Well that was a long break, but I'm back now with a refreshed and focused mind.
Care to take the ride once again?
P.S. As always thanks for the amazing support and feedback :)
Of all the scenarios he mentally went over, this was neither predicted nor expected.
"I can't."
"Kathy…." Marc tried but she was already out the door before he could stop her.
All he could assume was the obvious at this stage, just as James had warned, and with that the confusion soon turned into hatred towards one Jack Shepherd.
Claire offered Jack and Kate a ride back to the Hotel but with seeing Kate still quite emotionally shaken, Jack politely declined, assuring Claire that it was nothing to worry about. Plus Jack had his car and truthfully wanted time alone with Kate, especially after having found out that he was going to be a Father again.
Still half convinced, she followed through none the less and left minutes later with Charlie and Aaron in their rented family cruiser.
"Kate…" Jack softly spoke, wanting to touch her so bad yet suddenly restraining himself at the possibility of making things worse. However on second thought it couldn't be as bad or worse than what Diane had done.
"I just…." She choked out, immediately gaining Jack's attention, along with the urge to wipe away the lone tear he saw fall at that moment.
"I can't believe she would do something like that." Kate finished, hate eminent within her tone but there was also a streak of underlying sadness and her hormones forced her to give into the latter.
Allowing his feelings precedence, Jack pulled her sobbing frame into his arms and consoled her as best he could through his soothing words and embrace.
"Shhh, everything's gonna be okay…." Jack encouraged and earned a muffled reply from Kate.
Pulling away, though still keeping her wrapped in his arms, he looked down at her just in time to catch her previously muffled statement.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" Jack questioned, tenderly wiping away her escaping tears.
"For not believing in you." Kate explained, "in us, and…" she added, vowing to set things straight once and for all but Jack cut her off.
"What matters is now." Jack assured with a warm smile and taking a leap of faith once again, inched forward to seal his lips with a pair of slightly uncertain ones. However as the kiss progressed, growing deeper, Kate found herself giving into it like a drug.
Pulling away breathless several minutes later, he then dropped his gaze to hone in on her slightly protruding stomach. A smile lighting his face once again at what he knew dwelled beneath.
"I can't believe you're pregnant." He exclaimed, continuing to rest his forehead against hers to share in the joy he felt at the revelation. His wrapped arms bringing her even closer into him in an effort to feel the culmination of their love and Kate happily snuggled into the warming gesture.
"I'm gonna be a Dad again." Jack added with a warm smile as his pride filled eyes remained firmly trained on her baby bump.
Sniffing away her tears due to a mixture of happiness and a tinge of sadness at Jack's comment, Kate decided to embrace the former along with a present she'd only dreamed of experiencing for the last 4 months.
However before she could verbally affirm her feelings once and for all, Jack's phone starting going off.
"It's okay." Kate reasoned, knowing it could be work related, but curiosity filled her senses when Jack then excused himself upon seeing who it was on the caller display.
Mentally deciding not to look too much into it, she tried to remain nonchalant yet found it considerably hard to do so, especially when she distinctly heard him end the conversation on the other end of the line with a, "I love you too."
"Oh God." Was all Kate could mentally form in light of what she immediately assumed and with that her demeanour changed dramatically.
"Sorry about that, just had to….."
"Don't worry about it." Kate chipped in with a forced smile, sparing herself any fresh heartache over the slightly confused man standing before her.
"You alright?" Jack asked, moving to touch her shoulder but pulled away with an excuse.
"Yeah." Kate confirmed "Look I have a few errands to run so….." she lied.
"Want some company?" Jack offered out of concern for her and the baby's welfare, particularly exertion wise.
"Thanks, but I got it." She affirmed and attempted to walk away before her conflicting emotions became evident and much to her dismay Jack didn't want to leave it at that.
"I insist." Jack argued "Besides I was hoping we could talk about some things too." He added, hopeful in his expression and tone.
"Erm, okay." Kate hesitated, suddenly uncomfortable at the idea yet willing to do it solely for the benefit of her unborn child now.
"Perhaps over lunch, say now?" he then suggested, putting her on the spot no doubt though she didn't want to be rude, so accepted.
"Miss Austen?" Tom spoke, reluctant to aid with any kind of physical contact with the frozen woman.
"She's gone." Diane exclaimed, still in shock over what just happened.
"I know." Tom simply replied, trying to sympathise with Diane and the situation but in light of what he valued more he couldn't.
"All I wanted was the best for her."
"For you, you mean." Tom scoffed, arms folded and suddenly annoyed at the fact that Diane still saw sense in her actions and it stayed that way when she turned to face him.
He was sick and tired of being bossed around, much less by a woman who clearly cared about no one but herself and it had to end.
"Don't start with me Thomas." Diane scolded him in the way you would a 7 year old and that only added fuel to his anger.
"It's Tom and you know what, I'm glad what happened did. Maybe you'll finally realize the kind of person you are."
"Excuse me." Diane exclaimed.
"You heard me." Tom argued. "Did you ever stop to think about what Katie felt in all of this?"
"No offense "TOM" but how I handle my daughter's affairs is none of your business!" Diane spat, equally enraged at having her morality questioned by a complete stranger.
"And it shouldn't be yours too." Tom shot back.
"I'm her Mother, everything she does is my business and I know that may be a hard concept for you to grasp considering…."
"Don't you dare." Tom warned, knowing what Diane was about to dredge up and disgusted that she was willing to throw what he told her in confidence back in his face.
"Then don't you dare accuse me of ruling my daughter's life!" she replied and all Tom mumbled in response was a "whatever, I'm outta here", and with that he walked away, leaving Diane to stew in her anger and misery; both of which she'd brought upon herself.
