3x16 - One of Us

He watches as they embrace, and despite the pain in his heart at the site, he can't look away. She spent time with Sawyer and put up with his flirting, but he thought he knew her, had thought that she was interested in him and not the southerner. But clearly he had read the situation all wrong. He knew what had happened in that cage, and he can't help but feel like she betrayed him in some way.

After ensuring that Claire is going to be okay, Jack takes off into the woods, needing some space to clear his head and leaving the mother in Juliet's care. He liked Juliet, and he genuinely thought that she was on their side now, that she wanted to be rescued just like the survivors of the crash, even though no one else trusted her.

"Wait up, Jack," he hears behind him, and his heart sinks, the voice instantly recognizable. Kate catches up to him and gives him a small smile. "Is Claire going to be alright?"

He continues walking, and she falls into step beside him. "Yeah, I think so. But this is really more Juliet's thing than mine."

"And you trust her?"

They reach a small clearing, and he stops, turning around to face her, "Yes, I do."

She studies his face for a minute, then says, "Okay."

"Is that all?"

His harsh tone clearly takes her aback, but she quickly recovers. Assuming that he is still angry with her for ruining his chances of leaving the island, she starts to apologize again. "I'm sorry, Jack. I was just trying to help, and instead I messed everything up."

The doctor looks away from her for a moment, debating whether or not to ask and somewhat afraid of her answer. But his anger finally wins out, and he locks eyes with her, "And what about Sawyer? Are you sorry about that too?"

"Sawyer?" she asks, with a confused frown.

"I saw what happened in that cage."

"Jack…" she reaches out to touch his arm, but he backs out of her reach.

"No, Kate. Don't you dare try to lie to me about this."

"I don't know what you are talking about," she tries to keep her voice calm instead of becoming accusatory as he is upset enough for the both of them.

"So you're denying it?" he asks angrily.

"Denying what?"

He sighs in frustration and turns his back on her. "I thought… I thought that there was something more between us. But I guess I was mistaken. It was right in front of my face the entire time - it's why you were so upset that they were threatening to kill him."

"Jack," she grabs his arm, refusing to let him move away from her this time. "I have no idea what you are talking about. Nothing happened in the… cages," her voice trails off and she looks away from him as she suddenly remembers her words as they were beating him up. "Jack… they were going to kill him. I only said it to get them to stop."

"Said what?"

"That I loved him," she whispers sadly, her heart starting to break at the thought of losing the man standing in front of her when she had just been trying to save their friend.

"There was a lot more going on than just you saying you loved him, Kate," he returns bitterly.

When she looks back up at him, he won't meet her eyes. "He kissed me once. But we weren't in the cages. It was while they had us working; he did it to pick a fight with them, find the weak links so we could hopefully escape."

"Kate… just stop lying to me. Please," he finally looks at her, hurt and disappointment clear on his face.

"Jack," she touches his cheek, and he flinches away from her. "Sawyer and I are just friends. I swear that nothing happened in those cages. So whatever it is that you think you saw…"

He grabs her wrist tightly to keep her from reaching out for him again. "You slept with him, Kate. I saw it; you can't lie to me this time."

She pulls away from him, turning away from his anger. Her first thought is to deny it, but that clearly would do her no good as he is certain of what he had seen. But then the confusion sets in. How had he seen her and Sawyer together? How had he seen something that had never happened?

"There is no way out of this, Kate; just admit it," he pushes.

"You're going to think I'm crazy and… you have no reason to believe me… But, Jack, I never slept with Sawyer," she slowly turns back to him, her eyes pleading with him to trust her.

"Stop lying, Kate," he yells. They stare at each other for over a full minute before he speaks again, more composed this time. "You know what? Just forget it. I'm done with these games that we're playing, Kate. You've made your choice, and it isn't me."

Kate takes a deep breath and moves to stand directly in front of him, resisting the urge to touch him, "What did you see?"

"Enough to know what happened between the two of you."

"Please, Jack. I want to know what happened, what you saw. Because I swear to you that we didn't do anything."

"So now you're saying that they faked a video of the two of you together?" he frowns at her.

