Thanks for all the nice reviews! I actually do plan on TJ's father making an appearance so hang in there. This chapter is a little lighter, some fluff and some fun and the next chapter will have some Kate and Conner one on one. Enjoy!
They shared a wet, sloppy kiss until they were interrupted by Conner, who was ready to display his hands for inspection. Kate giggled and squirmed out of Jack's lap so he could pay attention to his son's request for his hands to be looked at. It was obviously a game between them as Conner held them out palms down and waited for Jack to say, "palms up" before pretending to study them hard and give Conner his approval.
"Can I eat at the bar?" Conner asked.
"No, we should all eat together at the table." Jack answered.
"You're going to eat with us Kate?" Conner asked.
"Is that okay?" Kate asked.
"Uh huh, you can sit by me." Conner said and positioned himself in a chair at the table.
Jack leaned in close to Conner and smiled at him.
"Are you putting the moves on my girlfriend?" Jack asked.
"I can't move her daddy, she's too big." Conner answered making Jack laugh, relieved that all of his son's innocence hadn't been stripped away in the last two days.
"Okay son, but if you want a lady to sit beside you have to act like a gentleman." Jack offered.
"What's that?" Conner asked.
"It means you always do your best to make her feel as pretty and special as she is by doing nice things. So you can't show her your food once it's in your mouth and you shouldn't wipe your food on your sleeve and most importantly you should pull her chair out for her so she can sit down." Jack tutored his young son.
Kate watched their interaction, finding it cute and the way that Conner seemed to hang on his every word told her that while Jack may be a very busy father he takes the time to talk to his son. She watched Conner get up and pull the chair next to his away from the table.
"Come sit by me Kate." Conner said.
"Okay Conner, just let me get us some plates." Kate said.
"Come and sit Kate, I'll be the waiter." Jack offered.
Jack stood and walked into the kitchen stealing a quick kiss from Kate as they passed each other. He watched Conner attempt to be a gentleman from the corner of his eye while he prepared three plates of food. He carried two plates out and set them down in front of Kate and Conner. He grabbed a beer and a plate for himself and sat down at the table with them.
"What is this dad?" Conner asked with his familiar "yuck I don't like it" tone.
"It's lasagna. Try it." Jack coaxed.
"I don't think I like it." Conner said.
"How do you know if you don't try it?" Jack pushed.
"It's gross daddy, can I have a hot dog?" Conner asked.
Jack looked at Kate apologetically, hoping Conner wasn't offending her.
"Tell you what Conner, you take one bite of the lasagna and if you don't like it I will make you a hot dog." Jack bargained.
"Did TJ eat this?" Conner asked.
Jack noticed her eyes go distant immediately and then she cleared her throat and forced a smile, searching for the best way to answer a seemingly innocent question. He was just about to rescue her when she spoke.
"Well Conner, he really couldn't eat the same way that you and I do. He had a tube right here in his tummy that we put food in." Kate explained showing Conner where on his tummy the tube would be.
"Did you put lasagna in his tube?" Conner asked.
"Conner, will you please just try the lasagna?" Jack interrupted knowing the topic had to be difficult for Kate.
"It's okay Jack. We could only put liquid in his tube Conner, but we used to pretend…" Kate answered, becoming emotional and quickly wiping the tear that escaped away.
"I'm sorry Kate, don't be sad. I will take a bite." Conner said.
"No, no sweetie, it's okay, you aren't making me sad. TJ and I used to pretend we were putting different flavors in his tube. Sometimes we'd say we were having french fries or chicken nuggets or his all time favorite thing in the world before he got too sick to eat which was macaroni and cheese." Kate told him laughing lightly at the memory as a couple more tears escaped.
"That's my favorite too." Conner said.
"I'll make that hot dog for you." Jack said as he quickly left the table, the whole scene too much for him.
Watching her hurt and trying to imagine playing such a game with Conner on top of the day's events, losing his 11 year old patient and being exhausted all making him feel like a bundle of raw emotions.
