A/N: This one's a little short and a little sappy, sorry (unless you like the sappy, and c'mon, who are we kidding, it's fan fiction of course you do!) More angst and plot to come in future installments.

Matt asked why they couldn't wait, the boats were going to come soon and he wanted to see. Emma insisted that Kate put a flower in her hair, and had to find the perfect one: enormous and white, with pale gold motes like the footprints of bees.

Eko was already in the church, praying. He was not surprised to see them. "It is a day for great changes," he said, and asked the children to sit down in the front row. Matt put his chin on his knees and gazed up at them wide-eyed, and Will crossed his arms on his chest and pretended not to pay attention. Emma refused to sit; she wanted to be a flower girl, which she was convinced meant dancing along with the ceremony.

They skipped the walking down the aisle bit: no one to give her away. In a sense, Wayne had already walked her down that aisle, by bringing her here. His one fatherly deed, post-insemination.

"Can we – I'd like to say my own vows," Jack said, before Eko could begin.

"Of course. Kate?"

"I didn't have time to—"

"It doesn't matter," Jack assured her. "You don't have to—"

"No, I will. Say my own vows, I mean." She couldn't let Jack one-up her, not now. He smiled as if he knew what was going through her head, and she smiled back, ruefully.

She didn't pay much attention to the rote ceremony parts. She watched Jack, who was watching her right back. It would have been easier to just say to him, I am not going to run away, but he wouldn't have believed that. He never had before, no matter what she said or did. Maybe this would be enough for him. Or maybe nothing would ever be enough for him, short of her walking voluntarily into a cell. She had to try this, first.

"We don't have rings," Jack said, when it came to that part.

"Just pretend," Kate said, holding out her hand.

He took it, lightly touching her ring finger, and turned her hand palm up. After a second he looked up at her, his dark eyes wide and soulful, and she could feel him getting to her, all of his emotion tunneling right beneath her skin. "It's just us here," he began, "so I'm not going to try to make this pretty. That's… not my strong point." Her lips quirked, and he went on. "I want to start by saying that I'm sorry, for what I said earlier. Maybe this isn't the place—" he glanced at Eko "—but it should be said, before…"

She nodded, acknowledging the apology. He nodded back and then took a deep breath, continuing. "I have — had, I hope — a habit of driving people away, and only realizing it after they're too far gone to bring back. And I don't want that to happen with you." He paused, grimacing slightly as he tried to force the words, "That's not… it's not 'not wanting.' It's… fear. I can't lose you. So today, and at other times in the past, when I began to feel maybe you were starting to slip away from me, I overreacted. I was so scared that I would unintentionally push you away, or even just let you go without doing everything I could to stop you, that I tried to hold on too tight, or tried to blame you, make it about you and not about me. But it's about me. And about the fact that I… need you. I need you."

He looked down, and Kate's hand tightened in his, forcing his eyes back up. He needed to look at her when saying this, and she needed him to be looking at her. His eyes were glossy with unacknowledged emotion, the same that she felt swelling in her throat. He always broke right into her, even when he couldn't break into himself.

Their eyes held for a long moment, and then he kept going, his voice faltering over the first syllables. "I love you, Kate. And I don't know what's going to happen, but whatever it is, it's going to happen to both of us. Whatever you did, whatever choices you made, they are my choices too. They're part of you, and you are part of me. So wherever we go, whatever you need to do, I will be there at your side, if you let me. I don't want to lock you up, or control you. I just want to be there." She closed her eyes, because it was too much, and missed the smile he forced through his tears as he said, "And that includes the…law, and it includes grandchildren, and, and who gets to hold the remote control." She laughed, a startled burble, and opened her eyes again. He was still looking at her. "See, I have a sense of humor," he said.

"No, you don't," she whispered, shaking her head.

He carefully wiped the tears off of her cheeks and said, "Yes, I do," very seriously. She nodded, holding down the noise growing inside her chest. She nodded, and wiped her cheeks again, licked her salty lips.

"Kate?" Eko said, turning to look at her.

She sucked in a breath, and looked back at Jack. "You made me cry," she whispered.

