A knock at the door startled Jack and Kate from where they were sitting in the lounge. The kids were eating in the kitchen, or rather, Evan and Jasmine were, and Evelyn was up in her room, insisting that she wasn't hungry...at least thats what they could make out through what she called through her closed bedroom door.

Kate sat up from where she had been leaning against Jack. "The others are a bit early, aren't they?" She mused, seeing as it was at least an hour before they had arranged to meet.

"Expecting anyone else?" He asked as he walked over to the door.

Kate shook her head, following him over to the door. Jack opened it, revealing the blonde-haired southerner who they hadn't seen or heard from in days, which was strange. Only hours earlier, Kate was wondering whether he had disappeared off the face of the Earth.

"Sawyer?" She said strangely.

Sawyer looked up as she said his name, and smiled an uneasy smile. "Perfect, you're in. I...uh...Can I come in?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sitting at the kitchen table now that the kids had finished eating, Jack handed Sawyer some much needed coffee. He fiddled with hands, nervously fidgeting all the time.

"Sawyer, what's wrong?" Jack asked, noticing his usual slacked demenour was completely gone.

"We haven't seen you like this since Cassidy left." Kate remembered.

"She came back." Sawyer nodded quietly.

"Who?" Jack asked.

"Cass. She came back." He repeated.

Kate grinned at him. "Sawyer, that's great!" Sawyer had never really gotten over Cassidy leaving.

Sawyer rubbed the back of his neck again. "She wasn't alone." He said awkwardly.

Kate frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Someone came back with her." He explained. "Well, they kinda did, but not completely. I suppose they did, but it's complicated, and I dunno what to do-"

"Sawyer, you're rambling." Kate told him.

"Sorry." He muttered, calming down from his nervous outburst.

"Right, who came back with her?" Kate asked him sensibly, keeping her voice calm hoping that he would catch on and relax.

Sawyer said nothing, but instead reached into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a polaroid photograph, and slid it across the table to Kate and Jack. Kate picked it up, and looked at her.

"Sawyer, this is a baby scan." Jack said, even though Sawyer clearly knew that.

He leaned across the table, and pointed out at the paler shape. "See that shape here?" He asked them, and they both nodded. "That's my son. My little boy."

"Cassidy's pregnant?" Kate questioned, even though it was a stupid question because she was holding the proof in her hands.

"She left when she found out that she was pregnant because she thought that I wasn't ready for settling down. She came back yesterday, because she decided that she couldn't do it without me. Said she needed me. First time in my life that's happened." He explained.

"But Cassidy left seven months ago." Jack pointed out. "She'd be nearly due by now, depending on how far along she was when she left."

Sawyer nodded, confirming what Jack predicted. "Kid's due any day now."

Kate gave him a gentle smile. "You know what this means, right?" She said softly.

Sawyer took the photo back when she handed it to him, and he looked at it for a moment, a soft smile on his face. "Yeah...I'm gonna be a Dad." He said, and a look of undescribable happiness spread across his face.

Jack clapped him on the shoulder for congratulations. "Welcome to my world."

An hour or so later, Shannon closed the door behind her, the last person to walk through it. "Okay, all here." She called as she hung her jacket up behind the door.

"Where's Jack?" Sayid asked Kate as he entered the living room. Ashley went over and sat with Aaron and Evan, who were playing a racing game on the PlayStation, whilst they had been waiting for Shannon and Sayid to turn up.

"He's trying to coax Evie out of her room." Kate said tiredly. He had been up there for ten minutes already, and the girl looked set not to budge.

"Why?" Sayid asked.

"Long story." Charlie told him as Sayid sat on the couch beside him.

"You never know, you might get a rerun later." Aaron said from his seat on the floor.

"Are you boys going to turn that game off now, please?" Kate asked them.

"When Evie comes down." Evan said, without taking his eyes off of the screen.

"Looks like we can do best of 100 then." Aaron joked.

"Game on!"

"No!"

"Evie, come on..."

