Notes: Claire is alive and yes that means no Aaron. Hope you enjoy it. R&R is love.

Jack paced up and down his living room floor. Last night had been nice, all of the Oceanic survivors and their family and friends had gone to Hurley's house for a "Yay We Survived!" Party. It had been pretty fun meeting everyone's family and loved ones, eating good food and enjoying themselves. But of course the reason Jack went was because he knew Kate was going to be there, and she had been, they had talked and flirted all evening and when they weren't talking they had given each other meaningful looks. As a joke Kate had given Jack her phone number just in case he needed it, and Hurley had suggested that Jack ask Kate out for a date. Last night Jack had laughed Hurley's suggestion off, but now that he kept thinking about it, it didn't sound too bad.

So Jack was in his living room staring at Kate's number "90-410-225" wondering if he should call and ask Kate if she would want to 'go out on a date' with him. He blushed at the idea, and felt like he was in middle school over again.

"You're being silly, this is Kate!" he told himself, "She'd love to go out with you. And you know you both would have a great time. Why are you even scared?"

With that he dialled Kate's number.
It rang twice and she picked up:

"Hello?"

Jack took a breath "Hey Kate, It's Jack"

"Oh hey!" she sounded like she was smiling.

"So umm.. how are you?"

"Pretty good, how about you?"

"I'm good."

"Jack, I doubt your calling me just to ask me how I'm feeling.." said Kate jokingly, "do you need anything?"

"Yeah actually, I was wondering if you wanted to go out for dinner tomorrow night?" Jack spoke fast and blushed.

This caught Kate off-guard "Oh wow, you mean like a date?"

"Yeah like a date, if you want to I mean if you d-"

Kate cut him off "Jack that'd be great, really."

"Really?" Jack couldn't help but smile, "Can I pick you up around 8? Oh and its not fancy."

"Yeah that'd be good."

"Okay, well see you tomorrow then?"

"Yes, oh and Jack?"

"Yes?"

"I think it's funny how you called me after only one day." Kate laughed into the phone.

"Am I being to eager for you Kate?" Jack played along.

"No I think it's rather cute." Kate replied smugly.

They both laughed for a while said their goodbyes and hung up with big smiles on there faces.

------

It was 7:50 and Jack was driving towards Kate's apartment, he was feeling slightly nervous and anxious about their date. Which he thought was funny since he had seen Kate every single day and she had slept in a tent a few metres away from his, but this was different, it was more formal and he wanted it to go perfectly.

10 minutes later Jack rang the doorbell to Kate's house.
Kate opened the door a few seconds later.

"You look, wow... Really, wow.. "Stuttered Jack. Kate was wearing a purple dressy top with dark wash jeans and a hint of mascara, she looked as gorgeous as ever.

Kate blushed "I thought doctors were supposed to be smart." joked Kate.

"You look really gorgeous." said Jack touching Kate's arm lightly, with a shy grin on his face.

"Thank you, you clean up pretty well yourself." said Kate, her heart was fluttering like mad.

"So are you ready to go?" smiled Jack.

Kate nodded and they walked out to Jack's car. Jack held the door for Kate and then went into the drivers seat.

For a few minutes they sat in silence, but then Kate got comfortable.

"Let's see what type of music Jack Sheppard likes." grinned Kate looking through his CD's.

"Beatles; hmm sure that's a given, Rolling Stones; another given, White Stripes... BRITTNEY SPEARS?" with that Kate burst out laughing.

Jack laughed for a while, "It wasn't mine, Kate really!"

"Sureee Jack. I really don't know what type of man I'm going out on a date with." this made them both smile, "I would have never thought of you as a Britney Fan!"

"It's not mine!" protested Jack, "It was Sarah's she just never took it back."

"Sarah?" Kate stopped laughing, "Was that your..." she trailed off.

"Ex-wife.. yes." Jack answered seriously.

"Oh, Jack I'm sorry." Kate looked down for a moment, "You've never told me much about her... Do you miss her?"

"Its okay," Jack turned his body to look at Kate, "No, I don't miss her. Not now." Jack smiled a knowing smile.

Warmth filled Kate the second time this evening, he was so sweet and good-looking and so nice it still shocked her that they were officially going out on a date.

"Joe Purdy, oh I love him." Kate smiled happily and put it in, they listed to the song Wash Away.

They arrived at the restaurant and Jack gave the car to the valet.

He instinctively put his arms around Kate's waist and then blushed "Sorry, um do you mind?"

