Thanks for the reviews. Since I'm posting this at 3am, I don't have much to say, just please remember that there is only one more chapter after this one, so your feedback would be greatly appreciated! ;)
Chapter 39. Peace At Last
They were both silent as they left the building and returned to their rental, neither one of them ready to believe that this was more than just another step in the road. After all the waiting and scheming and hoping it was almost an anticlimax; instead of the relief she'd expected, all Kate could feel was shock.
It wasn't until they were both seated that she found her voice again, tearing her eyes from the windshield in search of Jack's. "It's really over?" she said, surprised by the fear that lingered in her tone, as if she was still convinced that at any moment, someone would come along and tell her that it was all a mistake. "Just like that?"The crease in his forehead disappeared, and all of the tension of the past three years seemed to evaporate as he slumped back in his seat, his smile radiating pure amazement and joy. "Just like that," he agreed, closing his eyes, as if to allow the burden of responsibility to slip from his shoulders.
He looked so peaceful, so happy; she hated to taint that with her doubts, but it all seemed too good to be true, and in her experience, that usually meant that it was. "How do we know we can trust him this time?" she asked him, watching his expression become wary as he sat up. "That he's not just gonna wait a few days and come after us anyway? We don't exactly have the best track record in that department."
"He has no choice, Kate," he insisted, the muscles in his jaw clenching, and she wondered who he was trying so hard to convince: her or himself. "He only invented that rule so we wouldn't talk, and now he thinks that's exactly what we're planning to do if he tries to enforce it."
"You're right," she agreed, forcing a smile, deciding that if he of all people could have faith, so could she. "I'm just being paranoid. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens."
"In the meantime, we're in Europe, and we still have that jet…" he reminded her, a hint of suggestion creeping into his tone as he trailed off with a lop-sided grin, and seeing how relaxed he was, Kate felt her own tension ebb away. J.J. was safe, and they had nowhere else they needed be: what better way to celebrate their newfound freedom than with a few uninterrupted days alone?
"And I still haven't seen Paris," she agreed as he started the engine, and this time, she didn't have to remind herself to look happy.
It was exactly two weeks after their meeting with Mittelwerk that Kate said goodbye to her father and loaded J.J. and what remained of their belongings into her car and drove across town to Jack's.
Life had returned to what she would have considered normal, only normal was still new and exciting to them. After cashing in the last of his personal leave for a vacation to Paris, Jack had gone back to the hospital part-time, but he still made it over to Sam's house after each shift to have dinner with them and help her pack.
Kate hadn't been to his apartment since that first, fateful night, so when she let herself in with the key he'd given her, she was surprised to see that most of the clutter now came from the boxes he was still waiting for her to find a place for.
Jack wasn't in the living room or the kitchen when she entered, but he'd assured her that he would be there to meet her, because she needed his truck to move J.J.'s crib.
"Jack?" she called, forcing back a niggle of doubt as she worried that he was still unstable and unreliable like her father had warned her, but before she could second guess her decision, he emerged from the spare bedroom swiping his brow with the back of his hand, his breathing laboured when he leant in to kiss her.
"Hey," he gasped when they pulled back, taking J.J. from her and settling him against his chest. "Hey, buddy – you ready to see your new home?"
"What were you doing in there?" she asked him, intrigued, as she watched him press a swift kiss to the tip of their son's nose, making him chuckle and grab at old t-shirt he was wearing.
"Come and I'll show you," he told her, looking smug as he took her hand with his free one.
Once they were inside, she realised why he was so pleased with himself: in contrast to the rest of the apartment, the walls had been painted a sky blue, the empty wooden crib standing in the middle of the room amidst a pile of tools and reference sheets answering her question.
"What do you think?" he asked her with a grin, still catching his breath as he wiped his hands on his jeans.
"You didn't have to buy all this stuff," she told him, touched by how much effort he'd put into creating a space for their son as her eyes travelled from the crib to the matching change table, to the mattress propped against the opposite wall. "He already has everything he needs."
"I know it's a little late, but I wanted to do it," he insisted, shifting J.J. as he bent down to shove everything back into the toolbox. He smiled widened as he stood, as if he knew he had an argument that she couldn't rebut. "Besides, this way he still has somewhere to sleep when he goes to stay with your dad."
Over the next few hours, Jack helped them get settled, unpacking what they could, and putting the rest into storage. With J.J.'s play mat and a box of his toys in the living room, and the highchair Jack had picked out for him replacing one of the chairs at the kitchen table, Kate thought it looked like a real family home, even if it was only temporary, until they could find a more comfortable space for the three of them.
