A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews!! We're getting into the meat of the story now, which (hopefully) means more action in each chapter. I've written everything but the last few chapters so I know where I'm taking the story. Hopefully it's not to lame when it all pans out. Enjoy!
9. Dinner Trouble
"So, this is where you'll be working for now." Jack said, gesturing to an extremely busy area behind the scenes of St. Sebastien's Neurosurgery Wing. "I know it's not exactly interesting, but it's the best I could do on short notice."
"This is great, Jack. Thank you so much, you're a lifesaver." Kate said, a slight smile appearing on her face. Why was he always apologizing for things that weren't his fault?
Neither of them spoke for the next few seconds, both just enjoying each other's presence, until a voice behind them interrupted their moment.
"Dr. Shephard? You called and said you needed to see me?"
"Oh, hey Sandra. Yea, I need your help." Jack began, and Sandra nodded for him to continue, throwing him a confused look as she looked over at the woman standing beside him.
"Oh. Right. Sandra, this is Kate. Kate, Sandra." He introduced, and the two women shook each other's hands in a professional greeting.
"Sandra, Kate's the new Administrative Assistant. Since, you know the duties pretty well, I figured you could show her the ropes?" Jack asked hopefully.
Kate's happy expression temporarily disappeared as she realized that Jack wouldn't be with her to explain her new job.
"Yea, I can do that Jack. No problem at all." Sandra answered, smiling.
"Great. So I'll see you for lunch, Kate?" Jack said, hoping she'd accept.
Kate grinned from ear to ear. "Yea, Jack. Definitely."
"Sounds good. I'll come by here around noon, hopefully you won't be to swamped." Jack finished, sending Sandra a look to make sure she wasn't.
"OK, Jack. See you soon." Kate said, waving to Jack as he turned to leave.
Kate checked her watch, 9:05am. Only three hours to go.
As Sandra rambled on about her job requirements, Kate could only thing about one thing- lunch with Jack. Sandra had surely noticed Kate was barely paying attention, but still Sandra continued talking about surgery reports, insurance papers and hospital bills. Jack was right, Kate thought, this really is going to be boring.
After what seemed like an eternity, finally Sandra showed her to a cubicle complete with a stack of papers ready for processing.
The first few papers weren't very interesting, just some insurance paper's that needed filing, but then she came to a surgery report. It was from about six months ago, and the surgeon was none other than Dr. Jack Shephard. She began thumbing the report, suddenly more interested now that it involved Jack, when she saw the emergency contact, Sarah Bowen.
Intrigued, she flipped back up to the top of the report, and read the patient's name.
Evan Green.
What was Sarah's name doing as the emergency contact on a patient? Ex-husband? Ex-boyfriend? It wasn't her brother, that's for sure.
Kate's first instinct was to tell Jack about it, but then again she didn't want to seem eager to blame Sarah for this, because as far as she knew Jack already knew about it.
This definitely requires more research, she thought. But her investigation was cut short by Jack's voice.
"Hope you're not too busy." Jack greeted, smiling at her as she quickly turned around.
Kate immediately returned the smile. "No, I was just about to come find you actually. I'm pretty hungry."
"Yea, the hospital does that to ya." He said, placing his hand on the small of her back as he lead to downstairs to the cafeteria.
Kate grabbed a salad on the line, while Jack took a few slices of pizza.
Kate was getting her wallet out, when she heard Jack say from one place in front of her on the line, "I got this, Kate. Don't worry about it."
Kate was silent for a moment, and Jack sensed her unease.
"If you're ok, with it, that is…" He added.
"Uhh, yea, thanks Jack…again." Kate said, smiling slightly embarrassed.
They sat down to eat, and enjoyed the comfortable silence between them. Things had definitely improved between them, and Kate would even go as far to say they were best friends again.
The silence was finally broken by Jack, "So, how was your first day?"
"As good as it could be I guess. Nothing interesting though, just filing papers and all that fun stuff." She replied sarcastically and smiled, a smile that Jack tried to return, but failed.
