Chapter 10

Hey guys, back again and with more twists to explore so without further adieu here it is and thankoo so much for the reviews. So glad you guys are liking it and Jate maybe making it's debut after all. I won't say anymore, just read and enjoy :)

Enjoy

"Kate, I……I need your help." He asked hoping to God she would assist him in performing the one thing he could and would never do again, not after what happened with Sarah.

Kate on the other hand just continued to gaze at him, quickly thinking over her options over such a request and the last thing she heard from him was enough to then form a firm decision for her once and for all.

"Please, Kate."

Now she had two choices. She could either opt to help Jack out and have her friends killed and possibly her in the process as well, or she could just stay put and lie in her cell waiting to be showered with some semblance of hope that she would escape this madness. However she felt that doing this might just present her with an opportunity.

"Kate?" Jack frantically urged, snapping the brunette out of her thoughts and in turn willing for her to make one of the toughest decisions in her life, but as long as she stayed with the task in mind, she knew this would all be worthwhile for her and her friends in the end.

Having someone on the inside.

"Let's go." She proposed with an affirming nod, and with that they were off leaving Ben smiling as he watched the whole thing on one of the surveillance cameras in the cell, as always his mind working on a way to make this new piece of information work to his benefit.

It's only a matter of time.

"What happened?" was the first and most obvious thing Kate could form as she peeked through the glass window of the operation room, already looking to scrub up and begin the necessary surgery.

"Gunshot wound to the lower part of the stomach……no exit wound." Jack briefly explained as he took it upon himself to offer an extra pair of hands just in case it was needed.

"What the hell is she doing here?" a voice behind them announced in a harsh manner to say the least.

"She's a Doctor Danny, she can help Clair….."

"I don't damn well care if she's the Dali Lama Jack she has no right being here not after….." The emotionally distressed man shot back, allowing for his hate to take over as he stared at the brunette knowing that she was partly responsible for this in a way.

"Danny calm down man, it will….." Jack tried to reason out with the man but all his efforts earned up were being physically confronted by the man across from him, his intent clearly murder at this point.

"HEY!! STOP IT!!" Kate shouted and then tried to push the two men off with each other when Jack allowed for his distress to fuel his own anger to retaliate.

"What the hell is going on out there…….." an approaching voice behind the operation room doors exclaimed and then grew shocked by the scene they were then witnessing, but never the less reinforcements acted quickly on peeling the two fighting men off each other.

"Have you lost your mind Jack? You bring her here?" Tom interrupted as he pushed through the doors of the operation room to see what the commotion outside was all about.

"Tom she's here to help, you gotta trust me on this." Jack more or less pleaded as the minutes ticked away forcing Claire's condition to possibly worsen as a result, and he grew irritable at the fact that he couldn't find the courage to fix it no matter how much he convinced himself that he could if he stopped living in the past.

"TELL HER WHO DID THIS!! SHE OUGHT TO KNOW THAT!!" Danny shouted as he tried to fight through the two men who had restrained him from causing any more disturbances.

"I need him out of here." Kate calmly requested of Jack knowing that this ranting man would cause nothing but problems during such a tedious procedure she already assumed of what she had been told.

"THE HELL I WILL! WHO THE HELL MADE YOU BOSS DARLIN."

"Get him out of here." Tom ordered, hoping that some part of Danny would comply but it seemed he was beyond reasoning with, and to a certain extent he couldn't really blame him. Neither could Jack who also understood how much Danny cared for Claire.

"Danny, go." Tom urged one last time as he wordlessly nodded for Jack and Kate to commence with preparation for surgery. Although Danny was still adamant in his wishes to not let Kate so much as touch Claire, and with that he ripped himself from his human restraints and literally gunned for Kate, but didn't get the chance to when he then felt a firm hand push him a few steps back.

"Just go Danny, they got it." Tom assured not even believing himself but trusting in what Jack had assured him off.

(15 minutes later)

"I got the bullet out, but she's still bleeding." Kate exclaimed somewhat in relief but within seconds her eyebrows furrowed when her eyes fell on something that didn't seem quite right.

"What, what is it?" Jack hurriedly asked, trying to keep his emotions in check the whole time and trying to focus instead on the positive.

"Right upper quadrant; it's swelling badly." She explained and did her best to control the bleeding but Jack could clearly see that she needed a little help.

"I need you to clamp under the liver so I can get a look back there."

"Got it." Jack replied and then went to work, briefly astonishing Kate at how easily he went about it, almost knowing exactly what he was doing and that caused confused her a tad as a result.

If he was so experienced at this then why did he need her here in the first place?

Unfortunately that question would have to be answered some time later, especially when fountain of blood spewed out followed by Jack cursing as he tried to fix the problem.

"She's got a retro-hepatic caval bleed. It's behind the liver, that's why you missed it." Kate explained as Jack frantically worked to control the bleeding.

"Damnit, she losing too much blood." Kate barely had the time to express before the dreaded flat line sound filled the room forcing the brunette to go on the alert.

"The crash cart, now. Jack, I need paddles." She requested, growing frantic and frustrated when nobody in the room seemed to be moving including Jack.

"What's goi…….." she attempted to ask right before Jack cut her off saying…..

