Sorry for the wait in updates. This chapter was paritcularly hard to write, but I think you'll all enjoy it. Things really pick up after this, so I'll try to get that up quick.

I'm a stitch away
from making it
and a scar away
from falling apart
-The After Life of the Party, Fall Out Boy

"I want to tell you what I did." It was the first thing he heard upon awakening, and he couldn't have imagined a sentence that would have suprised him more. It had been two days since Kate had seen the light, and they were no closer to getting out than they had been then.

It was obvious that Kate had been awake for a while, thinking deeply about this. She was sitting, her knees pulled against her chest with her arms wrapped around them. Her face was guarded, but the statement was clear. She wanted him to know.

"You don't have to do that." He was tired, the effects of sleep still wearing off. "It doesn't matter."

She shook her head. "It does matter. You deserve to know. If I were you. I'd want to know." She was determined, he could see that, but he had to try one last time.

"Really. I don't need to know." In all honestly, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. What if he couldn't handle the truth? What if it was so horrible that he couldn't stand to be near her? What if it changed how he saw her?

But this was Kate. How bad could it be? He tried to assure himself that it wouldn't mean anything, that he could still trust her. In this situation, he had to trust her.

"You do," she argued. "I want you to know."

He nodded numbly, bracing himself for the worst. Could his determination to not think differently of her outweight whatever shock her confession would draw forth?

She took a deep breath, and he wondered if she was second guessing her decision. Just as he was about to tell her that she didn't need to do this, she started to speak.

"I killed my father." She spoke so quickly he almost didn't hear it. But he managed to understand the words coming from her mouth, and he felt his stomach drop.

"You.." he trailed off, unsure of what to say to her.

"He was abusive. He hit my mother.. all the time." The cold, detatched way that she said this scared him more than the words did. "She wouldn't leave him. If I hadn't done it, he probably would have killed her. It was the only way."

He nodded, still trying to choose his words.

Her gaze flickered to him, her eyes wide and vulnerable, even as she tried to look strong. "So, that's it. And if you hate me now, well, I guess you'll just be like everyone else."

He tried to look at it as objectively as he could. She killed her father. No, her abusive father. Was he really one to judge? His own father's death had most likely been an indirect effect of his actions.

And something about the way she said, 'you'll just be like everyone else,' made him feel strangely sympathetic. She didn't deserve this.

He nodded, slowly at first, but then with more confidence. "You did what you thought was best."

The look on her face was one of pure shock. He realized that she had expected rejection, and he was nearly as shocked as she was at his acceptance of her crime.

"You're serious?" she questioned, the suprised expression still donning her features. "You're not mad?"

"Suprised, yeah. A little bit confused. But it's not like we're all perfect. From what I can tell, you would only do something like that if you had a real reason to." He really hoped that this was the truth, and that he wasn't putting his complete trust in her for nothing.

It helped that they were alone. In a group, he would have other options, other people to talk this out with. Being just them, he felt as if he had to trust her, had to believe she was a good person.

"You.. you really believe that?" she asked, and it was if something changed in her eyes. Where before she had been guarded towards him, even at the lightest moments, now she was putting herself out there.

"Yeah, I guess I do." He gave her a small smile, and he could see her eyes glisten with unshed tears. As she blinked, one fell, traveling slowly down her cheek. He reached up to wipe the tear away with his thumb, hearing her inhale quickly as his finger made contact with her soft skin.

She suprised him then by reaching to wrap her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. Her body wracked with soft sobs, and he could feel his shirt become damp with her tears. He slowly moved his arms to support her back, holding her close to him as she cried. It was strange to see her so vulnerable after her stoic appearance in the last week.

Her sobs died down eventually, but she didn't loosen her grip on him. She turned, her mouth aligned with his ear, and whispered a soft, "Thank you."

It was different, after that. The protectiveness Kate held against him was almost nonexistent. They trekked through the jungle for three more days without finding anything, and though the hopelessness was still there, the comfort between them made things seem less dreary.

"So, what's with the tattoos?" Kate asked Jack on the fourth days, as they stopped to eat. They were running low on food, a fact that worried them both, but neither dared to mention.

He laughed, gazing slightly at his shouler. "What do you mean?"

"You just don't seem like the tattoo kind of guy." She took a bite of a mango, ignoring the plate of lasagna next to her foot. They had stopped eating the plane meals because they had been unrefrigerated for so long.

"You'd be suprised," he told her. She grinned at him, shaking her head slightly.

"I guess so."

They finished eating, packing their bags to continue on their hike. They were in the middle of a discusion about one of Jack's more difficult surgeries, something she sometimes liked to ask him about, when Kate stopped short. She was a foot or two ahead of him, and she was in the proccess of coming over a hill.

"What are you doing?" he asked, catching up to her quickly. He too stopped, a smile growing on his face to match the one on hers.

The vast blue ocean greeted them, sand shining in the sunlight. The lack of life on the beach did nothing to dampen their spirits, because as far as they were concerned, they were one step closer.

I know that on the show Jack didn't let Kate tell him what she did, but things are different when you're stranded alone. I think I'd want to know! Reviews are always appreciated, so be sure to leave one!