Jack blinked. "You're the guy in charge?" Impatiently.

"Yeah, dude. Don't let my athletic build fool you." Hurley smiled, hoping a tad of humor would go a long way and that Jack would relax and take it down a few notches. The guy was intense, that much he could already see. And Jack's friends … they were protective and that made them alright in Hurley's mind. Locke told him that he had a good feeling about this group of people.

But Jack wasn't laughing, he was too worked up for that - he felt like this was about to turn into a high school fight.

"O.K." Hurley said, catching Jack's look, shaking his head. This guy was going to be a hard nut to crack.

"So … Jack, how about we sit down and talk a little -"

Jack hated that this stranger knew his name. Nothing is worse than being left in the dark while everyone around you seems to know what the hell is going on.

"Whatever you need to say, you can say to my friends too," Jack said while staring the large man down and then glancing at Daryl and Sawyer out of the corner of his eye.

Hurley shrugged sympathetically and raised his hands, "Yeah, I know, dude. I just thought it would be kinda cool if we could talk … you know … like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.

While Sawyer pretended to busy himself with being interested in the other people in the room, Daryl turned to Jack, "It's alright man, everything's cool. Sawyer and I'll hang back while you two talk. You can fill us in later."

Jack nodded … reluctantly. However, Jack's instinct was now telling him that it was okay to back down a little … that these people should be heard out.

Jack agreed, "Okay, why don't you lead the way."

With a beckoning wave of his hand, Hurley urged Jack to follow him through the back door and into the next room - which he did. It was a smaller space, like the size of a basement rec room, it held an unassuming bar, a dartboard and pool table. There was a fire going in a small hearth and it had been allowed to burn low. Jack watched Hurley amble over to a chair and take a seat. His hulking size practically dwarfed it. Jack grabbed one of the empty folding chairs and spun it around so he could straddle the seat and lean his forearms on the top edge of the backrest.

He was now facing directly across this sizable man so their eyes could meet.

Hurley shrugged his shoulders, "So, what do you wanna ask me, Jack?"

"Well, you can start by telling me your name and who you are -"

"You don't know my name? Well, I guess I should fire Locke, huh? But, anyway, it's Hugo, Hugo Reyes … but people call me Hurley."

At hearing the nickname, a smile peaked through Jack's clenched jaw, "You should hang out with Sawyer, I think the two of you would hit it off -"

Hurley nodded as he shifted in his seat while trying to find a more comfortable position, "Yeah dude, I definitely wanna hang with you guys soon."

Jack eyed him, sensing some type of recognition. The name sounded familiar - didn't Sawyer mention it in the van when they drove toward the complex?

He was so concerned with Kate's condition, he had barely half-listened to them talking. But, Jack couldn't shake the lingering feeling that there was more to it than that.

Jack paused, listening to the quiet crackling and scattering embers in the fireplace, his eyes squinting. Why did this man look familiar? "I feel like I know you, but I just can't place it. Where are you from?"

He breathed heavily, "Oh, I'm from L.A. But you may know me as the luckiest guy in the world -"

Jack's brows rose in question, he didn't understand. "I'm not following you -"

"Uh. I kinda won the California lottery and … well … I sorta became famous after that."

Jack ran his hand over his short beard recalling some local news segment he had watched on TV while visiting his family back in L.A., "Wait a second, you're the chicken guy."

Hurley laughed, "Yeah, I guess. Technically, it's Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack and I'm the controlling shareholder. And, uh, … I like chicken. But I'm mostly in real estate now, or used to be anyway."

Jack had an idea that Hurley wasn't joking anymore and now he found himself believing every word that Hurley was saying.

And he also sensed that Hurley didn't have the duplicitous personality to make such a story up.

"So, this place … Faith is one of your real estate ventures?"

Leaning over towards Jack, Hurley said, "I guess you can say that. And, also, the place really isn't named Faith though. It's, like, just one of those things I came up with on the fly for the local paper. I thought it sounded kinda happy and stuff."

Jack still studied Hurley's facial expressions, still carefully trying to ascertain the man's sincerity or whether he was just leading Jack on with some bullshit. "When I arrived, I was told that this place, which is not named Faith, was designed to be a self-sustaining eco-environmental community -"

"Yeah, that's right -"

Jack decided to voice what his gut has been telling him and his gut told him that something was off here. He no longer wanted to engage in preliminaries. "So, do all eco-communities come prepared with steel window and door guards? Seemingly endless supplies of medicine, clothing, food and artillery?"

