As always a massive thank you for the reviews. I truly admire the extent of enthusiasm put into each one. From the "Noooooo's" to the "OMG's" lol, they make me smile like a fool.

Now I wasn't going to include this originally, but I allowed my continuity side to win and I also wanted to give Jack's actions some sense of validity as well, and I feel and hope that this chapter will do that.

Plus I want some proper setup for the next Chapter which is the milestone of this fic.

Much like his determination to prove his love for her, he showed a similar gesture in the way he practically pounded on her front door. Getting louder the longer he remained unanswered, to the point where he naturally assumed he was too late.

Or was he?

Flipping open his cell, he called his travel agent, booking the earliest flight to Iowa. However in the midst of his conversation on the phone, he spotted an envelope attached to the flap of Kate's front door with his name on it.

Coincidentally his travel agent put him on hold in order to check seat availability for his chosen destination at that moment and Jack used the time to see what was in the envelope.

Jack,

I think it's safe to say that the last few months have been quite a struggle and two weeks cooped up in a Hospital bed can give you a lot of time to think about that. Enough to know that what we had was just that, "had".

Please know that I love you and always will, but we live in different worlds now and in order to move on, so do we.

I wish you all the happiness and maybe one day we'll meet again.

With all my love

K

He was heartbroken and confused at this point. So caught up between the two that he didn't even hear the person on the other end of the line confirming availability of a 10.15am flight.

"Uh, thanks." Was Jack's reply before he abruptly disconnected the line. Leaving no definite answer on whether or not he was going to keep fighting.

On one hand the letter was straight forward and inclining the obvious, but there was that nagging suspicion with whether she truly felt that way.

The last two weeks certainly didn't suggest so, at least from his point of view.

Unconvinced, he flipped open his cell again, dialling another number.

She was much like a drone for the entire journey. No matter how much Diane tried, Kate failed to snap out of the depression she'd succumbed to.

Much to the dismay of trying to turn that around, their plane momentarily stalled boarding due to a glitch in safety measures and Diane didn't restrain her frustration in regards to it.

"Great, just great." Diane grumbled, achieving Kate's attention somewhat as a result, but what gained it fully in the end was the sudden queasy feeling she became overwhelmed with once again.

Looking for the nearest toilet, she then spotted one and quickly made her way towards it, giving Diane little or no chance to ask what was wrong.

However her focus then became drawn to a distinct ringing coming from Kate's bag. Knowing Kate wouldn't mind, she searched through the bag and finally found the source of the ringing minutes later. Frowning when she saw who it was on the caller display.

Split between wanting to ignore or answer it, she went with the latter in the end.

"I thought I made myself clear Jack."

"You didn't even give her a choice." Jack argued. "All you cared about was doing what you wanted."

Unfortunately for Jack the comment struck a nerve with Diane. Enough to finally say the things she's restrained herself from saying the past 2 weeks.

"Coming from you Jack that's rich and if it weren't for you my daughter wouldn't be in this position in the first place." She spat back, hateful in her tone for the reason of her statement.

He had nothing to say in regards to that cause deep down he knew it was the truth. If he didn't give in that night then things wouldn't have become so complicated.

He could only imagine what Diane would say if she knew about that night.

"I wanna talk to her." Jack requested.

"No." was Diane's firm reply.

"No? What do you mean no?" he challenged, growing frustrated now and less caring of hiding it.

"I'm not gonna let you ruin my daughter's life anymore than you already have." She explained.

"Oceanic flight 360 to Iowa now boarding at gate 12"

Hearing the announcement, Diane only had one more thing to say, mostly on her daughter's behalf.

"Goodbye Jack."

With that she hung up, switching the phone off and tucking it back into the bag. Zipping it up just in time for Kate to return, looking slightly better but the same couldn't be said emotionally.

"You okay?" Diane inquired, achieving nothing more than a barely audible nod from Kate.

Knowing it had to do with Jack, Diane refrained from exploring it any further and instead chose to inform her daughter about the status of their flight.

With Diane having said that reality set in and Kate finally let go. Sobbing within the embrace of her Mother and once composed somewhat, Diane pulled away, facing Kate with an assuring smile and simply saying…..

"Let's go home."

She went to the Hospital, hoping to find Jack there, but he wasn't as Marc had just informed.

Out of everyone in the Hospital, Marc was the only one who still treated her as the nearest thing to a friend. However there was an expected wariness in his behaviour now and instead of confronting it, Kathy accepted it, moving to then leave in a dejected manner.

"Kathy" Marc called out. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Feeling there was no harm in it Kathy wordlessly followed Marc into his office. Oddly feeling like a kid being led towards the Principal's office on the way and once in there the similar atmosphere remained.

"So how have things been?" Marc asked, surprising Kathy to say the least, especially since he was witness to her attempted murder incident.

"Why?" Kathy questioned, masking an expression of crude disbelief. "Why would you care?"

"Maybe it's because I've been through what you're going through at the moment." Marc revealed surprising Kathy once again. Enough to make her speechless which in turn gave Marc the cue to elaborate.

"Back in College there was this girl I really liked and even though she was seeing someone else, I nabbed her in the end." He expressed, taking a moment to re-evaluate his decision with telling Kathy this, but it also felt like a weight being lifted off to finally share this with someone else.

Someone who could hopefully sympathise and not judge instead and he felt that Kathy would perhaps opt for the former.

Seeing Kathy still confused he continued on, "Anyway things seemed to be going great at first but turns out she was still seeing the same guy behind my back as well."

Kathy still remained silent, engrossed and starting to assume where he was going with this.

"When I first found out I wanted to kill the guy, and nearly did….." Marc admitted. "But in doing so I saw something I could never fight or overcome; love."

"So what did you do after that?" Kathy curiously inquired.

"I kept to myself a lot. Mainly in an attempt to think things through and when that didn't work, well…." He offered, breaking off with a smile for the next part, "well let's just say I went through a pretty wild phase." He joked, managing to raise a smile out of Kathy in response.

"But with it all I learned to move on and even forgive the girl I "thought" I loved." Marc continued, putting deliberate emphasis on what he hoped Kathy would finally realize.

"So yes I do know what you're going through and am willing to lend a helping hand for the healing process." He then offered, surprising Kathy for a third and final time.

"And what do you get out of it?" Kathy checked.

"A friend, perhaps." Marc replied with a smile, Kathy found herself sharing in.

Maybe there was an opportunity here.

So there we go and all I can say is brace yourselves for what's to come.

Next Chapter: 4 months on…