Wow! I can't remember the last time I wrote something so controversial! I know you're all worried about Kate going back to Kevin, but you have to trust me, and my devotion to Jate. I have a plan, which should become clearer as the chapter progresses… ;)

As for those of you aren't sure about the pregnancy, I'm going to use it to further the mythology aspects (but don't worry, I won't kill Kate!), including a possible cameo by Juliet… ;)

Chapter 33. Daddy Issues

Staring down at test, Kate could hardly believe what she was seeing. "I don't – I'm on the pill," she protested, her throat closing up as tears welled in her eyes. "I have been since…" She was going to say, "Since before Kevin and I started sleeping together", but somehow, in her muddled state, she couldn't seem to finish the sentence.

"Well that's not always a hundred per cent effective, Kate," Libby reminded her a little too sharply, and she felt like she was sixteen years old, breaking the news to her mother. "Especially if you don't take it every day." She softened her tone, shoving her personal feelings aside, and switching back into clinical mode as she added, "Did you ever forget, or just decide to let it go?"

"No," Kate assured her defensively, not liking the implication that she was careless, but she couldn't deny the fact that that must be what had happened, that somewhere along the lines, she must have slipped up.

"I… wait." She paused as the truth hit her, bringing with it an idea that she was almost afraid to entertain. "After the crash, when Kevin was missing, it took me two days to find my bag, and when I did… I just didn't think of it until – until the second…" She trailed off, again, trying to decide whether she felt more relived, terrified or guilty. She'd known how much Kevin wanted a child, so until she was sure, she'd made sure that they wouldn't have one, but with Jack, that first time, ironically, babies were the furtherest thing from her mind.

"That was two weeks ago?" Libby asked, relaxing beside her now that her world was no longer being turned upside down as well.

"Two and a half," Kate corrected her, and the psychologist smiled, a real smile this time, though her eyes were sympathetic.

"And your last period was about thirty four days ago?" she continued, counting back from the six days Kate had told her she was late. "Two weeks before you and Jack…"

"Yeah," Kate agreed, licking her lips as it occurred to her that she was, in fact, pretty careless. And stupid. Wasn't that the worst possible time to have sex if you weren't trying to get pregnant? She'd missed a week's worth of pills by then; too many for it to have still been in her system. "So?"

"So have you told him?" her friend finished, trying to force back her grin, seeming to have decided that it was a sure thing, which Kate had to admit, was looking more and more likely.

"No." She shook her head, staring back down at the stick in her hand, trying to process the fact that she was having a baby: Jack's baby. She didn't know whether to laugh, or burst into tears.

"Are you going to?"

"I guess I'll have to," she agreed, and another wave of sickening dread washed over her as she flashed back to their fight in the jungle. "Oh God, what if he doesn't want a baby? I'm not even sure I want a baby. Kevin kept asking me, right before the wedding, and in Australia, and I…" She felt a pang of guilt as she tried to imagine telling him. If he were heartbroken before, the news that she was giving Jack what he wanted more than anything else in the world would surely crush him.

Libby seemed to have caught the train of her thoughts, prompting, "Is it that you didn't want a baby, or you just didn't want one with him?" When Kate didn't answer, she squeezed her hand, watching her patiently. "It's okay. You knew he wasn't right for you. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make it a clean break."

"There was just… there's just some stuff in my life that made it seem like it would be a mistake," she confessed, not wanting Libby to think that it was as simple as her not loving him, or believing that he would make a good father.

"Stuff that matters here?" Libby waved her arm, gesturing around the beach, as if to remind her of where they were.

"With Kevin, yes," she agreed, thinking of the way he still stumbled over her name. If he spoke to her at all these days, it was directly, as if he couldn't bear to say it. She wasn't sure she blamed him: what she'd done to him, pretending, making him fall for someone who didn't exist, was the worst kind of betrayal. "But with Jack…" She shook her head. He didn't care that she was a fugitive: he said he wanted to help her. "Not as much."

"The honesty thing?" Libby asked, and she nodded.

"Good thing he's probably the father."

