Ok, you're gonna hate me for this. EternalConfusion already does (thank you for checking it for me!). I believe her words involved "what the hell are you doing" and something involving a spade making contact with my head. It's just a short-ish chapter to set things up while I get down to the rest of it.

xxx

They danced for a few songs, one even that was older and Kate actually knew, but eventually Sam came over to steal a dance from his daughter. Jack obliged, wanting to make sure that the children weren't up to no good. He could just imagine Kaia's curiosity getting the better of her in a place like this. He resisted look up, expecting her to be hanging from a chandelier on the ceiling, or that disco ball she had loved so much, but that was just him panicking.

"Jack?" Kate asked, noticing him looking around in every different direction.

"Where's Kaia?"

Curtis was sitting with Margo, eating ice cream, to no surprise, but Kaia wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere that Jack could see. At his question, Kate also began to look around madly. Only ten minutes ago, maybe more, Kaia and Curtis had gone over to see Margo together, hand in hand. Now Curtis was without his sister at his side.

"Where is she?" She asked, even though she knew that Jack didn't have an answer.

"Kate," Sam started. "Relax, there are a lot of people here, I'm sure she's fine..." But Kate cut him off.

"Exactly, there are a lot of people here!" She pointed out. "She could be anywhere, if she ran off, no one would have noticed!" Six years ago, Kate had struggled with the idea of being a mother. She had worried that she wouldn't be enough, that she couldn't be a parent, but it was all the little things that proved her wrong. Such as the amount she worried over her children. And when Kate was in 'protective mother' mode was not someone you crossed, as Sawyer often found out.

"She's a smart kid, Kate." Sam assured her, and Kate started to break.

"I know that, Dad." She said, hers and Jack's eyes still scanning around madly. By now, a few others had noticed that they were looking for someone. "But she's exactly like me, who knows what could have happened? Unless you're sitting next to her she'll eat anything that fits in her mouth." Her face looked panicked. "Oh, god! What if she's choked! Jack, what if she's choked?" She asked desperately, grabbing hold of his arm.

He turned to face her. "She hasn't choked. I'm going to find her." He assured her.

The pair went over to where Margo was sitting, being stopped by Charlie on the way. "What's happening?" He asked.

"Have you seen Kaia?" Jack asked.

"She was here a minute ago..." He trailed off, noticing that she wasn't here anymore. "And she's not with Aaron."

"But she's always with Aaron!" Kate protested.

"Aaron's been with Sawyer all night." Charlie shrugged, indicating to where the pair were still sitting on the stage together.

Jack leaned over the table to Margo. "Mom, where's Kaia?" He asked.

"She went over to the table to get more duck." She answered, pointing in the direction of the table. Jack looked over, but the table of food was now deserted.

"You let her go on her own?" He asked.

"It's not the other side of the world, Jack." She assured him.

"Damnit!" He muttered.

"What?" Kate asked.

"Nothing." He lied. He didn't want her to panick. "Maybe Sawyer's seen her."

Sawyer hadn't seen her. But he also joined the search.

Ten minutes later, Kate was asking any random person if they had seen Kaia, and she went back to Jack a complete state. "Jack, what are we going to do?" She asked. "Where could she have gone?"

"She hasn't left the hotel, reception hasn't seen her." Sawyer reported.

"None of the camera team have seen her." Charlie told them.

"Jack..." Kate said desperately, tears in her eyes. "Where is she?"

"Wait," He realised, one arm around Kate's shoulder to comfort her. "If reception hasn't seen her then that means she must still be in the room." He deducted.

"What if someone's taken her?" Kate asked fearfully.

Jack came round in front of her. "Kate, listen to me. Kaia is going to be just fine." He promised her. "I'm going to find her, Ok?" She nodded, and he hugged her tightly whilst she gripped him to her. She was scared, scared for her daughter, her precious little girl that they had faced hell and back again to have with them.

"Jack, please, find her." She begged, her eyes prickling with tears.

He kissed the top of her head, and pulled away, going back into the leader mode that he thought he had left back on the island.

"Right, Sawyer, go over to the DJ, get hold of that microphone, and call out her name, keep going for five minutes, as long as you can, get her to come to you if she can hear you. Charlie, check the room again, under the tables, wherever you can get to. Kate, go to Curtis, make sure he's alright, and keep him calm, whatever you do, don't let him know about Kaia. Sit in the reception and keep a look out for anything. Sam, come with me, we're going to keep looking through the hotel. We'll grab Sayid and John as well." Everyone had their orders, and dispersed. Jack grabbed Kate's arm as she went to walk away, and then nodded at her. "Kate, she'll be Ok." He assured her, before letting her walk away.

Jack, Sam, Sayid and Locke set off through the hotel, they checked every floor, they checked the jungle gym, the kitchens, everywhere they could, and for an hour, they found nothing. Then, just around the corner from reception, near a side exit, was a plant which had a small shell in it. Jack approached it wearily, not wanting to believe it, but he picked the shell necklace up. He looked at it in his hands for a moment. The string it used to be tied with was snapped beside the knot, and he then turned, showing it to the others.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"It's Kaia's." Jack said sadly. "Her and Kate have matching ones. We made them on the beach." He revealed, closing his hand up around it.

Sayid, meanwhile, had checked the door the their left, and came back in, shutting it behind him. Jack looked at him with hopeful eyes, and it killed Sayid to shake his head. "There's nothing there." He told them.

Jack's head fell. He shut his eyes tightly, willing this all to go away. But it didn't.

1...

It started to sink in, Kaia wasn't here, Kaia was missing, his little girl.

2...

He had promised not two hours ago that nothing would split his family up again, and now, a little while later, Kaia was gone.

3...

She was five years old, she's never been in a civilisation like this before.

4...

What if she was hurt? What if something terrible had happened?

5...

The fear he thought would become controlled became stronger. The counting hadn't worked. For once in his life, he was unable to control his fear.

Turning on his heel, they went back to reception. He headed immediately to the desk, Kate jumping up from the seats. Shannon sat over with her, and stayed beside the now sleeping Curtis as Kate followed them to the reception.

"Jack?" She asked slowly. "Jack, please, don't-" She was holding his arm tightly. She looked around them, expecting Kaia to come jumping out from behind one of them "Jack, where is she?" She asked quietly, fearfully. She looked at Locke, Sayid, even her father, but none of them would look her in the eye.

"Can I borrow your phone?" Jack asked the receptionist. She placed the handset on the counter.

"Didn't you find her?" Kate asked increduloudly. Jack didn't answer, and she began to cry, tears streaming down her face. Jack dialled a number, and Kate watched as he lifted the handset to his ear. "Jack..." She pleaded, one last time before the person on the other side of the phone answered. She couldn't hear the greeting of who he had called, even though she was less than an inch from him, her pleading eyes tear-ridden. She would never forget the words that left his mouth that night.

"Hello? Yes, my name's Jack Shephard...I'd like to report a missing child."

A/N: Please don't hate me!Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me! Please don't hate me!