Chapter 8

On the Run (FF) Warning: this chapter contains some adult content. Nothing that is distasteful I promise. PG-13 from this point on.

Jack felt the leaves as he lay on the jungle floor. He opened his eyes to the soft rhythmic swaying of the canopy of trees above him. He could hear nothing, but the wind blowing through the trees. Jack felt a sense of calm come over him as small rays of sunlight peeked in through the jungle's canopy. The serenity of the moment was disturbed however as a shadow fell over Jack. A figure stood over him. Jack propped himself up onto his elbows to see who was casting the shadow. Jack could not see who the man was, but there was a familiarity to his voice as he spoke.

"How long are you going to wait Jack? They're all waiting for you. I think it's time you finally woke up."

The towering shadow grew till it encompassed the entire jungle, and all Jack could see now was black.

Jack jolted awake and his heart pounded. Jack sighed in relief as he looked at Kate. She was asleep; her face rested on his chest just under his chin and her right hand lay across it. Jack felt the warmth of her naked body next to his under the concealment of the sheets, their legs still entwined together. He held onto her tightly as if trying to hold onto the moment forever. Kate stirred and opened her eyes.

"Hey." Jack said as he smiled down at her.

"Hey… You ok?" She said looking up at him.

"Yeah…" Jack kissed her forehead. "It was just a dream."

She reached up and gently ran her fingers through his beard. Her thumb traced his bottom lip then she leaned in close and replaced her thumb with her lips. Jack closed his eyes as she kissed him gently. Without breaking the kiss Jack shifted on top of her, his hands delicately brushed back her hair and moved along the sides of her face caressing her cheeks as their kiss reached its crescendo then their momentum slowed and their lips reluctantly parted due to their need for air.

Jack looked into Kate's eyes and saw sadness in them. Even when she smiled up at him, it was still there.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I'm not supposed to be here. They're going to know I wasn't at work. My car is still there. They'll find us…"

"Shh…it's going to be alright." He said softly and put a finger to her lips.

"Where are you Jack?" She asked him searching his eyes.

"Wha' right here, where else would I be?" He asked confused.

"No, your hiding," she touched his beard, "behind this…inside your work…your false sense of security. When is the real Jack going to wake up?"

Jack opened his mouth to say something but nothing came. It was the same thing he heard the man tell him in his dream. He looked at her curiously for a moment.

"How do you know that this isn't the real me Kate; what if the old me was the one who was hiding?"

Kate move out from under him and started searching for her clothes. "Trust me Jack, from a person whose life for a long time was nothing but running and hiding, I know when someone is trying to hide." Jack watched as she got dressed.

"So that makes you an expert?" He asked amused.

"Yep, it does." She said as she playfully threw Jack's pants at him.

Jack caught them and started to get dressed. He looked at the clock which read 5:30 pm. "Look, let's get out of here. We'll go pick up your car at work and then go to my place." Jack watched as Kate raised an eyebrow. "Or we can stay at your place whatever you prefer." He added trying to get her approval. Kate still looked apprehensive about the suggested plan.

"Okay, but we can't talk about anything regarding Penelope, or plans to get back to the island. Once we walk out that door, we have to assume that they are listening to and even watching us. We have to be very careful about what we say."

Jack nodded. "Okay."

"I'm ready." She said.

"Let's go." He said.

Jack and Kate walked over to the door. Jack stopped in front of the door, grabbed Kate by the hand and pulled her close to him. "We'll be ok as long as we stay together." He said with confidence, then bent down and gave her a kiss. She looked at him and nodded. Jack opened the door and they left the hotel room.

They reached Kate's office in less than 15 minutes. The parking lot was nearly empty with the sun low in the sky and the lights in the parking lot were beginning to flicker on. A few lights were still on in the building. Jack pulled up next to her car. Kate was about to get out of the car, when Jack told her to wait, and motioned to a lady that was walking to another car nearby. Kate followed his gaze and saw the woman too.

"That's Stella, she works in the same office, really nice lady." Kate said and opened the door. The woman looked over and started to walk towards them in the parking lot. Jack opened his door and got out too.

"Kate my dear!" Stella exclaimed as she got closer.

"Hello Stella." Kate said and smiled at the woman.

Stella gave Jack the once over. "Now I see where you disappeared off to." Stella said as she smiled at Jack. "And you must be Jack I presume?" She held out her hand to Jack, which he shook. She was an older woman with short white colored hair which matched her ghostly pale skin. She had dark blue eyes that seemed to just pierce right through him and rose-colored cheeks which matched the color of her lips. Upon closer examination, Jack noticed that she wore a gold pin on her sweater that was a snake in the shape of a circle with its tail in its mouth. "I'm Stella Hawking."

"Pleased to meet you Ms. Hawking." Jack said. Stella frowned.

"Oh no, please call me Stella. Our Kate has told me so much about you."

Jack smiled "Well I hope it wasn't all too bad."

"Oh don't be silly. She told me that you saved her life."

Jack looked at Kate but spoke to Stella, "Yeah, but she saved my life too."

