In the middle of the night, Jack checked his watch with a small yawn. 2.25. Another week had passed, and still, Kate was comatose. He felt tired, but for some reason, he felt more compelled to stay awake tonight than he did at any other time. His direction, as always, was towards Kate. No matter what, he didn't take any chances in leaving her. His love for her was right beside her, and he wished that she could know that. He had to crack a small smile at the thought that peoply only get these things together, and admit how they feel, after something bad happens. He would rather have died in that car accident himself, than to see her like she was now.

"Hey," He said quietly, in little more than a whisper. He no longer felt strange, talking to someone who could hear him but not respond. "I know you can hear me, Kate." He said, his voice sounding determined. "Wake up, baby." He chided himself, realising that Sawyer was right, he had said it again. "Come on, Kate, wake up. You've made it this far - you'll be in the clear as long as you just open your eyes. You can do it, I know you can." He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it. "If you wake up, we'll be a ... a family. Our own family."

The word family felt strange to him. He had never had much of a family life, but now, he was going to. Kate had given him that. He closed his eyes, putting his forehead down on their clasped hands. "Please." He said, feeling tears coming again, this time, knowing that he was alone until the morning rounds at 6am, he didn't try to fight them off. He felt the hot sting of the tears escape his eyes, dripping down onto both his hands and Kate's. For ten minutes, he cried quietly, but he was inconsoluble as he did so. "Please, Kate, wake up."

The first thing Kate was aware of was a dull pain throbbing through her body. It wasn't unbearable, just an annoying pain. She felt as if she were being dragged back into sleep, despite the feeling of having slept for ages. Her head ached more than anything else, but she could deal with it. Her next thought was trying to think what had happened. Where was she? Her eyelids still felt heavy, and although she could hear things around her, she couldn't open them. She tried to force herself to open her eyes, having finally left the limbo-like state she had been in for however long. Beside her, came the sound of sobbing, and as the feeling returned to her limbs, she could feel someone clasping her hand tightly.

Who's crying? She wondered. Why are they crying? Beneath the crying, she heard beeping. She had heard that sound of beeping before, machines...moniters. Was she in hospital? Why? What was going on? Then, she heard a voice beside her, thick from crying, but unmistakable in identity. "Please, Kate, wake up." Jack? She tried to call out to him, but her voice came out in a moan.

"Kate?" He got another moan in response. "Kate, can you hear me?" He said, surpising that his voice was still coming in sobs, and his face was still running with fresh tears.

"Ja-" She started to say, before becoming cut off by yet another moan. "Jack?"

"It's alright, Kate, you're gonna be fine." He assured her, as he leaned over to press the call button for someone to come down.

"Hurts." She muttered desperately, refering to the pain in her head. "Hurts so much." Then her eyes opened a little, and there was a slither of those wonderful green eyes he had missed. She looked up at Jack, the man she had heard inside her head whilst trying to escape from wherever she was. She saw the tears on his face, fresh tears, and she realised that he was the one who was crying. His face looked like it hadn't been shaved for a week, and his hair was completely disheveled.

"I know it does, sweetheart, but it'll pass, it'll pass."

A doctor came into the room, checking her repsonses, and giving her some painkillers. He turned to Jack. "She's going to recover well now, just as long as she rests." Then, as quickly as he appeared, the doctor left again.

The affect of the painkillers was almost immediate. Even though she could still feel pain throbbing throughout her body, it felt more bareable. Now that the doctor was gone, Jack sat back down before her. "Kate?" He said softly. She looked up at him, and she raised her hand, with some considerable effort, to touch his cheek, where tears were still falling.

"You're crying." She said. He didn't wipe away his tears, he closed his eyes and captured her hand in his, holding it tightly to his face.

"I thought I'd lost you." He said in a choked sob.

The sight of his tears and the sound of his choked voice brought tears to her own eyes.

"What happened?" She asked, trying to remember what had happened, but failing.

Jack cleared his throat, speaking as normally as he possibly could. "You had an accident." He said.

"What?"

"When you left my place, you got caught in the tail end of an accident that had already happened." Jack told her. He thought he had been relieved when she had lived through the surgery, but it was nothing to what he was feeling now.

A look of horror struck across her face. She remembered everything now, including why she had left Jack's. "The baby...no, oh no, not again." After all of this, she thought, It's gone anyway. I never even got a chance to be excited about it. She started to cry, thinking that her child was dead. Jack wiped her tears with his thumb though.

"You nearly died, Kate." He told her. "The doctor came out and said that you might not make it through surgery. I realised that it wasn't only you I would lose. I asked him about the baby, and it said that it put you at more danger, and it might have already been dead." Her cries got stronger, and she covered her face with her hand. Jack leaned down, helped her to sit up, and then embraced her. For the first time in weeks he was able to hold her in his arms, just like he had wanted. "No, Kate, don't worry, it's all right." He assured her, his voice sounding stronger again. "The baby'salive, and you both survived the surgery." She looked up at him, as if she were only going to believe that because he had said it. "You're both going to be fine - I'm gonna take care of you both." He promised her.

"Both? Jack-"

"Kate, I need you to know that I'm so sorry about what I said before. I should have said that I was happy, that I was excited, and most importantly, that I loved you. I just didn't want my child, our child, to grow up like I did, with a second rate father. But then the police phoned, and said that you'd been hurt badly, then the doctor told me that you might not make it - it made me realised how much I didn't want to lose either of you, because it's not about the money, it's about loving our baby." He felt like an enourmous weight had been lifted off him now he had told her. When she smiled weakly at him, the most effort she could manage at the moment, he smiled back, wiping his tears on the back of his jacket sleeve, and placed his hand on her stomach.

"Thank you." She told him softly.

"I can't believe you're all right." He said. "You're awake." Ten minutes ago, he had been in complete dispair, wondering if she would ever wake up at all, and now she was sitting up, relaxed in his arms.

"It'll take more that that to get rid of me." She said stubbornly, but still smiling a little. Sayid was right, she was a survivor. She was so overjoyed that her child was going to be all right, that nothing could dampen her mood at the moment.

"You sure know how to pull a number on me, Kate. I've never been so scared in my entire life." He admitted, burying his face in her hair, relishing in the sweet aroma of it.

"Really?"

"I was terried that I'd never get to see you again, that I'd never hold you in my arms, or tell you how much I loved you and everything about you. Without you, I have nothing, I am nothing. You and our baby are all I've got in my life right now, and I don't want that to change."

Kate's small smile widened a little. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that." She told him.

"You should get some sleep." He suggested.

"You look like you need it more." She told him.

He gripped her hand tightly. "I'm not going anywhere." He said stubbornly.

"You don't have to." She said, and knowing what she meant, he carefully lay out on the bed beside her. There was easily enough room, and she moved as well as she could to lay her head on his chest. He put his arms tightly around her, and held her close, afraid that she might be taken away from him again otherwise.

"Kate, before you go to sleep, I have to tell you something." He said.

"Yeah?" She replied sleepily.

"I love you." He had finally said it, and it had not come with a wavering voice like he had originally thought.

"You do?" She asked.

"With all my heart, for now and forever." He said in emphasis.

As they drifted off into a peaceful sleep together, he heard her say clearly, "I love you too."