2x11 - The Hunting Party

Jack paces outside of the tent, trying to make up his mind about entering. After two more minutes of walking back and forth, he finally stops at the entrance and, trying to be as quiet as possible, pulls back the tarp to peer inside. There isn't much light, but she appears to be lying on her side asleep. He breathes a sigh of relief and turns his head back toward his own tent, debating whether he can fall asleep now that he knows she is okay.

"You can come in, Jack."

He jumps nearly a foot in the air, startled, and whips his head back around. She is now on her back, her eyes open and fixed on him. "Sorry for waking you," he says, not moving from his place at the entrance of the tent.

"Couldn't sleep," she gives him a soft smile as she sits up.

"Yeah, me neither," he smiles back.

A full minute of silence passes between them. Finally she starts to stand, "Well, I guess if you're not going to come in, I should come out. Doesn't seem like either of us is going to be sleeping soon anyway."

He watches her stand up, somewhat surprised to find her in just a tank top and shorts. She grabs a sweatshirt, then walks past him and out of the tent. The large bonfire is still going, and she heads toward it. Once beside the fire, she pulls the hoodie over her head. Jack catches up to her, coming around to her front as she finishes adjusting the sweatshirt. Now that they are in better light, he can clearly see the bruise darkening the skin of her neck.

"You okay?" she asks, noticing that he is staring at her.

"Does it hurt?" he reaches out touch her, his finger landing just below the bruise on the left side of her neck where Zeke had pressed his gun against her.

"Not much." His eyes dart up to hers, trying to see if she is lying. "But my wrists still hurt from that rope. You'd think I'd be used to having my wrists bound together by now."

"Can I see?" She holds her hands out to him, and he gently pulls the cuffs of the sweatshirt up to reveal her chafed wrists. After a brief exam, he gives her a small smile, "Well, I think you'll live. But if you want to stop by my office in the hatch tomorrow, I think I can squeeze you in for an appointment and give you some antibacterial ointment."

Kate pulls away from him without a comment or even a smile at his joke and takes a seat in the sand by the fire. Jack watches her as she stares at the flames, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. He isn't sure whether she is feeling guilty or if it is just the near death experience that has her so quiet and distant this evening. After a moment of studying her, he takes a seat. "I'm sorry, Kate."

"I think I'm the one who owes you the apology, Jack," she says, and though she keeps her face towards the fire, he can see a slight frown on it.

He puts a hand on her arm to get her to look at him, "It wasn't your fault. I should have just let you come with us in the first place."

She shakes her head, "No, if I hadn't come, we wouldn't have lost all the guns, and you guys might have gotten Michael back."

"If I had let you come, they wouldn't have caught you, and we still would have the guns and maybe Michael."

"Why didn't you want me to go?" she asks softly, her eyes shifting from his face to the hand that is still resting on her forearm.

"I…" he hesitates, afraid to tell her the truth. "Because I knew it would be dangerous, and I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Guess I messed that one up," she sighs.

They remain silent for several more minutes, both staring into the fire as they think about the previous night.

"Kate?" When she turns toward him once again, he continues, "I'm sorry that I hesitated when he asked us to drop the guns."

"No, you had every right to be upset with me. I shouldn't have followed you, and I just got myself captured because I didn't listen to you."

He closes his eyes and flashes back to the fear that had been evident in her own eyes as Zeke started to count, the gun firmly pressed against her neck. "He was going to kill you, and I almost let him do it."

"Jack, it wasn't your fault," she takes his hand in hers and squeezes it. "I'm sorry for not listening to you."

"If anything had happened to you…" he opens his eyes to meet hers and finds that he can't finish his statement.

"I'm fine, Jack. Maybe this time I've finally learned my lesson," she gives him a shy smile.

He returns the smile and squeezes her hand, "I doubt that."

Kate hits him lightly in the shoulder for teasing her but agrees, "Yeah…"

When she shivers a couple minutes later, he moves to stand, "You cold? I can grab a blanket from my tent."

"No, it's okay. I just…" she stops and shivers again. After a deep breath, she takes the leap and opens up to him, "I keep feeling the gun pressed against my neck."

"It's going to be okay, Kate. You're safe, and he can't hurt you," he tentatively wraps his arm around her shoulders and draws her in closer to him. She resists at first, trying to pull away from him, but he keeps his arm around her, refusing to let her run away this time. Finally she gives the struggle up and rests her head against his shoulder.

