Chapter 53:

After a long, and for the lunch part, rather torturous day at school, Jack made the journey back to the hospital, bypassing the corner shop briefly to pick up the pack of batteries that Kate had asked for. The sun was out, and usually on days as beautiful as this one, he'd have been tempted to take a slower walk to wherever he was going, to enjoy the sunshine and relish in the rare days of warmth before the onslaught of winter set in. However, the reason for his beautiful days was cooped up away from the sunshine in St. Sebastian's hospital, so he didn't slow his pace at all to take in the scenery. Instaed, he paid for the batteries, shoved them in the top of his school bag, and rushed on back to the hospital.

Of course, going to the hospital meant crossing to the other side of town, but it was still only half-past four when he got there. He'd have time to sit with Kate for a while before his mother started bugging him to go downstairs, or go home, and eat. It was a pestering that he'd grown used to already, but he wasn't ready to give into every beck and call yet. Not whilst Kate was in the hospital still. Maybe when she was home and recovering, he'd feel reassured enough, but for now, with her only coming out of a coma a few days ago, he needed to be with her. He needed to see that she was okay.

Yet, when he reached the room that she was staying in, the bubbling excitement inside of him disappeared. As he opened the door, it was jerked open roughly from the other side, so much that he almost fell into the room. Silently, he watched as two policeman left the room, pocketing notebooks as they went, giving no second look to the boy they had almost walked into. Frowning, Jack entered the room, seeing that Kate was sitting up in bed, leaning back against the pillows. She was taking deep breaths like he knew she did to calm herself down, and Sam was sitting beside her, holding her hand and telling her softly that she did a good job.

Jack's frown increased, as he stayed in the doorway for a moment. "What were the police doing here?" He asked aloud, alerting the other two in the room to his presence.

Kate jumped at his voice, her eyes snapping open. "Jack!" She exclaimed. "I thought you'd be longer..."

He checked his watch. He had been longer. "It's after four already." He pointed out.

"Oh." She said simply.

Jack took a few more steps into the room, the batteries in his hand. "Katie, what happened?" He asked her, softer this time.

Kate was silent for a moment, casting a look towards Sam, who took the hint. He stood up, moving towards the door. "I'm going to go and get a coffee." He announced. "I'll leave you two to it."

They both waited for the door to close behind him, and for his figure to slip past the closed blinds, and then Jack took another step forward. "Kate?"

"It's nothing, Jack." She tried to assure him, but ten years of friendship saw through her lie.

"Clearly it's something, if the police were here." He pointed out, and then his eyes narrowed protectively. "Did he come here?"

"Who?"

"Wayne. Was he here?" He asked, looking around as if expecting to find him in the corner of the room.

Kate looked at him strangely. "How could he be here, Jack?" She asked him incredulously. "They're out looking for him right now."

"Then why were the police here?" He asked, raising his voice slightly, even though he didn't mean to.

"Because I remembered!" She snapped back, meeting his raised tone right down to the octave.

Her announcement stunned Jack into silence, and his frown faded. She remembered. She remembered what he did to her. Calmly, he sat down on the edge of the hospital bed, his school bag falling to the floor with a gentle 'thud' from all the books inside of it.

"I woke up in the middle of the night, and I remembered." Kate continued, knowing that Jack's silence was there to give her space. "I remembered everything. I remembered you telling me not to go alone, and me going alone anyway. I remmebered siting with the final box of my mom's possessions, and what I was thinking about when I looked at them. I remembered waslking out of my bedroom and everything that happened afterwards. I remembered, Jack." She said softly. "I remembered, and that's why they were here. They were taking a statement while the memory was fresh."

Jack sighed, regretting raising his voice. He reached out and took hold of her hand. "I'm sorry." He told her gently.

She gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't be."

He shook his head. "I shouldn't have overreacted like that." He continued. "It's just that...the last few days have been...Hell." He sighed again.

"I know." She nodded, stroking the inside of his palm with her thumb. "I know they have."

"Why didn't you say something this morning?" He asked her. "You know I would have been here with you-"

"I know." She repeated. "That's why I couldn't tell you."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

Kate bit her lip, and looked down at their enclosed hands. "My wole life, I never told anyone the full truth about what it was like living with Wayne." She admitted. "You weer always the closest to knowing. You knew that I hated it, and that it was like living in the deepest circle of Hell, but even though you were my best friend, there were things that I couldn't tell you, because they were just too awful. I think that the worst part about not telling you was knowing that, if I did, you would have gotten me out of there straight away, which is what I wanted more than anything, but I couldn't have left Mom behind."

Jack nodded slowly, his own eyes fixated on their hands just like hers were. "I'm sorry I waited so long to get you out." He whispered.

"I had to stay for Mom." She repeated. "Even if you had asked me before, I wouldn't have gone, Jack. You know that."

Again, he nodded. "Yeah, I know."

