*sneaks in*

I know I haven´t posted anything in ages (combine college and little free time for typing them up, and you´ll get the reason), but I just got this idea bug that wouldn´t let me alone, so I had no other choice than to sit down and write it.

It´s set in the last eppy, with one small difference: the house didn´t get on fire by a burning van, but ´cause of some more…normal cause ;) Oh and, it´s Kate´s house.

She studied his face. His nose, his smile, his eyes, always so full of life, of curiosity, of…happiness. She brushed her finger against his cheek, a tear sliding down her face as she stared at the photo in her hand. She still remembered that moment as if it was yesterday. It was his first day of preschool, and she and Jack came to pick him up afterwards, taking him for an ice-cream as an award for being such a good big boy. She got emotional listening to him telling them all about his day, experiencing that ˝my-baby´s-growing-up˝ moment every parent goes through, and he wrapped his little arms around her neck, kissed her and told her, in his sweet little voice, that she didn´t have to be sad because he would always be her ˝wittle boy˝. She smiled and hugged him back; then proceeded to tickling him, both of them erupting in giggles as Jack captured the moment on camera…

She brought the photo to her lips, gently kissing the boy´s face. ˝Goodnight, baby. Mummy loves you. ˝she whispered and took one last look at it; then put it under her pillow, lying back down and wrapping her arms around herself, letting the night take away the pain…

****

He was just dozing off after the tiring day at work when he heard the noise coming from the outside: screams, yells, the sound of people running… He quickly put on his pants and shirt, finishing the buttons in a hurry as he burst out of his house.

He was greeted with a sight of chaos: people running up and down, carrying water buckets; others just standing there, shocked, all faces staring in the same direction. He followed their gazes and felt a stab in his heart when he realized whose house was on fire. He quickly snapped out of it, running towards the crowd, stopping whoever he ran into to ask them if they had seen Kate.

˝Kate? The girl who lives there? Have you seen her? Where´s Kate?! ˝

But everyone looked at him blankly, some shrugging their shoulders, the others running away to help with the extinguishing. He spotted Hurley and, as he headed towards him, he heard a guy saying that they should stop, that it was useless, that it would just burn down anyway.

˝Dude. ˝Hurley muttered, watching the house disappear in flames; then, hearing Jack calling his name, turned around.

˝Hurley, where´s Kate? ˝Jack asked, trying to catch his breath. ˝

˝Relax, man, she was just th… ˝he started, turning around and pointing towards his right. ˝…ere. ˝he finished, his hand suspended in mid air as he realized with dread that Kate wasn't where he was pointing at.

They both started to look around, trying to find her in the crowd; when a man running from direction of the house, muttering something and gesticulating animatedly, caught Jack´s attention; and he immediately hurried towards him. ˝Hey, what happened?!˝ he asked when he finally approached him.

˝Some crazy chick just went in there, that´s what happened! ˝he said, and Jack´s eyes went wide in shock. ˝I tried to stop her, but she wouldn´t…˝he continued, but Jack was already sprinting toward the house.

˝Hey, you can´t go in there, the house´s about to…˝ a man tried to stop him, but Jack shoved him off, bursting through the door…

… The heat almost knocked him out of breath. There was smoke everywhere, and big orange flames were creeping wherever he looked.

˝KATE! KATE! ˝he yelled, rushing through the rooms, ignoring the heat and the fact that his lungs felt like on fire themselves. ˝KATE, WHERE ARE YOU? KA…˝he shouted; and then stopped, noticing her silhouette standing in front of the door of her bedroom, staring at the room that was completely swallowed in flames. He sped towards her, taking her hand and tugging on her, trying to snap her out of the trance. ˝Come on! ˝

She twitched, only then becoming aware of his presence; but didn´t move. ˝No, I have to…˝

Jack looked around. The flames were closing around them. ˝Kate, we have to go, the ceiling´s about to…˝he started; and as if it had heard him, he suddenly heard a crack coming from above their heads. He barely had time to push them both out of the way when a big wooden board broke off, crashing down on the floor just inches away from where they were standing. He opened his mouth in shock, but put himself together quickly, knowing they didn´t have much time before the whole construction collapsed. ˝Come on, let´s go! ˝he said, getting up; then helping her do the same, holding her arm tightly as he rushed them towards the door…

….

