A/N: Yes, yes, yes, I will finish my other fic. I have half a chapter left to write and I know I could wait to write this till I finished that one but… I don't want to, so there. Hah! Anywho, this will be quite AU, as I make no claim to knowing what will happen in any future new episodes as I hate spoiling surprises for myself. It would be cool if it turned out this way, though…

"Jack, no, you can't…" Kate said with frustration as she stepped over a stone, following Jack in circles around the camp as he grabbed various objects, shoving them deep into a rucksack.

"There isn't another alternative." Jack began with equal frustration, still keeping a step ahead of Kate, "Locke and Boone aren't back yet and if we wait any longer for them we'll never catch up to him." He practically hissed the last word. Kate's eyes wandered to the side of his face where a large, purple and red bump had started to swell under the cut that had been there yesterday. Jack had reason to be angry, she understood that, but he didn't have to be so foolhardy about it.

"You can wait another day! I want to find Claire just as much as you do, but the trail's been washed away!" She rubbed her forehead in exasperation, "If you leave now than at least I'm coming with you. You aren't doing this alone…"

Bending over to grab a few medicine bottles, Jack shook his head, "Kate, how many times are we going to talk about this?"

"It's dangerous, Jack. You saw what they did to Charlie, what they were going to do, they'll do it to you!" Kate tried to step in front of Jack again, but he turned away and headed in a different direction. By now, most of the cave camp had started to pretend like they weren't listening again, but Kate knew they could hear.

Jack said nothing in reply and slung the sack over his shoulder, "It doesn't matter."

"Doesn't matter? Jack!" Kate was almost yelling now. Why was he being such a stubborn ass? Did he want to die? "I'm not letting you leave."

"Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot you can do to stop me."

"Want to bet?" She crossed her arms defiantly, although she knew he was right.

Jack dropped the sack and raised his voice, "Yeah, actually, I-"

"SHUT UP!"

Kate and Jack froze, as did the rest of the listening camp, and speechlessly turned their heads to the one who'd yelled.

"Charlie?" Kate asked cautiously. No one had heard him say a thing since yesterday at the bonfire, and then suddenly he was yelling loud enough for anyone within a one mile radius to hear. It was almost frightening.

"I'm going with you, Jack." Charlie stated bluntly and it was then that Kate noticed that he too had a backpack on, zipped, and ready.

Were they all loosing their minds???

"Charlie, you can't go, not after… you just can't go!" Kate finished lamely with aggravation and then turned to Jack pointedly, "Right, Jack?" He had to agree, he was a doctor for crying out loud!

There was a long pause of silence as Jack and Charlie stared the other in the eye.

"He's coming." Jack finally said, keeping his gaze set and noticeably away from Kate's direction.

"What?" Kate uttered in disbelief and stamped in front of Jack, "Look, if he's going then you can't leave me behind. I can track, remember? If I get stuck here, I'll just find you. Either way I'm coming." Folding her arms, she stood her ground in a manner that would make any true army general proud, "I want to help find Claire, Jack. Stop treating me like a kid, I can handle it."

Jack paused uncomfortably longer that time and didn't meet Kate's eyes. He just stared at the ground and then off into the distance as Kate held her ground.

"Fine." He answered finally and then spoke to both her and Charlie, "We leave in half an hour, be here." Turning around, he went off away from the group, stopping to talk to Michael.

Kate sat down with a thump, rubbing the palms of her hands across her temples, trying to relax to no avail.

"He's not trying to be an arse, you know." Charlie muttered from nearby as he sat down.

"Could've fooled me." Kate shook her head, "I haven't fought that much with anyone since I moved out of Washington."

Charlie shrugged and walked away, "Don't forget to pack."

That would be difficult, she'd packed last night.

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"So, do you think you can do it?" Jack asked as he folded back up a piece of lined legal paper.

"I dunno, man, it's pretty basic design, but the quantity... When's the deadline?" Michael took the paper and shoved it in the pocket of his jeans.

"Tomorrow could work, but tonight would be best. I'm also going to need the people by then, too. I could try to round some up, but I don't think I'm very popular with most of the people I need right now, you know?"

"Tonight it is then and don't worry about it, I'll round them up." Michael said with a nod and added hesitantly, "I noticed you changed your mind about going alone."

Shrugging, Jack nodded, "Yeah, so?"

"Nothing." Michael said quickly, "It's just, well, I don't think you should go unprepared now, you know. I mean, you shouldn't have before, but now that you're in a group, you'll be more noticeable and if anything were to happen…"

Jack turned around and rolled his eyes with exasperation, "You sound like Kate. Doesn't anyone think I might just know what I'm doing?"

"Of course we do, Jack. She's probably just worried, after seeing what happened to Charlie and everything… I can't even imagine what that must've been like for both of you." Michael finished quietly, "Take one of Locke's knives with you, okay? Just in case."

Jack turned back around and sighed, "Sorry, I'm just… stressed. I'll grab one before I leave." He shrugged the sack further on his shoulder and turned around to leave.

"Hey, man, good luck."

"Thanks."

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Jack walked up to Locke's knife suitcase cautiously and clicked the lid open and glanced around, like he expected sirens or lights to go off any second. Finally, he looked down and eyed each one while trying to remember everything he knew about knives, which wasn't much. What he needed was something that could multi-task; heal as well as defend, something small, but balanced and well-formed, something like…

He picked one up and held it lightly in his hand. It had hardly any weight to it and seemed almost to float in his palm. The ridges running up the knife seemed to fit his hand perfectly as he closed his fingers around the hilt. Even the balance was good considering the awkward way he was holding it.

"Mr. Locke's never used that knife before."

Jack almost dropped the knife as he spun around, trying to hide the guilt from his face and wondering who'd caught him. To his surprise, Michael's kid, Walt, was staring up at him curiously.

"Says he was saving it for somethin' special, but he never said what." Walt looked from the knife to Jack and back again in a thoughtful way that, had Jack not felt so guilty about getting caught in the situation in the first place, would have made him laugh, "But I don't think he'd mind if you borrowed it."

"Err, thanks." Jack stuck the knife in his belt loop without bothering to look at the rest. He hadn't expected to be caught rummaging through Locke's things, especially by a ten-year old kid, and it was making him feel rather uncomfortable. Moving away, he walked back to where he'd left Charlie and Kate surprised, and a little disappointed, to see them both there and ready.

"Alright, let's go." Jack said, trying to sound as courageous as he could, but as he said the words a tingle went up his spine and he shuddered. Everything would go fine now that he was prepared…he hoped.