More thanks to kate and jack, sallyshoestrings, Evermore, jack is cool,sawyer is a fool, Writing Squirrel, FanOfLOST, Tatiana, xeledhwenx , Oreata, MusicMonkey88, a.k.a.-ashley, litgal, and smilez4eva for their reviews!

I am very sorry for the delay in posting this chapter – I have been having major computer problems for the past couple of days. It finally seems like everything's alright now, so here is chapter 8.

By the way, Evermore, I am not exactly sure where the phrase "organized chaos" originated, but it is definitely one of my favorite expressions. I'm glad you appreciated it!

Disclaimer: I still do not own any of these characters.


Real Life

"Danielle."

At the sound of his voice, Danielle Rousseau felt an unpleasant chill run down her spine. That mocking sing-song tone haunted her dreams. "Danielle, come in here please."

Danielle did not move. Two big, burly guards came over to her and grasped her arms. Her struggle was to no avail, they dragged her straight into the little conference room that she so feared. Seated there was Ethan Rom. He did not look happy.

"Put up a fight again, Danielle? I do not understand why you so fear me."

"Yes you do."

Ethan chuckled menacingly. "Alright, maybe I do know. Let me get straight to the point. Tell me where Claire is."

"No."

"I'm losing patience with you, Danielle. Why will you not cooperate?"

"Because I don't want you to do to her child what you did to Alex. No mother should have to go through that!""

Ethan sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh, so that is what this whole thing is about. How about this: if you tell me where to look for Miss Littleton, I will arrange for you to see Alex."

Danielle hesitated.

"Come now. It's the only thing you've wanted since you woke up last month."

She felt tears coming to her eyes. "He is my son! And he was all I had left, after I had to kill the others crash survivors so they wouldn't spread disease. And then he just disappeared! All my misery was because of you."

"Oh, my. Have you forgotten everything your psychiatrist has explained to you? You were in a coma for sixteen years, Danielle. Your fellow survivors all died while in the coma. You were quite lucky to wake up at all."

"And Alex?"

"I did what I had too with Alex, okay? What else could I have done? His mother was more than slightly incapacitated, no?"

"That wasn't the only reason and you know it."

"Perhaps I do. But that does not matter right now. I will once again repeat my offer. I warn you, though, this is the last time Danielle. Where is she?"

"I swear, in all honesty I do not know. I can tell you how she escaped, though."

"I will make that deal."

"Charlie Pase."

"Interesting. Very interesting…"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kate's eyelids felt too heavy for her to open. She didn't know where she was or who had wrapped a warm, dry blanket around her and laid her on a soft couch. She had been drifting in and out of consciousness for over an hour. Groggily, she wondered if she had awoken again from a strange dream in which she had been betrayed by the man she loved.

Abruptly, a voice broke her reverie. "Kate? Kate, can you hear me? Please try to open your eyes, I have some tea and some medicine that I need you to take – it should prevent you getting sick. I don't understand for the life of me why you were running through the rain, though, and I must admit that I'm quite curious."

He knows my name? This realization coupled with the strangely familiar voice caused Kate to struggle to open her eyes. When her eyelids finally obeyed her brain, she was shocked. Proffering a steaming cup of tea was none other than John Locke. "Good, you're awake."

"Yes. Thank you so much for taking me in."

"Well, it's lucky for you that you managed to collapse right outside my apartment. What ever were you doing out there in a storm like that?"

"Um, I'd rather not talk about it if that's okay."

"That's perfectly okay. Let me know when you're ready to talk about it."

Kate nodded and sipped the tea, allowing its soothing heat to calm her. "Thank you again. I do have one more favor to ask of you. May I please stay here tonight? I can even sleep on the floor if need be and I will be out of here tomorrow morning first thing."

"I'm sorry Kate, but I cannot allow that," he said simply. Kate was taken aback. It was the type of answer one would expect from Locke, but she had never encountered someone who would turn a friend out of his house for apparently no reason.

He saw the surprise on her face and continued, "I will be out this evening. However, it seems that Hurley is taking in homeless islanders. I will take you there now."

On principle, Kate hated charity. At the moment, however, she was so tired that she could only nod as Locke made a brief phone call, then escorted her to his car and drove her to a brick apartment building located right near a public park.

After climbing the stairs, Locke found the door to Hurley's apartment open. Hurley, Sawyer, Charlie, and Claire all looked anxiously at Kate's sleeping form.

"Is she going to be okay?" asked Charlie.

"Yes, I think she needs warmth and a good night's rest."

Hurley nodded. "Right. We set up a sleeping bag for her on the living room rug. Hope that's okay."

Sawyer stepped forward. "Let me just state for the record that I generously offered to share my bedroom with her and was turned down by these three for reasons unbeknownst to me."

Locke raised an eyebrow, then walked over to place Kate on the sleeping bag. Claire gently covered her with a blanket. "We will take good care of her, Mr. Locke."

"I know you will." Nodding, he exited the apartment. Hurley closed and locked the door behind him. With a friendly "Good night," he went into his bedroom. Sawyer, who had claimed the second bedroom as his own, stalked in and shut the door.

Charlie and Claire looked at the only sleeping area remaining – the full-sized pull-out couch, then looked at each other. Claire blushed prettily. Charlie noticed and said, "Please, lie down, a soon-to-be mother needs her rest. I can sleep on the floor if you would like."

Holding her stomach, Claire slowly sank down onto the bed. "No. Its fine, Charlie. Please don't sleep on the floor, I don't mind sharing."

Charlie slowly climbed into bed next t her. He watched her watching him. Both glanced towards Hurley's room to assure themselves that his door had been closed. Then, Charlie leaned over and kissed her tenderly.

