Thanks for the reviews. I'm glad you all seemed to think the last chapter was in character (and that you liked the hints of Suliet)! ;)


Chapter 8.

"You're doing great," Jack murmured, brushing a curl back from Kate's eyes as he rested his forehead against her sweaty temple. "I'm so proud of you."

She was giving birth again, only this time, she wasn't afraid because he was with her holding her hand.

"Congratulations. You have a daughter," the doctor announced when, with one last excruciating push, all her hard work was rewarded with the sound of their baby's first cries. He lifted her up to give them both a better view. "Would you like to meet her?"

All Kate could do was nod. She'd waited so long for this moment, the moment she would finally get to hold her child. "It's a girl," she whispered, those three words like music to her ears, choking back tears when he swaddled her in a pink blanket and placed her on her chest. "It's a girl!"

This baby was hers; she wasn't going to let anyone – even Claire – take her from her this time.

"Didn't I tell you?" Jack agreed, reminding her of his presence, beaming at her as she leant in to kiss him.

"She's beautiful, Kate," he breathed, catching one of their daughter's tiny hands in his, and she couldn't remember ever being as happy as she was at that moment. "Wait 'till her big brother sees her."

"Aaron?" she checked, glancing up at him, hopeful as it occurred to her that if Jack was there, and the baby was a girl, maybe she didn't have to choose after all.

"You sure you didn't get any drugs?" he teased her, dropping an affectionate kiss on the top of her head, and she felt sick to her stomach when she realised that that wasn't who he'd meant.

"Where is he?" she demanded, the peace she'd felt seconds before evaporating. "Where's my son?"

A flicker of hurt passed over his features. "Our son is out in the waiting room with Claire," he told her, his brow furrowing in concern as he added, "Is every—?"

"You have to go get him!" she insisted, the shrill rise in her tone causing the baby to start crying again. She put her to her shoulder, jiggling her to comfort her, trying to keep the dream from unravelling.

"Jack, please!" she cried, her fear exploding into full-blown panic when he hesitated. She needed to make sure he was safe.

The doctor and several nurses were eyeing them with curious looks; he stood up and wandered out into the hall, returning with a bewildered expression.

"I don't understand," he said, shaking his head, the colour draining from his own face. "They're gone."

When Kate opened her eyes, the pillow was damp, the comfortable weight of the baby in her arms replaced by the same emptiness she felt every night on waking.

No matter how many times she had that dream, it never seemed to stop hurting; she needed something solid and real to hold onto so she slipped underneath Aaron's blanket, crawling onto the cot beside him, and that was how she fell asleep: clutching him, her cheek resting on top of his fair head.


Kate left her tent the next morning to find the other survivors preparing for the trek back to the beach. Some – like Locke – had decided to remain on the island with Ben and his people, but what really surprised her was the conversation she overheard between Jack and a few others.

"You're not coming?" Juliet was asking him, pursing her lips, and Kate could see that she was upset.

"I can't," he told her. "Someone has to stay and look for Claire."

"Claire's dead," Sawyer insisted, earning him a sharp look from Juliet.

"Jack, we—"

"No," Miles interrupted her from where he was sitting on his backpack, watching everyone else collect their belongings. "She's alive."

"Oh yeah? And how do you know that?" Sawyer retorted, taking a step towards him, only to be dragged back by Juliet.

"James," she hissed and Kate almost had to laugh at the look on his face.

"She's got you so whipped, man," Miles scoffed, smirking at him as he struggled to regain control of his temper.

"Miles is right," Locke agreed without shifting his attention from the branch he was whittling.

"What?" Jack, Juliet, Sawyer and Kate all asked in unison, turning to stare at him.

"Claire. She's alive. I saw her," he confessed with the same unnatural calm he'd displayed since returning from the dead.

It was beginning to creep Kate out.

"When?" Jack insisted.

"Where?" Sawyer piped up. "We mustta searched every patch of jungle on this island! Twice!"

"In Jacob's cabin," he explained, glancing up at Jack with a nonchalant shrug. "The night before you left."

Something inside Jack seemed to break. "You knew all this time and you never said a word!" he spat, his expression contorted with fury, hurling himself at Locke before anyone could stop him.

"You didn't ask," Locke reminded him without seeming to flinch as Jack knocked him backwards, driving his fist into his face.

"Jack, stop!" Kate cried, afraid of what he would do now that he'd found someone other than himself to blame; she ran towards him, glad that Aaron was still asleep, but Sawyer beat her to it, pulling him off Locke when he tried to hit him again.

"Cool your jets," he warned him, tossing him to the ground again once they were a safe distance away.

"You really want them to see you like this?" he added, jerking his chin at the gathering crowd.

Jack threw him a disgusted look as he got up.

"Where're you going?" Kate asked him, scurrying along in his wake when he stormed past her in the direction of the supplies tent. She knew him well enough by then to recognise when he wasn't about to let something go.

"Jacob's cabin, apparently," he ground out with a derisive laugh as she followed him inside.

"You don't even know where that is!" she reminded him, exasperated, as always, by his erratic behaviour. He was acting crazy.

"I'll find it," he insisted, shoving things into his backpack.

In that moment, Kate knew what she had to do. "I'm coming with you," she told him, ignoring the voice in the back of her mind that warned her it was a bad idea. It wasn't safe, but then how safe was her baby if she didn't do something to set things right with Claire?

