Just an alternate ending to 2.17 Lockdown, as usual for me, with a more Jate ending.
"You know what, the hatch can wait if you want me to walk you back..." He offered.
"No," Kate replied quickly. For a moment, Jack looked hurt, that she was pushing him away. There they stood actually having a conversation for the first time in ages that wasn't ruled by awkwardness, and she was trying to bring it to an end before it could develop. Realising her mistake, she smiled at him. "I mean," She continued. "If you want to get back to the hatch, you should go now before it gets too late...it's dangerous out here at night..."
Their eyes met in the memory of what had happened only a week ago. Their hunt for Michael. Jack watched the light in her eyes die and her smile fade; and her face, illuminated by the torchlight, brought back the scene so vividly in his mind that he could clearly see that image merge with the real one before him. Her face streaked with tears. Her eyes filled with fear and begging for hel. Her mouth gagged. Her hands bound.
He shook himself, and found that she was still avoiding his eyes from when she had ended her last statement. He took a step closer to her.
"All the more reason why I should walk you back." He said softly. He didn't need to speak any louder with only her around to hear him in the jungle.
"Jack, you don't need to." She told him with a forced smile. "I'll be fine."
Famous last words. "I know," He nodded, "You can take care of yourself, right?" he double checked, but to her ears, it was almost an accusation.
She nodded slowly, still looking down. "Yeah."
"If you can, why did I get so scared?"
That question made her look up, and she met his eyes once again with surprise on her face. She hadn't expected him to have cared so much that fear had struck him, after all, he hadn't shown any remorse when she was released. When their eyes locked, she could see that all his boundaries that held him together had been let down, and he was showing her the real him. Not the leader, or the doctor, or the saviour, but Jack.
"Jack," She began, "I-"
He cut her off quickly. "I was terrified, Kate." He whispered, and Kate kept her eyes trained on his, noticing the decline of inches between them. "I've never been so scared before. That's why I didn't want you to come. I was scared that something like that would happen, and I wouldn't be able to stop it...I was scared that you'd get hurt and I'd lose you." He admitted.
His free hand raised and settled on her cheek, his thumb caressing the skin there. For a moment, he feared that she was going to pull away and run again, but she remained where she was, closing her eyes and ever so slightly leaning into his touch. Only a little, but enough to assure him not to move his hand.
"I'm sorry, Kate." He told her, unsure that she had even heard it.
She opened her eyes, and he saw how they flooded with the relief of acceptance. "I'm sorry too." She replied. "I shouldn't have come."
Jack shook his head though. "They would have found you one war or another. I should have known that you would have been their bargaining chip."
She frowned a little, and tried to figure out what he meant by that. "Why?"
Jack drew a breath, disconnecting their gaze before returning his eyes to hers again. "Because you're the only on on this island that I'd give anything for...including my own life."
Their very souls connected in a understanding of feelings that had never surfaced before.
"Jack, please don't think like that." Kate begged, the pleading in her voice coming through shattered, her free hand cupping his cheek as well. "If anything happened to you...we need you here."
"They were going to kill you, Kate!" He exploded in emotion. "And if I'd have been stubborn for a second longer they would have."
Kate swallowed, her eyes brimming with unshed tears as she remembered just as vividly what had happeend to her that night in the jungle, the night where she had come so close to death that she almost didn't believe she was alive anymore.
"They didn't, though, Jack. I'm Ok." She assured him. "I'm standing right infront of you." She didn't remove her hand from his cheek. "You saved me." She whispered.
"If I hadn't have cared so much about the guns they wouldn't have threatened you in the first place." He pointed out. "Guns don't mean anything to me right now."
"Is that why you didn't play Sawyer for the guns?" She asked.
He nodded. "The guns might have been what I wanted, but it wasn't what I needed. Just like when we were looking for Michael. The guns might have been what I wanted, but what I needed, what I still need, is you."
She wanted to speak, but she couldn't find the words to say what she meant. So instead, she bent to the ground, sticking her torch in the mud so that it stayed upright, watching as Jack did the same, and then they straightened up again. Within seconds, they were in each others arms. Kate's arms were wrapped around his stomach, pressing her face against his shoulder, and Jack's arms held her against him.They stood there for a while, neither knowing, neither caring how long for, unmoving except for the synchronised rising and falling of their chests.
"Jack, I'm sorry." She offered eventually.
"What for?" Jack asked, "If this about finding Michael, it's alright, its-"
"No, I'm sorry I ran." She corrected, still holding him tightly. "I'm sorry I ran from you."
He knew that she wasn't refering to her hostage situation, but instead to the kiss in the jungle.
"It's Ok." He told her, and pulled back so that he could see her face. He wiped the tears that had appeared there. "It'll be Ok. We can fix this."
"Can we just start again?" She begged. "Just go back to how we were before?"
Jack shook his head slowly. "No, we can't."
Kate's head fell, and immediately, Jack had lifted her chin with his finger to make her look at him again.
"We can't change the past, Kate. But we can change the future, if we do it together."
Closing the final gap, their lips fell against each others, and from then on, they both knew that things really would be Ok.