"Jack, are you OK?" His silence almost begged her to continue, "What's wrong, Jack?"
Still he remained silent, and so in a final attempt to get him to open up, she placed her hands on his and said, "Please, Jack. Talk to me."
Jack took a moment to consider what she said, and opened his mouth to respond. "He died, Kate. A little boy died on my operating table. He died. I couldn't fix him."
Kate responded immediately to comfort him, placing her hands on his, she said "I'm so sorry, Jack. But there's nothing you could have done. Not everyone can be saved, not even by you."
"But Kate, he died. He was nine years old. He had his whole life ahead of him." Jack was still trying to blame himself.
If there was a time when Jack needed Kate, it was now; and she knew that. "Jack, I know you feel like crap because of this. But there's nothing you could have done. You have to realize that. Please, Jack. Listen to me. There's nothing you could have done." Kate pleaded.
Sometimes it amazed Jack how comforting Kate's presence was. Sarah had never been able to comfort him like Kate had done.
"Thanks, Kate. That helped a lot. I don't know what I would've done without you." Jack said gratefully.
"Don't worry about it Jack, that's what friends are for, right?" Kate said, cracking a smile for the second time in as many minutes.
Jack returned her smile this time, "Yea, thanks, Kate."
They finished their lunch in relative silence, and all to soon Kate needed to get back upstairs. She had a lot of work to do, not to mention some private investigating.
"I better go Jack, thanks for lunch.I have a lot of work to do. I know you have a lot of work to do so I'll let you go. Can't get fired on my first day." Kate joked.
"No problem, Kate." Jack said and got up to leave, "You know what, my paperwork can wait. Do you want me to walk you back upstairs?"
Kate smiled and nodded, "I'd like that a lot Jack."
They reached her cubicle after a few minutes of friendly conversation and said their goodbyes.
"OK, I'll see you after your shift, I'll come find you so we can go home." Jack said laughing.
"OK, Jack. See ya."
Jack began to walk away from her cubicle, but then he remembered something important.
"Oh, Kate. I almost forgot to tell you, Sarah's coming over for dinner tonight. She said she really wanted to meet you." Jack said nervously.
She really wants to meet me? What's she playing at? She already met me, and it didn't exactly go well.
"OK, I can help you cook if you want." Kate said, deciding to play along.
"Kate, you're really are a lifesaver. As you already know I'm not exactly the greatest cook." Jack replied gratefully.
"Yea, sure Jack. I'll see you later." Kate said, smiling as she turned to head back to work.
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"Ow. Sh*t!" Jack cursed himself as he touched the oven to check on the lasagna.
Kate laughed at Jack's misfortune. "C'mon Jack, you only had to put the lasagna in the oven, and make sure it doesn't burn."
Despite the pain in his hand, Jack couldn't stop himself from chuckling as well. "Yea, and I thought making pancakes was hard."
There light hearted teasing, almost flirting, was interrupted when smoke began to emanate from the oven.
"Crap! Jack, the lasagna's burning!" Kate yelled, noticing the problem first.
"Damnit! Toss me that cloth Kate! Quick!" Jack yelled back.
Kate ran across the kitchen, grabbing and throwing the cloth to Jack in one agile motion.
"Hot! Hot! Hot!" Jack gasped out as he lifted the tub of lasagna out of the oven and into the sink. "OK, we're good now. I have saved us all." Jack said, with a grin on his face.
"You're such a dork, Jack." Kate teased back, unable to help returning his grin.
"Dork? So, I'm a dork, huh? Jack said playing along, "Look who's talking Ms. …"
Jack stood there, zoned out, apparently trying to think of a time when Kate acted like a dork. The truth was though, he couldn't think of anything.
"Can't think of anything can you, Jack?" Kate said, her grin becoming wider.
"Hold on, it'll come to me. Just wait." Jack said, trying to buy himself some time.
"Alright, Jack. I'll wait. But you're not gonna find anything." Kate chided him, putting her hands on her hips, daring him to come up with something.
"Alright, you got me. I got nothin'. I guess I'm the only dork around here." Jack admitted, smiling.
