A/N: Hey everyone! I got a lot of questions in reviews for last chapter, so since most of them were from anonymous reviewers that I couldn't respond to, I thought I'd take the time to answer them now. The main thing that seemed to be a point of confusion was with the Others. To start off here, I have to admit that I kinda intended for you guys to be a little confused and in the dark about the Others in my fic. I promise, I've got a plan for them and it'll all come together by the end of the sequel.

Also, the main thing is that the Others in my fic are not intended to be the ones from the show. I came up with the idea for what I was going to do with them early on in season 2, so I really had no idea where the show was going with it. So yes, they are very different from the show, so don't expect them to be the same.

Anyway, thanks for reading my fic and I hope you enjoy this new chapter. I really hope I cleared up some of the confusion!

Disclaimer: I still don't own it…


All The Right Reasons

Chapter 10: Only The Beginning

Kate had never been fond of darkness. There was that endless quality to it, the infinite expanse of nothing. It had always bothered Kate, though she never knew a real reason why. When she would lay in bed at night as a little girl, Kate would always leave her bedroom door open just a crack so that the light from the hall would leak in. She just couldn't stand the pitch blackness.

If she reasoned with herself, took a moment to really rationalize her thoughts, then she would admit that somehow, she was afraid of the darkness. He had come for her in the darkness. The man with the beard. DeGroot. The name felt like a burn, searing her from within. It had always been dark in the cell when he came for her. And then the light. There was always the light. When the door to the cell would slide open with a menacing creak, a blinding mass of whiteness would take hold of the room, blasting the cement walls with splashes of light. But it was always dark where he took her. Where he hurt her.

Everyday, the lights would go out in the cell and Kate's body would fall into a never ending fit of shivers. Even now, as she lay securely in the circle of Jack's arms, his warm breath tickling her neck, she shook ever so slightly in fear. Because after the darkness he always came.

And as the name passed through her mind, inwardly torturing her, taunting her, Kate could grasp only one thought. Jack could never know. No matter what happened to them, or what happened to her, Kate could never put him through that. And what would he think if he knew, Katherine, a part of her goaded. And the ever present part of her, the part that left her feeling degraded and alone, was where her answer came from. He would be disgusted. Betrayed. And then he would know her for what she was. For what she really was. And he would regret what he had sacrificed to come after her.

Shifting uncomfortably in his embrace, Kate shook away such thoughts, unable to face the reality of it just now. It wasn't fair and she knew it. And she couldn't take it. Not now when she was so close to having what she wanted more than anything. What she had somehow come to need. She had always told herself that she would never need a man. That had been her mother's way, and it had been her burden. But when she looked at Jack, Kate didn't see a burden. She didn't see some terrible mistake that somewhere in the back of her mind she was sure she was making. She saw what she wanted. She saw a chance at redemption.

Glancing up to the ceiling, Kate could hardly make out the outline of the single light fixture that hung sloppily from its backing. From seeing it in the light, Kate knew that it was nothing but a mess of wires with a battered and scratched bulb in the center. It was a miracle that the thing even worked, she mused. But she found herself more than thankful that it did.

Over the past eternity that Kate been held at the mercy of these people, stuck within the overpowering walls of this cell, time had ceased to exist. Though it came and passed, she was sure of that, she had no way of keeping track of it, no way of keeping it. It was like with every passing second, time slipped casually through her fingers with her unable to grasp it.

As worthless as it seemed, there was only one constant for Kate in this prison and that was the light. It came and went, and to someone who hadn't spent as much time in the cell as Kate had, it would probably appear to be on a random schedule. But Kate knew better. She knew that like the sun that she hadn't seen in days, the light came like daylight and vanished like a lightning quick sunset.

The light was her time. It was her day and night, her only sense of reason. It wasn't much to depend on, but it was all that she had had for days on end. And it was enough to rely on. It had got her by longer than she had ever believed possible.

