Title: Unpredictable
Rating: 14A for graphic scenes and content.
Summary: In the alternate universe, Jack and Kate aren't supposed to remember each other. But they are starting to. Maybe this is more than just a coincidence, maybe it's their second chance.
Disclaimer: I don't own the show Lost, nor the song at the beginning of the chapter.
A/N: I got this idea after watching Lost last night, so beware of SPOILERS for all season 6 episodes. And this fic will be spilt into two parts, the second chapter which I will try to upload tomorrow. Also, this fic is strictly Jate - except for a bit of Sawyer at the beginning, with no Skate - for anyone who's been wishing we get to see more Jate on the show.

My inspiration for this chapter was Drops of Jupiter by Train. I must have listened to it at least twenty times while writing this. So anyway, here it is. If you like it, please let me know. I love reviews - they make my day. Thanks. :)


Chapter 1: A Chance Meeting

Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star?
One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were
Looking for yourself out there?

People were unpredictable; their lives were never a straight path with all their successes and failures lined up in a neat row. Jack knew that, was used to being surprised by the actions of humankind. But never before had he been so affected by the decision of one person.

The day had seemed relatively normal, holding no sign of what was to come. But as soon as he saw Desmond standing at the front desk, Jack knew things were about to get a lot stranger.

He was confused when the Scottish man said someone from their flight was in the hospital, and for a moment his mind turned to thoughts of the mysterious brunette woman on the plane. Then he saw Desmond's mouth open in shock and he turned, just a second too late, to see what he was looking at.

Suddenly a man with cropped blonde hair, the same man who'd been choking on heroin on the plane, came racing down the hall, shoving a medical tray out of his way.

Jack saw the object come flying at him but he didn't have time to react. The cart hit him straight in the chest, knocking him down. His head cracked against the floor and, before everything went black, he saw Desmond chasing the hospital patient out to the stairwell.

"Charlie," he mumbled, then his vision faded altogether.


A light, far away in the distance but steadily getting brighter. That was all he could see and, while he was certain he had somewhere more important to be, he was content to float there. His body wasn't physically present but his mind was experiencing the wonderful sensation of the light all the same.

It's not so bad, he thought to himself. In fact, it was quite remarkable how at ease he felt in this strange environment. Must be a dream. The realization hit him hard and he found himself longing for this moment to be real.

Suddenly a blinding flash lit up the darkness, so bright it hurt to look at. Then an image appeared within the dazzling light. As it came closer, growing more in focus as it did so, he knew without a doubt what it was.

A person, with long wavy hair and a secretive smile. She was looking at him in a way that filled him with a rush of longing unlike any he had ever felt before. It was incredible.

Staring into her deep green eyes, he began to lose himself in their gaze. He wanted to be as near to her as possible, but she was fading from view instead of growing closer. That was when he heard a voice calling his name. It sounded distant and far away, and he wished he could ignore it.

But, being the doctor he was, he immediately heard the sense of urgency in the cry. So he struggled to surface from the darkness, fighting against the overwhelming feeling that he belonged there. That this, this place and this woman, was his destiny.

As reality hit him and he opened his eyes, he immediately understood why the woman from his dream had seemed so familiar. She was the brunette from the plane. And, as he blinked and glanced up to see a face covered in freckles staring down at him, the first word out of his mouth was, "Kate."


She felt the impact as the metal bars slammed into her back. The man with long blonde hair who slammed her against the gate was clearly a cop. But there was something about him, some strange sense of recognition, that put her at ease.

Snap out of it, Kate, she commanded herself. She didn't know this guy, and the last thing she needed right now was to be brought to the attention of the police. If he knew what she had done, then no matter how familiar he seemed, he sure wouldn't go easy on her.

"Son of a bitch," he said in a Southern accent, one she could have sworn she'd heard a thousand times before. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded. She didn't answer and her silence infuriated him.

Gripping her wrists tightly, he repeated his question, making each word a separate sentence. "Who. Are. You?"

