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Chapter Nine

Let's Make A Deal

Kate rushed around Sam's apartment, taking a quick shower and pulling the only dress she'd brought with her over her head. She hoped it would be appropriate. From what little time she and Jack had spent together, Kate had figured out that the doctor had good taste and was sure he wouldn't skimp on the celebration.

"Sam!" she yelled, confident that he'd woken up from his nap and she wasn't interrupting. "How do you feel about going to dinner with me?"

Sure enough, he emerged from his bedroom a moment later with a paperback mystery in his hand. "You look nice," he said, surveying her black dress, watching her thread a dangly pair of earrings through her lobes. "What's this you said about dinner?"

"Yeah, wanna come with me?" she asked, hoping that he would conveniently forget to ask what the occasion was. "It's at this place… Hagerty's I think? You know of it?"

Sam nodded. "That's a nice restaurant…" Suddenly he caught on, sure that Jack was taking her. Pretending not to have noticed, he continued. "And no offense, but how are you gonna pay for a place like that?"

Sam followed her into the bathroom where Kate applied some makeup. "I have a job now in case you forgot. I'll manage. Now are you coming with me or not? Might be a good thing to get out of the house and go somewhere other than the hospital for once…"

He couldn't even pretend like he didn't agree with her. "Now why do I get the feeling that a certain Dr. Shephard is going to be there?"

He saw the immediate blush rise on the apples of her cheeks. "I told you that he hooked me up with this job and he wants to celebrate" she explained. "Plus, Marc is going to be there, so it isn't like you're going to be interrupting anything."

Though he doubted the meeting was going to turn out as innocently as Kate portrayed it, Sam agreed. It would be nice to have a change in his routine, and he figured he should take advantage of the opportunity since he wasn't feeling as awful as he had for the past few weeks.

"Fine, I'll go."

"Leaving in fifteen, so hurry it up."

As he turned away, Kate could swear she heard him grumble, "Great, now me and this Marc guy will be the third and fourth wheel…"

Hagerty's was nice. Kate couldn't remember the last time she went somewhere that required valet parking, but convinced herself before she had even walked through the door that she belonged in this type of place.

Jack and Marc had already been seated by the time Sam and Kate followed the host back to the table. Though she wasn't entirely sure what Sam had spent all of his time doing, it had been difficult to get him out the door on time, and now they were ten minutes late.

Both men stood when they approached the table, and Kate had a moment of doubt, wondering how on earth she was supposed to greet her father's doctor and her boss. Right then, she decided to stop thinking of them in that way—it would only make things awkward, when chances were, Sam would already fill that quota for the night.

"I think congratulations are in order," Jack said after they sat down. Sam had practically thrown himself into the chair next to Marc, leaving the seat next to Jack open. Kate saw that Jack too had noticed and fought back a grin, instead throwing the smirk in her direction.

Marc poured the wine, ignoring Sam's request to be passed, on Jack's insistence that a little wouldn't hurt.

"Gotta live a little," Sam grumbled, and bit his tongue before he said something that would send Kate on another one of her 'you deserve to live!' rants.

Jack focused on her, his eyes in line with hers, so sincere Kate wasn't sure how to feel. "To Kate," he said simply, as he easily brought another blush to her cheeks and the table raised their glasses.

Sam broke his bread in half, surely breaking some fancy restaurant etiquette, but Kate didn't care. She was glad he was able to be there. "So," he started, directing his question at Marc. "Why'd you hire her? Jack ask you to?"

Maybe she wasn't so glad he was there after all.

"Sam!" she admonished him. There was no doubt that Marc was a nice guy, but she hadn't been around him enough to determine his humor. A lot of people wouldn't take that sort of comment in stride.

"Well if you won't ask…"

Luckily Marc smiled and shook his head. "Jack merely recommended Kate. She proved herself to me when we met. I think she's going to be great for the company."

Kate nodded enthusiastically, aware that Jack's eyes were on her. Self consciously she tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "This is actually the type of job I've wanted but never looked for. I guess I felt safe at my job back home… but Marc has just started the company and I like the way he does business, and I'll agree that I think it's going to work out," she said to Sam, who still looked less than impressed.

"So I guess I have you to thank, Jack," she said, giving him a small, shy smile and holding eye contact for only as long as necessary.

"Anything to help out a friend."

There was something forced in the way he said it, and it made Kate think that he wasn't entirely sure what they were either. Friend seemed to fit the description best, at least at the moment, but they were both very aware of their feelings, which were quickly emerging.

"She must like me a lot, making plans to stay here for a while…" Sam winked at her. "Or maybe there's someone else—"

Thankful that he at least wasn't counting himself as dead quite yet, Kate stopped him before he could embarrass her further, or ask Jack if he'd like to marry her one day. "It's just nice to make a change, that's all. There's nothing for me back in Iowa anyway. Why not stay here? It's warm."

The three men laughed. "Well I'm glad you're here," Jack said as Marc agreed, making time for the waiter as he took their orders.

"You mean you don't have a dog and a boyfriend back home waiting on you?" Marc asked, giving her a furtive glance. Kate could already tell what his game was.

She shook her head. "None of the above."

"Oh, that's weird, Jack doesn't—"

"So when are you starting, Kate?" Jack asked her, attempting to rescue her from the conversation and save himself from mortification.

