Restitution

[cybertoothtiger]

 Restitution
Title: Restitution
Author: Cybertoothtiger
Rating: G
Spoilers: Up to Season 6
Summary: Jack finds his old surf board, Kim's POV
A/N: Don't own it, please don't sue. I was thinking about this the whole time I was away and it was killing me that I didn't have a computer!
 

“I can’t believe you kept it.” Jack’s voice was as soft as his touch as he ran his hand along the edge of the midnight blue surf board. Kim watched as its smooth sheen bucked and wrinkled with the reflection of her father’s injured hand.

 

She started to speak, but the words turned sideways in her throat, catching as if they were the small bones of the girl she had been that night.

 

That girl had believed her father was so powerful he could withstand the bad luck cast by the lie she told. That girl was so naïve she thought she could win the loyalty of a boy by telling him her father, who loved to surf, was dead. That girl thought she was safe in the knowledge that it wasn’t true.

 

And then it was.

 

She and Barry had returned over and over to the body of that girl, picking it clean before they turned their scrutiny to the woman that replaced her. Now all that remained were the bones that choked her, and the board.

 

After her father’s funeral she’d gone to sort through the few things he had left in storage when he moved to Washington, thinking they might still be useful when he visited her in L.A. When she pulled the chain on the single light bulb in the centre of the small room the board had cast a long shadow over the few dusty remnants of his life. It was the only thing she’d had the strength to take that day. She’d strapped it to the roof of her car and taken it home, ignoring the questioning look Chase gave her as he helped make space for it in the garage.

 

Strange that such a mundane object could hold so much guilt. After Chase, after Barry, she’d taken it with her when she moved. It was a testament to her betrayals.

 

She’d barely had time to exhale after finding out he was alive before she found herself holding her breath for news of him. Sometimes after talking to Audrey or Chloe she would come and run her hands over the board, as he was doing now.

 

She was startled to realize his hand had stopped moving and she looked up to see the eyes of a father, searching hers with concern. It amazed her that after everything, that was still a part of him. However many times she had denied him, he had never turned his back on her. She cleared her throat and forced a smile and coughed out a word he would understand. “Yeah.”

 

She swung her arm awkwardly by her side before wrapping it tightly across her waist, grasping her other elbow for something to hold onto. “Do you want to take it out?  I didn’t keep the wetsuit or anything, but there’s a store not far from here.” The water wasn’t cold this time of year but she knew he would want something to protect him from the chill of other eyes staring at him, wondering what had happened to him.

 

He tilted his head, considering. “I’ve got stuff I should probably be doing.”

 

“Dad.”

 

He glanced at her, sheepish.

 

“I think you should. I think it would help. The other stuff can wait.”

 

She knew he needed something, some way out of what he was feeling. She also knew he wasn’t one to sit in an office and talk.

 

“Take my car.”

 

“God, you’re bossy now.”

 

“I know.”

 

He kissed her and left. As she watched him drive away something released inside of her, softening the lump in her throat and letting it flow down her face so she could taste the salt of it. Maybe, just maybe, the curse was finally lifting.