"It's kind of bare now, but we can go shopping, get some rugs, wall hangings – whatever you want," Jack said, flopping onto the couch beside her after putting J.J. down in his new room.
She hadn't realised she was staring, but she smiled then, turning her attention back to him. "No, I like it this way," she told him, scooting over so that he could wrap his arms around her. "It's perfect."
"I think I'm gonna have to agree with you there," he murmured with a soft chuckle, sweeping her hair to one side so that he could nuzzle her neck.
Closing her eyes, settling back into him as his lips travelled lower, to her shoulder, she hadn't meant to fall asleep, nor was she aware that she had until she heard him call her name.
"Mmm?" was all she could manage as she forced them open again to see him leaning over her, his dark eyes full of concern. "What?"
"You okay?" he asked her, bringing his palm up to her forehead. "You dozed off."
"Just tired," she assured him, deciding to downplay the exhaustion that had hit her on their return from Paris to keep him from worrying, "The last couple of weeks have been crazy," but he still didn't seem convinced.
"It's seven thirty, Kate. What time did you get up?"
She didn't want to tell him that she hadn't woken up until almost ten, so she had no choice but to acknowledge the fact that he might have a point. "So maybe I'm coming down with something – a bug, or the flu," she suggested, figuring that this would be the end of it, but it wasn't in his make up to let it go.
"You don't have a fever," he said, dropping his hand when she didn't seem any warmer than usual. "Any other symptoms I should know about? Headaches? Dizziness? Nausea?"
"I did feel a little light-headed earlier, while we were unpacking" she confessed, rushing on when he gave her a sharp look, "but I thought it was just because I'm so tired, which is why I never mentioned it."
"So you're tired and light-headed, without a fever or any other symptoms – yet," he repeated, a thoughtful smile spreading over his face.
He seemed to have an idea about what could be causing it. "What?" she asked him, sitting up straighter when he just grinned and shook his head, kissing her as he extricated himself from her. "What? Why are you smiling like that? Jack?"
She tried to look stern, serious as she shifted onto her knees, turning so that she was still facing him, but she only succeeded in making him laugh. "I'll be back soon," he told her, leaning over the back of the couch and kissing her a few more times before collecting his keys and rushing out of the apartment.
She was still mystified when he returned with a paper bag marked with logo of the drugstore she'd passed on the way over.
"It may be a little premature, but I think you should take this," he told her as he pressed it into her hands with a wry smile. "Call it a hunch – or an educated guess."
"Why, what is it? Antibiotics?" she asked, frowning at him as she took it, stunned when she peeked inside and caught sight of the label on the box. "You think I'm pregnant?"
"You tell me," he said, perching on the edge of the couch beside her, his hand falling on her knee as he studied her expression.
"It's possible, I guess," she agreed, still trying to digest the idea. It was strange that Jack had to suggest it to her when she was the one who'd been through it before. She was exhausted then too; she should have recognised the feeling.
In a moment of decision, she stood, flashing him an anxious grin. "There's really only one way to find out."
He was waiting for her when she came out of the bathroom, his hopeful look erasing any doubts she about what she wanted the result to be. More than anything, she wanted to do this with him like she should have the first time.
"It's not finished yet," she told him, setting the test on the table in front of them as she joined him. "It's gonna take at least another minute."
She wriggled in closer to him, letting her head drop onto his shoulder, almost lulled back to sleep by the gentle motion of Jack's fingers raking hair, and they sat in companionable silence until he said, his voice low and awed, "That looks like a positive. It is – you're pregnant, Kate."
Forcing herself to sit up so that she could get a better view of the two intersecting lines, she saw that he was right. "I'm pregnant," she repeated in the same hushed tone, grinning against his mouth when, without warning, he cupped the side of her neck and pulled her into a passionate kiss.
He let out a soft chuckle that was half joy, half disbelief, when they broke for air, and she found herself joining in as a new thought occurred to her.
"What?" he insisted when she continued to laugh long after he'd stopped, looking at her as if he thought she'd lost her mind.
"My dad's gonna kill you," she told him, brushing the tears from her eyes with her knuckle as his expression turned wary. "He's gonna kill me too."
Next chapter: Since it wouldn't feel right to end it without a reunion of sorts, in the epilogue, the survivors gather for a special event... ;)