Chapter Forty-Seven

The Stars

I own nothing except Melissa, Kate, and any other OC's that I create.

Four hundred reviews? Oh my gosh that's crazy:D How about...hmm what haven't I given you all to munch on? How about a slice of ice cream cake?

Today was step four out of five of Beckett's "ingenious" counseling program. Kate had to admit – something was working. If she had gone to one who didn't have a set program, they would probably still not be talking. And things were moving super fast between the two of them. It was almost as if last weekend had never happened.

Almost.

Will still had to say that he forgave her, which Kate was waiting to hear. She wanted, more than anything, to hear him say that he forgave her and still loved her. Maybe during their walk he would tell her that.

Kate and Will sat closer today. A few times through out the session she thought of reaching out and holding his hand. Would it have been right to do that here – with Beckett and Mercer? She was sure that Mercer would leave and she could have Beckett get that look on his face he got whenever he was disgusted by something. She thought about it, but decided against it.

"What do you love about each other?" Beckett asked. "It's step number four."

Kate smirked as Mercer pretended to busy himself with writing something down, looking up occasionally (every five seconds). She glanced over at Will, who wasn't smiling, but had a twinkle in his eye.

"Come, you two, I don't have all day, do I?" Beckett said. "It's Friday and I would appreciate if you, Miss Sims, would wipe that smile off your face, and if you, Mr. Turner would answer the question as to why on earth you would fall in love with a woman like this."

Kate didn't take it as an insult that Beckett didn't like her. It didn't phase her at all, actually. She could put up with all kinds of people, and she just was learning to manage how to put up with a Beckett type. Kate did keep that smile on, just to spite him.

"I would appreciate it if you did not insult her like that," Will said. "She is a wonderful woman. When I first met Kate, she was right, I was lost. I didn't know how to pick up my life. Being thrown forward three hundred years does that to you, wouldn't you agree, Beckett?"

"I-I suppose you have a point."

"But Kate gave me a new beginning. She taught me how to follow my heart – even if it does get hurt along the way." He paused awkwardly. "But she also taught me how to move on. She let me stay with her when she knew nothing about me...she put medicine on my back to heal me...I love everything about you, Katherine."

Kate smiled at the memory of how embarrassed he was for her to help him. She wondered how his back was doing now.

"Very touching, Mr. Turner."

Again, it was hard for Kate to decipher between his sarcasm and his seriousness. She was pretty sure that he wasn't aiming for seriousness, though.

"Rebuttal, Miss Sims?"

"Rebuttal? This isn't an argument."

"You just turned it into one with me."

She frowned. "I was correcting your use of words."

"Please don't waste my time," he said. "Response, rebuttal, whatever you call it."

Beckett was still making her angry. This was not an argument between her and Will, thank God. Instead of giving Beckett the satisfaction of seeing someone angry, she focused on Will.

"I told you yesterday what I love about you," she said, "but I'll tell you again. You're the sweetest and kindest person I've ever come across."

Would she have even thought of saying that a week ago when she and Will weren't speaking? No. But as snappy as Beckett was, he had a great program.

"You're so gentle and you defend me." She glanced over at Beckett, who looked annoyed, then back at Will. "I know that you mean what you say. You give second chances...there's not a thing that I don't love about you."

Something hit Kate right there – she realized that the two of them were meant to be together. Was it that she said that she loved everything about Will and what the two of them and talked about last night?

"This is what I recommend to all my clients for the weekend to do during the weekend – although it looks doubtful that you two will need any additional help: go do something together this weekend. Just the two of you."

"Oh, and what would that be, exactly?" she said, trying to get Beckett even more riled up than he was.

"Something, miss, I don't care much what you do."

"Like what?" she asked innocently.

"How about a nice little pirate adventure?" he snapped. "Would you care to try to bring me Sparrow's compass back?

"Go out to a restaurant," Mercer suggested not-so-nicely, but still a bit more patient than how Beckett worded his comment. "Isn't that what the little children like to do these days?"

Will looked at Kate. "What about a walk? Would that suit you?"

She played along. "What a wonderful idea." She winked subtly at Will and smiled.

Melissa sorted through the row of movies, occasionally saying a title out loud, pulling one to examine the cover. Jack sat on the couch, a blue bowl of popcorn in his hand. Miraculously, it didn't smell burnt – surprising, since dear Melissa made it.

"Lets see, there's 'Crash', but I'm not sure if you'd like that. It's a drama. What about..." she paused and scanned through the movies.

Tonight was Friday night, which, as Melissa pronounced when she walked through the door, movie night. He was not looking forward to seeing one, especially not after "Moulin Rouge!", which was not as good as Kate had said that it would be.

"'Failure to Launch,' no, you wouldn't like that," Melissa said to herself. "'Click'? No, I cry during it, even if it is supposed to be a comedy. 'Million Dollar Baby' would bore you." She turned to Jack. "You'd be asleep in twenty minutes if I had you watch that."

"Then ye make the decision, love!" Jack said. "I trust ya!"

She turned back to the movies and looked through them. "'Oceans Twelve'! George and Brad are so sexy in this! Plus Matt Damon's in this...I remember seeing this with Kate in the theaters." She started laughing at something.

George? Jack thought. Brad? Matt? Who are these men? Is she kissin other people, too?

"You see, Kate is in love with Brad Pitt, one of the actors in this, and she nearly started hyperventilating when he first appeared in the movie." She laughed again. "And I'm a huge Matt Damon fan, so we were all bug-eyed and probably drooling."

Jack frowned.

