Post-Strike AU. This was an anonymous request. It happens sometime after all the Post-Strike AU ones and you'll see why here shortly. And what even is this title? It's sort of appropriate and at the same time, makes absolutely no sense.

CLACK KUH CLACK CLACK CLACK GROWL?

Katherine frowns slightly at the noise unfamiliar to her and very un....typewriter like. Rolling her shoulders forward, she chooses to ignore it and continues working on her article.

It wasn't due for another week but she wanted to move forward from it so she could cover something that involved a little more risky investigating. Yes, Jack wouldn't like it but who's to say he couldn't tag along for the ride? He enjoys a little excitement here and there.

Or more than often. Hence why he works at the office and as a Newsie in his spare time. Her husband is a man of many talents. 

Whether it be in the office or at their apartment, Katherine has been working...all....the...time.

Believe it or not, this will eventually catch up with her.

Jack, on the other hand, did not notice. Not on purpose of course, he just was proud of how hardworking she was. She had seemed so downcast lately and more determined than ever. Whenever he tried to talk to her about it, she would say that she was the only person who could take care of it. Since then, Jack hadn't really tried to stop her or do anything about it. 

He is selling papers right now with the other boys since it's a Saturday and his office is closed, leaving Katherine to her own devices (hopefully to take the day off but he suspects she won't do that).

"Always to good see your face to show that some of those office stiffs are still human," Skittery says, smacking Jack with a newspaper. Jack chuckles and adjusts his cap on his head.

"Yeah. It's good to be back out here on the streets," Jack says with a wide grin, "Selling papes, I mean."

"Jack, has Davey told you about his new friend?" Les asks and Jack raises his eyebrows mischievously.

"No, I didn't hear about this friend," he replies, looking at a now blushing Davey, "Davey, you got something to tell me."

"Davey says Tiger Lily's a gem," Les says with a bit of a swoon in his voice.

"I did not..." Davey starts.

"You can't deny it," Les sings out. Jack looks in between the two of them.

"Davey Jacobs, did you get yourself a girl?" he asks in excitement.

"It's not like that. We're just friends," Davey protests.

"Friendship. And the next thing you know she's gonna lay one on him," Race pipes up making Davey flush an even brighter red than before.

"Guys!! Really, she's too innocent for that and much too gentle," Davey explains in defense of his friend.

"That's what you think now," Race retorts. Jack chuckles at the boys before heading out to sell his papes. The hours go by quickly and before long, he is heading back towards his apartment to check on his wife. He walks with Crutchie to the Lodge before continuing on towards the apartment.

"Look at you. Getting to go home to a fancy apartment with a wife that loves ya," Crutchie says, nudging Jack in the shoulder.

"Yeah. She's something else. She's hardworking too," Jack replies as the pair approaches the Lodging House door.

"Oh. Don't I know it?" Crutchie replies, "Gotten us out of a couple of jams." Jack smiles at him.

"She keeps me out of trouble," he says.

"And that's sayin something," Crutchie replies, patting Jack on the shoulder, "Now get home and see her. I'm sure she misses ya."

"Thanks, Crutch," Jack replies. He walks home and climbs up the fire escape ladder mostly just because he can. Jack reaches the window in front of their apartment and climbs in. He sees Katherine still furiously working and sighs quietly. Approaching her slowly, he tries to make it obvious that he's in the building so he doesn't frighten her. He leans down and pecks her lips, causing her to smile just a bit before going back to work.

"Hi," she says softly. Jack starts to rub her shoulders gently.

"Hi. Have you been working all day?" he asks her. Katherine doesn't answer the question. "Guess that tells me the answer then," he says and Katherine still ignores him. The two do not speak the rest of the night until Katherine climbs into bed around midnight. Jack just puts his arms around her, holding her and they fall asleep that way. When Jack wakes up the next morning, the familiar clack of the typewriter rings throughout the apartment and the spot in the bed next to Jack is empty. Jack sighs as he hears her working and climbs out of bed to get ready for the day.

