Thank you everyone for your kind reviews. They have meant so much to me. Your wish is my command and Jack is finally getting the help he needs. By the way, this is not the final chapter. It's a rainy day here, a perfect day for a good cup of coffee and a story. Enjoy.

Kate felt all ability to function leave her and she remained rooted to the ground. Every thought and every determined effort of will had been focused for days upon reaching this goal and now there it was before her and she was helpless to move, frozen. Kate gave herself a moment to weep. She cried quietly and quickly, great heaving, silent sobs of gratitude.

Kate rose slowly and made her way with faltering steps toward the fire. She had been so sure until now; every step had been so clearly delineated. Kate had not allowed herself to think beyond the quest. The fulfillment of her task left her shaken and unsure. She approached Rose and Jack silently, afraid to disturb the tableau before her. Rose had clearly fallen asleep over her book and Jack was sleeping peacefully, lying on his back with his arms akimbo, and his skin was white with a pallor that Kate had never seen before.

Kate sank to her knees and reached out her hand, she gently touched Jack's cheek. His skin was drawn tight to his bones and it felt so cold to her touch. Kate bowed her head and placed her cheek with the greatest delicacy upon Jack's arm. She had found him. Her heart swelled in gratitude and she finally allowed herself to rest, to close her eyes and wait for the dawn.

"Rose…" Bernard called his wife, "Rose? I brought some tea, maybe we can give Jack…."Bernard dropped the tea as he looked upon the sight before him.

He gasped and nearly shouted, "Kate… Kate?"

Bernard's voice reached such a high pitch that he woke Rose and Kate with a start. Rose turned slowly toward Kate, her eyes went very wide and she took in a deep breath. Kate was not quite sure but Rose seemed to recite something under her breath. Rose whispered, her voice shaking, "Kate, what on earth are you doing here?"

Kate looked at Rose and Bernard and understood their incredulity, she had arrived from the other side of the world as suddenly as an apparition, unexpected and unexplained. She did not think that she would be able to justify her presence adequately. Kate sighed, this was not a novel experience for her, she was quite used to being misunderstood and not particularly wanted. She did what she always did in these kinds of situations, she did not explain herself at all, she ignored Rose's question entirely and instead asked one herself.

"How is he?" Kate looked down at Jack, with the dawn his breathing had become shallower, and he was beginning to toss fitfully in his sleep. Kate drew her body up and reached for her packs. She looked toward Bernard, his eyes were on her corpsman bag.

"Is that a Corpsman Assault Bag?" Bernard gestured toward the bag, I was a corpsman, at the time we had MOLLE bags, I heard these are better. May I?" Kate handed Bernard the bag silently. He opened it and took in a deep breath and let out a long and low whistle.

"Kate, I do not know what fair wind brought you here but this.." Bernard patted the bag and looked up at Kate with real gratitude. "This, Kate, might just save Jack's life. Get me some water boiling Rose, please. And Kate, get in the cabin please and retrieve two clean blankets and as many clean towels as you can find. Things are a jumble, we've been busy. Kate and Rose stared at the transformation in Bernard. The sight of what was in Kate's bag had reinvigorated him, now there was hope. "What are you women waiting for! Move!"

Rose and Kate moved. Within fifteen minutes Bernard had a mobile infirmary arranged for Jack. He had a mobile IV penicillin drip hanging from a makeshift frame and he had Jack's wounds drained and dressed with large sterile gauze pads. Through the entire process Jack had remained asleep, completely oblivious to Kate's arrival. Kate was assisting Bernard, thankful for his corpsman training and deeply grateful for Harry and his expertise in requisitions.

"I was in the Seabees, Kate, I don't even want to know where you got a fully equipped CAB, but Kate, this might have done it. He might just make it, he's not out of the woods yet, but this is the first time there has even been a glimmer of hope."

Kate looked down at Jack with tears streaming down her face. The wound in his side was so terrible, the pain he must be suffering, that he had suffered must have been so excruciating. Kate stretched her hand out and gently stroked Jack's fingers with her own.

Rose looked on and regarded the tenderness of the gesture. She had prayed for and hoped for a miracle and this was it. Kate had come.

"Kate, here." Rose pointed to a nearby platter with some fruit on it and a gourd of water. "You should eat something, God knows how long it has been for you and we only have the time, energy and space for one collapsed person at a time." Kate looked at Rose gratefully and retreated to the refreshment.

