Well here is it, the chapter you've all be waiting for, so without further ado…
PS I don't own the Cranberries
Pangs of Guilt
Chapter 31
Loves. Labors. Lost
Jack yawned and rubbed behind his neck, which was a bit sore from the way he was laying, but he did not have the right to complain. He walked silently back into the cave, and checked for the fifteenth time that night if he had everything he needed for when the baby arrived, clean blankets, water, any medication that Kate might need, sterile gloves.
"Jack?" Kate asked weakly, shifting up against the wall.
"I'm right here Kate," he explained kneeling by her side.
"What happened?" she asked groggily.
"You fell asleep," he stroking her hair, smiling at her reassuringly.
Kate opened her mouth to say something but instead her face portrayed pain, she cried out and almost fell over from leaning but Jack got a hold of her before she did.
"Kate, what's wrong?" he asked, her fingers digging into his biceps over the tattoos he still hadn't talked about.
She panted as Jack moved his hand up and down her back to get her to take her mind of the pain, "That one hurt," she replied.
Jack gently lay her back down, "Lay there, I'm going to check you again," he kissed her head.
Kate sighed and focused on the ceiling of the cave, "Kate, you're ready," Jack explained to her.
She sat up and looked at him, not saying anything the look in her eyes portraying more words then ever could.
"I'm ready if you are," Jack said weakly.
"I don't think we get to decide when we're ready," Kate exclaimed, her hands grabbed the blanket that she lay on, bunching it in her hand.
Footsteps were heard outside of the cave again and Claire entered, as soon as she saw what was happening she ran to Kate's side and grabbed her hand, "I'm sorry I'm late, how much did I miss."
"Nothing much, she's just crowning," Jack explained as he pulled on his sterile gloves.
"Nothing much he says," Kate cried, while squeezing Claire's hand.
"All right Kate, I need you to push down when the next contraction comes," Jack told her.
"Okay," Kate said exasperated and did as Jack told her too, her eyes forced shut in pain.
"That's good, now take a rest and when the next contraction comes, push down again," he explained calmly.
As the next contraction came and another wave of pain shot through Kate, she pushed down as hard as she could. Claire rewetted the cloth and Kate's head and replaced it.
"One more push Kate, and the head will be out," he enlightened, "And she has brown hair," he added with a smile.
"Come on Kate, give it one big push," Claire said optimistically, she switched hands because the one Kate had continually squeezed was now red.
Kate bit her bottom lip, and squeezed Claire's replaced hand; her breathing was quick and deep as she continually pushed.
"Okay, one more push and you'll be done Kate, I promise," Jack explained.
Kate complied and pushed one final time, then fell back, gasping for breath.
"She's here Kate," Jack laughed happily, holding the tiny bundle in his arms drying her off with the blankets, "Claire, can you light the scissors over the lighter and hand then to me," he asked.
"Sure," Claire replied and took the metal blades, burning them on the flame of the small lighter to destroy any bacteria.
Jack looked at his daughter in his arms, and then became alarmed, he noticed now, about a minute after her birth, she hadn't cried yet. He turned her over in the blanket and placed an ear attentively to her back.
A small amount of panic left him when he heard the tiny thump of her heart, and in his hand he felt the rise and fall of her chest, then why hadn't she cried?
"Here," Claire handed him the scissors and smiled.
He forced a smile as he accepted them, and used them to cut the umbilical cord. He picked up his daughter and held her against his chest, gently patting her back. His mind could not get over how tiny she was, one of his hands covered her lower back and legs, while the other moved up and down her back.
"What's wrong?" Kate asked, propping herself up against the pillows once again. Jack didn't answer; he simply continued to rub her back, until a small cough shook from her body.
She immediately started to cry and Jack smiled cheerfully, "Nothings wrong," Jack explained moving around to sit next to Kate, "She's perfectly fine."
He handed her to Kate, and noticed her light up, as soon as she touched her daughter, "What's the date?" she asked.