"Julie," she lied, having to come up with a fake name quickly. She could see by the smirk on his face that he didn't believe her.

"How 'bout we try this again?" he asked seriously, his voice taking on a dangerous edge to it. "What's your name? And tell me the truth this time."

Kate kept her mouth shut. She wasn't about to screw up everything she had gone through to escape so far, just because this stranger was giving her an odd feeling of something similar to déjà vu. So what if he was a cop? She'd outsmarted the police force before.

But this was different. She knew it and she could see that he knew it too. And it frustrated him, so he held her tighter. She could feel her wrists beginning to bruise from his forceful grasp, though she refused to let him see how much pain she was in.

She'd endured worse, that was for sure. And she drew on that knowledge, allowed it to make her stronger. Kate stared straight ahead, her face a mask that was keeping her true emotions hidden.

But he wasn't giving in either and eventually she gasped in pain, feeling as though something in her wrist was about to snap.

"Sawyer, please," she begged, praying he would release her. Where did that come from? she wondered, having no idea what the name 'Sawyer' meant.

Instead of making him calmer because she had shown weakness, her words only made him madder. She saw the anger that filled his eyes and, behind it, the same confusion that she knew was present on her own face right now.

"What did you just say?" he asked, his voice low and murderous. "What. Did. You. Say?" He grabbed her arms and shook her fiercely. She squeaked in terror as he smashed her against the hard metal behind her once more.

"Where did you hear that name? Were you listening to what I said in that car? Who the hell are you?"

Before he could continue to interrogate her, another man came racing down the alley. The blonde man's partner, Kate presumed. This new observer took one look at the scene in front of him before quickly moving to pry the first man away from her.

"Jim! What are you doing? Let her go!" But Jim pushed him away.

"She called me Sawyer," he grumbled and the other man looked at Kate with a different expression. It was no longer pity, now he was eyeing her suspiciously. The name obviously meant something to both of them, but she had no idea why.

Suddenly Jim pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Kate began to twist and turn, trying to get away from him. There was no way she was letting someone put those on her again.

He was much stronger than she was, though, and he managed to snap one on her wrist after a few moments. As soon as the cool metal touched her skin, she fought harder. "No!" she screamed in terror. It was not going to end this way.

He kept one hand on her arm, the other reaching out to her unhooked wrist. But one well placed kick made him groan in agony and let her go. It was only for a split second, but that was all she needed. Taking off as soon as his hand left her arm, Kate ran as fast as she could.

Hearing Jim and his partner curse and race after her, she quickened her pace. All she needed was to get out of this alley, then she could lose them on the crowded sidewalks.

Please, she thought desperately. I need to get out of here. She wasn't sure who she was praying to, but when she reached the mouth of the passage, she sighed in relief.

Then she felt hot breath on the back of her neck and she panicked. Stepping out into the street, she knew it was too late to turn back, even when the cars came rushing at her. She could see them moving closer, hear the horns honking as she continued to race forward.

Most of the vehicles screeched to a stop, shouting at her angrily. But one car was going too fast to stop in time. The driver honked at her urgently, warning her to move out of the way. Kate tried to speed up but her feet wouldn't move fast enough and she braced herself before the impact came.

She felt when the car connected with her, the blow sending her flying backward onto the rough asphalt. Her elbow hit the ground first and she screamed in pain when she heard something crack. Then the rest of her body fell onto the road as well and she skidded for a moment until gravity finally pulled her to a stop.

All she could hear was the sound of her own breathing, heavy as she tried to take in enough oxygen. The pain was excruciating, but she knew that she was hardly feeling any of it. Already her senses were shutting down and she felt herself becoming numb. Not fast enough, though.

She lay there, unable to move for what felt like hours but, in reality was only seconds. Then unconsciousness finally claimed her. And when it did, there was no feeling of relief, no escape from the agony.

Her ears were still filled with the sound of her skin scraping along the pavement. And even though she felt no pain, her dreams kept reminding her how bad it would be when she woke up.

