This story is a one shot, and is about what would have happened if Jack would have gone after Kate instead of just letting her leave after their infamous kiss. Told from Kate's P.O.V. Enjoy!
Haunted
"Kate," She heard him call after her. But she kept on running. She wanted to get as far away from that voice as she could. She couldn't let him see her like this; vulnerable and weak. The pains of her past had come back to haunt her and she could no longer fight back the tears. He would never be able to understand, she thought, He probably thinks I'm crazy. Maybe I am crazy.
'Why did you kill me?!' Kate heard his voice ringing in her head over and over. She felt as if somehow Wayne had followed her to the island and was now haunting her.
The tears in her eyes had heavily blurred her vision and Kate found herself stumbling through the jungle nearly falling several times.
"What do you want?!" she shouted to the tree tops above. She stopped as if to allow an answer, but there was nothing. She let the sobs fall into her hands.
Kate's body jolted with fright as two arms embraced her, quickly but gently from behind. She knew immediately that it was Jack, but wasn't sure if he was real. But she didn't care. She turned and bore her face into his warm chest. The urge for her to run had gone and she allowed herself to be held. She felt safe and didn't want that feeling to end.
His voice suddenly broke the silence, "Kate…you don't have to tell me what's going on, but whenever you do feel like talking about it, I want you to know, I'm always here…I'm here. Whatever it is, you don't have to go through it alone." She could feel his heart beating swiftly against her cheek. Hers was racing along with it.
Maybe he was right, Kate thought, but how could she possibly begin to explain this, it seemed crazy to her, much less how it would sound to someone else, especially Jack. And the thought of telling him about what she did, worried her even more. She had decided that either way, both outcomes would be bad. All she wanted was to be able to start over, be free from her past. Would he even accept her, knowing the truth?
"I…I can't do this," She said softly, more to herself than to Jack as she tried to wipe away the tears on her face.
"Do what? Kate talk to me… what the hell are you so afraid of?"
The truth was she was afraid of herself, of not being good enough for him. Lying and keeping secrets, was something that Kate was really good at. She didn't know why, but she found herself wanting to tell Jack everything, and that scared her as well. He seemed to have so much power over her, and she welcomed it. Why? Thought Kate. The urge to run began to surge through her body again. She looked up at Jack, who was patiently waiting for her to say something, anything to him in response.
"Ghosts, Jack."
"Ghosts?"
"I don't know how, but I've been seeing-- and hearing these…things…"
"Kate…"
"It sounds crazy. I know."
"No it doesn't." He stated firmly, "Because I've seen a ghost too." Kate looked at him with surprise as he continued. "It was the day we ran out of water, I was standing with you on the beach, when I saw him, my father, standing right there in the water. You couldn't see him, so I just thought he was some sort of hallucination. But I followed him and that's how I found the water. On that same night, I found his casket with some other wreckage from the plane, fully intact Kate… And I opened it, and his body… it was gone. Now tell me, how is something like that even possible?"
"It isn't. Either we're both crazy or this Island is haunted."
Jack chuckled at her remark, and drew her in close. "Well we're not crazy, and if there are ghosts, we won't be able to run away from them. So we're just going to have to face them. Then they can't frighten us anymore." Jack leaned forward, her face just inches from his, and before Kate knew it his lips had met hers. The same lips she had tasted not too long ago, except this time, there was no fear behind them, no doubt to follow, just the complete enjoyment of being so close to one another.
They broke apart slowly and Kate started to move away from him.
"Wait, where are you going?" He asked.
Kate smiled and said, "I have to face my ghosts."
Jack nodded and said "Okay." And he watched as Kate disappeared into the jungle.
FINIS