A/N1: It's been ten years now since the first episode of Lost, wow.

I recently rewatched all episodes and I still refuse to accept that last season, Jack dying to save the island... Jate is fate after all.
So what would have happened if detonating the bomb had worked, the plane never crashed.
What happened never actually happened, we start off on flight 815. Will Kate and Jack still find each other in the end?

English is not my native language.

I do not own Lost or any of the characters.

Chapter 1 - 815

He wrists hurt from the cold hard metal of her handcuffs.

The dry air of the plane's air conditioning made her head hurt.

They were about to land in LA in 3 hours and all she could think about was how to get out of this mess, how to run from all that awaited her after the landing.

"I need to go to the toilet..." she said quietly, not daring to look at the Marshal.

"What was that?" Kate could sense the smirk in his voice.

"Please, I really need to go." she said again, a little louder now. She hated having to ask like that, saying 'please' to the man who had chased her around the world, from whom she'd managed to run so many times, except this one time, two days ago.

He sighed and grabbed the keys from his belt.

"I am going to take off the cuffs for that, don't you dare to try anything on me. It's not like you could run anywhere now anyway." That said he bent down, roughly grabbing her ankles, loosening the cuffs there, then he moved to free her wrists.

Kate massaged the sore skin there, wincing in pain.

"C'mon let's go." he got up, pulling her up with him by the elbow.

Leaning towards her on their way back to the toilets he whispered in her ear.

"Now you be a good girl, Kate. I'll be waiting right outside."

A few rows further to the front Jack cursed under his breath before downing the last drop of his drink. The cool liquor hadn't done anything to mute his father's voice in his head that told him he still wasn't good enough, telling him that what had happened was his fault, that Jack had failed him.

He hated flying.

Sighing he asked himself where ha had gone wrong, when his life had started spinning out of control. He could be standing in the OR right now, where things seemed to be simple, where he knew exactly what to do and how to do it.
Outside the hospital things were not as simple. Every time he tried to do the right thing things got out of hand. And now here he was, in a plane from Sydney to LA, bringing back his father's remains, bringing him home.
'Home' he thought, silently chuckling to himself. There wasn't much of home left for him.

Shifting uncomfortably in his seat he noticed his bladder was painfully full.
He pulled himself to a standing position and walked to the back of the cabin where he saw a big man in a suit banging impatiently on the door of the toilet.

"C'mon Kate, time's up." the Marshal said loudly through the door, then turned to the man approaching him.

"Sorry, my girl don't take flying so well..." he drawled.

Jack just nodded, taking a step back when the toilet door finally opened and his eyes met those of the beautiful but pale brunette emerging from there.
He then noticed the other man grabbing her deftly by the upper arm.

"Had fun in there?" the guy smirked smugly at the woman and then began pulling her past Jack, back towards where they must have been sitting.

Walking past him she brushed against Jack's side, shyly looking up at him with sad eyes.
He couldn't do anything but notice how good she smelled, how warm her body felt against his, even through the many layers of his suit.

"Sorry" she muttered and then she continued after the other man.

For a second Jack had to fight the urge to go after her, grab her wrist, ask her if everything is okay, take her away from that man she clearly was not happy with.
He shook his head and smiled to himself as he locked the door of the small room behind him.
It had been a while since his head and his heart had played a trick like that on him.

Meanwhile the Marshal had put back the cuffs on Kate's wrists and ankles, who was looking outside the window in silence. She still had the smell of cologne and of what was it? Gin Tonic? Vodka Orange? in her nose.
When she had come out of the restroom she felt like the tall man waiting there had been looking right through her. When she had brushed his side her heart had skipped a beat and her palms had become sweaty. Kate couldn't remember when a man had ever done that to her. Probably never.
For a second she had thought about asking him to help her, to take her away from the Marshal.

She bit back a bitter laugh, earning a curious look from the Marshal.

The rest of the flight they sat in silence, staying in their place until most of the passengers had left the plane after the landing until the Marshal finally took the cuffs off her ankles, putting the chains in the aluminium suitcase he had brought with him.
As they got up to leave the plane Kate's eyes wandered around, looking at the few remaining passengers who also had waited for the chaos of people pushing to the exits to subside.

Her eyes landed on the handsome stranger she'd met on her trip to the restroom, feeling slightly nervous when she realized that he would see her handcuffs and know that she was not just on a regular trip, that she was in fact a criminal.

"You going to behave?" Jack heard the strange man say to the brunette woman as he neared the exit, thinking it was odd how that guy talked to her.

She met Jack's eyes as she felt him approaching, a strange mixture of fear, shame and anger in her eyes, then looked down at the floor.
Following her gaze down her body he saw the handcuffs, and looked back up at her face as she looked at him again.

"Wouldn't expect a pretty bird like her to be a criminal, would you?" the man next to her, probably a federal marshal of some sort, Jack thought, said to him grinning.

Then he started pulling her roughly down the gangway.
Jack didn't know what to think except that this guy was a total ass.

Walking a few steps behind the pair he saw the woman turning her head around, almost looking apologetically at him.

And before he knew what he was doing he smiled and mouthed a silent 'bye', just when they were joined by two police officers who took her with them into a small room to the right.

A/N2: I have so many ideas how this could go on... how I can bring our favourite couple together...
So thrilled to be writing again after 6 years.

Please feel free to give your feedback. ;)