The only good thing about passing out was the mysterious man who appeared in her mind. She only caught a fleeting glimpse of him, but it was enough. She took in the short brown hair and serious expression, wanting to reach out and be near him. Then he was gone and her subconscious finally let her rest in peace, everything fading to black as soon as the mysterious man disappeared.

Thankful for the relief of nothingness, Kate sunk into a deep and dreamless sleep.


"Jack?" the woman with the freckles asked. "I'm not Kate. I'm Kelly, don't you remember me?" It took him a moment to realize that the woman in front of him looked nothing like the woman from the plane.

"Where's Kate?" he asked slowly. His brain was fuzzy and it took him a while to connect the name with the face. It didn't make any sense, but he knew Kate was the brunette he'd bumped into on the plane.

Kelly, now he remembered she was a part-time nurse working at St. Sebastian's, stared at him strangely. "Who's Kate?"

"I...don't know." He was beginning to hear how ridiculous he sounded, so he didn't say anything else. "I should get back to work." Jack said, sitting up dizzily. He noticed he was lying on a hospital bed and he wondered how he had gotten there.

She eyed him doubtfully when he tried to stand up and swayed slightly. "Are you sure you're okay? I think you should lie back down for a bit," she suggested. He shrugged off her concern, there were more important things to worry about.

"How long was I out?" he asked, hoping he hadn't wasted too much time in unconsciousness.

"Ten or fifteen minutes, I guess. Marc helped bring you in here. We were really worried, you know." Jack sighed. He was supposed to be at a consult twenty minutes ago and he'd already been late before getting hit by that damn cart.

But he didn't want to seem ungrateful, so he flashed her a smile as he walked out of the room. "Well thanks for keeping an eye on me." Kelly smiled in return and Jack got a feeling that she hadn't stayed by her side just to be friendly.

Shaking off the thought, Jack focused his mind on the task ahead. Then, as he stood in the hallway, trying to think about what he was supposed to do now, he saw a stretcher being wheeled down to the operation room. The patient was covered in blood, but when he looked past the red liquid he could see that the person lying on the stretcher was a woman.

Then his heart began to beat faster when he recognized her. Frizzy brown hair matted with blood framed her face, which was oddly unexpressive, because she was unconscious. Kate, he knew with absolute certainty that it was her.

"What happened?" he asked one of the EMTs wheeling her in. Keeping pace with the stretcher, he couldn't seem to take his eyes off her face.

"She was hit by a car a few minutes ago." Then he leaned closer, lowering his voice. "But I think she was running from someone, take a look at her wrist." Jack turned his gaze away from Kate's face and was startled to see the silver chain of a handcuff hanging from one of her wrists.

"She's probably got some broken bones and her elbow wasn't looking so good," the EMT continued. He shook his head sympathetically. "Poor thing."

"Do you know who the operating doctor is?" Jack asked, his concern growing, even though he barely knew this woman.

"Nope, I was just told to wheel her in. I'm still on duty, so I have to get back soon. And hey, since you're here, can you take her the rest of the way? We just got another call down on Fourth and Main, so I really gotta go. Thanks man," he said, passing the stretcher to Jack without waiting for a reply. Then he turned and ran back down the hall, leaving Jack in an empty corridor with Kate.

He was strangely reluctant to be so close to her, even though she wasn't awake. And he was overcome with a strong need to protect her. But now that the two were alone together, the feeling was unnerving.

Though as he looked down at her face once more, brushing a loose strand of hair off her forehead, he felt his spirits soar at their chance meeting. And suddenly he was positive that she was the one he'd been searching for, even though he hadn't known he'd been searching in the first place.

So he continued wheeling her forward, determined to do whatever it took to fix her up.


TBC...

Up next: Kate wakes up and is in for the shock of her life.

And I am still updating Remembering as well. But since I have to finish this first, the next chapter for Remembering may not be updated until some time later this weekend. :)