Taking a deep breath, Kate continued with her explanation. "Mom asked me not to tell anyone, and because I didn't, everything came down on my shoulders. She blamed some of the bruises on the chemotherapy making her skin fragline, and others on things that I had never heard her explain, but I knew exactly what happened. I knew, even when she didn't think I did. I took care of her more than he did, right up uuntil she did, and then she took her secrets with her. But most of them stay with me too. I see them every night, I hear her voices, her cries. They never stop." She shook her head at herself. "I could have told someone before. I could have told you, Sam, or the police, but I didn't. So, it's partly my fault. I carried that burden alone, because I had to be the strong one, because I wasn't dying, and I wasn't a drunk. I was just the only one left. I was Katie Austen, the poor girl with the dying mom and the drinking dad. I never let myself get help with any of that. I chose to do it alone."

"So, that's why you chose to do this alone?" Jack realised.

Kate nodded. "I always said that one day, he'd pay for what he did to me and Mom. I knew that one day, he'd get his commupance. But when it came down to me having to do it, I knew that I had to do it on my own." Jack nodded along with her, and Kate placed her other hand over the top of their enclosed ones. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, Jack. I know that you would have been at my side like Sam was, not judging me for what happened, and for what I kept secret for so long, and deep down, thats what I wanted, but I had to do this one last thing on my own, for me and my Mom."

Jack followed her example, and held their hands together tightly. "It's okay, I understand that." He told her.

"I started out on my own. I just needed to end it on my own."

He gave her a small smile. "I know."

She raised her eyes and looked at him apologetically. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"You've told me now, haven't you?" He pointed out.

"Yeah." She realised with a gently smile.

"So." He said, much more casually. "How did it go?"

"Good." She nodded firmly.

"What else have you done today?"

The question shocked Kate into a silence for a moment, when she'd opened her mouth to answer, but then realised what the question had been. She looked at him, confused. "You're not going to ask me what I remember?"

"No." He said simply. "I know that you'll tell me when you're ready to tell me."

But still, she looked confused. "You're not going to ask me to tell you?"

Jack rolled his eyes at her playfully, and leaned forward, kissing her lightly. "Kate, I love you." He told her, getting the same smile he always did when he told her that. "I'm not going to force you to tell me something that you don't want to tell me yet." He told her.

"Wow." She said, looking at him blankly for a second.

"What?"

"You really are different to Tom." She pointed out, knowing that her ex-boyfriend would have badgered her to no end if he knew she'd had a conversation with the police.

"Yeah." Jack nodded, grinning to himself. "That's part of my charm."

"Yeah." Kate agreed. "You're more big headed then him as well."

Jack laughed, knowing that she was just playing around, before the laughter stopped. "But, seriously, he forced things out of you?"

"Not in a way that made him a monster or anything." She told him quickly, realising how she'd made that sound. "But he didn't like it when it was clearly something to talk about, and I wouldn't talk to him."

"Did you talk to someone though?" Jack asked, concern filling his voice again.

"Yeah, you most of the time." She pointed out, causing Jack to laugh again.

"No wonder he hated me." He mused.

Kate shook her head, kissing him gently. "He hated you because I loved you, even before I admitted it." She reminded him.

Jack smiled. "Well, I always loved you too."

They kissed again, this time allowing the kiss to deepen. It had been a long time since they'd have privacy to kiss openly like this, with emotions and passion passing between the two of them with every movement of their lips, and both wanted to take advantage of the moment before someone walked in and interupted them and scolded Kate for trying to exert herself again. Last time it had happened, she'd had a long converastion with her nurse about how kissing wasn't exerting herself.

When they parted, she settled her forehead against his. "Thank you for being so understanding about this." She whispered.

"It's nothing." He replied simply.

"Yes, it is." She compromised. "I just...I don't want to repeat it again just yet."

"That bad?" Jack asked her.

"Not what I told the police. I told them what happened...that he was there, he was drunk out of his mind, and he pushed me...or rather...threw me..." Jack looked horrified, drawing his head away from hers for a moment. "But it was more what he said to me that's going to be hard to repeat." She continued.

Jack was reeling for a moment, still trying to accept the fact that she had been thrown down the stairs; an action that could have easily killed her and almost had done, but he managed to calm himself while in her presence, and returned his forehead to hers. "It's okay." He whispered.

"I know. Just...thank you." She repeated.

"I'm going to be here whenever you want to tell me, though, okay?" He assured her. "Even if it's the middle of the night. I'm here."

Kate laughed lightly to herself for a moment. "You keep telling me that you're there in the middle of the night." She pointed out. "I can't help but wonder if you want me to ring you in the middle of the night."

He shook his head, also laughing. "You're not going to get a chance yet. I'm not spending a night away from you as long as they'll let me."

"Now, there's the Jack I know and love." She grinned.

"I never went anywhere." He assured her. "And I'm never going to."

"Why do one of us always appear when you're talking about the romantic stuff?" Came a complaining voice from the doorway. Sam was now standing there, half-finished coffee in his hands as he entered the room and returned to his seat.

Kate laughed lightly, nudging Jack's shoulder as she pulled her head back from his. "'Cause it's Jack, and he's always talking about the romantic stuff." She pointed out.

