Thanks for the reviews. :) It's been too long since I updated this fic, but don't worry, I've only got four and a half more chapters of "Hide And Seek" to write and you will have my full attention again... ;)
Chapter 23. Walkabout Publishing
When Kate filled her in on the incident with the doll after she and Jin arrived home from the restaurant, Sun was more flustered and apologetic than she'd ever seen her, promising to speak to Ji Yeon as soon as she was awake. After asking her several times if J.J. was okay, and offering to give her the name of her paediatrician in case his wound needed treating, she insisted that he keep the doll, though Kate suspected Ji Yeon would be getting something new in its place.
After discovering his first taste of freedom, Kate found that she had to keep a more vigilant eye on her son from the next morning on, because instead of staying in the spot on the rug where she left him, he started going on little treks across the room, one of which ended with him ingesting half of one of Ji Yeon's crayons before Jack managed to wrestle it off of him.
"He's growing up so fast," Jack said as they sat in the park across the street from Sun and Jin's apartment, watching him explore the grass a few feet away. "He's crawling now – soon he's gonna be walking, and talking." He stared at him pensively. "When I think of everything I've missed… I don't wanna miss anything else."
"And you won't," Kate assured him, wrapping her arms around him with her cheek resting on his shoulder, but the truth was that the peace of the past few days was only an illusion; they still had a long way to go before they were safe.
"I wish we could stay here and do this forever," he told her with a wistful smile, brushing the top of her head with his lips as he pressed his own cheek against it, "but you know, we have to get back to reality."
"You mean go home?" she asked, starting to let go of him, that old defensive instinct rising inside of her, turning to anger as she remembered his speech about wanting to try life as a family. "You said—"
"I know, and that's not what I meant," he agreed with a soft chuckle, pulling her back to him, and she relaxed, comforted by the knowledge that he hadn't been leading her on.
"Well what did you mean?" she asked him, kissing his shoulder through the sleeve of his t-shirt.
"I meant that since we're getting nowhere asking people about Hanso, I think we should try a different approach," he explained, and sliding her arms from around him, she leant back on her hands so that she could look at him.
"Like what?"
"Like since the only lead we've gotten so far is the one Sayid gave us, maybe we should follow that up," he continued, leaning back beside her, warming to his topic as something akin to a plan began to formulate in his head.
Glancing over at J.J. in time to catch him putting a pebble into his mouth, Kate pried it out of his hand and threw it away, pulling him into her lap. "You mean Troup?" she supplied as she wrestled their son until he was seated on her thigh, distracting him with a little toy truck.
"Exactly," Jack agreed, without seeming to notice the interruption, still lost in his own thoughts.
"Didn't Sayid say he died in the crash?" she reminded him, her heart sinking at coming up against another dead end, but his smile told her that he didn't see this as being much of a problem.
"He also said he had a back up plan."
"Any idea what that might be?" she asked hopefully, sighing when J.J. broke free from her again with a disgruntled whine that made her think he must be about due for a nap.
"Publishers keep copies of all of their books, right?" Jack said, taking him from her absently as he continued to think out loud, and she nodded.
"Normally, they would, but didn't Sayid also say Hanso bought them all?"
"The ones that were already printed," he agreed, rubbing J.J.'s back with the heel of his hand, and within seconds, he was settled placidly, sucking on the wheel of his truck. "But who knows how many there are? What if what they gave Hanso wasn't everything? They could still have it on a computer somewhere."
"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Kate said, though she couldn't help smiling at the contradiction of Jack soothing their son while proposing strategies for bringing their enemies down. It was one of the things she loved most about him: that combination of hard and soft, strong and vulnerable, commanding and nurturing.
"We've seen what these people can do," she added softly, thinking of her father, still unconscious the last time she'd checked in with Daniel.
He glanced down at J.J., and she could tell what he was thinking without him even having to say it. "If the book is as important as Hanso seems to think it is, then don't you think it would be worth the risk?"
They dropped J.J. back at the apartment with Sun after lunch, then, once he was asleep, walked the couple of blocks to the public library to use their computers.
An Internet search using the terms Valenzetti Equation, Alvar Hanso, and Gary Troup failed to bring up more than a couple of blogs by conspiracy theorists speculating about the book, and the equation's, existence, but they were able to learn that Troup's other manuscript, Bad Twin, was published by a company called Walkabout Publishing shortly after his death.
The crash had added to his notoriety, making it a worldwide bestseller. There was a copy in the library; after locating it on the self, they managed to track down an English-speaking librarian who could translate sections of the introduction, and the publishing details for them.
"Do they have an address?" Kate asked her eagerly, eliciting a curious look.
"It's in Australia," she explained, with a shrug. "That's all I can tell you. This one was printed here in Seoul – if you want to know more about the original publisher, you'll have to consult their website."
After thanking her profusely, they returned to their station at the computers, and a few minutes later, they had successfully located the site for Walkabout Publishing, Kate shifting impatiently in her chair as Jack scrolled down the page, skimming its contents.
"It says here that the Senior Editor is a woman called Christine DeVries," he told her, turning to meet her eyes with a hopeful expression. "Think she's the one who was handling Troup?"
"If she wasn't, maybe she can tell us who did. Either way, there's only one way to find out," Kate agreed, feeling something like excitement for the first time in days as she scanned the rest of the contact details over his shoulder. "Looks like we're going back to Sydney."
Next chapter: Jack, Kate and J.J. head to Sydney ( I refuse to say "Down Under"!), and encounter another Lostie with some interesting news for Jack... ;)