Okay, people over at Lost Forum may have started to read this one. In the summary it mentions that Jack and Kate embark on the challenge to remain just friends for a whole year, but, just to warn you, this doesn't come into the story until a little while. Yes, this is gonna be a long one. It's going to be very sweet, very loving, and hopefully, you'll all like it. This is also a similar idea I'm thinking of having a go at for a Greys Anatomy fic, but I want to do it for Lost first.
Love always
Sam
Xxxx

p.s. There is going to be a big significance with all the quotes that are appearing, which has a link in Kate's past that we will learn about.

Chapter 1: Always Wishes

Where there is great love, there are always wishes
Willa Cather

Rescue had come a year to the anniversary of their landing there. At sunrise on the 22nd September 2006, they were all awakened, both on the beach and at the caves, by the sound of a plane flying over. At first, they had been in a state of shock for a few minutes, wondering whether the brief flyover had been a figment of the imagination that had long since given up on planes, but then they stepped into place, flagging the plane down. It landed on the beach, bringing with it two pilots and a representative from Oceanic, who were surprisingly still running for business. Some survivors had headed up to the caves, to tell the few that still stayed there, but they had heard the plane, and were already packing by the time that the small group had arrived there.

Jack had arrived on the beach, and looked around at the people who had followed him like he was some great leader for the past twelve months. They were all running around, collecting up the belongings that they wanted to take with them. He looked around him, trying to spot out one person in the crowd, but not finding her. Charlie and Claire were standing together, Charlie holding onto all of their belongings, which fit together in on bag, save for his guitar, which was slung over his shoulder, and Claire was holding a ten-month-old Aaron. Sun and Jin were standing similarly, with only one bag between them, and their one-month-old baby daughter Jaena. Hurley was gathering up the last of his things, and Jack noticed that he was slipping one of Libby's shirts into his bag. Eko was standing before his church, which he had eventually finished, admiring his handiwork for the final time. Sayid was standing along at the graves, looking down at Shannon's resting place, saying his goodbye to her, glad that he wasn't leaving her alone, but rather, with her brother. Vincent was running around barking, he was going home with Hurley, who had taken up care of the dog after Michael and Walt never returned back to the island ten months ago. After the Others had seen them off on the boat, no one ever saw them again. Either they had made it back to civilisation, or they had fallen victim to the sea.

There! There she was. He finally spotted his dark-haired beauty standing on the shoreline, her feet dug up to her ankles in soft sand. Her backpack was a little way up the beach from her, but still unmistakably hers. He could see from the distance that her hand was balled into a fist, and knew that her toy airplane resided inside of it.

He made his way over to her, wondering whether there was a way to change what was inevitably going to happen. She was probably looking at freedom for the last time in a while. Many times, the two of them had talked over the situation, wondering whether there was some flaw in the system which would allow her to get off without a sentence. However, the only solution they had been able to come to where she wouldn't go to jail was going back on the run, and she insisted over and over again that she wouldn't hide from the world anymore.

He respected her for that, but more than anything, he was proud of her. He had offered to hide her in his house, but it was Kate who pointed out that it was unlikely they would get her through to LA without someone recognising her. If they knew she was on the run, the officials would be stationed there waiting for her. Then he had suggested buying a place in Sydney, or wherever it was they were first taken to, but she still had turned his offer down. She had been running for too long, and needed to face up to what she had done.

He had stood on the shoreline with her for perhaps twenty minutes before the plane, which was flying small groups of eight between the island and a ship just off the horizon, started badgering them to get on board. They took their names, and when Kate gave her full name (he hadn't realised that her name was Katherine until then), she was told that the Marshalls were waiting for her on the boat. All she had done was nodded, and proceeded to get onto the plane.

She sat beside Jack, who had looked more upset than she had seen him in a long time for the whole journey. She knew that he had wanted to keep her safe, to keep her with him, but running wasn't something she had in her system anymore. She had gotten too used to being in one place, with familiar people. Explaining her past to the closest people - Jack, Sun, Claire and Sawyer - had made her come to terms with it before. Sawyer, who had been deported from Australia, offered to run with her, to keep her on her toes, but she politely declined. She couldn't do it anymore. She hadn't done it for a year, and already she had lost the will. She enjoyed having friends, people that cared about her, and for the first time in her life, she had been attached to people who had actually felt the same way back towards her.