"Did you ever pretend to put lasagna in his tube?" Conner asked.
"Yes, we did." Kate answered.
Conner looked at Kate and then out toward the kitchen where his dad was retrieving the hot dogs and then down at his plate. He put some of the lasagna on his fork and put it in his mouth.
"I like it. Come taste it daddy, it's good." Conner said and took another bite.
Jack pulled himself together and rejoined them at the table. His son was right it was very good and he was very hungry. They managed to get through the meal without any additional emotionally charged questions.
"Dad can I skip my bath? It's Friday." Conner asked.
"Did you play outside today?" Jack asked.
"Only a little bit. I don't smell like a puppy though." Conner answered making Kate laugh.
"You do smell like a puppy, I can smell you from here. Tell you what, you need to take a bath, but you can stay up until you fall asleep since you don't have school tomorrow." Jack said.
"I'm not punished no more?" Conner asked.
"Are you going slap me in the face again?" Jack asked.
"No." Conner answered.
"Good. Come on, I'll run your bath water and take a shower while you're playing." Jack said.
"Can I just take a shower with you?" Conner asked.
"I thought you were too big for that." Jack said with a grin.
"I'm not too big and you can soap me up fast. Please dad." Conner begged.
"Okay, go get your pajamas and I'll be up in a second." Jack agreed.
Conner climbed out of his chair and headed up the stairs. Jack finished off his third beer and stood. He pulled Kate up out of her chair and into him. He kissed her and pulled back a little still holding on to her.
"Sorry about all the questions. He's a very curious child." Jack apologized.
"It's okay Jack. I think it actually helps to talk about TJ. Conner's questions seemed to be getting to you more than me and three beers with dinner? Are you okay?" Kate asked.
"I'm fine. It's been a tough day with the stuff going on with Conner and things haven't been that great at work either." Jack admitted.
"Are the school bus kids not doing well?" Kate asked.
"No, I spent hours trying to put one back together today and she died. Eleven years old, headed to school one day and snuffed out just like that. Doesn't make much sense does it?" Jack said.
"I'm sorry. What about the other little girl, the one you did so much surgery on the first day?" Kate asked.
"She's improving, but has a painful road ahead. I should get upstairs before he starts yelling for me. You relax. I'll clean up the kitchen later." Jack said and kissed her.
Conner came bouncing down the stairs about 20 minutes later, freshly washed, hair combed nicely and wearing sweat pants and a white t-shirt for pajamas. Jack followed a few minutes later smelling just as fresh and dressed basically the same. Kate smiled at how much they looked alike and approached Jack, wrapped her hands around his waist and him hers.
"The kitchen is cleaned so sit down and enjoy your son for awhile." Kate ordered.
"Where you going?" He asked.
"I'm going to go take a bath so I can smell as good as the two of you do." Kate said.
"Need any help?" He asked with an ornery grin.
"Mmmm, that's tempting, but I think Conner needs you worse than I do." Kate grinned and broke from the light hold he had on her.
Jack watched her walk up the stairs and joined his son on the couch. He had a movie picked out and inserted into the DVD player and was waiting until he had his dad's full attention before he hit the play button. Jack put the throw pillows all on one end of the couch and lay down with his back to the back of the couch. Conner crawled in beside him with the remote and hit the play button. Jack reached over Conner and placed the remote safely on the table. They'd seen this movie so many times Jack knew the dialogue by heart. He guessed Conner picked it out so he could bombard his dad with questions without getting told to be quiet and watch the movie. He heard the boy's sigh and smiled, knowing the first question was about to come.
"Do I stract you dad?" Conner asked.
"Yes son, you do distract me, but you are my little boy and you are supposed to distract me." Jack answered.
"Does Kate stract you?" Conner asked.
"A little bit. Distractions aren't bad Conner. It just means you care about something or someone more than yourself." Jack tried to explain.