They sit like that for several minutes, and he thinks that she has finally fallen asleep. "I'll keep you safe," he whispers, brushing his lips against the top of her head.

"I'm sorry," she whispers so softly that for a moment he thinks he imagined it.

"For what?" he leans back against one of the logs that they had set up as benches around the fire and pulls her back with him.

"Kissing you." When he remains silent, contemplating what to say, she continues to explain. "I was going crazy, and you make me feel stable."

"Why'd you run?"

"Because it was a mistake."

He looks down at her, "No, it wasn't, Kate."

"Jack…" she lifts her head to meet his eyes.

Before he can second guess himself, he leans in to press his lips to hers. It doesn't last as long as their first kiss, and she pulls back first. He keeps his hand on her cheek and his other arm wrapped around her shoulders, "Don't run again."

She keeps her eyes closed and leans her forehead against his, "Jack, you deserve better."

"There's no one else that I want, Kate."

She opens her eyes, staring into his and finding his words to be sincere, and she has to fight the urge to run again. But he knows her too well and tightens his grip on her shoulders when she looks away from him. "If we ever get off of this island, I am going to jail."

"Kate…"

"Whatever this is… it doesn't make any sense, Jack. You're a surgeon; I'm just a criminal."

"That doesn't matter to me." She crosses her arms over her chest and digs her feet into the sand; her past had always been an issue with them so of course it mattered. "We've been stuck here for nearly two months, Kate. As much as I hate to say it, we may never be rescued."

She frowns at that but continues to watch the flames in front of her, "Aren't you the one who has been so fixed on rescue?"

"No, I went to the caves. You're the one who stayed on the beach."

"And now you're back to living on the beach," she lifts an eyebrow as she glances at him.

He gives her a small smile, "I just couldn't stay away."

They go back to staring at the fire, several silent minutes passing. Kate breaks the silence, whispering, "If we are really stuck here, I still don't want to be Eve."

"Because you don't want to be responsible for the sins of mankind?"

"I've already sinned enough on my own without being responsible for everyone else's mistakes."

"Well, you are the one picking and eating the fruit from the trees," he teases, squeezing her shoulder.

"My fruit-eating is unfortunately not getting us banned from this island though," she lightly elbows him in the side for teasing her.

"Hm… instead of being banished, our punishment is that we are trapped here, doomed to push a button every 108 minutes to save humanity. Just become a carnivore and maybe we'll be rescued."

"Sure, we'll just blame this whole mess on me," she shakes her head at him, then settles her head back on his shoulder.

"Maybe Locke will be Adam; he seems to know much more about this place than the rest of us."

"Then I definitely don't want to be Eve."

Jack can't stop himself from laughing at that, "Don't worry, Kate; no one is asking you to be Eve."

"For now," she says, then yawns.

He sees her trying to fight sleep and knows that she is struggling against nightmares of her own, "It's okay. Go ahead and sleep. I've got you; you're safe."

"What about you?" she asks sleepily, eyes already closed. "You had nightmares too, right? That's why you were checking on me."

"I'll be fine now that you're right here beside me," he kisses the top of her head again as she drifts off.

~Lost~

Sawyer steps out of his tent and immediately spots Hurley, Charlie, and Claire all smiling as they look at something by the campfire from last night. After a glance at Kate's tent and finding her not around, he heads over to the others, wondering what had them in such a good mood.

As he gets closer, he can hear them whispering to each other, and he is about to speak up when he stops dead in his tracks just behind them. Kate and Jack are still sound asleep; they had shifted down from leaning against one of the logs to fully laying on the sand, both on their sides with his chest against her back, one of his arm embracing her and the other under her head as a pillow.

He frowns at the sight before him, hurt. He had been the one to untie her and care for her when the Others had let her go. The doctor was the one who had nearly gotten her killed and gave her the cold shoulder once she was free. When he hears Hurley whispering the word 'cute,' he can't help but make his presence known, not caring if he wakes the sleeping couple up, "Well, lookey what we got here - Sleeping Beauty and Prince Charming."

The two start to stir, and the three other campers turn around to confront the man who had caused the disruption. "Dude, why'd you have to wake them up?" Hurley asks.

"Just saving them the embarrassment of waking up to the entire camp staring at them," Sawyer smiles.