She smiled again, but Kate couldn't bring herself to smile back. "Is it?" she asked, a little bubble of panic rising inside her at the thought of Jack withdrawing from her like he had in the past. "He just got out of a bad marriage – I heard him telling Sayid he wasn't ready for another commitment."

"I'm getting deja vu here, Kate," Libby said, a note of disapproval, or maybe it was just disappointment, in her tone as she fixed Kate with a serious look. "You didn't think he could handle whatever this thing that ruined your relationship with Kevin is, and it seems like he was fine with it. You've got to stop putting words in his mouth. You're not doing yourself, or him, any favours."

Libby's words echoed inside her head: People aren't always the monsters we make them out to be, and Kate realised that she was right. "You think I should talk to him tonight?" she asked, seeking confirmation of what she already knew in her heart, simultaneously frightened and relieved at the prospect of having her condition out in the open between them. Even if Jack couldn't deal, it was better than the constant fear of him figuring it out.

"I think you should drag him out of that jungle right now," Libby told her with a laugh. "God knows the man needs something new to obsess over, but hey, that's just me. It's important that you tell him in your own time."

Kate nodded, and she found that she was able to muster a smile for her friend, even though she wasn't ready to be happy just yet. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Returning her grin, Libby went back to fixing her tent, leaving Kate to process the news on her own.

Feeling strangely delicate, and unsure of her own body, all of a sudden, she climbed carefully to her feet, intending to go back to her own tent to wait for Jack, but halfway there, she ran into Kevin. He looked like he was on his way to see Libby, but he hesitated when they met, offering Kate a smile and an awkward, "Hey."

It was too much for her to deal with right then; tucking the test against her side, she kept walking, but he knew her too well not to realise that something was up.

"Kate?" he said, latching instinctively onto her wrist. "Did I…?" he trailed off as, averting his eyes, he noticed the object in her hand, lifting her arm gently so that he could see it. "You're pregnant," he said, glancing from the test, to her, and back again, gob-smacked.

"Yeah," she agreed, her mouth going dry as he let out a laugh that was half nervous excitement, half disbelief.

"How… how far…?" he asked, checking himself, trying not to sound too overjoyed.

"A couple of weeks, I guess. I don't know," she lied, licking her lips, as she searched for a way to end the conversation without breaking his heart all over again. "I can't exactly go to the obstetrician."

His expression lost some of the hopefulness as he asked, tensing, as if he already knew the answer. "Is it…?" She pretended not to understand him, but he swallowed, finishing, "Ours… mine?"

She lost the tentative hold she had on her emotions then, shaking her head vehemently as tears slid down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Kevin," she managed to choke out as his face crumpled with grief, but he ignored her, adding, "But we… I mean, there's a chance, right? You can't tell me there isn't."

She couldn't, but she was afraid he would try to convince her to come back if he knew that, so she shook her head again, finding it difficult to speak.

"How do you know?" he pressed, but she cut him off before he could make her question it again.

The baby was Jack's. It had to be.

"I just do." It hurt her to see him standing there, looking so dejected, so mumbling, "I have to go", she pushed past him, into the jungle, not stopping even when she heard him call her name.

Once she was alone, she collapsed onto a log, sobbing into her hand, not bothering to muffle the sound. Everything was such a mess: Kevin still wanted her, baby and all, he still loved her, she could see in his eyes, but she wanted Jack, and Jack… she didn't know what he wanted. On their first night together, he'd told her that their relationship wasn't a fling, that they had a future, but when she asked him, he wouldn't tell her what that future was.

She was so deep in her despair that it took her a moment to register the rustle of leaves; her first thought was that it was Jack, or Locke, or even Rousseau, approaching, but when whoever it was failed to announce their presence, her stomach clenched with fear. She didn't have her knife, so, taking a deep breath, she picked up a rock, willing herself to remain calm as she retreated, but it slid from her hand when a figure stepped out of the undergrowth.

It wasn't Jack, or Locke, or Rousseau, or even one of the Others, who stood before her: it was Claire, dazed and dishevelled, but still pregnant, and very much alive.

Next chapter: More on Claire's reappearance, and Kate tries to find a way to tell Jack… ;)