"Grandpa says they are bad." Conner argued.
"Maybe they are bad for grandpa, but that doesn't mean he gets to decide if they are bad for me." Jack told him.
"Grandpa is going to hate me daddy." Conner said as he turned to face Jack, his bottom lip quivering.
"Why would you think that?" Jack asked, rubbing a soothing hand over the boy's back.
"Cuz I told. I wasn't sposed to tell." Conner said.
"When somebody hurts you or scares you Conner you are always supposed to tell. You did the right thing and don't worry about Grandpa, he loves you and won't be mad at anyone but himself because he mad a bad choice." Jack tried to reassure him wishing he could just be honest and trash the old man, but not seeing how tearing down the child's grandfather would serve any useful purpose.
"Do you love Kate daddy?" Conner asked.
"Why?" Jack asked.
"I like her. Is she going to stay with us?" Conner asked.
"I think so. Would you like that? Would you like it if she were here with you even when I'm not?" Jack asked.
"I guess. I never did that with her yet." Conner said.
"I have to go to the hospital in the morning. Do you want to stay here with Kate and see if you like it?" Jack asked.
"Yes." Conner answered and yawned.
"I'm sorry the last few days have been so hard on you son. I'm going to work hard to make things easier for you." Jack said, pulling him closer and kissing the top of his head.
"I'm sorry I was ugly to you. I miss you too much and it makes me mad." Conner told him.
"I know. It makes me mad too. You know I love you even when you're ugly though, right." Jack said.
"Me too dad." Conner yawned, snuggling in as close as he could get, grabbing a handful of Jack's t-shirt and giving his dad one last sleepy glance before closing his eyes for good and falling asleep.
Jack joined Conner in sleep in less than ten minutes. Kate came back downstairs wearing a robe and pulling the knot loose that was holding her hair back. Jack and Conner were snuggled together, both lightly snoring. She smiled at them and covered them with a blanket before grabbing a book and heading back upstairs.
Kate read for awhile and thought about her day. She'd packed up all of TJ's belongings and arranged for one of the members of her cancer family to pick it up and donate it where it could be used the most. She'd left the rest of her house the way it was except for the clothes she threw into the backseat of her car to bring to Jack's house. Moving in with him on a whim and playing house seemed insane, but there was something so completely normal to her about all of it as well. She was certain she would've gone mad and already killed herself without Jack's support and having Conner to focus on and take care of would keep her mind busy and off of TJ.
Watching Jack break down over what had been done to Conner broke her heart. It was obvious how important Conner was to Jack and the idea that he'd been hurt at the hands of others was too much for him to deal with, especially after losing a child on his operating table. She'd be the first to admit she really didn't know Jack that well, but she'd seen enough of his natural compassion to know that he'd be affected by losing a patient, especially a young one. Stepping up and offering to stop the madness and provide some stability for both Jack and Conner seemed like the most natural thing in the world so while outsiders would be questioning what they were doing, wondering if it was too soon and worrying that all three them were going to end up getting hurt, Kate felt confident that it wouldn't end up that way. She was sure they were going to have some bumpy roads ahead, but she wasn't worried that anything would get bad enough to cause the situation to blow up in their faces because she believed her agreeing to Christian's absurd proposal and meeting Jack was one of those things you never question and just accept as something that was meant to be.
Kate fell asleep with her books and her thoughts only to be awakened later by light kisses being softly placed along her jaw line and her right breast being softly massaged, the nipple lightly grazed by warm fingertips. She opened her sleepy eyes and his kind, warm gentle face was smiling back at her. He kissed her gently and she felt his hand moved down her stomach to her tuft of hair and it was at that moment she realized that he'd untied her robe and had been quietly enjoying her body while she slept. He was completely nude, laying over her, but not touching, keeping himself a few inches above her, but his erection told her he'd either been thinking about her for awhile or he'd been playing with her for awhile.
