"Jack?"
Kate Austen woke, and was suddenly as wide awake as she'd been deeply sleeping. She shoved Jack as a loud female voice rang through the house, and footsteps began to draw closer to the bedroom.
"What?" he grumbled, slowly turning to face her. She shot him wide, panicked eyes as the bedroom door opened and Margo stepped in.
The elderly woman stopped, stared at them in surprise for a moment and then continued, carefully closing the door behind her. Kate sat straight up and smoothed her hair, infinitely glad that she was still wearing his clothes, the ones she'd worn to bed the night before.
"I didn't think you'd be here, Kate," said Margo. To her right, Jack scoffed.
"She's my fiance, Mom. Are you really that surprised?" he asked.
Margo frowned slightly as her son sat up as well, revealing his bare, muscular chest.
"I actually came to find you, Kate. I realized I didn't have your address, and I've made an appointment for us at a boutique downtown in an hour," explained Margo briskly.
"Boutique?" asked Kate blankly.
"Well you need a dress, don't you? My friend owns the best place in the city. Come now, we can stop at your house on the way," said Margo. After a nervous glance at Jack, Kate reluctantly climbed out of bed.
Kate, dressed in the same casually dressy outfit she'd been wearing the night before to her engagement party, followed Margo out to her car.
She'd never been so relieved as when she saw Claire in the passenger seat, blonde hair tied back into a low knot at the nape of her neck, a smile already present on her face when she met eyes with Kate.
Claire followed Kate up to her apartment when they arrived there, not bothering to explain her reasoning for this to her stepmother. Kate rounded on her as soon as they got in the door, annoyed and confused.
"She just showed up. Literally came into the bedroom without even knocking. Who does that?" she demanded.
"Margo Shephard. She never could understand that Jack's a grown up now. Plus she's trying to make up for the fact that I was pregnant when I got married, and took away her chance of having a huge country club wedding and inviting everyone she's ever met."
Kate glared at Claire, who seemed to be struggling not to laugh.
"This isn't funny! I don't want a big wedding. I barely even want a small wedding. The engagement party was bad enough," said Kate.
"What do you mean, you barely even want a small wedding?" asked Claire, beginning to look protective.
"I mean that I'd be happy to go the City Hall route," covered Kate, quickly. Claire nodded.
"We went that route. Me and Charlie. Jack was the witness, we didn't even tell my Dad and Margo," said Claire, shrugging. "Jack likes weddings. And you like Jack, so..."
Kate nodded in resignation before heading off to her bedroom to change.
Less than an hour later, even Claire's encouraging speeches could not convince Kate that she'd made the right decision.
Elegantly dressed woman held dresses in front of her, offered her tea, discussed the various merits of tiaras and veils. Spoke mostly to Margo, who took notes and told them what Kate wanted in a dress.
When they came across the first of the dresses to be deemed acceptable, Margo sent Kate into the dressing room with an attending to help her. Claire followed her in while Margo waited on the outside, discussing the finer points of the wedding with the shop owner.
After a complicated process, which involves many buttons, several hooks and a zipper, the attendant stepped back to allow Kate to evaluate her appearance.
After the initial shock that came of Kate seeing herself in a wedding dress, she had to admit that it really was a nice dress. It flattered her figure reasonable well, the fabric felt nice under her hands and it was not as uncomfortable as she'd feared it would be.
She caught sight of Claire's expression in the mirror.
"What?" she asked, smiling.
"It's not very you," said Claire bluntly. Kate sighed, having already come to this conclusion. The gown, with its long sweeping skirt and dramatic trumpet sleeves, was not what she'd been looking for. She twirled around in it, the excitement of being in a wedding dress affecting her in spite of herself.
She caught the eyes of the attendant, who opened her mouth to say something productive. Kate cut her off.
"Wait. Can you go in there and get something a bit... simpler?" she suggested.
"But Mrs. Shephard says..." she began nervously.
"It's my wedding," said Kate. She caught a glimpse of the attendant's nametag. "Um, Nicole? I'll make sure she doesn't yell at her."
This seemed to strengthen her resolve, and she left. She returned a few minutes later, apparently having avoided notice, her arms full of gowns with noticeable less tulle.
"She didn't see me," said Nicole nervously. Kate nodded and proceeded to try on the gowns.
"I like that one," said Claire, after what seemed like quite long time.
Nicole, their comrade, who had been sitting on a chair looking exhausted, stood up abruptly.
"It's definitely the best so far," she said enthusiastically, walking over to Kate to straighten out the short train.
Kate stared at herself in the dress, craning slightly to see how it looked behind and from the sides. She raised her eyebrows, surprised when she was pleased with the sight.
"You look beautiful," said Claire honestly, coming up to join them as well.
The dress was strapless and empire waisted. The skirt flowed, and was not puffy. The bodice was ornamented with beading, but the dress for the most part was as simple as Kate had hoped for.
Margo chose that moment to walk into the room, and seemed surprised to see Kate in the dress.
"I don't remember seeing that one. Is it what you really want?" asked Margo in speculation.
"It's my favourite," said Kate, winking discretely at Nicole and failing to mention how it had come to them.
"It is nice," conceded Margo. "That's fine. We'll have to get you a veil, though. And some nice jewelry, we can't leave your neck bare like that. Maybe we could rent some? Maybe after we get the flowers, to make sure you don't clash. Oh, and the country club called today, to confirm your booking."
Kate gaped as Margo left, to give Kate time to change back into her clothing.
"This is insane. It's my wedding, not hers. What does she think she..."
"Kate," said Claire sternly, cutting her off. "We already talked about this. And anyway, it means all you have to do is choose colours and stuff. She's going to do all the hard stuff for you."
"But..."
"What do you care, anyway? I thought you didn't want a big wedding," reminded Claire. Kate smiled, conceding, as Margo bustled back in.
"I've just remembered, we should look at bridesmaid dresses while you're here. Who will you want? I met your friend Shannon last night..." said Margo.
"Yeah. Shannon. And Claire," said Kate casually. Claire gaped.
"Me?"
"Of course," said Kate, smiling. Claire agreed, looking flustered.
"Well now that's taken care of. Do you want to..."
"I was thinking we could go to a normal store and just get them dresses that are the same colour or something. I mean all the bridesmaid dresses here are..." Kate shrugged. "I want to avoid being a cliche. I think they'd appreciate it."
Claire nodded eagerly.
"That sounds fine," said Margo reluctantly.
"I'll be out in a minute. Where did you want to go? The Country Club?" asked Kate, as Margo left.
"Thanks," said Claire, grinning.
"No problem. I've always thought matching dresses were in bad taste, anyway."
"Not what I meant."
Kate smirked.
"I know."
Jack looked alarmed that night when his fiancee returned. She smiled at his panicked expression, as if he half expected her to call off the wedding.
"Don't look like that. It was fine," she said.
"Oh yeah?"
"Sure. I found a dress," said Kate.
"I'll look forward to seeing you in it," he said.
"And Claire's going to be my bridesmaid."
"I'm glad you two are getting along so well. She never took to Sarah."
Kate nodded, dropped the packages she'd been carrying and headed off to his bathroom.
"I love you," he called out, as she left the room. She swung her head around to meet his eyes."
"I..."
The words half came out of her mouth and she willed them to continue, realizing for the first time that she wanted to say it. That she did. That she wanted nothing more to return his words and bask in the smile on his face.
"I know," she said with a smile, leaving before she could see his face fall.