Several hours later the three of them were still keeping their vigil with Jack. He was still asleep but his breathing was again deeper and more regular.

"Bernard, Rose you two ought to go into your cabin and get some real rest. The two of you have been with Jack alone and I can give you guys a chance to sleep, please."

"I guess we should Rose, even if it's just for an hour or so. Things seem to be calm right now."

"Honey, will you call me if anything changes?" Rose looked to Kate for reassurance

Kate looked up and nodded solemnly. She yearned to be alone with Jack, but she felt that her request was selfish and she did not want to press it. When they had retreated to their cabin, Kate sank beside Jack and took his hand between her own. She placed her mouth over their hands and placed a kiss in his cradled palm.

"Jack" She whispered his name reverently, letting her tongue trace the sounds carefully. It took less time than a breath's exhale to say, but the world that one word held was full and wide. She would never leave his side again, she made a vow to herself. Even if he did not want her anymore she would stay near by. She would never allow herself to be absent from the part of the world that he was in. Without Jack she had been floating adrift in the world and when she came near to him Kate was suddenly ashore, washed upon the edge of a great continent. Whatever had been missing in her when he was gone was restored instantly with his presence. A word need not have passed between them, she could see him, he was breathing, he "was". For this moment, that was enough.

She looked up at his beautiful face and to her astonishment she met his open eyes.

"Kate?" Jack mouthed her name and no sound came out. The look upon his face was one of mingled astonishment and horror. He pulled his hand from hers and shut his eyes again in an attempt to shake himself awake from this night mare.

Kate could not be here, she could not be on the island. This is a continuation of the dreams, her face near him was an illusion, she is safe, safe at home.. Jack reopened his eyes.

No.

It could not be. Jack closed his eyes again and turned his face away from Kate. He swallowed hard and tried again. He opened his eyes and faced her with trepidation.

It was true. There she was. His greatest fear. She was back. She was on the island, she had not gotten home like he had thought.

"Jack." Kate whispered his name again, hoping to help him with what was troubling him. She placed her hand gently on his cheek attempting to calm him down.

Jack shook her off with as much energy as his weakened frame could muster. This was too much, he could not fathom this new thing. He turned his face away one final time and stubbornly ignored her gentle call.

Rose and Bernard finally came out of their cabin and saw Kate, desolate by Jack's side. Jack lay wide awake beside her with his face determinedly facing away from her toward the dense curtain of the jungle on his opposite side.

As they drew near, Kate stood up, whispered something to Rose and retreated to the jungle behind the cabin.

The day passed and the night was nearly gone. Kate was still in a small clearing behind the cabin as her second dawn on the island was beginning to break. She had not moved in the night, her body was still and her mind was suspended between two conflicting sets of emotions.

Jack was alive, Bernard had saved him. That muscular thought carried Kate and sent solid waves of comfort to her broken heart.

He didn't want her.

This had happened when she had come for him before. There had been good solid reasons for it then, she had not known that he knew of them though. His rejection of her when she made her rescue attempt for him from the others had had a good foundation to it and she had known it. It had hurt, but the pain had been justified. It stung like a knife, but not like this. This hurt Kate's deepest core. Kate was at the end, she sat in the small clearing and stared at the jungle all around her. Her body was spent, used up completely and her weariness pressed upon her with the weight of a heavy stone. Her heart though, the weight upon it felt like it was greater than that of the island all together. She was beyond the ability to cry, she was finished. In all of her life, as ill spent and broken as it was she had never given up. This was a first. In the small clearing that morning Kate Austen sat upon a rock, put her head in her hands and stopped. Kate gave up.

Rose and Bernard sat with Jack and watched as his body began to gain strength from the miraculous medicine that Kate had crossed the world to bring to him. His mind began to be lifted from the dense fog that had held it in its grip. He looked at Bernard and Rose with clear recognition and attempted to pull himself into a sitting position.

"Bernard?" Jack looked at the navy issue medical gear and fingered the IV tubing. He lifted his t-shirt and inspected his sterile bandages. "What is this? Have you opened a MASH unit?" Jack winced at his sudden movement and lay down again.

"Jack you rest." Rose handed Jack a drink of tea that she had brewed for him over the fire. You've been with us a good many days and I cannot tell you how glad I am to see you awake."

"Rose?" Jack looked up at her and took the tea she offered. "How did I get here? Where in god's name did you get this stuff?"

"Well, it's quite a story and we have time. So let me check your wounds and then Rose can tell you anything and everything you need to know and I am sure many things that you won't think you'll need. But…you probably do."

