Okay, I know the hatch exploded and all, but I needed it for this. This is just my usual, no skex, no skate, just random and mindless jate.

Sam

xxxxxxx

The hatch had never really been a place she'd felt comfortable before, but a lot of things had happened down there that left her drawn to it. Kate was a runner, she wasn't big in confined spaces, and she'd been claustrophobic long before she'd been on the run. She liked open spaces, because they were free and gave her a chance to really explore her thoughts in the open, rather than setting them lose in an area where there was limited space. However, this didn't explain to her why she desperately needed to think, but she'd simply moved into a different room of the hatch to do so.

Originally, she'd been in the bathroom, taking a shower, funnily enough, to try and run some things over in her head, knowing that the privacy would give her the perfect opportunity. This hadn't happened to plan, as, for the second time, the bathroom was invaded, accidently, by Jack. Of course, he never meant to keep on randomly bursting into the bathroom whilst she was showering, but this time, she'd had to think quickly to cover herself in time with a nearby towel before she revealed everything to the embarrassed doctor.

He'd made his apologies and left, saying that he just needed to use the bathroom, and thought she was in the other room. They were on duty together down in the hatch that day, even though John was there was well, more than willing to do the honours. Still, they both stayed for the opportunity for a relaxing day. No one was going to bother them whilst they were down there.

But now, Kate was anything but relaxing. She was sitting in the room containing the computer, not knowing where John had gone, but judging from the hour that was left on the clock, she assumed he had either gone for a nap or to read, it was he normally did. She'd claimed the desk chair as her own, bending her legs at the knees to rest them on the edge of the desk. Not only that, but she was also desperately biting at her nails, seeking an answer beneath them but finding none.

She just couldn't work out whether or not she really was in love with Jack.

Unknown to her, Jack was doing exactly the same in the kitchen.

"Good afternoon, Kate."

Locke re-entered the room, coming over and sitting down on the end of the desk facing her.

"Hey, John." Kate replied, clearly distracted.

"Troubled mind?" He asked her, seeing as it didn't take an idiot to see that she was having trouble working something through her head.

She snapped out of her trance, looking up at him and giving him an awkward look. "Undecided mind." She corrected him.

Locke raised his eyebrows. "Love troubles?"

"No!" Kate answered quickly. "I mean...what makes you say that?" She asked him, trying not to appear to suspicious.

"Besides your quick answer?" Locke asked, grinning with an amused look on his face.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Yes, besides that." She grumbled at being caught out.

"I'd have to go for the fact that Jack is in the kitchen, doing exactly the same as you." Locke told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Is he?" Kate asked, suddenly very interested in what Locke had to say.

Locke looked down at her as if he were scolding a child, but the amusement sold him short. "No need to pretend with me, Kate. You knew he was here."

She sighed. She knew he was there still, because he'd have to walk right behind her to leave, and she hadn't heard him do that. She just hadn't known that he was doing exactly the same thing she was. If anything, that made her more nervous about the decision she needed to come to. "Okay, so I did know." She admitted, even though Locke clearly knew that already.

He sighed, if only to keep himself from smiling even more. "So, you're having romantic thoughts, which are distracting you...and so is Jack...do I need to ask?"

Kate was largely aware of the blush that crept up her cheeks. She had been caught out for sure this time. "Uh...it depends what you were planning on asking." She mumbled quietly.

"I didn't plan on asking anything, the answer speaks for itself." He told her.

"And just where would this answer be speaking from?" She asked him.

"Your eyes." She looked up at his answer. "See, right there." He told her. "The look of a woman who's in love, and doesn't know what to do about it."

"I'm not in love." She insisted.

"Aren't you?" Locke challenged.

Kate said nothing, and went back to biting her thumbnail.

Locke shrugged his shoulders. "The way I see it, Kate, Jack and Sawyer are both fighting for your affections day after day, but they both had different ways." Kate looked up at him, wondering when he'd decided to bring Sawyer into this discussion. "Sawyer reminds you of everything you used to be, everything that is familiar to you, and everything that you should move on from, yet choose not to. He holds you back, but because it's what you're used to, you continue to acknowledge that there is a possibility, and you know that because there won't be a real, adult love involved, it will be easier to let go of."

Well, he'd hit the nail on the head with that one.

"And Jack?" Kate queried.

"Jack is the complete opposite." Locke said straight away, as if that wasn't already obvious. "He treats you like the centre of his world, and puts you on a pedestal. Right now, you're thinking that he's making a mistake in doing that, but he's not, because to him, you're the most perfect thing int he world. He represents a future for you, a fresh start from the life you used to have, and he's not going to hold you back. He'll be standing beside you, helping you on rather, and he does hold you, it will be becuase he loves you, not to hold you back from something. At the end of the day, it's a love you've always wanted to experience, and here, of all places, you've found it."

Kate was silent for a whole minute after Locke had finished his speech. When she did finally speak, it was a tiny, fragile voice that escaped her.

"You think he loves me?" She asked in disbelief.

"Everyone knows he does." Locke told her.

Kate sighed. "What do I do?" She asked him.

"I can't help you decide." Locke said. "But I have something that may be of use to you."

"What's that?"

He reached into the bag he'd placed on the floor, taking out a small handmirror, perhaps from someone's vanity bag. He handed it to her, and Kate looked at it, confused.

"It's a mirror, nothing more." He explained, seeing how clearly confused she was. "If you look at it straight on, it will show you your reflection, but if you tilt it slightly to the side, giving it an angle, you can look into it and see what your heart desires the most."

Kate went to tell him that he was crazy, but by the time she had opened her mouth, he had already left the room. She watched her reflection for a moment, staring herself down, but at the same time, wondering whether Locke really had become insane like everyone said, or whether he was completely right. After all, he hadn't gotten a thing wrong in his assumptions about her.

Tilting it to the left, she saw nothing, but still, she felt drawn to it, and tilted it back to the centre, following on until it was tilted to the right. This revealed the reflection of a person standing in the doorway, gazing at her with an open mouth and shock all over his face.

This person, was none other than Jack Shephard.

"Ah." Kate said, caught out as her entire body froze.

"Umm...hey." He replied, his breath catching in his throat. He couldn't even manage to form words properly.

Kate regained control of her body, turning in her chair and putting the mirror down. "You just heard all of that, didn't you?" She realised.

"Every word." He nodded.

"Did John do this to you as well?" She asked, hoping that she wasn't the only one getting this strange treatment.

"Kinda." Jack mumbled, still staring at her in wonder.

"Kinda?"

"Well, he didn't compare the person on my mind with Sawyer, and he didn't give me a 'magic' mirror, but he did help me realise that there's something I need to do." Jack said, finding his voice a little more.

"What's that?"

"This."

Crossing the room quickly, he fell to his knees before her chair. She went to question him, but before any sound could leave her mouth, his hands were on her face, and his lips were covering her own. He'd needed to tell her that it was her, and it always had been, for a long time now.

They just never thought that it would be John Locke who finally made them see that they loved each other.