Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I don't own LOST.
Jack and Kate returned before dawn, and Jack started for his tent. After not being at the beach for two weeks he was going to have to get used to sleeping in something more comfortable again.
"Jack!" Kate stood where he had left her.
Jack turned around.
"The sun's coming up soon. Why don't we stay up and watch it?"
Jack slowly walked over to her and looked into her inviting eyes. He could still taste her kiss on his lips. "Okay."
Kate smiled, and they walked over to the sand together, and sat down, enjoying the quiet of the moment.
"I forgot how much I missed this." Jack's relaxed voice broke the comfortable silence.
"What? The view?"
Jack sighed in satisfaction as the sun started to come up. "Yeah."
Kate nodded. "I missed this too."
Jack looked at Kate, and an understanding passed between them.
Once the sun came up, Jack and Kate went to their separate tents, and neither of them left their tents for several hours.
When Jack finally emerged from his tent, refreshed and feeling happier than he had in a long time, it was mid afternoon.
"Well finally!"
Jack turned to see Sawyer walking over to him.
"Sawyer." Jack said awkwardly, remembering that Sawyer thought that Jack had returned the day before. He wondered what had happened.
"Just cause you were captured longer than Kate and I doesn't mean you get to sleep in!"
Jack knew Sawyer was joking, but he still wasn't in the mood for Sawyer's antics. "Yeah. Sorry. I had a long night."
"I'll say. You and the blonde woman seemed to have a lot of fun last night."
Jack bristled at the thought of Juliet. She had betrayed him, Jack had trusted her, and she had betrayed him. He almost would rather be around Sawyer and Kate than around Juliet.
"Where is Juliet?" Jack asked.
Sawyer shrugged. "I don't keep tabs on the Others. Sorry."
"Where's Kate?"
"Don't know." Sawyer said simply, and walked away.
Jack walked over to the make shift kitchen, where Hurley and Charlie were discussing some tv show.
"I really liked the part where Nathan killed the hot chick!" Hurley exclaimed.
"Yeah that was cool, but I liked the part where the hot chick came back to life and killed Nathan." Charlie grinned.
"What are you guys talking about?" Jack smiled at them. He had missed everyone so much while he had been gone.
"Hey.. Jack." Hurley said slowly. Hurley wanted to trust Jack, but no one was very trusting of him at the moment.
"What's going on?" Jack's smile disappeared.
"Nothing. We just.." Hurley trailed off.
"We want to trust you Jack. We want you to be our leader." Charlie said. "But when you bring back a Other with you? It's just.. we don't really know what to think."
Jack nodded. "I see. What would I have to do to regain that trust?"
Charlie looked at Hurley and Hurley shrugged. "We don't really know. We just don't trust her, and the fact that you do doesn't really help."
Jack wished he could tell them the truth, but if he did then he and everyone else would probably end up dead.
"Jack!" Juliet walked over to him, smiling.
Jack smiled back at her, his heart racing. He tried to think of how his clone would act.
"Come on." Juliet said, and Jack followed her.
Juliet went to her tent, and beckoned Jack to follow her. He did, and inside she sat down.
"So?" Juliet asked.
Jack bit his lip. He had no idea of what Juliet wanted to know. "I don't think they're going to trust me for a while." Jack hoped that he had said the right thing.
Juliet nodded. "No. Probably not."
"So, what next?"
Juliet raised her eyebrow. "We've been over this."
"Yeah I know, I just, need a update."
"Well." Juliet sighed. "When the week's over, hopefully everyone will trust us, and then we can lead them into a trap and get as most of them as we can."
Jack nodded, trying to keep his cool.
"It's really hard." Juliet revealed.
"What's hard?"
"You wouldn't understand. You're just a clone." Juliet laughed bitterly.
Jack sat down beside her. "You can still talk to me."
"I hate hurting Jack like this. He trusted me, and now he's stuck underground, where Ben will do whatever he wants to him."
"It's okay. I'm sure Jack will be fine."
'No he won't. You've seen how he treated Kate. I ruined their relationship. I just wish they could have had a chance to talk. But they're both so stubborn."
Jack tried to hide his surprise. If Juliet could see this, then he must be really blind. "But Kate is with Sawyer." Jack reminded her.
Juliet shook her head. "Have you seen Kate with Sawyer since we've gotten back? Only once, and that was when we arrived. If they had any true feelings for each other Sawyer would have gone after her, and Kate probably wouldn't have left. No Kate loves Jack, but she hurt him, and I made it worse."
"How do you notice this?"
"Why do you care?" Juliet's eyes flamed with curiosity.
Jack panicked for a second. "If I've got to act like Jack, I might as well learn as much as I can."
Juliet seemed satisfied with the answer, and Jack let out the breath he had been holding.
"Well I'm guessing people will be wanting to talk to me, so I should probably leave." Jack stood up and Juliet nodded absently. Juliet almost wanted to go and rescue Jack. She didn't owe anything to Ben, and if Juliet stuck up for Jack, Ben just might leave them all alone. A plan began to form in her head, but she would need Kate's help. The only problem was that she would need to figure out how to convince Kate to help her.