They stumbled outside, both coughing hard, holding onto the tree for support as they tried to regain their breaths.

˝WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?! ˝he yelled when he was finally sure he wouldn't pass out; anger boiling through his veins.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the next moment they were surrounded by the rest of the village, tapping them on the backs and wanting to know how they made it.

˝Kate! Jack! ˝they heard Hurley´s voice, and before they could even reply, they were both pulled into a giant hug that knocked them out of their breath once again. ˝Dude, I we saw that roof crashing, I thought you were like…dead. ˝he said, pulling away and letting them free. ˝You guys sure you´re okay? ˝he asked, seeing their blank faces as their stared at each other.

Kate was the first one to break the gaze, looking away before answering a breathy ˝Yeah.˝ to Hurley.

Jack shot her a look, but dropped it there, turning to Hurley and saying: Yeah. ˝

That seemed to be enough for both Hurley and the people standing around, and soon everyone started to go away, leaving them alone. He looked up at her, opening his mouth to say something, but closing it immediately when he saw her wince when trying to wipe her hands on her pants. His eyes traveled down at the same time as hers, and he winced too when he saw blood and peeled skin on her palm. ˝You hand is hurt. ˝he said quietly, stepping towards her and gently taking it in his hand to look at it. ˝Come on, I have to clean that up before it gets infected. ˝he said, turning around and heading towards his house.

She paused for a moment, took a deep breath; then followed in silence…

***

She was sitting on the couch and watched him opening the cupboards in search of everything he would need for dressing up the wound. Every time he would close the door of the cupboard it echoed loudly, making her wince, but she didn´t dare to say anything, not wanting to make the situation even worse. He came back a couple of minutes later, a bottle of disinfecting fluid in one hand and a couple of bandages in another. He placed them down on the table, without saying a word; then kneeled down in front of her.

˝So…wanna explain me what the hell just happened there? ˝he finally spoke, a dangerous tone in his voice.

˝Nothing. ˝she said blankly, knowing she was playing with the fire here, but not ready to talk about Aaron yet.

Jack shot her a livid look. ˝Don´t you...˝

˝It´s not of your bus...˝

˝YOU ALMOST GOT YOURSELF KILLED, SO DONT YOU TELL ME IT´S NOT MY BUSINESS! ˝he snapped; all the anger that he was withholding exploding at her words.

She jumped in her seat, but recovered quickly, taking a deep breath then saying through teeth: ˝I don't wanna talk about it, so if you wanna finish this, do it; if not, I'm leaving. ˝

Their eyes locked, angry meeting the stubborn; and for a few moments no one spoke anything, as they held each others gaze. Finally, Jack broke the contact, turning sideways and taking the bottle in his hand. She watched him as he opened the bottle; placed it down; then took the gauze. She could see he was furious, the vein on his forehead tickling dangerously: but she felt none of that anger as he took her hand in his, cradling it gently on his palm as his fingers examined the wounded flesh.

˝I´ll have to disinfect it, but it looks like you won´t need any stitches. ˝he finally said.

She nodded, not really knowing what else to say.

He spread her palm; then took the bottle from the table. ˝This might sting a bit. ˝he said; then poured the fluid over her wound, making her groan in pain as it came in contact with the open wound. He gave her a couple of moments to recover; then continued.

For the next couple of minutes, she watched him clean her wound; his fingers delicately tapping the gauze across her skin, trying to be as gentle as possible. Needing a distraction, she settled on listening to him breathing, noticing that he was starting to calm down.

He carefully placed a piece of cloth on her wound; then slowly wrapped a bandage around her hand; adding another one and making sure it was tight enough not to fall down. When he was done, he kept her hand in his and tenderly ran his finger across the bandage.

