A/N: Late I know. I'm not going to go through the motions as to why, just enjoy. Thanks for the reviews and the patience.

Left Behind

Chapter 14

Blank

"Where is she?" Jack asks over his shoulder though he's already two large strides closer to the house where he left Kate this morning.

Hurley stands still, his hands on his knees, "She's at your house, Dude," his words come through deep inhalations.

Jack barely hears the answer before his jog transforms into a frantic run across the small clearing and following the swerving dirt road. He doesn't have to look to know that Sawyer is behind him, because he can hear conman's footsteps matching his own. He doesn't know why it bothers him so much, that Sawyer still cares for Kate. She clearly chose him, but Sawyer still hasn't backed off. Jack supposes that it's just like after he saw them through the security camera in The Hydra, he knew that Kate was with Sawyer, but he didn't want to admit it.

It's Sawyer's thoughts on the baby that bother him more than his still visible feelings towards Kate. Whether the baby was his or not, he seemed to relinquish all of his rights to Jack, but the doctor remembers the quick flash of hesitancy in the conman's eyes. It scared Jack; maybe Sawyer would have second thoughts and go after a child that isn't even his.

The three stairs to the porch are covered in one large leap. Reaching his hand out, Jack grabs the handle to the front door and almost flings it right off its hinges. He expects Sawyer to lay into him with some smartass remark, but the man taking the stairs behind him says nothing.

The front room is dark; the curtains on the windows are diluting the afternoon sunlight. Kate is sitting on the couch wearing his navy blue sweater, rubbing her hands up and down her arms as if she's freezing. When she looks up at him, her eyes are dull and her skin far too pallid.

"What happened?" Jack falls to the couch beside her as Sawyer stands in the doorway, letting the soft breeze of the rainy season drift throughout the house. Jack presses his hand to her forehead and is shocked to find it freezing.

Kate's body is almost ice cold when she falls against him for warmth, "I'm so cold." Her hands disappear up into her sleeves when he starts to rub her shoulders for friction. She winces and one of her pale hands flies to her forehead, "I have the worst headache."

"Maybe you need glasses," Sawyer suggests, his body filling the entire frame of the doorway.

Jack sends him a glare, wrapping an arm around Kate's shoulder as she leans forward. Her head presses into her palms and her elbows dig into her knees. "You should lie down," he keeps his voice soft so he doesn't upset her headache, "I'll get you some water and aspirin."

Kate nods, her head rocking against her hands. When she moves to stand up, Jack slides his hands underneath her biceps to help her, she wavers on her feet for a moment, but then she stills and her eyes grow wide, "I think I'm going to be sick."

"God," Sawyer moans from the doorway as Kate's bare feet slap against the hardwood until the toilet seat crashes against the porcelain tank and the sounds of Kate emptying her stomach can be heard.

"Where's Hurley?" Jack ignores the other man's protests.

Sawyer leans out, his neck craning in the sunlight, "Coming up the walk now. Shouldn't you be worried 'bout Freckles?"

Jack sighs and nervously rubs at the back of his neck. When Hurley begins to unevenly walk up the stairs Jack moves by Sawyer, "right now I'm more worried about what she ate." He moves onto the white painted porch to Hurley who looks like he's just caught his breath, "Hurley, did Kate eat anything while you were with her?"

"No," Hurley shakes his head which is streaked with sweat. After a few moments with a discouraging face his expression lightens, "Oh, but she when I came over she just finished Locke's pancakes from yesterday."

"Locke gave us pancakes?" Jack asks with skepticism as he crosses his arms.

"The Great White Hunter's been pulling more of the Emeril attitude lately. Figures that if he cooks us all breakfast, it makes us more like a family," Sawyer moves away from the door and eyes the house down the path that belongs to Locke.

"Um," Hurley darts his eyes to the porch, then back to Jack. His voice is slow and stuttering, "Locke kind of made extra pancakes and brought them over to Kate yesterday."

"Locke did this," Jack sets his jaw and shakes his head while trying to ignore the fermenting anger within him. "He's blocking the messages and keeping us here because he's working with the Others."

"So you think he just paraded Ben around for the last five months for show?" Sawyer reaches a hand into his pocket and pulls out a cigarette.

Jack crosses his arms in a challenging manner before realizing that Sawyer isn't the man doing all this, "And you don't think it's odd that Locke's turned on the fences and scrambled all the outgoing messages?"

"He's blocking all the outgoing calls?" Hurley's usually pleasant voice now holds a sharp edge, "he just kept saying communications were down."

