Chapter 12 : Goodnight

"Well. What a blast that was." Sawyer said as the group made their way back to camp in the dark. He could hear Hurley's heavy breathing and Charlie shivering. Sayid fell into step beside him.

"Did you find anything useful down there? I'm sure it was a mess." Sayid said. Sawyer laughed.

"Hate to break it to ya, but there was nothing wrong with the hatch." Sawyer sniggered. Sayid looked back at Charlie.

"But I thought he said-" Sayid started.

"No way. You should have seen the place! It was the same as it was before we left! But it did kind of lock us out." Sawyer added. Sayid shrugged.

"Well I guess we may never find out." Sayid added. He then felt the texture below them change. They were finally back at the beach.

"I love you beach!" Charlie exclaimed. He stopped a little embarrassed.

"I'm gunna go find Claire." He said. He ran off towards her tent. Sayid and Sawyer continued down the beach.

"Good night Sawyer." Sayid said and he too drifted off to his camp. Sawyer looked around. No one was still up except for two people sitting by the main fire. He could see them getting up. He squinted in the darkness to see who it was. It was Jack and Kate.

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"I think this is the end." Kate said. Jack quickly squeezed through so he was right beside Kate. He pushed on the wall. It started to budge.

"Good job." Jack said. Kate smiled.

"It wasn't hard. All we did was crawl in a straight line." Kate implied. Jack let out a small laugh and pushed the wall open. He quickly peered under the door to make sure the coast was clear.

"Okay go." Jack said. Kate quickly crawled out and into the woods and Jack quickly followed. They could hear shouting in the distance.

"Do you think they know we are gone?" Kate asked. Jack quickly shook his head.

"I don't know but we definitely are not going to find out." Jack said. He quickly turned to run when he heard a gun shot. They both broke into a sprint into the woods. Kate was closely behind Jack and they reached a bunch of bushes. He heard Kate and she fell behind him. Jack quickly stopped.

"Kate!" Jack said. She was stumbling get up. He quickly bounded forward and grabbed her hand.

"Let's go!" Jack said. He still had her hand and the two ran out in the woods. Jack was starting to lose energy, but he knew they had to get out. Then all of a sudden an arm appeared from the side and pushed Kate into Jack. They were pushed to the side into a pool of water. Jack let go of Kate to swim to the top. Jack burst through and looked to side. Kate also appeared.

"Are you okay?" he quickly asked. Kate nodded and swam over to him.

"What the hell was that?" Kate asked. Jack swam back to the rock he was pushed off of.

"Shh... stay down. Swim over there to where the clearing is." Jack immediately recognized the voice.

"Sawyer?"

"Shh! You wanna get killed?" Sawyer said. Jack silently obeyed and found Kate. They both swam over to where Sawyer had said. He was waiting for them there. They both clambered out of the pool and onto shore. Kate coughed.

"You okay?" Jack asked. Kate nodded.

"Ahuh." she replied. Jack and Kate quickly stumbled to their feet and followed Sawyer to a small overhang. Jack and Kate sat down on the dingy floor and looked dup at Sawyer who was covering the opening with some leaves.

"Well well... good to see you two out." Sawyer said. Kate nodded.

"Good to see you're alive. Heard you caused some trouble." she said. Sawyer laughed.

"Well Freckles, I ain't the dumbest crayon in the box." Sawyer exclaimed. Kate laughed as well and looked over at Jack.

"Why don't we get back to beach?" he suggested. Kate nodded.

"I'd like to, but we need to get some rest. We can leave tomorrow morning." Kate said.

"And no buts." She added as Jack went to get up again. Sawyer came over and sat down on the opposite wall facing them.

"Oh Sawyer.." Kate said as she leaned forward. Sawyer's face was covered in cuts and scratches, he also had a deep gash across his cheek.

"Let me look at those." Jack said. Sawyer laughed.

"Whatever you say doc." Sawyer said as he leaned forward.

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Jack had led Kate all the way to her tent and was now standing outside. Kate opened the flap and popped in. He followed. He made sure she was comfortable and left to get a water bottle. He returned from his tent and gave her the bottle.

"Okay," Jack said. "Drink a lot of water. Even if you are not thirsty, drink it anyway." Kate nodded and put her head back on the pillow she made out of her sweater.

"Thank you." Kate said. Jack turned to leave.

"Your welcome." Jack said. He had his hand on the flap when Kate spoke again.

"Jack?" Kate said. Jack turned to face her.

"Yes?" he said. She gave a little cough and he saw her look away.

"Um.. Do you think you could.. Oh never mind." she replied. Jack laughed.

"Kate, I know you well enough its nothing. What is it?" he asked. She looked up and smiled.

"I was just wondering if you could... well... can you stay with me tonight?" She asked. Jack stared and started racking his brain. He knew this was rare coming from Kate. Every time he had come closer, she would get scared or frightened. But he knew she was genuine.

"Of course." Jack said. He came over to Kate and sat down beside her. "You're going to have to move over." Jack said. Kate laughed and moved over. Jack lay down beside her and looked over at her. She was looking at him.

"Good night Kate." Jack said. Kate yawned and nodded.

"Good night." she replied and she closed her eyes and dropped her head. And with that she fell asleep. Jack was left to let his brain wonder as Kate snuggled up to him and laid her head on his chest. He took one last breath before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.