And Jack decided that he was going try another angle and let Hurley know that he wasn't one to lie to, so he continued, "Also, from what I can see, you have your own militia. And your right hand man … Sayid, he's military. My guess is elite special forces, the Republican Guard, to be exact. "

Hurley was delightfully surprised by this man's astute observations. He was spot-on with Sayid, he completely called it. "Totally ... Dude, for a doctor, you notice a lot -"

"I'm an ex-SEAL and I can tell when someone has been trained in the military. So why don't we dispense with all the bullshit and get to the heart of the matter. It takes time to amass the supplies you have here. All the stuff you have collected, you didn't pick up on a supply run at the local Walmart."

Jack paused, waiting for a negative reaction from Hurley. But instead Hurley only smiled, "You're right, Jack."

His heart was thudding heavily in his chest. "So, what you're telling me is that you knew this epidemic was going to happen before the mass outbreak, is that right?"

Hurley paused, trying to find the right way to phrase it. "Naw. Sorta, yeah. I mean, I got a head's up that there was some mysterious outbreak in Southeast Asia. But it was mostly a cover-up. The news media and people were led to believe that it was some type of bad flu and that is when people started getting vaccinations and stuff. But the medicine was kinda bull and was meant to give a false hope and control mass hysteria."

Jack began piecing the facts together, "But you weren't given 'false hope', were you? You weren't led to believe that is was a flu strain -"

"Naw."

"Who told you, who warned you - that this was all coming?"

"Not the government, dude - if that's what you're asking me, Jack. It was a private investor, if you need to know."

Jack looked even more interested and was not all too surprised, the speed and the efficiency with how this place was developed didn't seem to be the work of the government, that's for sure. "A private investor?"

"Yeah."

Jack's eyes blinked a few times. "Tell me who -"

Hurley shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He hated not being able to be forthright about everything - he was never good at lying. His Ma was always able to catch him in one.

It was an aspect about his personality that gave him the most inner conflict when he was forced to go against his nature. But times have changed and he was responsible for lots of people. Sometimes he had to keep secrets,

"Sorry, dude. I can't. I won't, man." And, even if Hurley would tell him, it wouldn't change the fact that he wouldn't know how to explain it all to Jack, because he didn't really know either. He still had so many questions himself.

Jack still tried to hold his ground, refusing to let it go. "Why not? Does it even matter keeping it secret at this point?"

"Exactly. It doesn't matter," Hurley pointed out.

Jack looked at Hurley's determined expression and decided not to press him on the mysterious person's identity, for all Jack knew, that person could be here.

Maybe with some time he would be able to gain Hurley's trust and learn more. But then again, there was a certain wisdom to what Hurley said about it not mattering.

But Jack had enough self-awareness to know that he was a truth seeker, for better or for worse - it did matter.

"Why would this person tell you that this was happening? Why share this with you?"

"What can I say? It's a messed up world, the way things work. The haves and have-nots. Rich people get advantages and in this case, getting information early on was key to prepare."

Jack let out a gust of air, stood up and ran his palm across the back of his head as he paced a few steps. He then took his seat again, letting the information process. "Are there any other places like this?"

"I know of only one - in South Korea, it's a place like this, built by Sun Kwon of Paik Industries."

"And that's it? Just in South Korea?" Jack felt himself being wound up dangerously tight. This was all too much to take in.

"I don't know. Maybe. For the sake of everybody, I hope there're more places."

Jack tried to digest all this information, the fact that there were people who knew about this, knew about it long enough to prepare.

Jack didn't know whether he was afraid to ask or was hopeful that there would be an answer this his next question.

"Do you know what this virus is? Do you know how it started?"

"Nah, dude. I wish I did. But I'll share this with you since you're a doctor and all … a scientist. We have two researchers from the CDC here. We rescued them when their van was overrun with zombies. And now they're here. We set up a lab for Ben and Daniel -they're trying to develop a cure." Hurley looked at Jack's smirk, "What? What did I say?"

"You called them 'zombies'-"

"Dude. That's what they are. Don't you read comics? I know some people call them Roamers, Walkers, the Undead. But, I'm like a huge comic book fan. And those things … they're zombies."

Jack couldn't help but sense that there was a genuine kindness and humility to Hurley. And that allowed him to relax a little more in his presence and realize that he didn't have to prod him for answers to his questions all night.

