Like It was Always Meant to Be.

They were the only ones left.

Kate wiped back tears as she piled the last shovelful of dirt on the grave. The newest one in the long line on the hill overlooking the ocean.

Sawyer had been the last one. Granted, he had only been the last one for a day, but he had hung on for so long.

He had even kept up his Sawyer – ish humour to the very end.

" Freckles, Doc, well, I guess this is howdy doody. Remember me when you get rescued and get a fat insurance payout from Oceanic. Give them hell from me, Sassafras." And then he was gone. Just like that.

Kate supposed she would get used to it. After all, now forty eight graves littered the coast now. But now she knew that she could never get over this.

She shakily stood up, and walked along the line of graves. The graves of people who had deserved so much more than this. The islanders had given up on formal funerals when death had become an everyday occurance.

She stopped at one of the graves. Charlie and Claire. The ones who had organised the original fuselage burning. They had died in each other's arms, on the last day of the war with the Others. Now they were buried side by side, with Charlie's guitar not far off. Kate wondered if the guy in sky had a Driveshaft CD.

Sun and Jin. Jin had never returned from the raft launching. There was no body to bury. Sun had fallen apart, refusing to speak to anyone, and spending more and more time in her garden. At the time, Jack had said that it was impossible to die of a broken heart. But now, all that was left of the couple was a plaque in their garden, which Kate had turned into a memorial.

Ana Lucia. Although no one had really been friends with her when she was alive, the whole island had been shocked when she was shot. She had never seen Jack and Sawyer both so sad over the same thing.

Kate's face darkened as she recalled the subject of Michael. The traitor. He had led them all into a trap, and had paid for it dearly. What was left of him was found on the rocks just off shore.

Locke. Now that was ironic. He had perished when he decided to stop pressing the button. Jack had stopped it before it had gotten too far, and in a roles reversed, had pressed the button. Locke was crushed under the hatch control room, trying to fulfil his destiny.

Mama Cita, VH1 Reject, Sticks, Rambina, they all stood in a line. From the Marshall, Joanna and Boone, to Charlie, Claire and Sawyer, they were all there and they were all gone.

Kate leaned over and saw that the plaque next to Sawyers grave was plain. She laughed inwardly, and inscribed her own nickname for him. Cowboy.

There were only two names missing from the list, only two people left. Kate and Jack. Or as Sawyer would have said Freckles and Jacko. People would have said from the beginning that it was inevitable that they would be the only ones still there in the end. But Kate and Jack had never got over their fight when Kate had followed him. Now it just seemed pointless. Kate just didn't care any more..

" Kate ?" Jack looked tired. In the beginning of all of this, Kate had wondred where the haunted look in Jack's eyes had come from, but now she knew. He had had to deal with this on a daily basis. But now, this time, it seemed dangerously close to overwhelming him.

Kate turned away, ashamed that she couldn't hold it together in front of him.

But the tears continued to run down her face.

" Kate…"

" I just can't deal with this anymore, okay?" She collapsed in Jack's arms, abandoning all pretence at indifference. Everyone else was gone, but he was still here, still caring about her, even if he was perilously close to a breakdown himself.

" Kate…"

" None of them deserved this! None…not one of them!"

" I know, I know Kate. But not all bad came out of this. Charlie found Claire, Shannon found Sayid, Sun and Jin had a child, and, we … we found each other."

That was it. The realisation of Kate that someone, at least someone cared about her. And not just anyone, but Jack. Oceanic Flight 815 had just landed.

The sun set on Oceanic Flight 815, and now it's only survivors, Kate Austin, and Jack Shepard. A doctor and a fugitive. The last ones left.

The sun set on them. Together. Alone, but together.

The Way It Was Always Meant To Be.

Authors Note – Please review. It is my first time doing fanfic, so be nice. If I don't get any reviews, then I will make my friends lives hell for the next few days,and you wouldn't want to do that to them, would you?

SkinnyJeans