The way back to the ship had been silent, neither her nor Jack knowing what they could possibly stay to each other. In the last year, they had come to know everything about each other. She had told him about Wayne, Tom's death, and the childhood she'd rather forget, and in return had learnt about his relationship with his father, his marriage to Sarah, and the childhood he'd wished he'd had. Over the past twelve months they had formed a strong relationship. Best friends from early on, they always depended on each other more than anyone else. They had a rocky patch where it was uncertain whether they wanted to be friends or lovers, but in a time and place where neither could bear to lose someone else that they loved, they decided that they would remain friends.

So now, with goodbye only minutes away, they could silently understand that neither of them wanted that ending to come between them. As the plane came to a halt on the cleared deck of the ship, they remained in their seats whilst the other six passengers clambered out onto the boat, glad to see something civilised that wasn't a replica made of coconuts and bamboo.

Jack turned to her, which meant that he blocked her way out of her seat. "I don't want to lose you." He told her quietly, so that the two pilots and the Oceanic representative couldn't overhear what he was saying to her.

She looked at him, giving him a sad smile. "I'm going to jail, Jack." She pointed out to him.

It was unavoidable now. Several feet away from the plane, the Marshalls were gathering, waiting to arrest her. She was going to be taken away from him, and he wasn't going to be able to do a thing to stop it. Neither of them had wanted to lose another person that they loved, and now they were going to.

"After you get out," He started, bracing himself for Kate to tell him that she wasn't getting out, but the blow didn't come, "I'm still here for you." He reminded her. "My door is always open."

"Always?" She asked, clinging to the hope that she might get out earlier than she thought. "Even when you've gotten married and had kids behind your white-picket fence?" She tested, a small smirk upon her lips.

He let out a gentle laugh, shaking his head. "It'll be nailed open for you, Kate, but I doubt you'll have the rest of that scene to greet you."

She returned his sad smile. "Thank you."

"I mean it, Kate." He said, knowing that she'd acknowledge his offer but beg for her own independence. "I'm always here."

"I know." She nodded. "Don't wait for me." She said, and he gave her a strange look. "I know I told you that if we ever got rescued I wanted to vet any potential girlfriends for you, but don't wait for my approval."

Remembering that night by the campfire not that long ago, he let himself laugh again. He couldn't believe that she was seconds away from being taken away from him, and twice he had been able to laugh, when for the rest of the plane journey he had barely been able to breathe. "Okay." He said to satisfy her, even though he had no intention of getting another girlfriend any time soon. "But I'm not marrying her, not unless I've got you to be my best man."

"I can't be your best man, I'm a girl." She pointed out.

"You can be my best girl then." He decided. "Either way, I'm not getting married without my best friend being there."

She smiled, and leaned forward in her seat, putting her arms around his shoulders. Bringing him into a fierce hug, the pair of them clung to each other whilst awaiting their fate. He held her like she might not be taken from him if she just held on, because he had seen her every day for the past year, and wouldn't know how to take the day without the morning hug from his best friend to get him going.

They broke apart, and she stood up in her seat. He followed suit, and she reached for his hand, and with her head held high, they left the plane, touching down on the solid ship deck. They both spotted the Marshalls making their way towards her, and she turned to him.

"Bye Jack." She said with a smile, even though he saw that her eyes were brimming with tears. She released his hand, taking it in both of hers instead and pressing something into his palm. He didn't look at it because he couldn't take his eyes away from hers.

"Please, don't do this." He begged of her. "Don't leave me."

"Don't forget about me." She countered.

"How can I forget my best friend?" He said simply.

She leaned up on her tip-toes and planted a kiss on his cheek. The last time she had kissed him had been in the jungle, and she had ran away afterwards. Jack was surprised to admit that the touch of her lips against his skin felt familiar to him, although he knew that he like it more than he wanted to admit, more than he was allowed to admit. The reason they weren't acting on any feelings and not talking about them was because of this moment, where they would lose each other. That didn't stop them feeling though, it only made it harder.

"Katherine Austen." The head Marshall announced, stepping closer to her.

"Bye Jack." She repeated. "Thank you."

"I'll miss you." He whispered to her.