"No, you're not," he argued. "You're gonna take Aaron and get back on the boat."

"How dare you!" she complained as everything began to bubble back to the surface: all of the hurt and rage she couldn't seem to move past. Who was he to give her orders? He wasn't her fiancé or Aaron's father. He wasn't anything to them and that was his choice. "You don't get to tell me what to do anymore – you gave up that right when you walked out on us."

"You're going back to the beach, Kate, and that's final," he insisted, glancing up at her, his hard expression softening as he added, "I can't be worrying about you too."

She was sick of being confused by him. Everything he said and did was contradictory. "So you can screw me and disappear before the sun is even up, but you can't let me put myself in danger?" she retorted.

Her palm was itching to slap him again; she managed to keep that impulse under control this time, but the look on his face assured her that her words has the same effect.

"I tried to tell I was sorry and you didn't wanna hear it," he pointed out, turning away from her. "What more do you want from me, Kate?"

"Sorry doesn't fix everything, Jack," she told him. It didn't change the fact that he'd abandoned her again when she needed him the most.

"Have you ever stopped to consider that I might need answers too?" she asked him, forcing herself to adopt a less hostile tone. It was like what he'd said about Ben: they had a common interest. There had always been a stalemate between them where Claire was concerned. "She was Aaron's mother."

This seemed to get his attention; he raised a hand to run his fingers through his hair, acknowledging it with a thoughtful nod.

"Do you know how long I've waited to hear you say that?" he asked her, his voice hoarse with emotion.

"Besides," she continued, fixing him with an ironic smile in an attempt to lighten the mood, "if you try to stop me, I'll just follow you."

He let out a soft chuckle, sobering as he seemed to remember that things weren't that simple anymore. "What about Aaron?"

She realised then just how impulsive her decision had been. She hadn't even considered what would happen to him with the two of them gone.

"I'll get Sun or someone to look after him," she told him, her voice coming out more casual than she felt. She wasn't comfortable leaving him while they were still on the island but it was the right thing to do, for everyone concerned. "He'll be fine."

"You're sure you wanna do this?" he checked, seeming to pick up on her sudden reluctance.

"I have to," she agreed.


"You're not seriously thinking of going with Jack, are you?" Juliet asked, appearing the entrance of Kate's tent as she was getting Aaron dressed and organised to leave.

Jack must have told her, Kate realised, her chest tightening as she prayed she had the tact not to spill her secret.

"Why not?" she agreed, even though she already knew the answer. She wasn't in the mood for another lecture. What she did with her baby and her body was none of Juliet's business. "He has a point – if what Locke said is true and Claire is still alive we can't just leave her here."

She shot a guilty glance at Aaron in case he was listening, but if the name meant anything to him, he didn't let on.

"You need to be on that boat, Kate," Juliet argued, stepping in through the flap. "Danielle Rousseau and Claire were both in their final trimester when they came here. We don't know what'll happen to you if you stay on the island."

"That's just it, we don't," Kate reminded her. "I feel fine." She forced a smile for her benefit. "I feel normal."

"Even so, I think you should at least tell him," Juliet said.

And undo all the hard work she'd done to convince him?

"I'm not sure he could deal with this right now," she confessed, hoping that she wouldn't see right through this excuse. "He's stressed out enough as it is."

"All the more reason you—"

"Promise me you won't say anything," she insisted, afraid she would try to overrule her like she did with Sun.

"Kate—"

"Please, Juliet," Kate pleaded, panic stricken at the thought of being sent back to the boat without getting what she'd come for. She couldn't let them sideline her. Not when she was so close. "I dream about her every night – I need to know why."

Juliet sighed. "I won't tell him, and I'll make sure James doesn't either," she agreed and Kate felt herself relaxing, "but for the record, I want you to know how stupid I think you're being."

Kate flashed her a wry smile. "You know, if you're so worried about me, you could come with us," she teased her.

Just as she expected, Juliet looked wary. "I wish I could help, Kate, but my nephew is almost six years old and I haven't even met him," she told her, the hint of an apology in her tone.

"We'll wait for you," she said as she turned towards the exit, "Be careful," and Kate nodded.

"Juliet," she called after her when she realised that she could help.

"Yes, Kate?"

"Do you think you could do one last thing for me?" she asked. "Could you and Sawyer make sure Aaron gets on the boat?"

Juliet gave her a tiny smile. "Of course," she agreed. "Is he ready to go?"

"Yeah," Kate told her, swallowing against the lump forming in her throat as she closed the zipper on his backpack and handed it to Juliet.

She didn't know when – or if – she was going to see him again and when she did, everything was going to be different.

"Hey, bud," she said, crouching in front of him, doing her best to keep her voice steady. "Jack and I have to go away for a while, but I want you to be a good boy, and do everything Juliet says until I get back, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed with an obedient nod and it broke her heart to think that this was no different to him than when she left him at day care, or with Veronica to run errands.

"I love you," she told him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling his small body against hers. She pressed her lips to the top of his head, closing her eyes to keep him from seeing her tears. "So, so much."

"I love you too, Mommy," he said, squeezing her back.

She was on the verge of losing it; Juliet seemed to sense this, reaching out for his hand as she drew back.

"Come on, Aaron," she told him, leading him out of the tent, "let's go find Ji…"


Next chapter(s): Jack and Kate set off on a hike through the jungle, just like old times, but how will they react when they find out each other's secrets? ;)