Jack frowned. "Hold on, who's ringing who in the middle of the night?" He teased in return.

"I never said I was going to." She reminded him. "If I decided to do it now, you'd go home and wait up until midnight to answer the phone."

Sam sighed, rolling his eyes and groaning into his coffee. "You know, you'd have been able to span out the romance if you'd gotten together sooner." He pointed out.

"Dad!"

"What?" Sam asked innocently. "We knew from Jack's sixth birthday party that you two would get married one day, and correctly if I'm wrong, but you're a married woman now, Katie Austen."

Kate grinned, but shook her head. "Yeah, but that wasn't a proper wedding." She pointed out.

Jack nodded, agreeing. "It was more of a revenge-temporary one."

Sam nodded firmly, pointing at the pair of them. "As long as at the real one, I get to give you away." He made them promise.

"Who else would I ask to do it?" Kate pointed out.

"That's my girl." Sam grinned.

"I know that Wayne's my father, but you're my Dad." She assured him. "Plus, Wayne would just get drunkn and ruin my wedding and then I might just have to kill him."

Sam tutted, taking some more coffee into his mouth. "Honestly," He mused aloud. "Such violent thoughts."

"Oh, that's nothing." Jack piped up. "You should talk to Claire, Shannon and Libby. They talk about cutting off your gonads."

Sam looked rather uncomfortable for a moment, and Kate covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, they gave you The Talk?" She asked.

Jack nodded, raising an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, and some warning about The Talk would haev been a nice heads up."

"I'm not allowed to." She covered. "It's in the rules."

"The same rules that you guys started ten years ago?" Sam laughed. Kate and Jack nodded. "Have you written them down yet?"

"I think Claire's doing it." Jack told them both. "She wants to do copies so that we get to taken them with us when we head off different ways next year."

"Speaking of heading different ways..." Sam drifted off. "What are you two planning on doing next year."

Jack and Kate exchanced panicked looks for a moment, remembering the deal they'd made about staying together. "I'm...undecided..." Kate answered first.

"I think I'm going to applpy for NYU and Columbia." Jack nodded.

"...although I'm considering NYU and Columbia." Kate added, trying to sound innocent.

Sam raised an eyebrow at his daughter. "Don't tell me this will be the end of Jack and Kate."

Both teenagers firmly shook their heads. "There is no end to Jack and Kate." Jack insisted.

"We're told we can never end." Kate told Sam. "Apparently we're not just a couple, we're a concept."

Sam laughed at this for a moment, but then looked at Kate seriously. "Katie, honey, as much as I understand that you two don't want to be apart, especially for such a long time, you can't chose a college just because Jack's going there."

Jack and Kate exchanged a look again, knowing that they had to explain their plan now. "Actually, Dad, I was thinking I might not go to college..."

"What?"

"Well, not yet." She covered quickly. "I will go eventually, because I want to go, but at the moment, I'm not sure."

"Why not?" Sam asked her.

"I'm not sure what I want to do with my life." She admitted. "I don't know what I want to study, so I don't want to waste my college years on a subject I won't do anything with and regret those years."

Sam nodded. "I understand that, but what do you plan on doing next year?" He asked her. "I have to go back to the army, although I could ask for some more time off-"

"You don't need to do that, Dad." She assured him. "I'll be okay."

"But where will you live?" He asked. "The apartment's only being rented..."

"I'm going to go with Jack." She announced simply.

Sam looked at her for a moment. "You're going to do what now?" He asked, not sure he had heard her right.

"We've thought about it, and it works out best for everyone." She told him. "You won't have to worry about getting more time off, and I'll have somewhere to live. Besides, it's cheapter for Jack to get a shared apartment than to live in the college dorms, and he already knows his room mate this way."

"You're going to move in with Jack?" Sam repeated.

"...that's the general idea." Kate nodded.

Sam leaned forward, his now finished coffee cup balanced in his hands. "I think I understand what you're getting at here." He told them. "But are you sure you two understand what you're gettign into here?" He asked. "You're going to have to pay bills, there's a lot of responsibilities..."

"We can handle it." Kate nodded firmly.

Sam sighed, a playful smile crossing his features. "Why do I get the feeling that nothing is going to change your minds, no matter what I say?"

Jack smiled at Kate. "I love her, and I don't want to leave her behind." He said softly. "We can make it work."

"If you say so." Sam nodded, and then smirked. "Have you told your mother about this, Jack?"

Jack looked at him as if he had suggest jumping off the roof. "Tell my Mom? Are you serious?"

"So, you can tell me, but not Margo?" Sam asked.

Jack nodded. "If we tell my Mom, then when we're looking for an apartment, she'll be finding us ones with spare rooms for a nursery." He pointed out.

The amusement on Sam's face disappeared instantly. "Oh, God..."

"Exactly." Jack concluded.

Sam gulped. "Okay, if you don't give us need for a nursey, I won't tell Margo. How's that for a deal?" He suggested.

"Deal." Jack and Kate both nodded.