"Kate? Can I come in?" Jack asked hesitantly outside Kate's tent a few hours after the face off with Sawyer.
"Uhh… sure," Kate replied, no joy in her voice.
Jack walked in but suddenly realized Kate didn't have a shirt on. "Oh. I didn't… I thought…" Jack couldn't think of anything to say but didn't leave either. He watched almost too intently as Kate quickly grabbed the camisole that was lying on the ground and pulled it on. Only then did she turn around.
"What?" