Thanks for the reviews. I really appreciate that so many of you took my comments on board. It definitely inspired me to get this chapter out faster. ;)

Chapter 47. You Can Do This

The knot of anxiety that was forming in the pit of Jack's stomach tightened when Kate shook her head.

"No, no, I'm not ready," she argued, bringing her knees together as if she thought that she could stop it, but, as if to illustrate his point, her water chose that moment to break, contradicting her.

"I know, I know, honey," Jack murmured as she burst into tears, cupping her face in his hands to get her to look at him. "But the baby is."

She shook her head again, her eyes wide as she whispered, "It's too early", breaking his heart.

"I wish there was another way," he told her, feeling trapped and angered by the situation. It was their first child; it wasn't supposed to happen like this. "But if you don't do this with me, she's not the only one who's gonna be in danger."

"He."

"What?" he asked, confused, not picking up on his own use of the pronoun until she repeated, "He. It's a boy."

"She told you that?" he checked, seeing, by her grim determination, that this was different to all the other times she'd insisted that they were having a son.

"Yeah," she agreed with a weak smile.

"Wow." Laughing in disbelief, he just stared at her while he digested this, simultaneously thrilled and terrified by the idea of having a son. Girls were easy; you could coddle them and no one would think any less of them, or you, but a boy… He didn't want to become his father, making his own child feel like he was never good enough.

Of course the first step towards that was making sure that he actually had a son…

"I know you're scared, Kate," he told her, letting go of her hands, and forcing her knees gently apart, "but I need you to do something for me. I need you to lean back and let me check on him, okay?" When she made no attempt to move, still looking horrified at the idea of giving birth in the middle of the jungle, he went on, trying to soothe her, "It's okay, just relax." Slowly, she leant back, squeezing her eyes shut as he peeled back the hospital gown she was wearing. "Good, good," he told her. "You're doing great."

"Looks like we're safe for the time being," he heard Kevin call as he returned from scouting the area. "Is she…?"

He glanced up when Kevin re-entered the clearing, awkward at being caught with his head between his ex-wife's legs. It was a little weird, even if he was a doctor. "The baby's coming – fast," he told him, dropping the gown back into place when Kate opened her eyes, embarrassed by the knowledge that Kevin was watching them. "She's not gonna make it back to the beach."

Snapping back into action, Kevin rushed over to them. "So what can I do?" he asked earnestly, his hand coming to rest on one of Kate's shoulders in a gesture of comfort.

"Just keep doing what you're doing," Jack said, not wanting to crowd her, or add to his own discomfort when he needed to concentrate. "We need to hold them off for as long as we can."

When, with a nod, Kevin stepped back into the jungle, Jack returned his attention to Kate. "We don't have much time," he told her, forcing himself to ignore the look she was giving him, "so when I say the word, I want you to push."

She choked back a sob, her eyes pleading with his to put her out of her misery as she said, "I can't."

"Yes, you can, Kate," he insisted, feeling sick. The longer it took, the more likely it was that the Others would find them, and take their son from them before he was even an hour old. He was pretty sure that They wouldn't have any qualms about killing all three of them to do it.

"I can't, Jack," she repeated, breaking down, tears sliding down her cheeks. "I'm so tired… I just want to sleep."

"You can when all this is over," he told her, his heart going out to her, hating to see her so defeated, "but right now, you have to do this – we're all counting on you."

"Jack…" she whispered, looking desperate, and he wondered if he'd been too hard on her, but before he could respond, Kevin appeared at his side, kneeling beside her, and taking her hand.

"Hey," he said softly to get her attention, brushing a damp curl back behind her ear. "Do you remember when I took you to meet my family?"

Watching her watch him so intently, nodding, Jack felt a surge of irritation flood through him at the irrelevance of this exchange. They didn't have time for diversions, especially ones that undermined his relationship with Kate, he thought, that old sense of possessiveness returning. "Is this really…?" he began, but Kevin ignored him, still focused on Kate.

