Hello everyone! Thanks for checking out my new story. This one is rather special. It is something I have never tried to write before. While it is still Jate, of course, this time the Jateness takes a back seat. This is an ensemble story, set 23 years after The End. This is a sci-fi/time travel/alternate universes/Fringe meets Lost sort of fic. But also, as it was always the case in lost, the characters are what drives the story. It is about them before anything else. So please give it a chance and let me know what you think. I have never put so much effort, research and preparation into a story before. I have been preparing this for months now and I am trying to write it as professionally and of the highest of qualities. I am so excited about it and I hope you enjoy it.

Title: Sins of the Father
Summary: Sometimes the one thing we want most, no matter how right it might seem, can lead to many unforeseen tragic disasters. And sometimes the one thing we want most, may be the reason the world falls apart.

Alternate ending / future fic. What if Jack does leave with Kate and lets the island sink?

Chapter 1
A Shephard's Choice

December 5, 2030
Present

The sight of a dirty blond, disheveled, disoriented middle-aged man was not one that was uncommon in the emergency room of New York General Hospital, it was after all the apocalypse, as some have coined it. Whatever the name for it was, it was definite that the past decade or so had been the end of the world. As a matter of fact, a man walking in with no physical injuries to be seen, with only a case of confusion and dehydration, was a welcome change to the daily flood of patients caught in another incident, dismembered, deformed, and more often than none, dead before they made it to the operating rooms.

The man kept mumbling incoherently as a nurse led him to one of the small check up rooms, shaking his head as he tried to make sense of the place he was in. He was unsure of almost everything except one thing, the person he was supposed to see, to talk to. The one person who could put an end to this apocalypse, the person who could save the world.

"Sir, please have a seat, and a doctor will be with you shortly," the nurse instructed the fidgety, perplexed man.

"No, no," he said, scratching the back of his head, messing up his already tousled hair, "I need to see Dr. Shephard."

"I think Dr. Shephard's shift just ended an hour or so ago," the nurse explained, "but I'm sure there's someone else here who will be with you right away."

"NO!" the man cried, grabbing the nurse's wrist an turning her towards him. His eyes were wide, focused and filled with a mix of fear and anticipation, "please, it has to be Dr. Shephard," he pleaded, releasing her wrist apologetically, "you don't understand, it has to be him."

The nurse was walking over towards the Nurses' station to try to page Dr. Shephard when she bumped into a young brunette doctor.

"Jules!" she said in surprise, "what are you still doing here?"

"I switched shifts with Marcus, so I'm here for another 24 hours," Jules sighed.

The nurse put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder, "I have no idea how you do it, but I guess that's why you're the best," she said with a wink.

Jules huffed sarcastically, "yeah, my coffee addiction, that's what."

"Listen, could you go check on the guy in 23? It's nothing serious, but I think the guy's a little out of it, probably needs something to help him sleep it over," the nurse told Jules.

December 14, 2007

The ground shook at their feet, rumbling and quaking, as they watched the island start collapsing across the bay. Mountains that had stood high and might minutes ago were reduced to rubble that quickly sank and disappeared into the ocean. Even with Locke dead, their job was obviously not over. There was more to do, Jack knew that much, and he also knew there was probably not enough time to do it and still get off the island.

"We've gotta go now!" Sawyer cried, as another tremble sent them all to their knees again. He looked over the cliff and swallowed a gasp. It was steep, probably too steep, but it was their only choice if they wanted to make it to the Elizabeth and onto the smaller island.

Kate swallowed hard, the pain in her shoulder agonizing but the confusion and fear overshadowing any gunshot wound. "I don't understand," she said, "Locke's dead, why is this is still happening?"

They turned to Jack, and he saw their faces, fear, anticipation, and confusion. He wished the job had come with the power to calm the people around him, but it only came with the recognition of the inevitable. "Because whatever Desmond turned off, I need to turn it back on again," he explained.

He understood now, whatever it was that Desmond had done, it had to be temporary, turning off the light had made the smoke monster mortal, but it also made him weak. Most importantly, whatever it was that was holding the island together had also been turned off. The island, the light, it was all collapsing and it was his job to put it back together before it was too late. He had to fix this. That was his job.

"But if it doesn't work, if I don't get it done, you all need to leave now. You need to be on that plane," he said, feeling Kate's gaze bore through him. This was it. He knew it. There as no doubt left in his mind now.

