Not as quick as I'd hoped it would be but it's finally here none the less.
A trillion thank you's for your lovely reviews, both signed and anonymous.
"Put your hands above your head and turn around!" shouted one of the Policemen, pointing a gun at Jack, ready to take necessary measures if he didn't comply.
"What's going on?" Kate asked the obvious question, both Diane and Claire as clueless but Jack wasn't so much. However the last thing he expected was to be arrested for it.
"Claire?" Jack questioned in genuine surprise when he caught sight of her, barely getting to the end of his sentence before he was roughly pushed against the right beam of the front house entrance by one of the Police officers.
"Let go of him?" Claire shouted, stepping forward to stop her Brother from being taken away.
"Step away Miss." The Officer warned and before she could attempt to defy any further, Diane stepped in to assist with the Officer's instruction.
In the meanwhile Kate just stood there in shock. More from seeing him here rather than what was currently happening, but his look of helplessness was what finally snapped her out of her reverie. However it was too late to act or respond as he was already being pushed into the backseat of the Police car and then driven off.
Marc Silverman was nervous as hell, more at the prospects of making this stage in the relationship rather than acquiring permission to do so.
In reality the only permission he did need was from James, seeing as Kathy's parents were unfortunately no longer in the picture.
Much to his further dismay James still remained wary, which to a certain extent he could sympathise with considering what had happened with Jack, but in his heart he believed he wouldn't and more importantly didn't have any reason to leave Kathy. He loved her, inside and out.
If only James believed that.
As she saw the Police car drive off into the distance she turned around, heading back into the house, a plan already forming in her mind.
"Sweetie?" Diane asked, following her daughter into the house, Claire on her heels.
She ignored her Mother and went straight to her room. Once in there she quickly dressed and was just about to grab her purse when Diane walked in.
"Where are you going?"
"Where do you think Mom?" Kate snapped, getting increasingly irritated when Diane continuously tried to find fault more with Jack rather than the situation.
"I'm not gonna leave him to rot in jail!" Kate argued, "excuse me" she finished, pushing past her Mother and Claire wordlessly followed Kate, issuing Diane with a pointed glare to display just how she felt about Diane criminalising her Brother.
However Diane failed to back down at that point and decided to be adamant instead with conveying her side of the argument.
"Are you really willing to put yourself through this again?" Diane questioned, following her daughter down the stairs.
"I'm not gonna talk about this with you now." Kate huffed, hoping it would be left at that.
"Then when are you gonna talk about it?" Diane argued, but it went on deaf ears and the only response she did receive was the slamming of the front door.
Still, Diane refused to relent.
"Katie! Katie listen to me!" Diane shouted, running after her. "Please just listen to what I have to say!"
Feeling like she'd had enough at this point, Kate whipped herself round to face her Mother and let her have it.
"What do you want to say that you haven't already?" Kate suddenly spat back, whipping around to face Diane with a pointed stare and it was only then that she relented. What Kate said next encouraging her to perhaps give up the battle once and for all.
"I still love him Mom, whether you like it or not!"
With that made loud and clear Kate walked away with a slightly smiling Claire in tow, whereas Diane simply stood there disappointed and angry, more with herself for not trying harder rather than her daughter's confession.
He knew no amount of convincing would work cause his offence was based on truth. Still it didn't make him hate the very man who put him here any less.
"He's probably telling her all about it right now", Jack bitterly assumed, knowing it was a tad childish to be thinking that way but after meeting the guy the initial thought was a likely possibility, with added exaggeration of course for personal benefit. He just hoped Kate wouldn't buy it.
The last thing Jack wanted was for Kate to think he was some kind of monster.
On the way Claire called Charlie, not only updating him on the situation but also asking if he could meet up with them at the Police Station to take Isabella back to the Hotel.
Once off the phone silence reigned within the car once again, but that certainly wasn't the case within Kate's mind.
Several questions loomed around. The most prevalent being the offence for his arrest. She had admittedly zoned out at the time and Claire was too caught up in trying to rescue her Brother to pay any attention to the arresting Officer.
"God, I can't believe this is happening." Claire stated, sighing in submission to her worry and as much as Kate wanted to reassure her otherwise, she didn't have the answers to do so.
"Neither can I." Kate replied instead, trying to devote some focus on the road ahead of her at the same time.
