Thanks for the reviews. All I'm going to say is that either I'm a better writer than I thought, or you guys are freakily intuitive. Or both.

Since there wasn't a lot of Jate interaction in the last few chapters, I've given you plenty of it here, although I'm pretty sure you'll be disappointed with the ending. (A little hint: Kate was too.) I will pay that off later though. The last two chapters may have been a little slow, but they were important, building up to the climax, where Jack will help Kate, and himself. He needs the closure just as much as she does, in order to forgive himself for not being able to save her before. I know I promised Sawyer, but I've bumped that back to chapter 18.

Read and please review. I'm hoping to beat the 61 reviews I got on my last fic. If you're feeling lazy, and can't be bothered reviewing after each chapter, please, please, please, drop me a line at the end, and tell me what you thought of the fic as a whole. I might even write another one then, although I really need to get back to my original stuff. I'm writing a superhero novel, which sounds odd, but if you've seen Heroes, I imagine it's like that. (I started it in 2003 though, and I haven't seen Heroes yet. We don't get it here until February. A friend of mine gave me a downloaded copy of the first eleven episodes, but I can't get it work on my computer.)

Chapter 17. We Should Do Something

Jack was feeling pretty pleased with himself when he walked into the diner an hour later. Kate was wiping over the counter, but she noticed his smile right away as he climbed onto a stool in front of her.

"What are you looking so smug about?" she asked, returning his grin, though she had no idea what had caused it.

Jack was pretty sure that if she did, her happiness would falter, threatening to turn into one of her black moods, so he kept his answer vague, telling her that it was a surprise.

She didn't say anything more, but her smile grew a little wider as she contemplated this. Putting down her cloth, she poured him a cup of coffee like she always did on his arrival, resuming her cleaning with a thoughtful expression.

A companionable silence fell over them as Jack watched her, sipping his drink, until she stopped again, looked up at him, and said, "I was thinking – maybe we could do something tonight." She must have realised how vague this sounded, because she added quickly, "Something different."

Her voice was so casual, and they'd spent so much time together lately that Jack didn't think anything of it as he suggested, "Like go to a movie?"

"Yeah." She grinned at the counter top as she wiped away a spot of ketchup, and Jack wondered if there was something he was missing here. It wasn't like they hadn't been to the movies together before.

"Sure. Why not?" he agreed.

She looked up at him again as she added, "I get off at seven, so maybe some time after that?"

Again, Jack agreed, not really giving her invitation much thought until she went into the kitchen to get the salt, and a disconcerting thought hit him.

"Wait," he said as she began to fill the saltshakers, looking pretty smug herself now. It was probably ridiculous, just him reading too much into things, but he couldn't help asking, "When you said you wanted to do something, did you mean like a date?"

Her smile vanished as she met his eyes again, confused, and maybe a little embarrassed. "Why? Is that a bad thing?"

Jack couldn't help noticing that her tone was a little defensive. After all, she'd just put herself out there. She probably didn't like the implication that he was shooting her down.

Not that she had anything to worry about.

"No," he said, a slow smile spreading over his face, though he was suddenly nervous around her for the first time in days.

It really wasn't.

Jack left the diner at six, so that he could shower and change his clothes, and still be back in time to pick Kate up at seven. Of course, then they had to return to the motel again so that she could wash the smell of coffee and burger grease off of her, but he didn't mind, especially since he still wasn't too fond of the idea of her walking home alone while James was still roaming the streets.

It had been a few days since he'd shaved, being on leave, but he did that now as an afterthought, while he waited for Kate to finish up in the bathroom. She came out as he was stowing the electric razor back in his luggage, still wearing jeans and a tank top as usual, but her hair was loose, her damp curls falling past her shoulders, and he could see the faintest trace of make up highlighting her already, in his opinion, gorgeous features. She smelled different too; he wasn't sure if was perfume, or just the shampoo she'd used, but whatever, it was, it was amazing, sending his heart racing.

"You look nice," he said, downplaying his reaction, but she seemed to get the message, because she smiled happily as she returned the compliment. "So do you."

She sized him up, looking impressed as she added, "You shaved."

Jack's heart sped up a little faster as she took a step towards him, reaching up to her run her fingers over his smooth jaw, her touch sending a thrill of electricity through him.

She must have felt it too, because her eyes locked on his, her face turned up, mouth only inches away, like she was waiting for him to kiss her. He could have moved in, but he wasn't sure enough that that was what she wanted, so he waited for her to move first.

When nothing happened, she turned away from him, saying, "We should go."

Confused and disappointed, Jack followed her out of the room, locking the door behind them. Even though the signs were there, he was still afraid to touch her, in case it ruined everything he'd worked so hard to build. She'd asked him out, it was true, but until he was sure what that invitation covered, he would have to keep waiting, unless she acted first.