"Can you introduce me to them? The scientists."

"Sure, no problemo. I'll set that up. By the way, you know Jack, that was pretty awesome - the way you knew all about Sayid."

For whatever reason, Jack got a little embarrassed by the sincerity of the compliment and tried to shrug it off. "Not really. I was special ops in the Middle East, it's just comes with experience and paying attention. But can I ask, how did Sayid come to be in your company?"

Hurley smiled, "Oh sure. He's my bodyguard. Has been for a while." And, what Hurley didn't mention was that Sayid was a human lie detector. He could sense an untruth from a mile away and even though Hurley didn't condone Sayid's methods all the time, Sayid was persuasive in getting people to be honest.

Jack nodded thoughtfully, "And what about John Locke?"

"John was the guy on the ground here when this place was being built, he helped make sure that everything was staying on schedule."

But Locke was more than that. He loved this place and knew it was vital now, … special and he would do anything to protect it from harm's way. And that is why, for all practical purposes, John was Hurley's counsel. He knew he could rely on John to keep the interests of the community at the forefront and protect it for the sake of helping preserve humanity. He had the strength to cast out people who didn't belong and could hurt the community. He was also intuitive in detecting which people to turn away. And, yep, there were many that were denied a safe haven here and that nearly killed Hurley. If left to his own devices, he would let anyone and everyone into Faith.

They spoke for a while and lost track of time and it wasn't until Sayid checked in to make sure everything was alright, that Jack decided he was ready to call it a night. But before Jack left, Hurley reached into his coat pocket and took out something and held it out for him, "Jack, would you like one?" Looking down, Jack grinned, "Actually. I would. Thanks."

Sawyer, Daryl and Jack left the center.

"So, what did mutton chops have to say for himself?"

During their walk back, Jack began to relay everything Hurley shared with him.

Jack turned the knob and walked in their dimly lit house and found Kate sitting on the couch wrapped in a striped wool blanket and paperback book on her lap.

When he approached, her face tilted to one side and she gently furrowed her brow. Jack could see that she wanted to know what he found out, but mostly that she needed to know that he was okay.

He took a spot next to her and felt her hand wriggle into his. Kate leaned into him as if they were settling in to watch a late night movie. A gesture that felt almost too normal … too carefree and undeserved, like they were a married couple living in a normal world.

He was pulled back into reality and he began to tell Kate everything he learned and what he made of it.

Kate listened to him, taking in all the news calmly. And she agreed that the circumstances of this place were curious. "I can ask Maggie and see if she can offer more information."

Jack shook his head, "I doubt she'll know anything."

"Well Jack, she's a good friend of the couple, the architects, who designed this place. Maybe Maggie knows more without even realizing it."

Jack shrugged in agreement. It was worth a try.

He smiled at her, drawing her in closer to him and murmured into her ear, "You're smart, you know that?"

"Of course, I know that. I fell for you, didn't I?"

"Ha. Flattery gets you everywhere. Oh. close your eyes, I have a surprise for you."

Kate complied, a small smile teased along her face. "Hmmmm. Let me guess. Is it the keys to a new BMW convertible?"

Jack chuckled as he fished around his coat pocket, "Close. But, nope, it's way better than that."

"Then, it must be two tickets to Hawaii, reservations at The Four Seasons -"

"It's better."

He found it. "Okay. Give me your hand and don't open your eyes until I tell you to."

He then placed the foiled object in her hand. "Open your eyes."

Kate looked down to find an "Apollo" candy bar and she practically squealed.

"Oh my god. Chocolate. You have no idea, Jack …." She began to tear open the wrapper and sink her teeth into the candy. Her eyelids instinctively closed from the sensory overload on her tastebuds. Mmmmmmmm.

The other night, she had joked around about having chocolate cravings and he somehow managed to come through for her. Bless this man.

"Jack, take a bite. I insist." And he did.

A little tentatively and without realizing it, she stroked her abdomen, "We're gonna stay here, right Jack?"

He squeezed her shoulder, "Yeah. This is our home now, Kate." And while he wasn't done with trying to figure out more. He knew they had to stay together. It was either live together or die alone.

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay. I am working on the next chapter for this story. I decided to re-read TTR and have been inspired again. Please let me know if you are reading. Reviews and/or PMs are nourishment for authors. :). Thanks for sticking with me and this story.