Hola. This story is a one shot, and I do not own Lost or any of the characters in this story. Read on, and review!

Silent Water

She started in her bed, sitting up ramrod straight from shock. The first emotion she recognized was a warmth and happiness that was so new it made her uneasy. Her labored breathing marred the dark silence around her as she slowly came out of the fog of sleep. She looked around; there was no one in her tent but herself. She exhaled a sigh of relief, trying not to acknowledge the jealousy and yearning that tightened her chest that came whenever these sort of thoughts visited her.

Tonight had been different, though. This was painfully obvious. It was so vivid, so real, she could almost see it, smell it. She shuddered and lay back down, drawing the flimsy airplane blanket over her nose. It was becoming harder and harder to pretend nothing was wrong. In the light of day, she'd shrink away from anyone's touch, afraid it would send her into fits. She avoided conversations; her former nature of seclusion became enhanced with this new fear.

If she was any other, normal woman, Kate probably would've smiled upon waking, and nuzzled back down into her blanket to try to sleep and regain the dream. But her past and their current circumstances made it stir a dreadful apprehension in her.

The night was close, and it seemed that everything had just stopped. The earth no longer spun, time itself was suspended. She stared into the still abyss of her tent for a long while, afraid to drift back into sleep. But it soon became futile. As Kate felt her eyelids droop shut, she prayed for a peaceful dreamless night. But through some premonition, she knew no peaceful sleep would follow ever after tonight.

Now, it was only a matter of time.

"Ah, shit." Jack muttered to himself as he fished through the racks of broken supplies in his makeshift Doctor's office. His steady hands trembled slightly, shaking the liquid in the bottles as he shuffled them around. It'd taken some doing to calm Larry down after his run in with the polar bear, but he wasn't seriously injured. He sure did a number on Jack's nicely organized office, though, and the doc was still cursing the frantic man for it.

The morning was wearing on into afternoon, and Jack was filling up water bottles to take to those stubborn beach dwellers. But there was one in particular that held his thoughts.

"No need, Jack. I took a packful down this morning." Sayid said as he approached.

"What?" Jack asked, sincerely not comprehending the Iraqi's words. Sayid looked at him gravely.

"You don't look like you've been getting much sleep, my friend."

"I get enough." Jack said indignantly. Sayid sighed in resignation.

"I took a pack of water bottles to the beach a few hours ago. Everyone has at least two bottles. Kate offered to come in and bring another pack at early evening."

"Oh." Was his light response. "Thanks."

Sayid walked away, and Jack returned to his office. He set down his pack and took a swig out of the one bottle he'd filled. For a moment, he just looked around the caves. From here, he had a view of the main junction of the settlement. There were trails to the left and right, leading a short distance to other attached caves, but no one was beyond shouting distance. The people milled about their absent minded business, none but a few really having anything meaningful to do. Jack had delegated some of his obligations to Michael and Sayid, and a few other able bodied, trustworthy castaways, if for no other reason than to give them something to do, and make them feel as if they were helping.

Jack began to get restless. He'd been standing in the same place for a few minutes, just zoned into his thoughts, and looked around for the next thing on his mental list to do. But he just spun in a circle and realized that he himself, Jack, the doctor, had not one thing he had to do at this moment in time.

He smiled to himself. It was amazing, having absolutely no obligations to adhere to. No patients, no fires to stoke, no one to save from a beast in the jungle. He could take his time; meander leisurely through the jungle behind the caves. It was the perfect time to think and reflect on the insane, impossible events of the past months.

But Jack did not reflect. He didn't even think. He just walked, enjoying the shade the canopy provided, thankful for the first time in weeks that he wasn't back on the beach.

They'd had a dry spell. Not that it rained regularly on the island, but the past week had been dry and stagnant. Without a breeze to cool off the survivors' skin, it was sweltering and oppressive. The very air seemed thick and hard to breath. The lack of singing waves made everything eerily quiet. One could hear everything that went on down the length of the beach.

"Something's bothering you." Charlie observed as he approached Kate. She'd been leaning her back against the same tree for over an hour, knees drawn tightly to her chest. She chose a spot right on the outskirts of camp. Far enough not to be disturbed (or so she thought), but near enough to be there if help was needed.