"What?" Claire questioned when Kate suddenly let out a bitter chuckle.
"I just can't believe my Mom in all of this."
"Yup, she definitely hates my Brother; period!" Claire emphasized, then suddenly grasping onto a linking possibility.
"What?" Kate asked, sensing something was on Claire's mind.
"Huh, oh nothing." Claire replied, not wanting to jump to conclusions and cause an unnecessary misunderstanding between her and Kate in the process. Unfortunately Claire didn't take the extent of Kate's curiosity into account.
"Claire, what is it?" Kate firmly asked when Claire continued to deny revealing her assumptions.
"You don't think your Mom had anything to do with this do you?"
There was no denying that the thought had crossed her mind too, especially after the things her Mother said.
"I guess there's only one way to find out." Kate cryptically proposed, continuing on with their journey to the Police Station.
Once the Police finally left the Diner, so did Tom. His mind on Kate the entire journey to her Mother's house and once he arrived, his worry failed to subside in the slightest.
There sat on the doorstep was Diane. Her face covered by her hands and presumably sobbing over a reason Tom dreaded to ask as he approached.
"Mrs. Austen? What happened?" Tom inquired, hoping his assumptions weren't true.
"She-she's…." Diane struggled, but with whatever determination she did have left, she finally informed Tom with what had happened.
Once said she lifted her face up and what she saw naturally sparked concern.
"What happened?"
It took Tom a second or two to catch onto what Diane was asking about and it was only once Diane added, "your face" that he finally understood.
"Um, it's…." Tom hesitated in a bid to not add to the stress, but in the end he came out with it.
"He did what?" Diane exploded, making Tom regret for having said anything in the first place and he barely had a chance to process Diane's reaction before he saw her disappear back into the house. Tom following her to find out what she now presumably had in mind.
She first tried calling Kate and sighed in annoyance when it went straight to voicemail.
"What are you doing?" Tom asked, watching Diane grab hold of her car keys.
"Saving my daughter and you're coming with me." Diane revealed, giving Tom little or no chance to disagree being that she was already moving to leave. Not that an intimidated Tom would have the gum shin to do so in this case.
All he could do was think just what Diane had planned this time round.
He was growing restless now. Not just in his current predicament but also within the ear ringing silence of his jail cell.
Looking at his watch he saw that it was almost an hour since he last saw Kate. The enthralling vision of her beauty only exuded by the glow of her pregnancy and all he longed for at this minute was to see it again. To also finally touch the growing culmination their love had so unexpectedly created. He wanted it all.
Sadly that would have to remain a fantasy now that he was here. Trapped in a Prison cell without so much as a nugget of hope that things would turn around. All he was awarded with instead at that moment was the footsteps of an approaching Guard, who much to Jack's surprise stopped in front of his cell.
"What's going on?" Jack proceeded to ask, growing increasingly surprised when he then witnessed the Guard opening the door to his cell.
"You're free to go" the Guard simply informed.
Not waiting to be told twice, Jack obeyed and wordlessly followed the Guard to what or who he assumed was responsible for this.
"Nervous?" Claire asked, judging by the fact that Kate couldn't stop twiddling her thumbs.
Chuckling, Kate replied with honesty, "a little."
With having admitted it, Kate's smile slowly faded when her gaze landed on her pregnant belly. Her worry over explaining why she kept Jack in the dark still blatantly evident.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay." Claire assured, grabbing hold of Kate's hand and squeezing it comfortingly.
"It's just….." Kate started, breaking off midway to give way to her emotions, but with another squeeze of her hand from Claire, she found the strength to carry on.
"What do I say to him?"
Claire was about to respond but felt she didn't need to the next minute when she saw who had appeared.
Like a magnet Jack's eyes fell upon Kate, concerning immediately filling his senses when he saw her so emotionally distraught.
"Kate?" Claire stated, physically signalling her towards Jack's direction and that was when time seemingly stopped.
T
B
C…..
I know, God I'm mean and shouldn't put you guys through this already agonising wait but trust me I'll make it worth your wait.
Next Chapter: A proposal with surprising results and a long kept secret is blown wide open…
Now I'm gonna try and put the next Chapter up before this coming weekend when I finally go to see Foxy's play in London (insert: woo hoo), but I can try and post it "Express" delivery within that time. Whatever you guys want :)