She froze. The sound was all to familiar even after it was so long since it had been held at her. All around her, people gasped, Kaia looked like she was about to cry, scared at what she was seeing - four armed men aiming handguns at her mother. Two of the Marshalls came pushing through the crowd of survivors, and the other two were already either side of her. She met the eyes of the other survivors…Claire…Charlie…Sayid…Michael…all staring at her, waiting to see what would happen, whether she would fight, or do the right thing.

It moved quickly, and then seconds later, she was standing in the middle of the deck, and again, standing deadly still. In those few seconds, however, Jack had been removed from her side at gunpoint, having immediately shifted position so that in the worse case, Kaia was out of the line, and Kate chased into the centre of the deck. Jack fought to keep Kaia in his arms, who was squirming and struggling trying to get to Kate. Kate felt hot tears fall down her cheeks as she held Curtis to her tightly.

"Mommy, what's happening?" He asked her as he hugged her back just as tightly. He was just as scared as she was. She looked over at Jack, who still had the gun trained on him not to move, and saw that same fear reflected again in both his and Kaia's eyes.

"Jack…" She murmured, although he could only see her lips moving, he was too far away to hear the pained whimper that had escaped her. She felt isolated, physically seperated from him for the first time in years. She wanted to be held in his arms, with her children at her side, safe, wanted, untouchable.

Kaia shouted out bravely, determination written on her face. "LEAVE MY MOMMY ALONE!" One of the Marshals looked at Kaia. "My Mommys lovely. She's the best Mommy ever!"

This made Kate cry even more, and one Marshal approached her, and she could see all the satisfaction written on his face even though he was trying to look as professional as possible. "Katherine, put the boy down." It was the first time she had been called Katherine since she had been to see her mother, since Tom died.

She shook her head, holding closely to the one lifeline she had left, and turned her body so that Curtis was shielded by her from them. "No." She whispered.

"Put the boy down." He repeated louder.

Curtis started crying, the sound of the men shouting at Kate scaring him, and Kaia followed suit, although more of hers were actually desperate screams. Even though he was separated from Kate, he wasn't with the rest of the survivor either, and when the Marshal aiming at him stopped and turned his weapon on Kate instead when she refused to put Curtis down.

"PUT HIM DOWN!" He yelled and Kate began to sob as well.

Jack stepped forward, Kaia no longer struggling in his arms but howling against his chest. Beyond him in the crowd, he could hear Aaron crying as well, with Claire trying to comfort him - Aaron had seen too much of guns in his life. Jack stepped in front of Kate as best he could, and felt her rest her forehead against the back of his shoulder, unable to hold him like she wanted to because she had to hold onto Curtis.

"Sir, move away." Another Marshal instructed.

"I'm not moving anywhere." Jack said determinedly. On a completely surprising streak of protection, he was joined by Sawyer on her other side. The two men shared a quick glance, even though Sawyer had always competed for Kate's heart, they knew that it was time to work together for her, and they nodded simply, a sign of this one-off teamwork. "She hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Both of you, get back now!"

"Will you stop shouting, you're scaring the kids!" Jack yelled back, putting his hand on the back of Kaia's head. All he could hear was the three people he loved crying so close to him.

Yet this did nothing to stop them shouting at them still. "TAKE THE KIDS, AND MOVE AWAY FROM HER."

Again, they didn't move. "If you don't move, we'll be forced to take action."

That was enough for Kate. "No…" As soon as those words had left his mouth, she raised her head from Jack's shoulder, blearily noticing his determined expression through her tearstained eyes. "Jack…" She began. She didn't want him to get hurt. "He's right."

He shook his head. "No." He answered. "No, I'm not going anywhere."

"Please?"

"I'm not leaving you, Kate." He said more surely.

"I don't want them to hurt you like they hurt Tom." She said in a complete state. Without waiting for Jack to answer, she looked at Kaia, who was staring at her with pleading eyes. "You be a good girl, you hear me?" Kate said to her softly, stroking her cheek and placing a strong kiss on her forehead. "I love you."

"Love you, Mommy." Kaia cried back, giving her a sloppy kiss.

Kate did the same to Curtis, before reluctantly letting Sawyer take him from her. Her hands seemed to linger, not wanting to let go of him. Then she looked up at Jack. "I love you, Jack." She told him, her voice almost silent. "Thank you, for everything."

"This isn't goodbye, Kate." He told her, bringing his free hand to her cheek. "We talked about this, we aren't saying goodbye, remember?"

She looked into his tear-filled eyes and nodded. "Unless I don't get another chance, I need you to know. My heart only ever belonged to you, and it always will."

"Kate…"

"Don't let them forget me, Jack."

"Sir, step away from her."

But he didn't step away, he leaned forward and kissed her. They both knew how much this kiss meant to the other, and didn't hold back. There was nothing in the world that meant more to them at that moment than pouring nine years of love into a single kiss. As their faces brushed against each other, they both felt the tears that stained their cheeks. However, their final moment was brought to an end as Kate was ripped from him, and he opened his eyes to see her being forced against the banister of the boat.

They clapped the handcuffs on her, which brought back the reality of her past more than the guns did. The cold metal almost stung her skin. "Katherine Austen, you are under arrest for murder. You do not have to say anything, yet anything you do say can and will be held against you in court." Their voices trailed off, and Kate let them pull her back into a standing position, no physical match for the four armed men that now held her arms.

In a daze, she looked back at her family, at Kaia, at Curtis, at Jack, as she was escorted from the deck. She had thought she was home free. Now she didn't have a home. Her only home was far behind her, and she had been forced away from it as she had been dragged away from Jack. She collapsed into silent sobs as they rounded a corner with her, and she could no longer see them.

The rest of the survivors came over to Jack, filling in the gaps that had been created around them by the marshals. He looked so helpless. Kaia was crying in his arms, and Curtis in Sawyer's. Jack stared blankly at the place in which he had last seen Kate. It seemed impossible that three days ago they were happy on their home island, having fully adjusted to their life there, and now she had been dragged from him in handcuffs. Kate…his Kate…Kate Sheppard. That's what he had said on the smaller boat. He had promised her the wedding of her dreams…

"Jack…."

He snapped out of his daze to see Claire standing beside him, her hand on his upper arm comfortingly. Suddenly, he could hear the kids crying again, and buried his head against Kaia's hair as he cried himself silently. He wanted nothing more than to stamp and scream like a child would, but he knew that he couldn't. The kids needed him, and they needed him to be strong.

"Daddy..." Kaia sniffled, and Jack raised his head, to see that she was looking at him with tear stained eyes. She looked so broken, and so much like Kate, that it pained him to see her cry. Jack notioned to Sawyer, to passed Curtis to him. Jack settled his son on his other hip, and kissed both his children.

"Mommy will be Ok, Daddy." Kaia said with another sniff. "She said that she'd come back to us. She promised that she'd try."

Jack nodded, inwardly smiling at Kaia comforting him. "Yeah, she did promise."

"Mommy never breaks her promises." Kaia reminded him with a firm nod.

Curtis pulled a hand up and wiped his eyes on his wrist. Then he leaned forward closer to Jack, and pulled up the corner of Kaia's long sleeved shirt. He used to corner in his hands to wipe the tears from Jack's cheeks. So many of the survivors were brimming tears in their eyes, watching Jack's tears be tried by the little boy, and Jack kissed him again.

"I love you guys so much." Jack told them as they both hugged him.

"Love you too, Daddy." They chorused.