DISCLAIMER: JJ Abrams, Damon Lindof and Co. own Lost and Tina Arena owns the song 'Wasn't It Good'
A/N: I was looking through some of my parents old CDs that they never listen to anymore, and I found this old Tina Arena one and thought, 'What the hell?' so I put it on and when this song started playing, the idea for this story just came instantly to mind. So I sat at the computer, started typing and this what I came up with.
I hope that you enjoy it!
By the way, Jack and Kate aren't together…yet!
WASN'T IT GOOD
After about a year of being on the island, the survivors were finally found by some Fijian men on a fishing boat. The men made a list of everyone who had survived and went back to Fiji to notify the authorities. Oceanic had paid for a large cruise ship to pick them up and take them to Sydney, as none of the survivors wanted to fly on an aeroplane again any time soon.
All of the survivors were completely ecstatic.
All except one.
When one of the fishermen had asked Kate what her name was, she had hesitated for a second.
She could lie and have a chance at escape. But then she realised that, she was sick of running.
"So miss, what's your name?"
Kate glanced up at Jack.
Jack.
The one person she found that she could completely trust and depend on.
He gave her a slight nod and smiled reassuringly at her.
"Umm, Katherine. Katherine Austin."
"Katherine?" several voices echoed around her.
"Only my mother called me that," she laughed at Hurley's, Charlie's, Sawyer's and Jack's incredulous stares.
Kate was the last one on the large ship. She saw a police officer talking to another survivor named Kelly that she didn't know very well. As Kelly walked off to find her friends, Kate nervously approached the cop, muttering under her breath
One…
Two…
Three...
Four…
Five
"Excuse me officer?" she asked timidly, "I'm-"
"I know who you are, Austin," he stated simply.
"Well, I…ah… wanted to turn myself in." She held out her hands, ready to have her wrists cuffed.
The officer laughed softly.
"Miss Austen, I've talked to every single survivor here and asked them about you, and do you want to know what I think from what they've said?"
Kate shook her head, unsure of where this was going.
"I believe that all of the good that you've done on that island is just about equal to several very long lifetimes' worth of community service."
Kate was still confused.
"I've been in contact with the US government, and we won't know for sure until your trial, but, at the very worst, we're looking at six moths in prison, a couple of months of parole and some hours of community service a week."
Kate was in shock.
Complete and utter shock.
"You-you mean that…in less than a year, I'll be as good as free?"
The cop smiled at her and nodded. "And I won't need to take you into custody until we reach Sydney"
Kate was so happy that she did something completely out of character. She threw her arms around the cop and started going, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!"
The rest of that day was a large celebration in the ballroom of the ship. Charlie got up and made a long speech about how everyone had helped out on the island. Everyone had a feast, talked, laughed and danced. Even Sawyer joined in. Everyone was thrilled that Kate was getting off so lightly.
But as Kate lay in bed that night, she found that she couldn't sleep. Surely being free should feel better than this? She thought. She had felt great after she found out that she didn't have to go to jail for very long. And at the party she had felt better than she had felt in a long time. So why did she still feel like this now?
After just lying there for most of the night, she glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost 6am. She threw on some clothes that had been provided and decided to go for a walk to clear her head. As she pulled a sweater over her head, she glanced at the bedside table and noticed Tom's toy plane sitting there. It was then that she realised why she still felt the same way that she had been feeling for the past three years. She grabbed the plane and left the room.
After several minutes of aimless wandering, she came across a small room with a piano against the wall to her left and a large open window on the wall opposite the door (the room was on the top deck).
Jack was also having trouble sleeping. He and Kate must think alike, because he also decided to go for a walk to help clear his head. He turned into another corridor and saw Kate slip into a room at the other end. Curious, he decided to see what she was doing.
Kate smiled and sat at the piano. At first she was simply fiddling with the keys, but then she suddenly remembered a song that her dad (Sam, not Wayne) used to listen to in the car all of the time. She hummed a few bars to herself and then started to play the song as best as she could from memory.
Wouldn't you know it,
I've lost my courage.
Isn't that funny,
Me, lost for words?
Not that it really matters,
'Cause I know you know.
And you would have told me,
Yourself if you could.
Jack had gotten to the door pretty much the second she had started playing. He smiled. It was a rare sight to see Kate so natural and relaxed. He decided not to disturb her and keep watching.
Remember the first time,
We met each other?
You were in your world,
And I was in mine.
Breaking down the barriers,
We broke all the rules.
But wasn't it good…
Wasn't it fine?
While I took for granted,
You took your time.
Longing for love,
Oh how we tried.
It's over now, that's understood,
But wasn't it good?
As Kate played, Jack noticed a small smile playing on her lips. He also noticed the tears threatening to spill. The bittersweet feelings Kate was reflecting on were almost too much for her to bear.
So long together,
Two would be lovers.
Caring for flowers,
That just wouldn't grow.
