Chapter 6

Change in Plans (present day island)

Kate watched as Jack ran over to Danielle to find out what had happened, but Kate already knew: Alex left to find Locke and rescue her dad. Maybe she knew where he was. Kate knew how she felt. Ben might not have been the best dad to Alex, but he was all she had for a father and all she knew, even if he wasn't her biological father, Alex still loved him.

Kate walked up to Danielle who was arguing with Jack.

"It's too dark you'll never find her now. We'll look for her together as soon as the sun comes up." Jack said trying to reason with Danielle.

"She could be dead by morning. And you need to take these people back to the beach. No, I am going and I'm going alone."

Carl looked at Danielle and stepped forward. "I'm coming too. I think I know where she is going."

Danielle looked at Carl for a moment. "Fine, let's go."

Jack interjected. "Danielle, we need you to help us find the rest of the way back."

"I can lead us the rest of the way back." Kate said. Jack looked from Kate back to Danielle.

"What about when they come? I don't know if we can wait." Jack said.

"I already told you, this is my home now and I am not leaving." Danielle stepped back and started walking away from them. Carl had already gathered their things and followed behind her. He looked back at Jack and said, "Good luck."

Jack nodded, "Yeah you too."

Jack turned back to face Kate.

"She's a strong and smart girl, she can handle herself. Plus she knows this island probably better than anyone." Kate said trying to reassure Jack.

"And what happens if she finds Locke? He's got a gun."

"And they've got Danielle, who has survived on this island for 16 years, and spent that 16 years searching for her daughter. Danielle's not going to let anything happen to her now that she's found her."

Jack nodded in acceptance then looked to the sky. Kate followed his gaze upward. Dawn was still hours away and knew that he was contemplating whether or not they should keep moving. He looked back at Kate. "Do you think you could still lead us back in the dark?"

There was half a moon hanging in the night sky and it was enough for Kate. "Of course." She said confidently.

"Okay, I'll go make the announcement." Jack turned and walked off to address the rest of the camp. To Kate's surprise, nobody made any complaints in response to the sudden change of plan, and they started off into the night with hand made torches and the moon as their only source of light.

The sun was just rising as they made their way into the familiar surroundings of their camp. Sayid and Jin were standing guard and were the first to greet the exhausted travelers. Kate watched as Jin swooped Sun up into his arms, Sun was in tears but smiling and Kate was so happy that Jin and the rest had survived. She looked around and saw Hurley and Bernard followed by Juliet as they made their way over to the crowd. Juliet walked up to Jack and hugged him. "Glad to see that you made it back in one piece." Kate heard her tell Jack. He smiled back at Juliet and said "Yeah you too."

Normally Kate would have been jealous to see them together, but for some reason Kate was ok with it. She wasn't sure why it was different this time, but thought that maybe it had to do with the fact that she knew that he loved her. The thought of that moment brought a smile to her face. She moved from the crowd and headed towards her tend, but there was nothing there but ash and pieces of wood scattered in every direction. She had almost forgotten that her tent had been one of the 3 tents selected to be blown up. She moved on further down the beach to Sawyer's tent. He was the only person she didn't see greet the group when they came back and knew he must be sleeping in his tent.

She was surprised and somewhat relieved to find his tent to be empty. She started looking through one of his suitcase to find some of her stuff that she had left there.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kate heard Sawyer say from behind her. Kate wasn't startled though and continued looking through his stuff.

"I'm looking for my stuff, and a blanket." She said without looking at him.

He came into the tent and moved her aside. "I'll do it." He said sharply.

"Hey!" Kate protested, and then stood up behind him with her arms crossed against her chest.

"Why don't you stop with the act Sawyer?" Kate said as she watched him rummage through his stuff. He ignored her comment, but stood up in front of her as he roughly shoved some clothes and a blanket in her hands. He turned back around and grabbed something else.

"Oh and you'll need this too." Sawyer said coldly as he tossed a pregnancy test on top.

Kate looked at the test then back at Sawyer. "What the hell is this?" She asked him with anger and irritation in her voice.

"What the hell does it look like Kate? Now go take it so we can know for sure." He said. There was anger in his voice too, and something else. Kate recognized it as fear.

Kate hated it when he ordered her around. "I thought you didn't care!"

"I don't!" He shouted back.

Kate stood there for a moment hurt and in shock, his words still hung in the air above them. "I can't believe that after everything we have been through on this island… you haven't changed a bit?"

Kate had had enough and stormed out of Sawyer's tent. She knew that if she had stayed any longer that she would have punched him. She thought she heard Sawyer shout something at her as she left, but she was already far from his tent to understand his words and didn't care to hear them either. Kate walked into the jungle without a clue as to where she was going. She cursed Sawyer under her breath. How could he be so cold? She thought. She stopped walking and found herself deep into the jungle. She looked at the pregnancy test. "Fine." She said angrily aloud. Kate ripped open the box and pulled the test out discarding its packaging to the jungle floor. She stared at the test and contemplated whether or not she wanted to know the results. She did.

Kate sat on a log anxiously awaiting the results. She held the test that she had taken in her hand but refused to look at it yet. Just another minute she told herself. A minute had passed. She closed her eyes, ok this is it. Just as she was about to open her eyes and find out the truth, someone spoke her name, in a soft calm voice. Kate was startled and felt the test slip from her fingers onto the ground in front of her. It was Jack. Usually his presence was a welcome one, but out of all the people to come stumbling through the jungle at that moment, Jack was in fact the last person that Kate wanted to see. She held her breath and wished that the smoke monster would suddenly appear and carry her away.

"I saw you run into the jungle after the argument you had with Sawyer… I just wanted to make sure you were ok." Jack moved closer to her. She couldn't look at him, mortified that he had possibly overheard their argument.

"No I'm fine." she said quickly hoping that he hadn't seen the test that was laying on the ground right in between them. But he had. Jack remained calm as he nonchalantly picked up the test and carefully examined it as if it were nothing more than a rock or a curious leaf he had just found in the jungle. Kate bit her lip and nervously watched as he looked at it.

"It's negative." He said lightly as he passed the test back to Kate. Kate looked at him. It was hard for her to read his expression. She searched his eyes. There was no trace of judgment or anger or fear. Maybe he felt sorry for her she thought, or maybe he was just trying to be supportive, she couldn't tell. Her focus moved from Jack to the test. She studied it for herself and as Jack had said, it was negative. Kate sat back down on the log and let out a sigh of relief. He sat on the log next to her and both sat quietly for a bit. Kate didn't know what to say, she looked at Jack and could tell he wanted to say something, and now wore a sad expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Charlie's dead." He said in a low regretful voice.

"What!"

"Desmond came back from the underwater station and told us. He was pretty upset and really didn't go into more detail about it."

"Oh Charlie…how's Claire?"

"I haven't told her yet. Nobody has."

"She needs to know Jack."

"I know, and I'm gonna tell her, I just need to figure out how first."

Kate heard a noise in the jungle and stood up quickly. Jack sensed her alarm and stood next to her. Neither of them spoke. They scanned the area for signs of someone who may have been near them but saw nothing.

Suddenly three men came into view all armed with rifles wearing camouflage. They approached Jack and Kate cautiously.

"We don't want to hurt you, we just want to talk." Said the man who stood in the middle. His voice was husky, and he was slightly taller than the other two.

"Who are you?" Jack demanded.

"My name is Bill Stanley we came here on a freighter. Are you Jack Shephard?"

Jack ignored his question. "I thought you were supposed to meet us at the beach."

The man called Stanley glanced at the man to his left. "Well there has been a change in plans."