Thanks to all reviewers! Your feedback is highly appreciated. Also, I adore Sayid, so I promise that he'll show up eventually
"Jack?" Kate asked quietly.
She had walked over to the caves as soon as she woke up to see Jack, and discovered him sitting down by all of his belongings, leaning against the cave wall, with his eyes shut. Jack was nomally up, being all docterly and heroic as usual by now, so seeing him take a break was quite off putting.
"Jack, are you okay?" She tried again.
His eyes suddenly jerked open, causing Kate to shriek and jump backwards, promptly tripping over her own feet and falling to the ground. She sat in a surprised silence for a moment, before laughing at her clumsiness, and pulling herself up.
"Good morning to you too," She smiled.
Kate walked back over to him and leaned in for a kiss, but Jack turned his head, and went in to hug her instead.
"Are you afraid I've suddenly developed cooties overnight?" Kate asked, getting a chuckle from Jack.
"Not exactly. I think I'm getting a cold, the last thing I want is to spread it to you."
"You'll just have to make it up to me later," She said playfully.
"You can count-" He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence before his body was taken over by a coughing fit.
Kate gently rubbed his back, her concern for him growing. He finally finished, and straightened up, giving her a thankful look.
"Jack, have you been sleeping?"
"Of course I've been sleeping, I have to save my energy for when I'm with you."
"Sweet, but not throwing me off the trail. Have you been getting a full night of sleep?"
"Well…"
"Jack!" She sighed in exasperation.
"I've been trying harder than I used to!"
"No wonder you're getting a cold, you try so hard to take care of everyone else that you forget to take care of yourself," She said sadly, before perking up. "But that's what I'm here for! Now, lie down."
"Kate, I love that you want to help me, but I'm fine, and I have to go check on everyone."
"You are not fine, and I can do whatever you need to. Lie down."
"I don't want to force that on you."
"It's not forcing it on me if I offered. Really, lie down."
"Kate, it's not that bad, I took some medicine, and I'll get better by the end of the day."
"You'll never get better if you don't rest, and it's much easier if you do it by choice, because after what happened last time, you'll be expecting me to drug you, making it much harder for me to do. Also, you were right, I really shouldn't be kissing someone who's sick, so if you don't rest and get better…" She trailed off.
"That's just not playing fair," He groaned, already starting to finally lie down.
"All's fair in love and war," She grinned.
He smiled at her in amusement, before nestling down into his bedding.
"Wake me up if anything happens, okay?"
"I will. Now sleep," She whispered, lightly kissing his forehead.
Jack reached out and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, before completely succumbing to sleep. Kate stood up, to go check on everyon eat the caves like Jack normally would, but stopped to give him one last look, a soft smile lingering on her lips at the sight. Sometimes, even the best doctor needed a little TLC.
When Jack woke up, the first thing he saw was Charlie and Hurley, sitting down near him, talking quietly with each other. He frowned, confused. This was such a step down from waking up and seeing Kate.
"Hey, guys."
They both startled, whipping their heads around, quickly relaxing when they saw him.
"Oh, hello Jack," Charlie smiled pleasantly. "We've been appointed to be your babysitters for the day. I have to say, you're a step up from Aaron, no dirty diapers to change here."
"And you don't need us to feed you, lull you to sleep, or calm you down if you start crying, right?" Hurley joked. Jack just rolled his eyes.
"Where's Kate? And, she actually asked you to babysit me?"
"First of all, it's sweet. She was just worried about you, and wanted to make sure you had somebody here. You should also feel flattered, we wouldn't do this for just anyone. Seondly, she's doing the rounds here at the caves, the whole helping the helpless act you usually do, as she is designated leader number 2," Charlie informed him.
"I should go give her a hand now."
"Sorry dude, no can do."
"What do you mean 'No can do'?"
"I am under strict orders by Kate to sit on you if that's what it takes to get you stay in here and rest more. I don't really want to do that anymore than you want me to, but between you and me, Kate scares me a little sometimes. I mean, she's great when she's just relaxed and taking it easy, but when she's mad...let's just say she's forceful for someone so small. I'm not willing to get her mad at me."
"Hurley, I really do feel better."
"Good for you, mate, but if Kate sees you out of bed already, she'll hunt us down like dogs in the street," Charlie put in.
"Are you afraid of her?" Jack asked slowly, beginning to find this whole situation funny.
"Yes," They said in unison, completely unashamed of it.
"It's really easier on us all if you just sleep some more," Hurley said.
"And, there's a bright side to sleeping!" Charlie started, suddenly getting an idea. "You get to dream about Kate more."
"What!" Jack creid, his eyes going wide.
"You were talking in your sleep. Your subconcious is a very naughty place."
Jack turned bright red, feeling completely mortified.
"Now, if you just lie back down without giving us any trouble, we could be persuaded to not tell anyone about this," Hurley told him casually, taking Charlie's idea and running with it.
"You're blackmailing me?"
"…Yeah, pretty much."
"Now, be a good boy and lie back down so Kate doesn't hurt us," Said Charlie, motioning for him to lie down.
"If I start talking in my sleep again, just-"
"Jack, if you start talking about Kate again in your sleep, I will have no problem kicking you."
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
The next time Jack woke up, later that afternoon, he was greeted with the sight of Kate smiling at him, exactly the thing he'd been hoping for last time.
"Hey. Feel better?"
"A little."
He held his arms out to her and she walked over to him, slipping into his embrace as he kissed her.
"Now?" She asked.
"Now, I feel a lot better," He smiled.
"This is why you need to just listen to me right away, instead of forcing me to wear you down," She commented, snuggling tighter up against him.
Jack was about to reply, when Elizabeth, one of the teenagers on the island, walked over timidly.
"Excuse me, Jack?"
"Hi, Elizabeth. What can I do for you?"
"I cut my arm when I was out in the jungle, my mom told me I should come show you," She rolled up her sleeve, wincing slightly, until enough was pulled up to reveal a bloody gash on her arm.
"Ouch,"Kate murmured sympathetically. "What happened?"
"I just forgot to push this one branch out of the way, and it was one of those trees that's really pointy at the end."
"I don't think it needs stitches, so I'm going to disinfect it, and wrap your arm up," Jack told her, giving her a warm smile as he stood up.
"Do I get to be your nurse?" Kate asked, smiling.
"There's no one else I want for the job."
"There better not be!"
"You two are finally dating?"Elizabeth asked quickly, sounding excited.
"Yeah, actually," Kate answered, a bit surprised. "How did you know?"
"I can just tell. You know, we've all been expecting this from day one."
"You have?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Of course! Charlie and Hurley were even taking bets at one point- ooh! That reminds me, Hurley now owes me 2,000 dollars when we got off the island."
Jack and Kate looked at each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing. Why hadn't anybody just told them? It would have saved them so much time!
"Ready for me to clean your cut?" Jack asked her, once he and Kate calmed down.Elizabeth nodded. "Kate, could you grab the bottle of disinfectant from my backback? It's in the front pocket."
"Sure."
She walked towards the back of the cave, where his backpack was, and crouched down by it, unzipping the front pocket. She dug her hand in, not looking, and accidentally pulled out something else along with the bottle. She frowned and opened her hand to see what the other object was, and gasped, suddenly feeling like she was going to be sick.
It was a wedding ring.