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. Because you don't usually make me cry. You're… you're a good guy. You're pretty much the first good guy I have ever…" She shook her head, and after a moment she said, "Sometimes I think you are too good. And I am not good enough. I have done a lot of things I regret, and other things I don't regret, but that I probably should. I think, maybe it's unfair to ask you to take those things on, to take me on. And that part of me that thinks that, thinks that it might be better if I made it a clean break — if I protected you, by removing myself from the picture." His hand tightened around hers, and she shook her head. "But I've never been able to do that. And I won't do it. Because the truth is, we are both screwed up, in different ways. And we pull each other up and pull each other down. And I think we do okay. We've made some good things together." They both looked at the children, and smiled. Emma had sat down next to her brothers, and was looking sleepy: too much talking, too many big words. Will had shed his oldest-brother-tough-guise and was chewing on the collar of his shirt. Matt was still and silent, his eyes flickering from parent to parent, taking everything in. She hoped they didn't understand all of this, for their sakes.

"We have," Jack agreed.

"My point is, I'm not going anywhere. Being here, on the island, with you, and our children, is the first time in my life that I have been… really happy." This startled them both; they looked at each other with wonder that this should be true.

"I need you to trust me, and trust that, and know that I am incapable of running, and I am incapable of being the person I used to be. You have gotten inside my head, and made me someone else. Maybe you taught me to — what was it? Count to five? Because I am scared, I am really scared, but I'm not running. I am going to stay with you, until they pull me—" She choked on the words, and he caught her face in his hands, holding her steady. She opened her diaphragm, breathed. He was crying again, or she was. "Trust me."

"I do," he said.

"You skipped ahead," Eko chided very gently. Kate smiled, wiped her eyes, and Jack blinked the tears off his eyelashes.

"Let's do this right then," Jack said. "If you're done?"

"I don't know, what are vows supposed to be?" Kate asked lightly. "Did I mention that I love you? I think I forgot that part."

"I know."

Her hands tightened around his and then she turned to Eko and nodded, once.

"Do you, Jack Shepard, take this woman, Katherine Austen, to be your wedded wife before the eyes of God, and your children?"

"I do," Jack repeated, firmly.

"Do you, Katherine Austen, take this man to be your wedded husband before the eyes of God, and your children?"

No going back from here. Kate pictured Sawyer's hair falling into his eyes, and Tom's airplane, and Jack kissing her rounded stomach, and the ship coming to take them all away. "I do," she said.

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride." Eko was smiling, gently, so sure that he had done well in this. Kate wondered if he had heard what they said at all, how anyone could think this was a good idea. Except it was the best idea she ever had.

They were married. She tilted her head up for a kiss, for his salt sand taste and the scrape of his stubble on her upper lip, for his doctor's hands on the flat of her back, so sure.

They were looking for a plant, when Kate realized she was in love with Jack. She had known that there were feelings for a long time. There had been a kiss, and a lot of looks: sexual tension running rampant. But love was not a word she had ever allowed in before. Sun was having a hard time, then, in her final month of pregnancy, and Kate had volunteered to go with Jack to look for a plant that Sun and Jack agreed might help keep her calm and still and the baby safe inside. They looked all morning, and stopped for lunch in a clearing on the side of the hill, eating overripe mangos.

They were talking about Hawaiian pizza — who really liked pineapple on pizza? — but Jack was distracted, worried about Sun, anxious to find the plant and get back to the beach. Kate said something about how they could understand, now, why people made up strange food combinations. She was licking mango juice off her fingers, and Jack glanced over at her and said, "Yeah," obviously not listening, and then he did a double take, just a small one, a little shake of his head, and looked at her, just looked at her.

It was a ridiculous moment; he managed to be concerned about a patient and a friend, a little baffled by the conversation, and simultaneously looking at her as if she was some kind of sex goddess, while she sat there dirty and sticky with sweat, talking about pizza and making a mess. And that was when she knew she loved him. She loved that he looked at her like that, and she loved that he was so worried about his patient that he wasn't paying attention to their beautiful surroundings, or what they were eating, or what they were talking about, but he had enough of himself left to stop and look at her. And she loved him for no reason at all, just because she did.

