Ok, a new chapter, I promise it's much lighter than the previous one. Thanks a lot for the reviews everyone please keep 'em coming, Enjoy!

Chapter 8

Hurley walked into the hatch, still sleepy from last night, and went to the sitting area. He saw Jack from behind on one of the couches, and not realizing he was asleep, went up to him.

"Dude! There you are!" he said loudly causing Jack to jump from sleep.

Hurley walked to face the couch and Jack, whose disheveled demeanor and red eyes caught Hurley's attention.

"Whoa, Dude, did I wake you up? So sorry," said Hurley apologetically.

Jack sat up, rubbing his eyes, "It's alright, Hurley. I slept too long anyway," he said, realizing that he really had slept longer that he ever had since they've crashed.

"I've been looking for you everywhere…" Hurley began.

"Where?" Jack asked dubiously, with a small, sly smile on his face.

"Ummm… your cave… Dude, I think you should go to the caves. Two guys got into a fight this morning and they like need stitching or something," Hurley said.

Jack's mind woke up as everything came back to him.

"Is everyone okay? Everything going alright?" Jack asked in concern, beginning to doubt whether staying in the hatch had been a good idea.

"Yeah, we're all good. Well, except for those two guys, but I don't think they're hurt too bad."

Jack got up, groaning at his stressed limbs, and looked over at Kate. She was still asleep.

"Okay… are you staying in the hatch?" he asked, starting to leave.

"Yeah, dooms-day-button duty. Fun." Hurley smiled sarcastically.

Getting to the door, Jack remembered something.

"When Kate wakes up, could you tell her I'm at the caves?"

"You guys make up?" Hurley asked, trying to hide his smile.

Jack looked at him, a mixture of annoyance, suspicion, and plain confusion evident in his expression.

"Well, I heard you guys aren't talking or something," Hurley explained, reading Jack's expression.

"We're fine," snapped Jack, annoyed at the question and the fact Hurley knew.

Jack left the hatch to the caves, walking quickly, knowing that hell would have risen. But he was wrong. Sun had stitched up the two guys, leaving Jack thinking that she was turning out to be quite useful.

Jack began rummaging through his bag for a clean shirt when Charlie came up to him.

"There you are. Heard you had a nice long sleep in the hatch. Hope you were warm enough while we were freezing here like cattle."

Jack ignored his routinic nagging, saying, "Is Claire okay?"

"Yeah, fine, why?" asked Charlie, curious at Jack's evident worry.

"Nothing, just that she seemed really shook up yesterday," Jack lied, and, changing the subject, added, "What's everyone been up to this morning?"

"Not much, except for those two baboons waking us up and giving us a fright this morning. They had a fight. Did you hear about that?" Charlie went on, a mere buzz in the back of jack's occupied mind.

Jack nodded, barely hearing him, and Charlie went on, "Sayid and a few others went down to the beach this morning, try to find…"

But before he could finish his sentence, Sayid came up behind him.

"Hello, Jack,"

"How is it down there?" Jack asked, looking over Charlie's shoulder.

Sayid shook his head, "It's horrible, Jack. Almost as bad as when we crashed. It will take weeks before we can fix it and move back…"

"Move back? After what happened?" said Jack, taken aback and surprised anyone would want to go back.

"Jack, that was a one-time natural disaster. You'll find people still have hope. You stayed here after the cave-in, right? Anyway," he lifted the bag he was carrying off his shoulders, "we found some stuff. If you want to go through it, see if there is anything…"

Jack nodded and took the bag, "Thanks."

As Sayid and Charlie walked away, Charlie chattering non stop, Jack walked to his cave and put the bag on his makeshift bed. As he started to look through it, Ana came over.

"Hi Jack," she said.

Jack looked up, dropping a wet sock back into the bag.

"Hi," he said, going back to the bag.

"Listen… Jack, about last night - I know I was out of line. And I'm sorry…," she apologized, smiling nervously.

