Okay ….. I needed a break from the Jack and Kate angst, so this next chapter is more reminiscent of their fireside chats …. It still advances the story (you'll see in the next chapter), but since they have "happy/calm moments" on the show, I figured it was time for them to have one in this story.
Enjoy …. and for all you angst lovers, fear not … there is more coming, as this chapter's title insinuates.
"A Calm Before the Storm"
"Dude! Would you stop yelling? I have no clue what you're saying!"
Emerging from the tree-line, Jack looked up at the sound of Hurley's exasperated voice. Grinning at the drama in front of him, he watched Jin make frantic gestures with his hands and bark out orders in Korean to Hurley. By the looks of it, Hurley was trying to learn how to fish from Jin, but the language barrier seemed to be frustrating both of them. He watched as Jin pointed to Hurley and made elaborate flapping motions with his arms and then shook his head adamantly.
"Dude, what! Are you making fun of me? I don't flap like that at all! No yelling! Hey!You just called me name, didn't you!"
"Careful, you're smiling again, Jack. Don't want to make a habit out of that."
He didn't turn, or even jump at the sound of Kate's voice; he'd already known she was there. The longer they spent on this island, it seemed the more in tune he was with her presence. For whatever reason, it always seemed like his nerve endings tingled when she was near.
With a short huff of a chuckle, his smile widened. "No, we can't have that happen, can we." he turned his head and met her gaze briefly, before looking back out at the 'odd couple' of fishing. "This a new thing?" he asked, nodding his head in Jin and Hurley's direction.
Kate continued to watch his profile for another moment, before following the direction of his gaze. "With the boar running short, I guess Hurley decided to concentrate on seafood. He's followed Jin around like this for the past two days, and he doesn't seem to have made any progress," she said with smile.
It had been almost a week since that day in the clearing, when she had finally glimpsed the man behind the mask, and she had found herself thinking of Jack more and more each day. Even though he still looked tired and she doubted that he'd slept much, she was relieved to see him standing still for at least a moment; even more relieved to see him smile. For the past week she had found herself looking for reasons to stop in at the caves, as if the bond she felt with him kept tugging her there. As she watched Hurley and Jin thrash around in the surf, she reflected on how once, she would have fought against that tug, but now, she just didn't seem to want to fight it as much anymore.
"Well, at least it's keeping them both out of trouble," he chuckled.
Seemingly in unison, they both turned and walked slowly down the beach, the uneven sand causing them to periodically brush against each other. It always amazed Jack how comfortable they were with each other ... this easy intimacy between them.
"Speaking of food, how is your garden doing?" he asked, shifting his backpack up higher on his shoulders.
"You mean Sun's garden ... I'm just the manual labour," she said ruefully. "It seems to be doing well, though it will be a while before we're able to get much from it. We did have a minor set back a few days ago, though, when Vincent got off his leash and discovered the spot."
Enjoying the benign and somehow "normal" conversation, Jack looked over at Kate and raised an eyebrow.
"Do I want to know?" he asked cautiously.
Kate wrinkled her nose up in a disgruntled expression, reminding him sharply of how she had done that in her sleep, and he smiled softly at the memory. She snorted and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and said drolly, "well, I figure he was either trying to dig us an escape route off the island via the passion fruit bed, or he simply disapproved of our planting location." She looked up and gave him a rueful smile. "But no major damage ... the seeds had only just been planted, so there weren't any seedlings to lose, fortunately."
She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans, and paused briefly mid stride. "In a way he did help. I ... um, we," she quickly corrected, "planted the guava seeds where he dug up some ground. He does make a good little ground cultivator."
His step faltered for a split second when she mentioned the guava seeds. He still wasn't sure what had possessed him to get those for her, but he felt a little surge of warmth spread through him at the thought of her having planted them.
Smiling, he looked over and met her gaze for a moment, more thankful than he could ever express for the respite her presence had given him ... allowing him a momentary break from his concerns; Kate seemed to have almost a healing affect on him at times.
"How is your supply of fruit down here doing?" he asked. "The trees are getting pretty picked over up by the caves ... ".
Rubbing the back of her neck thoughtfully, she answered with a small grimace. "Well, it's about the same down here. There's lots of new fruit growing, but most of it isn't ripe yet."
Nodding his head in understanding, he paused as they came to the shelter where the beach dwellers kept their water supply. He opened up his bag and pulled out the dozen or so full bottles of water and stacked them in the shallow hole someone had dug in an attempt to keep the water a bit cooler.
"Same with us. There is some fruit all the way up, but, it's so high that when it drops, it just splatters into a mess."
She watched Jack fill up his bag with empty bottles and wondered if the people here had any clue that Jack brought down most of their water. As with most things he did, Jack flew under the radar when it came to being helpful; he never made a big production out of helping people, and his role of "water boy" was no different.
"You need something to catch the fruit with when it falls, then ... make it a two-man kind of operation," she suggested.
He looked up at her from his crouched position and pursed his lips in concentration. "Go on, I'm listening," he said nodding.
"Well, you could use a shirt, or blanket or something and have one person on the ground hold it out, while someone in the tree drops the fruit down. Should be able to keep the fruit safe from the impact of landing on the ground."
"It's worth a shot," he said as he stood, zipping his bag back up. "I'll ask around and see who's game to try it up there."
Seeing her quizzical look, he said with chagrin. "I, um ... don't climb trees, Kate."
Raising an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "You don't climb trees?" she asked, repeating his statement.
"Well, it's more a case of that the trees don't let me climb them," he said ruefully. "I fall out of them. A lot. Apparently, I failed to inherit the 'tree climbing gene'," he said with a grimace.
Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, Kate's eyes twinkled in amusement at the image his words had conjured. "Give me a minute to get something to catch the fruit with, and I'll go with you," she said and headed to her shelter before he could even say a word. She returned a moment later with her bag, and rummaged through the pile of extra clothes that were kept next to the water bottles. Finding something she thought would work, she jammed it into her bag, along with a bottle of water. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she stood and turned to Jack.
"Ready?" she asked expectantly, with her hands on her hips and head cocked to the side.
Recognizing her body language, Jack knew it would be useless to argue.
"Apparently," he said with a bemused sigh, and motioned for her to lead the way.