Chapter Eleven: Things Start Splitting at the Seams

After his fervent declaration, after their passionate kiss, after the words that had altered their relationship for ever, they'd been remarkably adept at pretending that nothing had happened.

Kate had followed him back inside, made it all the way through the meal and had even managed to avoid the temptation to stay the night with him after he kissed her again.

After Margo left, soon followed by Kate, Charlie and Claire lingered at his home. While Charlie dozed on the sofa, Claire helped her big brother with the dishes.

"What did Mom say?" she asked abruptly. Jack found himself smiling, relieved to be around someone who would understand without being shocked.

"Something about how Kate's a gold digger. She was pissed," he admitted. Claire nodded.

"Not surprising."

Jack nodded vaguely.

"How did you get her to come back?" pressed Claire.

Jack, who had been drying the clean dishes with a dish cloth, stopped abruptly.

"I followed her outside. I told her I loved her," he said simply. Claire nodded.

"Yeah. I kind of suspected."

Jack nodded vaguely, unsurprised that his sister had figured it out before his girlfriend.

"She didn't say it back," said Jack, without emotion. Claire nodded.

"Did you expect her to?" she asked carefully.

"Not really."

Claire paused, suddenly feeling inadequate.

"She cares about you," she said helpfully. Jack nodded, dried another dish.

"Yeah. I think she does. Just maybe not as much as I care about her."

Kate made her way home in the dark night, thoughts that she could not process swirling through her head.

She found herself relieved when Shannon was already home. She had not expected her to be. Though she and Shannon had not gotten along well when they'd begun living together in the apartment that Cooper had procured for them a year previously, they'd slowly become attached to each other, united by their unconventional lives.

Not waiting for Shannon to call to her, knowing that she eventually would, Kate headed for her roommate's bedroom.

"Hey," she said, leaning against the door frame. "How was your evening?"

"Fine. It was a wedding, nice cake. Are you okay?"

Shannon, finally glancing up, had caught sight of Kate's expression.

"Jack's mother hates me," she said. Shannon nodded.

"You are pretty much preparing to screw over her son. It's to be expected. Is that all?" she asked.

"Jack told me he loves me," said Kate, in the same casual tone. Shannon's eyes widened.

"It's been like three months!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"Tell me about it."

She wandered into the room and sat cross legged on Shannon's bed.

"But you knew, didn't you?" asked Shannon curiously. Kate shook her head.

"How did you not know? I knew. Sawyer knew. His mom probably knew, too. Why else would she care so much?" wondered Shannon.

"Sawyer knew? Why didn't he tell me?" she asked in annoyance. Shannon rolled her eyes.

"You're so God damn clueless. What else did he say?" asked Shannon.

"Something about how he was going to give me time to think, and that if I wanted to avoid his calls for a little while he'd understand."

"He knows you. He actually knows you," said Shannon in disbelief.

"I know. How screwed up is that?"

Shannon laughed as Kate stretched out along the bed next to her, clearly having no desire to spend the night alone with her thoughts.

Jack Shephard had never been as surprised in his entire life as he was the next day, when he got a call from Kate as soon as he got home from work.

He hurriedly agreed to meet her for dinner, and once again they fell into a pattern.

Two months later, by which point Jack slowly began to get to know her better, he began to admire her skill at deflecting him every time he made up his mind to speak his mind to her.

It was truly impressive, he reflected. She manged to move on from the scene in front of his house with ease, never mentioned it, never demanded an explanation for his words. Never so much as acted surprised that he'd declared himself to her so early on in their relationship.

Things went on much as they'd gone on before – easy going, affectionate, intimate without being fully intimate. They spent time in each other's apartments, they had double dates with Charlie and Claire, they avoided meeting with Margo. She manged, adroitly, to avoid true intimacy, and they progressed forward while still existing in a standstill, ever waiting for the other to make the next move.

It was he who broke first, once again. It was he who refused to stop sliding cautiously forward. It was he who made the integral, inevitable move, who finally put it all out in the open.

They were walking. Jack reflected that they spent a lot of time walking. He had realized long ago that she liked walking, in silence or not. He had realized that this made Los Angeles a surprising choice of city for her. Not for the first time, he wondered why she had not stayed in her home state of Iowa. He'd heard her refer to it only fleetingly, but the references had been fond. In her apartment in the big, anonymous city was not how ultimately she wanted to live.

"You seem to be thinking pretty hard," remarked Kate as they walked. Jack smiled, glad that at least now she was in the mood to talk.

"I'm thinking about you," he revealed impulsively. Kate nodded, her face now blank.

"I thought maybe you were."

Los Angeles was not a city comprised of many parks, but they had managed to find one. They were walking through it as the sun began to fall from the sky. He'd come to the conclusion that this would be the night he'd break, and had planned accordingly.

"Kate..." he grabbed her hand and stopped in the middle of the path, stopping her with him. "I meant what I said."

She raised an eyebrow.

"What I said in front of my house. When I told you I love you," he expanded. She nodded.

"I know you did."

"I can't not move forward with you. I need this to go somewhere. I want to know everything about you. I don't want just to drift anymore," said Jack urgently.

"Are you breaking up with me?" she asked in surprise. Jack laughed.

"You've been pretty intuitive today, but you just lost major points. I never want to break up with you." He rummaged in his inside jacket pocket.

He revealed the object he'd been searching for. A small, square ring box.

"I never want to break up with you," he said again. "I want to marry you."

He paused awkwardly as her mouth dropped open and he revealed the diamond within the ring box.

"Do you want me to kneel?"

Author's note: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Hope it's going well for you all!!! And I hope this Jate fluff is a good enough Christmas present.