"Not at all." Kate smiled back.

Ten minutes later they had both sat down and ordered.

"It still feels weird being able to go out to a restaurant after all this picking fruit hunting bear business" smiled Kate

"I know, I miss just waking up and walking outside and everyone would be in a circle talking about the lastest reason to trek into the jungle." chuckled Jack.

"Yeah, and you'd be giving them all speeches about living together dying alone." teased Kate.

"Well someone's obviously jealous of my slogan, anyways I've heard you use it once or twice."

"Oh don't be so full of yourself you Mr. hardcore spinal surgeon turned leader." said Kate cocking her eyebrow as if challenging him.

"If I'm not mistaken, you find this hardcore spinal surgeon turned leader attractive." winked Jack challenging her right back.

"Oh yes and how do you know that?"

"I just know Kate," Jack smiled trying to act like a show off, "first you kissed me, then you came back for me. You can't deny that."

Kate blushed for a few seconds then retaliated, "Well who was the one who said would come back for me, and wanted me in his surgery, and said he wasn't going to leave me."

Jack opened his mouth and then closed it, he was defeated. Kate let out a triumphant HA! and smiled at him. They both talked about Hurley's party for a while until the food came.

"Your clearly not a vegetarian" Kate pointed towards Jack's sirloin steak.

"And you are." Jack pointed at Kate's tofu plate.

"I told you that remember when I went to hunt bore with Locke."

"You don't tell me a lot of things about you though," Jack smiled mysteriously, "How bout you start now?"

For the next hour Kate told Jack about her Southern childhood, her mom, Tom and her dad. She decided to leave out the whole fugitive part; she figured it was more of a 2nd date issue. And Jack didn't ask about it. They talked about their favourite colors, music, TV shows and movies Kate occasionally made fun of his taste and Jack sometimes laughed at her cluelessness about TV shows.

Soon they were done eating and the conversation went down to a comfortable silence. They both thanked the waiter and walked to the car.

As Jack opened the car door for Kate, she kissed him firmly on the lips.

"I...I.. What was that for?" Jack said unable to hide the huge grin spreading on his face.

"That was saying thank you, for tonight it was really great." smiled Kate genuinely.

"I have a surprise," Jack smirked, "the nights not over yet."

------

They drove for about 30 minutes with Kate constantly asking Jack where they were going, and Jack constantly answering "You'll see" and laughing. Of course Kate's heart was racing, she knew Jack had something amazing planned.

Finally, Jack stopped the car and told Kate to get out and close her eyes. Kate did what she was told efficiently, and Jack took her shoulders firmly and walked her a few metres.

"You can open them now" said Jack softly.

Kate opened her eyes and gasped. They were at a beach no one was there, but there were pillows scattered around an elegant picnic blanket laid and a small fire burning beside it. Two candles were already lit, there was a bottle of wine in a cooler and some fruit was on the picnic blanket. Since it was night time the moon was casting dim romantic light on the beach and the waves were settling, overall it looked beautiful.

"You like it?" smiled Jack.

"Jack..this is amazing.. I can't believe you'd do this!" exclaimed Kate, for some reason she was overwhelmed with the urge to cry. Kate hugged Jack tightly.

They both sat at the fire in silence for a few minutes.

"Guava?" Jack offered.

"I can't believe you even remembered our fruit" Kate whispered quietly, taking the guava and peeling it.

"Of course I did, what's a picnic without guava?"

Kate smiled and fed a piece of guava to Jack. He laughed but ate it. They went on laughing and eating guava for a while until silence came over them again. They both stared at the fire.

"This reminds me of our fireside talks we'd always have." commented Kate, she turned her head and realized how close it was to Jack.

"I remember those," Jack smiled slowly "I always regretted not saying things."

"Like what sort of things?" Kate was interested in finding out.

Jack turned to her so there eyes locked and their arms were close together.

"I always regretted not saying you have gorgeous eyes and that I think your beautiful."

Jack said those words in such a moving gentle way that Kate immediately felt elated, she couldn't believe that all the time on the island he felt something back. After a minute Kate smiled:

"And I always regretted not kissing you." with that she touched Jack's lips lightly with hers and he responded almost immediatly, their kiss was full of passion and caring, it wasn't hard and lustful it was more like in sync and passionate just like they had done it a million times before.

When they both pulled back for air, Jack put her arms around Kate. She stayed in his arms for a long time both of them just taking in the moment, and that they finally had got what they wanted, each other.