It was nearly noon at the caves, the sun having traveled to the center of the sky as Sawyer's eyes first started to flutter open, lashes brushing against his dimpled cheeks. His eyelids felt heavy, as though they were weighted down. He shifted where he lay, unable to open his eyes for the pain. He had a splitting headache, like nothing he had ever had.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, pushing passed the agony he was in, Sawyer could hear a commotion. Groaning, Sawyer forced his eyes open, blinking rapidly and painfully as the light of the caves hit him full on. His body jerked, and it was then that he felt the sting of the bullet wound pull at him, forcing him back like a ton of bricks.

"Lay back," came a none too soft command from somewhere nearby. Sawyer thought he recognized the voice, but couldn't quite place it. His vision was coming to him in a haze, and all he could see was a blurry form sitting over him, looking him over, "Don't try moving."

As his mind began to clear, it took several seconds for the fog to clear. Shaking his head and then wincing from the pain of this movement, Sawyer realized for the first time where he was. He was at the caves, laying on a cot with an airline issue blanket wrapped up for a pillow stuffed behind his aching head.

Glancing to his right, Sawyer knew straight away who the familiar voice had belonged to. He saw Ana Lucia lounging beside his cot on a pile of luggage and airline cushions, watching him with curiosity. Opening his mouth to speak, shocked at seeing her sitting over him like that, Sun immediately stepped forward, moving between them. She had a wet cloth in hand and she reached forward, gently applying it to Sawyer's head.

Reaching a hand up, Sawyer stroked the side of his face and felt that it was dripping with sweat. His hair dangled down in his eyes, sticking to the side of his face from the heat. Pulling his hand away in disgust, the reality of the situation began to sink in for Sawyer. He was back at the caves, the last place he had ever expected to live to see again, and he was healing up in the medical cave. But Jack was nowhere in sight.

"Now this just don't add up…" Sawyer drawled lazily, voice shaking slightly, "I've got Tokyo Rose and Rambina playing nurse and the good doctor ain't nowhere in sight…"

Neither Sun or Ana responded to him in any way, just kept tending to him. Sun had moved quickly away in search of antibiotics and Ana still sat beside him, silently applying the wet cloth to his head. Before long, Sun returned with another cloth and a bottle of peroxide. She sat the items aside and leaned over Sawyer. With gentle hands, she began pulling off the gauze that Jack had wrapped his shoulder in. It was saturated with dried blood and needed to be changed. Sawyer gritted his teeth as she pulled off the final bit of surgical tape.

"How are you feeling?" Sun asked quietly, eyes darting away from Sawyer's hard stare.

"Oh, I'm just dandy!" Sawyer all but yelled, rolling his eyes in frustration and waving his hands for emphasis. He winced when his shoulder stung in pain, the bandage no longer supporting the open wound, "I only got a hole the size of a damn nickel in my shoulder!"

"Sounds just fine to me," Ana muttered as Sun hesitated for a moment, not used to anyone speaking to her like that. Though she had seen the southerner pester just about everyone on the island, he had never directed his fun at her before.

Ana reached for the bottle of peroxide that Sun had left sitting by the cot and poured it hastily over the cloth. Without giving the man a warning, She reached out and stuck the soaked cloth none too gently onto the open wound. Sawyer hissed in pain, letting out a loud yelp. His body jerked, sending him into further agony as the sting of the peroxide continued to bite at his shoulder.

"Ah!" he howled, clutching painfully at his arm, his eyes glazing over, "Take it easy there, Sweet Cheeks!"

Ana paused momentarily to flash him a wicked half smile, mockingly raising an eyebrow at him. She pulled away the cloth just as Sun returned with a fresh bandage and a roll of surgical tape from Jack's stash of medical supplies. She wasted no time in pressing the fresh gauze over Sawyer's shoulder, spreading it out over the wound. He winced at the pressure she applied as she lightly dabbed the padding with her hand, pressing it firmly down. Reaching for the tape, Sun further secured the bandage by sealing it down with the tape. Sawyer groaned in pain.