The moment passed, and it took her three days to muster up the courage to duck into his tent one night, and whisper his name into the dark, and let herself be taken in by him. That was a good night, though it was not a good morning, after, because Sawyer saw her coming out, and turned angry, and drove all of them far, far away, and she knew that was her fault. But she hadn't meant it like that. It wasn't that she made a choice for forever, it was just that she was sure about Jack, in that moment, and she was never sure about Sawyer. And she couldn't ever take that moment back. But choices worked like that, she'd found. You didn't even know they were made until someone else's life changed, or disappeared, and then it was too late.

Will had run ahead and spread the news by the time Jack and Kate arrived on the beach, hand in hand. Everyone was gathered, waiting, and a few shouts of, "Mom and Dad got married!" sent the whole crowd into a tizzy. They were surrounded instantly, with hugs and exclamations and why-didn't-you-tell-mes. Emma, who had begged a ride on Jack's shoulders, clung to his head and said, "Oh my goodness!" and almost gouged his eyes out accidentally before someone kindly lifted her down. Everyone said how happy they were, and kissed Kate on the cheek, and shook their heads in amazement. She couldn't see Sawyer in the crowd, or beyond, to the water.

"Cake!" someone cried, and Claire pressed a mango into Kate's hand and said, "Best we can do on short notice." Kate smiled, and was turned by multiple pairs of hands, until she held the fruit up to Jack's mouth and made him take a bite. Juice ran down his chin and she kissed it away, remembering the clearing. She licked her fingers, and watched his eyes light.

"You have to have a first dance! Charlie, go on!" Guitar chords were stuck. The strings were thin now, several had been repaired and the sound was imperfect, but it was music, which was rare enough these days. Kate didn't recognize the chords until Jack had grabbed her around the waste and someone started to sing along: Love, love, love, love, love, love.

Locke was holding Emma and dancing, which made Kate blink, and Claire touched Charlie's head as it bent over his guitar, and Bernard slipped a hand around Rose's waist. They danced. Nothing you can do that can't be done, Nothing you can sing that can't be sung. Charlie's husky voice carried over the hushed crowd. Other voices hummed, sang the words they knew and mumbled the rest. Jack held one hand in his and slipped his other arm around her waist, like an expert. Caught off guard, she swayed with him on the sand.

Nothing you can save that can't be saved, Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be in time, It's easy. Charlie provided the horn too, singing dun duh dun dun duh dun. All you need is love! Everyone joined in on cue. All you need is love. All together now! Kate laughed, in amazement, and looked up at her husband, who was smiling.

"Ready for this?" he murmured. Kate's brow creased, and before she knew it he was dipping her down, one arm strong behind her back. She shrieked, and laughed, and he pulled her back to her feet, spinning her around. All you need is love, love, love is all you need. She put both arms around his neck, anchoring herself against his fancy moves. His hands pressed against her back and he dipped his head. Their foreheads brushed, his eyes too close to see clearly. The little voice in her head whispered, this is a joke, you know that love is not enough, this is a fairy tale and you're about to wake up. She hushed the voice, and danced with her husband.

Everyone else had started dancing too. Hurley twirled Hea around in stately circles. Jin and Sun swayed together. Voices lifted. Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be, It's easy.

"Excuse me? Excuse me?!"

The music stopped, abruptly. Frozen in mid twirl, all heads turned to the water. The first rescue boat had pulled up on shore, while no one was watching. A man in a shiny white cruise ship crew uniform with gold epaulets was standing on the beach, staring at them as if he wasn't sure if he was insane, or if they were. He had very neatly trimmed brown hair and a white cap. No stubble. Into the silence he said, in English, "We saw the fire. We thought you might need help."

Kate was frozen, numb. She stayed in the circle of Jack's arms and hoped if she didn't move, they could all go back thirty seconds in time, and stay there. Someone — Claire — started to laugh, a strange and overwrought laugh. Kate turned in time to see her sit down on the sand, and Charlie put aside the guitar to ask if she was okay. Her laughter degraded until it might have been sobbing. Sarah hovered nearby, staring at her mother with frightened eyes. Kate felt a pressure against her leg: Matt, letting go of his pride for a moment, clinging. She threaded a hand into his hair.

Jack let go of her. Kate hated him for that. He stepped forward, through the lost, silent crowd and said, "We do. We do need help."