Jack looked back at her, slightly more interested now. From what he had heard about her, Ana was not one to apologize.

"It's ok, Ana. You just need to know that, the way it is over here, everyone gets a new start. Who you were and what you did before don't matter. What matters is what you have done since we have been here," he explained, looking past Ana to where Kate was. Something flared inside him for a moment; she was with Sawyer, laughing like she hadn't for several days.

Ana looked at Jack, glad he didn't hate her, then at the ground, realizing he was looking past her.

Jack's moment of wanting to throw whatever was in his hand (at that moment, a part of a blanket) at Sawyer passed, and he turned back to Ana. He realized that she was still wearing the same clothes she had been when he met her at the airport.

Smiling, he said, "You should go see Claire or one of the women. They sorted the clothes after we crashed if you want."

Ana was taken by surprise but thanked him. And, taking the hint, she left.

Jack went back to the bag and emerged a few moments later with a huge smile on his face and what he had been looking for safely in his right hand. After looking at it for a few seconds, he pocketed it and walked out.

Once out of the cave, he looked at Kate, and having met her eyes, cocked his head for her to follow him.

Kate woke up and looked around her. She felt odd. She wasn't sleepy, her back wasn't hurting and she wasn't cold. Looking down, she saw a blanket covering her. Jack, she thought, smiling, and looking across the room. He wasn't there. Slightly disappointed, Kate got up and walked to the computer room, expecting Jack to be there.

"Hurley!" she said walking in, "Where's Jack?"

"Good morning to you, too. Yeah, Jack told me to tell you he's at the caves."

Kate half ran to the caves, but, to her disappointment and annoyance, Jack was with Ana.

Grumpily walking back to her cave, she was greeted by a surly, "mornin' Freckles."

"Hey Sawyer," she said turning to him.

Sawyer laughed, "are we trying to make a fashion statement now? The other girls too much of a competition?"

Kate stared at him stupidly for a moment before looking down at her overalls. Laughing, she sat down next to him.

"Where'd you go off last night, leavin' me here inc cavetown? Off for a cup of tea with the polar bears again?" Sawyer joked.

"It's not my fault I ended up with a cave-mate who snores," she teased.

"Hell, Freckles, it was cold," Sawyer smiled.

"Well, if you slept with a shirt on, you'd be warmer."

A mischievous look came across his face, a sneer on his mouth, "so you were watchin' me sleep… keeping track of my sleeping habits?"

Kate looked up at Jack's cave again and saw him walking out. He caught her eye and motioned for her to follow him.

Ana saw Jack leave the caves, followed closely by Kate. She looked around her, trying to find something to do or someone to talk to. Scanning the camp, she saw Sawyer.

"Hi, Sawyer," she said, as she walked up to him.

"Hi Sawyer… Don't you mean sorry Sawyer, sorry I almost left you half dead in the middle of the magic forest," Sawyer replied, trying to get on her nerves.

Ana snickered. "Well, from what I've heard, I'd say you would've done the same thing yourself."

"Yeah…Well…" Sawyer said, raising an eyebrow with a cynical half smile across her face. "So I see you're trying to get cozy with the Doc?"

"Yeah…Well…" Ana smiled, mocking Sawyer's earlier answer.

"Whoa, Rambina, didn't know you had the guts to compete with Freckles?" Sawyer said.

Ana looked at him, confused. Who's Freckles?

"Kate," Sawyer explained, in a duh-sort-of-way.

"I thought there was nothing between them, that they were just friends." Ana said inquiringly.

"Ha! Just friends! Who told you that?" Sawyer laughed.

"Jack said…" Ana started.

"Don't let that thing in the hatch yesterday fool you, sister…" Sawyer started, but the mention of that and its implication on Shannon's death stopped him.

They looked away for a moment, but Ana tried to end the awkwardness, "heard you guys built a golf course?"