She shrugs, "Is it really that crazy of an idea?"

As Jack looks down at her, he finds himself lost in her eyes. Her pleading with him makes him want to believe her, to believe that he hadn't lost her. After all, she wouldn't put in this much effort if she felt nothing for him and really loved Sawyer… or so he reasons with himself. With a sigh, he starts to explain, "It was a few hours after they took you away. A voice came on the intercom and told me to try the door. It was unlocked. I was trying to find a way out of there, but instead I found the surveillance room. You and Sawyer were up on one of the screens."

"And we were…?" she pauses, not sure how to ask.

"No," he looks away, embarrassed and grateful that he had not actually seen them in the act. "Looked like it was shortly after. He was holding you against his chest as you lay there together. His shirt was covering you up. You… you kissed him."

"And you're sure it was us?"

"Definitely was Sawyer. You never turned your face to the camera while I was watching, but… it certainly looked like you."

"I don't know how they did it, Jack, but it wasn't me. They made me wear a dress when they first took us; the only time I was undressed in that cage was when I changed into the clothes that you saw me in. Sawyer was in the other cage when I changed. I can't explain what you saw," she tells him, finally giving in and taking his hand. He doesn't pull away from her this time. "On the day I saw you, I climbed out of my cage to try to break Sawyer out of his. He refused to run and told me that we were on a different island. I was upset because he couldn't go anywhere and I hadn't convinced you to do the surgery to save him so he… he held me while I cried. I stayed in his cage overnight, but our clothes were on the entire time and I didn't kiss him."

He takes a moment to process this and then slowly nods. "Why did you ask me to do the surgery?"

"They were going to kill him. Juliet told me if I got you to do it, they wouldn't hurt him. And they would let us go. I had no choice but to believe them."

"Because you love him."

She shakes her head, "No. They were threatening to kill him. It could have been any of our friends in that cage across from me, and if the situation was exactly the same, I would have done the same thing - I would have asked you to do that surgery to save any of them."

"Kate…" he looks down at their joined hands, still unsure of what to make of all of this.

"Jack, I know how he feels about me; he hasn't exactly tried to hide it. But I don't feel the same about him. He's just a friend."

The doctor pulls away from her, going to sit down on a tree stump with a sigh, head in his hands.

After a few moments, she quietly says, "You have to admit that things are suspicious, Jack. They let you out of your room at exactly the right time to see the video. Michael had a list of our names; they knew who they needed in order to manipulate you to do the surgery."

"Ben showed up right after I saw it. He wasn't even angry that I was out," he tells her, still looking down at the ground. "Maybe you're right; maybe it was all a set up. Or… maybe it really did happen, and they intentionally let me out so that I would find out about it and agree to do the surgery."

Kate kneels down in front of him, angling her head so that their eyes meet. "I'm sorry, Jack. I'm sorry that I flirted with him and made you feel like you can't trust me. I know that my words probably mean nothing to you right now, but… you're the only man I'm interested in. I've just… felt this connection to you ever since I sewed you up the day of the crash."

"I just don't know what to believe right now, Kate," Jack scrubs a hand down his face.

She nods in acceptance. Then a thought occurs to her, "You know… there are two other people on the beach who might be able to give you an answer, Jack."

"Sawyer is a con man, Kate; do you really think he's going to tell me the truth? You could have told him to deny it if I ask. Or he could tell me it happened even if it didn't just to get under my skin."

"True. But you did say that you trust Juliet earlier."

~Lost~

"I need to ask you something, Sawyer," Jack says, stepping up to the southerner as he sits in his airplane seat outside his tent.

"Sorry, Doc. They looted my stuff when we were taken by the Others so I ain't got whatever you came to ask me for," he grins at the doctor.

"It's about Kate."

"Don't worry; I didn't let them touch her."

Jack looks out at the ocean for a minute, working up the courage to ask what he came here for. "Did you sleep with her?" he finally speaks, turning back to look at the man sitting before him.

"Why would you think I did?" he asks, folding his arms over his chest.

"Seems like a fair question. You've never really hidden the fact that you're interested in her."

