Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing! This was supposed to be a quick one-shot that spiraled out of control, so I had to separate it into three parts, so as not to make it seem ridiculously long. I hope to write more in the future, if time permits! Enjoy Part 3!
Jack stood on the steps of the main entrance of the church, conversing with Locke and eventually patting his shoulder, shaking his hand and sending him on his way, while Kate hugged Sun and Jin goodbye nearby.
Once it was just the two of them, Jack looked over to find Kate leaning against his truck, already staring at him with that look she gave him right before she devoured him. He missed that look, so much.
He walked over to her, taking his time as she paid attention to every detail of the way he moved. She missed him so much, not able to suppress her smiles at seeing him again, at being with him again.
He stopped a few inches in front of her, smiling at the look of complete contentment on her face.
"So, here we are" he said.
"Here we are" she said with a wry grin, excitement oozing from her eyes.
"So what now?" he asked, moving into her, placing a hand on the roof of the truck, above her head.
"We go home" she said with a smile, playfully tugging on his tie as it dangled in front of her.
He knew just where home was, as he drove straight there from the church parking-lot. They walked through the front door of the home they shared during the happiest time in both of their lives. As if falling back into an effortless pattern, Kate took off her shoes while Jack slid out of his jacket, hanging it on the nearby coat-rack, and loosened his tie.
They made it to the couch, and sat next to each other. Exhausted from the emotional whirlwind, he sunk back into the soft cushions, and closed his eyes, one arm wrapped snugly around her waist, urging her to join him.
She leaned into his side, laying a hand on his lower chest and her head on his upper chest as she sunk further into his warm, strong embrace. She sighed at the sensation, realizing just how much she missed being this close to him. She mentally prepared what she would say to him about her life once she left the Island, about the child they'd made together, but she just didn't know how to initiate that kind of bombshell. Disturbing the perfect moment not at all what she wanted to do.
"His name was David" Jack said, cracking the silence.
She looked up at him, her eyes soft and mellow as she watched his face, contorted in thought and reflection.
"I held him in my arms seconds after he was born. One minute he was this helpless little person in my arms, and then suddenly he was this 13-year old kid. Smart, independent and very angry with me. I wasn't the best father I could have been for a big part of his life, but he woke me up one night, when he wasn't home when I thought he would be and I realized that my own son was afraid that he would disappoint me, he was scared of failing me" he said, his voice steadily strained by his emotions.
Kate felt his chest tighten as he became agitated and distraught with what their son must have thought of him. She wrapped her arm around his torso, hugging him as she buried herself into his warmth even more.
"I couldn't believe that I'd gone so long without realizing that I almost failed him, that he thought I wouldn't love him anymore if he ever failed. I know what that feels like, and it kills me that I inflicted that onto him, that he didn't know how unconditional my love for him really is. I hate it" he said.
She felt the tears fall from her eyes before she could stop them. It finally set in for her, what Desmond was trying to tell her, the reason why Jack needed to raise David. Because he needed to be a father. It was that simple, that beautiful. He needed to sift through the issues of his childhood, of his relationship with his own father, by being allowed to know and love their child. He had to love and be loved in a way that he didn't feel when he was growing up. David was the key, unlocking what Jack desperately needed to let go of, and yet, providing him with the opportunity to prove what a great father he could be.
Their son provided that for her as well, she soon realized. Being a mother was something she craved ever since she held Aaron in her arms as an infant, watching him grow and learn, planting the notion that motherhood was within her capabilities. Raising David was the most rewarding experience of her life, and it shredded any doubt in her mind that she couldn't do what her mother never did for her.
"After we talked things through, we really connected. He let me be his father, so eager to share things with me, as many things as a teenage kid would actually share with his father. We were okay" he said.
He brought a hand to his forehead and rubbed his temples furiously, working to prevent the headache that was surging.
"I just don't understand. Even as I lie here, in a world that can only be considered some type of heaven, I can still feel him, I still love him, even if he wasn't real. How is that possible Kate? How can I possibly be so intensely connected to some figment of my imagination?" he pleaded with her.
She felt the tears well up in her eyes again as he begged of her for an explanation, his eyes so desperate for David to be real. She could tell that he ached with it.
She moved out of his embrace and off of the couch, grabbing all of his attention as he watched her pick up a picture frame from the mantle, holding it close to her chest while she walked back over to him. She sat down on the coffee table, and handed him the photograph.
There he was. The child he knew from birth and thought he'd never see again. The same blue eyes and freckled cheeks, the same head of thick brown hair that he remembered combing awkward cow-licks out of when he was younger. The same kid he took to his first Red Sox game when they came to LA, their first outing together after they'd gotten over their roughest patch ever, and the same kid he loved with everything he had, and yet Kate, the woman he loved more than life itself, knew him too somehow.
He stared at the photo for what felt like an eternity. Shock, awe and then confusion read in his facial features. He looked up at her, lips poised to speak, but she beat him to the punch.
"He's real, Jack" she said, taking his hand into hers. "He is real, and he's ours."
"You were pregnant?" he asked.
Kate nodded as the happy tears fell freely. His eyes were fixated on the photo again, bedazzled by the face of his son, with Kate. A child of their very own.
"When I first saw you again, at the concert, I asked you if you were looking for someone, and you started rambling about missing him, but I saw him, I touched him, and I was amazed that you got to know him, and love him as much as I do." she said, her voice strained with emotion.
"How did this happen?" he asked, confused and awestruck at the same time, on the verge of an emotional meltdown as his thumb caressed their son's cheek through the photo.
"Desmond said that you needed to raise him, to be close to him, before you could leave. It's all so complicated Jack, but it happened. We needed him, and he needed us. We raised our son and we raised him together, and he's okay. He's perfect. He knows that we love him and will miss him" she said.
He finally took his eyes off the photograph and looked at her. She had the biggest smile, still the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen; it literally knocked the wind out of him. He finally let the tears flow down his face, a smile formed on his lips as his laugh echoed through the space. She wrapped him up in a hug, holding onto him as he wept tears of joy and sadness. His hands gripped her, his knuckles white as he held onto every inch of her that he could.
After awhile, she pulled back and cupped his face in her hands, wiping his tears away. His face collapsed in relief. It finally hit him.
"The last thing I saw before I died was your plane, and to know that you got off the Island and to feel your hand in mine when I couldn't have felt more alone, that was more than enough for me, but this…" he said as another tear fell down his cheek. She immediately wiped it away.
"I love you" she said, leaning in for a kiss.
"I love you" he said right before his lips met hers.
The kiss went from soft and sweet to hot and urgent as she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, taking him in. He fell back onto the couch, taking her with him, his hands on her back and steadily moving lower, their lips still pressed together tightly, opening and tasting. To his dismay, she pulled away with a teasing grin on her face and a mischievous sparkle in her green eyes.
"Wait. There's just one last bone I have to pick with you now that we're stuck with each other for eternity" she teased.
"Yeah? What's that?" he laughed.
"Juliet was your ex-wife and our son's mother?" she asked incredulously, making him laugh.
"What can I say, I hadn't found you yet, but then again, you found me" he said, drawing her lips back to his.
They kissed some more, filling the house with voices and laughter as they made plans for this eternity they had to fill. In death, they were content, knowing that they were together finally, and that they left the best of who they were with the world, residing in their son's heart and soul.
FINIS