She gave him the sad smile again, and turned to the Marshalls. She didn't resist when they placed the handcuffs on her wrist, and recited her rights to her. It was familiar to a life that she didn't lead anymore. Even the Marshalls were surprised that she wasn't putting up a fight, especially when they had heard stories about the woman who had evaded police capture for three years.

He finally tore his eyes away from her, unable to bear the image of his best friend being carted away from him. He felt the presence of whatever she had placed into his hand, and looked down into his palm. The Plane. Tom's plane. Her plane.

That had been the last time he had seen her. When they returned to civilisation, back to Sydney, the survivors had been given rooms in a hotel whilst they got their lives reorganised. Everyone, it seemed, was staying in Sydney, particularly Charlie. He had previously lived in London, but was choosing to remain in Sydney so that he could be with Claire, and also his brother, Liam and his family. He decided that it was time to built a proper relationship with his brother and niece, as well as the boy had come to know him as his father. Claire was also pleased to be close to her family again, who was pleased to see both mother and baby happy, particularly when Claire had been on the plane to put the baby up for adoption.

Hurley was pleased to hear that his mother was doing well and when she had arrived in Sydney to see him, she had given him a lecture about the safety of airplanes. She had also informed him that because of the lack of money being drawn out of his bank, his interest combined with the money that his stocks were worth had multiplied his lottery winnings. He was now worth $410 million dollars.

Sun and Jin were returning to Korea for a short while to introduce Jaena to their families, and to bridge the rift between the two sets of in-laws. Being on the island had been the most effective form of marriage reconciliation that could have worked for the pair, particularly with baby Jaena as well. After visiting their families, they were returning to Sydney to stay with their friends.

Sayid, however, was going to Los Angeles, with the information given to him by the CIA before the crash. He was going to seek out Nadia, after all of these years, hoping that she hadn't moved on anywhere else. If she had moved on, he had the means and the information to find her. Although he gradually moved on, he never really got over losing Shannon, and knew that seeing all of his friends go home without them being there was too hard. It had been he who explained to Sabrina Carlyle that her son and step-daughter were dead. She had been upset for both of them, which Sayid knew that Shannon would be pleased to know.

Jack's mother had come to Sydney when she learnt that her son was alive. Once she had arrived, they held a funeral for Christian, something that Jack had needed to do for a year. Several people had accompanied him, Claire and Charlie in particular. Claire's mother, Lindsay, had joined them at the wake afterwards, so that there was more than just Jack and his mother there, and there it was revealed that Jack and Claire shared the same father. It was awkward to see Lindsay and Margo together in the same room at first, but then they both joined together to point out the similarities between Jack and Claire, how they both had qualities of their father. Claire and Jack spent their time talking a little more about their childhoods, getting to know the things they should have known, and then once Jack had quite a bit more to drink, he gave Charlie a 'talking to' about dating his baby sister.

It was strange, that with rescue, he had gained so much. He had reformed his relationship with his mother. Without Christian between them, they talked over all their problems and were now getting on much better. He had gained a sister, and a nephew, all the time people he had known to be friends. What had once been a simple nickname of 'uncle Jack' to baby Aaron, now held literal meaning. He really was the child's uncle. From the look of Charlie's relationship with Claire, he would soon have a brother-in-law as well, considering the jumpiness which Charlie had exhibited when Jack caught him longingly glancing at a jewellery store a few days before.

He had only lost one thing, one person, and that was still hitting him hard.

Kate.

Everyone noticed the difference. They had become something like a team of superheroes. 'Jack and Kate' - strong together, always happy to be near each others, best friends until the end. But apart, they were simply 'Jack' - Ex-doctor with a tendency to over-worry, and 'Kate' - the most warm-hearted criminal ever imaginable. They all knew that out of all of her friends, her arrest would hit Jack the hardest.

He spent most of his time out with his mother, or bonding more with Claire and Aaron, or drinking with Sawyer and Charlie, but every other minute of his time was spent thinking of her. Usually, when he got a free moment, he had to think of her, because it was her who was dragging him down the beach for a day of relaxation away from his worries. Somehow, whenever he let himself go and take his mind off of patching people up and making them feel better, she was at his side, and he had come to enjoy the fact that she never really left it.