"Why ain't you askin' her?"

"Just answer, Sawyer."

Sawyer's eyes flash up to the doctor's, "No. I ain't never got more than a kiss from her."

"So nothing happened while you guys were locked in the cages?" Jack presses.

He sighs, "She said she loved me when they were beating me up, but she didn't really meant it. And she was sad so I held her while she cried. We slept together, yes, but not in the way that you mean. Why do you care so much, Doc?"

"No reason," Jack shrugs and walks off, searching for Juliet. He finds her leaving her tent. "Look, can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure," the blonde woman says, following him a little ways down the beach.

"There's something I need to ask you about, and I want you to tell me the truth."

"I didn't do anything to hurt Claire, Jack."

"That's not what I wanted to ask," he stops walking. "That video on the surveillance monitor… was it real?"

"You really think we could fake something like that, Jack?"

"I don't know what you people are capable of, but you seemed pretty desperate to get me to do that surgery."

Juliet sits down in the shade of a tree and motions for him to follow suit. "Jack, we were all surprised by what happened between Kate and Sawyer. We all thought that she would end up with you."

"So you just 'accidentally' let me out of my cell so that I could see what was going on?"

"It wasn't an accident. We thought you deserved to know what your friends were doing."

"Why not just bring the TV in again and force me to watch?" he asks.

"Because we wanted you to feel like you had a choice in doing the surgery."

"So was that the plan the entire time? Push the two of them closer together so that I would get mad and do the surgery to save Ben's life? And as a bonus, you now have her to experiment on?"

"We didn't want to hurt you. We didn't do anything to Kate and Sawyer; whatever feelings they had for each other were already there. And yes, Kate is probably pregnant; but I will do everything I can to help her, Jack."

Jack sits there quietly for a few moments, contemplating what she has told him. "So… why do both Kate and Sawyer deny that they slept together?"

Juliet looks down at the sand, "They're both liars, Jack. Did you really expect any different from them?"

"No… I guess not," he sighs.

"I should really go check on Claire," Juliet starts to stand. "Is there anything else, Jack?"

He shakes his head, "No, go ahead."

Once Juliet has reached camp again, Kate climbs down from the tree that she had been in and takes a seat on Jack's other side. "Things with Sawyer go any better than that?"

"His story matches yours."

Kate remains quiet. It is now her and Sawyer against Juliet, and quite honestly none of them could be trusted.

He gently touches her shoulder, drawing her attention back to him. "Kate… I believe you."

"What?" she frowns in surprise.

"You were right; it was all just too convenient. I don't know how they did the video either, but if you say it was faked, then I believe you." He hesitates before continuing, "But she did make a good point, Kate. If you are lying about what happened in those cages, then you probably are pregnant."

"I'm not worried. Nothing happened with Sawyer, and I'm not pregnant," she says confidently, her eyes locked on his.

His hand trails down her arm until it reaches hers, and he interlocks their fingers, "I'm sorry that I didn't believe you sooner."

"It's okay, Jack. I understand why you don't trust me."

He squeezes her hand, "There is just one problem - if I believe that you are telling the truth, then that means I don't trust Juliet. And we need her to think that I trust her."

"So what do you need me to do?"

"Just be your usual stubborn self, and keep arguing with her."

Kate bites her lip, "Should be easy enough - I don't trust her. She dragged me out into the woods and handcuffed us together, claimed that they did it when they left her behind. She had the key the whole time, only used it because the smoke monster was chasing us."

"She told me you dislocated her shoulder."

She nods, "And right now I don't really regret it."

"I'm sorry that I've kind of been a jerk to you recently. I was just… upset about you and Sawyer. I… Kate, I'm glad that you came back for me," he gives her a small smile.

"It was no problem, Jack. I was only almost blown up by Locke, taken prisoner again by the Others, handcuffed to Juliet, and chased by the smoke monster. But otherwise… no problem," she smiles back.

A/N: Since I have had Jack think that the video was fake in at least a few other chapters and/or stories, I figured I better write one where it is actually true. Thanks for reading!