"June twenty-sixth," Jack told her, "She's born June twenty-sixth at 3:37 in the morning," he elaborated with a smile.
"I'll leave you to alone now," Claire suggested, "I'd better go check on the boys, who've probably used Hurley as a human trampoline," She smiled and left the cave.
"Look at all that hair," Kate explained as she ran her hand over the soft brown hair covering her baby's head. Jack laughed as he felt his eyes fill with tears, "She's finally here," Kate whispered.
The baby had calmed down and fallen asleep against Kate's shoulder, Jack wrapped an arm around her and brought them both close, and Kate relaxed against his chest. He placed a kiss on Maverick's head, and then kissed Kate on the lips.
"you should get some sleep," Jack suggested, "She's not going to stay asleep forever, and when she does wake up, you're not going to get any sleep."
"I'll get some sleep, just," Kate paused and grasped Jack's hand with her unused hand, "Just don't go anywhere," she smiled.
"I wouldn't dream of it," Jack replied and lay down next to Kate, falling asleep at her side. They were now Jack and Kate, plus one.
All cast member: AWWWWWWWWW (crying)
Ethan: Pass the tissue!
Sawyer: God, that was beautiful!
Boone: Who gets to read the answers?
Let me tabulate that… Sawyer get to.
Everyone: ARGH!
Sawyer: HA HA SASSAFRAS!
Ethan: yeah I've been wondering what the hell did that have to do with anything, unless…have you been to that 'naughty' club in Toronto?
Sawyer: been there? I own it!
Charlie: I've got it! (sings) Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo, My mother-
Claire: That's the Cranberries Chaalee
Charlie: ARGH!
Sawyer: Simmer down dog pound and I'll show you how a real pro does this!
Shannon: Why, when's he getting here
Sawyer: Hardee-har-har
October Sky
Sawyer: Well (raises eyebrow) a Sawyer to you to!
Shiggity: Yeah I write them both, that's why it takes so long to put them up with all the responses
Sawyer: Hey Ruby, I'm the one doing the updates.
Shiggity: Ruby?
Sawyer: As in that hair of yours
Shiggity: I swear to God, if you touch me I'll blow the rape whistle…
Pinker Pink
Sawyer: Yeah, I taught my boy all the tricks of the trade, like how if someone needs something to live it can always be exchanged for a kiss
KJCC
Sawyer: Yeah you are.
Kate: Sawyer (smacks)
Sun: No you're not smacking him right, like this (SMACKS)
Sawyer: Jeez! Alright, alright, I'll be nicer
Lostobsessivefreak
Sawyer: (on the couch icing face)
Shiggity: Aww thanks for the nice comments and I hope you're glad that Maverick's okay and all. I'm going to university in 1 year, but next year I get to do some writing for a movie (nothing big) and work on my cartoons, and I get 4 (out of 6) credits just for that! But I might not be accepted into the program
Sawyer: Probably not
Sun: (SLAP!)
Sawyer: DAMMIT!
Shiggity: So hopefully, I will be.
Sawyer: See this girl picked me out of everyone, so ha, people still like me!
Charlie: And we didn't give a damn
Sawyer: What?
Charlie: 'Cause we were raised to see life as fun
Claire: CRANBERRIES!
Charlie: Crap!
Sawyer: Ha!
Sun: (SLAP)
Love2blost
Sawyer: Well the baby's fine, are you happy now?
Sun: (smack)
Sawyer: ENOUGH!
Mariquita
Shiggity: yeah I've still got some fine tuning to do when it comes to my writing, and I would give it to a Beta, but I don't have one. So that presents a problem
Ethan: So you like my prancing huh? (prances more)
Sawyer: I'm supposed to be reading the damn questions!
Lillywriter
Shannon: Ha see I have fans
Sawyer: Yeah but I got picked, Sticks and getting excited when someone updates is pretty…
Shannon: (Slap)
Kate: I call next time!