And in all of our tomorrows,
We'll have yesterday.
And wasn't it good…
Wasn't it fine?
While I took for granted,
You took your time.
Longing for love,
Oh how we tried.
It's over now, that's understood…
But wasn't it good?
Wasn't it fine?
While I took for granted,
You took your time.
Longing for love,
Oh how we tried.
It's over now, that's understood…
But wasn't it good?
With that, Kate smiled sadly, and pulled Tom's plane from her pocket, unaware of Jack standing in the doorway just behind her and to her left.
She fiddled it around like she did almost every night before falling asleep and said softly to no one in particular;
"I need to let go. I love you, but it's about time I moved on."
And with that, she through the small toy plane out of the window and into the deep blue of the pacific.
"Goodbye Tom," she whispered.
"Nice throw."
Kate jumped about a metre off the piano stool. She turned quickly and saw Jack leaning against the door frame.
"How long were you standing there?" she demanded.
"Long enough. I couldn't sleep, went for a walk, saw you come in here, got curious and followed you." Jack moved to sit next to a very embarrassed Kate, "Want to talk about it?" he asked softly.
"Not particularly."
"Okay." Jack started playing some classical music. Kate looked at him in surprise.
"I didn't know that you could play." She stated, sounding impressed.
"I didn't know that you could play either," he replied. "You're good by the way."
Kate did something rather out of character at this point.
She blushed.
"Thanks, so are you." she replied.
Jack kept playing for a few minutes with Kate watching when she realised that, she did want to talk about it.
"He was my best friend."
Jack stopped playing and turned to face her, but her eyes were focused on her own hands, which were fiddling in her lap.
"No one else ever understood, he didn't either, but at least he tried to. No one else bothered with me," Kate took a deep breath and continued;
"He was a few years older than me, so I was sixteen when he left to go to med school. It didn't last the distance and we drifted apart. Next thing I knew, he was married to another woman and working as a doctor in the city, and I wasn't even in the same state anymore, married to some loser who ended up taking my money and leaving after barely eighteen months together," At this point Kate got teary, but held them back and refused to let them fall.
"But I still loved him. After I got divorced and went on the run, I met up with him. I needed help and he was the only person I had left. The only one I could trust. He paid for it though. Long story short, a cop shot Tom and killed him. Easy mistake seeing as I was right next to him." Kate was very close to completely breaking down now.
"He begged me to turn myself in, but I didn't, I couldn't. I was terrified. I couldn't think straight and I panicked. If I had only calmed down enough to count to five…but I didn't. And after I got away, I went to a bar and got completely wasted for the first time in my life. I've never been a drinker, even after I got divorced I didn't start, but I just got so completely drunk the night he died. But it didn't help, and I knew deep down that it wouldn't, but I didn't care anymore, he was gone. And as I woke up to my first ever hangover, I realised that I as good as killed him."
A tear trickled down Kate's cheek and she hastily wiped it away, hoping that he hadn't noticed.
"Last night when I went to bed I felt miserable, but I didn't know why. Then I saw the plane and I thought that, maybe if I could move on and forget, then it wouldn't hurt so much. But I'm not very good at letting go. And no matter what I say or do, I still killed him."
Jack looked at Kate, and realised that when she told him that she killed the man she loved, that was the guilt talking. He instantly felt bad for ever thinking that she could be capable of killing anyone she cared about.
He reached out, placed a hand under her chin and turned her to face him. He looked into her bright green eyes and said four words that she had never heard in the same sentence before.
"It wasn't your fault."
Kate looked at him in shock. She was used to people telling that everything was her fault. She went to say something but Jack cut her off.
"I don't think that you need to forget what happened to move on and let go. I think you need to forgive yourself."
Kate's stare turned from one of shock to one of incredulously. "Jack, I was the reason he was here. I was the reason he was shot. I was the reason he died. How could you say that it wasn't my fault?" Her voice cracked and anyone could see that she was on the edge of breaking down.
Jack watched Kate struggling with her guilt and felt his heart breaking for her. He moved his hands down onto her shoulders and tried again.
"He made a choice. He loved you so much that he wouldn't leave your side. It wasn't your fault. You didn't point the gun. You didn't pull the trigger. It…wasn't…your…fault." He said, stressing every word in the last sentence.
Kate looked up at Jack and her bright green eyes meet Jack's dark brown ones. There were tear streaks down her cheeks, but there was something in her eyes that Jack had never seen before.
Hope.
Jack wiped her tears away with his thumb and they both leaned forwards. They met in the middle with a slow, loving kiss. Kate moved her arms around his neck and Jack cupped the back of her head and ran his fingers through her chocolate brown curls with one hand, while his other hand moved to her slim waist.
After a while they pulled away out of need for oxygen. Kate smiled at Jack and whispered,
"It was good, what I had with Tom. But this is better."
And with that Jack smiled back at her and leaned in for another kiss.
Finis
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