Hello you guys! Yes! Yes! Monday it is, the LAST Monday! cries Aw! This is our final chapter, aren't you sad? I've read your reviews and it's really sweet that you want me to go on... But this story has been told and by making it longer I would only ruin it, believe me.

This chapter ain't that long, yet I believe it is vertiginous. You'll be scared, I can assure... (impish smile). I want to thank you all for reading my fic, for your lovely reviews and for being so supportive and devoted readers. I also invite you to recommend this story! Please encourage your jater friends to read and review, feedback means a lot to me...

I'm already working on my new story, and I promise I'll let you know as soon as I post the first chapter, stick around and wait for me! I'll miss u bunches, but I swear we won't be missing each other for so long. Please let me know what you think! You like the ending? You want a sequal or what? (LOL, kidding) Fair, not fair? Happy ending? Awful ending? Sweet, sour? Let me know!!!

LOVE U ALL AND THANKS AGAIN! Till my next fic...

Chapter 12

Kate had been driving for more than four hours without direction. She had nowhere to go after all. It was a dry summer day and even though the air conditioning inside the car was freezing cold, she felt she was suffocating. She didn't notice where exactly she was, but soon she began recognizing the road. She had entered Los Angeles.

She decided to make a stop. She needed a bath and a nap, so she took an exit on the road to get downtown and find a drive in. Within some minutes she was driving through a nice suburb. With jaded eyes she watched the pretty houses with picket fences and well cared gardens, where happy children played with their dogs. There was in front of her the life she never got to have.

She felt freaking tired and pulled over to take some air. She stopped the car, took a long sip of the bottle of water already warm of the summer heat and took a deep breath. She looked around and something captured her attention. A boy was playing in the garden of a big house. He wasn't older than 8 years old maybe, but he was kind of tall for his age. He was playing amused with a Labrador dog that reminded her of Vincent.

There was something in the boy that really moved her. She didn't know what it was, if the fact that he was sweet and beautiful or maybe that he seemed so happy and free. She kept watching him and soon she began recognizing in his face the features of someone she knew.

All of the sudden she heard in the distance somebody was calling the boy, who turned his head to the front door but just stood there with a short smile and expectant eyes. Kate followed the kid's sight and ran into the front door as well. There she saw a man facing backwards and talking to a woman, his wife for sure.

Her heart began beating faster when the man began leaving. Kate happened to be in front of Jack's house. She felt her body paralyzing. She saw how he walked to the boy, his son, who certainly resembled him. He leaned over looking for his eyes and told him something with his signature warm smile. Then he caressed his boy's hair and kissed the top of his head sweetly, whilst the dog walked around them both, moving its tail. Then he got in his car and started it.

Kate didn't know what to do, if following him, calling his name or just staying there. She reacted and had the urge to see her, his wife, the woman who had stolen the life she was supposed to live with the man she still loved to that day.

The woman was standing at the front door watching him drive away, but the bright sun in the sky was so bright it blinded Kate. All she could see was a dark silhouette. She kept staring at her and couldn't help but feel she was going to pass out. The heat, the impression of the scene she was witnessing and the emotions constricting in her chest began chocking her. She couldn't breathe and soon everything around her turned black.

She opened her eyes in panic, the lack of air making her feel she was going to die. She got up abruptly and startled, gasping desperately to catch her breath. She looked around not knowing where she was, everything dark and blurry around. Her heart was beating fast and her hands were shaking.

As her breathing began regularizing she noticed she was still at Jack's apartment, sitting on the floor near the front door, where she had fallen asleep for several hours, exhausted after crying so much. She didn't know what time it was, but she could see at the end of the living room the glass door to the terrace revealing the night lights of the city. She had just woken up of one awful nightmare.

With difficulty she got on her feet, abashed and defeated. She stood in the middle of the empty apartment and knew she had to put herself together and start over once and for all. Then she heard the door was being unlocked. Someone was trying to get in. She stood there defensive and expectant, but when she noticed the door was not getting open she walked to it and looked through the peephole. Within a second she opened it and Jack walked in without saying a word.

