Note: Hey i'm so sorry this is ridiculously late, but i've had exams, then sorting out college for next year and then starting a new job and i wrote this a while back but i haven't had enough time, so many many apologies! And sorry if it seems a little repetitive but i promise answers will be given in the next chapters :) Thanks for all your amazing comments, i feel so blessed :)

Kate opened her eyes to a blur of white. She found it impossible to focus and just turned and tried to close her eyes again. What… wasn't she in the jungle? Did she go but decide not to? She sighed and let her eyelids close on her.

'Kate…' A voice called out to her. Female. A voice she didn't trust.

'Kate, now is not an appropriate time to sleep.'

She turned back and looked up, she could make out a mass of blonde and it only confirmed it for her.

She was in Jack and Juliet's tent.

'How is your sight?'

How did she know that was bothering her? 'Blurry… and my head hurts.'

'That's what happens when you go out in the jungle on your own and hit your head.'

Kate made a small attempt to sit up and lean against the side of the tent. She wiped her hands across her face and yawed.

'How did i?... How long have I been out?'

'About a day or so…. You probably have concussion; it will explain the headaches and the blurry vision.' It cleared a little as she looked down at Juliet, fiddling with a suitcase… Why did Juliet have a suitcase? She wasn't on the plane.

'You'll probably get a hint of nausea and confusion also.'

Confusion? What the hell was she talking about? She'd fallen off enough trees in her time, hit her head on a few stairs…. Confusion was not a symptom of concussion from something like this.

She nodded, despite the awareness of the fact Juliet was lying through her teeth. She looked around for a sign of… she didn't even know what she was looking for; and this wasn't Juliet's damned 'confusion' setting in. She crawled across the tent to the entrance and tried to get up from the floor.

'Kate… it's best if you stay…'

'I'm not staying here.' She replied adamantly, despite the fact she probably won't make it to the other side of the beach to her tent. As rose to her feet, promptly swaying, she felt arms catch her; and they were far too muscled to be female.

Far too familiar…

'I'll take her back.' She heard Jack's speak from behind her, his breath tingling in her ear. She opened her mouth to protest, but felt she could provide no argument, and neither could Juliet.

'What's the last thing you remember Kate?'

'I've already had a check-up thank you Jack' She couldn't help but glare a little at the blonde woman in front of her, and try to get up herself. This time she managed to make it to the door, before collapsing back onto Jack awkwardly, yet almost as if it came naturally as he picked her up 'bridal style' as a friend of her's used to call it. Tom.

She didn't like the reawakening of these memories, the pouch of secrets sewn in her mind that were bursting at the seams. It was like Jack had a talent to pick apart the stitches and let it all out. She placed her head against his chest, unintentionally listening to his heart. She couldn't remember the last time they had been this close. Had they ever been this close?

'I remember… walking into the jungle.' She found herself reply to the question she had already dismissed. 'With a umm… a gun, but I can't remember why.' She groaned a little and buried her head further into his chest, not missing the way he seemed to be restrained more and more as the journey to her tent drew further on.

'Hurley thinks you might have heard something in the jungle. You were the only one not at the meeting, so….' He seemed to leave the ending open, trying to anticipate her answer. He clearly knew she didn't have one.

'Okay.'

'KATE!' She heard the delighted voice of Hurley, and she looked out to see him bounding toward her, Vincent giving him a run for his money.

'I heard about the fall…' He stopped briefly, taking a deep breath, and reaching for some water in his bag. 'You okay dude?'

'I'm fine.' She smiled, making it as genuine as possible. Hurley obviously had come to know her well, sharing a look that she labelled, spit it out already.

'Really, Hurley. I'm fine.'

He seemed to accept this, though she could tell she would get a grilling later, at dinner.

'Usual time and place?' He chuckled, taking a drink of his water. She nodded in reply, and he moved in to them

'Y'know I could take her…'

She could feel Jack shaking his head above her, his stubble catching the side of her face, tickling irritatingly yet she didn't mind.

'No I need to get her back, check her for concussion, fever…'

Kate was about to interrupt, suspicion aroused when Jack quite clearly knew Juliet had done that already.

'Whatever dude.' Hurley replied, seemingly unimpressed over the attention Jack was suddenly giving her. He picked up his bag and headed over to Charlie and Claire. She caught Sawyer's gaze as he drifted past, but the look slowly disappeared, and so did he, to his tent. She couldn't help but look back at Hurley.