Kate looked up to him. "What makes you say that?"

"Look at you. You're isolating yourself. Something is obviously on your mind." He plopped himself heavily into the sand beside her, Indian style, staring out to sea. "So, let's have it." Charlie motioned for her to dump her burdens onto him. She half grinned at him.

"Thanks Charlie, really, but I'm fine." She reassured, but he clearly wasn't falling for it. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at her.

"I don't believe you, Kate. I'm like a human lie detector, you can't get away with it. Now, let's have it, really."

Kate chuckled, more for Charlie's benefit than a real desire to. "If I come back to camp, will it get you off my back?"

"For a while, I believe so. But I can't make any guarantees."

"I'll take it." She said as they stood and made their way back to relative civilization.

Charlie's a dear, bless his heart, but Kate cursed him as she stomped through the underbrush on her way to the caves. He had good intentions, she knew, but she needed to sort this out herself. Alone.

Now, she thought she'd get an early start on her promise to Sayid to bring water to the beach goers for the night. But halfway to the caves, a butterfly fluttering just past her nose made her stop. Kate watched its random dance through the air, shifting directions left and right, all the while flying gracefully. It landed softly on a green leaf on the jungle floor, in the middle of a lush bed of foliage that the sun hit just right, illuminating its finery.

Kate's knees went to jelly, and she sat in her place, eyes trained to the spot. There was something so familiar. So uncannily recognizable, yet the memory escaped her. She just knew it was something very important. Something earth shattering.

Suddenly, Kate felt as if she couldn't breathe. It was like someone was squeezing her chest, crushing her lungs. A static white noise resonated in her ears, like the ocean waves that seemed to have left the island crashing on the beach once again. She clutched her chest, and leaned forward, touching her forehead to the cool soil. Kate wasn't sure how she had enough breath to sob, but tears rolled from her squeezed eyelids to be soaked into the dark dirt of the packed path.

It was the dream, she'd realized. This was the place in her dream. Where it happened.

She wasn't sure what to do. If she should lie there soaking up the memory or run away in terror. So, she just stayed crouched in her place, cradling herself, sobbing onto the earth.

Then came the overwhelming urge to run. So, Kate ran. With her bleary eyes blending the trees into the rest of the landscape, Kate stumbled through the leaves, veering off the trodden path into the jungle.

She burst out of the thick vegetation unexpectedly onto the sand. Losing her footing, Kate pitched headlong into the sand. For a moment, she lay there, in awe of what she had done. Her actions were so involuntary, like she was a puppet on a string and someone else completely controlled everything she did.

"Have a little too much cave water, Freckles?"

She groaned softly. The very last thing she needed while lying face first in the sand was Sawyer to harass her. She began pulling her heavy limbs from the sand, and was surprised to find Sawyer standing before her, hand held down. Kate eyed him warily, but accepted his help, since she knew very well her legs were far too weak after that run to stand on her own. She brushed the sand off herself as Sawyer watched with a smirk.

"What?" Kate snapped finally.

"Nothing, just admiring the number he did on you."

"What the hell are you talking about, Sawyer?" She said, and began to walk back toward the main camp on the beach. The ocean sat placid as a pane glass window to her right, and Sawyer strolled to her left.

"You know very well what I mean. He's got you so turned upside down, and I'm willing to bet he doesn't even know it."

Kate stalked to her tent even after Sawyer had stopped walking by her side. She heard him shout after her, "Just admit it, Freckles!" Yeah, right.

He'd lain down in the ferns. It was strange, this sudden peace that came over him. Maybe he was just over tired and delirious. If he was, he didn't care. Everything seemed to be moving slowly, if at all, and he never tired of any of it. The silence and discretion of the trees, the delicateness of the leaves, the sun splaying in wonderful patterns to the floor.

There was only one thing that could make this moment any better, he thought. Someone to share it with. No, not someone, he knew. Kate. His tranquility was shattered with the thought of her. She was a complete mystery to everyone, and maybe even to herself. She was a fugitive. The rational part of him knew she wasn't the kind of person he should get involved with, but nothing on this island ever seemed rational, anyway. The fact that she was a fugitive meant nothing anymore. At times, Kate's eyes held more honesty when she looked at him than Jack had ever seen in anyone. There was something about her that drew him to her, made it impossible for him to think of anything else for sleepless nights on end.