"Bernard" Rose looked at him with confusion and affection written on her face. 'Jack is confused enough, honey. I don't think that you are helping things at all."

Bernard finished checking Jack's wounds, they were getting better already. The drip will have been in him 24 hours soon and he would be able to walk around as soon as his wound would allow him too. He really had cleared a corner, Jack was going to make it. This wound would not kill him, not this time. "I will leave Rose to clarify things for you Jack. I am going to go find Kate."

"Bernard, she told me where she is. She is in the clearing behind the cabin. Go to her. Tell her that Jack is…"

"What!" Jack's back went straight up and he accidently pulled hard on the IV cord, nearly pulling the needle out of his body. "Kate's here. I did see her. Oh God." Jack looked at Rose and Bernard and shook his head as if to clear it of offending gnats. He wiped at his forehead and pressed in upon his temples with his fingers. Then he peered up at Rose. "Maybe you'd better start at the beginning."

Rose sat herself next to Jack and got herself comfortable. This was going to take a while. Bernard looked back at them and made his way to the clearing to talk to Kate.

Rose had been talking for a while and Jack placed his hand on her arm and interrupted her story. "Rose, I will never be able to adequately thank you and Bernard for what you have done. I am so grateful for everything. You saved my life."

"Jack, Bernard and I aren't the ones that saved your life. Kate did that. That's why she's here"

Jack looked at Rose and his face changed. A curtain came down over his expression, and his mouth closed into a grim solid line. He shook his head. "I did not want that, I don't want that. That is the one thing that I did not want."

Rose was confused."Jack, what are you talking about? Do you not want to live? Or, is it that you don't want Kate here? Kate has said very little. You know, she never says much."

Jack chuckled in spite of himself at that, nodding his head in agreement."She certainly isn't one for clarifying things."

Rose straightened her back and looked at Jack firmly. "Kate brought these things you've got surrounding you. She brought Bernard the supplies he needed to fix you. I don't know where she got them, I don't know where she came from. But she got here just in time. Because Jack if she had not come when she did, you would be a dead man. So you can thank Bernard and I for staying with you. But saving your life? That's all on Kate."

Jack looked down at his hands, he felt admonished. He felt as if he were eight, only Rose could do this to him. "Rose, she was safe, she was off this island. I saw the plane, when I saw that plane. Rose, I cannot tell you the feeling it gave me. I felt like I could breath again, even though ironically I couldn't, for the first time in months. I brought her back here and she almost died, not just once but many, many times. This place is, it always has been dangerous and she was safe. Rose, now she's back. Hell, I don't know how she got here. But I don't want her here, it's the last place I want her. Maybe she did save my life, but I can tell you right now…" Jack put his hand out and grasped Rose's arm for emphasis. "it's not worth it."

Rose reared back. She would have slapped Jack if he wasn't so sick. Men could be so infuriating. She felt rage tickle the back of her throat and she swallowed it down, she would save that for later. Right now she had something to say.

"Don't you ever say that again, Jack Shephard. That is not your place to say. The value of your life is weighed by others not yourself. To Kate it was worth it. Do you even know her at all? Have you missed the most fundamental thing about that girl after having known her these last three and half years? I admit it, Kate is an opaque person, she is not a clear glass of water like some I know. She has so many hidden corners I could probably spend twenty years with her and know less about her than I would know of Bernard after twenty minutes. But there is one solid thing I do know about her. Something I have known about her from the moment I met her." Rose wiped at her cheeks. Tears of anger, relief and frustration had spurt out of her eyes in spite of herself. "The one clear thing about Kate, Jack, is that she loves you. She always has. It is as clear to me as the sun in the sky."

Jack let Rose's words wash over him. He let the large fact of Kate's love in and it began to break apart the anger and fear that he felt at the knowledge of her return.

Rose watched the change in Jack, she saw his muscles relax as he willed himself to calm down.