"Hurley, do you think you could go check on Claire for me?" Jack questions as he moves back into the house, "See if she has any more of the medicine Charlie gave her."

"Mr. Clean's got a bunch of it stored away in his house." Sawyer interrupts. His words accompanied by puffs of smoke from his cigarette. "Ben gave it to him when we first got here."

This catches Jack's attention, "Do you think you can get some from him?" He feels the need to lower his voice, even though no one is around who could compromise the situation.

Sawyer laughs gruffly, "And what exactly do you want me to tell him when he asks why I need it?"

Jack shrugs, his fingers curling around the chipped white paint on the front door, "tell him the truth," he suggests than shuts the door. The action is not meant to be rude, but he desperately wants to check on Kate without an audience.

Walking down the hallway he tries to ignore the shame that he feels. He should have been noticing what was happening around him, that Locke could have and is in cahoots with the Others. Kate sensed something and he ignored her, ignored her dreams. When he enters the bedroom she's sitting on the end of the bed, her head resting in her hands again and her shoulders shaking.

"The headache still bad?" he questions as he rounds the bed and rifles through his pack to find aspirin. She turns her head to look at him, eyes squinted in question. "What?"

"How did you know that I had a headache?" her eyebrows are furrowed almost in fright as she stares at him.

A short chuckle escapes him as his expression almost mimics hers, "You're kidding right?" She doesn't answer him but her face changes to one of seriousness. "Kate you just told me you did when Sawyer and Hurley were here."

"Jack," her eyes glance to the side like if this is a game he needs to stop playing, "I haven't seen Sawyer since we got into that fight two weeks ago."

He abandons the aspirin and his bag to sit on the end of the bed next to her, "Kate it happened less than five minutes ago. You left because you thought you were going to get sick."

Shaking her head and letting her hair bob, Kate takes a moment to wince at the movement, "Jack, I don't remember any of that."

"What do you remember?" he places a hand to her forehead and almost recoils when he touches her icy skin.

Kate sighs, and lets her head drop for a moment, "Well, I remember being pregnant," she starts as she places a hand on her stomach, "I remember leaving the beach for the Barracks."

"Do you remember the medical records?" Jack swallows nervously after asking because he doesn't think he can go through explaining the bizarre parentage of the baby over again.

The corners of her lips turn upwards into a hint of a smile, "I know you're the father Jack," the way she answers almost implies she knows what he was thinking.

Jack lets out a dry laugh, because it's honestly the only thing he can do to keep from going crazy right now, "What about Aaron?"

Kate's face reverts back to one of confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Do you remember that the Others' took Aaron?"

Shifting away from him, her eyes glance to the side and then back to Jack. "What are you talking about?"

"You found out last night, that's why we were leaving today," he reaches out and takes her hand, "Kate just try to remember."

Her lower lip trembles, "I can't."

"Just try," his hand slides up and down her arm to comfort her. He doesn't want to push her so hard, but he needs to know the level of her amnesia.

"I can't," she cries with anger. Her hands fly up to her temples again and she sobs, "Jack," her voice cuts off after his name, though the cadence of it sounds like she wants to say more.

Sick feelings boil within his stomach, feelings of failure and rage, but he keeps them well hidden even though they're eating away inside of him. Jack pulls Kate to his chest and presses his lips into the top of her head, "Okay."

"You said we were going to leave?" she questions, both her hands wrap around his arm as she fights tears. He can't think of a proper way to answer her, to tell her about Locke and his partnership with the Others. "If we were going to leave," she pulls back to look into his eyes, "then we need to leave."

"No," he shakes his head, "We need to sort through this now." He doesn't even bother telling her about all the hurdles standing in their way.

"We need to leave today," her fingers grow tighter around his arm.

Jack sighs he doesn't want to put the blame on her but there's nothing else he can use as a scapegoat, "we need to wait until we can make the trek halfway across the island."

"Locke said we should leave before the end of the rainy season," she blurts suddenly, her expression showing shock at her ability to remember.

"When did he say that?" Jack begins to feel hope again, though something inside of him knows it won't last for long.

Kate pauses and mulls the question over, "I think this morning, I think that—" she stops her sentence by pressing a palm into her forehead and letting out a weak yelp.

Jack springs forward, and his hand fights to pry her hand away from her head so he can examine the area, "Kate, lie back."

"I—" her protest ends and she sits completely still, both her hands falling from her forehead as two bright streams of blood flow from her nose.

Next Chapter - You'll like it, it's all I'm saying.