˝Why would you do it, Kate? ˝he asked sadly. ˝What could possibly be in there worth risking your life for? ˝

She looked up at him and met his gaze, his sad eyes digging into hers. She knew he was worried about her, and it was breaking her heart to watch him like that, to continue to hurt him; but she couldn't do it yet, couldn't talk about Aaron yet - it was too painful.

She pressed her lips together; then muttered through gritted teeth. ˝Am I good to go? ˝

Jack sighed and run his hand through his hair. ˝Yes, you can go. ˝

˝Thanks. ˝She got up, straightening her clothes; then headed toward the exit. She stopped at the door, turned around – he still had his back turned to her – and quietly whispered ˝I´m sorry. ˝, before closing the door behind…

***

She was sitting on the porch, hands in her lap, legs dangling from the floor, as she watched the sunset turning into the night. She was thinking about Aaron, about how she lost the last concrete evidence that all of it really happened; that she was happy, that she had a family, that she had a child. She wondered if she would ever be able to get off of this island again; trying hard not to think about the possibility that the answer to that question was negative; ´cause it only reminded her of another, biggest fear, one multiplied hundreds times now that she had lost his photo: the fear of forgetting his face someday.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of the door squeaking, and she knew it was him without even having to turn around.

˝Hey. ˝he said softly.

˝Hey. ˝she replied, managing a small smile.

He closed the door behind him and made a small step towards her. ˝How´s your hand? ˝

˝Better. ˝she replied. ˝Thanks to you.˝ she added, flashing him a small smile.

He smiled back; then placed himself down next to her.

They were both quiet for a few minutes, staring into the night and listening to the crickets chirping. If she really focused, she could almost see vividly in front of her eyes all those nights they spent like this, back when they first crashed here; back when everything wasn´t so complicated and they were just two people getting to know each other..

Jack looked sideways at her, her beautiful face illuminated by moonlight, looking almost the same as on the night of their first day on the island; the night he found out her name. Already then he felt there was something special about her…and he wasn't wrong.

He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. ˝Here. ˝he said, offering her what looked like a piece of paper

˝What is it? ˝she asked, confused.

˝The reason you risked your life today.˝ he said softly; and her eyes met his.

She took the paper from him and turned it around, the smiley faces of Aaron and her greeting her. She felt a lump forming in her throat as the pain returned in full force.

˝How did you…? ˝she started, studying the photo. The fire swallowed her whole bedroom, there was no way the photo could come out of it intact.

He looked up confused at first; then finally realized what she was asking. ˝Oh no, it´s not that one. It´s mine. ˝

She looked at him, her brow frowning in confusion.

He took a deep breath; then opened his mouth. ˝A couple of days before we came back, Ben told me to go back to my place and pack everything I cared for in there because I was never coming back. And when I looked around, I realized it was the only thing I cared for. The only thing I wanted to take with me. ˝he said; pausing; then added: ˝Memories. ˝

She looked at him sadly, a tear sliding down her cheek. None of them spoke for a few minutes.

He watched her eyes flicker in the night and in that moment he wanted nothing more than to be able to take the pain away from her face, to make her happy again.

˝Listen, Kate… I know I promised not to ask anything… and I´ll respect your wish..˝he added quickly, seeing a panicked expression in her eyes, ˝but, if you ever need to talk, I´ll be here. ˝he said, and she smiled through tears.

He gave her a small smile; then got up. ˝I better go now. I, uhm…I made you a bed. Put on new sheets and stuff. I couldn´t find a spare pillow, so I left you mine. ˝

She nodded and smiled.

˝If you need me, I´ll be on the couch. ˝

˝´kay. ˝she said. ˝And Jack? ˝she called, and he turned around. ˝Thank you…for everything. ˝she whispered quietly.

He nodded. ˝Night, Kate. ˝

She watched him close the door behind; then looked down at the photo again. ˝Night, Jack. ˝

______

Hope you liked it :)