Chapter 3:

Kate had at first decided against going down to the bar, especially since she knew that Jack cared about her for sure. But after knowing that it would only make Sawyer come back upstairs and drag her kicking and screaming into the bar, she decided to go willingly, especially knowing that Sawyer would love nothing more than to do that to her. They sat in the cosy little armchairs around a low table, and she found most of them already waiting ready for her when she got down there.

Jack said hi, but was avoiding her gaze, which she wasn't suprised about - it had happened a lot since yesterday. She was sat next to him, with her feet drawn up beside her on the chair, balancing a glass of wine on the arm of the chair while she listened to the advice the others were giving Sawyer about a girl he liked. She didn't contribute, neither did Jack. They didn't feel right talking about romance when a secret flame was still burning for them.

"Seriously," Sawyer said, fed up with Charlie and Hurley's jokes about the matter. "I don't want to mess it up this time. I like Kelly." Kelly was the name of the survivor that Sawyer had fallen for - and he had fallen hard.

"So this is it, Sawyer - domesticated." Charlie said, as if presenting him on stage.
"I'm not domesticated." Sawyer snapped back.

"Beg to differ." Hurley teased.

"Kate, you're a woman!" Sawyer said, coming to her for advice, hoping that she wouldn't agree with the others.

She looked at herself sarcastically, spending a long few seconds looking up and down her body. "Congratulations on that stunning observation." She said, and they all laughed. So far, since she had arrived, Jack hadn't said a word other than greeting her. Still, she was glad that she wasn't the only one he didn't seem to be talking to. He seemed entertained enough just watching the bickering between his friends and wasn't really speaking to anyone.

"Say you were about to go at it with a guy," Sawyer continued, "What would you want him to say, like, right before?" He asked.

She thought for a moment, and then decided that she wanted to have some fun as well. After all, Sawyer had never given her any real relationship advice other than that he liked looking at her ass. "'This won't take long'" She said, with a small nod, as if she had decided that this was a good decision.

"No seriously."

Still, she couldn't think of a serious answer. "Do I know you?"

"No, like, for real. Like...romantic." Hearing the word romantic come from Sawyer's mouth and not being used for sarcasm was like a stun gun to the brain for Jack, who was watching silently. He kept glancing at Kate out of the corner of her eye when she wasn't looking though. Her answer to 'romantic' interested him a lot though, especially after his conversation with Sawyer in the bar.

Ok, she thought, romantic. She thought long and hard. What would she want someone to say to her? She thought of her ideal man, her ideal evening, all the time coming back to a tall handsome man called Jack. "You are so beautiful it hurts to look at you." She said, not looking at anyone in particular when she said it, choosing to take a longer drink from her glass instead, before returning it to balancing on her knee. It was silent, making her feel really uncomfortable about what she had said, but when she looked up, every male was looking at her in awe...all except Jack, who was looking into his drink.

" "It hurts to look at you?" " Hurley repeated as if she were some kind of God.

"How did you think of that? Does it work?" Sawyer asked, amazed that such a saying existed.

"Where would it hurt?" Hurley asked.

Jack watched Kate, and she could feel his eyes on him. A slightly flush creeped up her neck and settled on her cheeks, which made her all the more radiant and compelling to look at for Jack. "I dunno," She shrugged. "Your heart, I guess."

"It sounds cheesy." Sawyer said.

She held up her hand in surrender. "You asked for romantic, I gave you romantic."

"But what if it doesn't work?" Charlie said. "What if she doesn't like romatic? No girl who's ever been with Sawyer has had time to worry about romantic." He teased.

Kate shook her head. "Every woman likes romantic, and if she says she doesn't then she likes it even more. All of those girls you've slept with would probably appreciate it if you turned up a day or two later with a bunch of roses, or sent her some." She told them. God, it's amazing what little men know about women. She could tell by the look on every other woman's face that they were thinking the same thing, and they all nodded in agreement, with dreamy expressions about being sent roses by a mysterious gorgeous man.

"Any particular type of roses?" Sawyer asked, desperate to make a good impression.

"I don't believe this." Hurley said with a spluttered laugh.

"Shut up, we're learning!" Charlie told him, earning a look of excitement from Claire. He was now listening to Kate as much as Sawyer was. If they had been any more eager they would be taking notes, which Kate suspected some where sneakily doing on the beer mats that dotted the table.

"Red roses. Twelve of them." She told them, while her 'students' nodded in understanding.

"Message?" Charlie asked.

"Not signed, but written so that she'll know it was you who sent them."

"Any thing else?" Sawyer asked.

Kate thought for a moment. "Rose petals, on the bed." She said.

"On the bed?" Sawyer questioned. He really doesn't have a clue. I've only ever had romantic in the middle of an island, and I still know more than him.

"Dude, how much money do you expect us to send on roses?" Hurley asked.

"Or leading to the bed, your choice. Both works quite well." Kate said, ignoring Hurley's comment.

"And candles." They all stared at Jack, who had finally spoken. Especially Kate, who was eyeing him curiously. "What?" He asked, wondering why they all looked so surprised.

"What do you know about romance?" Hurley asked.

