This is another short chapter, and the next one will be the last one :( becuase if I continue it, it's going to merge too much with another one of my fics.

Chapter 3:

"NO!"

Jack instinctively yelled out in anquish when he saw her body, hanging, bruised and broken from the tree. In his head, he saw flashes of Charlie all over again, but this time, it was Kate. This time, it was different. This time, he might not be able to save her.

"Holy crap!"

Hurley and Sayid had turned into the same clearing. Sayid immediately climbed up the tree as Kate had done with Charlie, and Jack went about holding her body so that she could get air. It was strange, her limp feet were hanging only inches from the ground. Jack could easily stand level with her and look into her pale face, but this wasn't right. She came up to his shoulder in height. He lifted her so that she was cradled in his arms, and there would be no chance of the sickening thud that had happened when the rope had been cut for Charlie.

"Hurley!" Jack called to the squemish man who stood at the side, watching the scene with pure terror written on his face. "Hurley! Get over here." Hurley snapped out of his gaze and ran over to Jack. "Loosen the rope." He said, as Sayid cut through it and it went slack. As Jack gently brought her body to the ground, Hurley loosened the knot and slipped it over her head, revealing the same horrific rope burns on her porcelain neck as Charlie had suffered.

Jack leaned in close to her, but to his horror, felt none of her warm breath hit her skin.

"Jack..." Sayid began, dropping to their side.

"She's not breathing." He said, and started to give her compressions.

He hated that the broken body before him was Kate. Sayid had been right, he loved her. He loved her so much that it was killing him to see her in such a way. This was Kate, the warrior, the fighter, the one who had been his saviour for the past fifty days, and now, she was the woman on the brink of death.

"Jack...it's been three minutes..." Sayid said.

Three minutes since he had started to save her. Three minutes, plus whatever time she had been up there in the first place.

"No," He shook his head. "She's going to be OK," He assured himself.

He continued giving her compressions. Tears were falling rapidly from his cheeks now. Sayid saw them, so did Hurley. There was nothing they could do other than watch Jack furiously try to revive Kate. Sayid, who was still mourning for Shannon, and considered Kate to be a very dear friend to him, also felt the tears brimming. Jack felt a hot bile rise in his throat; a withheld sob that he needed to clear, and that escaped with the final compression to her chest.

As he breathed another bout of air into her lungs, wondering how in three days, he had gone from the kiss of passion to the kiss of life with her, he felt her struggle beneath him. Pulling back, he heard her gasp for air. She was alive. He gathered her upper body into his arms, giving her a feeling of security.

"Dude!" Hurley yelled when she took a breath, a cry of relief that their friend was alive. "Oh my sweet jesus of New York!" He called out to himself.

"Hurley, go to the hatch, and get my things ready." Jack instructed. Hurley nodded, and Sayid followed off after him, leaving Jack to bring Kate once she was calmed.

"Kate, Kate? Kate, look at me." Kate's eyes opened frantically, while she struggled to get her breath back. Her body needed oxygen, and as her vision began to clear, her eyes found Jack's.

"That's it, Kate, just breathe. In and out. With me, in and out."

She managed to get a control on her breathing, her eyes on Jack all the time, and he never let his gaze be torn from hers. For a moment, he had feared he would never see those brown eyes again.

"Good, Kate. Keep going, thats it, in and out, in and out, in and out."

He continued this mantra until she had a handle on her breathing that was more stable for his liking. This was when he noticed how much she was trembling. The violent shakes were even transferring to his own body. He held his arms tighter around her, holding her in a hug that he had wanted to give her for days. The shakes turned into silent sobs, where her throat wouldn't allow any sound to escape. He stroked her hair and her face gently.

"It's ok." He said to her firmly. "Kate, it's all right. I'm here. I've got you."

It was those words that brought a sense of safety to her. I've got you. Three words, and they could make her feel safer than ever.

"Jack..." She croaked, her voice hoarse and battered. The sound of her pleading call broke his heart as she begged relief from the pain.

"Come on, let's get you back to the hatch." He said to her.

Standing up with her still in his arms, he noticed how frail and thin her body was. She weakly succumbed to his embrace, letting out a whimper of pain. His lips found her forehead, pressing gently against it while she trembled in his arms, and he took off towards the hatch.