The whole next week follows a similiar pattern. Jack and Katherine barely talk, kiss or really have any kind of interaction at all.

Until the next Saturday.

Once again, Jack is out selling papers with the boys. He decides to join them for dinner at Jacobi's and he sits down across from Crutchie, explaining his problem.

"All she ever does is work, Crutchie. I don't understand if I did something wrong or if something's going on at her job. I feel like I hardly know the woman who sleeps next to me at night," he says exasperated. Crutchie looks at Jack sympathetically.

"Maybe there's something she just feels weak in telling you," he offers and Jack shakes his head.

"That ain't like her though. That has never been our marriage," he replies, lazily swirling around the ice cubes in his water glass, "We've always been stronger together. One of us supports the author. That's how it's always been."

"I'm sorry, Jack," Crutchie responds, "I'm sorry you can't get her to talk."

"It ain't that," Jack protests fiercely, "It ain't ever been that. She just works all the time...even at home. I have half a mind to put her typewriter on the roof just so she'll talk to me."

"Maybe...try to distract her with something? Force her on a date?" Crutchie asks. Jack shoots him a weary look.

"You don't force Katherine Kelly to do anything she doesn't want to," he informs Crutchie. Crutchie nods his head in agreement.

"Alright, alright. That's fair," he says, "I don't know what to tell ya, Jacky. Just try to get her to talk to ya I guess." Jack shrugs and still continues to play with his water glass.

"I guess we can try," he says with a small chuckle.

After Jacobi's, Jack climbs in through the window to his apartment again only to hear the voice of his wife.

"Jack, you are more than welcome to enter our apartment through the door," she says with a small smile as she stands up to greet him. Katherine finally feels caught up on her work enough to the point where she can talk to her husband again. Jack chuckles as he climbs in through the window.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Jack asks as he walks over to his wife and puts his arms around. Katherine smiles and closes her eyes. She feels so tired. More tired than usual but that's okay. Jack's here now...and...

Katherine slumps in Jack's arms, unconscious. He looks down in complete shock and moves to hold her carefully.

"Ace?" Jack asks, trying to stand her up only to realize that she really is unconscious. Sighing, he hurriedly and nervously picks her up, taking her to the couch nearby. "Katherine?" he asks, again gently shaking her in his arms. Suddenly, he hears a hollow rumbling sound. Jack's brow furrows significantly. He could identify that sound in his sleep. Growing up poor introduced him to the sounds and feelings of an empty stomach at a pretty young age.

Why has she not been eating? She's really been taking her work that seriously? Why didn't he catch it sooner? Why didn't she tell him? Jack feels the frustration levels rise as he ponders how long his wife could have gone without food. He knows that she appreciates her work and that it means a lot to her but seriously, she needed to draw the line somewhere. This was getting to be too much. He hears more growling noises coming from her stomach and frowns in concern at her.

The only way to cure this is to feed her something but knowing her, he doesn't know that she'll take the offer. He sits in a small chair next to the couch and draws for the next hour until he notices Katherine beginning to stir.

She wakes up to see the hazel eyes of her husband staring back at her.

"When was the last time you ate?" he asks coolly and Katherine slowly starts to lean up against the couch.

"Jack, I just have been so focused on my work lately and my boss has been...wanting the female reporters to prove themselves more lately and I have been wanting to show him that I am just as capable of writing a good story as anyone else," she snaps. Jack crosses his arms.

"That's no excuse for not eating. Why didn't you tell me that you hadn't been eating sooner? Why haven't you told me anything about this? You know how much of a privilege it is that we have food here? Starvation is not the way to go, Ace. I've experienced it firsthand and people don't live long once they starve themselves. Do not do this to yourself!! I would have made something for you so you could eat and keep working. I love that you're a hardworking woman who's willing to prove herself to her boss but this has gone too far. You need to take care of yourself or let someone take care of you. I don't understand why you didn't tell me! Why didn't you tell me and let me help you?" Jack rants. Katherine sits there in silence, a little bit stunned.

