Prelogue

Sun was walking towards her garden when she heard a rustle in the wind to her left. She paused, stood frozen to listen but heard only silence, must've been her imagination. They all seemed to have built up overworked imaginations on this island. She shook her head and carried on.

She know Jin wont be happy if he knew she came out to her garden alone this late in the afternoon, it'll be dark soon but she just wanted to plant the few new herbs she found in the jungle.

She loved going to her garden alone, planting and just being there it made her feel calm and relaxed and safe, which is ironic since that's where she was attacked, she thought wryly.

There it was again the noise, louder now. She froze in place. She cold hear it more clearly now, whispers on the wind. She swirled looking around her but she couldn't see anyone.

Then just as suddenly as it started it stopped, she slowly let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

She was about to cut her trip to the garden short and just return to the beach when she saw them. 3 men dressed in ragged clothes standing right in front of her, they seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

"hello Sun"

She took a step back opened her mouth to scream but the man in front already had his arms around her. He covered her mouth with his hand, silencing her.

'You're coming with us now' he quickly replaced his hand with a dirty cloth, gagging her.

Then he lifted her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing. And they disappeared into the jungle as if they'd never been there.

Chapter 1

"I'm sorry I kissed you." Kate said after a few minutes of silence.

It had been weighing on her mind for the past 2 weeks. Not that she really felt sorry she kissed him but for everything that happened after that. She was convinced he regretted it happened. He'd been different towards her ever since, cold and distant, he'd hardly spoke ten words to her since the kiss.

She'd tried before to fix things between them to get to them on speaking terms again.

She ran after them when he, Sawyer and Locke were going after Michael. Thought if they could work together as a team again to look for Michael it would get things back to the way it was. But that one exploded right back in her face. He'd refused to let her come with; he'd never talked to her like that before.

He'd just turned and walked away. She'd stood there for a few minutes not quite believing what just happened. She knew he was upset with her but didn't realize just how much.

She'd made a decision than that she was going to follow them, who was he to tell her she couldn't go? She'd never done well with someone telling her what to do and not to do. That turned out to be a real bad decision. She'd been captured by the others and Jack was forced to give up the guns.

If she thought things were bad between them before she was in for a shock. She knew this time she'd royally screwed up. He ignored her flat out after that night and when they did see each other and talked it was strained and uncomfortable to say the least.

Except for the night after the poker game, she'd run after him. Wanting to try and talk to him again try and get their relationship, if you could call it that, back to what it was.

She wanted to be on speaking terms with him again. She missed him, missed spending time with him.

And for a few minutes she thought it would work, he actually spoke to her, smiled at her and then offered to walk her back to the beach.

But then nothing is ever that easy for her, just as they were about to head back they saw some weird flashing light. Both their curiosities piqued they went to investigate.

It was food and supplies and before they could process and take in what it all meant Sayid, Charlie and Ana-Lucia came out of the jungle. She seemed to be everywhere these days particularly everywhere Jack is. Watch that ugly green monster there Kate, she thought grimly.

Jack started asking Sayid questions she had no idea what they were talking about. They all headed back to the hatch and couldn't believe her own eyes when she got there.

She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.

They had one of them, an Other locked away in the hatch. For several days and she knew nothing about it.

Jack had lied to her she realised then there was nothing wrong with the shower he just didn't want her to come here. She was surprised at how much it actually hurt her to realise then how badly their relationship had deteriorated, how much he kept from her. What had happened to her having his back?

She sat staring at Jack, hoping that now after the day they just spent together actually talking again that things between them might get better.

"I'm Not" he said calmly but with no hint or trace of doubt.

He was surprised at first that she bought it up. Was she really sorry?

Right after the kiss when she ran away and went back to Sawyer's side, he was angry and confused.

Angry at her for running away, running away to Sawyer's side after getting his feelings and emotions all tangled up and angry at himself for being so upset about it.

His heart and mind were fighting it out but neither came out victorious which just made him more confused and angry. No woman had ever messed with his head as much as Kate did.

He thought he knew how to handle her, thought he knew he could control his feelings for her, but then she just comes and pulls the rug from under him again, just leaving him feeling more vulnerable and confused than he could ever remember feeling.