"It's broken. We've had... Kate, we haven't had anything happen before. We didn't -- we have -- I don't..." he regrettably explained right before he pulled off his surgical mask and then worked towards the wall, punching the hard surface while muttering a "Damnit" and then finally succumbing to his emotions of what this meant. The dreaded words "Call it……time of death." confirming what he tried so hard to avoid, especially this time.

Why did this have to happen?

(Meanwhile – the Observatory chamber)

He was now looking at the image of his dead wife on a surgical bed. The majority of the surface covered in her blood, forcing his emotions to channel itself through his growing anger in an attempt to eliminate the cause once and for all.

"She did this. She did this." He repeated, his tone getting louder as he walked towards the assumed culprit, Tom quick to stop him once again from doing anything he would later regret.

"Danny, stop. You're not thinking straight, just…….. DANNY!!" Tom shouted when the man paid a deaf ear to his warning, and with that he trudged on downstairs towards the operation room knowing something bad was about to happen.

"I'm sorr….."

"What the hell did you do?" Danny immediately started accusing Kate the moment he barged through the doors, not caring about anything other than fuelling the fit of rage he was in.

"Hey!! Back off Dan…." Jack warned as he placed himself in front of the brunette within seconds of her being threatened.

"Or what?" Dan challenged not caring in the least about his life because it had just been taken away in a mere matter of minutes.

"OR WHAT SHEPHERD?" He then shouted when he failed to get an answer instead all Jack did was turn around to then escort Kate out, but as expected he was stopped by Danny on the way.

"You'd better watch out Jack cause if ya not careful that bitch might just shoot you in the back too." He warned with a dirty smirk on his face which was soon wiped off as Jack took a full forced swipe at him, knocking the man out immediately and eliciting a gasp of shock out of Kate.

He wasn't sure why he did it but he just couldn't seem to stand him talk so crudely about someone. Although he knew the real reason for the outburst went a little deeper than that, but everything was a little mixed up in his head at the moment so he simply let himself out to get some fresh air, leaving Kate to ponder over what just happened.

"Keep her here." Tom ordered as he briefly looked at Kate and then walked out following the same path Jack had made.

He couldn't feel anything or find the will to do so. It still hadn't sunk in yet that she was actually gone, and he honestly dreaded the time when he would be forced to accept it, even Aaron.

Oh God, Aaron, he finally realized not even knowing what how he was gonna break the news to the little guy.

"She wanted to do this you know." He suddenly grew distracted and startled by a voice behind him.

"Excuse me."

"Claire. She said she always wanted to know what it was like to explore." Tom went onto elaborate informing Jack of the many times she tried to sneak through on some of their expeditions.

"She always wanted to be the hero…….Didn't end well did it?" Jack reminded him, killing the light hearted moment right away with the cold hard truth and all Tom did then was pat Jack on the back saying……

"She died protecting us Jack. If that's not a hero then I don't know what is."

She was uncomfortable to say the least, handcuffed to a bed where a woman's dead body still lay. The same woman she couldn't save, she sadly reminded herself as she took in this tragic scene.

"I'm sorry." She whispered knowing it was inappropriate for some reason, but she felt responsible for not trying hard enough.

What if I did? Would it have made a difference?

"Hey, I'm sorry they -- they, uh, had to put handcuffs on you." Jack suddenly walked in apologizing as he huddled himself to un cuff her.

"What was her name?" Kate inquired in an effort to fuel her curiosity and make conversation as well. Her mind not being able to register her sudden need to accomplish the latter part, but she went with it anyway.

He immediately winced at the question evoking an apologetic look from her, of which he just smiled at, touched that she did care on some level.

"Claire, her name was Claire." He revealed and then went back to work, reverting to his previous gloom filled demeanor.

"So, tell me about her?" Kate then went onto ask, knowing she was bordering on intrusion here, but she wanted to know.

"Uh…well there's a lot to say, but if I had to sum her up in one word I'd say "perky"." He stated with a smile which soon disappeared when his eyes caught sight of Claire's covered body lying inches away from where they were at, at the moment.

"There wasn't any more that you could have done. She was -- she was dead before you put her on the table." She explained, feeling the need to prevent him from beating himself up for this cause she could clearly see that he already was.

"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?" he asked in a surprisingly calm manner, feeling that going on the defense with her would achieve nothing but more pain and misery, and he more than his fair share to deal with now.

"If it helps?" she responded earning a mixed reaction from him, but he shrugged it off with a muttered thanks and then proceeded to escort her back to her cell. However before he could make the first step back there along with her, she surprised him as she turned around and hugged him. Her intentions to offer him this kind of comfort astounding him, but he quickly melded into the warmth it offered. So much so that he didn't even feel her hand sneak to acquire something from his pocket. Something she had keenly spotted him tucking away when he undid her cuffs.

Once she was done and successful in her mission she pulled away and gazed at him, feeling a sudden wave of guilt hit her when she saw the sheer warmth and gratefulness in his brown eyes.

"I'm sorry." She found herself apologizing for the obvious reason of course, but he on the other hand took it as a gesture for his loss. A loss he knew he would immensely suffer from, but maybe not so much anymore.

Oooo so Kate's got a plan now, but will she be able to go through with it, and more importantly what will Jack think once he finds out what she's done? All will be revealed soon...