Jack made the decision not to go home right away after work. He'd been in surgery for over ten hours and his patient would walk again after some physical therapy. He should have been the proudest man alive, but it was the exact opposite.

He'd never felt so heavy before. Like he hadn't slept in weeks, like he'd eaten too much for every meal, like he'd had his heart broken for the second time by the same girl and she didn't even have to say a word.

Even Marc was noticing a difference. When Kate had left him he maintained a hopeful demeanor…he knew deep down they would be together again. Now his outlook was bleak to say the least.

The Kate Austen that the Marshall had been telling him about was not the girl he knew and loved so dearly. She was vicious and untrustworthy, a liar and he was convinced she manipulated him into loving her.

Taking her home that night was a mistake. Sleeping with her was a mistake. Their baby…was a mistake.

Jack brought up a hand to wipe at his face. He'd never felt so alone in his entire life.

000

Kate sat on the couch curled up in a blanket. Sawyer was away on business and she was to creeped out to sleep upstairs in her own bed. He'd only be gone for two days but she still felt isolated and a tad bit afraid. She was eight and a half months pregnant without anyone to help her if she went into premature labor, or if she fell, or…

She sat up and started take deep, controlled breaths to ward off the impending panic attack. The brunette wrapped her blanket even tighter around her ever growing body.

It was colder than it should have been for the middle of December and with her pregnancy reaching the finish line she was more fatigued than she could ever remember being.

It scared her that she was sitting, curled up as much as possible, on the couch watching the door in the dark for fear of it flying open, revealing her worst nightmare. And without Sawyer's presence to make it feel safe, she was honestly and completely alone for the first time in a long while.

000

Jack finally rolled into his driveway at a quarter to midnight only to be struck with panic. There was a body on his stoup and an unfamiliar one at that. Sometimes Marc would wait for him when he could find the spare key but the person on the font steps wasn't Marc. He, at least Jack thought it was a he, looked much taller and had broader shoulders.

Careful, Jack got out of his car and yelled, "Can I help you?"

"Do you always come home this late?" The stranger didn't stand up to meet him but Jack recognized the thick southern accent immediately.

"No…sometimes I don't come home at all," he exhaled loudly. 'And I wish tonight would have been one of them,' he added mentally.

"Listen…I know you said not to call…" Sawyer stated from the steps where he still kept his position.

"You're right…I did." Jack spat back.

"Well, that's why I had to come talk some sense into that think head of yours." Jack was now walking over Sawyer and opened the door. They made eye contact for the first time ever and Jack nodded towards the door, a silent invitation.

Once inside, Jack shed his coat and brief case to reveal jeans and a brown sweater. Sawyer was in something similar with no coat. "You don't wear coats in Oregon?"

"It's way warmer down here than it is up there, that's for damn sure!" Sawyer looked around at the large yet cozy home. The one Kate had told all too much about. It wasn't exactly like he'd imagined but somehow it suited the doctor he'd come to know through the girl that connected them both.

Jack moseyed into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee, "Hope you like it black. I haven't been to the store in a while." Sawyer nodded and pulled a stool out from the island.

That's when it got quiet. Sawyer just kept looking around and Jack was staring at him with as much anger as he could muster through is fog of low energy, each one waiting for the other to speak first.

Sawyer exhaled softly, but loud enough that Jack could hear. The drip of the coffee into the pot seemed to be echoing off the walls. The winter wind was rapping at the window like an unseen enemy and Jack couldn't take it a moment longer.

"What the hell do you want?" Asked loudly and it suddenly became silent.

"I told you earlier…I came to talk some sense into you." He leaned forward and hushed his voice. "I don't think you understand what a mistake you're making by not coming to see her. You're baby is going to be born in less than three weeks and she's freakin' out. All she talks about is you…even when she's not talkin' about you I know what she's thinkin'."

"Why are you telling me this?" Jack asked in a harsh tone. He didn't want to listen to Sawyer's stories about a girl he once loved.

"Because she needs you. And I'm pretty sure that you still need her too." The blonde man leaned back on his stool and nodded towards the full coffee pot. "Mind if I help myself?"

Jack shook his head. This was almost too much. This man that Kate had basically left him for was pouring himself coffee in his kitchen. The kitchen he and Kate had made dinner in, made love in…the kitchen that he and Kate were going to make a life in. But that was a distant dream now, squashed by the overwhelming truth of their situation. "You know when she left…I knew she'd be back. Or I'd go find her…it was as simple as that. We were supposed to be together. And then you called me and…and it seemed like the whole world started spinning again." He avoided eye contact.

"Then what changed?"

He thought a moment. "Everything." Jack made his way over to the pot and made himself a mug and sat down at the island where Sawyer had sat.

"Tell me what the Marshall said and I can tell you it ain't true."

"How?" Jack said incredulously.

"Because I know her. I know her like you know her." Jack looked up his eyes glazed over in a look that seemed to say 'no you don't'. "She's still the same girls he was six months ago."

"While that maybe true…she's not the girl I thought she was." The words rang through his head and he was instantly back in the elevator that day at the hospital. The peds doctor had told him she wasn't who he thought she was. The prophetic stranger had been right.

"Yes she is!" Sawyer slammed his cup down on the island in front of Jack; his voice loud, his eyes livid. "If you would just come see her you'd know that! We've all got a few skeletons in our closet: I've got mine and I'm sure you've got yours, so who are you to pass judgment?"

"You know you've got some nerve coming down here and talking to me this way! You have no idea what that girl has put me through! You don't know how I feel!"

"I think you'd be surprised." His voice a hot whisper.

"Really?" Jack stared Sawyer down, a silent challenge between the two men.

"Just tell me what the Marshall said." Sawyer enunciated after a few quiet, tension filled moments.

Jack just maintained his gaze and said calmly, "Get out."

Sawyer took the opportunity and made his way to the door, Jack close behind. He was down the first to steps, one more and he'd be on his way, back to Kate, but something stopped him and he turned around.

"I would kill for her to love me. If I were you I wouldn't throw this away because of someone you don't even know."

"If you love her so much why don't you marry her? Make a life with her? Raise my child like it was yours?" Jack spat back.

"She don't want me! I don't make her happy and I've seen that she's suffered enough in this lifetime to know that she deserves more. That's why I'm here. 'Cause you're the only thing that's gonna turn her life around. And like I told you, I'd trade places with in a second and it makes me sick to know that you could have everything I want if you would just grow up." Then he turned on his heel and got in his car, Oregon bound, leaving Jack standing on his front porch in the bitter cold.

A/N: A little confrontation. Do you think Sawyer broke through? Jack better make up his mind soon because in the next chapter…Christmas time is here! Review!!! There's only five chapters left!!!