"Jack, you two are so different. You over think everything. Everything you do has a reason, a well thought out plan and you follow your plan carefully from its inception to its conclusion. You approach problems as a logical sequence of steps. Now Kate, she's different. She has never been able to ignore a problem. She doesn't approach one and cipher it like a puzzle. Kate, she rides a problem like a wild horse. There's something about her that needs to start right away. She will never be able to step back and distance herself before she jumps in. I guess it is her greatest weakness. But, Jack, it's her greatest strength as well. When we were on the island together in those early days, I was watching you two. I don't think you really knew what Kate did in those early days. You were too busy. You had to keep everyone together and safe and without you no one would have survived. That's a fact. But Jack, Kate was just as fundamental to everyone's survival because she "did". She just did, I never saw another with as much of a knack for doing. She was up with the dawn each day and she was out getting fruit. Piles of the stuff, do you know how much fruit it takes to feed forty- some people? I'm sure Kate knows, down to the last guava. She knew and she took on that task silently and all on her own. Nope, not one of us would have survived if it hadn't been for Kate. And you know what Jack? I never thanked her, no one ever did. I don't even think people knew she got that fruit, she just let it pile up and she quietly distributed it. To most of the people, I guess they just thought that beach rained fruit. But I didn't, I've got eyes and I know how to use them. That girl has never been used to getting credit, and damnit Jack. Today I am not going to let you do this to her again."

Rose stood up, she looked like Hera in her indignation. She placed her hands on her hips. "Kate has spent a lifetime doing for others, I know it and she never gets thanked. You, Jack Shephard are going to thank that girl for your life whether you want to or not, whether you're grateful for it or not. If you don't, I'm going to make sure you aren't grateful for it anymore because I will be determined to make it miserable." Rose turned and walked away from Jack. She was shaking, she had never yelled at a sick man before.

In the clearing behind the cabin, Bernard watched Kate as she sat stock still upon a rock. She was watching the jungle as if it would reveal some secret to her. He circled around carefully, not wanting to surprise her in his approach. He stepped close to her, close enough to touch her shoulder.

"Kate?" Kate looked up at him and Bernard was taken aback by the look in her eyes. There was a new vacancy there. He did not think that he had ever seen what a broken spirit looked like, but now he had.

Kate had never been approachable to Bernard, she had always seemed on the edge of things to him. Bernard loved the bonhomie of a campfire chat session but Kate had always distanced herself from those encounters, she listened but didn't generally participate. But Bernard's heart reached out to her today. This girl had been lifted in the air and dropped and now she was broken into thousands of little pieces. Bernard brought Kate into his own old and comfortable arms and hugged her as if she were his own little girl.

"Do you need anything, Kate?" Kate lifted her face from Bernard's comforting shoulder and wiped at the tears beginning to sprout at the corners of her eyes.

She shook her head, "How is he Bernard, is he going to make it. Is there anything that I can get? I see that there are some mango trees to the left there, if I approach it just right I should be able to reach a good bit before noon. Jack might need…"

"Kate." Bernard put his hands on her shoulders and bent down to peer in her eyes. "He is going to make it. We did it, you did it. He is awake and I'm taking the IV out in a few minutes. You can get some fruit if you want to, but if I were you I would see Jack."

Kate looked back at Bernard. That was the one thing, the only thing that she couldn't do. "You go finish fixing him, Bernard. Thank you for what you have done Bernard. Thank you for coming back here and letting me know. I will get some fruit and I will set up camp here behind you guys, if that's okay." Kate stood up and patted Bernard on the shoulder and kissed his cheek. She walked into the jungle with an empty pack in her hand.

An hour later, Bernard had taken the IV out of Jack's arm. "Jack, if you want to you can try to stand up. It would be good for you to try."

Jack pushed himself into a sitting position. "I want to Bernard, Can you help me to walk a few feet into that clearing behind the cabin?"

"Whoa, Jack, I said stand, not take a walk. It's a little early for that."

"Bernard, if we support him on either side maybe we can all swing it." Rose glared at Bernard and walked to Jack's side, putting his long arm over her shoulder. Bernard had no choice but to obey. Rose and Bernard brought a shuffling Jack between them to the clearing.

Jack saw her then, sitting on the large solitary stone in the center of the clearing. She had a full bag of fruit on the ground next to her, dropped haphazardly to her side. She was staring at him, bracing herself for his fury. She was so vulnerable at that moment, he saw the pain of it etched on her face as if she had lost the capacity to hide. Kate, without the capacity to hide. Jack swallowed a large lump in his throat. This Kate who looked at him broke his heart, he had never seen her like this before, even after Aaron. This was new.

Jack shook off Bernard and Rose's support and he made the final steps of his approach on his own. He stood facing her and met her diminished eyes. He bent to his knees and lay his forearms along her thighs and grasped her waist. He lay his head upon her lap and pulled her body as close to his as his prone position allowed. He closed his eyes and murmered, "Kate, thank you" Then, Jack let the tears come.

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