It took him several long moments of writhing in pain and drawing in deep, ragged breaths of air before the biting sting faded away, melting into a dull ache. He was breathing hard, sweat pouring down his face. Glancing around the room, his eyes falling at both women, curiosity tugged mercilessly at Sawyer's mind.

"Where the hell is Dr. Do-Right?" Sawyer's voice came out in a drawl that cracked with exhaustion, but the usual sarcasm was ever present, "Thought for sure he'd be here lookin' after me like a damn mother hen…"

The question had been innocent enough. Up until this point, Sawyer had only considered Jack's lack of attendance as some fluke, sure that the good doctor had only stepped out for a moment. Hell, he was probably out gallivanting around in the jungle with Kate for all Sawyer knew. But whatever he had been expecting, the answer he got didn't come close.

"Jack's gone…" Sawyer could detect a bitter tone in her voice and he immediately felt his sense of curiosity soar to an all time high. Shock, however, was the more dominant emotion.

"Come again?" he asked, momentarily unsure that he had heard her correctly. Though her words could be interpreted in a number of ways, Sawyer could tell by the tone of her voice just what she was implying.

"He left out night before last," she explained, eyes dropping to the floor as she spoke, "Went out looking for some girl they took…"

"They?" Sawyer questioned, unable to wrap his mind around who or what she was talking about.

"Them. The Others," there was a sense of finality to her words, a firmness to be sure. Her voice was laced with the bitterness that Sawyer had come to expect from his time with her on the other side of the island.

"Which lucky lady drew the short straw?" Sawyer asked jokingly. Ana shot him a look of utter disgust, though she hardly looked surprised at his behavior.

"He said her name was Kate," Ana almost spat the name, as if it were a curse. Though she hardly blamed the woman that she didn't know, it still stung her that Jack was likely never coming back alive because of her.

Her words hit him like a ton of bricks. It felt as though the very foundation that he had held firmly to since the plane crash was falling down around him, breaking into a million tiny pieces. She had to be wrong. It couldn't be Kate. Not the Kate he knew. The Kate he loved. But then he reasoned, Who the hell else would the doc go running off after?

"Freckles?" He asked incredulously, blue eyes wide and gaping at her as though she had grown an extra limb. His voice shook noticeably more than it had when he had been in pain from his bandages being removed. It was laced with something that made her feel completely uncertain. Fear.

"If that's what you call her…" He had known what her answer would be before he had even asked. But he couldn't leave it unsaid. He had to be sure, and now that he was he didn't know what to think. He couldn't imagine what to feel.

There was an idle hum that came from above as the rickety old lighting system that was hanging from the ceiling of the cell came to life. It clicked noisily on, the light suddenly flooding over the cell, white washing the walls in a fraction of a second. Jack jerked awake the instant the noise hit his ears, mind thrown into a rush of panic.

He felt Kate tug out of his grasp, jumping away from him as though she had been burned. Momentarily blinded by the sudden appearance of the light, Jack rubbed his eyes, squinting to find her. He saw her hunched in the far corner, her face buried in the wall. She came first as a blur, just as everything else in the room did as his eyes tried to adjust.

"Kate…" he called out tentatively, almost in question. Her flight from him had been as unexpected as the sudden appearance of the light and Jack found that his mind was in a whirl of confusion as he took it all in.

He rose shakily to his feet and began making his way over her, stumbling as he went.

"Kate, what-" he began just as he had almost reached her, but was sharply cut off.

"Don't, Jack," her voice shook, edged with a bitterness that hadn't been there before, "Please…"

Jack found himself even more lost in all of this. He didn't know what he was doing that she wanted him to stop so badly. He didn't know what had shook her up like this or why she was shivering so violently, unwilling to turn around and look at him.

