Thanks for the reviews. I'm just gonna assume most people don't know this fic is back... ;)
Chapter 25. The Elephant In The Room
A blonde woman with features similar to Claire's, only without her sweet nature, answered the door to the house she and Aaron shared with her aunt.
This must be Lindsay, Kate thought, remembering the conversation she'd had with Claire on the rescue boat. She hadn't wanted to go back to Sydney, but without the support of the other survivors, she wasn't sure what else to do with herself.
"I'm Jack – Jack Shephard – and this is Kate. We're here to see Claire," Jack explained with a polite smile, but it seemed to have the opposite effect to the one he'd intended; the little bit of warmth she'd shown them on arriving evaporated then as if, with those few words, he had somehow managed to insult her.
"I was wondering when you were gunna show up," she said, eyeing him with contempt, and Jack shot a sidelong glance at Kate, mystified.
"You know who I am?" he asked, frowning at her, and Kate could almost see the gears turning in his head as he tried to figure out what Claire might have told her to cause that reaction.
"Of course I know who you are," she agreed, her tone clipped. "She's not here – try the park."
And with that, she slammed the door in his face.
"What do you think that was all about?" Kate asked as they made their way back to their rental, bouncing J.J. in her arms to settle him. She wasn't sure if it was Lindsay's hostile behaviour, or the bang that sounded a few yards in front of his ears, but something about the encounter had upset him.
Or maybe he was just picking up on Jack's mood.
"I don't know," he told her, shaking his head, but his voice was low and strained, and she could tell that he was blaming himself. "Maybe we should just forget the whole thing and take him with us."
It hurt her to see him looking so miserable, like he had after Locke's funeral, when he tried to convince her that he was responsible for ruining all of their lives. "Look at me," she insisted, grasping his elbow with her free hand, and when he did, it was with the same deep sadness and regret. "Whatever just happened, it had nothing to do with you – when we find Claire, you'll see that."
He seemed so sure that at least one of their friends hated him; she was determined to prove him wrong, so they drove around the neighbourhood until they found a playground just over a block east of her house.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Kate spotted a pair of matching blonde heads over by the swing set. "There," she said to Jack, pointing them out.
She got out first, rescuing J.J. from his car seat, and Jack had no choice but to follow, hanging back at a safe distance as he waited to see Claire's reaction.
"Claire!" Kate called when they got close enough for her to hear them, and as her son sailed back into the air, the younger woman turned, her jaw almost hitting the sand when she saw who was approaching her.
"Jack? Kate? Oh my God!" she cried with a breathy laugh, pulling the swing to a stop as she rushed up the hill to meet them. Aaron slid off, scurrying after her, and remembering the tiny baby she'd helped bring into the world, Kate was amazed to see that he was now up to his mother's waist.
To her relief, and Jack's confusion, Claire gave them each an enthusiastic hug while Aaron looked on shyly, stepping back to fix Jack with a tight, awkward smile before shifting her attention to J.J. "And who is this?" she asked in a playful tone, brushing the curls on the top of his head with her palm.
"This is J.J. – our son," Kate told her proudly, a broad smile creeping over her face, pleased that, after keeping his existence a secret for so long, she was finally getting the chance to show him off to their friends.
Claire's response was to gape at her, then Jack, in astonishment. "I can't believe you guys have a baby now," she gushed, sharing Kate's grin as she looked their son over, and when Kate snuck a peek at Jack, she saw that he was beaming too despite himself. "Wow, he's like a mini Jack. J.J. – I get it."
She turned to her own son, urging him to come closer. "These are friends of Mummy's, from the island where you were born," she told him, resting her hands on each of his shoulders. "This is Jack – he looked after us all – and Kate – Kate saw you even before I did."
He looked up at her with a mixture of awe and suspicion as he acknowledged her, then Jack, who still didn't seem to know how to act. Clearly, wherever her aunt had gotten her information about him, it wasn't from Claire.
"So what are you doing in Australia?" she asked as she led them over to one of the picnic tables at the side of the playground. Kate set J.J. down in the grass, and he offered one of the toy cars he'd brought with him to Aaron. "I thought we weren't supposed to see each other?"
"We're not," Jack agreed, sliding onto the bench opposite Claire, recovering his tongue as he launched into an explanation of everything that had happened to them over the past few weeks, concluding with their appointment that afternoon. Here, at least, he seemed to be in his element.
"Blackmail, huh? Cool," Claire said with a nod, but she didn't seem quite as jovial as she had before he began. "So what can I do?"
"You can take J.J. home with you and keep him there until we come to pick him up," Kate told her from her place next to Jack, suddenly afraid that her aunt wouldn't want him in her house, but Claire nodded again.
"Sure – I'd be happy to."
Once this was settled, an uncomfortable silence fell over them.
Seeing this as an opportunity to steer the conversation towards the elephant in the room, Kate cleared her throat. "When we stopped by your house before, your aunt slammed the door in our faces. Do you know why that is?" she asked Claire, deciding to cut right to the chase.
The younger woman stared down at her hands, twirling the ring on her thumb, biding her time before answering. "It's not what you think," she assured them, her voice muffled by the fact that she refused to look up. "I didn't tell her to do that, she just… I don't think she wants to see you, Jack."
"Why?" he prompted her, leaning forward, but she still wouldn't make eye contact with him.
"Because you remind her of someone." Seeming to guess at his next question, she hesitated before explaining, "Your father."
"What does my father have to do with this?" he asked her, and Kate had been through this with him enough times to recognise that he was beginning to lose his temper with her evasiveness. It was all too much for him to deal with; he wanted an answer, and he wasn't prepared to wait.
Seeming to realise this too, Claire glanced up at him then, meeting his eyes, her own expression stuck somewhere between apologetic and defiant. "He's my father too."
Next chapter: Jack reacts to Claire's news (and probably not in the way you're imagining)... ;)