Title: Scrapbook
Characters/Pairings: Kate, Ensemble, Kate/Jack
Spoilers/Warnings: Up to "What Kate Did" Wasn't that a fantastic episode? I loved it. and some random AU events from then on that I made up.
Rating: T because I'm paranoid about this stuff.
Summary: Kate flips through a scrapbook sent to her in the mail and thinks about the events of the island and her life that led her to where she is now.
Special Thanks: I got this idea from Just the Two of Us by NYR88 when Sarah sees the photograph of everyone in Chapter Three or Two. Forget which one. It gave me the idea of photographs which some how led to this. Thanks for the inspiration! Reminder: Reviews equal love. Please read and review! I was going to make this a really long one-shot but figured it'd be more fun to write chapters per each page.
Scrapbook

The Envelope

Kate's finger gently drew an invisible line on the outside of the large, office envelope. It was that disgusting too dark mustard yellow colour and held a thick something inside. It came for in the mail today at about eleven, like the mail usually does where she lives now, but she didn't have time to open it open it up just then since the doctor's appointment she has been putting off for weeks was finally going to happen in about twenty minutes and she had to get going. But now after the doctor, the work out she had in the outdoor gym and having herself some dinner, Kate finally had time to open up the package and look at it. She hardly ever got mail, being the loner she is, so this was something new and diary scribbles worthy.

She picked up the envelope again, tracing this time the letters of her name and address and then his name and address. She hasn't seen or heard from anyone in a long while, since they were rescued. She tried to stay in touch with him, the man she cared about the most, but she hasn't received a visit, phone call, or letter. Until today.

She's still focusing on the envelope, still thinking how disgusting the dark mustard yellow colour is. Her fingers still drew invisible lines over 'Kate Austin' in the center of the envelope and 'Jack Sheppard' in the top left corner. She was torturing herself by taking this long to open up the damn thing, but it was a Saturday night with nothing to do. She finished off her novel earlier that morning and she was never a fan for television ever since she came back to civilization and off that damn island.

After what felt like an hour of memorizing every inch of the deep mustard envelope and his gentle script she slowly and carefully ripped open the envelope, careful not to ruin the precious writing.

The Cover

She gently drew her finger over the thin and fake gold lining that traced the red hard (but yet still soft) front cover of the scrapbook album. It was dark red. Her favourite colour. Coincidence? Chance? Kate doubted it. It must have come out somewhere in between the conversations about his tattoos and the hatch.

She gently, as if it would fall to pieces with the slightest touch, opens it up and a small piece of light, gentle baby yellow paper fell slowly to the ground. At least, it fell in a slow motion way. Kate watched it, memorized and stared at it for five seconds, praying it won't evaporate into thin air the second she would try to touch it, or reach for it. She finally picked it up. It was in his script, scribbled carefully and written with thought.

Hey Kate. Surprise. It took me a while, but I finally found you. I figured you'd be alone so I sent you this to let you know that someone cares for you. That I care for you. I put a lot of thought into this; it took me forever to actually get the pictures developed. But here it is.

Remember how we found the camera? It was a few days after Shannon died. You were going through her luggage to see if she had any Tylenol, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, anything that we could possibly use to our advantage that she left behind. You found blankets, clothes that could fit some of the girls and a couple of creams and lotions. All were helpful, but the best thing you found were the two disposable cameras. One was open, one picture was taken on it and the other one wasn't even unwrapped from its package. You held it up to me and grinned for the first time in days, you were giddy. Like a child.

You took a few pictures every couple of weeks. They turned out fantastic. So, here I am, giving them back to you. They are placed in order of when they were taken, kind of like a chronology.

I miss you. I'll see you soon. Write back, Kate.

Love, Jack

First Page

The pink frame around the picture was stamped with flowers all over and in a cliché way, was a bit girly. But it fit the picture. In it stood Libby, Claire (holding baby Aaron), Sun and herself (with a smidge of dirt on her left cheek) all linked together with arms around each other's waist, kind of like a teenage "BFFA!" picture. The ocean's in the background, with parts of the jungle as well. You could see a small blur of Rose and Bernard sitting on one of the tree logs and Charlie in the right hand corner, playing his guitar once again. Underneath, was written in that lovely handwriting:

Day 50: Libby Claire, baby Aaron, Sun and Kate

The picture was taken the same day she found the camera. Jack went off minutes after she found it and Kate was left alone again to think about what had happen a few days back. That kiss. That kiss made things awkward. She was chewing on mango, fiddling with the camera, wanting to take just one picture (she always did love cameras) when along came Libby on her walk with Aaron and Claire. Libby, acting even more giddy and excited than Kate when she found the camera, begged to take a picture of "just the girls with the baby" and Kate agreed.

