Thanks everyone for your reviews and your kind words. It's been a difficult semester, but the good news is that I handed my last paper in on Monday, and now I'm looking forward to getting back into writing this fic if you guys are still interested in reading it. ;)

Chapter 10.

After their conversation at the airfield, Jack and Kate reached a new understanding: he stopped showing up at her house with offerings, and in return, she answered his questions as best as she could. Each time he came by to visit, he made her recount a new story about their life together, but despite her promise not to hold anything back, she could never bring herself to tell him about the night he volunteered to become the island's protector. She didn't know what she would do if he made up his mind to go back there again when she needed him here, not only for herself, but for their unborn child, who had already lost its father once. She wasn't about to let it happen again.

"You look nice," he told her when he arrived to pick her up for her sixteen week check up.

Now that her second trimester was well underway, she had finally caved and started wearing the few maternity outfits that she owned: in this case, a stretchy black scoop neck t-shirt that showed off her impressive pregnancy cleavage and a pair of dark jeans with elastic panelling at the sides. The first time she put them on was the first time that she had really felt pregnant.

She folded her arms over her belly. "See, now why do people always do that?"

"Do what?" he asked, looking genuinely puzzled, and she could tell he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Compliment the pregnant girl." Ever since she'd begun to show noticeably, she couldn't go a day without someone commenting on her appearance. Just yesterday, the woman who served her at the grocery store made a big deal about telling her how good she looked. She was sure that she meant well, but instead of reassuring her, it just made her feel self-conscious. After years of doing her best to be invisible, she wasn't used to attracting so much positive attention from strangers.

"It wasn't a compliment, Kate," he insisted and she couldn't help the smirk that crept onto her lips as she waited for him to continue.

"Obviously it was," he corrected himself, clearly flustered, as though even he wasn't sure of what he was trying to say, "but that doesn't mean it isn't true. You're beautiful. Surely I must have told you that before?"

The smile slid from her lips then. He had told her that, every day in the beginning when she would catch him staring at her like he couldn't believe that she was actually right there in front of him, but then he began to change, growing more and more distant until she found herself wondering if he even saw her anymore. It wasn't until she got shot that he seemed to notice her again, and by then, he'd convinced himself that the damage was irreversible. It never seemed to occur to him that the whole time, she'd been trying to get his attention, waiting for a sign that he was willing to fight for her. For them. The sad truth of their relationship was that she was always the one thing he had never been prepared to go to war for.

Hot tears burned her eyes at the bittersweet memories that his words stirred up; embarrassed by this unintentional display of emotion, she turned her face away, pretending to be distracted by the sight of one of Aaron's toys on the floor, but it was too late. He had already seen.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder. "Did I say something to upset you?"

What he'd said was exactly right; it was just the timing of it that was all wrong. She shook her head, forcing the smile back onto her face. "No, I just… I can't remember the last time I heard you say something like that."

If he was honest with himself, Jack still had no idea where he was going, so when they reached the hospital, he let Kate lead the way to the maternity wing.

As she took him on a detour past what had once been his office – now occupied by his replacement – he tried to picture himself walking those halls in a pristine white lab coat or pale blue scrubs, on his way to surgery or a consult, but it didn't feel like his life. The version of him who had felt at home here didn't exist anymore, and he was beginning to doubt that he ever would again.

He was just about to follow Kate back into the lift when a voice called out to him. "Jack! I heard you were back, but I didn't expect to see you around here so soon."

He turned to see an African American woman around his own age coming towards them. From her lab coat, he guessed that she was one of his colleagues. His eyes drifted down to the embroidery on her pocked. E. Stevenson, he read. "I'm sorry, but I don't…" he trailed off, scratching his head in frustration, at a loss for what to say. It was obvious from her words that she knew him, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with the rest of her name.

He was relieved when Kate leaned in and whispered, "That's Erika. She was on your surgical team."

Erika. As he'd come to expect, the name didn't seem familiar at all. He wondered briefly if she was just someone he worked with or if he had once considered her a friend.

"So it's true? You have amnesia then?" Erika said, more as a statement than a question. He wasn't surprised that that the news had hit the hospital rumour mill. It was good gossip. "What's the prognosis?" Her eyes darted briefly over to Kate, as though she wasn't sure which one of them she should be addressing the question to.

That was something that he could answer. "It's retrograde amnesia, so I can make new memories, I just can't access the old ones. The doctors say there's a chance that it'll all come back to me, but there's also a chance that it won't," he confessed. "We just have to wait and see." The most frustrating part was that since his brain wasn't actually damaged, it all had to be there, locked away somewhere inside his head. All he needed to do was to find the key.

"Give it time," she told him gently. "I see miracles every day." She glanced at her watch. "I have to get to a meeting, but it was nice seeing you again, Jack. You too, Kate." She started to move off down the hall and then stopped, nodding in Kate's direction. "Oh, and congratulations."

"Who's this you've brought with you?" Kate's obstetrician asked, regarding Jack with a friendly smile as she let them both into the exam room. "Another in-law?"

"Actually, this is Jack. The baby's father," Kate told her, looking slightly uncomfortable, prompting Jack to wonder what the doctor knew about him. "Jack, this is Dr. Connor."

He didn't have to wonder for long. The doctor's expression turned to one of confusion as she opened Kate's file, shuffling through the pages until she found what she was looking for. "I seem to remember you saying at one of our earlier appointments that the father was deceased?"

