As promised, here is the next chapter, slightly longer and full of explanations and Jack and Kate interactions both angst-ridden and fluffy. Please review!
Jack didn't say anything, only felt his breath stop in his chest, felt his palms stop sweating, felt his head stop throbbing with questions. He only waited.
Kate wasn't looking at him. She was looking at her mother, standing at the foot of her bed, watching, with her head cocked a bit to the right, as if considering. After a gusty sight she turned back to Jack, her eyes clear, focused, and determined.
"I was going to tell you later, when I could figure out where you and I were going with this," she gestured between them, smiling ruefully, "this thing. But…"
With serious eyes, Jack nodded, taking a few steps until he was shoulder to shoulder with Kate. He looked at her mother a moment, taking a quick inventory of the machines in the room, her blood pressure, heart rate. He took the chart from the foot of her bed and flipped it open, scanning the first page just before Kate's hand rested over top of it.
"Jack." She stated simply, and met his eyes with her own imploring. "I didn't bring you here for your help. I just wanted you to know."
He glanced down at the chart again before nodding, closing it and setting it back inside its holder.
"How long has she been…" He trailed, feeling stupid for not being able to spit out the medical terminology when he wanted so desperately to help her, when he should have been able to be the doctor instead of a lover.
"A little over a year."
Jack nodded, considering, and knowing that whatever caused her coma must have been serious, and being in a near-vegetative state for over a year was clearly not a good sign that she was headed towards recovery.
"You said your parents were dead."
She scoffed. "Well…"
"What happened?" Jack asked softly, eyes not able to meet Kate's, only settling on the off-white linoleum of the hospital floor.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Kate tense, could almost feel the tension of her muscles inches away from his body, but she channeled all towards her fingers as she picked at a scratch on the hospital bed's footboard.
"My stepfather used to beat us up pretty bad. He—he was a drunk, and he'd get carried away and go after my mom, and when it started getting pretty bad with her, he just turned on me. I was off at college, it was my first year at graduate school, when I got the call. Something had happened. My mom had fallen down some steps, was in the hospital. I knew it was him, and that was gonna be it. I was finally going to take it to the police, I wasn't going to let me mom tell me no anymore. But about a month after the accident, he was diagnosed with liver failure. And he died before we could take it to court. So that was that. And she's been in a coma ever since."
Jack digested the story with a surprising amount of ease. He'd known there'd been more to Kate's story than she'd reluctantly admitted since they'd started seeing each other. And know he knew why she was so hesitant, so busy, so standoffish.
"What is my father doing to help?" Jack asked evenly, finally meeting Kate's eyes. Her look told her she seemed grateful that he hadn't been quick to pour pity out on her.
She tore her gaze away from his after a moment, suddenly looking nervous. "Nothing yet. This was the first time I'd seen him since he'd come to apologize. I knew he was a doctor. I thought he might know someone who could help."
"If you needed help, why didn't you ask me?"
Kate shot him a look. "I didn't want you to think I was using you, or that I'm some charity case."
He frowned. "I wouldn't think that. If you needed help finding long-term care, I could've—"
Kate straightened. "I'm not looking for long-term care. I want a brain surgeon."
He blinked. "You want to operate?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "I'm not going to watch her die. I want to try. I want to find someone who can fix this, who can get her to wake up." Her voice has been rising steadily, and Jack set a hand on her shoulder to calm her.
"Kate—"
She seemed to settle, but shrugged his hand. "Your dad had the same reaction."
Jack sighed. "Well, from a doctor's perspective, it'd make sense we'd draw the same conclusion. I don't know much about your mother's case, but being in a coma for over a year…Kate, you've got to know the chances of surgery—"
"I know what the chances are. I've spent a year in L.A. hearing the same thing from every doctor I could harass into giving me the time of day. I know it's impossible." Kate hissed, but the fire that had ignited her words seemed to die and she looked tired, older.
He took a step forward and let his hand touch her arm gently. "If you want me to, I can see what I can do. My friend, Marc—"
Kate shook her head, once again shrugging his hand away. "I don't want help from you." She said evenly, but not viciously.
"I want to help, Kate."
She met his eyes, her own watery. "Can you just take me home?"
When Jack reached Kate's apartment, he thought she's slip out of his car and into her apartment as she'd done that morning, silently and without a look back towards him. But she didn't exit in a hurry. Instead, she sat back in the passenger seat and kept her head down, eyes focused on her hands.
"Do you want to come inside?" She asked quietly. By now, it was nearing ten o'clock and Jack was certain that she'd be exhausted from her day. He was prepared to kindly decline her offer when she turned towards him, eyes wide and vulnerable, so different than he'd ever seen them.
Turning off the ignition, he smiled at her, "Sure."
She led him up the long walk-up and fumbled with her keys at the lock, not speaking a word. When they got inside, the apartment was dark and quiet. Kate flipped on the lights, tossing her keys onto the coffee table.
"Claire has a night shift tonight." She said, walking towards the kitchen, reaching under the sink and coming back up with a bottle of tequila in her hand.
Jack's eyebrows rose. "Are you sure you want—"
"Do you want some?" Kate interrupted, fumbling for two shot glasses out of another cupboard, setting them on the counter and pouring two, not waiting for Jack to answer.