He hadn't seen much of her for the past few days. There were no hikes to go on, no monsters terrorizing camp, nothing that required them to be together. Both camps had been relatively quiet and devoid of incident. Jack was half thankful and half sad for the fact.

The thoughts that possessed his mind ceased, and the silence grew oppressive. Jack stood. Something to do must have developed at the caves, he thought, and began walking slowly back.

The sun had begun its Western decline, and Kate stood just outside the door of her tent, watching the glassy water. No white caps frothed on the shore. Everything was still and quiet. Voiceless. It gave Kate an eerie feeling. Like the calm before the storm.

To her right, Claire was walking with Charlie, who cradled Aaron in his arms and listened attentively to every word coming from her mouth. To her left, Shannon and Sayid sat encompassed in each other, stroking faces and laughing. Sun was further down the beach, helping Jin with a net of fish.

Kate frowned, not quite recognizing what made her feel so subconsciously lonesome and depressed as she gathered empty water bottles from the beach goers and began to make her way into the jungle to the waterfall at the caves. Kate tried not to think about what would happen there. What if she saw Jack? What would she do? Don't be stupid, she chided herself, why does it matter if you see him or not?

Kate sighed sadly, and tried not thinking about her loneliness by concentrating on the crunch of her shoes on the vegetation of the path. But suddenly, something made her stop. Kate wanted so much to feel the love and devotion Sun and Jin felt for each other. She desperately needed the connection Charlie and Claire shared, and felt a burning desire for the passion Sayid had found in Shannon.

She'd tried putting it out of her mind all day, but it was always hanging there, like an overbearing mother in law. Kate still felt the feeling the dream gave her, the confusion when she woke and was not where she wanted to be. But now, she wanted to remember all of her dream as vividly as when she had dreamt it. After all, it had been the only moment of complete happiness she'd had in years, even if it was just imagination.

She ran up the trail frantically, to that bed of bright green grass that had sent her into a fit just hours earlier. It was there that they had lain. But Kate couldn't remember anymore. It was slipping away from her, and she was frightened at the thought of losing it. So, she tore through the jungle in search of the only other person who had been there (though he wasn't really there), hoping he could jog her memory.

Kate slowed to a jog when she reached the caves. A random camper passed by, and she asked where Jack was, but he did not know. Fevered and a little desperate, Kate rushed through the dwellings, until literally running into Sayid. The Iraqi took her by the arms to steady her and looked with concern into her distraught face.

"Sayid." She plead in a whisper, and after a moment of studying her features he released her, lifting his arm to point into the jungle, and Kate understood. She started off in the direction indicated, walking quickly, not really sure what was going to happen when she reached her desired destination.

Her mind wasn't running clearly, but clearly enough to recognize the fact. She was tired, famished, confused, and utterly desperate. Kate stopped walking, now wanting only to lie down and die. What was her life worth? She'd jumped from town to town, using people for what she wanted, then left them. In the past five years, she'd had no relationship lasting longer than two weeks, and certainly no genuine ones. She wasn't worthy of having the things she wanted.

This terrible regret she felt was strong, and it caused her eyes to sting, and her chin to tremble. Tears soon rolled down her cheeks as she thought only of how she had failed herself. Failed to find something worth living for.

"Kate?" Jack asked in a hurried, concerned manner from somewhere in the trees to her left. She snapped her gaze to him in surprise. He emerged from the greenery ever so slowly, as if approaching a rabbit and trying not to scare it away. Kate couldn't help but see the irony in it all.

Jack was bewildered. He'd heard Kate sobbing from a few feet away and the sound broke his heart. He just wasn't sure what to do now. Kate was always so solid and strong, hardly ever showing emotion, let alone weakness.

"I had a dream about you last night." She blurted unintentionally. Her words surprised both of them. Kate hadn't planned on telling him at all, but upon seeing him, so handsome and so concerned for her, the words just spilled from her lips. Well, it's out now, might as well not hold anything back. "And I've been trying to hold onto the feeling, but the details keep slipping away from me."

