Around dusk, Jack knelt down in front of the bed so he was eye level with Kate. He'd never seen her look so rough. She had dark circles under her red, puffy eyes. Her cheeks were tear stained. Her skin was pale; even her lips were pale. And she stared into nothing. She just looked lost. He'd never seen her this defeated.

"You hungry?" Jack whispered, stroking above her ear. Kate shook her head but said nothing. "Kate, you've got to eat. Please? I'll bring you some toast?" She nodded, but still didn't speak.

Jack sat on the other side of the bed while Kate nibbled on the toast. She'd barely eaten half a piece when she broke down, covering her head in her hands.

"Hey, hey," Jack tried. He pulled her into his embrace. "It's okay."

"It's not okay!" Kate yelled. "My home is gone. The place I bought to give Aaron a stable home—"

"Hey, Aaron has a stable home no matter what roof he's under."

"What do I do now? I don't have a computer anymore so I can't look at houses. I need to find a realtor but don't have a computer because it burnt in the fire! It's gone! It's all gone!" She curled into the fetal position, fresh tears staining her cheeks. "I have to go to get a laptop but I don't have any clothes. I can't do this!" She sobbed.

"Shhh… hey, come on…" he used two fingers to lift her chin until she looked him in the eye. "I washed the clothes you wore yesterday. We'll get dressed and go shopping and get all the things you need..."

"I'm going to have to get Aaron tonight—"

"Why? He's perfectly fine with my mom. She's been baking him homemade cookies and showing him off to her friends."

"I need to research school districts and realtors and—"

"Hey! You're starting to hyperventilate! Here, watch me and follow my breathing…" Jack took slow, deep breaths with Kate copying him. It took a few minutes, but eventually Kate's breathing calmed. "Stay here," he finally said.

"I couldn't—"

"Aaron knows me. He knows this place, it's familiar. He has a room here—"

"Jack, be realistic…"

"Wouldn't it be smarter to take your time? Research everything so you aren't just buying the first house you find? Wait until you get an insurance check instead of wiping out the rest of the settlement money."

Kate cocked her head to the side and Jack knew she still wasn't convinced. Moving in with her ex wasn't exactly a dream come true.

Kate wished she could hit pause, even just for a moment. The man she'd loved wanted her to move back with him. How long would it be until she saw him shirtless or he caught a glimpse of skin and feelings emerged again? She didn't even know if he was dating anyone. She wasn't, but what if he brought a girl back home?

"We loved together on an island with nothing," Jack reminded her. "And we didn't kill each other. We also—"

"—I'm aware of what we did," she said quickly. It hurt to much to talk about their relationship so casually. She wasn't sure she was over the split. She didn't know if she'd ever really be okay with it. It was hard enough to pretend she was over it when they'd exchange Aaron; how could she ever pretend all the time? Would pretending so much convince herself?

"We know where we put things, our schedule, dinners we eat. We had a life together, a routine. We could easily continue the routine even if we aren't…"

The fact that he couldn't verbalize that they weren't together broke Kate's heart. A part of her hoped he was having an equally hard time accepting they were over and the other half hoped the opposite. She felt guilty at the idea of wanting to see him struggling to get over her.

"Okay," Kate whispered. "I'll stay with you."

The two of them sat together in silence for a long time, neither wanting to do anything to ruin the moment. They sat completely still, both afraid to make a move.

"Jack?" Kate finally whispered "thank you. For all of this."