Kate, on the other hand, she wouldn't accept it, not after everything they had been through. "You can come with us too, Jack," she said, lifting painfully off the rock to come closer to him, hoping she would have the strength, the right words to convince him, "you don't have to do this."

He heard the pleading tone of her voice, and as much as it pained him, he looked up to meet her eyes, "No, I do have to," he said, praying she would understand that this would be his one redeeming task, the one thing that would make all his past sins and mistakes, all the times he had hurt her, redeemable.

She shook her head, angry, desperate, tired and scared. "You don't!" she emphasized, "Let the island sink, Jack," she begged, kneeling down next to him, her hand on his leg, her eyes searching deep in his.

He looked at her, the pain and sadness in his eyes matching hers, his voice cracking as he said, "I can't."

"Good evening, sir," Jules said, "what seems to be the trouble tonight?"

"Who are you?" the man replied fervently, getting up to his feet, his fists clenched by his side, "I said I want Dr. Shephard! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU! We are running out of time, the world is coming to an end and they send me a kid! I do not have time to waste!"

Jules took a deep breath, this was obviously going to be another very long twenty four hours. Injured people, dying people, those she knew how to handle, but madmen, prophets and the psychos were never her thing. "Sir, will you please calm down. I am Dr. Shephard," she said pointing to her badge, "Dr. Julie Shephard. Now can you please tell me how I can help."

"Listen, I don't know what that nurse heard me say, but I need to talk to Dr. Jack Shephard, not you," he huffed in frustration.

Jules clenched her jaw tight, "Sir, I'm afraid my father is retired. He is no longer practicing medicine," she explained calmly, "but I am sure whatever it is, I can help you."

She watched as the man sat back down, further more dejected and confused than he was when she first walked in. "Your... your father? retired?" he said, dropping his head between his hands, "I'm too late... it's too late..."

"Sir?" Jules asked, really tempted to give the man a sedative and let him relax, but also intrigued as to why he was asking for her father, no one had asked about him in any hospital for a long time, not since around the time his wife passed away and he disappeared from the world.

The man finally stopped mumbling and stood back up, walking towards the young doctor, shocking her with his next actions. He took her face in his hands, gently, studying closely. He saw it then. The sharp, warm hazel eyes, the brown wavy hair, the freckles, "of course, you're Jack and Kate's daughter... So they just... they left the island, he left with her. That's why you're alive... that's why it all started," he said. He did not ask or inquire; he said it plainly, as if he had known for years. Jules nodded slowly. "What year is it?" he asked.

"It's... it's 2030, sir...I'm sorry, but who are you?" Jules said, pulling back away from him.

"I'm Jacob."

"What do you mean you can't?" Kate cried, tears threatening to spill as she realized she was running out of time. Jack had his mind set, and she knew how stubborn he could be. But she needed him, especially now, even if he refused to see it, if he refused to believe there was still a chance for them.

It's the one thing in my life I haven't managed to ruin.

She had forgiven him, a very long time ago. But she was almost as stubborn as he was, and they had wasted so much time.

"Kate, I need to do this… this… it's why the island brought me back. It's my destiny," he said.

Kate huffed, pushed off in anger and stood above him, "your destiny? Your destiny…" she said disbelievingly, "Your destiny is with me! I need you! I can't do this without you! Not THIS!" she cried, the tears finally streaming unabashedly down her face.

The earth hadn't stopped trembling and shaking, the island still falling apart, and that was Kate's last chance to finally tell him the truth.

Jack pressed a palm against his wound and pushed painfully off the ground, hissing at the rupturing throbbing wound. "Kate, please," he pleaded softly. Getting her to safety his only concern as he knew there were only minutes before the whole island sunk to the bottom of the ocean. He tried to comprehend her words. She wanted him back? Had she forgiven him? He pushed those thoughts back. It did not matter what she said. He knew better than to let his emotions conquer his resolve at this moment. The only way he can deserve her forgiveness was to complete his job, to get her as far away from the island as possible.

"Jack, I'm pregnant," she blurted out, watching for a moment as his eyes widened in disbelief before she turned her back to him, too scared to face more of his rejection after finally admitting to him what she had known for a few days.

She hadn't planned to tell him while they were still on the island. She had imagined they would kill Locke and go back home and then she would tell him.