Kate giggled and replied, "Just the way I like you."
"You do, huh?" Jack said in his best seductive voice, walking towards her, puckering up for a kiss jokingly.
Kate was really tempted to take him up on that offer, but if she kissed him again she didn't know what would happen. She knew she wouldn't be able to stop kissing him, and there was also the possibility that Jack would react badly, two situations she really wanted to avoid.
"Why don't you go upstairs Jack, clean yourself up for Sarah, I'll start dinner over. Besides, if you keep going we may not have a kitchen by the time Sarah gets here." Kate suggested, slapping him playfully on the chest.
"What? I don't look good right now?" Jack said with an expression of mock anger, continuing his joking.
"I think you look great, Jack. I just don't know what Sarah will think. She seems to like you all dressed up." Kate explained.
"Alright. You sure you'll be OK, Kate? I already feel like I've dumped this dinner on you without any notice." Jack began, but Kate interrupted him.
"Jack, stop. I'll be fine."
Kate finished the lasagna surprisingly quickly without Jack around to cause trouble. She was just laying it out on the dinner table, when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." Jack said as he walked down the stairs, clean shaven and wearing a suit.
As Jack walked over to the door to let Sarah in, Kate finally took off her apron and headed into the kitchen one last time to grab some wine. If her previous encounter with Sarah was anything to go by, she was going to need it.
Jack and Sarah reached the dinner table about the same time as Kate. For the first time, Jack finally noticed how beautiful she looked.
Sarah looked nice in her black cocktail dress, but Kate…Kate looked radiant.
She looked great on the island after not showering for almost a month, how could she not look amazing now, Jack thought.
He shoved these thoughts to the back of his mind, and concentrated again on dinner.
"So, you're Kate. You really are beautiful. Jack has told me so much about you." Sarah replied warmly, but Kate thought it was all fake.
"Oh really? All good things I hope." Kate replied, shocked that Sarah was really pretending they'd never met. Had he told Sarah he thought I was beautiful? Or was she making that up to?
"Well, now that you two have met. What do you say we eat? Kate's cooked this lovely meal, I'd hate for it to go to waste." Jack proposed, apparently he was hungry.
"Don't be silly Jack, you helped." Kate said, eager to give him some of the credit.
"Kate, the only thing I did was burn my hand on the stove." Jack replied, laughing.
"OK, that's true. Speaking of which, how's your hand?" Kate asked concerned.
"It's fine, Kate, thanks." Jack replied kindly.
"Great, you'll need both of your hands for what I have planned tonight." Sarah replied coyly, making Kate frown.
"Whoa, Sarah. Please." Jack said, not wanting to make Kate uncomfortable. Why did I do that? It's not like she's ever given me reason to believe she have feelings for me.
The trio sat down and began to eat what was a truly delicious meal.
"Wow Kate, this lasagna is amazing." Jack complimented.
"Thanks Jack."
"Sarah, what do you think of it?" Jack asked his girlfriend.
"Eh, it's ok. I've had better." Sarah said, apparently not bothering to put up her mask anymore.
Jack hit her lightly, and whispered something that Kate couldn't hear.
"So, Kate. I heard you and Jack were…involved…on the island, but then you broke it off?"
"Sarah, please!" Jack asked, but she didn't listen.
"No, it's ok Jack." Kate said, before turning her attention to Sarah. "Yea, I guess that's true. It just wasn't…right…"
"So Jack wasn't good enough for you?" Sarah said, almost laughing.
"No! No it wasn't that. I really don't know why. I just did it." Kate tried to explain, tears began falling down her cheeks.
"Yes, that's exactly what it is. How is Jack, the best, most successful surgeon in California, not good enough for you. You're just a fugitive from the middle of nowhere." Sarah seethed.
"SARAH! Stop!" Jack yelled. But the damage had been done.
Kate immediately got up from the table, "I'm sorry Jack, I need some time alone. Uhh…enjoy your dinner." Within seconds, she was halfway up the stairs.
