Glad you all enjoyed the last chapter :D There's a few more to go yet, as I want to show how much the baby is like her parents, and show a bit of her growing up. Even though its spelt Kaia, it's pronounced like Kiya. I just thought it was a really beautiful name. Anyway, tally ho, and off with the chapter.
Kate had just finished feeding Kaia when Jack came to sit beside her, with a good morning kiss and handing her some food for herself. Smiling at him, she handed baby Kaia, who was now three months old, over to her father so that she could eat her breakfast. The first few months of their child's life had passed quickly, almost too quickly for her liking. Not for the first time since Kaia had been born, she wished she was back home so that she could have photographs of Kaia with their friends and her and Jack most importantly. Especially at times like this, when the father and daughter looked so inimaginatively cute together.
Jack noticed her dreamy look as she watched them and laughed softly. "Earth to planet Kate?" Kate snapped out of her thoughts and smiled at him. "Off in another world?" Nodding as she took another bite of the fruit, Jack rolled his eyes. "Try spending more time on this planet." He told her with a playful nudge at her shoulder.
"You two just looked so cute together." She told him.
Jack grinned proudly. "That's 'cause Kaia is a Daddy's girl." He told her, adjusting the baby in his arms as she looked all around her with wide brown eyes that had transfixed on the man holding her. Her eyes were now the exact same colour as Jack's, but as her hair grew, it was clear that it would be curly like Kate's, exactly how Jack had imagined it when he watched the four-year-old Kate sleeping.
"No way, she's a Momma's girl." Kate argued.
"Daddy's girl."
"Momma's girl."
"Daddy's girl."
"Momma's girl."
"Daddy's girl."
"Momma's girl."
"Dad-"
"Guys, cut it out!" Sawyer said as he walked by them. "The kid's clever. She just manipulates which ever one of you she wants somethin' out of at the time. She'll be a Momma's girl when she wants feedin', but a Daddy's girl when she's done somethin' wrong and thinks that Momma's gonna tell her off. Then she'll flutter her eyelashes and Daddy goes all soppy on her and she gets away with God knows what." Without another word, he disappared again, leaving Jack and Kate to stare blankly after him, while Kaia looked around madly for the source of the voice that, as it had done to Aaron, amazed every child.
Kate leaned over and traced her daughter's cheek and she smiled up at her. Kaia had been smiling non stop for the last two months, ever since the first time she had smiled when Kate was holding her. When Kaia had smiled for the first time in her arms, it made Kate feel that every hardship she had ever suffered in her life was worth it for that smile - the first person to see Kaia's smile. "She's grown so much." Kate muttered. "And we'll never have photos to remember it by."
Jack noticed her face falling a little at the thought, and kissed her cheek. "Don't worry, it's not like we'll forget what she looked like when she was small enough to hold. It's just going to be a shame that there's no embarrassing photo's of her on the potty to show at her 18th."
Kate burst out laughing at Jack's idea and he looked at her strangely. "What? That never happened to you?" he asked her. She shook her head through her laughing.
"No!" She laughed.
"It happens to most people." Jack said, pretending to be proud of that particular evening.
"Well, I'm not 'most people', Jack." She said, knowing that there was no chance of an 18th birthday with her family where she was brought up. She couldn't remember what she did that night, but she remembered waking up in a tree the next morning.
Jack smiled at her softly, before muttering just loud enough so she could hear it. "No, you're not. No girl's exactly like you."
She had to smile, knowing that once that line had been used to define her shady past, but now Jack used it to describe how he felt about her. Strange how he could take something so painful to her and turn it into something good just by hearing it come from his lips. Their eyes locked and they inched towards each other...their lips just about to touch...
"Ouch!" Kate exclaimed, her head jerking downwards. Looking down, Jack saw that Kaia had a tiny fistful of Kate's hair balled in her fist, and was tugging on it roughly, laughing as she did so. Everything was a game to the child. Carefully freeing her hair, Kate had to laugh at the little girl - Jack did, after all. No, don't worry about Kate's hair Jack, you just laugh away to yourself.
"I'm going to be bald soon." She muttered grimly, taking away the few strands that had been snapped away in the process so that Kaia didn't try to eat them again. Jack laughed at this remark, and Kate turned to him daringly. "Go on, laugh it up, Dr Shephard, because if she gives me a bald patch I'm shaving off one of your eyebrows in the middle of the night." She warned.
Jack stopped laughing. "You wouldn't."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, I would." She assured him. "It's not my eyebrow."
"Thank you for your concern."
"You're welcome."
Kaia smiled and they were joined for breakfast by Rose, the elderly woman who had long provided them with advice, particularly when Jack and Kate were denying their love for each other. She stopped by to see how the baby was doing, as she did most mornings now. Rose was some sorts of a grandmother to Kaia, always there to take care of her while Jack and Kate had some time alone.
"She's going to be a real beauty when she grows up." Rose admired. "It's strange to think how far we've all come in four years."
Jack thought to himself on that note. In the last four years, he had, as Rose said, achieved a lot. He had lost his father, only to find a new family with those on the island. He had saved many people with limited resourses. But most importantly, he had found Kate. By finding Kate, he had been given a beautiful daughter, Kaia, and most likely more children in the future, maybe a son, and more daughters. He had friendships which weren't restricted to hospital staff.
Kate had found a reason to stop running. She had found Jack, brought a child into the world, delivered Claire's baby as well. Although starting off on a rocky road where she just wanted to pack up and run, she had succeeded in earning the trust of others by telling the truth. People accepted her as who she was now, despite knowing about her criminal past. None of that mattered to them because she had helped them.
"Just think how bad you'd be if you hadn't gotten together already?" Rose said, standing up and going over to her own husband.
Kate laughed, and Jack raised an eyebrow. "Can you imagine that?" She asked.
"Us not getting together?" She nodded. Jack shook his head. "I wouldn't want to."
"Me neither." She said, kissing him finally, making sure that her hair was well out of reach of Kaia's hands.