It was then that he heard her softly crying, voice muffled as she buried it away in the corner. Everything about her stance signified that she was trying to run, trying to just hide from him if that was all she could do. It tore him up to think that she needed to get away from him that badly just now.

And as her shoulders heaved, her cries turning into tiny, quieted sobs, Jack didn't care how much she wanted to be alone. He didn't care that her need to run was kicking in, or that she was trying to hide herself away. He quickly closed the gap between them, reaching out to place a gentle hand on her arm.

She flinched as though she had been burned and immediately tried to pull away. But Jack gave her no such option. He tightened his grip on her, unwilling to let her run from this.

"Kate…" he pressed, voice as soft and calm as he could make it. It starkly contrasted the mix of emotions he was feeling inside, "Look at me…"

She gave him a mumbled reply that he could hardly make out, but he knew that she had said no. That she was refusing even to look at him.

"Look at me…" his voice was more forceful this time, though soft just the same. When she didn't respond to him, but kept her distance, trying to press herself further into the corner, Jack moved the hand that was on her shoulder to touch her face. Cupping her cheek, Jack turned her to face him.

He was met by horror stricken eyes as she hastily recoiled from his touch, noticeably flinching. She stumbled back, falling into the corner she had been trying to hide in. Her shaking had become more violent, the tears now streaming visibly down her face, falling from her haunted green eyes.

It was then that he took it all in, seeing her fully in the light for the first time. He drew in a sharp breath, completely blown out of the water by what he saw. She was a mess. His heart pounded wildly within his chest, pulse soaring as he took in her shivering form, watching as her broken body was wracked with sobs.

Her clothes were torn and dirty, placed hastily over her body. Her arms were riddled with scratches, some of them deep enough to need stitches. The bruising was everywhere, honeycombed over her entire body. On her face she sported a yellowing black eye, still swollen for lack of attention. And the dried blood. It was everywhere. He couldn't imagine how he had missed it all before, even in the pitch black.

She was gazing shakily back at him like a deer caught in the headlights, her entire body shivering in fear. He could feel a look of disbelief spread across his face as he gazed back at her, fighting hard to hold her eyes. He let his hand drop from her face then, let her hunch back farther into the corner, pulling herself away from him as she fought to hide what he had already seen.

And before he could say a word, react verbally in any way, her quiet, broken voice split the air, cutting the tension like a knife.

"P-please, J-Jack…" her voice was desperate as she pleaded with him, staring back up at him with the most horror stricken eyes that Jack had ever seen, "D-don't let them take me…"

It was as though something within him snapped. Her words had set a fire within him, an anger welling up inside of him like he had never felt before. It washed over his face, spreading like wildfire as it radiated in his blazing eyes. Turning sharply around, Jack stood to his feet and hit the wall with a balled fist, yelling in frustration. Yelling again, cursing under his breath he kicked furiously at the wall, slamming himself against it in complete and utter despair. He felt a pain soaring up his leg, splintering up from his foot, but he couldn't have cared less. His hand throbbed in a stinging pain from having hit the wall, but it didn't matter at all to him just then.

Breathing hard, Jack felt himself lose all balance and all frame of mind. He fell against the wall, using it to brace himself from falling. He pressed his forehead against the cold cement, feeling it as its rough surface sent chills down his spine. Clamping his eyes tightly closed, Jack let his mind drift, panting as he let it all out.

He felt the tears stinging his eyelids, letting it all sink in. And then came the blame, the guilt that was always there. What he saw now, what had happened to her, it was all on him. He had let them take her. He hadn't been fast enough to find her. Hadn't worked well enough to stop this.

In his heart, he knew it was because he just hadn't tried hard enough. He could've prevented all of this, all that she had been through if he had truly done all that he could. And to top it all off, what good was he to her now? Captured, imprisoned in the same cell as her. In the same hopeless situation, unable to get her out.

