Once again that you for all the kind and quick reviews! I guess now would be a good time to tell you that in the story each chapter is approximately two weeks apart (forgot to mention that before…My bad…)

Pangs of Guilt

Chapter 6

Sandcastle Kingdom

Kate shot up, straight up from lying on the ground, to being on her feet. A petrifying scream rose from her mouth. Her chest heaving in and out, her lungs aching for breathe, her mind racing. She looked down and placed a hand on her stomach. She was thin again….

Then a deafening clap of thunder shot her right back into reality. Rain poured down on her like someone was throwing it in buckets. She was totally soaked from head to toe instantly. The waves crashed violently on shore, savagely beating the weak sand away.

Where was she? The last thing she remembered was Jack? Yes, Jack had talked her into going to the beach to relax; she told him that she wouldn't be able to. This was proof of the, so where the hell was he. This was his fault, he'd dragged her out here, and now she was…

Another roll of thunder droned on, rain falling down on her. The night she had escaped from the camp made an appearance in her mind. She was alone then, vulnerable then, like she was now.

"Jack!" She called over the rain and waves. She was too far from camp for the others to here her.

"Jack!" she screamed again, louder then before, it still was no match for the forces of nature.

She now had a lack of breath, she leaned over slightly, inhaling rapidly, she had to try once more. Even if it killed her.

"JACK!" she hollered, cupping her mouth to amplify the noise, she quickly fell to the mucky sand, gasping once again.

Rustling came by the jungle line; she looked up instantly, as Jack casually walked out of the jungle, when he noticed the position she was in, Jack ran to her side immediately.

"Kate, what happened?" he asked, pulling her into his arms, somehow even in the rain, he was warmer then her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, "I had that dream again, you left me."

"Kate, I'm sorry, I just went into the jungle, nature called and…I didn't mean to leave you, you have to know that," he explained moving a piece of drenched hair from her face.

"No, in the dream you left me, you ran towards them, they…" she paused.

"Kate, you need to take a breathe, especially since the position your in," he explained helping her to the jungle's edge to get out of the rain.

He sat down beside her, giving her room to take a few breathes, "Jack, they…they shot you," she paused, "Right in front of me, you promised you'd see me again, it was a lie, and you knew it…"

"Kate, I'm not hurt," he began.

"You just wanted to make sure the baby and I were safe," she mumbled.

"Kate, what baby?" he asked.

"Jack, promise me, if anyone comes to this island, you'll listen to me," she exclaimed.

"Kate…"

She took his hand, and her eyes pleaded with his, "Promise me."

"I promise you," he answered and pulled her into a hug.

She closed her eyes, she was in his arms again, and she was safe for now. Her body relaxed little by little until she had almost recovered. Then a tremor moved through her.

"Kate, you're freezing," he moved his hand up and down her back.

"It's not that, it's…" she stopped and pushed herself away from him, turning into the brush near by, her stomach had revolted against her, and she began to be sick.

Jack moved next to her and held back her hair. When she was done she threw some sand on top of what had once been her stomach contents and looked at Jack, "Sorry," she whispered.

He gave her a warm smile, "It's okay Kate, I'm a doctor, I'm used to being thrown up on, not just in front of," she smiled back, "You should lie down, we can't walk back yet in weather like this," he suggested looking up at the sky.

She nodded in agreement and he patted his lap, she placed her head in his lap and sighed tremblingly. Jack gently ran his fingers through her hair.

"There goes my banana, I guess," she said jokingly.

"I guess so," he replied, the paused for a moment, "Kate?"

"Yeah?" she asked turning to look up at him.

"I guess that night back on the beach, it isn't looking so good now, huh?" he asked.

"I guess not," she replied solemnly, moving her eyes away from his, then quickly back, "But you know what?" she asked placing her hand on his face.

"What?"

"I wouldn't change a thing," she replied sweetly.

Jack took her hand in his and kissed it, "neither would I."