"And out of all those people who crashed with you, you two were the only ones who survived. Now that's not just lucky, that's fate my dear." Stella said to Jack. She looked at Kate then back to Jack. "There must be something important in this world that you are still meant to do, otherwise, why would you still be alive?" her tone was slightly different when she spoke this time. There was an intense stare between them almost as if she were trying to read his mind. Jack broke the stare first. "Well we have to get going."

"Of course, it's getting late. It was so nice to finally get to meet you Jack." Stella looked at Kate, "Goodbye Kate."

"Goodnight Stella." Kate said as she got into her own vehicle.

Stella looked back at Jack, "Don't get lost Jack." She said almost sternly.

Jack looked at the woman strangely, "I won't." He said.

"Well goodnight." And she waved to them as she walked back over to her car.

Jack got in his car and followed Kate to her apartment. As he drove, he couldn't help but think about how strange that conversation was. He wondered if Kate had noticed it and made a mental note to ask her about it. Then he remembered that they couldn't talk about it at her place or his for that matter. He would have to wait until they were in a safe place.

They reached Kate's apartment and went together to the door. Kate looked at the door which was slightly ajar and let out a soft gasp. Jack pushed the door open and turned on the lights. The place looked like a tornado had hit it. Tables and chairs were tuned over. The couch had stuffing coming out of it from holes that had been cut into it. Books were flung everywhere. In her bedroom they found the mattress leaning against the window and all her clothes were scattered on the floor. Someone was searching for something.

"Get what you need and let's get out of here." Jack said. Kate grabbed a large duffel bag and a back pack and proceeded to throw in clothes and shoes and pictures; she went through the entire apartment packing things here and there. But it didn't take her long and soon they were on their way to Jack's home.

Jack and Kate approached his home. There were no signs of intruders and they walked in cautiously. Jack turned on the lights after he closed the door behind them.

"Looks like they were here too." Kate said looking at the cluttered floor.

Jack studied the place for a moment "No, this is how I left it."

Kate looked up at him. "You're not kidding, are you?"

Jack shook his head. "Sorry, no."

Kate started to make her way through the living room doing her best to avoid stepping on the various books and bottles that were in her way. She went to his room and to her surprise the bed was made, and the room wasn't cluttered except for the books he had stacked on his bed. Kate dropped her things and leaned her head out the door.

"You don't use this room much do you?" She called out to him.

Jack was doing something in the kitchen. "No, I usually sleep on the couch." He said loudly back.

Kate came back out into the living room, sat on the floor next to an atlas and looked at the page it was left open to. Jack entered the room with a plate of sandwiches in one hand and a large glass of juice in the other. "I hope you like peanut butter and jelly." He said as he handed her the glass of juice, "and this is orange juice." He smiled down at her then glanced at the book she was reading.

"Thank you." She said then took a sip of the juice.

"I wish I could offer you something else, but I haven't had a chance to go to the store and…"

Kate smiled at him. "No Jack, it's ok. This is perfect."

Jack took a seat on the floor right behind Kate. She had moved on to a book labeled 'Scientific Theories of Space and Time Travel'. Kate was skimming the table of contents with her index finger.

"They're all pretty much the same. Useless." He said.

Kate looked around the room. "You've read all of these books?"

"Yeah most of them, some I just skimmed through but it hasn't gotten me anywhere." He said his voice slightly agitated. Something caught his eye that lay next to the end of the sofa. Jack reached over and examined the book. It was leather bound and contained no title or any words on the outside coverings except for a symbol in the center: a large serpent made of gold, with its tail in its mouth. Jack stared at it, remembering the pin that Stella was wearing on her sweater.

"What is it?" Kate asked and peered curiously at the book.

"I don't know. I've never seen this book before." Jack said as he carefully opened the book. On the first page there was a single sentence, which he read aloud: "For those who seek to bend the laws of time." Under the sentence was a picture of an old fashioned key which had a clock inside the circular end. The clock was white with no dials and little tick marks all the way around.

Jack and Kate both looked at each other. Jack was about to ask Kate about Ms Hawking but she quickly put a finger to his lips and shook her head. "It's just some fictional novel that probably got mixed up with the rest." She said. Jack caught on and reluctantly closed the book. They would have to examine it later. Kate grabbed the book and slid it under the couch.

"It's late, we should get some rest." Jack said and stood up to go grab a blanket. Jack watched as Kate went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, then he opened the top dresser drawers and searched through the clothes. After a few minutes, he found what he was looking for. It had been over 8 hrs since the last time he had taken one and Jack was starting to feel nauseous and shaky. He couldn't fight the urge any longer and popped two pills into his mouth.

"What was that?" Kate asked as she looked at him, from the doorway.

"Nothing…just something to help me sleep." He said avoiding eye contact.

"Okay." She said. But Jack knew she could tell that he was lying. Jack stumbled out of the room.

"Whoa." She said as she helped him back to the couch. "Those work pretty fast." She said with a hint of irony in her voice.

Jack lay down on the couch and closed his eyes. Kate switched off the lights and lay down with him. She pulled the blanket over the both of them and rested her head against his chest.

"Goodnight Jack." She whispered.

"Goodnight Kate." He said softly.

So I had to break up chapter 8 into two chapters. When I made the outline I wanted certain things to take place in each chapter, but when I actually wrote it out it was longer than I thought it was going to be so I decided to break it up that way. Chapter 9 is on its way. Please R&R : )