"Kate! Please, wait!" Jack called after her, but she was gone. He quickly turned his attention to Sarah.
"What the hell was that? Why the f*ck would you do that? What has she ever done to you?" Jack yelled, seething.
"Don't worry about her, Jack. She made the mistake of leaving you, now she's ashamed to admit it." Sarah said, trying to calm him down.
"That's none of your business, Sarah. What she did, she did for her reasons, and I don't care what you think of her, cause it won't change the way I do." Jack said, and Sarah's attempts at calming him were failing.
"Let's forget it, Jack. This just means we can cut to the chase of the evening." Sarah said seductively, putting her hands on the breast of his suit jacket attempting to take it off and kiss him, but Jack was having none of it.
"You know what, Sarah. I think it's time for you to leave. I need to go apologize to Kate and talk to her." Jack said angrily.
"Don't get angry over nothing, Ja…" Sarah began.
"I said it's time for you to leave." Jack repeated, and turned around to head upstairs.
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The words stung more than anything. If only she knew the truth. Kate didn't know how to respond, in truth she couldn't without revealing her feelings for the man that was sitting beside her.
So she did the only thing she knew- she ran.
She ran upstairs and buried her face in the pillow, and after a few seconds of sobbing she grabbed the iPod Jack had given her and tried to calm herself down, tried to stop herself from thinking what Sarah could be doing to Jack right now.
Her fears disappeared only seconds later when she heard footsteps running up the stairs, and she looked up to see Jack's face appear in the doorway.
"Hey" she greeted, the tears still streaming down her face.
"Hey yourself." He greeted back as he walked inside of the room, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
She took the earbuds out, and sat up slightly on the bed.
"Are you OK? What Sarah said was totally out of line." Jack apologized soulfully.
As much as Kate wanted to agree with Jack and curse Sarah out to make herself feel better, she couldn't. It wasn't her place.
"It's OK Jack, really. I just overreacted. She's only being protective." Kate stammered.
"No, it's not OK Kate. You didn't overreact. What she said was hateful, I don't know how I can ever make it up to you." Jack said.
"It's OK, Jack. Really, you coming up here to apologize is more than enough. You should go back downstairs and enjoy the rest of your night with her." Kate suggested.
"Kate, I kicked her out." Jack said bluntly.
"You did what?" Kate said, confused.
"I kicked her out. No one says anything like that about you under this roof. Ever." Jack stated confidently.
He meant it.
Kate was taken aback. After all she put him through; he still had her back.
"Thanks Jack. That means a lot to me." Kate replied, and then paused for a moment before plucking up the courage to ask, "Jack, will you just sit with me for a bit?"
Jack didn't respond. Instead, he moved to sit down next to her and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her towards him. She softly cried into his chest.
After a few moments of blissful silence, Kate was feeling better. Then, Jack spoke. "Hey Kate, can I ask you a question?"
"Anything, Jack." She responded.
"What do you think of Sarah? I mean I know you've told me like her, but when she got here…you were kinda weird. I know she couldn't tell, but I know you better than that. Has she done anything weird around you?" Jack asked.
Kate cursed herself for allowing her emotions to be read so easily. But, it was Jack; he as right, he did know her extremely well.
But, this was her chance. If she ever wanted a chance to tell Jack how she felt about Sarah, how she felt about him, it was now.
She couldn't do it to Jack, though. What if she ran again? It would break him completely, and this time he may never recover. She loved him, she knew that, but she didn't trust herself.
"Jack. It doesn't matter what I think of Sarah. The only thing that matters is what you think of her." She said softly, but confidently enough, hoping he'd understand what she meant.
Jack got the message. "Thanks for being honest Kate. It means a lot."
Jack had a lot of thinking to do about this. He liked Sarah lot, but Kate and him had a connection, and he couldn't just let that die for what could be a doomed relationship.
They spent the rest of the night in each other's arms, and Jack couldn't have been happier with the way dinner turned out.
A/N: There it is, please review and tell me what you think!
Coming Up: Jack and Kate spend the day with Aaron. Here's hoping for a good episode tonight as well!