Second Page

Picture two on page two was title, Day 54: The Men. Kate smiled. He remembered. Kate was out hunting that day with Locke and Jin, food supply was getting a bit low and a lot of people didn't want to use the little supply of food left in the hatch. They found a boar, the island's beef and chicken, set a trap and waited patiently. It must have been an hour when they heard something stir, Locke's antenna shot up and he put his finger to his lips to tell Jin and her to keep it quite. Jin and Locke slowly pulled their knives out, and Kate pulled the gun out. After what the other survivors had said, she didn't want to take any chances. They were all in their ready position, holding their breaths to see what was behind the tall blades of grass and thick trees. Kate had the gun aimed at what she thought was the exit point of whatever it was. Her hand was on the trigger … she was set to fire…

It was Jack. And all three let out a breath and rushed him over to where they were in case the boar was near. She gave him a weak smile as he walked over and stood between her and Jin; things were a bit on the awkward side still. They waited, saying a total of three words ("Keep quiet everyone" or something of that sort coming from Locke) in about forty minutes when finally a rough grunt/squeal came from roughly their left. The pig was running and it fell straight into the trap. Minutes later it was killed and set to go.

That's where Jack found the camera in the pocket of Kate's sweater. She asked him to hold on to her sweater while she and Locke did their boar thing and he found the camera and grabbed a blissfully happy picture of Kate, Locke and Jin laughing. He said some witty comment about the men being at work and snapped the photo. It was a nice photo. It made Kate smile.

The second photo on the page brought tears to her eyes. It wasn't a sad photo, the complete opposite really, but it was the best Kodak moment ever. It was a picture of her and Jack. He scribbled underneath: Day 55: The day you stopped running.

The image above the caption was of her and Jack hugging. She remembers that day perfectly, it shaped her future, and most people remember that day, right? She was helping Hurley, Jin and Eko get some fish (Jack had been asking that everyone get some Omega-3 in them). They threw out the net and started to pull when all four realized there was some fish caught inside. Kate pulled hard, as well as the three men did, and as she did, she slipped on the slippery stone, falling flat on her back.

This is where things get a bit hazy. She doesn't remember getting picked up by Eko and carried to the beach. She doesn't remember hearing Hurley's calls for Jack or Libby to check on her and make sure she's okay. She doesn't remember opening her eyes either. But she does remember seeing a light that blinded her completely and finally Jack's face (his wrinkled forehead and worried eyes).

"You okay, Kate?" She remembers him asking and she remembers her head slightly nodding a yes.

"Do you remember what happened?" He asked, now checking on the back of her head, his chest and neck near her face. She could smell his scent of ocean water, sweat and jungle.

"Slipping…on rocks. I think?" Kate couldn't think of any words to say. Her head hurt a little.

"It doesn't look like anything bad, Kate." He answered her, "You'll be fine."

"Thanks." She somehow muttered out.

The small crowd around them eventually broke apart and Jack helped Kate slowly stand up. He offered her one last small smile and turned around, heading back to the path on the jungle. "Jack?" she heard self call and herself thinking, What the hell am I doing?

"Yeah?"

"Can we talk, please?" Kate asked, surprised it came out of her mouth.

Jack didn't answer for a while. She was almost positive he didn't want to talk to her, she wouldn't want to either really. She ran away, she always runs away.

"Sure." He finally said, heading back.

And Kate started flowing out words. How sorry she was about running. That maybe it didn't mean much to him, but that kiss meant a lot to her. That when things get rough and uncertain she doesn't know what to do so she runs. Finally she realized she had been talking a mile a minute without taking a breath and Jack had said nothing, not even nodding or shaking his head in agreement or disagreement.

Finally he spoke, "It meant something to me too, Kate. I don't want you to run anymore, not from me." And he pulled her into a hug.

Claire, Kate assumed, saw this from a distance and took advantage of having Kate's camera by her side. Right before she was going to go fish, she gave Claire her things (the camera, the copy of Watership Down that she stole from Sawyer's tent and her sweater) so they wouldn't get wet. So Claire took the picture, loving the Kodak moment, knowing it would mean something to Kate one day.

"Hey! Lights out in two!"

Kate looked up from the album. A guard was walking around, like it has every night for the past six months, warning people to finish up whatever they were doing. Kate sighed, placing the album underneath her lame excuse for a pillow, and fell asleep in the jail house she was forced to call home.

So? What did you think? Should I continue? Please review!