Kiki
Sawyer: Hurley?
Shiggity: Hurley?
Shannon: Hurley?
Hurley: Hurley?
KateJackShipper
Sawyer: Now you can stop reading because the kid is finally born
Kate: (Slams!)
Sawyer: Easy Freckles
Smilez4eva
Sawyer: Yep definitely a girl. You want Kate to answer the questions? So she can be all moody and
Kate: (slap)
Standardblack
Sawyer: She doesn't rule, she managed to write a story that has barely no me in it at all
Claire: (smack)
Sawyer: Where the hell she come from
Claire: I came back when they said they were smacking you every time you were mean
Shiggity: Thanks to the nice comments, and you rule, your story is the THE BEST I always read it whenever I get the email!
FanOfLost
Jack: Ha she loves me
Kate: He's taken
All reviewers: AWWW
Sawyer: I think I'm gonna be…
Sun: (smack)
Shannon: (whack)
Claire: (slap)
Shiggity: I would've cleaned the house faster but I had to vacuum the stairs. Yes the stairs. Don't ask…
Oreata
Shannon: It's copywritten by Shannon Rutherford 2005, all rights reserved. (raises eyebrows higher)
Sawyer: It's my turn! Does anyone care?
Shannon: How do you like them apples?
Sawyer: Does anyone care?
Kate: be nice to the reviewers Shan.
Sawyer: Does anyone care?
Charlie: My mother, she hold me, she hold me, when I was out there
All girls: CHARLIE IT'S STILL CRANBERRIES!
Jinna
Sawyer: (grumbling) I hope you liked this chapter.
Kate: (slaps)
Sawyer: I was being nice
Kate: (giggles) That was for fun!
Lara Chubb of Deep Hollow
Claire: Thanks for suggesting me to answer the questions
Sawyer: But you don't get to so shove off
All four girls: (slap!)
Vincent: Grrrrr (grabs Sawyer's pant leg and begins to pull at it)
Andraste Tree
Sawyer: You can have Boone to
Boone: ha now you're going to get slapped
Girls: (don't move) No one likes you
Boone: Fine I'll go but I'm not wearing a maid outfit
Rain1657
Shiggity: You should totally read my review of Numbers, because I'm funny. Lol I hate like everyone in it (though I'm biased to Jack and Kate) But I think I did a really good job this week reviewing it (it took like 5 hours)
Eliza4892
Shiggity: Sawyer and Danielle's?
Sawyer: Eww that's nasty
Danielle: (slap)
Ethan: Ou French Slaps hurt more then others
Shiggity: Some unnamed person I guess
Musicmonkey88
Sawyer: the baby's here, and it wasn't worth the wait
Kate: (slap) don't make fun of my child! (slaps)
Lauren
Shiggity: See she likes the story moron
Sawyer: She also picked me to answer so ninner, ninner, ninner
Whirlwinds-2005
Shannon: TWINS! Are you crazy, I'd get like, fat on my fat
Sayid: You could always loose it
Shannon: But I'm lazy
Sawyer: This isn't Jerry Springer
Freckles-101
Shiggity: Yeah and we decided that Noah is gay! So it's like a love circle. Verve likes Amira who likes Noah who likes Ryder, who likes Devlyn who likes Ryder. And I wish I did get paid, oh man I'd be rolling in it
JasmineHR
Charlie: I'm sorry Love I'll sing my song to you (sings) You if you could return, don't let it burn, don't let it fade, I'm sure I'm not being rude, but it's just your attitude, it's tearing me apart, you're ruining everything—
Everyone: CRANBERRIES!
Charlie: DAMMIT!
Sawyer: When do I get to talk
Kate: (slap) Just on last time.
Bruised and battered Sawyer: Next time, time seems to fly! The story moves pretty quickly from now on, but don't worry it's still as good. Because I have to get to a certain time in the story to start writing longly again.
Remember to pick who you want to answer questions!