Lost and its characters belong to JJ Abrams, Bad Robot and crew. I'm just borrowing for some fun. Summary – Jack wonders what Kate needs help with now.

Lost – Unspoken
By Mystic
November 4th 2005
Cleaning up the caves, he noticed her, standing just off to the side, half-hidden by a tree. She stared at the ground, her hands intertwined in front of her, thinking about something. Jack stood straight, watching her until he knew she was avoiding him and he sighed. Anything she needed to say, she could just say it. Jack was sick of playing her game. Of her twisting him tighter and tighter around her pinky. He slapped a rag against the makeshift bed and began making notes on how much of things were left.

Jack would ask Sun to make what she could to replace it. The powder for headaches, the goop for the wounds, the juice for colds. He scratched down some words on a scrap piece of paper and began counting, his pen bouncing for each number. Kate lingered. He could see her pressing her lips together, scrunching her eyes. Whatever it was, it was probably serious. He hesitated, miscounting the aloe leaves and closed his eyes, leaning his neck back.

It cracked loudly and he saw her whip her head to the sound when he peeked. He wanted to laugh and call her over, but she shifted back, out of sight and he shook his head. He wasn't sure why she did it. Why she hated to just talk to him. Jack knew things would be a lot easier if Kate would let her guard down. Just for a while. If she let him in. Let him help her. He shoved the rag into his pocket and opened the first drawer of the liquor cart. Its hinges were starting to rust and after he'd picked out a half empty bottle of peroxide, he slammed it shut, sitting down and brushing dirt off his knuckles.

He'd scraped them earlier in the day and hadn't had a chance to look at them. They were rubbed raw with spots of blood that had dried. He winced, uncapping the bottle of peroxide and removing the rag from his back pocket, finding a clean spot to dab the liquid on. Jack placed the bottle up on the liquor cart and hissed when he pressed the rag onto his hand, wiping at the surface of his skin quickly with enough pressure to reopen the small scabs.

The blood resurfaced in spots and he blew on it. They'd scab over again and be fine. Now at least it was somewhat disinfected. Jack glanced over, seeing her starting to take a step forward. She bowed her head, caught, and approached him, her hands still clasped together in front of her. Stopping in front of him, she cleared her throat and gave him a grin when he glanced up at her.

Jack wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he stayed silent, watching her fidget, pressing her lips together and looking at the ground somewhere to her right. She swung her arms to the side and sighed, coming to sit next to him. Jack showed her his knuckles, watching the way her eyebrows scrunched together and her mouth frown.

"Don't even know how it happened," he admitted softly. "Must have hit it against a rock."

She nodded slowly, her eyes staring into his. She cleared her throat again and swallowed hard, her eyes closing just a bit and she took a breath before pressing her bottom lip between her teeth. Kate sat up straight and she smiled. Jack turned and watched her, watching the way her eyes darted away nervously and he brought his hands up to her neck, pressing gently at the sides. Her cheeks turned a bright red and he grinned.

"Guess you couldn't tell me," he finally said, admiring the irony as he put the back of his hand against her head to feel the skin burning against his.

Kate nodded, swallowing. This time she touched her throat and sighed. Jack watched her close her eyes as he put his hands to her cheeks and she breathed slowly.

"You know, things would work a lot easier if you come to me when you first need my help and not when it escalates to this," he stood and went to his drawer, finding a fine grey powder and a bottle of water. He poured a cup of water out and sprinkled some powder into it, twirling the cup in his hands to dissolve the powder. "This is for your fever," he told her, handing her the cup and taking in her shocked expression.

Jack felt her warm fingers slip between his on the cup and she looked down at it, waiting for him to release. He pulled his hands away quickly, wiping them absently on his jeans and she frowned, bringing the cup to her nose and sniffing at it before she took a drink and made a face. Kate was a good girl though, he thought with a half-grin, she chugged the sour liquid and let out a breath of disgust when she finished, raising the cup so he could take it away.

"Why do you do that, Kate?" Jack asked gently, putting the cup down and sitting next to her. "Why do you let things get this bad?" He shook his head and looked away before finding her eyes again. "If you'd come to me when your throat started hurting…" but he knew he couldn't have done anything really. It wasn't like he had the proper medication. But at least he would have known. He could have monitored her. He could have made sure the fever didn't keep her up at night. Could have asked Sun if she knew anything that would soothe the pain in her throat.

Kate shrugged and took his hand, giving him that look, the one that meant she was sorry. He laughed. It amused him how that look worked every single time. Just the slight lowering of her eyebrows and that frown. Jack didn't know how good of a liar she was, but he knew her pain. She couldn't hide the real thing. She hated hurting him, but she couldn't help herself. He knew it was just her trying to protect herself. It was her sick way of keeping her walls up – torturing herself.

"You should lie down."

She shook her head and he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her against him and he found her resistance was weak. Her head lay down on his shoulder and the heat instantly penetrated through the cloth, burning at his shoulder. Kate took a long breath and he pressed his cheek against her forehead, frowning.

"You're burning up," he told her.

Nodding, Kate raised her head and shrugged her shoulders. There was the slightest hint of a smile and he wondered what was going through her head. What joke? What image? What thought? Jack smiled and stood, pushing her to lie down on the blue bed. She let him and he brushed her forehead with the back of his hand again, letting it slide down her cheek and to the pulse just under her jaw.

"How long have you been sick?" He asked her quietly moving strands of hair that had become stuck to the side of her face with sweat.

Her eyes opened slowly, sleepy, and she mouthed 'a couple days' and shrugged. Her eyes closed again and Jack went to fill a bowl with cold water. Soaking a rag with cold water, he squeezed it and placed it on her forehead, watching her look up at him again, her hand coming to touch his forearm. Jack stopped, his eyes shifting down to meet hers, and waited. Kate grinned, looking a bit embarrassed and whispered, "Thanks, Jack."

Laughing, he nodded his head and adjusted the cool material against her skin. Anytime, he wanted to tell her. But he just stayed silent, watching her fall asleep beside him.

Finis