Hey everyone. Thanks for the reviews! They started out slow but a few more came in over the course of the week, so I really appreciate it! I'm trying to update more frequently. I think the return of Lost sparked some of my interest in these stories again. Anyway, let me know what you think!

It was late afternoon when the doorbell rang, pulling Jack away from the unfinished nursery. The nursery where he'd be standing in, staring at the unpainted walls, the lack of furniture, the sheer emptiness of it all.

When he opened the door, a squat woman in a boxy pantsuit shoved a clipboard in this direction.

"Please read and sign." She said with a perfunctory nod.

"What? What's going on? Who are you?" Jack asked, confused, as he took the clipboard, just registering the child's car seat at the woman's feet. Inside, swaddled in a bundle of blue blankets was a very tiny baby.

"Is this…is this my…" Jack trailed, clipboard forgotten.

"I'm here to turn over custody of your child. Once you sign the document, I can—"

"When did this happen? How's Kate? Is she alright, I mean—"

"Sir, I'm simply the state's liaison. I don't have any information regarding your wife."

Jack stared at her a moment, the words barely registering. He hadn't been ready for this. Kate wasn't due for two more weeks. He should have been there. It was Sunday, he wasn't working. He should have been there. Somehow.

"Sir—"

"Sorry. Sorry." He managed, signing the document perfunctorily.

"It's a boy. Congratulations." The woman said with a nod, and picked up the car seat handle and handed it to Jack.

Jack watched her go, get in her nondescript state car, and drive away. He stood in the open doorway, staring out at the setting sun and the different colors the sky, the way the grass moved imperceptibly with the summer breeze ruffling through its lengths.

A slight gurgle shook him from his trance. He looked down, seeing a tiny pale fist shake free of the bundle.

"Hi."

"This is the most emasculating thing I can imagine." Jack huffed, stroking the thin nail polish brush across Kate's toes where they were propped against his knee.

"Come on. At least you're not bored. This house is empty. There's nothing to do. And it's too cold to go outside."

"That didn't stop you from dragging me out onto the rocks yesterday. I nearly broke my neck."

"You did not. You're such a baby."

"Besides, we do stuff." Jack said mischievously, eyes glinting.

Kate rolled here eyes. "Very funny. I've already got proof of that." She said, gesturing absently to her stomach, only the slightest of curves developing there.

A warm look crossed Jack's face, making him forget the task at hand.

"You look so beautiful." He said reverently, his features smoothed and focused intently on her, making her blush and nudge him with her foot.

"Stop that."

Jack leaned forward, letting his hand glide up her bare leg until it reached the bottom of her shorts, then stroked back down again.

"You just look good. I'm serious. You're glowing."

Kate rolled her eyes again, but was unable to fight the smile that tugged at her lips. "I think you're seeing things. That glowing thing about pregnant women is so not true."

Jack quirked an eyebrow. "Oh really?" He shifted her foot carefully off of him and scooted closer to her, leaning towards her mouth.

"I think it's true." He said softly, breath rushing warm against her mouth, making her eyes focus on his own mouth.

"Yeah?" She said faintly, waiting for his lips to claim hers.

"Yeah." He let a finger reach out and slide softly against her cheek. "Here." He let his thumb stroke across her bottom lip. "I can taste it on you."

Kate laughed, startling the moment away. "C'mon Jack. Be serious."

He laughed too. "Okay, maybe that was too much. But I can tell. You're…different. I love it."

Kate lowered her eyes, fighting a smile. He tilted her chin up and closed the space between them, mouth finding hers in a gentle kiss, tugging at her mouth with his lips, making her sigh into his mouth.

Jack had set the carrier on the bed and sat down cross-legged facing it. The baby gurgled up at him, his eyes closing and opening, undecided on waking or sleeping. Then he started whimpering, first softly and then gradually building momentum.

"Um…" Jack said to no one, unsure at the first course of action.

"I need stuff." He said absently, looking around the room as if a multitude of baby supplies might magically appear.

"I need stuff. Definitely." He grabbed the carrier and drove to the nearest store, bought everything he could think of to buy, racking up an exorbitant bill and driving at an overcautiously slow speed on the return trip home. The baby stayed quiet the entire time.

