Lost belongs to JJ Abrams and crew. I'm just borrowing for some non-profit fun. After Sawyer and the others return to the island, he finds Kate has finally chosen Jack. Post Exodus II. (The events that lead up to previously posted stories –Incarceration, Interim, Ineffable) Enjoy!
Lost – Infected
By Mystic
July 2005
Jack watched her try to prevent it and he smacked her hard. Kate's eyes went wide as she put a hand to her cheek and stared at him. He pushed her shoulders back and forced her to lay down, seeing Hurley approach again and ask if he could help. Jack raised a hand, one that made the other man shake his head and step away.
He'd never hit her before. Not in nine months of complaining and begging. Not when he walked into the caves after a shower to find her trying to slit her wrist. Not when she kicked him. Not when she punched him. Not when she screamed at Maggie to get out. Jack had never thought to. And now she lay on the cushions staring at him in shock.
"Why?" She whispered.
Jack moved forward on his knees and he took her hands together in his. "Kate, I love you," he started, watching as she shook her head against the words. "I would die if I could make it better." Jack took a long breath. "You have to push the baby out."
"If I don't, I die and it dies with me," she threatened.
He touched her cheek and watched her eyes look away from him when he cried. Jack couldn't even find a response for her; he just let his eyes fill up and blinked, letting tears roll down his cheeks. Kate slowly looked at him and her bottom lip trembled. "I know what you're afraid of, Kate, but it's not going to happen. None of it."
She shook her head. "What if he's infected?" She whispered.
"You think it's a boy?" Jack asked, curiously. Kate nodded her head slowly. Kissing her forehead, he pulled her legs apart and took a long breath. "Please, Kate, on the next one, push."
He watched her struggle. Jack had noticed it in the last hour, that struggle. He guessed it'd been going on since the day she figured out she was pregnant. Love it or don't love it. Until now she'd chosen not to, but he knew she couldn't do it, didn't have the hate for the man who did this to her because he knew she still believed it wasn't Sawyer's fault at all.
Kate blamed herself. She punished herself.
Jack watched her face as she took hold of the cushion and closed her eyes and pushed. Her lips pursed together and her forehead broke out in a new coat of sweat. But she was doing it. He watched the baby crown and he told her to stop. Hurley approached again and Jack motioned for him to stand behind Kate. The man, who had once fainted at the sight of blood, stood behind Kate and held her with firm arms, putting his chest against her back so she could lean on him. She took Hurley's hand and Jack nodded and she pushed again.
This time the child came out and Jack uttered a 'whoa' as the infant squirmed in his arms just enough to make him nervous. He put a finger into the small mouth and nostrils and listened as the baby hiccupped and then squealed, but didn't cry. "You were right," he told Kate, lifting the child so she could see. "Boy."
Kate looked away a moment and Jack frowned. If she abandoned the baby, it would probably die. But her eyes slowly came back to the infant and she put up her arms. Jack was afraid, hesitating before wrapping the boy up in a small blue airline blanket and putting him on Kate's stomach, watching her pull him towards her chest. Her eyes welled up and a tear hit the child's forehead and he blinked up at her. Jack crawled over to her side and he touched the small bald head.
"He's quiet," Jack noted.
"Maggie screamed like a hellcat," Kate told him.
"He needs a name, doesn't he?" It was his way of asking what she was thinking. What she was going to do? What Jack should feel? Could Jack finally relax?
There was a moment when she remained still, staring down at him as she touched his small chest and watched him wrap a small hand around her finger, his eyes never leaving hers. "Before this – before the island – before the cons and the fucked up life, Sawyer wasn't Sawyer," Kate told Jack.
He waited, wondering.
"His name was James. I read it on a letter a long time ago. James Ford. He was just an innocent little boy." Kate touched the child's lips. "A boy with big dreams and loving parents…" she sighed.
Jack nodded and watched her as she cradled the child closer to her. "Then his name should be James."
"James," Kate repeated with a nod. She kissed the child's head and looked up at Jack, feeling Hurley leave her back. Her eyes went wide and Jack was there, supporting her. He felt her lean into him and Jack brushed her cheek with his own, finally feeling his body relax knowing she'd chosen to love the child. Jack realized suddenly, it was in that moment that he'd made the same decision.