Since that sneak peek was screaming out for someone to expand it into a Jate fic, and no one's done it yet, I decided to try my hand at it. It's just a one shot for now but I set it up in such a way that it could almost be an unofficial prequel to Unfinished Business... ;)

SANCTUARY

It was two days since Jack had sworn off the pills and already he felt like crap.

He looked it too – with his sunken eyes and ashen cheeks – he decided as he examined his reflection in the mirror, suppressing the urge to be sick again. His stomach was emptier than he could ever remember it, and his throat still felt scratchy and raw from the last time.

The one marked improvement was the smooth skin around his mouth: after hiding it behind his beard for so long, the texture felt foreign to him as he turned his head from side to side, tracing his jaw line with his thumb.

He started at the sound of a sharp rap at the door, splashing cold water on his face in a feeble attempt to make himself more presentable before going to answer it.

Given how badly their last meeting went, Kate was the last person he expected to see.

"I need your blood," she announced, as though this were a typical request, tugging Aaron along behind her as she brushed past him into the foyer.

No "Hi, can we come in?" or "We were just in the neighbourhood"…

"What?" he asked, gaping at her, bewildered as he pushed the door closed behind them. A brief glance told him that she'd been crying on the way over: her eyes were rimmed with pink and he could see the faded outline of tear tracks on her cheeks; for a moment, all he could think about was how much he wanted to wipe them away.

"Is Aaron okay?" he insisted, shaking himself out of his daze. Why else would she be there? For him? She'd made it pretty clear at the airport that she had nothing left to say to him.

He gave his nephew a quick once over, checking him for injuries. He didn't seemed phased whatever had her so spooked; if anything, he looked happy, his pale eyes – Claire's eyes – lighting up with happiness as he lifted his hand in a tiny wave.

"Hi Jack."

"Hey, buddy," he said, echoing the gesture, trying to appear normal for his sake, but his tentative smile faded when Kate pressed her lips into a tight line, narrowing her beautiful grey-green eyes at him as if daring him to get his hopes up again.

"He's fine," she assured him in a clipped tone, leading the little boy over into the living room and turning the TV on for him. "Sit down here and watch the cartoons, okay, baby?" she told him, ruffling his hair when he flopped back onto the couch.

"Is Jack coming on vacation too?" he asked her, fixing Jack with a shy smile that made his heart break a little.

He shot her a questioning look, sure that this must be part of some bizarre guilt trip to remind him of his responsibilities, surprised when she flushed, staring down at her boots.

"We'll see," she was all she said, folding her arms, focusing her attention on the TV screen.

He didn't know what to say to her; as he waited for her to fill him in on the purpose of their visit, he wondered if he should offer her something to drink, but she didn't look like she was staying, so in the end, he just found some juice for Aaron.

"Is there somewhere we can talk?" Kate asked with a pointed nod at the couch once he was distracted.

Taking this as a not-so-subtle hint that she didn't want him to hear, Jack ushered her into the bedroom, leaving the door ajar so that they could keep an eye on him. "What's going on, Kate?" he pressed, remembering what Aaron had said about going on a vacation. "You're leaving town?"

"Some men showed up at my house this morning, said they worked for a law firm – Agostini and Norton," she explained, digging a business card out of the front pocket of her jeans.

The name didn't ring any bells, but it gave him as sick feeling that had nothing to do with withdrawal as he examined it, trying to figure out if she was in legal trouble again. "If you're thinking of breaking parole…"

"This isn't about me," she snapped, throwing her hands up in exasperation as she paced between him and the bed. "Somebody's onto us. They told me if I didn't give them a sample of my blood–and his–" She shot a guilty glance at Aaron "—they would come back with the sheriff. And I thought if you…" Her confidence failed and she stopped, scrubbing at her eyes with the back of her palm as to hide the tears forming there as she finished, "I can't lose him, Jack."

The look she gave him was pleading; as much as it would be a relief to be free of the web of lies they'd created, it killed him to see her so desperate. If only there was some way to finish this – to undo the mistake that he'd made – without hurting her...

"I know," he agreed, pulling her against him, wrapping his arms tighter around her when she collapsed into them, burying her face in his shirt.

Over her shoulder, he saw that Aaron had crept closer to the TV, and was now sitting cross-legged on the carpet amidst the piles of maps and atlases. He was so innocent in all of this, so trusting of both of them: he knew he would never forgive himself if he wound up in the wrong hands.

"But they can tell the difference between male and female leukocytes," he pointed out to explain why – even if he was sure that helping her deceive whoever was behind it was the right thing to do – her plan wouldn't work. There was no way that she would be able to pass his blood off as her own.

As she lifted her head, the scent of her shampoo caught him off guard and he squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to concentrate on the facts and not how good it felt to be this close to her again.

"Not to mention the fact that, at best, it would be an imperfect match. It won't take them long to figure out that it didn't come from you, and then they'll know we're hiding something."

She deflated as she seemed to realise that he was right. "Why is this happening?" she asked, her voice trembling, and he didn't know what he would do if she started to cry. "I'm a good mother, Jack – you saw it. Why would someone wanna take him from me?"

He felt his heart go out to her, torn as it was between his love for her and his loyalty to his father. When they'd first decided that she should take Aaron, none of them – not even he himself – had imagined that she would bond with Aaron as well as she had. He'd never thought about what would happen if she started to believe the lie too.

"I don't know," he agreed as they separated, even though he had his suspicions. Aaron would be invaluable to anyone who wanted to prove that more than six of them survived to crash. "But we're not gonna stick around to find out."

He needed to get them someplace safe until he could decide on the next step; he pulled a duffel bag from the top shelf of his closet and started throwing things into it: razor, jeans, a couple of t-shirts… enough to last him the rest of the week.

"Do you need anything from the house?" he asked her as he swung it onto his shoulder.

She shook her head. "No. I have a suitcase in the trunk," she confessed, eyeing him with a guilty look as though unsure how he would feel about her skipping town with his nephew.

But running away was exactly what whoever had ordered the blood test would expect her to do.

"Good," he told her, taking her hand and leading her back out to the living room to collect Aaron. "'Cause we're going to a motel."

This isn't what I think will happen (my personal theory, based on the other promos, is that she'll go to Sun first) but it's fun to imagine, and I just wanted to play with the idea that in times of trouble, Jack is always the first person Kate will run to. I'm probably not gonna add anymore unless I get an overwhelming number of reviews asking for a continuation... ;)