"Wednesday," Marc offered, not letting the subject drop. "But like I was saying, Jack doesn't—"

"Marc, really?" Jack cut in, glaring at the redheaded man, who he was no longer sure if he wanted to count as a friend.

Looking anywhere but at Jack—overanalyzing the menu, the candles on the table, Sam—she noticed Sam hesitating. No, she thought. Don't say anything at all!

The older man folded his hands across the table before taking a sip from his water glass. "I think what Marc's trying to say is that Jack isn't attached?"

Grinning broadly, Marc straightened his posture proudly. "That's exactly what I'm saying. I knew I liked you, Sam."

"Stop it—" Kate said.

"I don't think this is a good idea—" Jack said.

Sam raised his shoulders nonchalantly. "I think he's just making a friendly… suggestion."

Kate blushed furiously, upset at two out of three men at the table, which wasn't a good ratio in her book. "Well it's been heard. Loud and clear."

"Yeah," Jack agreed, and Kate would laugh at the simplicity of it if she weren't so pissed off.

Lately, Sam had developed an attitude that he should say anything he was thinking, since he was sure he wasn't going to be around too much longer anyway. It provided them with some very awkward moments, but Kate could say that she always knew what Sam was thinking. It was a blessing at times, but she didn't count this as one of them.

"Can't you at least think about it?"

"I have!" Kate blurted out, her entire body beginning to burn when she realized what she'd said.

Jack leaned forward at the table, that smirk present on his face once again. "Wait, what?"

"I mean, I don't know—why is everyone so crazy about all of this? This is so—"

Relaxed into his chair now, Jack folded his arms across his chest. Kate wanted to smack the smugness right off his face. "I think you mean what you said…"

"So what if I've thought about it?" Kate stammered, not sure how Jack had suddenly gained the upper hand. "That doesn't mean—"

"It means you've thought about it," he pushed, glancing to Marc and Sam and seeing the amused looks on their features. "That's all I've been trying to get you to admit for about two weeks now."

Flustered, Kate grabbed her purse and stood up. "There. I admitted it. Happy now?"

"Extremely," he smiled.

Kate stomped her way to the bathroom.

Sam laughed, watching Jack watch Kate. "Think I pissed her off."

By the time she returned to the table and finished pouting, their meals had arrived and provided a happy distraction for Kate. It would be like Sam to bring it up again, so she still didn't feel safe.

Sam was feeling tired but didn't want to admit it. Surprised that Kate had any concern left in her tonight, she asked him if he was feeling okay.

Marc stretched and finished off his last bite of steak. "I'm stuffed and I need to get home. Still have a few things to finish up before deadline tomorrow."

"I'm going to take off too," Sam said. "I trust that Dr. Shephard can get you home all right?" His limited fatherly instincts kicked in and he raised an eyebrow at Jack.

"I can," Jack agreed.

Kate stood up quickly. "I'll just go with you, it's no big deal."

"Nah," he waved her off. "Stay, finish your wine, stop worrying about me for once."

Kate chuckled and for once was thankful for his efforts to get her and Jack to spend time alone.

Meeting Jack's eyes for the first time in an hour, she questioned, "You mind?"

"'Course not."

Awkward silence was an understatement for the first few minutes of their alone time.

"Can we just pretend like half of tonight didn't happen?" Kate asked, scrunching her napkin in her hands, her knuckles turning white.

"Like what didn't happen?"

His smugness was somehow equal parts unnerving and sexy. He didn't make sense. One minute he was embarrassed at the suggestion of them dating, then the next he questioned why they weren't in front of her father and his best friend.

Ducking her head down, Kate examined the dessert menu.

"I know you don't wanna talk about it, but just humor me this once. I don't buy the whole 'this'll be a distraction' bit. You said you've thought about it, so what else is holding you back?"

"Nothing," Kate lied.

"I still don't buy it. I know that there's… something, you know?"

Closing her eyes, Kate took a deep breath, calming herself. "I'm not denying that."

She never failed to notice the way his clothes fit him, how rugged he was but still managed to be sensitive most of the time, or the way he talked to her like he really cared.

"Okay," he smiled. "Then what's the problem? I can handle it, this 'distraction' and whatnot, and I know you can handle it…"

"Why's that?"

Jack shrugged. "Sticking around when you found out Sam had cancer? Practically forcing him to continue treatment? That's tough."

"People do what they have to do, Jack."

"You didn't have to do anything, that's the thing. It would've been much simpler to walk away."

It would've been easier to walk away, Kate thought. But now, though dealing with Sam's illness was difficult, she was getting other things in return. A chance to start over, a chance to get to know her father. That had to be worth something.

On her silence, he continued. "So I have a proposition for you. Sam's surgery will be in a week and a half if his chemo and radiation continue to shrink the tumors the way they are now."

"Yeah," Kate nodded, not sure what medical speak had anything to do with a conversation about dating.

"After Sam's surgery, I want you to give me a chance."

How could he be so positive that things would go well? It almost sickened her that at times she seemed to be a higher priority in his mind than Sam was.

"After?"

"I'm going to fix him, Kate. And maybe having this little deal behind it will motivate me even more…"

He knew how to bargain, she'd give him that. Never mind that it was a sick and somewhat twisted method of getting what he wanted.

She just wanted Sam to live. And maybe just a little, she wanted Jack.

Up next: Sam learns of Jack and Kate's deal, and Kate starts work.