As he quieted down, simply bracing himself against the wall, unable to look at her, Jack could hear her. He heard her sobs, no longer soft or quiet as she fell into a complete break down. Any strength he thought that he still had, any notion he had of being brave through this just melted around him then, crumbling like sand.

And then he heard her voice, tearing into him as she spoke, "Don't let them take me, Jack…" she cried as she spoke, sobbing uncontrollably, "Don't let them take me again…"

Eyes fluttering open as he continued to face the wall, leaning fully against it, Jack pulled away. Clamping his eyes briefly shut, as if to somehow regain his composure that was long lost, he turned to face her, eyes washed over with a pained regret.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from her then, couldn't pull away from the look of pained distress in her eyes or the shivering mess she was in. He watched as she bit her lip, gaze wavering as she continued to sob. And he wanted to go to her, hold her, comfort her somehow. He wanted to tell her that it was alright, that the anger she had seen wasn't meant for her. But he couldn't move an inch, finding himself frozen where he stood just watching her with wide eyes.

And suddenly the only words she had spoken to him since the lights had come on made sense, ringing clear in his mind. He heard a cracking noise, a light static sounding form somewhere nearby. Glancing up to his right, he saw that the noise was coming from an intercom type device, a sort of speaker that was attached by a mess of wires to the ceiling.

It all became clear when a shuffling from just outside the door met his ears, and then a turning of the mechanisms in the lock. The creaking sound of the large metal door being pushed open was soon to follow and Jack found himself clicking immediately into action. He moved forward towards Kate, launching himself in front of her. The words she had voiced so pleadingly to him rang clear in his mind, biting at him like a mantra. Don't let them take me, Jack. And he wouldn't. Not even if it cost him his life.

"So, you never did say what it is you want," Sawyer spoke up after what seemed like an eternity of silence. Sun had left the caves with Ana promising to watch over the southerner. He had slept for about an hour until just now.

"What makes you think I want anything?" Ana's response wasn't voiced innocently, nor was it meant to be.

"I just didn't figure you for the nurse type," Sawyer explained with a crooked grin, blue eyes twinkling from behind the strands of dirty blonde hair that hung down in his face. When she didn't respond, just stared at him with a feigned blank look, he pressed on, "So tell me chica, just what is it you're after? Who knows, I might be feeling generous."

"I told you, I don't want anything," she responded gruffly, folding her arms stubbornly over her chest and flashing him a glare that would silence most men. But not Sawyer.

"Then what the hell are you doing here?" his voice was rougher this time, the faintest edge of bitterness flashing across his face. He hid it with that same old half smile and a raised eyebrow.

"I'm giving the Korean lady a hand. She's got better things to do than listen to you gripe and moan all day," Ana explained harshly, gazing at him with an almost victorious stare. He scoffed at that, "Besides, someone's gotta make sure you don't die on us…"

"Since when do you care what happens to me?" Sawyer questioned half smugly, half bitterly. It was hard to tell if he was amused or insulted, "Last I checked, you were rootin' t' leave me out in the big bad jungle."

"And you know what? If it had been up to me, you would be out in the big bad jungle," now her voice seemed course with a kind of anger. Sawyer seemed satisfied at having ruffled her even the slightest bit.

"Then why bother with fixin' me now, eh Cupcake?" he all but snarled, feeling burned at her admittance that she would have left him. He had known it all along, and had even been amused at getting her all worked up by it, but in the end it still stung.

"I'm not doing it for you, Genius," she bit back sharply, voice gruff as she glared daggers at him, "I'm doing it for Cindy and I'm doing it for Jack."

"Cindy?" he questioned, unsure of what the hell she was getting at. Though curiosity at her mention of Jack was biting away at him, he brushed that aside for later. First things first, "Who the hell is Cindy?"

She laughed at that, a cold and bitter laugh. She shook her head at him in what he could've sworn was disbelief, halfway rolling her eyes.

