As promised here's the next instalment and thanks so much guys for the lovely welcome. I am the same way with writing as I am with food, I just can't get enough of it lol.

Now this chapter starts off with a continuation of this "alternate" future and let's just say that more surprises are yet to come, especially with the sole culprit responsible for it all…..

Disclaimer: I know I should have put this in the previous chapter but what the heck here goes, I don't own Lost except for Richie and Liz of course.

CHAPTER 1

BANG!!

"Dad?!" a voice exclaimed in terror before sprinting towards the collapsing figure, quickly dropping to their knees to see what could be done to fix this.

"Dad!! Dad!!" the person continued to call out, but their usual miracle working attempts achieved nothing this time, and with that they gladly welcomed the guilt and self blame for what could have been avoided, "I should have never left."

"Richie?" a second voice timidly called out as they surfaced from the bushes, a little out of breath, but still stopped dead in their tracks at witnessing the massacre they once called a home, nothing but an "Oh my God" to elicit in light of it all.

At that point a few of the others who had come along with them on this trip for the same reason showed a fairly similar reaction and immediately worried for their respective families. Each one then rushing out to search for any survivors but sadly came up with nothing.

Richie on the other hand still gazed in shock at the body of his lifeless Father. The reality of it still not sinking in, but he was forced to quicken the process somewhat with his approaching audience.

"Liz, stay back." He warned, gripping the young woman by the shoulders and attempting to move her as far away from the body as possible.

"What are you doing, let me go!!" she argued trying to move past him and in the midst of her struggle caught a brief glimpse of the reason why he was so hell bent on keeping her away from this.

"Daddy?" she whimpered and went into a full blown cry of devastation when Richie was left with no choice but to release his hold and allow her the right to grieve just like he was now.

However unlike his sister, he had a way of keeping it to himself and this time channelling it into figuring out the one thing he still couldn't begin to fathom.

"How did this happen?"

(1977 - Present time)

She gradually opened her eyes to gauge her present surroundings and frowned with noticing all the tubes and machines.

"Surely it wasn't that serious." She affirmed herself slightly in amusement of how extreme this all was.

"Mmmm" she tiredly moaned and like a moth to a flame her head moved to the side and focused on him, seated in a chair, arms folded and his head drooping to suggest the obvious and she couldn't help but smile at the scene. Obviously touched that he had stayed by her side the entire time, but she was forced to abandon everything the next minute when she was hit with sharp pains in her abdominal area, causing for her to let out a cry of anguish when it worsened considerably.

"Kate!!" Jack shouted, trying his level best to calm her down, but within seconds his attempts were replaced with four surrounding Doctors. Still their presence failed to keep Jack and his need to fix this under control and in the end his disobedience resulted in security having to haul him off.

After reluctantly complying with their instructions he waited, growing increasingly impatient by the minute and when he was literally down to his last tether, hope was finally offered in the form of a familiar face.

"Is she okay?"

"She's…….she's gonna be fine."

Releasing a sigh of relief, he finally allowed himself to smile and as much as Juliet wanted to share in his elation, she couldn't because the symptoms Kate was already showing were too much to be a mere coincidence.

"It's way too early to tell if she even is." Juliet reminded herself, choosing to look at this in every aspect before assuming something she didn't want Kate to be a victim of.

"Can I see her?"

"Sure." Juliet confirmed, and escorted him to Kate's room, opting to not arouse suspicion of her worry at this point, especially in front of Jack.

"Thanks, for everything."

"Don't worry about it." Juliet replied and then walked off. The smile disappearing from her face completely once she was out of sight.

--------------

Her head was turned away from him and he could already sense that something was wrong.

"Hey." He attempted to greet her in a cheerful manner but all it achieved was a whispered reply.

Taking the hint of her reluctance to make conversation, he made the move to leave, "I'm sorry" she suddenly apologised and Jack stilled, immediately frowning in confusion, but attempted to comfort her when he saw how emotionally distraught she was.

"Hey, hey you have nothing to be sorry about okay." He attempted to reassure but she still ignored him and continued to welcome the guilt for what she had done to a man she undeniably cared for.

"Yes I do." she admitted in a whisper while gazing at the one place she sensed a remarkable difference, even if it was too early to tell for sure.

His assumption for her apology immediately went towards the one name he vowed to never mention again since that night, but sooner or later it had to be discussed.

As if sensing that's what it was about he made a move to ask, but was stopped from doing so with learning of something he had no logical answer for other than an expression of shock.

"I think I might be pregnant."

He didn't think to ask because he was smart enough to do the math, and with that he allowed the fear to creep in. Fear for many reasons but the most pressing one of all at the moment was what would happen if these people were to find out?

According to what he had heard, pregnancy was an issue not taken lightly around here, and the last thing he wanted was to put Kate in any kind of danger if she was in fact pregnant.

"I…..I know that this is probably the last thing we need right now and I don't know if I even am to begin with but…." She tried but broke off to give way to her emotions once again.

Jack, taking a leap of faith, something he was still fairly new to relying on, took hold of her hand and let his instincts do the talking from that point onward.

"We'll figure something out okay."

The real question was how?

He had two choices now. He could stay here and try to find a plausible reason for this tragedy or he could do something to possibly reverse it.

"That's it." He suddenly affirmed himself with a feasible possibility, but what made him slightly reluctant to go any further with it were the consequences he was firmly made aware of, particularly by his Father.

However drastic times called for drastic measures and other than this he could see no other way to make things right again or "fix it" as his Father would constantly put it, and as he surveyed his present surroundings one last time, lastly focusing on the image of a grief stricken Liz still clutching their dead Father; he knew what he had to do.

"I have to fix this."

What does the present have in store for Jack and Kate?

What does the future have in store for Richie, Liz and their people?

Richie's plans?

All will start to unfold in the next instalment, including the bits in between to reveal the "connections"………

Thoughts? Questions? Review?