"Kate?" Ellie whispered, her voice breaking through the darkness.

"Yeah." Kate answered, also in a whisper.

"Nothing." There was a noise, kind of a shuffle as Ellie turned over onto her side.

"Oh...ok." Kate replied. "Night then."

"Night." Kate closed her eyes. She was just falling into sleep when Ellie's voice drifted silently over.

"I'm sorry I called you Mom." Kate's breath caught in her chest.

"I'm not." she answered.

"Kate?" Jack's voice was a whisper in the darkness. He was crouched in the opening of Kate and Ellie's tent; the light from the outside fire creating an eerie silhouette. Kate jumped at the sound of him and raised herself to a reclining position - leaning on her elbows.

"Yeah?" She answered, casting a sidewards glance across the tent to where Ellie was sleeping. She always slept in one of two positions, Kate had realised. One was on her front with her head turned to the side, with arms curled underneath her. The other, which she was in now, was how she slept when she had had a good day, on her side, one arm laying gently across her stomach and the other curled underneath her chin. Her hair was a dark shadow over her face. Kate could see her eyelids fluttering as she dreamed.

"Can we talk?" Jack cast a similar glance over to Ellie, and gestured with a nod of his head - "out here?". Kate hesitated.

"If she wakes up and I'm not here; she'll freak out."

"Oh. Ok then," Jack replied resignedly, backing out of the tent.

"For God's sake," came a weary voice, "just go with the man and let me go back to sleep." Ellie poked her tongue at a bemused Kate and turned onto her other side. Kate looked at Jack who smiled and shrugged.


"So you're 'Mom'..." Jack said to Kate, half-smiling. They were sat close together, sharing each other's heat and the heat of the fire.

"Apparently so." Kate answered, throwing a small piece of driftwood onto the fire. Jack didn't know what to say. There was so much he wanted to ask her, to tell her. But at the same time he could tell that there was too much that she was thinking of already. He didn't want to pressure her. And yet...

"I guess that makes you 'Dad', right?" Kate continued after a moment.

"Does it?" Jack asked, his mind buzzing with a thousand answers, and a thousand questions.

"Well, if you think about it," Kate finally turned to look at Jack, and found his face surprisingly close to her own. "A dad is the person that you trust to be there when you get hurt; which you were, and to protect you from anything that frightens you; which you do; and who you can laugh with; which she can. So yeah, I think it does." A single tear slid down Kate's cheek, but Jack didn't see it.

"Kate..." He moved closer, his face inches from hers.

"You know," she interuppted, "if I'm 'Mom' and you're 'Dad', then..." Kate's words were silenced by Jack's lips pressing gently on hers. She was momentarily stunned, and then relaxed into the kiss, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

In the tent, sitting cross-legged at the end of her bed, Ellie grinned to herself. "Finally."


"You like him." Ellie and Kate were in the forest, Kate shimmying up and down trees finding fruit. Ellie, who had been sternly ordered by Jack to 'keep your skinny ass on the ground' was kicking aimlessly at the plants. It wasn't fair that she had been 'grounded', just because she went swimming off a tiny cliff that wasn't even dangerous. And besides, trying to have a conversation with someone who was halfway up a tree wasn't the easiest thing in the world. As if to prove Ellie's thought, Kate called down,

"What?" A mango sailed narrowly past Ellie's right shoulder and she jumped as it hit the ground with a resounding thud.

"First of all, a little warning would be nice!" Ellie yelled up the tree. "And second, you know exactly what I said so don't try to pretend you didn't." Ellie grinned as Kate turned her head and stared down at Ellie, her cheeks pink. Kate couldn't help but smile to see Ellie looking so...normal. Her hair was tied into a french braid, courtesy of Kate that morning, and she was wearing a pair of jeans and one of Kate's shirts. That had been another of Jack's instructions; that she should cover her shoulders, before she started to get sunburnt. Ellie had moaned when he had handed her the white cotton shirt, but secretly had been pleased that he was willing to take the 'father' role. They all knew he wasn't, and never would be but all the same, it was nice to know there was someone who wanted to be there for her. Kate began to clamber down the tree and Ellie took a step back, allowing Kate to drop gracefully the last 6 feet or so.

"I do not like Jack. Well, I like him obviously, he's my friend, but I don't like like him." Kate's cheeks turned fuschia underneath Ellie's sceptical gaze.

"Riiight," she said slowly, "So why exactly did you two make out and then fall asleep together last night?" Kate's mouth fell open, she didn't know that Ellie had seen them together. She and Jack had woken at dawn, and seeing how they had slept had been more than embarassed. Kate had hurried back to her and Ellie's tent and tried to pretend that that was where she had been. Jack had returned to his own tent; both of them confused as to what the actions of the night before meant.

"Hello? Earth to Kate? Spill...confess...I want details" Ellie waved a hand in front of Kate's face. Kate blinked, surprised to see this new side of Ellie. Sometimes it was hard to remember that she was still just a teenager, though she acted much older than she was. She'd had to.

"Nothing happened last night." Kate answered, focusing her attention,

"Liar."

"Nothing happened!" Kate tried to protest her innocence but Ellie scoffed,

"I'm not stupid Kate. Last night, after you left the tent to go talk to Jack, which by the way - I will not freak if I wake up and you aren't there - I stayed awake and watched you. Call me nosy, call me a hopeless romantic, whatever. You were too wrapped up in each other to pay any attention. Too busy getting all cosy by the fire;, and one minute you were talking and the next it was like something out of a teen movie." Ellie finished with a grin, seeing that Kate's face was scarlet with embarassment.

"I had no idea that you were properly awake. God if we'd known we never have..." Kate broke off when she saw that Ellie was stifling giggles. "What?"

"You two are ridiculous. Anyone can see that you're perfect for each other. Seeing you, all tangled up on the beach this morning, it was so cute. It was like it was where you both belonged." Kate was speechless.

"If you want my opinion, it's about time. Anyone can see you're in love with him." Ellie continued, "and more to the point he's in love with you so the way I see it..." Kate finally recovered long enough to interuppt Ellie mid-sentence,

"And how exactly do you know that I'm in love with him? And 'more to the point', that he loves me?" Kate's heart was beating so hard she half expected it to jump out of her chest. She tried to joke with Ellie, making air-quotes and half-smiling. But inside, inside she was desperately hoping it was true.

"Because..." Ellie began, "because you look at each other the same way that my parents looked at each other."