Quick note

Okay, now the actual fic starts. I wasn't planning on turning this into a Kate/Jack/Juliet thing, but if anyone wants to see anything of the sort happen… just let me know. By the way, I'm all for constructive criticism. Enjoy!

CHAPTER TWO

Jack woke slowly, at first not realising where he was. Then he remembered… being captured by the others… meeting Juliet… doing the surgery on Ben… and afterwards, returning to the damn fish tank. Juliet had promised him it was only for a little while, and Jack had believed her. Now, he would see. Whether Ben would keep his promise and send Jack home, or just save himself the trouble and kill him.

The cold wind hitting his face made him open his eyes. He wasn't in the tank. He was outside, and for a moment, wondered if Ben had just dumped him back near the survivor's camp. Surely not. Then he saw the thick metal bars, and knew he was still a prisoner. But why had he been moved?

He tried to stand, but his legs felt like jelly and his feet were strangely numb. His mind was functioning much too slowly. He stretched out a hand to steady himself as he tried to rise again, but paused when he saw the piece of cotton fluff taped over the inside of his elbow. He felt an odd sense of déjà vu. He'd been drugged, obviously. He paused. His mind was still fuzzy, and recalling the events of the day before were like trying to remember a dream from a week ago.

Juliet had been disappointed after the surgery, when she realised he was not going to fulfil her request to kill Ben. Jack hadn't tried, because he had already proven to himself that he was not capable of killing. He had tried to rationalise it, as he lay awake the night before the surgery, wondering to himself whether he would help Juliet, but as much as he insisted on telling himself that Ben probably deserved it, he knew that he wasn't the one to do it. He didn't hate him - despite everything, Jack couldn't hate him. Not to say that he liked him - far from it. And besides - he had promised to keep him alive.

Finally surrendering to the overwhelming exhaustion in his legs, and abandoning his futile attempts at remembering last night, Jack rolled over onto his back, so he was looking up at the top of the cage he was in. The air was thick with moisture - the way it would be just after heavy rain. After all his time inside, he had almost forgotten the frequent rainstorms that hit the island. Turning his head, he could see another cage, slightly bigger, across from him. A figure was hunched inside of it, and Jack instantly recognised the dark brown curls. He forced himself to his knees, pulling himself up using the bars of the cage.

"Kate!" he called. The figure jerked, and he paused. She was sitting on the ground, with her knees pulled up to her face, her hair covering her face. "Kate!" he called again. "It's Jack. Kate!" She didn't look up, but gave a soft moan and he saw her shoulders heave.

Frustrated by the bars, Jack turned away. Why wouldn't she answer him? His fuzzy mind pulled up the picture of Kate and Sawyer… lying together. Jack's chest gave an uncertain twist. Then his brain caught up.

"Kate? Kate, look at me! Where's Sawyer? Where is he, Kate?" Jack knew instantly he'd found the problem. Had they taken Sawyer away and locked him here instead? Too bad for her. She began rocking back and forth, and his brow furrowed. He called her name again, and finally she looked up.

Jack was horrified by what he saw. There were bruises under both eyes, highlighted by the sheen of tears dripping down her face. She was dirty, but what shocked him the most were her eyes. Their normally bright green enthusiasm was gone; instead, despite the distance between the two cages, he could see how bloodshot they were, and what scared him more than anything else, they were filled with despair.

"Where's Sawyer?" Jack asked again, now worried. Kate was too strong to be torn up just because they'd taken him away. The knot in his chest tightened, for a different reason. At the mention of Sawyer's name, something flashed through Kate's eyes, and for a moment, she didn't see him.

"He's gone," she gasped out, and a violent shudder shook her.

"Gone where?" Jack asked. "Talk to me, Kate."

"He's… they… they shot him. Right here, right in front of me." Jack felt light the ground had opened up beneath him. Kate wasn't just upset because he was dead. She'd been traumatised, put through a situation most people wouldn't even remain sane through. Looking at the hollowness in her eyes, Jack wondered if she was mad. She gave another low moan, and began rocking back and forth, her head on her knees again.

Jack thought of the last time he had seen her, bound and gagged on the pier. Just before they'd had the bags pulled over their heads, he'd tried to reassure her, to silently promise her that it would be all right. And when he was honest with himself, he knew she had believed him. She was the sort of person who needed something to believe in, and without it, she would fall apart.

"Kate, I'm here, I'm here now. Talk to me." She didn't respond and for a moment, Jack felt her helplessness sweep over him. She was lost to him, and he didn't know if he could ever find her. Where was the funny girl who'd casually asked him if he was checking her out, on the way back from their first trip to the caves? Where was the determined woman, always ready for another hike into the jungle?