A hunger pang hits her hard and she winces a bit as her stomach growls loudly. Once it passes, she sits up to speak.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, "I just wanted to prove myself that I can do things in this world."

"Not eating doesn't prove anything. No matter how wrapped up you get in your work," Jack explains, "I will always love you. No matter what your boss thinks of you."

"I also didn't want to stop to eat. It didn't seem important at the time," Katherine says.

"You can't do work if you're not alive to do it," Jack reasons and Katherine sighs. Jack sits down next to her on the couch.

"You're right. I do work myself a little too hard sometimes, don't I?" she thinks out loud. Jack nods his head slowly.

"But that's not a bad quality...to be a hard worker. I just can't lose you to something I've had to fight for so long," he says as he pulls her close to him. She leans into his touch and smiles as his hands find their way to her growling stomach. He gently rubs circles on it, eliciting a happy sigh from Katherine.

"I'm kind of hungry," she mumbles after a minute.

"Coulda guessed that," Jack replies, preparing to move off the couch, "Do you want me to make some dinner?"

"That would be wonderful," she says.

"I've been kind of craving lasagna. Sound good to you?" he asks as he stands up. She nods and starts to lean back into the couch. Jack makes sure that she's comfortable before he goes into the kitchen to prepare her food. He manages to assemble the lasagna without causing too much alarm from Katherine. Once he places it in the oven, he comes back out and takes Katherine back into his arms.

"Ace, you have to promise me one thing from now on," he says as he holds her and gently rubs her stomach.

"What's that?" she asks even though she has a feeling that she knows the answer already.

"Take care of yourself. Even if you're working hard and late, please take care of yourself," Jack replies, still holding her.

"I will. You don't need to worry about me," Katherine says playfully.

"I sometimes think I don't worry enough," Jack wonders out loud, "At least I'm not as bad as Davey."

"Jack, Davey does just fine. He worries lovingly," Katherine replies, rolling her eyes at her husband. The two of them snuggle and continue this playful banter up until the lasagna is ready.

"Now," Jack says as he serves it up to the two of them, "You're going to have to eat this. I don't care how much you eat just please eat it."

"I will. I'm not doing that again, Jack. Nothing in the world could make me," she replies as she takes a plate over to the table.

"That's good," Jack says, "Even though I would feed you any day of the week for any reason. I love you. You know that? And ain't nothing ever gonna change that." The two kiss before moving to sit down for their meal.

A/N: Hooray!!! Two updates in one week. I'm way less stressed out than I was previously because I am about to accept a job!!! So excited!!! I should be able to balance work, writing and other things too. I'm just so excited that I found inspiration to write something again this soon. Thank you to the person who requested this for requesting. I hope it was up to your expectations and more. I threw in a few extra things just to make it a little bit longer cause this one is kind of a shorty. It's okay though. It means more updates in one week.

Soooooo, War Wonders should be released sooner than later. I'm not entirely sure how it's going to work yet, but it should be out soon. And that enneagrams book that I've been planning on writing. I'm going to do more oneshots. Hopefully those long awaited #GirlsiesUnite imagines. Sheesh. I'm sorry about those you guys. I really need to work on those. I'm really getting into all my fandoms at once but sort of in a healthy balance and I'm in a really good mood because of it. I'm  half toying with posting another Star Wars book but, I'm not sure if I'm going to yet or not.....haven't decided. I'm going to try to update my Newsies book because those are all so fun to write for.

Anyways, I tried some angst on for size. I thought it turned out pretty well. It was a more angsty subject than I've covered recently but I still kept it kinda light and fluffy with the boys. It was fun to write. :) I hope you guys liked it too. Thanks for reading, commenting, voting or doing whatever it is you do to show your support for this. Also, thank you to everyone who has helped this book get up to 4k reads!! It's almost been out for two years so this is a major success. Thank you so much, everyone!! Should be more coming at ya from this book and others in the near future!!

-Aisling