"Dad, it's boring here," Walt complained again. He sat beside the fresh water spring, dipping a metal bowl from the airplane into the cool liquid. It tingled his hands a bit, but it was refreshing. The island had been unusually hot after the storm.

Michael was tying together some shoots of bamboo to make the pipes of the shower, "I know you're bored, why don't you go play backgammon with someone?"

"I win to easily, I've had a lot of practice," Walt explained placing the silver bowl on the ground for Vincent to drink. The Labrador immediately lapped up some water, wagging his tail gratefully.

"Well what do you want to do then?" his father asked, checking the diagram he had made.

"I was wondering if I could go see what Mr. Locke was doing," he explained.

"Walt, Mr. Locke is a very busy man, he has to catch us the food we need to survive," Michael looked up.

"So why can't I help him?" Walt asked for the tenth time that week.

"Because it's to dangerous, and if you go, Mr. Locke is responsible for you, he'd have to protect you, and hunt for food," he answered.

Walt sighed, "Can I at least go to the beach?"

"I don't want you going down there by yourself, if you can find someone to go with you fine."

"Why can't you take me? All you've done is work on your drawings; it'd only take ten minutes. You could leave me at the beach and come back for me later," Walt suggested.

Michael sighed, his son was right, "Alright, but I don't want you walking back on your own, understand?"

"Yeah, come on Vincent," Walt willed his dog to follow him and grabbed the Frisbee.

"If you move any less Freckles, we'll have to throw you in the fuselage with all the other bodies," Sawyer explained as he sat beside Kate in the sand.

"I'm just taking a break, Jack says I've been working to hard," She explained, not moving her view from the horizon.

"And you just believe everything the good doctor says," he shook his head.

"Of course, he is a doctor," then she added, "Maybe if you did a little more work, I wouldn't have to sit down…"

"I'm not a team player, Freckles," he said bluntly.

"Oh, I've noticed," she replied.

"Anyways, I was just about to go to the caves to get water, Ali's pressuring me into helping more," he explained, "Since Stick's is out of commission for a bit, and her brother doesn't seem to leave her, I'm stuck to pulling a double."

"Welcome to my world," she explained.

"So you wanna come help or what?" he asked getting up.

"Nope," she replied ingenuously.

"'Nope?'" he asked, surprised a bit.

"Nope, relaxing remember?" she replied looking up a Sawyer.

"Freckles, I've seen more relaxed long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs," he said sarcastically.

"Well, I'm still relaxing," she replied.

"Not even to see Jacko?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Nope, besides, he'll appreciate that I'm here."

"Alright, suit yourself, Freckles," he walked towards the jungle edge, almost bumping into Michael along the way.

"Hey Sawyer, you think that before five, you could bring Walt back to the caves?" He asked, as Walt ran towards the ocean.

"Does this look like the Babysitters Club?" Sawyer asked pushing his way past.

Michael looked over and saw Kate next; she was watching Walt play fetch with Vincent in the surf, "Kate, do you think you could bring him back for me, if it isn't too much trouble?"

"No problem," she smiled.

"Thanks," he replied and headed for the jungle.

Walt threw the Frisbee once again, it gently cut through the humid ocean air and landed softly on top of the waves, lightly rocking back and fourth as the ocean moved to the shore.

Vincent bounded after it, his long pink tongue flying out to the side of his mouth as he raced into the water. He valiantly doggy paddled out to where the shiny piece of plastic rested on the water's surface.

Eyeing it for only a moment, Vincent reached out and snatched the toy from the water with his mouth, and jubilantly paddled back to shore.

Walt was waiting to throw the toy again, but Vincent had other ideas, he came ashore and shook the excess water from his blond coat, and trotted away with the Frisbee.

"Vincent, get back here," Walt, yelled after his dog, who merely ignored him and trotted along the sand towards Kate, dropping the toy beside her, then stared.

She looked back, and when she made no move for the plaything, Vincent nudged it towards her, Kate couldn't help but giggle. She picked up the toy, and petted the dog.

