A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in forever. I was doing NaNoWriMo and didn't get the time to work on this. But I'm back and ready to wrap this story up! Thanks for all the reads and reviews! Also, in the talent show chapter I left out that Jack asked Juliet to prom. That was kind of important. It has been changed now, but so you know…my bad. PS, don't own LOST or anything.

Jack looked up as Juliet walked in the classroom sans Kate. Desmond started clapping from the front of the room and the rest of class joined in though only a few of them actually knew what was going on.

"Good to see you get both hands again," Jack said with a grin.

Juliet leveled a glare but he could tell she wasn't that upset. "My dress is blue, by the way."

"What?" he whispered.

"For prom. Usually the guy gets a tie or something to match the dress of the girl. So I'm telling you my dress is a soft blue."

"A soft blue?" Jack laughed quietly and nodded, "I'll make a note of it."

He pushed his notebook over so she could copy the notes that she had missed while she was in Jacob's office. He tried to focus on the lecture for the remaining period, but thoughts about prom were distracting him. Why had he even asked Juliet? He knew the answer involved Kate but he didn't want to think about that either. He also wondered why she said yes. He had a feeling she was in it for Sawyer as much as he was in it for Kate. The whole situation was so messed up.

It surprised him when the bell rang and he took his time putting everything back in his backpack.

"See ya later, Jack." Juliet said with a smack on the desk before walking out of the class.

He pulled his backpack on an headed for the door saying a quick goodbye to Desmond as he left.

"Jack," he said, walking towards him quickly, "Have you thought any more about Australia?"

Jack rubbed his hand through his hair, "Not really, Mr. Hume. I don't think I'm going to go."

Desmond smiled and clasped his hand on Jack's shoulder, "I hope you'll reconsider. You still have a little time. I don't think you realize the importance of all this, Jack."

Jack felt a little uncomfortable under the scrutiny and just forced a smile in return. "I'll think about it, Mr. Hume. Thank you."

Hurrying into the hall, he started walking and realized he was behind Claire. He skipped to catch up with her just as she stopped suddenly grabbing her stomach.

"Claire," Jack cried, latching onto her elbow in case she fell. "What's hurting?"

"No," she shook her head with a wince, "I'm fine."

"Claire," he said sternly, "Don't be ridiculous. You need to go to the nurse."

"No." her voice held enough conviction to make Jack stop. "I'm going to the doctor today with Kate. It will be fine. Just let me go to the bathroom."

He sighed and started to steer her towards the bathroom when she collapsed on the floor. Looking around he called to another kid, "Hey, go get the nurse, alright? Get the nurse now."

The kid turned and hurried for the front offices. Desmond poked his head out of the classroom at the noise and saw Jack and Claire on the floor. He rushed over, "What happened?"

"She collapsed," he said, checking to make sure she was still breathing, "Claire." He began, gently patting her cheeks, "Claire, wake up."

"Try to sit her up," Desmond instructed.

Ethan rushed up at that time and asked what happened.

"We were walking and she said she wasn't feeling good and then she just collapsed."

"And she didn't say anything was hurting or she felt faint?"

Jack knew what he had to do. "She's pregnant."

Desmond's head turned to look at Jack with surprise.

"Okay. Let's try to get her down to the office."

"Here," Jack said bending over and easily picking her up. "I've got her."

They walked down to the office. In the process, they passed Charlie who stopped suddenly to stare. "Claire?" he asked. "Is she okay? What's going on?"

Jacob had met them by the front office and was instructing the little crowd that had gathered to leave.

"That means you too, Mr. Pace."

Disgruntled, Charlie forced himself to walk away. By the time they got inside the office, Claire's eyes were open.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Claire, I need you to tell me exactly what happened." Ethan began pulling out a blood pressure cuff to check her blood pressure.

"I just felt a little dizzy. I didn't eat lunch so that might be why."

"How many weeks along are you?" he asked without skipping a beat as he wrapped the cuff around her arm.

"Excuse me?"

"I know you're pregnant Claire. I need to find out why you just passed out. Please tell me how many weeks you are."

Claire's face turned to Jack and the look of betrayal hit him right in the stomach. Over the shock of emotion, he heard Ethan telling him to go back to class. He shuffled his way back and found Desmond holding his backpack.

"I figured you'd need this, brother. You better get back to class now."

Nodding, Jack sat through his remaining classes without hearing a word. When the final bell rang, he made his way into the hallway. Kate ran up to him quickly, "I heard what happened. Is she okay?"

"I think so. She said you were supposed to go with her to the doctor today?"

"Yeah, I'm about to go to the office and she if she still wants me to go. I don't know what's going to happen there."

"I know. I don't either. She'll never forgive me for telling him."

Kate put her hand on his arm, "You had to, Jack. You would have caused more damage had you said nothing. I'll talk to her."

"Thank you," he said, stepping out from her touch.

Every time she leaned in or touched his arm, he felt as though he was about to do or say something stupid. He couldn't control his own thoughts when she was around. She smiled a forced smile before moving away. Once she was gone, his thoughts drifted to Australia. Maybe an overseas trip this summer would be the perfect break before college started.

He walked out of the school, hoping to avoid anyone asking questions of Claire. He made it to his car and sped away from the building. At home, his mother was gone and he trudged upstairs to start on his homework. He threw his mind into making sure every equation was correct and every biology term defined to the best of his ability. When he finished his biology homework, his thoughts began drifting to what had happened earlier, and he turned to look out his second story window. He didn't realize it was nearly seven o'clock when his door opened.

Christian walked into Jack's room. He was sitting at his desk, his computer on, but he was still looking out the window.

"You won't get much work done that way," he said, sternly.

Startled, Jack turned in his chair, "Sorry, dad. I was just thinking."

"About what?" he said moving towards the bed and sitting down.

"Just what I'm going to do after school," he lied.

"You're going to college, you know that."

"No," he said still watching him, "After college."

"You've got some time to work through that, Jack," he said, annoyed.

Christian looked around his desk and saw the brochure Desmond had given him. He picked it up.

"What's this?"

"It's nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing." He began to open it up, "Are you applying for this?"

Jack didn't say anything.

"I really think you should. This would be quite an experience for you. Here, I can send in the application for you."

He stood and took the brochure as he walked out the door, "Keep working, Jack."

As he left, Jack raked his fingers through his hair. Just like always, people were making decisions for him. One of these days, Jack would finally get the nerve to stand up to his dad and fight him. For now, though, he might just have to go to Sydney. He thought about the oceans and beaches of Australia and thought that maybe it wouldn't all be that bad.