"I'm doing homework!" She explained.

"That can wait." Jack said stubbornly.

"No it can't. It's due tomorrow." She told him.

"Then you should have done it earlier and not left it until the last minute." He reminded her.

"When else am I going to do it?" She asked him. She still hadn't opened the door, so he was standing out in the hall talking to her through the wooden barrier.

"You can do it later, we just need half an hour to talk to you." He reasoned.

There was a small silence, and then: "Am I grounded?"

"You won't be if you come downstairs." He told her simply.

"Dad, this is important!" She complained unfairly.

"No, Evie, what we've got to say is important." He countered.

"This is for my science grade!" She tried again.

"And this is with your best interests at heart." Jack said, again, having a comeback for her.

"You said that when we had the meningitis jabs last month." Evie reminded him.

Of course he had said that. "And it was true." For God's sake the twins had a close brush with meninigitis when they were younger. When they had come home from school with parental permission forms mentioning the words 'meningitis vacination' him and Kate had signed them without a second thought. "Please, Evie, come downstairs."

"No."

"Now, Evie." He said firmly.

"I'm busy."

"I'm not arguing with you about this." He told her.

"Looks like it." She answered back cheekily.

"Evelyn Shepherd!" He said angrily. He rarely used her full name, only when he was angry with her, and that, too, was rare. "This is your last chance."

He half expected her to ask what came after the last chance, but she didn't. "All right, calm down." She said, and followed her father downstairs.

"Good to see you've surfaced into the light of day, honey." Kate said simply as Evelyn appeared downstairs.

On this, Evelyn turned to go back upstairs, but Jack was standing right behind her, and lightly grabbed her shoulders, leading her into a chair. "Don't even think about it." He told her.

"Boys, game off now please." Kate said to Aaron and Evan.

"We'll just finish this race, Mom." Evan called over his shoulder.

"Okay. Jasmine, boys, lets get your film set up." They had agreed that Jasmine, Boone and Taylor were a bit too young to understand what they were about to tell the others, so were setting a movie up for the younger ones to watch up in the den.

Claire stood up infront of Kate. "No, I'll do that, Kate, you sit down." She insisted.

"No, it's okay." Kate smiled.

"Kate, you've been running around like a woman on steroids for the past half an hour." Claire pointed out. "Relax for a minute."

Kate smiled, giving in to her because honestly, she did feel exhausted. As soon as she had sat down comfortably on the couch, she heard Amy's cries floating through the baby moniter on the table beside her. She moved to stand up again, but Jack put his hand on her shoulder, making her sit back down gently.

"Stay there, honey, I'll go see to her." He smiled, and then disappeared up the stairs.

"Okay." She grinned back. "Jasmine?" She said, before her daughter disappeared off with Claire and the boys. "Give me a hug." Kate smiled, and Jasmine hopped over to her, embracing her mother tightly. She gave her a kiss before she bounded after the others into the den.

Jack came downstairs moments later with Amy in his arms. "She's okay, just wants some attention I think." He said, giving Kate a reassuring smile.

"Sawyer can do that." Kate decided, and he snapped his head up from where he had been daydreaming whilst looking at the scan photo. Cassidy was with her mother for the evening, so he had decided to stay to help out on the explaining.

"Me?"

"Go on, you wanted practice." Kate tempted.

"Yeah, but this is your kid." Sawyer said as he took Amy into his arms. "I'm going to be dealing with the spawn of Satan."

Kate shook her head whilst laughing. "Sawyer, you're going to love your baby, and your baby is going to love you." She told him firmly.

"But Amy's a girl." He pointed out. "Boys are different."

"Evan wasn't different." Kate reminded.

"Aaron loved you to bits, still does." Charlie piped up.

"Boone and Taylor light up when they know that you're coming over." Shannon added.

Sawyer shook his head. "Okay, you've made your point." He said to them.

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Sawyer." Kate told him with a smile.

"Okay...let's get this party started." Sawyer decided.