"Vincent, what are you doing?" the boy asked angrily when he reached his dog, his hands at his side.

"I guess he doesn't like your technique," Kate inquired, handing the toy back to Walt, Vincent's eyes glued to it.

"I guess not," he replied, sitting in the sand next to her.

"Bored witless, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm not allowed to do anything around here, my dad's afraid if I set one foot in the forest, I'll shoot up in flames or something," he explained effortlessly tossing the Frisbee into the ocean.

Kate laughed, "Some parent's are overprotective," she offered, "Especially if they don't know you that well."

"Are your parents overprotective?" he asked, retrieving the toy from Vincent.

"They were, the last time I saw them," she shrugged, "I haven't seen them in awhile."

"Oh," Walt then thought a change of subject was best, "Will you play Frisbee with me now?" he asked, holding up the soggy, slightly chewed, almost in perfect

condition plaything.

"Jack, told me I have to relax," she sighed, "Even grownups have rules to," she smiled.

"So what do you do? Just sit here?" he asked.

"Pretty much," she replied.

"So it's like a jail?" he asked naively.

"It could be compared to one," she shrugged.

"You should find something to do, my mom used to say that if you sit in one place too long, you'll go crazy," he suggested.

"Have you ever built a sandcastle?" she questioned.

"No, my mom wouldn't let me near the water in Australia, she said it was filled with to many dangerous animals," he enlightened, "Why?"

"Because, I happen to be an expert on building sandcastles, I used to build one every year when my family went on vacation," she explained, "Want to know how?"

Michael sat leaning against a tree, he flipped to a new page in the sketchbook he'd found. He had to work on a new way to make the showers more private, the sooner he could do it, the sooner they could put them up. Then maybe he could spend some time with Walt.

He started to write down dimensions and materials he could use for doors, he was deep within thought, before someone pulled him out of it.

"Michael," he looked up to see Jack, "Where's Walt?"

"He's at the beach, Kate's supposed to bring him back at five," he explained, quickly focusing back on his blueprint.

"It's six thirty," Jack enlightened.

"Huh?" he looked up again.

"They're an hour and a half late, Locke's serving up diner soon," Jack added.

"Oh, I lost complete track of time, I'd better go get him," He replied.

"I'll go get him if you want, I have to check on Kate anyways," he added.

"What's wrong?"

"With what?" Jack asked back.

"With Kate, you said she needs to be checked on," he replied.

"Oh nothing's wrong, she's been working to hard, and gets tired easily now," he added, knowing that there was more.

"Oh, if you want to get him, that's fine, It'd actually help me," he explained.

"Okay, I'll be back in twenty minutes," Jack explained, and started for the regulated pathway to the beach.

The sun was dimming and he noticed all the brush that littered the path. From now on, when firewood was needed, they should start to clear the path.

When he made his way to the beach, he found Kate and Walt by the shore. When he walked a little closer, he was amazed.

In front of them, was the most elaborate sandcastle he'd ever seen. It had many architectural features, including watchtowers and a drawbridge.

Kate noticed when he approached and looked up, sending him a smile, "Hey Jack."

"Hey, this is…this is amazing Kate," He explained bending down to get a better look at it in the dying light.

"Thanks, but it wasn't all me, Walt did most of the work," she explained.

"Yeah, but you taught me how," he answered.

She smiled, then turned her attention to Jack, "So what's up," she asked, leaning away from the sandcastle.

"You and Walt were supposed to be back at the cave an hour and a half ago," he explained.

"I must've lost track of time, is Michael mad?" she asked.

"No, but we should head there now," he suggested, "Locke's about to serve his pig."

"Yummy," she added sarcastically.

I've built a sandcastle once in my life, it was awesome and so elaborate (It was when I was 12) but then some little kid walked by and smashed it.

Next chapter- What happens when Jack starts to loose all the patience with everyone at the camp, particularly someone very close to him…A certain female… Her name starts with a 'K' and ends in an 'Ate'