"Sure." He mumbled under his breath, sidling up to the counter and taking the shot glass she was offering.
"To--" He began to toast, but she was already downing hers and pouring herself a second one. Without drinking his, he set the shot down on the corner and tried to pry hers from her hand.
"Kate, I think you better stop." He said softly. But she didn't meet his eyes, only draining the second shot glass before slamming it down on the counter.
"Fine. I'm done." She breathed, and Jack at first seemed satisfied before she sidled close to him, her arms coming around his waist tightly enough that he could feel her entire body press flush against him.
"Kate—" He laughed weakly, but she was already pressing sloppy, wet kisses up his throat and neck, making the skin warm where her mouth found it.
"Do you want me to stop?" She whispered against his skin, not stopping her torrent of kisses, feeling his hands flutter at her waist where they perched.
"Yeah, yes." He said finally, pulling away with a hard look.
"You can't keep doing this, Kate." He said seriously, watching her eyes changes from lustful to dull.
"Why not?" She shot back, arms coming over to cross against her chest and Jack found he didn't have an answer.
"B-Because. This isn't a healthy way to deal with what you're going through."
Kate barked a laugh. "What isn't? Drinking or fucking?"
Jack's eyes widened slightly, surprised at her brashness. "Right now? Both." He settled upon, grabbing the tequila and pouring it all down the sink.
He'd expected Kate to try and stop him, but she only leaned back against the opposite counter, a smirk on her lips. He turned, trying to gauge her expression, though he knew with her it was pointless to try and decode her.
"I think I should go." Jack said after a moment, fidgeting under her scrutiny.
"Then go." Kate shrugged, turning and walking towards the door, holding it open and gesturing towards it.
He shifted a moment, coughing. "I think you'd better get settled in first."
Kate laughed. "What, think I'm going to throw myself out a window or something?"
Jack didn't laugh, only moving towards the door and closing it, pulling her hand into his and leading her back towards her bedroom.
"Going to tuck me in?" She said in a teasing voice, and Jack felt silly for trying so hard with her when her mood changed to quickly and unpredictably. Some moments he thought she was desperate for him, and then other times he could swear she despised him.
He led her into the bedroom, which he'd never seen before this moment, and gestured to her dresser in the corner "You should get changed for bed."
She raised a challenging eyebrow in his direction, arms crossing over her chest again.
"Are you staying?" She asked, eyes once again unreadable, but somehow darker.
Jack shrugged. "Nothings going to happen, Kate. But I think you should sleep. And I'm not leaving until you get back to normal."
"Normal?" Kate scoffed, taking a step towards him and making him gulp.
He nodded. "You're not yourself."
Kate shook her head. "You don't even know me, Jack."
"That's not true." He argued, hand finding her side to stop her from advancing any further towards him.
"I know you feel sorry for me, but you can stop. Because you can't do shit to change things, Jack. No one can. And that's the truth. That's what you know. That's it."
The condescending playfulness, the coyness was all gone from Kate's tone and body language. She seemed harder now, menacing. And Jack gripped her shoulders gently, moving her to sit on the side of her bed.
She buried her head in her hands, and by quivering of her shoulders Jack knew she was crying. He rubbed soothing circles onto her back, tugged her close beneath his arm and whispered words of comfort into her ear until she calmed.
She peeked out from behind her arms, her tears sending silvery streaks down her face in the dim light of the room, and Jack rubbed them away with thumbs, smiling faintly.
"You don't have to pretend with me, Kate. I'm not going anywhere." He said softly, and he wondered where this strength came from, the clarity of his words when he certainly didn't feel it in his head. But then he realized that the feeling, the strength, was all coming from his heart. A location he hadn't given credence to in a long time.
She eyed him furtively. "I'm sorry." She breathed, wiping away a streak of tears and trying to sooth her mussed hair, curly and wild.
Jack smiled lopsidedly, pulling her closer beneath his arm and she settled there, sighing, a hand touching his leg, her finger tracing a meaningless pattern onto the knee of his trousers.
"Jack," she began softly, pausing and sucking in a breath before sitting back to look him in the eyes, "I want you to stay tonight."
Jack nodded. "Of course, I'll stay."
Kate shut her eyes, shaking her head slowly before looking at him steadily again, eyes dark and welcoming. "That's not what I meant."
Jack stiffened a bit, eyes locked on hers. "Kate…"
She sat up straighter. "I want you to."
He shook his head, removing his arm from over her shoulders. "Not tonight, Kate. Not like this."
"Jack, it wouldn't be about tonight, it'd be about us. That's it."
Jack eyed her, unsure, and knowing his body wanted to say yes, but his heart, newly pertinent, was telling him to wait. But the earnest look in Kate's eyes, the feel of her nimble fingers on his leg, the dimness of her bedroom—they all pulled him closer to her until their noses brushed and he felt himself suck in a breath at the nearness of her.
"Okay." He said softly, hands coming up to frame her face and force her to meet his eyes. "Only if you're okay." He insisted.
She nodded. "I want to. I want this."
Up next: possible jex, repurcussions, marc reappears, and more! Please review! The next update should be up by Wednesday! The more reviews, the quicker I think!