"Just an innocent woman who's dead because of you," she responded bitterly, glaring dangerously at him. When he looked on at her with suddenly wide, attentive eyes, she decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity to get through to him, "We cut through the jungle just to get you back here sooner. Halfway in, they took her."

"And how the hell is that my fault?" he was looking spitefully at her now, nearly yelling at her as he spoke.

"We should've left you behind, like I said. We traded her life for yours…" she looked all too bitter now, and Sawyer couldn't stand it. He couldn't take that there was another person hating him without just cause.

"So then, if you hate me so much, then why are you so hell bent on fixin' me?" that was the last bit that still didn't make sense. She had explained Cindy, and if he hadn't been so set on hating her just then, he might have understood. But he still couldn't figure out why she wanted him to heal, to get better.

"Because saving your sorry ass is the only thing I've got left to do for Cindy," her words stung, and Sawyer could feel the bitterness dripping from her words, lashing out at him.

"What about the Doc?" he questioned, staring her down and ignoring her last statement. He wasn't willing to back down to her like he knew she was expecting him to. She wasn't going to throw any rocks at him now, "Why is savin' me gonna do him any good?"

"Because you were the only thing keeping him from going out after Kate in the first place," Ana snarled, looking dangerously at him, "When we dragged you in half dead, he thought it'd be on him if he left and you died."

There was silence then. A long and looming silence reigning over them. It was laced with a tension so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Neither would look at the other anymore, both too angry to face up to it. Both of their minds were on someone dear to them, someone that the Others had taken away. But neither would ever want to admit to that.

Jack watched with wide, fearful eyes as three of them filed into the room, slamming the large metal door behind them as they came. They were young, bearing the same appearance as the men that had captured Jack back at the wall. They slinked through the door almost shyly, as though they were hesitant.

Meeting their eyes, Jack inched boldly to stand in front of Kate, backing her into the corner behind them. He felt a shaky hand reach up from the floor to grip his as he loomed over her, blocking them from getting to her. Glancing down at her for a split second, he saw her wide green eyes staring fearfully back at him, lips shivering as her entire body trembled. When he turned away, he felt her shakily lace her fingers through his, her arm still stretching out to him from where she sat hunched on the floor. He felt his heart race with adrenalin when he heard whisper his name, her voice barely audible even in the tense silence of the room.

Jack watched as the group of young men glanced warily at one another, as though each of them were unsure of how to react. Looking at them now, and remembering the young man with the clear blue eyes that he had seen on the wall, Jack found it hard to imagine that these men had done this to Kate. But the anger within him still boiled for them, the rage still burning at them for her.

The one that stood towards the center looked to be a in his thirties, a good deal older than the other two. He had a stumbled blonde beard and mop of sandy yellow hair. He might've looked a bit like Sawyer, if not for the softness to his features, and the deep green of his eyes. Like the other two, and the ones from the wall that had captured Jack, he wore loose, battered clothing. He took a step forward, moving towards Jack.

Clenching his teeth, Jack maintained his menacing look. The look that said he had a plan and that he would fight. He knew that it was working, but he didn't know how far they would press it. The man raised a large stick he had been holding in his hands and held it up as if to warn Jack.

"Move," the command came firmly, lacking all of the sharp and menacing edge that Jack had been expecting. The man's emerald eyes shimmered as he spoke, as though begging Jack to just listen. But Jack had no such intention.

"No," Jack insisted, shifting his feet to better hold his ground. He gave Kate's hand a reassuring squeeze, glancing briefly down to the floor where she sat. She had her entire body forced back against the wall, visibly shaking.

"Pleasemove," the man's voice held a more desperate tone this time and Jack watched as he gripped the stick more tightly. His eyes shone as though in deep consideration of how to handle the situation.

