosh! You guys are all so sweet with your comments! Super happy that you all like the story so much. I hope you all are not disappointed but this chapter circles back around to Julian and Kim. I like Kim with Julian, but she's crazy with Drew, and still a liar no matter what! This chapter gets a little steamy but nothing too graphic, but just a heads up. I know you all want to get to Drew's memories, but just a little bit more patience, it's coming, I promise! I think once you read it, it will be worth the wait. ;)
Julian and Kim breezed back into her apartment, holding hands, Kim was smiling and laughing. It had been a great day. After breakfast they took a walk in the park and then went to a movie. Kim could tell Julian was trying to keep the day filled with activities to distract her from her problems with Oscar and to help her avoid thinking about the thing she still needed to tell him. Julian and Kim had settled in on the couch and were snuggled up close to each other, Kim had her head on his shoulder.
"Today was great, Charlie," Kim cooed quietly. "Thank you."
"Thanks, for what?" Julian asked slyly. He knew that Kim knew he was trying to distract her but he saw no problem in keeping the charade up and pretending he didn't know what she was talking about.
"Thanks for keeping me distracted today from the fact that my son hates me." Kim lamented.
"Hey now, I think hate is a strong word." Julian replies trying to console her.
"You didn't see the look on his face, Charlie, the things he said. He absolutely hates me right now and maybe I deserve it." Kim whispered as she looked down and began fidgeting with her fingers.
"Look, Kim, I know Oscar is mad right now, but he'll come around. I know he will. I mean look at me, I did a whole lot worse and Lucas let me meet my grandson!" Julian declares positively.
Kim lets out a little chuckle and smiles sweetly at Julian.
"That's great, I'm happy for you, I am Charlie, but Oscar, he's never gonna forgive me, I lied about everything," Kim explains emphatically. "I didn't just lie about his illness, I lied about his father, I let him get close to a family that wasn't his and…." Kim stops herself short and looks over at Julian apprehensively. "And, like I told you, there's more." Kim pushes up off the couch and walks over to the fireplace mantle. She stares at the pictures of Oscar and begins to cry.
Julian gets up and walks over to her, puts his hands around her waist and rocks her back and forth as he hugs her tightly. Kim takes a deep breath and decides this is the moment she needs to come clean.
"I helped." Kim blurts out. Julian spins her around to look at her in the eyes.
"What are you talking about?" he asks, confused.
"I helped Peter and apparently his father, kidnap Drew." Kim explains with a sigh of relief. She had never said it out loud before. She just kept pushing it away out of her mind trying not to think about it, trying not to wonder what kind of thing she had gotten Drew involved in. Julian stood there with a blank look on his face. Kim couldn't tell what he was thinking and that worried her.
"Julian, what are you thinking?" Kim asks hesitantly.
"I think we need to sit back down on the sofa and you need to tell me everything. Start from the beginning." Julian declares. Julian and Kim step back over to the sofa and sit. Kim turns to face him with one leg folded up on the cushion. She looks him in the eyes and grabs his hands. He gives her hand a squeeze and puts the other one on her thigh giving it a few light rubs. Kim takes a deep breath and thinks to herself, "here we go."
"So, I knew Peter in San Diego when I was there for medical school. He was shy and quiet then and didn't know a lot of people, well, he didn't really know anyone." Kim begins to relay the story plainly. "Socially, Peter didn't really fit in so he didn't like to be around the big crowd of friends that I had. Sometimes he and I would just go off alone and talk, take walks on the beach and just dream, you know. We'd tell each other what we wanted from life and our hopes and even sometimes we'd talk about our fears." Kim got a distant look and her eyes filled with sadness recalling the memories. "Peter told me that he was trying to be free from his father that was a very bad man," Kim continues. "Peter was trying to break into the publishing industry and was working to get out from under his father's thumb, he was in San Diego trying to figure out the next thing in his life. He had told me that he wasn't planning on staying there long because he had applied for several jobs in Europe. That was fine with me anyway, I wasn't looking for anything serious because I had a big commitment with medical school. Obviously, things with him and I got intimate, a few times." Kim says shyly. "After a few months Peter got notified of a job in Europe and he left. It wasn't until after he left that I found out I was pregnant," Kim concluded matter-of-factly. She scooted in a little closer to Julian and grabbed onto his hand tighter.