He had a very good point.

Why was he giving her attention? He hadn't spoken to her in…. weeks? She couldn't remember, just his voice, his manner, even his laugh that was seldom heard, slowly fading from her memory; just another face in the little pouch of memories.

As they reached the tent, Jack let her carefully fall from his grip, but kept a tight hold on her waist as he guided her into the tent. She held tightly to his shirt as she slowly rested herself on the floor, Jack moving over across the tent to get her airline pillow, then placing his hand underneath her head, grazing her cheek delicately, and lifting her slightly to put the sandy pillow under her head.

'Keep your head elevated.' He told her, and immediately a frown appeared on her face.

'What?' He asked, seemingly cautious.

'Deja-vu.' Kate laughed unsettled, that felt very familiar.

As she adjusted to a comfortable position, she couldn't help but note Jack's demeanour. Quiet and almost haunted, his back arched and a permanent frown attached to his face. His hands, fumbling incessantly as if he was trying to clean something off, the sweat beads trickling down his features; she blamed this on the heat, and the task of carrying her across the beach.

'I know you didn't let me go because you wanted to check my condition.' He didn't look up to her, gazed fixated on the ground, he continuously shifted around, finding an itch above his eyebrow, the back of his head… classic signs of a liar.

Or a guilty conscience.

'So what are you hiding Jack? Or what is Juliet hiding?' She yawned, but had no intention of letting sleep claim her. They were alone. They needed to talk, and he wasn't getting out of it for some ridiculous fall in the jungle.

'There's nothing…' He stopped, swallowing, running his hand through his hair. 'You can't just…'

She continued to keep her gaze on him, waiting for complete answer.

'I need some water.'

No. He wasn't getting out of this.

'Jack!' She warned, but as he got up and made for the exit, she found herself getting up too, despite the visible warning signs her body was giving her.

'I'm not letting you walk out on this! You don't get to walk out of this Jack.'

He turned back, his glare matching her's.

'There's nothing you need to know.'

'You're lying. AGAIN. Why are you lying?' She knew she wasn't one to talk, but Jack… he wasn't the type, unless there was a strong reason behind it.

'Because I have to Kate.'

She frowned harder, both at the question, and the tunnel vision she was fighting against. The shell of Jack Shephard standing in front of her still needed confronting.

'Why are you protecting her?' He looked away again, the darkened gaze meeting pale sand, as if the grains provided his answers.

'Because… I brought her here. I trust her, and I'll look after her.'

'That's not what I'm asking Jack.'

'I'm not protecting her.' He paused, obviously catching her with her head in her hands. 'I'm protecting…' He stopped, looking behind him.

The last thing she saw as the world slowly darkened was the silhouette of Juliet standing behind him. Something didn't fit.

----------

'Does she remember?' Juliet asked him, from behind, catching him unawares. He seemed to turn back just in time to see Kate hit the ground.

'Kate!' He launched forward and placed his head against her clammy forehead.

'The side effects aren't good.' Juliet admitted, still shadowing him in the background.

His hand traced her jawline unintentionally, he told himself, as he checked her glands.

'Her glands are fine, but her temperature's almost feverous.'

'And she'll stay that way.'

Jack jumped up and stood straight in front of Juliet. She wasn't getting away with this. He kept his side of the bargain. His sacrifice; now she has to do the same.

'Give it to me now.'

Juliet bit her lip and stared, only antagonising him further.

'I said GIVE IT TO ME!'

She shook her head and almost left, but Jack sharp reactions caused him to grab her by the shoulders and spin her around.

'She doesn't remember anything. No pills, no trek into the jungle with the gun, nothing.'

He span off desperately, trying to pry what he needed from her.

'What did you tell her?'

Jack hesitated, what he had said out there was a step too far into his business for Juliet. He and Kate were separate. Kate was separate…

'Did you tell her about everyone…'

'No.' He cut in firmly, his grip tighter on her shoulders, wandering what had possessed this woman to be so manipulative. The mask well and truly washed away to him when he told her that there was no future for them. But still the mask was dead perfect when addressing the rest of the group.

'I don't have much left Jack.'

'And what happens when it's gone?'

Juliet looked over his shoulder, to what he could only assume was at the sleeping form of Kate.

'Then she dies.'