I am truly a woman of my word, so here is the next, very kinda sappy, fluffy chapter. Ironically, I'm not a fluff kinda gal- bring on the heartache! And you folks all know the disclaimer.

When Zack was led out of his room, like he was every Saturday, he expected Jerald would lead him to the visitation room. He could have walked there blindfolded by now, and maybe even sat down in his usual seat with no difficulty. He had always been good at judging and estimating distances and speeds.

This time however, Jerald surprised Zack by leading him in the opposite direction; towards the doors to the courtyard. Zack hadn't been out there yet—he felt that being locked up meant locked up indoors. But he had seen the courtyard from the windows; one bare, flat square of asphalt surrounded by McKinley on all four sides. Not exactly an attraction to going outside.

Jerald swiped his key card, and pushed open the door before giving his patient a little push forward. Immediately, Zack felt a warm gentle breeze stir his shaggy hair, and the sunlight felt warm upon his face. This was what he'd been missing, because even in the Jeffersonian, there were open windows and skylights. Then he spotted Kat in the middle of the courtyard.

'Surprise,' she said with a slightly goofy smile. 'I managed to pull a few strings, and get us outside today.'

'I'm certainly surprised. I am hypothesising that Sweets had a hand in this?'

Kat nodded, and the smile turned slightly sour. 'I have to go eat dinner at his place tonight. Hopefully, I'm not getting the short end of the stick.'

'I fail to see where a stick is involved.' Zack replied blankly.

'Figure of speech.' She said by way of explanation. 'I'm hoping Sweets isn't getting the better end of this deal.'

'He might. Eating dinner with you was always much nicer than eating alone.'

'That's what you said about going to movies with me.' Kat teased.

'No,' he corrected her. 'I said that so long as you explained what I didn't catch in movies, I found them quite entertaining.'

'And I always ended up missing half the movie because you needed so much explanation.'

Zack didn't respond. This was almost the exact conversation that had they'd had that one night. He could picture it; the two of them in her front hallway, and then he'd said something that had made her kiss him… and then they'd woken up the next morning, completely unsure of each other, and themselves.

'I know what you're thinking Zack.' She said quietly.

'I wish you had told me, when you lost the baby—I would have liked to have been there for you. And as the father, I think I deserved to know.'

Kat nodded, and began to walk the perimeter of the courtyard. She'd always been a walker—he could distinctly remember her pacing in the lecture halls and labs, before a big lecture or exam. The heels of her shoes made a similar tapping sound now. It was a wonderfully familiar sound.

'I had a discussion with Dr. Brennan yesterday.' She said after a minute or two. 'About her and Booth. I said she shouldn't be afraid to try to take a chance with him; that she should be open to the idea of a deeper relationship.' She turned and looked directly at Zack. 'In the end, I was talking as much about us as them. I said I thought five years was too late to take those chances; but maybe I'm wrong Zack. Maybe I didn't blow it.'

Her words hit Zack like a ton of bricks, metaphorically. They did not break any bones, or damage any tissues. It was a mental impact, and Zack could hardly remember any words striking him so deeply.

'Please don't make me feel like an idiot Zack.' Kat said quietly

He knew the only logical response he could give her would be a physical one. Anything else would be lost in translation. So he stepped closer to her, bridging the physical and emotional gap between them. And gently tilting her face up to his, Zack softly kissed her as her arms pulled him even closer, until he could feel her heart beating against his own chest.

They stood like that for what felt like eras. They forgot Jerald, and Gormogon, and Africa, and all the things that had separated them. Those things didn't matter for that one moment; nothing in the world mattered. Until a cough from Jerald broke the spell, and they remembered where they were and why.

'I wish the world could stop and leave us alone.' Kat sighed as they resumed walking.

'That would defy most of the laws of astrophysics.' Zack pointed out. 'All we can do is wait. Maybe it will two months, or maybe it will be two years.'

She smiled. 'Things are going well with your appeal. Hodgins is hoping to paint the whole thing as a fiasco of shoddy investigation, and make it the justice system's worst nightmare. Then they might drop the charges without a trial.'

'But Booth investigated it. He is very good at what he does.'

'There was no physical evidence tying you to the murders, and there were a few problems with your confession—were you read your rights first?'

'Not until after the confession and I was officially arrested.'

Kat shook her head in disbelief. 'Zack that's one of the things you could have told us ages ago.'

'You never asked' He said simply.

'Just toi Zack, a besoin d'une question pour donner une pièce d'information si important.'

'You know very well my French is limited, and yet you continue to scold me in it—I'm fairly sure you were scolding me.'

'I may as well use what took six years of my life to learn.' She replied cheekily.

They had come full circle by now, and the sun was beginning to sink below the roofline of the west wing. Watching the sunlight slowly disappear filled Zack with a melancholy feeling. 'I suppose visiting hours are over.' He said regretfully. 'It's getting fairly late, and you have dinner with Sweets.'

'I'll be back next week, same as every week.'

Kat kissed him goodbye, and then Zack allowed himself to be led back though the doors, down the hallways, and into his room. Watching the sun sinking on the western horizon through his window, Zack found himself wishing for the first time, that next Saturday was sooner.

Ahh... now the next chap gets a little less fluff, and more...pissed off! Review if you wanna read more. Oh, and thank you to everybody who's been reviewing. It makes for a really nice, warm, fuzzy feeling when you know someone is a) reading and b) liking what you're writing. 3 to all of you guys!