Jack trudged through the undergrowth of the jungle with Michael and Shannon. The bushes which had grown over this part of the path seriously needed to be cut back, as they were making it hard for them to walk where they grew up to their knees. Jack could see that Kate was struggling as well, after all, it was near enough to her shoulders on her. For a while, Jack had carried her through the bushes, but then Kate got restless, and wanted to walk. She was still just as stubborn.
Coincidently, they found some fruit not too much afterwards. Jack and Michael climbed into the tree, struggling somewhat, as it was usually Kate who did their climbing, and Shannon sat with Kate at the base of the tree.
About halfway up, Michael passed a conversation. "Still worried?" He asked teasingly.
"Excuse me?" Jack asked, slightly out of breath.
"Are you still worried?"
"About what, falling out of this tree?" Jack joked as he pulled himself up onto a more steady branch, his foot slipping slightly just when he had got a good hold so that he didn't plument twenty feet to the ground. He never understood why Kate loved climbing trees so much.
"About being a Dad." Michael corrected.
Jack thought as he climbed, stopping when they were in reach of the fruit. With all that had been going on, part of him had forgotten that he and Kate were expecting a child. Of course, now that Kate was a child herself, things had changed, and Jack needed to take care of her in the hope that things would return to normal. Whenever someone brought up the conversation of being a father, Jack felt that butterflies feeling in his stomach of excitement and fear. He shook his head. "Of course I am."
"Don't be." Michael said. "Being a Dad's the greatest thing that ever happened to me." He said, and smiled. "Just, one bit of advice, you know, Dad to Dad." He agreed.
"As much as you want." Jack laughed. "I probably need it."
"Don't let anyone tell you how to raise your kid, Jack." Michael said seriously. "Accept their help, but at the end of the day, they're your child, not theirs. And also," He looked down at Kate and Shannon who were laughing together. "Don't let anything take your kid or Kate away from you."
Jack remembered how Michael and Walt had been seperated for eight years, and that it had broken Michael's heart. He tried to think of what was worse: not being there, like Michael, or turning out like his father. As if he knew what the other was thinking, Michael continued.
"You don't live long enough to make every mistake in the world." He said, gathering the fruit and not making eye contact with Jack. "That's why we have to learn from everyone else's; like our friends, our parents...everyone makes mistakes, you've just got to know how to fix them."
That's what he had built a career out of: fixing things. Jack Shephard, the fixer. He remembered when Kate had injured herself, and he had helped her out; she had said that he hadn't just fixed the wounds on her arms, but he had fixed her heart as well.
"Besides," Michael carried on. "I'm the only real father on this island." He said proudly. "I know that Charlie's doing great with Aaron, and all. But blood-wise, there's just me. You'll be soon, as well. If this whole Kate thing is a test of fatherhood, then I'm a great judge to say that you're doing pretty damn good under the circumstances."
Jack smiled at him. "Thanks."
"No problem. This should be enough, you think you'll survive the climb down?"
"It's not the climb I'm worried about." Jack gulped. "It's the fall."
Surprisingly, Jack made it out of tree without falling, although there were some very close calls. They began their walk back to camp, complete with food. They were about ten minutes from camp when Kate, who had been quite before hand, singing to herself, started to chatter away desperately. "Jack-Jack?" Kate asked, tugging on his hand she was holding. "Jack-Jack!"
"Yeah?" Jack answered.
"I gotta go." She said in a rushed voice.
Jack stopped walking, as did Michael. "Didn't you go before we left?" Jack asked her, in disbelief, seeing as they had only been our of camp for half an hour. She nodded. "You need to go again?" She nodded again. "Well, uh, Ok...there, that bush," He said, pointing at a particularly large one beside a tree. "We'll take you behind there."
Kate widened her eyes and shook her head. "I can't do that!"
"Why not?"
"Because you're a boy!" Kate explained as if he were stupid.
Shannon, who had simply come along because Kate has asked her to, laughed. Jack looked at her. "I think she's been spending too much time with you." Jack said. "Kate, no one's going to watch you." He assured her.
"No!" She whined. "Shannon." She said.
Shannon held out her hand, and Kate let go of Jack's and took hers instead, pulling her behind the bush. For someone who loved running off out of Jack's sight, she hated going to the bathroom on her own. Kate walked slowly ahead with Michael, making sure that they were still quite near to the bush that Shannon and Kate were behind, but that Kate didn't yell at them for 'trying to look'. About ten seconds later, they heard a yelp from Kate as they came out of the bushes.
"Kate?" Jack called over as Shannon emerged from the bushes with a frightened Kate. He walked back over to them and Kate near enough jumped into his arms. "Woah, what's wrong?" He asked her.
"A bug crawled up her leg and onto her back." Shannon explained. "It wasn't that big, but she says it bit her."
Jack knew that being bitten by anything out in the jungle was potentially dangerous, particularly when they didn't know what by. "Where?" He asked. Shannon indicated a spot near her left shoulder, and Jack slipped the sleeve of her t-shirt down so that he could see. Sure enough, there was two bite marks, with the skin around in a darker pink from the pinch of it.
"What do you think?" Shannon asked.
"I'll have to keep an eye on it, that's all I can do until anything happens." Jack said, hoping that nothing would happen. "Come on, lets get back to camp."
