Because We Are Only Human
Set after the beginning of Lost season 3 with a twist, Skate never happens, Kate, Jack, and Sawyer escape from the others. This is several months later. The pregnant women on the island theme will be important. Don't want to give too much away.
This is just a really short intro chapter, please review and tell me what you think.
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It was dark in the tent but he could still see her lying beside him. He could have lain there staring at her forever, watching her chest rise and fall slowly as she slept peacefully. He tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear and felt electrified as his fingers brushed against her skin. He smiled serenely. He still couldn't believe that they were together at last. It took him quite a while to fall asleep but when he did it was the most restful sleep he could ever remember experiencing.
He awoke feeling relaxed and content. But when he opened his eyes he was alone in the tent. She was gone. Panic overtook him quickly. It was light outside, maybe she had just woken up and decided to take a walk on the beach or something. Yes, that was it. He stood, forcing himself not to completely lose it. He couldn't quite explain the irrational terror that had engulfed him.
Outside everyone seemed to be acting normal. Hurley stood nearby, talking to Charlie and Claire. They were laughing at something Aaron had just done. Sayid was alone on the beach, fidgeting with something Jack couldn't identify. Sun and Jin were sitting together, he was resting his hand on her now very pregnant stomach, they looked much happier than they had been since the crash, though Jack didn't notice this now. Looking the other way he saw Locke gazing out across the ocean and many other castaways going about their normal morning routines, but she wasn't anywhere.
No one seemed to know where she was. He searched for a half an hour before finally recruiting the help of Sayid, Charlie, and Locke. Locke had suggested they split up and Jack was now searching with Sayid. They walked through the jungle for what seemed like eternity. He felt numb. Any traces of a trail had been washed away by rain that barely stopped pounding down on them. Still they kept walking, not daring to give up hope.
Then his eyes fell on something in the foliage and suddenly he couldn't breathe, he blinked, not wanting to believe it. He hadn't imagined that finding her could possibly be worse than not knowing where she was, but the reality of it was too much. It felt so unreal, the amount of pain he could feel over the loss of someone he had barely known for half a year. He felt Sayid's hand on his shoulder, heard the consoling, sincere but awkward words, but he didn't register anything but the sight before his eyes. She was sprawled out on the jungle ground, her long dark hair framed her face. Her expression was almost peaceful, any hint of the painful past she had carried with her for so long had vanished from her face. If she hadn't been lying in a pool of her own blood she would have looked flawlessly beautiful. That is, if her green eyes hadn't been open still, haunting him with the emptiness he found there.
Jack awoke with a start, drenched in sweat and gulping for air. Immense relief swept through his body as he realized it had only been a dream. He breathed in deeply, slowly taking in the reality that it was just a nightmare, a horrible nightmare. He turned onto his other side and reached out an arm to drape across her, but it fell through the air and hit the ground. Jack sat up hastily. He looked around frantically and returned to a state of total panic. It was real! She was gone!
Horrified beyond belief, he rushed out of the tent and stopped a short distance away, placing a hand on a tree for support, and breathing heavily as he tried to gather his thoughts.
"Dude, are you okay?" Hurley was staring at Jack with an expression halfway between concern and shock.
"Where," Jack gulped in air, "is— she?"
"Where is who?" a confused female voice came from behind him and he felt himself relax.
He turned to face her, to make sure it was really her, "No one, never mind." He began to walk away and then spun back around, "Where were you? You shouldn't run off like that!"
She narrowed her eyes and glared at him, "What are you talking about, Jack!? I didn't run off anywhere. Is it a crime to go get a mango? I thought we were on a free island." And with that she turned on her heel and stalked off angrily.
"What's with you man?" Hurley asked disbelievingly as Jack watched Kate disappear into the distance.
