Since you're all so excited, I'll put you out of your misery on two counts, firstly by heating things up, and secondly, by having Jack drop his bombshell about Kevin (at least on of you guessed it!). I've really been looking forward to this chapter -- it's my favourite so far! (That noise is how Damon and J.J. describe it in the actual scripts, by the way...)

Chapter 10. A Mistake

"What the hell was that?" Kate asked Jack, her voice coming out high and shrill, when the howling stopped, only to start up again, closer this time.

MROOOOOWRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOBWWRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

"I don't know, but I think we should RUN!" he cried as the trees ahead of them parted, creating an opening big enough for bulldozer to fit through, not sticking around long enough to find out as he took her hand and pulled her back the way they'd come.

Her legs were quaking as they sprinted back in the direction of the beach, the ground slick with mud and damp leaves; she was sure she was going to slip and get eaten by that thing, but as wet as they both were, Jack clutched her fingers in a death grip, propelling her forward until they reached the safety of a hollowed out fig.

"In here," he yelled over the screech and roar behind them, urging her in ahead of him before ducking inside himself.

Whatever it was seemed to have followed them, because it was right outside now, the howl reaching an almost deafening pitch; still clinging to Jack, she watched the trees shudder and groan as it moved past them, emitting a low whirring sound.

"Are you okay?" he asked when it was gone; exhaling slowly, she nodded, looking down to see that her hands were bunched up in his shirt, gripping his lapel as tightly as he'd gripped her hand.

"Yeah." She tried to act nonchalant as she let go, falling back against the wall of the tree. "You?"

"Yeah." Releasing the breath he was holding, he leaned back against the opposite side of the tree, his knee brushing hers as he tried to get comfortable, sending a tingle through her. "Sorry."

She wasn't, so she shifted sideways to give him more room, hoping that putting some distance between them might help her like it had the night before, but even though they were no longer touching, she could still hear the heavy sound of his breathing, and feel the warmth of it on her skin. "What do you think that was?" she asked, trying to focus on what had just happened, and not on how close he was now.

"No idea." He closed his eyes, bringing his head back against the inside of the trunk, and parting his lips slightly as he tried to catch his breath; she had the sudden and unwarranted urge to run her hands over his chest, up to his jaw and kiss him hard on the mouth.

It was still raining outside, and thing was still out there, so she couldn't go anywhere to get away from him this time; drawing her knees up to her body, she huddled into her corner, trying to make both the thoughts, and the shuddering stop.

Kevin, she reminded herself harshly, repeating it like a mantra. You're in love with Kevin, you married Kevin, but this only seemed to strengthen her frustration, because she knew she'd never felt this way about him, not even when they first met.

It was exhausting, like a physical pain; she wanted to resist, but it was almost too hard when Jack looked at her again, his dark eyes smouldering with the same desire for her that she felt for him. "You're cold," he said when he saw that she was shaking; she wanted to ask him to warm her up, but she was so tongue-tied and confused that all she could manage was "Uh huh".

He shifted closer to her, but before he could take any purely professional measures to help her, she moved in, meeting him halfway, and his lips were brushing hers, lightly, guiltily, at first, until they lost all sense of where they were.

It would have been perfect if it weren't for the sick feeling that crept into the pit of her stomach, remorse forcing her to push him away. "Jack…" she said softly when he opened his eyes, pleading with him to understand, but she could tell from the look on his face that she'd hurt him, making the shame ten times worse.

"I can't… I'm sorry…" she stammered, scrambling out of the tree and running blindly into the jungle before he could stop her, or say anything that would make her feel lower than she already did, unaware that he was following her until she felt a hand wind its way around her wrist.

"Kate, stop," he said, anchoring her there. "It's not safe for you to be out here."

"So?" she snapped, twisting out of his grip. Tears coursed down her cheeks, mingling with the rain as she added, "I'm a bad wife, and a terrible person – I deserve to get eaten!"

Standing there, soaking wet, he almost looked like he wanted to laugh. "That's ridiculous, Kate."

"No, it's not," she cried, her voice rising as she tried to keep from collapsing into the mud and sobbing like a lost child in front of him. "I should never've let you come on this hike. I should never've put myself in this position. I screwed everything up – how'm I supposed to look Kevin in the eyes and pretend everything's fine, knowing what I just did? I can't keep lying to him – I'm sick of lying." She'd come as close as she could to admitting the truth, so rather than say anything more and risk losing his respect, she just let the tears fall, burying her face in her palms while he looked on at her helplessly.

"You made a mistake, Kate," he said softly, even though she could hear that it hurt him to describe what had happened between them that way. "I did the same thing once – I kissed the daughter of one of my patients. It doesn't make you a terrible person, or a bad wife – it just makes you human."

"So what does that make Kevin?" she argued, looking up at him, sniffling as she wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. "He hasn't so much as looked at another woman since he met me. He wouldn't even let his friends hire a stripper."

Jack stared at her for a long moment, then down at the ground, his expression troubled as he said, "Human too."

"What?" she asked sharply, her tears forgotten, thrown by his choice of words.

He swallowed hard and lifted his eyes, meeting hers as he said, "I didn't want to be the one to tell you this, believe me – I was hoping he would – but when we were on the plane, before the crash, I saw Kevin arguing with the woman in 42F."

"You didn't even know who he was and yet you remember her seat number?" she spat over the steady patter of the rain, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Do you have any idea how insane that sounds?" The only explanation she could think of was that he was lying to alleviate some of her guilt; that or he'd wrongly identified him. There was no way Kevin would cheat on her, especially this soon after the wedding, when he'd spent the last two weeks trying to convince her to start a family with him. He just wasn't that guy.

"Her name was Ana Lucia – I met her at the airport," Jack explained, looking sheepish as he added, "She invited me to have a drink with her on the plane.

"When I went to take her up on her offer, I saw her talking to Kevin," he continued, causing her heart to sink into the pit of her stomach when he rushed on, his eyes apologetic, "I recognised him as soon as you showed me those photos. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it sounded pretty heated, like they knew each other. I'm sorry, Kate, I really am, but it looks like he wasn't the guy you thought he was."

She wasn't sure how to handle this information now that the shoe was on the other foot, so she paced in a slow circle, running her hands over the top of her hair. None of it made any sense, but as hard as she tried to deny it, she couldn't shake the realisation that it explained his clandestine trip to the back of the plane.

"That bastard," she choked out after a moment, tears burning her eyes as she wondered if he'd encouraged this woman to follow them to Australia. She was probably angry that he'd gotten married; that was probably what their fight was about. "Here I am freaking out because I kissed you when he's been cheating on me the whole time."

She wasn't sure if she was trying to even the score, or just giving in to the attraction she'd been fighting for Kevin's sake, but before she could stop to think about what she was doing, she had one hand on either side of Jack's face, pulling him down to meet her.

He didn't try to stop her at first, his hands sliding down to her waist, but when, taking this as encouragement, she let hers travel down his back, to where the hem of his shirt clung to his skin, he broke the kiss. "I'm not gonna help you get back at Kevin," he said, his eyes dark and wounded as he freed himself from her arms, turning back towards their shelter. "I'm not the bad guy in this – don't ask me to be."