"Okay, but I don't see how that helped Faison kidnap Drew?" Julian questions sweetly.
"After a few years of not hearing from him, Peter contacted me again," Kim continues with the story. "He remembered in San Diego that I knew several Navy Seals," she sighed. "Peter told me that his company wanted to do a story on a Navy Seal, some kind of human-interest thing, or something like that, so I gave him some names of the guys that I knew, Drew was one of them. After that I didn't think very much about it, but then in the summer of 2012 Peter reached out to me again. He needed my help to contact Drew." Kim began to get very nervous, recounting the events she helped to unfold. She was sick to her stomach to think she had any part of harming Drew. Yes, she had lied but she felt she had good reasons for that, helping get Drew abducted, there was nothing that could justify that.
"Go on, it's okay, I'm here," Julian urged when he could see Kim was becoming scared to continue.
"Peter asked me to reach out to Drew. He somehow knew Drew was on leave in the same city as me, and Peter wanted me to set up a meeting. So, I called Drew and asked him to meet me at a local bar. At first it was just me and Drew, then Peter showed up later. That's when I knew for sure something was up. I always had a bad feeling about what Peter was really up to, but I pushed it away, I had too much going on to worry about it. But that night, when he came into the bar, I could tell, his intentions were not pure. He wanted us all to leave the bar, he said it was too loud and we needed to talk someplace quieter. I spoke up and said, I thought we were fine just where we were, but Peter was a smooth talker and he managed to convince Drew. I'm sure Drew wouldn't have been worried anyway, he was a SEAL and very confident in his skills, I'm sure he figured he could get himself out of any situation, but that night…" Kim stops herself and drops her head as she recalls the memory of Drew being taken. Julian caresses her face gently and then grabs her hands in reassurance.
"That night, Peter had help," Kim continues sadly. "Peter had us walking through some secluded ally ways, he said it was a shortcut to a restaurant down the block. Just about the time Drew spoke up to express his concern about what was really going on, that's when it happened. One of Peter's men jumped out from the darkness and hit drew over the head with the butt of a gun. Drew didn't go down though, and he fought back. He fought hard, but Peter had more men, and they kept hitting Drew and hitting him until he finally passed out." Kim was crying now, remember the horrific incident. Julian reached over with his arm and pulled her into a tight embrace, rocking her back and forth, trying to soothe her. Kim, still crying lifts her head and brushes the hair out of her face. Quietly she begins again, "I was screaming at Peter to stop it, that they were hurting him and what was really going on, but Peter grabbed me and held me back from helping. He told me not to worry about it that it would be fine. When I snapped back at him that it wasn't fine, the were hurting Drew, he got this sad look on his face, a face I remembered him having a lot when we were in San Diego. He begged me not to say anything to anyone and he reminded me of how he had helped me and that I owed him. He re-assured me that Drew wasn't going to be killed or anything, that they just wanted to talk to him about a mission. Peter told me he had some contact at the military and that he was doing some joint taskforce that involved some important person that Peter knew from his time in Europe. He told me it was classified and that he couldn't tell me anymore about it, but that it was a legit mission. Somehow, I knew that was a lie, but the part of me that knew the shy and quiet Peter, took over and decided to believe him and so I kept quiet. I went about my business and I never said anything to anyone, until now," Kim exhaled with a sigh of relief that she had finally unburdened her secret.
Julian looked at Kim with compassion and love in his eyes and he reached over and kissed her on the forehead. He grabbed her and pulled her close to his face and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. He caressed her face and then wrapped both his arms around her tightly in a comforting hug.