"Jack, this is kind of hot and weird at the same time. How much did I sleep through?" Kate asked.
"You mean you don't remember me making love to you?" He asked, his ornery grin giving him away immediately.
She slapped at his chest and laughed.
"I hope I never get that tired." She said in a sexy tone and moved her hands over his chest.
"I'm really glad you woke up so quickly. I want you bad." He whispered in her ear.
"I can tell." She giggled and took his length into her hand.
"Careful." He warned.
"Boy, I guess you are in a bad way." She laughed.
"I put Conner to bed and came to bed with you and went back to sleep. You are actually the one that started this. Talking dirty in your sleep and then putting your hands all over me." Jack teased.
"I did not!" She squealed.
"Yes you did, that's exactly how I dreamed it anyway." He chuckled.
She pushed him onto his back and slithered over his body, kissing his neck while she rubbed her body over his hard length and moved her mouth to his ear.
"You want me to taste it don't you?" She asked in a sexy tone as she moved over him.
"Yes." He answered in soft, turned on tone.
She moved slowly down his body, keeping his erection pinned beneath her so he could feel her slowly moving down into position. She sat up and let the robe fall off her shoulders and let him look at her for a moment. She guessed he'd turned the bathroom lights on before he started waking her up. Jack wasn't one to make love in the dark, the visual stimulation for him was almost as good as the real thing or so he told her so she wanted to make sure she visually stimulated him all the way to orgasm.
She brought her mouth down at his base and ran her tongue slowly up the length of his member, looking into his eyes the entire time. She stopped, wrapped her fist around him and held him up to her mouth like a lollipop, licking the precum from the head slowly and then pursing her lips over the head and letting her tongue glide slowly over it's opening, teasing and taunting, the area so sensitive his breath caught and he attempted to pull back, but she would have none of that.
"You're killing me Kate." He groaned.
She smiled at him and began pumping him, taking more and more of him into her mouth, feeling the head engorge, knowing that it was so purple and swollen it no longer looked normal and she could tell his release was close so she pumped a little harder, and took him in as deep as she could, feeling him hit the back of her throat and hearing him groan every time. She could feel him gently clutching the hair on her head and she knew he was getting ready to come.
"Kate." He mumbled, this being his signal that she better back off if she wasn't in the mood for a mouthful of sperm.
She wanted to taste him but she wanted to watch too. She loved the way the head of his cock looked right before he ejaculated and found it a little amusing that she had a list of things she liked about his most private parts at their most private moments in such a short time. She pulled her mouth back and pumped while she flicked her tongue gently around the edges of his head, making any kind of contact with the actual, pulsating, ready to explode head would've been painful for him at this point, not pleasurable and she wanted to pleasure him. She felt his thighs tighten beneath her and the first spurt erupted and began running down her hand, she continued to pump him and watch him come and when he was finished she began the task of licking him clean while he watched, a sensual almost sedated look on his face.
When she was finished she moved her mouth up his stomach and chest and finally closed it over his, kissing him with a wet, hungry mouth while her wet, hungry crotch moved over his stomach. She felt him push a finger in from behind and moaned. He slid his finger in and out of her slowly while she rotated her most sensitive area over his stomach, still kissing him in between pants.
"More Jack." She panted into his mouth and took a deep breath when she felt him add one more finger quickly followed by another.
With his three fingers pushing in and out of her and her rotating over his stomach they found a rhythm and at her encouraging he pushed harder and faster. He could feel her legs starting to clench on either side of his waist as she continued soak his belly with her juices and then she stopped kissing him, pushed herself up a little, her hands holding on to his shoulders and he watched her face scrunch up as the orgasm's first wave hit. He slowed his fingers down and watched as the intensity grew and then as if on queue she began squealing and panting and he could feel her coming all over his stomach and hand.
