AN: This chapter didn't turn out as great as I had hoped but I think it's kind of cute. Also, the next chapter is the last one, so be prepared for some fluff.

It had been about four days, and Katherine had been discharged from the hospital, and they were back on the train headed back to Manhattan. Almost as soon as the train had started moving, Katherine had forced Jack to sit down in the seat across the aisle from her and get some rest, considering she was fairly certain he hadn't slept at all while she'd been in the hospital, but he found he was still too on edge to sleep, so he'd pulled out his sketchbook.

About an hour into the trip, Jack was working on his second drawing of Katherine (he couldn't get his mind off of her, even though she was only a few feet away from him), Pulitzer was dozing in the seat in front of him, and Katherine was curled up on the row of seats across from him. And that was when the thus far uneventful trip became slightly more exciting.

Katherine began to shift in her sleep, her breathing becoming more labored, but Jack, in his sleep-deprived state, didn't notice anything until the murmuring started. She began whimpering and muttering unintelligibly until all of a sudden her eyes flew open and she bolted upright to her feet, but the pain that caused her foot meant she immediately began to fall.

Jack had made his way over and caught her before she landed on the floor, but in her confusion she let out an involuntary shout and tried to push him away, but he kept a tight grip on her.

"Katherine it's me, it's Jack."

"Jack?"

He nodded. "It's okay, I've got you."

At those words, Katherine began to cry, even though the logical part of her brain was screaming at her not to show voluntary weakness. But she hadn't been paying any attention to the logical part of her brain for along time.

"Jack..."

"Shhh, it's okay."

Jack picked her up before sitting down, letting her rest on his lap. He gently rubbed her back as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. 

After a while, Katherine's breathing evened out and she grew heavier in his arms and he could tell she'd fallen back asleep.

So, finally letting exhaustion overtake him, Jack closed his eyes and slept.

oOo

By the time they'd arrived back in Manhattan, Katherine had convinced Jack and her father to eat dinner with her somewhere, Jack had convinced Katherine and Pulitzer to let him go with them to the Pulitzer Mansion to help Katherine get settled in (that had taken a lot of convincing), and Jack arrived back at the Lodging House, it was late enough that the boys were already asleep (or they should be, anyway), so Jack just climbed up the fire escape to the roof. He tried to be as quiet as he could, but he still couldn't help but smile when he saw Crutchie stirring.

"Jack?"

"Hey, kid."

Crutchie sat up as Jack made his way over, sitting down next to him and putting an arm around him.

"You're back."

"I am."

"Did you get her back?"

"Yeah, we did."

Crutchie smiled, and leaned his head on Jack's shoulder. "Good."