They now both sat in the very Diner Jack was thrown out of earlier and with some assurance from Kate it thankfully didn't happen again.
"So what's the deal with Mr. Machismo?" the waitress teased suggestively with an eyebrow raise for effect, earning a simple eye roll from Kate.
"What? He's gotta be more than a friend to have earned that heartfelt plea you just made." She defended herself, making Kate smile.
"Well I'm glad it was riveting for you Shan and I hate to burst your bubble but we're just friends." Kate stated, trying to hide the tinge of sadness in her tone at the last part before walking away to join her uneasy "friend".
"Everything alright?" Jack asked, trying to ignore the glares he was still getting from the staff.
"Yeah." Kate confirmed.
"I would have taken you somewhere else it's just that this was the only place I could think of and…."
"Jack, it's fine." Kate cut in, in an assuring manner, unable to exude a smile when he cowered in embarrassment over his honesty.
With that said a brief moment of silence ensued until Shannon came over to take their lunch order. Discretely and deliberately checking Jack out for personal benefit of proving a point and Shannon got it, jealous eyes and all.
It took everything within Kate to not smack Shannon round the head at that moment, especially when the satisfied blonde turned to face her mouthing the word, "Hunk-a-rama" and then darting off.
"So I guess we should talk." Jack suggested, nervous yet hopeful at the same time whereas Kate took it as the exact opposite, bracing herself.
Here goes….
"First off I wanna apologize for what happened between us before you left." Jack started out.
"Jack you don't have to…." Kate attempted to dismiss it solely for the benefit of her heart cause to this day she didn't regret the night they unexpectedly made love. Four months on and it meant even more to her thanks to the miracle growing inside of her.
"No Kate you need to hear this because it's the least you deserve after what you've been through."
Giving him the benefit of the doubt at that point she allowed him to continue, though kept her eyes firmly trained on her hands rather than him.
However Jack made it that much harder for Kate's resolve the next minute, particularly her emotions, when he reached out to hold her hand. Still electrified by his touch, she briefly closed her eyes to try and rein in what naturally came with it.
"Kate? Are you okay? Is the baby…." Jack asked, immediately alarmed judging by her expression and Kate stuttered considerably to respond.
"Huh, oh the baby's fine." She confirmed in a somewhat convincing tone.
"You sure?" Jack checked, rousing a wide smile from Kate who simply put his never seizing worries to rest once and for all in saying…..
"No contractions to speak of yet Dr. Shepherd, but I'll be sure to render you short of hearing when I do." She joked, momentarily relaxing and getting slightly taken away in the light heartedness of the moment too.
"Well that's good to know and already got a pair of ear plugs just in case." Jack teased, eliciting an expression of shock out of Kate.
"I'm not that loud Mister." She defended herself, biting back a smile yet couldn't contain it when Jack started laughing uncontrollably, then catching onto the ambiguity of her statement and blushing furiously in embarrassment as a result.
"I've missed this." Jack admitted, giving her hand a slight squeeze to show her that his implications went deeper than just moments spent together.
"So how is everyone?" Kate casually asked, changing the subject when reality of the assumed situation caught up with her. Her other reason for asking it was to discretely find out who the new woman in his life was.
"Uh, yeah they're all good." Jack informed, a little thrown by the random question but spent little time dwelling on it because the last thing he wanted was to create an unnecessary misunderstanding.
"Anyway I…" Jack tried to explain again but was interrupted this time by Shannon bringing their meals over.
Concealing his annoyance with a thankful smile towards Shannon, it disappeared the moment she was gone and he was back to annoyed. However as much as he wanted to have his way, he looked over at Kate and saw a scene that broke his heart.
Apparently she'd hadn't eaten anything judging by the way she was currently pillaging through her meal. With witnessing that he started to mentally beat himself up for not being more vigilant about her health and eating habits. Lack of it in this case and that wasn't good for her or the baby.
So with that in mind he put his own issues to the side and also treated himself to a much hungered for meal.
Confusion wasn't the problem, but more fear of having history repeat itself and Kathy knew she wouldn't survive losing yet another man to a woman she couldn't compete with. Having learned that painful lesson with Jack and though Marc was different he too held a special place for Kate in his heart.
The question was whether it was friendship or something more, cause the level of his concern for Kate of late worryingly supported the latter.
"What do I do?" Kathy asked herself.
After lunch and spending a solid 10 minutes debating on who should pay the bill, Jack won in the end thanks to long legs and agility. The result no doubt putting Kate in a mood and it stayed that way until they left, or more Jack thought that was the reason for her silence.
"So…." Jack started in an effort to finally break the tension filled silence.
"Look thanks for lunch Jack but I really should get going." Kate interrupted, hating to end things like this but the circumstances, as painful as they were, had to be considered as well.
Barely giving him a moment to respond accordingly, she moved to leave.
"Kate wait." He called out, catching up and moving to stand in front of her in an effort to get her attention once and for all.
"Look I'm sorry for what happened in there." He started to apologise but Kate cut him off.
"Jack, it's fine." She assured with a forced smile Jack was close enough to see through this time, especially when he witnessed a lone tear fall down her left cheek.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Jack inquired, instinctively moving to embrace her but much to his growing concern and confusion pulled away as if he were the plague.
However 4 months spent away from her made him ferociously determined to get her back and that feeling only strengthened with finding out about their baby.
"Kate, please talk to me." Jack urged, stepping forward and gently grasping the sides of her hanging head. Using his grip to slowly get her to face him with an answer but all she had instead was a question.
"Who is she?"
Dun Dun Dun. Oh it feels good to be doing this again and if you guys want more let me know.