Smiling at her, he pulled back and turned off the light. In the dark, their hands found each other.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kate Bradley is currently free on bail paid by a mysterious unknown source. According to our sources, she is currently residing in the home of a fellow plane crash survivor. The man, Mr. Hugo…"

Jack's head snapped up from his paperwork. "Hurley? She found Hurley? That's good, I'm glad she's okay."

Lorraine rolled her eyes, irritated at the mere mention of the girl who was apparently her rival. "Yeah," she said without feeling. "Good for her."

Jack glanced at the woman seated on the couch across the room, then looked back to the television. The newscaster continued, "Today, Ms Bradley's trial date was finally set. In just one week from today, she will be tried for a triple homicide, assault, and grand larceny."

Jack looked back at Lorraine to gauge her reaction. She had pursed her lips and was silently shaking here had as she looked at the now familiar face on the screen. Abruptly, she picked up the remote and switched off the TV.

"Jack," she said. "I love you. I don't want to feel like I'm losing you to some girl I don't know."

"You aren't going to lose me, Lorraine."

Lorraine sighed and rose, walking over behind the chair that Jack was seated in. She leaned down so her cheek was against his and gently began massaging his shoulders. "I really hope that's true, honey."

Smiling, she turned his face towards her and began to kiss him. Without thinking, Jack softly pushed her back and turned away. Any trace of love left Lorraine's eyes, replaced by great anger. Harshly, she snapped, "I think I already lost you, Jack." Simmering, she sat down on the couch and looked away from him.

Jack looked back to his papers, but found he couldn't concentrate. He had no logical excuse for what he had just don to Lorraine. For reasons he couldn't quite identify, her kissing him had felt wrong somehow. Maybe it had been the guiltily thought of the hurt look on Kate's face when she realized that he had a serious girlfriend. I owe her an apology, he thought. Maybe it's the guilt that makes me unable to get her face out of my head. Only guilt? He was fooling himself and he knew it.

Jack tried to shake these thoughts from his mind. He looked over at the beautiful woman sitting languidly on the couch. She was perfect…

But she wasn't Kate.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Claire awoke slowly and looked over at Charlie. The sight of him lying next to her, his hand entwined in hers, made her unthinkably happy. She could have easily lied there, looking at him, forever, but she felt the familiar itch that told her to get up.

Slowly, she forced herself to rise. Before she left the bed, she leaned over and softly kissed Charlie's forehead. Then, she walked over to check on Kate. Claire was worried about her, and not just because she had arrived confused and shivering. The emotional burden that she seemed to carry was too much for Claire.

After adjusting Kate's blanket, Claire continued to the front hall and stood next to the door. She tapped her foot impatiently; waiting for the knock that she somehow knew was going to come.

Claire did not think of herself as a psychic by any means. However, she was starting to learn that the little feelings she had often came true, which could be extremely convenient at times.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack continued to shake his head as he rolled Kate's suitcase down the sunny sidewalk. He still could barely believe that he was doing this. Sure, returning Kate's suitcase seemed innocuous enough, but he wasn't fooling himself. He was coming because he wanted to see her, to know that she would be okay, and to make sure that he hadn't hurt her too much. He was also coming because he just couldn't bear to be away from her. He felt like he would give anything for her to be in is arms again.

Slowly, he read over the names on the apartment numbers. Lifting the suitcase, he entered the building and climbed up the four flights of stairs. When he reached apartment 4C, he lifted his hand to knock. The door opened before he reached it.

Claire smile out at him. "Hello, Doctor. How are you?"

"Claire! It's nice to see you. Why are you in Hurley's apartment, though?"

"It has become a kind of refuge for crash survivors. Sawyer and Charlie are staying here too for a little while, along with Kate, who Locke dropped off yesterday night."

"Locke dropped off?"

"That's right. It was horrible – he found her cold and soaked to the bone in an alleyway. I cannot imagine what she was doing there."

Jack looked stricken. "Um, neither can I. That is horrible."

Claire knew that it didn't take a psychic to tell that Jack was not revealing something, but she decided to let it go. Changing the subject, she gestured to the suitcase and said brightly, "So, are you moving in, too? I don't know if we'll have enough room…"

"No, I'm not. This is actually Kate's suitcase."

"Why do you have Kate's suitcase."

"It's a long story."

He did not offer any more information and Claire did not pry. "Well, she's sleeping right now. Would you like me to go wake her?"

"No, that's okay."

"Or, you could come inside and wait until she gets up."

Jack considered this a moment, then forced himself to decline. "No, but thank you, Claire. It's just... If I see Kate again, I don't know what will happen – what I'll think, what I'll feel. I can't afford to do that. I made a commitment to Lorraine. I think that it's time to go back to my real life."

"But, Jack. Do you love her?"

"I thought that I loved Lorraine, I honestly did. But now, I don't know if that was ever real…"

Claire smiled softly. "I meant Kate. Do you love her?"

Jack looked up into Claire's eyes. "That would be another thing I couldn't afford to do."

"I didn't ask if you could afford to."

"It would be a waste of time to follow feelings and fleeting dreams."

Claire's voice turned serious. "Jack. Stop avoiding the question. You can trust me. I just want to know the truth."

Jack shifted his weight and sighed. "God help me, I do. Okay, Claire? I do love her with all my heart. But there's nothing that can ever come of it. That's why I don't want to see her again – I don't want either of us to get hurt. It's best if I go my way and she goes hers. That's real life."

"But is it the life you really want?"

"It's the life I have." With that, Jack placed the suitcase inside the door, then turned and briskly exited the building.

Claire was left standing in the doorframe, just wondering. What is going to happen to us?


Please continue to review and let me know your opinions. I love to hear from my readers!