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[new_ophelia]

Kate realized the other day that it's officially been four years. Honestly it's not really a date she pays much attention to. It feels like longer and every day of the past nine months have been some sort of sickening blend of too fast and too slow. Sam growing up way too fast and each day full of too many lulls and silence and the pressing grind

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[assured_of_this]

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the piece of furniture beside the waterfall's pool is misplaced, but Nate has only a few seconds to contemplate the anomaly before Kate goes sprawling back into the water. Had circumstances been any different, the scene might be almost comical, but as it is, all he can think about is that if she's injured herself, there's a very real possibility that she could drown.

He ignores the chest of drawers and sprints to the edge of the water.

[new_ophelia]

Kate resurfaces with a string of impressive curses accompanying the water spitting out of her mouth. "Oh my God," she groans, hands slipping as she pushes herself into a sitting position.

[assured_of_this]

"Are you alright?" Nate immediately asks, crouched at the edge of the pool and peering worriedly down at her. "You took one heck of a spill." He casts a fleeting glance to the chest of drawers and then back to Kate. "Anything broken?"

[new_ophelia]

"No, no I'm fine," she splutters, flailing around until she's up on her knees and finally realizes what the hell that was.

"Shit," she says with a sigh. "It's from home. It's...God this is messed up."

[assured_of_this]

Considering where the furniture is been placed, this doesn't come as too great a surprise to Nate. "I was wondering who it belonged to," he admits, brow furrowing in concern. "Do you need a hand getting out of there?" Preemptively, he stretches a hand out for her to take.

[new_ophelia]

She lets him pull her up, stomach swooping as she reaches out her free hand to touch the edge of the cabinet. "I'm sorry," she murmurs. "It's from home. I don't...there's a drawer. My husband's. I mean it's my husband's. He's gone."

[assured_of_this]

"I'm so sorry," Nate says, wincing. "These things always seem to turn up at the worst possible times." Maybe she isn't physically hurt, but finding something like this deals its own sort of blow.

[new_ophelia]

"Thank you," she murmurs, managing a small smile. "It could be worse? It's just one drawer of his stuff so I guess..." she trails off, sliding said drawer open. Sure enough. It even smells like Jack. Jesus.

"Wow, yeah. Has it done this to you yet?"

[assured_of_this]

"Not yet, but it's happened to some close friends," Nate replies, hating himself a little for lying, even if it's by omission. Technically, Brad and Remy are close friends; the closest friends. He just doesn't think that Kate needs any potential weirdness piled on top of everything else she's dealing with right now.

"I'm Nate," he finally says, pressing a hand to his chest. "Do you think you're going to want to move it? I can find someone to help me carry it out of here."

[new_ophelia]

"Kate," she says softly before unlatching the drawer and hefting into into her arms. "I think I'll leave the rest for later. Could you...just hold this for a second?" she asks when she realizes she's dripping all over Jack's stuff.

[assured_of_this]

"Sure, of course." Nate immediately accepts the drawer and does his best to not turn a curious eye to its contents. "If you don't mind me asking, how long has he been gone?"

[new_ophelia]

She starts wringing out her hair and t-shirt as best she can.

"Eight months," she answers quickly, knowing she could pin it down to the second if need be. "Not too long after our kid's first birthday. And now I have a drawer of his stuff which is just...I don't know, actually."