February 1

~•~

"They're here," Katherine yelled to Jack's bedroom door, sprinting down the staircase. She had been watching from the window in the lounge, waiting for the car to drive down the driveway. Katherine was determined to make sure this checkup went well, for she knew her father would be checking her records.

Jack's door opened from the loft, and he made it downstairs just in time for Katherine to open the door. Hannah and Seitz stepped out of the vehicle, looking at the front door and finding the two subjects standing there.

It didn't take long for Hannah to usher Katherine into her bedroom and motion for her to sit on her bed. "We have to start with private questions first."

"Okay," Katherine nodded. "But I have to ask real quick... does my father know that I am with a different partner?"

"Oh, he knows," Hannah frowned. "It wasn't a pretty day at work. It took a lot of convincing from myself, Seitz, and Bunsen to have him not pause the Experiment and put you back with Darcy. He's not very happy with you."

Katherine shrugged, leaning back onto the bed. "What's been done is done."

Hannah sighed, seating herself beside Katherine and beginning with the questions. "Have there been any advances between you and Mr. Kelly? Friendly or Romantic?"

"We're just friends. That's all we'll ever be."

Hannah threw an emotionless look at Katherine, scribbling words onto her notepad. "Any moments of relationship development?"

"He helped me when I burned my finger," Katherine responded. "And he celebrated my birthday."

"What'd he do for that?"

Katherine smiled faintly at the thought, remembering what he did to celebrate her eighteenth birthday. "He bought a cake. He came into my room at midnight and let me blow out the candles on top of the cake. It was really sweet."

"I assume it was," Hannah said with a crooked grin.

The questions went on for what seemed like forever. But in the blink of an eye, it ended as soon as it started.

<><><>

February 3

~•~

"What the hell is this?" Jack's voice called from the loft, causing Katherine to look up from her computer and find him peering over the edge with a displeased look on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Katherine asked, watching as he pulled away from the railing of the loft to stomp down the staircase. She stood from the couch, arms crossed at her chest as she watched him descend the steps, eventually stopping in front of her with a paper in his hands.

"I found this record in the lounge. It was left by the workers when they came to check on us." Jack spoke in an oddly calm voice, but Katherine could sense the distress and fury behind his words. "When were you going to tell me that your last name was really Pulitzer?"

Katherine froze. What was she supposed to say? Yes, she lied, but she didn't do it out of spite or trickery. She opened her mouth, attempting to form words but was quickly interrupted by Jack continuing his speech of disbelief, "You said your last name was Plumber. Your his daughter, aren't you?"

Katherine lowered her eyes, unsure how else to respond except with a single word. "Yes."

Jack groaned, setting the paper on the coffee table and turning to face Katherine with an indignant expression. "Why the hell did you lie?"

"Could you blame me?" Katherine finally expressed, desperate to defend herself from Jack's words. "Would you have trusted me if I said I was Joseph Pulitzer's daughter? Would you have been able to live with me those first couple of weeks or take me seriously?"

Jack didn't respond, so Katherine took that as liberty to continue, her voice quieting the more she spoke, "I told you my last name was Plumber, and it wasn't a lie. I used to write for a newspaper before I joined the Experiment, and it was the name I published under." Silence followed these words, and Katherine knew she had more explaining to do. "I didn't tell you my real last name because I wanted to hide it. The reason I didn't tell you was because I didn't want you to misjudge me. But I knew it would come out at some point."

"Then you can tell me this," Jack began, seating himself on the couch and was closely followed by Katherine, "were you the one that changed our partners?"

Katherine nodded, "Yes, I was."

"What's he point of this Experiment?" Jack asked. "Why did you even want to change your partner?"

Katherine sighed, bringing her legs up onto the couch so she could hug her knees. She somehow managed to muster the courage to respond, answering him quietly with, "My father wants to test on love."

With those words, Jack finally seemed to understand the reason why he was asked those questions at the checkup and why Katherine had been distancing herself away from him. It was as if a protective barrier was covering the truth, and when a simple hole was placed into that layer, everything seemed to flood out. Jack instantly understood.

So Jack took a risk he knew he shouldn't have taken, but he couldn't hold himself back. He reached a hand out, taking one of Katherine's own and interlacing their fingers.

Katherine tensed up.

Jack's face displayed no sense of emotion, but he asked a question that Katherine wasn't sure she could answer aloud:

"And what do you think of the Experiment?"