"No!" Jack refused to back down, shaking his head as he fought down the rage that was flowing like wildfire through his veins, "I won't let you hurt her…"

"Just move away…" the man pressed, his eyes all but begging Jack to step aside as he shot a glance at Kate's shivering form, "We have no intention of hurting her-"

"Look at her!" Jack yelled, cutting the man off before he could continue with what Jack knew was a lie. His eyes blazed with a fury like he had never known, "Look at what you've already done! I won't let you do it again!"

"I don't want to hurt you…" the man warned, taking another step towards Jack and gripping his long stick tightly, "But I will, if you don't move…"

"Then I guess you're gonna have to hurt me," Jack met the man's gaze firmly. Bravely. Letting him know that he wasn't going to back down without a fight. He glared daggers at him, "Because I'm not moving."

Behind him, Jack could feel Kate shifting uncomfortably, her once soft crying becoming a fit of sobs. She was broken and frightened. More scared than Jack had ever seen her and he couldn't stand it. She had always put on the strong face in front of him, never showing any signs of the weaknesses he knew were there, masked behind her brave act. But it all came flooding out now, and Jack wished more than anything that he could make it all disappear.

The man raised his stick and Jack braced himself, knowing that from how much he already ached, this wasn't going to be pleasant. As if for further insurance, he pressed himself back against Kate, forcing her as far back into the safety of the corner that she could go. She still gripped tightly at his arm, her fingers interlaced with his own.

To Jack's surprise, the blow never came. Looking back up at the man, Jack met his emerald stare, the man's eyes shining with an emotion that Jack couldn't quite place. It was almost like pity.

"Take me instead…" Jack said after a moment, swallowing hard as his eyes bore down on the other man, drifting across the room to fall on the other two young men in turn.

"Can't…" the man said with a shrug, his gaze coming down hard on Jack, "It ain't up to me. It's up to him. He has to decide."

"I won't let you hurt her…" Jack insisted, shaking his head with tearing eyes. There was a calmness about him that registered a look of surprise from the other man.

In that moment, it was as though a sudden realization dawned on the man. Like he knew something now that he hadn't before. Something was sinking in beneath the man's gaze, a kind of understanding. And Jack didn't dare to hope that this understanding was a good one.

With a brief moment of hesitation, the man shot Jack a warning look before turning around to face the other two men behind him. They looked bewildered by what had just gone on, a look of pure confusion written clearly in their faces. They looked to their commander in question, and he simply nodded at them.

"Move out," he said firmly, nodding his head to the boys. The looked curiously at him for a moment, as though questioning his order. Their hesitation lasted for only a moment before they jumped to obey, moving quickly to open the door once more.

Jack watched as they stepped at the door, talking hurriedly in hushed whispers. He couldn't catch a single word that they said, but noted that each of them held a questioning, almost fearful tone. Something hadn't gone right, Jack knew. Something that he had done, the way that he had acted, hadn't been accounted for.

Almost afraid to hope that the encounter was over, too afraid to think of success, Jack allowed himself to sink slowly to the floor, moving to sit beside Kate's hunched form. Sliding himself along the wall, Jack gently eased his arms around her trembling frame, grimacing at the way she shook in his arms.

The brief feelings of comfort that washed over him lasted for what only seemed like a few moments. Before he had even opened his mouth to speak to her, to say something, anything to drive away her tears, there was again a shuffling outside the door.

In that moment she jerked around in his arms, swiftly turning herself to face him. Their eyes met in those brief few seconds, and the fear that was dimly lit in her pale green eyes was enough to stir him into any action needed to keep her safe. Her lips shivered then, her entire body trembling with as force.

"Jack…" her voice came in half of a whisper, barely audible. And in that second the large metal door was swung open with force, a new set of men marching through the door. Jack knew right away that this time they wouldn't be so lucky.


A/N: Well, what did you guys think? If you're confused by anything I show about the Others, feel free to ask me anything and I'll do my best to clear things up. I really enjoy getting your feedback, so please don't forget to review! I'm going to try and get another chapter up soon, hopefully later this week, so keep an eye out for that. Thanks for reading!