He still hadn't gotten used to hearing himself described that way, especially since, in a way, it was true. He wasn't the same man that he had been three months ago.

"It's kind of a long story," Kate agreed, glancing over at him with a wry grin.

The doctor seemed to know better than to push for an explanation. "Well, the important thing is that you're here now," she told him with a kind smile. She took a pale pink gown from a hook on the wall and held it out to Kate. "I imagine you're very eager to see the baby, so why don't you go ahead and put this on for me, Kate, and we'll get started?"

He sat in a chair off to one side, watching the doctor weigh Kate and draw blood from the vein in her arm. While they had agreed to let her run all of the usual tests, they had decided against the amnio since the risks to the baby outweighed the benefits.

"You okay?" she checked when he reached for her hand as the sonagram technician set up the equipment for the ultrasound. She seemed stunned by the contact. It was weeks since he'd touched her anywhere except her stomach.

"Is it normal to be this nervous?" he asked her. Everything looked fine in the picture she'd given him, but still, he couldn't shake the irrational fear that all of the stress he'd caused her since his return had somehow affected the baby. It couldn't be healthy for either of them.

"Yeah," she assured him, squeezing his fingers. "You should've seen me before my first ultrasound. I was a complete wreck. I was so sure they were gonna find something really wrong with him. But they didn't. He's perfect."

She seemed so sure that it was a boy. "I thought you said you didn't know what it was?" he reminded her.

"I don't," she agreed. "I guess I've gotten used to thinking of it as a 'him'."

A boy. He tried to imagine what it would be like to have a son, but with no memories of his own childhood, there was nothing for him to draw on except what he'd seen on television. He wished he could remember if his own father had ever taken him to a football game or played catch with him in their backyard or given him advice about girls. All he did know was that he had read to him, and that was only because Kate had told him. Maybe a daughter would be better. At least then, he wouldn't be expected to know what to do.

He was so caught up in these thoughts that it wasn't until he felt Kate tighten her grip on his hand that he realised the doctor had already started. "He's so calm today," she told him. "It's like he knows you're here."

When he shifted his attention back to the screen, he saw that she was right: the baby was so still that at first, he wasn't sure that it was alive. Then as he watched, it jerked one of its tiny arms, almost as if it were waving to them. Of course there was no way that it could be aware of their presence. "He's just calm because you are."

She turned to him in surprise. "You're different. More like you."

More like him than what? "How so?"

"Well, when I first met you, you were so sceptical of everything, but then you started believing in things like destiny. You would've said all of this was a sign."

"A sign? Of what?"

She shrugged. "You tell me."

By all accounts, he should be dead, but here he was with her and their baby like nothing had changed. Maybe it was a sign.

"Now, have you two come to a decision regarding the sex?" a third voice asked, reminding him that they weren't alone.

It seemed he wasn't the only one who'd forgotten. "I'm sorry?" Kate said, frowning at the doctor.

"Would you like me to give you an indication of the baby's sex?" she repeated patiently.

When he glanced back at the screen, he saw that she'd changed the angle, giving them a clear view. "I already know what it is," he announced with a grin. That part of his brain, at least, still worked.

Kate gaped at him in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

"I'm a doctor, Kate. It's pretty obvious," he deadpanned, unable to resist the urge to tease her a little. "I can tell you right now if you want. It's—"

"Don't you dare!" she shrieked, pulling her hand free of his and clamping it over his mouth. "If you wanna cheat, that's your choice, but I'm doing this the old-fashioned way, which means I intend to be surprised."

It was the first time he had ever really seen her look happy; the sound of her laughter filled him with a sudden rush of affection for her, and it occurred to him that it must have been moments like this one, when she lifted her guard and showed him the woman underneath, that had convinced him to fall in love with her in the first place.

"Does this mean you won't let me take you shopping after we finish up here?" he asked her when she finally let go, reluctant to take her home just yet.

Her smile faded, replaced by a wary look. "Who said anything about shopping?"

"I did." Before, when the baby was just an idea to him, he was willing to let her call the shots, but now that it was real… He didn't just want visitation rights. He wanted to be there every step of the way. He wasn't even going to let her make a decision like the theme of the nursery without him.

"Jack—"

He was beginning to recognise that tone. It meant she was about to put her foot down. "Can we have a minute here?" he asked the doctor, holding his hand out for the cloth she was using to wipe the gel off. "I can do that."

"Sure," she agreed, allowing him take over. "Why don't I wait for you in my office?"

He waited until the door closed behind her to speak. "I know what you said, but that just doesn't work for me," he told her before she had the chance to protest. "If I'm gonna be involved, then I want us to share everything, including the bills." His voice was almost pleading as he finished, "So please, let me help you."

She closed her mouth, her expression softening, and he fought the urge to smile when he saw that he'd won. He hadn't expected it to be so easy; maybe it was a sign that she was finally coming around. "Fine. But we halve everything. And only for the baby. Deal?"

That was enough for him for now, although he hoped some day soon she would allow him to take care of her too. After all, he was as responsible for her current condition as she was. "Deal."

She offered him her hand and they shook on it, then she used it to slide off the bed. "Now turn around while I put my clothes back on…"

Next chapter: Shopping and a lunch date. ;)