How About Another?

Chapter 1

"What the hell was they thinkin'?" Jack snapped as he slammed the door behind him. Katherine winced from her spot on the couch as the walls of their apartment rattled.

"What happened?" Katherine asked sitting up.

"Them girls don't know what they's got themselves into!" He said angrily and stormed past her into their room. It suddenly dawned on her what he was talking about, a few days ago the sewing workers had gone on strike demanding better working conditions. She was in fact in the processes of writing an article about it, she needed more information though. Katherine felt her head spin as she stood up, she really wasn't in the mood to fight with Jack but maybe she could calm him down. She walked to the door way and peered into the room and spotted him sitting on the bed with his face in his hands.

"Jack." She said softly "They just want to be equal, you more than any body should know that." She said and walked into the room. The curtains were closed so it made the room dark but Katherine could clearly see the shake of Jacks shoulders. She knew he was holding back sobs.

"Why? Because I know what it's like to sleep with rats?" He askes his voice sharp and strained.

"I didn't mean-"

Jacks head snapped up and he instantly cut her off "Why?!? Because I grew up sleeping in boxes and alleys?" In a flash he was inches away from her and she flinched away from him her hands instinctively coming up to cover her stomach.

"No, well, yes but what I'm trying to say is you shouldn't be mad at them for doing what they believe in when you did the exact same thing five years ago!" Katherine shot back.

"They don't know how to handle themselves! The-the cops came and when-when they wouldn't leave..." Jack trailed off looking down at his hands.

"Don't tell me they hit them." Katherine gasped and backed up her back pressing to the wall.

"Smacked every woman who stood up ta them-" Jack choked on his words and had to force himself to continue "this-this one girl, she was so young... she looked jus' like you... they dragged er' to an ally... I couldn't see what they's was doin' but her screams told everything." Katherine shuttered at his words, what kind of cowardly man would beat up a girl?

"Someone needs ta bust their damn heads open for doin' such things." Jack said coming closer to her. Jack didn't scare Katherine normally, she was usually able to overpower his moody days with her witty comments but that wasn't the case now. Jack was furious and upset, and he terrified Katherine. He was quite a few inches taller than her and his usual blue eyes looked black and cold in the dark of the room.

"Jack, calm down." She said her voice shaky as she shrunk as far as she could into the wall. She dropped her gaze from Jacks cold eyes to her arms folded across her stomach, she was fearing her safety for more than one reason.

"You think I can calm down when there are women out there being beaten?" He asked his voice louder than before.

"Please don't do this!" Katherine pleaded closing her eyes, her head was spinning and she had to clench her fists to keep from shoving Jack away.

"What the hell do ya want me to do then?!?" He snapped and Katherine could feel his breath on her neck. "I will not stand and watch others get hurt like I have in the past! I will not let some innocent person go to jail! Damn it Kath! Will you just look at me?" He snapped and grabbed her jaw forcing her to look up at him. Jack would never mean to hurt her, she knew he would never do it on purpose. That's why it surprised her when she felt a sharp pain rip across her face as his hand gripped her jaw and force her to look at him. She cried out and her hand whipped around and smacked the side of his face so hard it made her own hand throb. Jack cursed and backed away from her cradling the side of his face. Anger coursed though her body and she raised her fists defensively, Jack looked up at her looking like a kicked puppy.

"That hurt! How dare you! If you can do that the me then how dose that make you any better than them?!?" Katherine asked a new kind of fire in her eyes.

"I didn't mean to, you know I'd never-" he started to say but she cut him off raising a fist to his face.

"How about another one?" She asked her voice deadly serious. They'd been in a similar situation five years before. It had been the night before the strike ended and Katherine had threatened to give him a black eye.

"I ain't afraid of you Plumber." Jack said using her old byeline. Jack seemed to know what she was going to do the second before she had even decided. Because as soon as Katherine's lips touched his he had an arm around her waist and was spinning her around and shoving her to the mattress.

"Jack!" She gasped trying to bring her legs up to keep him off but it was too late, he was on top of her trapping her between his legs. "Get off me!"

"You hafta write a story about the sewing workers huh?" He asked and his voice was surprisingly gentile. "Do me a favor and tell everyone how horrible da cops are." All the anger seemed to melt away from Jack leaving him with nothing but grief. "There awful Ace, they was hitting her for no reason... she looked just like you... she had yer curly hair... she looked so fragile." His voice broke and he propped his hands up over her head. As much as she wanted him off her (she was worried his weight wouldn't be good for the thing her body was now carrying) she couldn't bring herself to push him away. He'd seen someone get beat up that looked like her, she could only imagine the hopelessness he had felt not being able to help. Before she could respond she felt his hands start to pull her skirts up and his lips start to kiss her skin.

"Jack we can't." She said weakly as he hiked her skirts up over her knees.

"Please Ace... I need you." He said desperately and kissed her.

Mmweenm cannmm't" she mumbled against his lips. "What if Davey stops by?" She asked finally as he pulled away for air.

"I'll lock the door." He said a hand moving up her thigh.

"No, stop Jack."

Something in the tone of her voice made him stop what he was doing. He looked up at her his eyebrows pulled together in confusion and worry.

"What's wrong? Did I do something? Am I hurting you?" He asked lifting some of his body weight from her.

"No." She said grabbing his shirt and pulling him back down. "I just... I've been meaning to tell you something for a while, and you've always been gone, or I've been gone, or we were fighting, or yelling about something... like just barely..." she mentally scolded herself for that awful run-on sentence but she pressed on. "And I know you would never hurt me on purpose but something made me realize that I can't keep making excuses." She was rambling, she knew it, Jack knew it.

"I-I'm confused, what do you mean?" He asked one hand softly tracing her features. Katherine's heart lept into her throat and she felt her bones turn to ice. Why was she so scared? They were married after all. Was she afraid of how Jack would react? That was stupid because eventually he would notice sooner or later. Maybe she was nervous to tell him because she was afraid of what her father would think. He hated Jack, would this make him hate her too? Maybe she was afraid for herself, maybe she couldn't handle it, maybe she didn't want that kind of life.

"Ace, you can tell me." Jack said placing a soft kiss to her lips. She liked this Jack better than the one who scared her, this Jack would be a good father. She just needed to find a way to keep this Jack.

"I'm pregnant."

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AUTHORS NOTE: Pregnant fic! Sorry if it's all over the place but I haven't written anything in a while and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. There will be one more chapter for sure (no pun intended) and possibly a third of you want like a... epilogue or something. It's entirely up to YOU. Comment what you think. I own nothing.