Jack paused. Another hike into the jungle. Like the one that had gotten them into this mess. He punched the bars, hard, and heard his knuckles crack. With effort, he repressed a yell. If only he'd been thinking more clearly! If he hadn't been so angry about Ana and Libby's deaths, he would have made up a much more rational plan. Stupid! he cursed. Then he remembered, Sawyer had had a thing with Ana… he'd only come to get revenge for her death, and instead been killed himself.

"Look at me, Kate," Jack tried again. He felt his strength failing. "Please, Kate, please, help me." He didn't know why he said the last part, but it certainly caught her attention. She looked up, and saw him, as if for the first time.

"Jack?" she asked, her voice weak.

"It's me," he said. He needed to say something, to get her mind on track. "Don't give up, Kate," he said, once again surprised at the words coming out of his mouth. "I need you Kate. Right now, I need you."

"I can't help you," she said, and for a moment, he felt her. He felt that special part of her that he could never delete from himself. Without realising it, she had become a part of him, a part he couldn't let go. And even though her words were pessimistic, and her voice flat, Jack knew that she was taking the first step towards healing.

"Yes you can, Kate," Jack encouraged. Get her talking, first, keep the conversation away from what had happened, make sure she knew that she wasn't alone.

"No, I can't," she said strongly. "I can't help anyone, I couldn't help him…" her words were cut off by a sob. Jack waited, to see if she would fill the gap. She did. "It was my fault. They had me at gunpoint, and he let them do it. If I'd fought harder, he wouldn't have given up." This time, when she paused, Jack knew he had to stop her, before she completely self destructed.

"Kate, he was willing to give his life for you. Don't give up," he said, and for a moment, he thought he had reached her. Her shaking stopped, and she was staring at him as if he had just denounced his medical training. Then Jack realised she was, if anything, worse than she had been before. Her hands were trembling, and her shoulders were quivering, but apart from that, she was entirely still. Still in a way that reminded him of the dead.

She put her head back on her knees, and would no longer respond to him, no matter what he said.

"It's working," Juliet remarked, listening to Jack calling Kate's name, watching his desperate attempts to gain her attention on the monitor. Ben didn't reply. He was still incapacitated, lying on his back on a medical bed, relying on her to tell him what was happening outside. She clicked the walkie talkie off, and watched Jack calling so desperately to Kate.

He is cute, she thought to herself. She didn't get to watch him much. Even with his attention turned on someone other than her, Juliet felt a connection to him. She half hoped that Ben's plan would fail, and Jack would leave. It would hurt, sure, after all the effort she had exuded to establish a friendship, but not as much as if she saw him turn away from her, towards Kate.

Ben's voice finally came through the walkie talkie.

"Give it another hour. Then bring him in," he said, and Juliet nodded, forgetting that Ben couldn't see her.

"'Kay," she said, just to let him know she'd heard. With nothing to do for another hour, Juliet sat down in Ben's chair, rarely vacated, and continued watching Jack, wondering… would he ever consider her?

Jack had regained his balance, and desperation to reach Kate had renewed his strength. Standing on one leg, he kicked at the metal bars of the cage as hard as he could. They barely even registered the impact, though he was left with a dull pain in his foot.

"Don't waste your energy," came Kate's voice, and he saw her looking at him. "They're too thick. Built to withstand polar bears." Jack tried to gauge if she had made any improvement. She was no longer crying, but had resorted to sitting cross legged on the dirt floor of the cage, staring blankly. When she talked to him, offering a sentence or two about what had happened to her in the past week, Jack noticed she was talking with a certain sense of detachment. This wasn't Kate - this was a husk. A talking, crying, empty shell.

He only hoped it wasn't too late to find her, and bring her back.

Juliet decided against taking the handcuffs. She figured Jack probably wouldn't appreciate the gesture. She did, however, tuck a taser into her pocket, in case he acted unpredictably. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind one ear, she headed out to the cages.

Jack had given up on attacking the bars of the cage, and at the same time, given up on reaching Kate for the moment. Even after his repeated attempts to bring her out of herself, she would only reply flatly and briefly. There was no trace of her remembering all the time they had spent together before being captured. No jokes, no smiles… none of those appraising looks she gave him whenever he suggested something different.

Jack looked up at the sound of feet coming towards him. It was Juliet. He jumped to his feet, and started towards her. She smiled, as though everything was perfectly normal. But Jack was determined to get a reason for Sawyer's death. He felt an odd pang every time he thought about the man, who only a week ago, had almost called Jack a friend. Jack got the feeling Sawyer had never called anyone else that before. And it was his fault he was dead.

Juliet saw Jack open his mouth, ready to bombard her with accusations, but she held up one hand, the one holding a key. She inserted it into the padlock on the cage, and opened the door.

"What the hell is going -" Jack began, but Juliet gave him a stern look, then smiled again.

"Come on," she said, turning away. Jack hesitated. Juliet turned. "Aren't you coming?"

"Where?" he asked, guarded.

"Home, remember?"