Melissa cleared her throat. "Never mind. I didn't think you'd understand." She turned back to the movies.

"Are ya kissin' 'im?" Jack asked.

"Kissing who?" Her back was turned to him.

"That Matt Damon fellow."

Melissa burst out laughing. "Jack, if you could get Matt Damon to kiss me, I'd be in debt for the rest of my life to you."

Jack made sure to never try and find Matt Damon. He didn't need Melissa kissing someone else.

"'Flightplan'?" Melissa said. "Bad ending. And I do not dare to show you 'Wedding Crashers.' And you wouldn't get 'The Da Vinci Code'...Oh my gosh! 'Chicago'! I love this! We're watching this!"

"She call go? What?"

Melissa laughed again. "No, Jack, Chicago. Not whatever you said. It's a musical – it's so good!"

"Singin'. Melissa, I don't like singin'."

"You still owe me for a few things." She looked at him, then put the disc in a machine. "The singing is really good in this one. Now..." She pressed the play button, then sat down next to Jack. "Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the movie."

The movie was about two murderesses competing for fame. There was singing. There was dancing. There were no ravishing women. There was no alcohol.

Needless to say, Jack did not enjoy the movie.

Kate couldn't sleep again. She thought it would be easy, since she had nothing to worry about. Her and Will were mending things up, they weren't fighting, but he still hadn't forgiven her. Maybe that's what was keeping her awake.

What if he could never forgive her? She tried to convince herself that wasn't possible, that he couldn't act like he loved her and not have forgiven her. But he hadn't said it yet!

Then again, it hadn't even been a week yet. She told herself to give it time. You couldn't rush everything.

She checked Will's bedroom; his bed was empty, just as she thought that it was. She went outside, down the deck, and spotted him sitting in the same spot as yesterday. When she went on the grass, the motion detector turned on. And, just as last night, Will seemed surprised to see her out this late.

Kate took her spot next to him on the grass. It wasn't as cool as last night, but cool enough to wear a half-length sleeved shirt and shorts.

Deja vu,she thought.

"What are you up thinking about?" she asked.

"The future," he answered honestly. "Why are you still awake?"

"Insomnia." She paused. "What do you mean when you say that you're thinking about the future?"

"Just...the future. I'm thinking about what's yet to come," he answered cryptically.

She nodded and picked at a blade of grass. Her legs were together, one arm draped over her calves.

"Do you mean that you're thinking about changing things? Like...moving back to the Caribbean?"

"What's it like now?"

"It's modern, you wouldn't like it. There are still beaches there, and a few places are still probably untouched there." She picked at another blade of grass. "I'm sure it's still beautiful."

"It is," he said softly. It was an intimate conversation now, just the two of them. "Beauty like that stays. Once you see how beautiful something is, you remember it. Everything about it. The touch, how you felt, you memorize every single detail."

Kate looked up to see that Will's eyes were on her. Were they on her the entire time he said that? Did what he say have a double meaning? She started to blush.

"I'm proud of you, Kate," he said, touching her hand. "I truly am. You didn't want to go to couple's counseling, and you did. Just for me."

"I had faith in us," she said. "I knew that we'd make it if we went. I went for you. To keep you." She laced her fingers through his.

"That was very unselfish of you."

"I've been working on that lately."

There was a silence between the two of them. She wanted to tell Will how she felt about him still, but she was afraid to. He was thinking about his future, after all. What if that future didn't include her in it? She didn't want to risk saying that she loved him if he wasn't going to say it back anymore.

"We still have Monday left of counseling," she said. "Then we're done."

"I thought Beckett said that we had seven days."

"He must include weekends. Monday is step five, the final step."

"Oh."

Another long silence between the two of them. She looked up at the sky. There were still countless stars and a bright moon out tonight.

She stood up. "It's chilly out," she said. "I'm going in."

Kate let go of his hand and stood up, tugging on her shirt.

You're such an idiot, Kate! she thought. You couldn't have said it? It's three words: I love you. Not too hard, is it?

Yes it is! she argued back. Those are the hardest words to say to someone.

She felt a tug on her wrist that spun her around. Before she could comprehend what was happening, she felt Will's lips on her's, his hand on her neck.

Oh, my God! she thought. He's kissing me! This is good, right? I'm not imagining this?

Will pulled away. Kate longed for them to kiss more. She resisted every urge to keep on kissing him.

"I've kept my promise," Will said. "I expect that you keep your's."

"I promise, Will," she said softly, looking him in the eye.

Kate had never kissed under the stars before. There was something so magical about it.It was almost as if their love could go past the stars, so very high above them, up into the dark, endless sky.

She felt Will's lips on her's again, his hand resting gently on her neck. She kissed him back passionately. She could hardly believe that this was happening. Kate felt her knees getting weak and her heart speeding up.

She was not going to sleep now.

Kate's Blog Entry

Oh. My. God. We kissed. I think he still loves me! That's what a kiss means when you get back together, right? Then this means that he's forgiven me! Well, he hasn't said it yet, but he has to. Unless he meant it in that kiss...now I'm confused. But he kissed me!!!!! I can't say how happy I am. You have no idea!

XOXO,

Kate

Melissa's Blog Entry

I made Jack watch "Chicago" tonight. I don't think he liked it. He still owes me, so if I tell him he's going to do something now, he's going to do it! I love that movie. Do you think he would have liked "Oceans Twelve" better? I know I would have loved it, if you know what I mean! It feels so nice to be back with Jack, even what he did was horrible. But I forgive him. Everyone deserves a second chance, right?

Love,

Melissa Rose