Life Interrupted

Chapter One

Title: Life Interrupted

Paring: Jate/Skate

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Violence, kidnapping themes; possible mentions of drug use and suicide

Summary: Post-season two finale. Full summary given out in chapter two.

Spoilers: Season-two, ask if there's anything specifically you're worried about.

Disclaimer: Lost belongs to J.J. Abrams and co. at ABC. Full disclaimer given out at the end, as to not spoil anything.

Author's Note: This is a project I've been planning for months. I planned to begin it after I finished my series, Fated, but I changed my mind. However, I still have to finished the last story of the series, "In the End", and then I still have On An Island to think about, so updates may not come frequently for awhile. But don't worry. I have huge plans for this story, so it won't be forgotten.

Chapter One: Special

The man's name was Tom. Tom Friendly. And they weren't exactly on the best of terms. It was like she was a personal burden to him; he'd frown upon anything she did. Even if it's what they wanted her to do in the first place. So right off, she knew that it was 'Mr. Friendly' who had stepped into the room, the creak of the door sliding open in a painful way. But she was used to the sound by now. The difference was, Alex was always on the other side of the bars. Into the room stepped a man, grinning. As though he won the jackpot.

"So why'd you do it?"

Alex didn't answer, simply because she knew it wouldn't be the answer he wanted. So instead she remained quiet, attempting to ignore the heat that was coming through, instead of air. It was the only room in the facility without air conditioning. Now Alex realized that this was on purpose. It wasn't that the Others, as they learned their nickname was amongst the islanders, were particularly evil, it was just that they liked control. And they'd do whatever it took to gain it.

"Why'd you help them escape?"

The room wasn't a complete cell, but there were bars that could be put in, were there to be any...complications. And the bars had been put in.

"You wouldn't understand," Alex mumbled under her breath.

But Tom always had this eerie way of hearing the slightest of sounds, which came in handy when it came to holding captives. He'd become a pro. Alex, on the other hand, always looked like an amature compared to the main 'Others'- whose true names she could never really know. Always standing to the side, she appeared as a mere outcast. And truthfully, she was. She couldn't say she agreed with what they did, but Alex also couldn't say that she would so easily turn her back on them. Luckily, she knew them too well anyway. She knew their beliefs, their way of life. What made them tick. Somehow, this hadn't helped her. But, in the end, she had helped them escape.

"Oh, I wouldn't understand," Tom repeated mockingly, laughing to himself. Suddenly he grabbed onto the bars, face turned red with an anger so intense that it seemed to shake the room. "You just let two of our best captives get away!" He bellowed, the bars seeming to shake as he held onto him. Personally, Alex had never seen the bars actually go down in the room. She wondered how sturdy they were.

"That's all you care about," Alex spat, "your test subjects."

His face growing stern, Alex fought to remember a time when he had been this angry at her.

"These two weren't just test subjects!" Tom shouted. Suddenly he grew calm, as if his anger had eased away. "You have no idea what you just did."

Closing his eyes, Tom actually looked...defeated. It was what led her into her silence, watching as he rested his head against the fake bars.

"Just tell me why you did what you did," he muttered, "we don't want to keep you in here."

Before she could consider the consequences, Alex found herself jumping to her feet, facing Tom with her own anger.

"You don't give a damn about me," she growled, "you never did. And if you hurt me, I'll scream."

She grinned, because she knew that was exactly what Tom didn't want to hear. And it wasn't. The bars slid away so suddenly that Alex couldn't catch how they were operated. But before she could react, Alex was grabbed roughly by her shoulders and slammed against the nearest wall.

"You draw too much attention to yourself, Alex," Tom smirked angrily. Without warning he pulled a hand back, smacking his palm against her cheek with an effort that made her gasp in pain, red dots of blood already appearing on her skin. "Maybe you'll learn to stop taking risk."

Alex closed her eyes tightly, biting her lip in effort to hold back the pain. Luckily for Alex, she did know what would send him over the edge. The one thing that she had over Tom, and not only on a personality level, but on a level of acceptance with the rest of the crew. Slowly she turned towards him, lips turning up in a mischievous grin.

"They'll kill you before they kill me."

Tom smirked, as though he had expected this. And he probably had. It was the one argument she had on her, but it had its truth.

"Right," Tom snorted, "because you're special."

Alex grinned.

"More than you."

He didn't respond. Instead she was shoved back further into the room, and the bars appeared again.

"Maybe your friend will come back for you," he said with sarcastic reassurance.

Alex's eyes widened. For a split second she felt betrayed, realizing that no one but Tom had come for her, but then she began to wonder why. Worry about why.