Realizing their position, Jack and Kate quickly separate, not looking each other in the eyes. She somewhat sheepishly looks at the four other crash survivors that are gathered, then stands and heads back to her tent.

Sawyer smirks at Jack before turning to follow her, "Hey, Freckles, wait up."

But she doesn't stop, not until she is outside her tent. "What do you want, Sawyer?"

"You should wear shorts more often," he grins, dimples showing as his eyes peruse her body. But the grin fades when his eyes travel up to her neck and notice the bruise, which had darkened even further over night.

"Is that all?" she lifts an eyebrow at him.

Eyes still fixed on the bruise on her neck, he says, "I'm glad you're okay, Kate."

She lowers her chin, looking down at her feet in the sand as she tries to hide the bruise.

"So you and the doc…?" Again she doesn't answer, eyes downcast. "It's okay, Freckles. When you get tired of his whole hero routine, I'll be right here waiting for you."

His lips press against her forehead, and she lifts her face up in shock at his actions. But all she finds is his retreating back as he walks down the beach.

~Lost~

Jack finds himself standing outside her tent again that night. He had only caught glimpses of her throughout the day, and they hadn't spoken at all; he had no idea how she felt about their friends finding them together that morning. After another moment's debate, he enters. When she doesn't stir, he is pretty sure she is really asleep this time.

He carefully sits down beside her, crossing his legs in front of him and studying her as she sleeps. It isn't long before he finds himself dozing off, her mere presence having soothed him.

The first thing he notices as he regains consciousness the next morning is that his pillow is soft and rather warm. He shifts slightly and realizes that the softness and warmth at the back of his neck is skin. Then he realizes that there is a hand draped across his chest, the thumb on the hand making sweeping motions back and forth over his shirt.

"I know you're awake, Jack."

Reluctantly Jack opens his eyes, finding himself staring up at the ceiling of her tent. He must have fallen over in his sleep. Tilting his head towards where he thought her voice had come from, he finds that he is using her stomach as a pillow and immediately tries to sit up.

The hand on his chest presses firmly against him, trying to keep him down, "No, it's okay, Jack. Stay."

After a moment of hesitation, he lowers his head again, "I was wondering why my pillow was so warm."

She laughs lightly at that, "Well, your head is also kind of warm."

"I'm not hurting you, right?" he asks, worried.

"No."

At that, he tries to tilt his head up to look at her, but it is impossible to see her face at this angle. When he turns his head back, the hand on his chest suddenly moves up to cup his cheek. "Kate…?" he asks, worried that he is actually hurting her.

"You're fine," she runs her fingers through the short hair on top of his head. "Just… your hair is tickling me."

"Oh…" he files the knowledge that she is ticklish away for later. Of course, that also meant that the tank top he had observed her in last night had ridden up and that his skin was in direct contact with hers. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long."

"And you weren't surprised to find me laying on you?"

"I was more surprised when something heavy landed on my stomach in the middle of the night."

"Landed?" he asks, confused at this description.

"Yeah. I think you must have gone to sleep sitting up and then you just… fell over in the middle of the night."

"And you didn't push me off?"

"Not when I realized it was you."

"I don't remember this."

"No, you were sound asleep the whole time," she confirms with a smirk, though he can't see it.

"You should have woken me up, pushed me off, or something."

"It's fine. I used you as a pillow the other night so I was just returning the favor. And your head isn't really that heavy, Jack."

"Guess all that time in school didn't pay off."

A few minutes pass by in silence, both taking in the change in their relationship. "Were you having nightmares again?" she asks quietly.

"No. I just came to check on you, and you were already sleeping."

"So you stuck around?"

"You look peaceful when you sleep," the corners of his mouth turn up at the memory.

"Is that a complement, or are you trying to tell me that I look bad the rest of the time?"

He laughs, "Definitely not the latter."

"You know… next time you want to sneak into my tent in the middle of the night, you can just lay down. You don't have to try to sleep in such an uncomfortable position."

"Was that you inviting me into your tent?"

"No, I think that was me inviting you into my bed."

"Kate?" Jack sits up then, his eyes searching her face.

"What you said the other night… you were serious?" she sits up as well, her eyes locked on his. He nods, and she continues. "Then so was I."

Their lips meet, and when she pulls back to catch her breath this time, she has no desire to run.