Once she settled down he used his free hand to reach behind her head and pull her back down for another kiss, pushing his tongue into her mouth, letting her know that she had all of his motors running and that he wasn't ready to be done, that he wanted touch, caress and probe and play with her beautiful body until one of them was too exhausted to continue on. She felt him withdraw one of his three fingers and slowly start sliding the other two in and out just a few times before sliding out from underneath her and rolling her onto her stomach. She felt his tongue start at her Achilles tendon and slowly lick, bite and kiss his way up to her center before encouraging her to come up onto her knees. She eagerly did, ready for him to take her from behind, but he didn't, not with his cock anyway. She felt his tongue sliding in and out of her hot, hungry pit, separating her with his hands and plunging his tongue inside, staying buried inside while his mouth closed over her, sucking gently and then pulling his tongue back out. She felt him roll onto his back and slide between her legs, she sat up straight, hovering right over his mouth and he took hold of her upper thighs and pulled her down to where he wanted her, his mouth working slowly and sensually over her pussy, making sure no part of it got neglected. She grabbed onto the headboard as another orgasm began to build and he continued to lick and suck until she began panting and much to her disappointment, he stopped.
He nudged her leg so she'd let him up and once he was up he wrapped himself around her from behind and put his mouth next to her ear.
"Turn around Kate." He said.
"No, like this, take me like this." Kate pleaded.
"I will, but I want to do something else first." He pushed, fully erect again and pushing up against her back.
Kate turned around and he convinced her lean back against the pillows. He put her fingers in his mouth and sucked on them while he penetrated her with two of his fingers, making her moan. He pulled her fingers out of her mouth and placed them over her swollen clit. She knew what he wanted and she wanted it too. She proceeded to rub her clit while he continued moving his fingers in and out and she brought herself to an explosive orgasm while he watched and continued to fuck her with his fingers.
When she was through he kept his fingers inside of her and moved himself forward, kissing her deeply, so horny he had to press himself against her for a moment and concentrate. She found his hard cock and wrapped her hand around it.
"I want you inside me Jack." She told him
He pulled his fingers out of her and waited while she turned back around and held onto the headboard again. He positioned his tip at her hole and pushed himself into her while she straightened, leaned back into his chest and forced him in deeper, impaling herself on him. He wrapped one arm around her waist and played with her nipples with his other hand while he pushed himself in and out of her at a somewhat maddening pace, but unable to go as hard as she apparently wanted him to. He finally let her drop forward onto her hands and knees, repositioned himself and began slamming into her hard, so hard the sounds of their bodies crashing hard into each other was echoing through the room.
He finally pulled out of her, too exhausted to keep it up much longer, and waited for her to get comfortable on her back. He positioned himself between her legs and reentered her with one quick lunge, picking up right where he left off, pounding into her, flesh slapping into flesh, him driving deeper than any man had ever penetrated her and it made her crazy, made her grab his butt and push him into her harder and faster until she felt the tingle and held him in place, panting and biting into his shoulder as he filled her womb, while her body shook and convulsed in ecstasy.
"Oh my god Jack don't move, I think ano……" She panted as another wave rushed through her, making her clench around him.
He could feel a sensation on his shoulder where she'd bitten him, but his still erect, sensitive penis, spilling out still another load overshadowed anything that might be considered painful. He was certain he'd never come that hard and for that long before and he couldn't move. He wasn't sure if he was done and was beginning to wonder if he was going to have a permanent erection and then the sensations began to settle down and the swelling began to subside and he let himself breath again. He stayed inside her and lifted his head to look at her.
"You are incredible." He said and covered her wet, tired, sloppy kisses.
She pulled him down into a hug, not allowing him to move off of her, not ready to give up the connection.
"I've never felt the way I feel about you with anyone Jack. It's overwhelming and scary and next to giving birth to my son, the most special thing I've ever been a part of. Promise me you aren't going to break my heart." Kate said.
"I don't break hearts and I promise to help heal your already broken heart Kate." He said.
"Okay, but you have to let me help heal yours too." Kate said.
"You already have." Jack said and kissed her again.