March 28

~•~

"Hey, Ace!" Jack leaned over the railing of the loft, finding Katherine sitting on the couch with her eyes fixed intently on the computer screen in front of her. "Let's do somethin' together."

Katherine gave him a one-worded response, not bothering to look up from the computer screen. "Can't."

"Oh, come on. What're you even doin'?"

"I'm trying to determine what this whole thing is about. Why is it called an appraisal if they're testing on love?"

"Dunno. But I'm guessin' that's what you're tryin' to find out," Jack replied, turning towards the stairs and descending the steps to arrive on the main floor. He sat next to Katherine, setting his arm on the back of the couch and turning his body to face Katherine.

"Yeah, I am. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It makes no sense." Katherine breathed, staring down at the computer screen that was asking for a password. "The definition of appraisal is to assess something or estimate the value of something. I'm leaning towards the first as being the most logical reason, but I don't have a clue."

"Then what is this?" Jack motioned to the computer.

"The Pulitzer Institute database," Katherine responded with a sigh. "I can't get the admin password correct. I've tried mine and my siblings' birthdays, my parents' anniversary date, and even the day the Institute was founded. I just can't seem to get my father's password right."

"It can't be that hard," Jack responded. "You know 'im best. What's somethin' he loves?"

"Power," Katherine remarked sarcastically.

"Seriously."

Katherine heaved a heavy sigh. "Well... um... he is a big family person. He always made sure my siblings and I were well taken care of. He doesn't show it a lot, but he cares. I know he does. He only wanted the best for us, even if it meant we had to leave home and start our own journey. I just... I haven't tried the children's names yet..."

"Any kid he talks 'bout most?"

"Ralph, definitely," Katherine remarked, typing his name in before it told her it was incorrect. She hesitated when she saw the message, but quickly typed in every other child's name, all with the same message. "They didn't work."

"You didn't try your name," Jack said, taking the computer from Katherine and setting it in his own lap. He typed Katherine's name into the computer before pressing enter. The screen loaded for a few seconds, but Jack's eyes quickly lit up at what he saw. "It was your name."

"It was?" Katherine's eyes widened, and she quickly took the computer from Jack again, gaping in shock at the fact that the screen loaded onto the Institute's database. "Why would it be me?" She quickly shook the question out of her mind, scrolling through the current experiments before the Close Distance Experiment met her eyes. It was labeled under Appraisal (CDE), which only deepened her puzzlement.

She clicked on the words, watching as it guided her to another page. It showed the list of participants, with Katherine's and Jack's names together in one column amongst seven others. She clicked their names, and it led them to their digital file. What Katherine didn't expect to see, however, were three boxes beneath their names, the last two empty but the first with a single word: Passed.

"Passed?" Katherine read aloud, looking at the word before scrolling down. "Passed what? What does that mean?" Jack didn't say a word, he simply peered over Katherine's shoulder as she looked through their file. "This all makes no sense..."

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April 7

~•~

"Jack?" Katherine knocked on his bedroom door thrice, standing outside his room with one hand hovering in front of his door. "Are you awake?"

No sounds came from the other side of the door. Katherine looked down at her phone in her hand that wasn't in front of the door, turning it on so she could glimpse at the time. It was around eleven in the morning, and although Katherine knew Jack loved his sleep, she also knew that he never slept in this late.

Katherine sucked in a breath. She hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do before an idea came to mind. She lowered her hand to the doorknob, talking low underneath her breath as she slowly twisted it, "Well, you always do it to me. Why not do it to you?" She pushed the door open, stepping into the room. Jack's silhouette sat up in the bed, and she saw the shape of his arm come up to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "Wake up, sluggard. You overslept."

"What're ya doin'?" Jack groaned, his voice thick with sleep.

"Oh, so you have permission to obtrude on my sleep, but I can't do the same to you?" Katherine remarked, leaning against the doorframe. "How sad."

Jack grumbled something underneath his breath in response, causing Katherine to furrow her brows. "What was that?"

"Nothin'."

"Jack Kelly, what did you say?" Katherine stepped out of the doorway, entering the room and approaching the bed.

"I said it was nothin'."

"Tell me what you said!" Katherine insisted, now on the bed in front of him and pushing him onto his back. He propped himself on his elbows, looking up at her with an aggravated expression.

"My God, Ace, it's not important!"

"To hell with it not being important."

Katherine's brows were furrowed in determination, and there was an irritated look in her eyes as she attempted to pry the words out of Jack. He caught sight of these emotions in her, however, and did the one thing he knew would shut her up.

He sat up, cupping her jaw with his hands and pulling her lips to his. Instantly, the irritation and exasperation between them melted away. Katherine felt her hands move from her sides to Jack's shoulders, where she rested them in the midst of the kiss. They pulled apart, breathing softly as Jack mumbled, "I said you were a pain in the ass." Katherine laughed at these words, resting her forehead against Jack's with closed eyes.

"You're impossible."