Clouds rolled in front of the sun, giving relief to those standing under its oppressive, uncomfortable weather. The scenery took on a grey tinge, almost dawn-like. Kate thought it looked sad, and it only worsened her desperate disposition.

Jack just watched her. The wild, unhindered look in her eyes. Strands of her hair had fallen from her ponytail and clung to the sweat on her neck. After a moment, it hit him that he should say something.

"What happened in your dream?"

Kate wiped the tears from her face briskly. "We were lying in the grass together and you leaned over and kissed me." She said quickly, eyes diverted to her feet. But when all was quiet in the jungle for a moment, but for the sudden wind whipping through the boughs of the trees, she darted her gaze back up to his eyes.

Jack took two wary steps toward her once he had her gaze again. She could reach out and touch him, Kate realized, and the thought nearly sent her heart out of control. It took her a moment to register that he was asking her a question.

"Then what happened?" Jack asked in a low voice that Kate had never heard.

"I can't remember." She whispered back.

"Maybe…I did this." Kate barely heard him say before he'd closed the gap between them. He gently slid his hands under her ears, running his thumbs along her jaw line as he gazed down at her. Kate didn't breathe. Jack leaned down until she closed her eyes, and then he stopped. This was what he wanted. Her lips parted slightly, tilted up to him, and Jack smiled softly. She looked so beautiful and vulnerable, her cheeks still damp with tears. He leaned down to touch her lips gently with his.

Kate grasped his shirt, pulling his body tightly against her own. With his next kiss, Kate's lips parted further, feeling as if they were the only two people in the world. Jack pulled her to him harder, not expecting the taste of her kiss to have such a powerful effect on his body.

He pressed a light kiss to the corner of her mouth, and set his chin on her brow, if only to put a bit of distance between them. Jack was afraid he'd lose all control.

"Yeah, that's what it was." He heard the smile in Kate's breathless voice, and couldn't help but smile as well. Though it took him a moment to recall what they had been talking about before. "Then I laughed at something you said and you were kissing my neck." Kate recalled, and Jack kissed her cheek, then her neck. "But I don't remember what happened next."

"Knowing me, I probably threw you in the grass right here and had my way with you." Jack stated matter-of-factly, and Kate burst into giggles. A bit surprised at how easily giggles bubbled from her and at how giddy she was feeling, Kate looked up at Jack through eyes heavy with desire.

"Well, let's try it and see if it feels familiar."

Jack was helping a few of the survivors he'd recently gotten to know erect small huts in the jungle by the caves, when it hit him.

Eric stood back to watch and direct as Bryan and Jack lifted the walls, and Michael secured them into place. They all laughed at the proud smile Eric wore upon seeing his new home, and Jack suddenly stopped.

He watched the faces of his fellow castaways. The lightness in their eyes, and how absolutely comfortable they all were with the fact that they were building houses here. Permanent homes for them to live in for the rest of their lives. Jack hadn't really thought about it like that until now.

Michael slapped Eric on the back, and Bryan wrapped an arm around Jack's neck. There was a stupid smile on his face he was sure, as he looked back, through some untraceable emotion, to see Kate walk up to them. She grinned at them, and handed them all fresh bottles of water. Jack couldn't take his eyes off her. A strange haze had seemed to fill the air, and it was as if he was watching all of them through a glass window. Like he wasn't a part of it at all, but an observer seeing it for the very first time.

The wind cooled the sweat that beaded on his brow, and he wrapped an arm around Kate's shoulders and drew her close, pressing a kiss on the top of her head. Kate looked up to him in surprise. She wasn't sure how he'd act around her after their activities in the jungle the day before. But her surprise melted into a smile as she nuzzled her cheek into his chest and squeezed his waist tightly.

Bryan laughed at them good naturedly, and his laughter was contagious. Michael and Eric laughed, leaning on each other, and through his grin, Jack leaned down to kiss Kate's lips. It was the adoration in her eyes as she looked up to him that chased the haze away, and reassured him that he was truly here. And that he would always be here.

Jack couldn't remember ever being happier.

Thanks for reading! Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Lost season premiere tonight! Get pumped and gush to me in your review!

Good things,
Austin B.