"You're… you're…" Jack choked, completely in shock at Kate's confession, he out a hand to her shoulder, urging her to turn around to face him, "you're pregnant? It's my…?" he mumbled, incapable of forming proper, coherent thoughts. How could he have been so careless? How could he have put her through all that when she was pregnant?

"Of course it's yours!" she cried, "and I can't do this without you, Jack, I just can't!" she wept as she dropped her head onto his chest, finally collapsing, mentally and physically. She had played all her cards. She needed Jack to leave the island with her, and that was all she had to convince him. "I can't have this child alone. I can't raise our child alone. I can't," she mumbled tearfully against his chest.

Jack hugged her, pulling her even tighter against him, ignoring the stinging pain in his side. His hand found her hair, fingers drowning in the sea of curls, his lips landing on the top of her head. Jack swallowed hard. He was going to be a father. This was Kate. His Kate, pregnant with his child. This was their chance to finally be a family again. A real family. He had his pledge to the island. But he had killed Locke, was that not what he had promised her he would do? Maybe it was too late to save the island. He knew that if he stayed he would die, never finding his way back to her. Holding her in his arms, feeling her pain, trusting her words, her fear that she needed him, sensing the trust she had in him becoming a father. She clung to him, her fingers clutching to his shirt, for dear life.

She looked up at him, wide, frightened green eyes, red with tears, bottom lip quivering, "Please, Jack."

He swallowed, closed his eyes for a moment before he spoke the words that would later be the more fateful than anyone could have imagined, three words that would change the world, "Ok, let's go."

"Jacob... Jacob who?" Jules said, growing impatient with the man.

"I'm Jacob..." he said again, finding it hard to explain further, never having to do it ever before, "from the island?" he added, hoping that would ring a bell.

Jules just shook her head, "is that supposed to mean something?"

"They never told you?" he asked incredulously when he realized she really had no clue who he was.

Jules sat down across the room from him, "never told me what?" she asked irritated.

"About the island? About what happened? About what they were supposed to do? Protecting the island? The light? Your father's job?" he asked, shocked that they would really keep something that big from their child for that long.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," Jules said, "I know what they met on an island when their plane crashed on the way from Sydney in 2004, but that's about it. I've never heard of anyone protecting an island, or a light, or you."

"It's true, your parents did meet in 2004 when they came to the island, for the first time," Jacob said, talking calmly to try to explain the confused young doctor, what he knew will sound implausible. "But they came back to the island again, to save their friends, and to fulfill their destiny. To save the island and protect it. Your father was not supposed to leave. I don't know what happened to change his mind, to make him leave... but him leaving is why this is happening to the world."

Jules just stared at him, mouth agape, and eyes wide in bewilderment. Did he just say that her father was responsible for the end of the world?

"When did it all start?" Jacob asked, not bothering to give her time to react.

"What?" she asked, still trying to comprehend the man's story.

"When was the first incident?" Jacob asked again, growing impatient as he was trying to figure out what must be done next.

"Umm.. umm... it was 2012... I'm sorry I don't..." Jules mumbled.

"Listen, Julie... I know this is hard to understand, but you are going to have to focus with me here, I cannot stay much longer," Jacob said, waling over to her and kneeling in front of her, taking her hands in his. "When your father left the island, he let it... disappear. The island... it is a special place. It had to be protected because it kept the world protected, safe. With the island gone, the world is collapsing onto itself. Your father was special and that was why it was his job to protect it. For one reason or another, he could not, but it's not too late. He is still the island protector, even if he does not believe it. You are his daughter, it's going to have to be you. You have to bring them back together, all of them, everyone from the Oceanic flight who is still alive, everyone from he island, everyone of the children born or conceived on the island." Jacob said with focused concentration.

"You are the one who will have to save the world. Save us all." He said with a sigh, giving her hand a squeeze.

"What am I supposed to do? I have no idea what you are talking about! What island? What do you mean save the world? This is insane! I don't know who you are or what you want from me!" Jules cried, pulling away from him and getting up to her feet.

"I know... I know this sounds insane. I know I probably sound like a madman. But you have to believe me. Talk to your father. Make him tell you the truth. None of this was supposed to happen. Jack was never supposed to leave the island. The world was not supposed to start collapsing like this. All these people were not supposed to die. I was not supposed to reappear. Jack was not supposed to survive." Jacob said, trying hard to make her believe.

"You were not supposed to be born."

- END OF CHAPTER 1 -

So… what do you think? Reviews/feedback/comments are love