"Don't hurt him!" Alex pleaded. She didn't care how pathetic she sounded. Now her mind was reeling, realizing all the consequences of what she had done. Had they even gotten free? She didn't even know if her plan worked...

"Oh, we won't," Tom smirked, a set of keys appearing in his hands as he stepped out of the room, closing the door with a loud creak behind him.

Before, she hadn't cared about being locked up in here. They wouldn't hurt her. Eventually, she'd be set free. But while she was an outcast amongst the 'main' leaders of their group, Alex seemed to make friends with the wrong people- at least she did in their eyes. While they couldn't do anything than her, it didn't stop them from going after someone else, someone completely innocent. Because her escape plan had been her own, and while it couldn't work for her, she could only pray it worked for the other two.

(space)

Sun's loud screams echoed throughout the hatch. The only thing they had to be happy about was that Aaron wasn't down here to mix in with the cries, as selfish as that sounded. Crowded around her in a small, half-circle, Kate, Sawyer, Charlie, and Jin tried their best to calm Sun down, all the while with Jin muttering something to her in Korean. He looked pale, sick even, but they didn't ask. After all, how calm could they expect him to be when his wife was going through labor?

"Maybe if we could just hold it off!" Kate exclaimed over Sun's screams. Her heart pounded in her chest, head spinning at the fast-pace, non-stop drama from the past few hours.

"Hold it off?" Sawyer snapped back to her. "What the hell do you want to do, stick a pillow through there?"

Bringing her hands to her head, Kate fought to remember back to their first day on the island. There had been something Jack had taught her, some kind of trick to dealing with stress. Something about counting...

"Kate!" Sun cried, tears streaming down her face as she clutched Jin's hand, his bones whitening at the effort.

Kate squeezed her eyes shut tightly, shaking her head, at Sun's side in seconds. Now wasn't the time. She had to do this. Of anything, she had to do this for Jack.

"We're going to get you help, Sun," Kate promised, rubbing Sun's back reassuringly.

Hair glued to the sweat on her face, Sun could only nod, though Kate couldn't be sure she even heard her. Unlike Claire's pregnancy, Sun's labor had come on so suddenly. Claire admitted that she'd been feeling signs of the baby coming throughout the day, but Sun swore that she felt no such signs.

"What the hell are you expecting?" Sawyer hardly ever shouted at her, but now he didn't bother holding back. No one but Kate felt taken aback at this; Charlie even agreed with him.

"It's not like Jack's just going to waltz through!" Charlie exclaimed, placing a soaked towel over Sun's forehead to try and cool her down.

As if answering him, the hatch door clicked from nearby, and the three of them turned, staring. No one ever came down here anymore, not even Locke. But Kate stopped when the one person they truly hadn't been expecting stepped in: Jack. Gasping in efforts to keep breathing, Kate felt a pit form in her stomach, feeling an aching sickness roar through her. She wanted to look for Sawyer for a reaction, but she felt frozen. Even Sun's screams of pain seemed faded and distant.

But Jack seemed to be in a whole different manner. He looked happy. Without a care in the world, Jack closed the hatch door behind him, stopping when he turned to see the stunned faces watching him.

"What?" He asked, puzzled.

Kate could feel Sawyer's eyes on her before she turned around, though looking at the ground, not at him.

"I'll talk to him," Kate whispered, brushing Sawyer's arm as she walked to Jack.

She felt like she was walking into a dark tunnel, going deeper and deeper to try and find a way out, only to find more darkness ahead of her. Too soon she found herself in front of him, Jack studying her, confused with a goofy smile on his face. Like he was waiting for a punch-line to be revealed.

"What?" He said again, this time more amused than puzzled.

Swallowing, Kate knew she wouldn't have the time she wanted to answer. She looked down at his hand, contemplating taking it. Finally, Kate decided against it. She didn't want to scare him away.

"Do you remember the day at the dock?" Kate began quietly, making sure that only Jack could hear her, though there was no doubt they were being listened in on.

Jack nodded.

"Yeah," he said, "of course. The Others, they-"

Before he could continue, Kate interrupted. Being messenger made her feel like the devil, like she was delivering a message of death.

"We escaped," Kate cut in. His dancing eyes finally met hers, growing dark and confused.

"No we didn't," Jack protested. He looked like someone who was stumped at a problem, incredulously confused.

"Sawyer and I escaped," Kate corrected quietly. She took a deep breath, looking down before daring to meet his eyes again. "Jack...that was nine months ago. You've been missing ever since."

Disclaimer: Bet you can't guess where I got this idea. Okay, so if you've never seen Alias, you probably wouldn't know. This story was inspired by, and roughly based on(warning for Alias season two finale) the Alias season two cliffhanger of the episode "The Telling". The title of this fic was inspired The 4400 episode "Life Interrupted."