Suddenly, he was going into a hotel room and hearing silence. He didn't hear her smarmy comments about being so uptight all the time. He didn't hear her laughing at him whilst his attempt to climb a tree ended up with him on the ground sprouting out many different curse words. He didn't hear her ever so quietly trying to sneak up on him when he could hear her from miles away because he knew how she moved. He didn't even hear her sighs that came every so often when she slept only about ten feet away from him. No, instead he had an empty bed, not the sight of her sleeping, peaceful face, or her gently heaving back that moved with her breathing. He couldn't turn a corner and see her there, that surprised smile on her face that told him that she hadn't expected to see him there - the same one that she'd given him in the shower once.

Every time he saw flowers, he thought of her. It reminded him of all the times he'd stumble across her working with Sun in her garden. At first, they had just grown fruits, and then some herbs once they had been receiving the regular food parcels (the privilege of seasoning had been lovely), but when they still had more space in the garden, they grew flowers. Once, Jack had trekked near enough to the other side of the island, right near the line they weren't supposed to cross, to collect seeds for a scarlet coloured flower. He hadn't known what it was called. Sun could pronounce the name in Korean, but not in English, and they couldn't remember what it was in Korean.

They had christened it themselves, giving it a new name, or rather, Sun had. Sun suggested that the flower should be named after them, because they were the ones who went in search of the seeds, so they had tried out different names for it. The Jack and Kate Flower just sounded silly, merging their surnames to create the word 'Shausten' hadn't worked out much better either. They tried it with their first names, but only came out with 'Kack', until Sun had reversed it, and pointed out that the 'Jate' flower sounded much better.

Every time he had seen her in that garden, she would be tending to those flowers, usually humming a tune to herself as she did so. It was always the same tune as well, but he never knew which one it was. He wanted to ask her, so that he could know the song rather than just the tune, but the foremost part of his mind wanted to remember the simple humming that she had introduced it as, rather than the words which he didn't know.

Another thing he had thought about was consulting a florist about the real name of their flower, but just as he was about to enter the florists he reminded himself that there was really no use. The flowers on the island were watered regularly, whereas he was only going to put them into a glass of water, refilling the glass until the flowers inevitable wilting came around.

Her trial hadn't been open, so he couldn't attend it, and he had spent four weeks searching down what jail she had been taken to, and had arrived there to see her only to be told that she wasn't allowed visitors. He only knew that she had been put away for ten years, and that was because it was broadcast on the news. That had been the hardest week for him, because every newspaper he picked up was plastered with her face, and whilst he hated to read about the unjust way they talked about her, he just needed to see her face, even if it was a tiny black and white photograph in the middle of a news column. After that, he had stopped picking up newspapers. He had no use for them, not at the moment. His life was a mess as it was, he didn't need to be reading strange stories about people who were suing one person for something whilst sleeping with the other persons lawyer - things like that were no use to him.

So, he went on with his life as best he could - without Kate.

He brought a house just in the suburbs of Sydney. He had chosen to stay there to be near his friends, and his newly discovered family. He went back to LA for a week, to sort out the immediate sale of his house, and to bring his belongings back to Australia. His mother also moved, getting an apartment only a ten minute drive from his new house. It was a large house, brought with the compensation from Oceanic, but he didn't need the four bedrooms. He just needed something to do with the money. Strategically, he had picked the other side of the city from the jail where Kate was. He needed to be close to her still, at least in the same city, but he couldn't deal with driving past that building knowing that she was in there and he couldn't get to her.

He was just as close to Claire and Charlie as he was to his mother. They also lived in the suburbs. Claire had previously been living with her mother, but it quickly became too crowded in the two-bed roomed apartment with Claire, Lindsey, Charlie and Aaron all under the one roof. They had moved into a house together, the three of them, into a nice three-bed roomed house. They had turned one of the bedrooms into a playroom for Aaron, and used the remaining spare room for Charlie to use as a music room. He wanted to get back into writing, but as a solo artist so that he was away from the temptations he had with the band.

Jack had gotten himself a job at the Sydney City Hospital, but wasn't working the long hours like before. He enjoyed having time to himself now, to spend time with his friends and family that had previously all combined into the hospital at LA. He now worked as a GP, which meant that he had set hours, 9am until 5pm.

Just like Kate had asked him too - he had gone on without her.