Fic: Moving On (01/??) (original) (raw)
Title: Moving On
Characters: Kate/Jack & James/Juliet, David.
Rating: PG
Summary: An afterlife fic that picks up right after the finale. Heavy Jate with some serious Suliet. Also David is around. How these 5 will manage to make it all work? :P
Notes: Thanks to Nia for review!
The light is blinding their sight but eventually it starts fading away and they can see where they are. They’re still in the same church, wearing the same clothes, sitting with the same people, nothing has changed.
Except it has. They’ve moved on, whatever that means. It’s odd because neither Jack nor Kate has ever thought that much about what’s there beyond death, but it most definitely has never been the notion of another life.
Slowly people get up from their pews and make their way out of the church, Jack stands up and offers Kate a hand to help her get up. They’re the last people to get out. Jack closes the door.
“So, what do we do now?” she asks him with a look of pure adoration in her eyes. It’s like she’s staring at him, making up for all the times she didn’t get the chance.
He shrugs, feeling lost as all the others but they all think he has the answers because he’s Jack, he’s their leader through and through.
He addresses the crowd of people, his people, “I think we’ve moved on, maybe we did get a second chance at life… whatever we are.”
Everyone stares at him in disbelief, trying to wrap their heads around Jack’s words when James interrupts the silence. “I ain’t gonna waste this chance” and he smiles at Juliet, still shocked by the fact that he’s able to touch her again, to see her smile, to hear her voice.
Eventually they all part ways, with the promise of keeping in touch and see each other as often as they can manage, except for Jack, Kate, James and Juliet.
They need to discuss a few things, so they take a seat in the garden. Juliet is the first to break the ice. “This is really surreal. I feel like I’m dreaming. It’s too good to be true.” James puts an arm around her shoulders and says softly, “It ain’t a dream, Blondie” and she smiles to him. Jack and Kate look at each other, feeling like they’re intruding.
Kate asks worried “But does this mean we’re leading the lives we’ve had before we all remembered?”
Jack simply replies, “I’m pretty sure. Why? What’s wrong?”
James fills the blanks for her. “She’s still a fugitive, I should arrest her right now.” He doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry.
Jack is utterly shocked. “Arrest her?”
James gives him his best smirk before telling him about his job “Didn’t you hear, doc? I’m the new sheriff in town.” Jack stares at him with even more disbelief, and he adds “Or simply a detective. Don’t act so surprised. If ain’t been a criminal, I’d have been a cop”.
Juliet adds “And in this life you are. Because you never became Sawyer,” he simply nods.
Kate feels the need to share her truth with Jack “Even if I’m a still a fugitive, I’m innocent in this life. I didn’t do what they want me for.”
Jack takes her hand and caresses it. All he wants is to kiss her, but he needs to tell her some stuff before he could so he kinda blurts out, “I’m married…”
She almost yells, “YOU WHAT?”
Jack tries to calm her down. He hasn’t even gotten the chance to finish the sentence, but Juliet answers Kate’s question first “Actually he was. To me. We have a boy, David. You might have seen him at the concert.”
Both Kate and James’ faces lose their color. Neither of them had any idea about this. It takes them a few minutes to process the news. James speaks first. “Let me get this straight Blondie, you and doc here got married in this ‘life’ and you have a son, right?”
“Yes, James, that’s correct. Only Jack and I are separated. We’ve been for quite a few years now.” Juliet explains and Jack nods in agreement.
Kate realizes that she has actually seen Jack’s son. He must have been the boy with Claire, the one at her table. She randomly says, “I think I’ve seen him actually. Was he at the concert with Claire?” Jack nods.
“So I am the only one who hasn’t seen the kid here?” James asks. Juliet tells him, “If you wanna meet him, I’ll introduce him to you”.
“Thanks, Juliet.”
Jack interrupts them. “Sorry to break the spell but we need to make some sort of plan to make this thing work”.
“What thing?” Kate asks.
“Us being here, leading these lives with our newfound memories,” he replies.
“English, doc.” James says, annoyed.
“Be nice, James.” Juliet whispers in his ear.
“Meaning , we need to find a way to clean up Kate’s name. We need to explain this weird situation to David and then we finally can start living these lives fully,” Jack carefully explains.
James says “I can take care of Kate’s situation. I can do some research and even pull some strings but I can get it done”.
“Thank you, James” Kate replies.
“And we need to find David and talk to him,” Jack addresses Juliet who, in turn, only nods in response.
Eventually they split up. James heads back to the police station to work on Kate’s case. Jack and Juliet look for their son and Kate tags along until they find him.
James’ head is spinning, too many thoughts and too much information. His Juliet was married to Jack, of all people, and they have a son. Not to mention the little tiny detail that they’re all dead but somehow they got another chance at living.
And he thought that the time travelling was the worst ‘what the fuck?!’ ever. He needs to scratch that thought. This is definitely the worst ‘what the fuck?!’ of all times.
But at the same time, he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about all. He has Juliet back, finally.
After spending his life half drunk, half trying to figure out how he could have prevented her death, he can finally hold her in his arms again. Kiss her. Talk to her.
He finally gets to the police station, takes a seat at his desk, turn on his computer and types ‘Katherine Austen’ in the database. He gets plenty of material. He prints the whole thing and starts reading it.
Jack, Juliet and Kate get in Jack’s bronco. He turns on the engine and starts driving toward his ex’s house.
As he pulls in the driveway he can’t help but notice that the lights are all off, so David is mostly likely not home.
Kate helps Juliet out of the car. Juliet announces, “I’ll look inside, I’ll be really quick.” She struggles in finding the keys in her purse but she keeps walking toward the house.
Inside the car, Jack and Kate are alone for the first time since they’ve ‘moved on’. They simply stare at each other, taking in as much as they can, making up for all the time lost and the missed chances.
But Kate breaks the spell. “So Juliet? With all the women in LA, you married Juliet?” She is just teasing him but his answer takes her breath away “You weren’t around. I didn’t know you. If I had a ring, it would be on your finger already and we wouldn’t be separated, that’s for sure.”
She can feel only love for this man… deep unconditional everlasting love. But this is no time to be romantic.
They’ll have time later. Now she needs a snarky remark to get back at him. “Nice save.” She leans over and kisses him.
That kiss would have lasted longer if Juliet hadn’t interrupted them with a cough. “Sorry to ruin the moment but David is not inside and there’s no note about where he might have gone”.
Jack pulls away from Kate so that she can get his ex in the car while he says, “We’ll try my apartment next.”
Once Juliet is inside, they head for Jack’s place. This time, the lights are on and they sigh in relief. Kate tells Jack, “I’m staying here. Call me when you’re done.” He gives her a little kiss on the cheek before getting out.
He and Juliet walk in silence. There’s not much to say now. They need to talk to David, make him understand. Jack gets the key in the hole and turns it. He gently opens the door and calls for his son.
He hears his reply, “I’m in the kitchen, dad.” He turns to see Juliet. She just takes the lead and heads for the kitchen, ready as she’ll ever be to confess the truth to her son.
Please, let me know what do you think of it!