"You were so scared. You kept telling me they were gonna hate you."

"That was different," she argued, sniffling, and to Jack's surprise, he nodded.

"You're right, it was harder. Anyone can have a baby, but going into a roomful of strangers, knowing that they could figure out who you were, and turn you in, that took a lot of courage. But you did it because you knew it was important to me." He smiled, squeezing her hand as he finished, "You can do this, Kate. You're braver than you think."

She nodded, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.

Seeing that his words had had the desired effect, Kevin straightened, kissing the top of her head, and in spite of the jealousy he felt watching him achieve what he couldn't, Jack was secretly grateful to him when he added, "Thatta girl, now do exactly what Jack tells you. He won't let anything happen to you or the baby."

Retrieving his riffle, he headed back into the jungle, leaving the two of them to carry on alone. As soon as he was gone, Kate flashed Jack a watery smile, setting her jaw stubbornly as she waited for him to guide her through the rest of the process.

"The baby's crowning, so I need you to push, as hard as you can," he told her after checking her again, and this time she did, clamping her lips together tightly to avoid making too much noise. He could see her colouring with the exertion, not just of giving birth, but keeping silent, and he wished that he could tell her to cry out if she needed to, but they couldn't afford to alert the Others to what was happening.

She pushed again when he told her to, and again, and again, until the baby's head and shoulders were free, and he could lift him the rest of the way out.

"Look, Kate," he told her, his face splitting into a grin when it was over, and he was cradling their son in his arms, admiring his deep blue eyes and shock of dark hair in the moonlight, "You did it."

"Is he okay?" she asked eagerly, seeming to forget her exhaustion as she strained to get a better view.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" he agreed as, this time, he settled their own child in her arms, helping her to support him.

"He's so small," she breathed, awed, pinching his tiny thumb between two of her fingers. "I can't believe we made him."

Surveying the tree line to make sure that his cries hadn't alerted the Others, he saw Kevin watching them, and he could tell, by the sadness in his eyes, that for the first time, he didn't see his ex-wife and her boyfriend, but a family, one that he could never bring himself to break up. He nodded when he saw that Jack had seen him, as if to congratulate him, offering him a slight smile before disappearing back into the jungle.

"You're not disappointed, are you?" Kate asked when she picked up on the change in his mood, frowning as she added, "Because I know how much you wanted a girl."

"How could I be disappointed?" he asked, pushing Kevin out of his mind as he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder so that he could study their son too. "He's a beautiful, healthy baby, and he's ours."

He wasn't expecting a response, but she tore her eyes away from their child, glowing with happiness as she told him, "He is, you know. That woman, Juliet, she did some equation to find out when I was due, and she worked out that I got pregnant after we crashed – probably the first night we were together."

As far as he'd been concerned, the baby had always been his, so he was surprised that hearing these words, having it confirmed, moved him to tears. It was as if all of the fear and the uncertainty of the last eight months left him at once, and he could finally enjoy the fact that he was a father.

"Thank you," he told her, kissing her, before resting his cheek against hers, not really sure whether he was talking about the news, or the baby, or both.

"I feel like I should be thanking you," she said with a smile, leaning back into his embrace as she continued to drink in every detail, and while he knew that they would have to start moving again soon, he never wanted that perfect moment to end.

There, a substantial amount of Jate, and a tiny bit of whatever you call the Kate/Kevin ship. Shavanda and I agreed that "Konica" is probably the best anyone's gonna come up with, given that their names start with the same letter and she technically wasn't Kate at the time...

For anyone who's disappointed, I thought about having him sacrifice himself to the Others, but the poor guy's been through enough. More than enough! So I'm gonna let him be happy with Libby, who has been exceptionally patient with him.

Next chapter: Back at the beach (You didn't really want to Others to take the baby, did you?! Especially since it's almost the end!). Kate finally gets some well-deserved rest, and the baby gets a name... ;)