His heart stopped beating for a minute when she said she was sorry but hell even with all the turmoil he'd gone through since that kiss he didn't regret it. It had made him feel something he thought he'd never feel again, actually there were times he doubted he ever did feel that way, did he really love Sarah? Did he just marry her because he fixed her because she had put him on a pedestal, called him her hero. Sure he had feelings for her but the way he felt about Kate was so different, that at times he doubted which was real.

Kate made him feel alive again. So he took a deep breath and told her he didn't regret it.

She jerked her head up, it took her a moment to realise what he meant, that he wasn't sorry about the kiss. She didn't know what to say she expected him to say lots of things or even to not say anything but to say he's not sorry he didn't regret it happened? Never in a million years did she expect him to say that.

They sat staring at each other both trying to read the other's eyes for clues. She couldn't figure him out he was one big mystery to her but damned if she didn't want to kiss him again.

Jack looked at her, he was afraid if he made any movement she'd run again. So he just sat as still as possible, barely breathing. He saw something in her eyes change from shock to surprise to something he could only describe as passion.

She slowly moved her head closer to him. Jack held his breath the only thought running through his head, she wasn't running, she was leaning towards him. He inched his head closer until their faces were centimetres from each other.

"I lied" she said softly. Jack frowned but kept her gaze.

"I'm not sorry about the kiss"

He swallowed as he watched her lick her lips

"I'm sorry I ran"

She pressed forward, lightly touching her lips to his. His fingers tunneled into her hair and he pulled her head to him.

His mouth opened and his tongue licked over her lips. She opened her mouth and his tongue slid inside slow and deliberate, rolling over her teeth. A shudder washed through her. He angled her head slightly and deepened the kiss yet again dueling his tongue with hers and exploring the far reaches of her mouth.

"Oh God". She moaned into his mouth.

Her arms went up around his neck. His hands were still tangled in her long brown hair. They both let out a sigh simultaneously. They were both breathing heavy as minutes later they slightly pulled back staring into each other's eyes, smiling.

Then suddenly there was a rustle in the trees around them, they both looked up but couldn't see anything. The sound became louder it was surrounding them.

Jack jumped up, grabbed the gun, scanning the dark tree line around them. Kate stood close to him.

"Jack what is that?"

"I don't know"

It was suddenly all around them, voices, whispers 'we're coming' is all they could make out from it.

And then just as quickly as it came it was gone.

The silence after was deafening.

Kate and Jack were both still standing rigid every muscle tense.

"Jack I think we need to head back"

"Did you hear that it sounded like 'we're coming', that's why we came here to talk to them to get Michael and Walt back "

"Yes, Jack why don't you listen to her. We already told you you're not getting them back" the voice belonging to the bearded man who wasn't standing ten feet away from them.

Kate gasped and gave a step back. Her back firmly pressed against Jack's chest.

"I have one of your men if you don't return Walt and Michael, you won't see him again" Jack now threatened the other man

"Jack, Jack, Jack, we've been over this and now because of you not keeping your end of the deal we've taken another one of your people. So if you still want the three of them alive you'll return our man, unharmed" He had been holding the winning hand and just turned the threat back around on Jack.

Jack's face hardened "what did you do? Who are you talking about?"

"If you want to see her, Michael or Walt again I suggest you leave, go back to the beach. And return our man. Stay away from us this is your last warning Jack"

Then he turned and walked back into the dark jungle. Jack was moving to follow him "hey wait!" but the jungle had swallowed him up.

"Jack" Kate laid a hand on his shoulder, "we can't just go after him like that. You know we won't find him"

"You heard what he said Kate, he's taken someone else"

"We don't know what happened, let's just go back first, find out what happened, we're outnumbered, there's nothing the two of us can do now"

Jack knew she was right but felt so helpless. He sighed and reluctantly picked up his back pack; Kate had already put out the fire and was beside him as they walked back to camp.

They walked back in relative silence, both afraid of what they'd find back at the beach, was someone really taken? Who? Neither really knew what to say after the kiss. Jack's head was spinning did they really just share a second kiss that made him feel even more confused, will he ever understand her. She messed with his head but for some unexplainable reason he didn't want her to stop, he was falling for her at lightning speed he realised, not just a little bit scared by the thought.

Kate didn't fare much better she tried everything to focus on what was happening and not to think about the kiss. But it was no use, her mind kept straying back to the moment her lips touched his. Her knees felt weak and a molten hotness crept through her body. God how come he had such a strong reaction on her, he just had to look into her eyes to make her heart beat at a million beats a second.