He'd gotten a few curious looks by shoppers who took in his totally lost expression, how he muttered nonsense to himself as he pulled every imaginable object off the store shelves.

"What's your baby's name?" A girl who looked to be about ten asked.

Jack looked at her for a second. "It's uh…it's—"

"Is it a girl or boy?"

Jack gulped.

"A boy."

The little girl crinkled her nose and peered into the carrier.

"He's so little. Like my little brother was."

Jack stared, surprised.

"What was your brother's name?

The girl looked up at him innocently. "Paul." She shrugged. "My mama said it meant 'small'."

"Paul." Jack said quietly, letting it fall over his mouth. The baby kicked a foot out, five tiny toes meeting Jack's eye for the first time. He was small. Like a football, or a loaf of bread, or a shoebox. Jack hadn't even held him yet but it felt right. He looked like a Paul. He looked so tiny. Jack felt so tiny. "Paul."

When Jack got home, Paul was asleep. Jack pressed his bed up against the wall, and took Paul out of the carrier, feeling the slight weight hold in his arms. Paul shifted, almost waking at the awkwardness of Jack's handling. But then Jack got it right, settling him into the crook of his arm and taking special care of his head until Paul settled back into sleep, his thin eyelids covering the dark, undecided mix of colors that made up his eyes.

Instead of setting him on the bed, surrounding him with pillows, Jack stood in the middle of the room with his son in his arms, letting the weight of him become familiar in his hold, feeling the curve of his small body against Jack's larger one.

"I wish your mom could be here, little guy." Jack said softly, pressing his lips against the soft dark hair of his son's warm head.

"I think you've got your mom's nose. Maybe my ears. But I hope you have her eyes. Your mom has green eyes, you know. Bright green eyes. And long curly hair, dark like ours."

He talked to him for what seemed like hours. Telling Paul everything he knew about Kate. What she looked like, what she liked, how they met, how she wished she could hold him. How he loved her and she loved him and he loved him and one day they'd all be together again.

It was their third night in the new house. A branch had swung against the bedroom window and had woken Kate up from an already troubled sleep. She'd been having a dream about having the baby, where all there had been was blood. And her screams and a baby's screams and before she could see it, before she could run a finger down its cheek, it was gone, and Jack was gone and the only thing left were the bloody sheets and the empty feeling in her stomach and in her chest.

She frowned and sat up, Jack's arm around her waist shifting off and back under the covers. She slipped out of bed and padded into the kitchen, fishing around the cabinets until she found some decaf tea and a kettle.

She looked down at her stomach from where she leaned against the counter.

"Hey baby." She whispered softly. "I know you're still probably the size of a pea, and I'm crazy for talking to you and even crazier for thinking you could even hear me but," she bit her lip, "when you're born, I'm probably going to screw up a lot. I probably am going to be the worst mother in the world but, if you take it easy on me, I think you'll have it pretty good."

She brushed some hair behind her ear, and let her find round across her stomach cautiously.

"You're going to have the best dad in the world. And he wants you so bad." She blinked back a few tears. "And I'm sorry I didn't want you sooner. I'm sorry I can't be as good a mom as you deserve. But I'm going to try, okay? I really am. Your daddy deserves that, I owe him that, and I owe it to you, too. So sorry in advance for all the time I'm going to mess up." She paused, wiping away the tears that had started falling after she'd mentioned Jack's name. "Just don't let it hurt too bad, deal?" She laughed, a finger sliding over her belly button and back down.

"Who are you talking to?" Jack asked sleepily, startling Kate away from the counter.

He smiled impishly. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He proffered, walking towards her and gliding his hands up and down her bare arms.

"You must be cold." He said softly, eyebrows creasing into the familiar hard line of worry.

"I couldn't sleep." She shrugged, steeping into Jack and feeling the warmth radiate off his chest and from his palms where they settled on the small of her back.

"Bad dreams?" He asked knowingly, meeting her eyes full on.

She didn't bother lying. She nodded, eyes determined but soft. "Yeah. But I'm okay now."