"I am so sorry, you have been carrying that secret around all these years," Julian whispered lovingly. "That must have been terrible wondering all this time, what really happened. I want you to know that this doesn't change how I feel about you one bit," Julian replies confidently. "I have done way worse things, and I know you are a good person, you were just put in a bad situation. I just have one question," Julian continued with curiosity. Kim looked up and quietly mumbled in response.
"What did Peter mean when he said, you owed him?"
Kim looks up and pulls back out of the close embrace just a bit. She swallowed hard and exhaled. "When I was in San Diego, there was this guy that kept bothering me and he wouldn't leave me alone. He was actually kind of stalking me a bit. After I told Peter about it, the guy stopped messing with me, in fact, I never saw him again." Kim explained quietly. "Also," Kim mumbled, "he gave me money for my medical school debt," she softly sighs. "So, I quite literally owe him. But, don't worry I plan on paying him back every penny, I don't want anyone holding anything over my head anymore, ever." Kim blurts out with confidence.
Julian strokes Kim's hair and rubs her back gently. "So, that stuff you told me about loving Drew, when we first were getting together, that was a lie?" Julian asks quietly.
"Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. I was just talking about Peter and how I felt back then, and also, I was just trying to push you away," Kim explains apologetically. "It had been a really long time since I even tried to love someone, Charlie and I was scared and I wasn't sure if I could trust you and I wasn't sure I was rea…."
Julian stops Kim's rant with a gentle, sweet and tender kiss, as he pulls her in close. Kim kisses back with a bit more force and starts grabbing at his shirt trying to pull it off. Julian falls backwards on the sofa, pulling Kim on top of him as he struggles to get his shirt off. Kim pulls out of the kiss and begins to unbutton the buttons of her blouse ripping it off and throwing it to the floor. She helps Julian pull his gray t-shirt over his head to expose his bare chest. She caresses his chest and then reaches down and begins kissing it gently. Julian pulls her up to his face so they are looking each other right in the eyes and they both pause a moment. He reaches up and kisses her again soft and sensual. Kim kisses back and gently bites at Julian's bottom lip. They both giggle with anticipation as she begins grinding against him and fumbling to unbutton his jeans. When she gets the button undone, Julian grabs at her hands and pulls them back up to his shoulders and she wraps them around his head. Gently he grabs her around the waist and raises up to flip them over so he is on top of her. As they fall back down onto the sofa Julian kisses Kim's neck. She tilts her head to let Julian get at just the right spot. He trails his hands down the sides of her waist to the edge of Kim's camisole. He pulls at it to begin to remove it as she raises her arms above her head. He pulls it over her head and throws it to the floor, leaving her bare stomach exposed and laying there in just her lace bra. He gently lowers down on top of her to again kiss her neck, this time moving down to kiss her chest and bossom area. Kim moans with pleasure as she caresses Julian's back and arms. She was so happy in this moment, so glad that she had trusted Julian and that he hadn't let her down. Finally, she hoped she was free of her past. Now she could focus on rebuilding her future and getting Oscar to forgive her. Julian kissed Kim down on her stomach to the edge of her jeans. He raised his head up to look at her and flash a sexy smile as he began tugging on the button to undo it. Kim smiled back and raised her hips up a bit to allow him to remove her pants. She rubbed her hands over the top of Julian's head and closed her eyes to focus on this moment even more. Julian moved his way back up her body to be eye to eye with Kim again. He touched his forehead to hers and softly kissed her lips. Kim touched the sides of his face and raised her head up just a bit to kiss him back gently.
"I love you, Julian," Kim softly purrs. Julian pulls his head back just a bit and begins to smile sweetly.
"I love you too," he replies as he kisses her again with an open mouth. He presses into her body harder and again kisses her neck. Kim raises her hands above her head as Julian intertwines his fingers with hers. Kim lays back and releases and let's go of any remaining tension in her shoulders and fully gives in. She was ready to enjoy this moment of pure bliss.