— Jack? —she said with a trembling voice. But he didn't reply. He took a step forward and tripped on the step leading to the living room, falling over the floor.

— Jack! —she said out loud startled and ran to him. She helped him getting up and noticed the heavy smell of alcohol on him. — What's wrong with you?

Then she sat him on the couch and turned on the light. He was bleeding from the left side of his face. — My God Jack! What happened to you?! —she said scared, running her hands through his head to check what was wrong with him. She noticed his eyebrow had a deep cut swelling up his eye, and his knuckles were bleeding as well. — Jack, please talk to me, what happened?! —she said breaking in tears and concerned to death. It broke her heart to see he was drunk again, probably because of the mess she had created.

He was so drunk he couldn't articulate one word. He just gave her the saddest look he was able to endure and when he was about to speak, Claire entered the apartment slamming the door. She was followed by two heavy men dressed as nurses. It seemed she had asked for an intervention or something, since their scrubs read the name of some rehab clinic.

— Take him… —she said in a dry, flat voice.

When he noticed what was going on, he began mumbling. — Claire, don't… You don't have to… Don't do this… —but she didn't listen and just looked away, unable to see him in the state he was.

When the two men grabbed Jack from his back and arms, he tried to resist. — Hey! —Kate snapped furious— where are you taking him? He doesn't want to go!

Of course they just ignored her and within a minute they were carrying him outside the apartment.

Enraged, Kate ran to Claire. — Hey! Where are you taking him?! What's going on?! Tell me! —she yelled following Claire to the door, her back turned to Kate and rushing to leave.

But immediately Kate ran into the burning heat of Claire's hand slapping her face with violence, making her stop abruptly. Kate stared at Claire stunned while she rubbed her reddened cheek. Only this time the blue eyes of Jack's sister didn't show anger. They showed deception, huge sorrow and even fear. Tears began streaming through them. — I give you 24 hours to get the fuck out of here… —she said with a harsh voice. Then she walked away.

Kate couldn't take it anymore and broke apart. The look in Claire's eyes made her realize what she had done. She had no right to ruin people's lives like that, no matter her good intentions or even the deep love she felt for Jack.

Yet she was worried about him. What had happened to him? She went to the living room and noticed his still fresh blood on the couch. But that wasn't what called her attention. She saw the red Cartier little box on it. She rushed to the couch and took it. When she opened it and found it empty, he felt her heart shrink. She felt more disconcerted though. If he had proposed to Scarlett, then why had he got wasted and was now beaten? Maybe he had been robbed. But if that was the case, hadn't he given the ring to Scarlett? Million doubts filled her head. She needed to find out.

She began her quest. She began dialing Claire's cell phone, but of course she wasn't picking up. Then she tried the police, but no one could give her any information. The day arrived again and she hadn't found Jack. She had never been so worried before. She left the apartment and tried to find him at the hospital, but no one gave her any details of where he was. She even had the nerve to call Scarlett, but she couldn't reach her either. She looked for Jack at her place, her job and the orphanage. She also tried the club where she played tennis. But they were nowhere to be found. It seemed as if the earth had swallowed all of them, Claire, Scarlett and Jack himself.

She had never looked for someone so eagerly and desperately in her life. Back in his place, she cried desperate. She left dozen messages in his cell phone, hoping for him to listen at least to one. She tried to reach Claire again, but the call went straight to her voice mail once more.

She spoke defeated and hesitant. — Claire, hey… Listen, uh… I know you hate me and don't want to talk to me, but please… I'm begging you… All I want to know is if Jack's okay… If you let me know he's fine, I'll leave you alone...

Then she hung up. After she heard herself leaving that message, she smiled wryly with pain. She realized what Claire had probably felt all those times she tried to reach her with no luck. Life was definitely slapping Kate in the face in one perfect cosmic payback. She knew then there was no use in keep trying. She had to let go. The game was finally over, just as Claire had told. She had to renounce Jack.

She packed her things and left the apartment, leaving inside it as well all her dreams, her hopes and the possibility of the happy ending she had desperately tried to get. She wiped her tears and got in the rented car she still had with her. She decided to leave Los Angeles again. If she stayed there, the temptation of looking for Jack would be gigantic, and she didn't want to provoke any more damage.

