Thanks for the reviews. Sam was supposed to be in this chapter, but somehow it ended up becoming more about Jack learning about Kate and J.J.'s life with him... ;)
Chapter 30. Living Arrangements
"What was that?" Kate insisted when she and Jack drifted back into the hallway, determined to get the truth out of him now that they were alone.
Her father's nurse had shooed them all out of the room while she changed his dressings, so they were taking the opportunity to go home and rest before returning to spend the evening with him.
"What was what?" Jack asked, the picture of innocence as he manoeuvred himself and their sleeping son into the back of a cab, but Kate wasn't prepared to let it go that easily.
"That thing with my dad," she explained so that he couldn't pretend to misunderstand, climbing in the opposite side. She rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me it was about sports."
"It was a private conversation, Kate," he reminded her, settling into his seat once she'd given the driver directions.
"About me," she argued, expecting him to look guilty, but he didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with excluding her. In fact, she thought he even looked smug. "I wanna know what you said to him – a couple of weeks ago he didn't even want me speaking to you and now you guys are buddies?"
He sighed, shifting J.J. when he stirred, reflexively grasping the shoulder of his t-shirt. "I just told him he had nothing to worry about," he confessed, "that I wasn't going anywhere this time."
"That's it?" she checked, aware of how dubious she sounded. If that was all it was all he'd said, then why had it taken him so long to answer?
She had almost convinced herself to give him the benefit of the doubt when he smiled, the kind of entertained grin that made her want to hit him. "In a nutshell."
He unpeeled J.J.'s fingers, pressing them to his lips, when the cab drew up in front of their house, but Kate couldn't bring herself to take him, earning herself a confused look.
"The metre's running, Kate," he reminded her, and she smiled, "That's why you should just come inside."
"Kate," he murmured, his eyes darting to the mirror to make sure the driver wasn't listening. "It was one thing for me to come to the hospital, but I don't think we should be flaunting the fact that we're together. It's not safe."
"I don't care about them watching us," she complained, forgetting to keep her voice down. "The only time I feel safe anymore is when I'm with you. Please Jack – I can't sleep without you."
Her words seemed to have the desired effect when he smiled. "Okay," he agreed, shifting J.J. as he reached to open his door, "but only because I promised your dad I'd look after you."
"What else did you promise?" Kate pressed, rummaging through her purse with her free hand once they'd paid the driver and collected their luggage. Jack had insisted on carrying it, which required her to take J.J.; she wished she'd thought to get her keys out while they were still in the cab.
"What part of 'private conversation' is that you're having trouble with?" Jack asked, grinning, when she finally succeeded in unlocking the door.
"The 'private' part," she agreed, letting them inside, watching as he took it all in.
"This is where you live?" he asked, his eyes travelling around the tiny foyer, to the living room, which was still in shambles from the attempted kidnapping, all the way up to the landing. Setting their suitcases down, he picked up a framed picture of her as a child, before exchanging it for one of J.J.
It was all so familiar to her; it was strange to think he'd never seen any of it before. "This is it," she agreed, realising how different it was to what he was probably used to. He'd told her stories about the house he grew up in, but she had trouble reconciling them with reality. "It's not much, but it's home."
"It's nice," he told her, putting the picture back where he'd found it, and she figured that he was just being polite. At least he managed to avoid the word 'cosy'. "Is the nursery upstairs?"
He seemed surprised to discover that it was the same room she slept in, barely big enough to house a double bed, J.J.'s crib, and the dresser that held both their clothes. They hadn't realised just how small it was when they bought the change table, and as result, it was now jammed under the towel rack in the bathroom, where it went unused most of the time.
"What do you do for privacy?" Jack asked, hovering awkwardly just inside the door as he watched her set their son on the mattress, stripping him down to his undershirt and diaper.
"Privacy hasn't been much of an issue," she confessed, tossing his t-shirt and jeans into the hamper.
"You didn't see anyone while we were apart?" Jack asked quietly, and she realised that it was something they'd never discussed before.
"No," she assured him as she laid J.J. in his crib, straightening to look at him. "Did you?" She wasn't even sure she wanted the answer.
"No," he agreed with a feint smile. "I guess that makes us both pretty hopeless."
"Maybe," she agreed, moving over to him, slipping her arms around his neck. "Or maybe it just means this is right, and we're meant to be together." She bowed her forehead against his so that they were staring straight into each other's eyes. "I could never replace you, Jack – I hope you know that."
The strain dissolved from his features, and he smiled, pulling her against him as his arms went up around her waist. "You know," he said, moving in to kiss her, stopping just as their lips were about to touch. "When all this is over, we really have to do something about fixing your living arrangements."
The light was gone when she woke and so were Jack and J.J.; she was halfway down the stairs when she spotten them in the living room, J.J. penned with his blocks behind the overturned coffee table while Jack cleared away broken bits of furniture and glass.
"You don't have to do that, you know," she announced, startling him, but when he glanced up at her, the look in his eyes assured her that as far as he was concerned, he did.
"I didn't want you walking past it every day," he told her as he went back to shoving a chair leg into a trash bag, and when she got closer, she noticed that the bloodstain on the carpet was now a light brown. She only recognised it because the image was still there, burned in her memory along with the one of her father hooked up to those machines.
He seemed convinced that it was his mess, just like the one they'd made by agreeing to the terms of their rescue. "Come on, I'll help you," she said, squeezing his arm as she picked up one of the bags and brushed past him to ground zero.
Next chapter: Back to the hospital... (I've worked it all out, and there should be around ten chapters left depending on how I divide the material, which means we should be seeing some "Hurley Time" in chapter 32...) ;)