Chapter 28- Kate
"Kate, I'm going to inspect your cut," Jack said.
Kate looked at him surprised. Since leaving the woods they had been driving for thirty minutes, and Jack hadn't said anything until now. "Um…I think it's fine."
"I should look at it Kate,"
Kate turned to him, "Are you okay now?"
Jack shrugged, "It doesn't matter," He then cast his eyes over at Sawyer, who was starting to get drowsy at the wheel. "I'll take over next time we stop."
Sawyer put on his signals to take the next exit. "It's about time Jacko, I almost ran us off the road three times."
Jack shifted in his seat.
A couple of seconds later, Sawyer stopped the truck in an abandoned lot. He got out of the car, stretched and then walked over to the passenger's side.
"I'm sorry about earlier." Jack said quickly.
Kate stared back at him in surprise. "Sorry for what?"
"Losing control,"
A small smile formed on Kate's face and she placed her hand on his. "You don't have to apologize Jack,"
"I do, for the way I treated you, and…." Jack shook his head, and placed his hand over his forehead. "I just get lost in the idea of trying to do the right thing that…"
Kate nodded, "I know,"
Jack clenched his jaw, "Well I just thought you should know."
Sawyer opened the door. "Well are we gonna make a move on it or what?"
Jack mouthed to Kate, "I'm sorry," once again.
Kate bit her lip as she nodded her head. She knew it take a lot of guts for him to apologize, especially when he was still feeling so vulnerable. Kate watched him walk around the front of the car, and then take the driver's seat. He looked physically and mentally exhausted, and when he sat down, it was more like he collapsed onto the seat.
Jack turned the key in the ignition. He looked down when he realized that the car was already on.
Kate reached down by Sawyer's leg, and removed a piece of clean cloth from the bag. She then started to wipe the beads of sweat along Jack's face.
"I'm okay," He said.
Kate tilted her head to the side, "Sawyer, I don't think he should drive."
"Well then we're staying her o'er night," Sawyer adjusted his seat, and then turned over on his side. "Sweet dreams sweet cheeks,"
"Jack, you need some rest."
"I can't sleep, if we stay here over night we can get caught. I don't know who's coming after us and I…" Jack looked around.
"You what?"
Jack turned back towards her with tired eyes, "I made a promise to you, and I'm going to at least fulfill that one."
Kate rubbed Jack's shoulder, "If you want me to then I'll drive."
Jack shook his head, "No, you got injured bad ear…"
"I'm fine," Kate said.
"I don't know that Kate, we should've taken you to a hospital, but we couldn't because of our situation."
Kate scowled, "You push yourself to hard."
Jack's vision was slightly blurry, but he decided to ignore it. "I have to, because no one else will take care of what I need to."
"C'mon Jack, let me drive."
"No,"
Kate leaned over Jack to open the door. "In the woods earlier you were having some kind of hallucinations, and now you can barely keep your eyes open. Jack get out."
Jack tried to close his door, but Kate leaned over him and held her hand against the door.
"If you're not going to take care of yourself, then I'm going to have to."
"I can take care of myself," Jack mumbled.
Kate shook her head, "I don't think so Jack, at least not right now." When Jack still refused to get out of the car, Kate crawled over him, and then hopped outside.
"Kate, please get back in the car."
Kate wrapped her hands around Jack's arm, "You can't drive in this condition."
Jack hesitantly got out of the car.
Kate nodded, "Thank you Jack,"
Jack looked down.
Kate placed her hand under his chin. "I'm going to drive, and I want you to get some sleep."
"Kate I…"
Kate placed her hand against Jack's mouth, "If we argue now then we're never going to get anywhere,"
Jack reached forward and pulled off Kate's bandage.
"Jack, I'm fine."
Jack ignored Kate, and then reached inside the truck compartment for a flashlight he had seen earlier.
"Jack, we're wasting time…"
Jack placed his hand against Kate's face. His thumb gently stroked her cheek as he examined the cut. He turned on the flashlight.
Kate winced as the flashlight shined brightly in her eyes.
Jack kept himself focused, the bleeding had stopped and miraculously the earlier incident seemed as if it would just leave Kate with a small scar above her hairline. He opened his mouth to tell her that she was going to be okay. Jack looked into her eyes, those pretty blue-green eyes, which separated her from any other woman he had ever loved. Jack looked down.
Kate placed her hands on her hips. She decided that it would be better to take a less serious approach in order to ease Jack. "So what's the story Jack, am I okay?"
Jack reached in the car for the peroxide, and then for another cloth beside the one that Kate had used on him earlier.
"I'll use that one," Kate said.
"No, I want to use a cl…"
"It's just a little bit of sweat Jack, I doubt I'll get any infections from you."
Jack looked up at her briefly, and then cracked a small smile that was gone in the blink of an eye. Kate felt her heart pick up speed.
Jack turned the cloth on the other side and then folded it over. "I still don't want to take any chances."
Jack poured on a little bit of peroxide and then gently applied it to Kate's small cut. "You're really lucky you know that."
"Believe me, I know." Kate whispered.
As Jack finished cleaning off Kate's cut, she thought about all the things she wanted to say to Jack…all the things that she had written in that letter before the explosion in West Virginia.
Today is the perfect day. The sun is out, the fields are calm, and everything just seems so perfect. What would I give to have that sense of safeness, and security. I got a brief feel of that this morning, as usual I woke up in Jack's arms. Although, I'll never tell him, I look forward to waking up like that. Him close to me, protecting me from any danger, like my care taker. Jack would take care of me if I let him, but I can't do that, because he needs to take care of himself. Maybe I would like to take care of Jack. Last night I had this silly dream, about Jack and I getting married. Ha, how crazy is that. Me, Kate Austin getting married…what an interesting wedding that would be. But then again, getting married to Jack Shepard would give me an added sense of life. I've had it hard, all my life nothings come easy, and marrying Jack in my eyes, would be like a gift I could only dream about. And dream about I will, because what does Jack want with me, certainly there is an attraction, but his heart lies with Sarah, and after all of this craziness he will go back to her, and I will be alone. Running away from whatever demons from my past, or authority figures that have picked up on my tracks. I'm going to miss Jack when he's gone, and it's going to be a struggle, but I guess I'm going to have to move on.
Kate placed her hand to her head checking for any other cuts. "So do you have any idea where we're going?"
Jack shook his head, "I'm as clueless as you,"
"We need some kind of plan."
Sawyer snored loudly next to Kate.
Kate smiled, "He's knocked out, Jack, why don't you go ahead and get some rest as well?"
Jack remained silent.
"Jack, I'm serious, you've been up all day and…."
Jack snored softly next to Kate, and his head rolled over towards her.
"And you really need some sleep." Kate finished. "Goodnight Jack,"
"Mmm….Kate," Sawyer mumbled in his sleep.
Kate smiled, "Goodnight to you too Sawyer, hopefully when you'll wake up tomorrow we'll still be alive."
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