She drove for some time. Then she pulled over at the outskirts of the airport, in the exact same spot where she had seen Jack for the last time before leaving him behind that fatidic night. She got down the car and sat on the hood. The sun was setting in the horizon. She took a deep breath and wished she could fix all the mistakes she had done in her life. But it seemed she just couldn't.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts she didn't hear another car was pulling over near hers. She was looking down playing with her hands when she sensed somebody's presence standing beside her. Her face went pale but her eyes filled with glint when she saw him. She wanted to throw herself in his arms, but she had to contain her impulse. He was all cleaned up, but still looked like hell, hung over, his knuckles scabbed and a band aid covering the stitches on his swollen eyebrow. She remained silent, waiting for him to talk.

— I knew you'd be here… —he said looking at the horizon.

— Are you… are you alright? —she uttered feebly.

He frowned. — I'm better now…

She sought for his eyes. — What happened?

He sighed. — I told her everything about you Kate… How we met, how I feel in love with you, why it never happened… Then I told her I loved her and asked her… begged her to forgive me. I told her how sorry I was and that it had been a mistake… I even… told her it was all your fault. I told her how you lied to me and set me up and got me drunk… I blame it all on you …

Now she was the one frowning. — So?

— So I asked her to marry me… But she said no…

Kate was astonished. — What?

— Yeah, she refused, so I left her place, went to the nearest bar and got totally wasted. Then I got into a fight and you know the rest…

— I can't believe she said no…

He shook his head shortly. — Well, she didn't believe a thing I said…

Kate didn't understand. — But why? Why wouldn't she?

Then Jack looked at her right in the eyes. — Because I put that ring on her finger and asked her to marry me… and then I called her your name… —he stated, raising his eyebrows.

She couldn't help but smile wide. She knew it was sort of a tragedy, but couldn't help finding it funny. He looked away. — I'm the one who's scared now Kate… I'm still not sure if we have a chance… Sometimes I think we're just not meant to be… —he confessed.

— Of course we're meant to be Jack… It is written in the stars… —she assured convinced with that flirty smile of hers.

He looked back at her. — So… you still have that golden pass?

She chuckled and nodded. Then he held her hand and helped her down the hood of the car. Once on her feet again, he held her tight. — You're the one Kate… You have always been… —he said to her ear.

Those words were like heaven for her. She held him back in one endless embrace, followed by a sweet and passionate reconciling kiss.

They boarded the next Oceanic flight that was leaving LAX. They didn't care where it was going. They knew the plane was not crashing and they were not falling on the island again. After all, that was something that happened just once in a lifetime. Yet all they wanted was to go back to the place it all began, though they didn't know where that place was.

Sitting on their first class seats, he was thinking of the harm she had done to Scarlett and wondering if she would get easily over it. He just wished she could be happy again in a short time. He also thought of how pissed Claire would be for him leaving her best friend and the rehab clinic, of his mother's reaction and so on. But he didn't care. Meanwhile, she was remembering that time she stitched his back and he told her his version of fear for the first time. She remembered the first time they kissed and the first time he confessed he loved her. She wasn't letting him go ever again.

The flight was long and soon she fell asleep in his arms. The sweet scent of her hair dispelled all the doubts, remorse and guilt he had. Now he knew they were invincible.

Years later, standing at the front door of her house, Kate experienced a déjà vu when she heard her husband's voice calling their son's name. — I'll be back for dinner, okay? —he said afterwards and then kissed her shortly on the lips.

— Okay… —she said confused as she watched him walking away and taking a moment at the garden before getting in his car.

She smiled content at the scene. Suddenly she remembered that dream she once had lying on the floor of Jack's former apartment that time before they went back together. It hadn't been a nightmare. It had been a premonition.

— Christian! —she called out loud to her beautiful son, who was the spittinng image of Jack. — Didn't you listen to your daddy? Come on in! —she said. And then the boy went inside, leaving his Labrador dog in the garden.

The End.