Jack took a deep breath as he raised an eyebrow at the ceiling. "A little."

"Enlighten us, Doctor Love." Sawyer ordered.

"No," He said, motioning to Kate. "Best hear it from the master."

She laughed a little. "Flattery will get you no where. Go on." She encouraged.

"It's not as good as Kate's stuff." He said, leaning back in his seat. "But it's worth a shot."

"Come on then."

"Just...little things...like walks on the beach at night...putting a rose on the seat of her car before she goes shopping..." This struck something in Kate's memory, from the first day they were rescued, and she turned in her seat to look at him fully. Sawyer watched this reaction and nodded proudly at Charlie and Hurley, his island mischief monkeys. "...Looking at her eyes when she's talking and not at her breasts or her lips so she knows that you're thinking about what she's saying and not about getting her into bed."

Kate was now thinking even more about what Sawyer had said to her. Not only did Jack apparently still hold a candle for her, but he was also making her relive all the things they had done in her memory. Their eyes connected for the first time that evening, chocolate brown to ocean grey, and Kate knew that everything he was advising to Sawyer was things he had done when they were together before she had ended things yesterday. She smiled softly and caught on to what he was motioning.

"...Giving them flowers for no apparent reason..." She said quietly, adding to his list, but speaking more to Jack than to Sawyer. In fact, she wasn't even looking at the Southerner that was asking for help in the first place.

"...Pillow fights..." Jack said with his cheeky grin. Oh yes, she remembered them - especially seeing as they were using the cushions from the airline seats as weapons, even if they were harder than they liked to admit, making the game all the more fun when they thought they had hurt the other, only to be ambushed once again.

"...Secret campfires in the jungle..." She said, as the memories came flooding to her easily of the pair of them curled up together to stop the November chill while they were camping on evening. Surprising how cold an island could get when you didn't know where you were.

"...Running wild in the trees..." Trust Jack to bring that one up. Although he failed to mention the fact that Kate had easily out-climbed him, and that he had fallen from several trees.

"...Sharing your shirt during that freak storm..." Kate said, remembering how the storm in what they realised must have been monsoon season, had resulted in her wearing Jack's shirt over her thin top, and Jack running back to the hatch shirtless. It had resulted in Kate taking over from Jack as island doctor while Jack got rid of his cold, cough, sorry, man flu.

"...Breakfast in bed..." Or as close to as they could get it in a tent or a cave. Although in the hatch it had worked rather well, especially when they had actually been able to make things like bacon and toast. Kate hadn't eaten the bacon, but she had sure eaten a lot of toast in the mornings.

"...Slow dancing for hours..." In the rain. In the cold. In the wind. Wearing few clothes. And it was one of the best times of her life.

"...Making them wear a blindfold while you take them somewhere special..." It had been to watch a sunrise on the beach, and she had to walk, half asleep and blindfolded, for two hours without knowing where Jack was taking her. It had been worth it though. There was no one else on the beach and it was the most spectacular sunrise she had ever seen.

She didn't add anymore. She didn't need to. She realised now what Sawyer had done, and that Jack had been in on it, all of them had. By asking for advice, Jack had responded by reminding Kate of all the good times they had had together. She knew now how much she missed him, even though it had been less than a day: his kisses, his embraces, even that cheeky grin. They were both oblivious to the others in the room, who were staring from one to the other, wondering which was going to move first. Neither of them did.

"Jack? Kate?" Charlie got no answer to his question, not even in movement.
"Dudes? Anyone home?" Hurley asked.

Kate spoke in a small whisper, which only Jack heard. "We had some good times, didn't we?" She said.

"Yeah, we did." Jack replied softly. "Kate, I-"

"Guys, I hate to break this up, but I'm going to see Kelly." Sawyer said, standing from his chair.

"Bye, Sawyer." Jack muttered, without looking up.

"Good luck." Kate added quietly, still not breaking her gaze from his.

"Wanna try that once more with feeling?" Sawyer teased.

"Bye, Sawyer." Jack muttered, just as before.

"Good luck." Kate continued, in the same tone as she had last said. A few chuckles came from the other survivors, and they all watched Sawyer shake his head, and start to walk out of the bar, stop half way, come back and down the rest of his drink for luck, and then finally make it the full length of the bar.

"At least one of us is getting lucky tonight." Hurley mumbled as Sawyer left.

Charlie shook his head. "I think it might be three." He said, pointing at Jack and Kate, who were still staring at each other.

"Sawyer told me." She admitted to Jack.

Jack finally looked away, grinning, but looking slightly embarrased. God, she loved that smile. "I thought he might." He looked at the stairs over her shoulder. "Come on, let's go." He said, and they both stood up.

"Wait a sec, are you guys leaving too?" Hurley asked.

"Yeah..." Kate said distractedly.

"We're gonna go upstairs." Jack told him, stupidly notioning in the direction of the stairs.

"Do you guys love each other?" Charlie called out as they got to the other side of the bar. Neither of them answered, but they both grinned, now everyone in the bar was watching. "Oh, I get it, you two do love each other!" He said just as loudly.

Jack didn't even turn around as he shouted back. "Goodbye Charlie."