Chapter Ten:

A Shephard and His Kate

Boom. Crash. Could be heard from outside the cave's entrances. The unknown was standing outside. Waiting. Locke was still outside as far as Jack could recall. He was a man of faith. He assumed the island brought him there for a reason. Mostly Jack considered him to be quite bizarre. Jack couldn't help but consider that this 'Monster' was being controlled some how. Or maybe they just triggered the monster to unleash itself.

Jack tried to keep his way of thinking off of the beast that was waiting outside. It was to hard, he did have Kate laying beside him. That kiss was something that he's waited for, for over three months on the island. He had tried to remain only friends but he had a bias view of the situation. He wanted her. And he wanted to be with her. To comfort her. To let her express everything that she's been hiding from him. To feel comfortable in trusting him. Everyday on the island, he knew, was not guaranteed. He understood that. He took it into consideration every time he'd wake up in the morning.

He wasn't necessarily all but a man of Science. Yes he believed everything happened because it happened. But he did have faith. Every morning when he woke, he'd thank God he was alive. He would even thank God that everyone on the island was safe. He felt that it was his obligation to take care of these people. He knew he wasn't the very best leader. But they saw him as that. They saw him as a guide, regardless of what he wanted to be. He had to perform that role that was handed to him.

His father always reminded him of who he was. He always put his son in place. Telling him that, yes he was capable. He didn't understand his father. When he last saw him alive he was intoxicated. He had a heavy drinking problem because he wasn't the doctor he once was. He'd lost a patient a year before his death. That year was mostly him drinking with his friends, what ones he had left. He spiraled down into nothing. He considered himself a waste. Mainly that's why he treated his own son like that. To teach his son the way not to be when things get tough. He desperately wanted to be tough for his son. To show that he was capable of being so much more than a doctor. That he could be a decent human being and never get tired of it.

When Jack's father visited a bar in Australia, he met a stranger who was struggling with himself, too. How wonderful he thought, he wasn't alone after all. Jack's father went to Sydney to get away. After he got fired he no longer wanted to be anywhere near his own son. He failed him. How could he go back to his son and let him see how miserable his life was after getting fired from the job that he had loved the most. He saved lives. The man that his father was confiding in, was Sawyer.

Jack's father primarily believed in fate. Maybe that's why he never believed in fate or destiny. Because his fathered depended way to much on it.

Jack snapped out of it. Why am I suddenly thinking about my father? He smiled and looked down at the beautiful woman beside him.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

Jack couldn't help but smile. "No reason." He stopped for a moment to scan the caves to make sure everyone was in their places.

"I was running."

"What?" He said a bit confused.

"I went to visit my mother. She had cancer. They almost caught me but I got away." She sat up a bit she looked away from Jack trying not to tear up. She swallowed hard before continuing. "I killed the only man that I truly loved."

"What happened?"

"My friend he snuck me in to see her at the hospital. It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. While I was visiting her. She got scared. I frightened my own mother. She yelled for the doctor to help her. A security guard saw me and I disarmed him. I took his gun and demanded my friend to give me his keys. When I got to the car he wouldn't get out. He begged to go with me. I clearly couldn't talk him out of it at the time. So I went on. When the cops tried to corner us I went through. They shot at us, at the car. I crashed into a car, that was when I realized he was dead." She looked back over at Jack. Her eyes were swelling with tears. "I killed him Jack. He had a kid, Jack. I took him away from his family. I was so selfish. So undeserving of someone like him. He trusted me, and I let him down."

"He got in the car himself Kate."

"If I wouldn't have went back he wouldn't have died."

"Kate, he would've probably found you, or tried."

"He had so much to live for."

"So what were you running from?"

"I don't want to talk about it." She said. He obviously hit a nerve. She rolled over on her side facing the wall away from Jack. Her tears running down her cheeks.