(8 months ago)

Her first day out of rehab and the welcome she received was the farthest prediction.

"I've met someone."

She didn't know what he wanted her to say in return. As much as she wanted to be honest in revealing how hard she'd been working to be a better person for him, it was no longer any use.

"That's….wow!" she commented, using surprise to cover up her heartbreak.

"I know."

"So safe to assume you've been up to a lot these past couple of months huh?" Kate then teased, not suggesting any underlying meaning but Jack caught note of it none the less.

"I'm sorry Kate, I know I should have…."

"It's okay." She assured him, her sincerity shining through her shimmering gaze.

"No it's not." He persisted and before he could attempt to beat himself up for it, Kate cut him off.

"What matters is that you're happy." She revealed, firm and believable in her tone. "It's all I want."

He grew completely speechless in light of her selflessness and support. Though he wasn't surprised by it because she was that kind of person and it's one of the qualities that made him fall in love with her in the first place.

"Thank you." Was all he could give her instead of what she really wanted and had no choice but to accept.

(End of Flashback)

"Hey" Jack wished, a little taken aback by the fact that Kate wasn't alone. However he was more bothered by the fact her company was Jimmy.

Jimmy on the other hand played to the extent of Jack's tolerance, just like he always had, by buttoning up his shirt and resettling his recently self dishevelled hair, giving Jack the clear implication that he'd interrupted a lot more than a simple conversation.

If that wasn't proof enough then the dirty snicker adorning Jimmy's face should have been the dead giveaway.

"Hi, erm-I- is….." Kate stuttered, unable to look Jack straight in the eye. "Is everything alright?" she asked instead. Growing increasingly concerned when Jack failed to answer her due to something else apparently demanding his attention.

That something being Jimmy when she followed Jack's current line of "glaring". Catching onto the reason without having to think, Kate kindly asked Jimmy for some privacy. He was reluctant to follow through with it at first, but at the same time he wanted to be on good grounds with Kate. So he obeyed.

"Call me alright?" Jimmy asked, punctuating his request with a lingering peck against Kate's cheek. The gesture making Kate smile ever so slightly, whilst it took everything within Jack to not punch the daylights out of Jimmy for touching her.

"Doc." Jimmy scoffed, a smug smile on his face as he brushed past Jack on the way out, leaving an undeniable tension Kate decided to break with a question.

"What are you doing here Jack?"

"I wanna talk about what happened this afternoon." Jack answered, but Kate cut him off.

"I don't." she firmly stated before descending into the depths of her apartment. Jack quick on her heels, unwilling to leave it at just that.

As he followed her into the living room, he saw the evidence of a very cosy dinner setting. His mind undoubtedly travelling towards the obvious as a result, but he knew, now more than ever, that Kate wouldn't give into something like that. Not after what happened earlier today.

"What's going on Kate?" he asked, hurt by the fact she was ignoring him. Instead she decided to focus on cleaning up the remnants of what turned out to be an effective distraction with Jimmy.

"Hey." Jack uttered a little louder than intended, grabbing hold of her and forcing her to look at him once and for all.

"Let me go." Kate warned more than requested, still not looking at him and that only fuelled Jack's determination for a proper answer.

"No. Not until you tell me…"

"Tell you what Jack?" she shot back, finally awarding him with her focus, but what Jack immediately saw in there was pain and anger.

"What do you want me to tell you that I haven't already? Would you like to know just how miserable I've been? How NOT okay I was with the fact that you'd already met someone else within months of our divorce?"

Momentarily taken aback by her outburst, Kate used it as a means to finally escape the clutches of his hands. Planning to then walk away from this and him, but he stopped her with simply saying…

"I'm sorry."

He wished he could have offered her more than that, other than his friendship, but clearly that too wasn't enough for her anymore.

Kate, honestly didn't feel the slightest change in her broken heart. All his apologies did now was remind her of how alone she was.

With nothing more to say she proceeded to walk towards the stairs. Turning around to face him one last time before heading on upstairs to do what she still did practically every night, cry herself to sleep.

With her gone all Jack had was two options. Go upstairs and comfort her or leave and give her time to deal with this on her own.

"Do I go with my head or my heart?"

Once inside her bedroom she moved towards the bed, sitting on the foot of it and finally allowing for the tears to fall freely.

It was too much. Lily's birthday only re-opening a wound she tried so hard to heal with support and self denial the last few months. The combination only making her bitter and envious of something she only longed more and more for every day.

Something she could never have due to what she firmly believed was her own fault.

And it wasn't as if she had anything else to fall back onto. There was Jimmy but he wouldn't be able to understand and sympathise with what she'd been through. The dark place she truthfully hadn't escaped from and with it came it's liquid temptations but she knew better from experience.

"Kate?" Jack called out through the jarred bedroom door. Receiving no reply and going with his concern, opened the door and finally saw why.

Thoroughly consumed by her emotions, she didn't even notice or hear Jack who was now on his knees before her. Trying his best to comfort her and when no success was achieved, he moved to sit beside her so he could pull her sobbing form into his arms. Tears coming to his own eyes at seeing her so broken and hopeless.

"I-I can't….I" she stuttered in between her sobs, crying harder when Jack tried to verbally soothe her whilst also pulling her even closer into his arms.

"It's okay, it'll be okay." He assured, smiling slightly at the way she instinctively burrowed her head into the curve of his neck at that moment.

Instead of going with the logical, which was screaming "don't do this", he ignored it and focused on being there for her. Just like he'd initially planned to.

However what he didn't take into account was his actions from there on, especially when he placed his lips on the side of her head. His intention to comfort her but for Kate it was a lot more. Her emotions only intensifying every thought and action from that point onward.

Pulling away she looked up at him in question. Encouraged by his responding smile and even more so at his hand gently stroking the side of her face. His thumb wiping away the tear which fell, eliciting a slight gasp from her. The sound urging Jack to focus on the source leading for Kate to do the same with him.

"Jack." She found herself whispering more from the heart rather than the mind cause nothing about this was logical, particularly in light of the circumstances, but there was no room for that here anymore.

All that mattered now was rekindling the feelings that were obviously still there, even for Jack.

Nothing else registered as he proceeded to lean in.

Next Chapter: Exactly where this one left off…

Tell me how much you want it, how much you really really want it. Perhaps a quote from the next chapter lol.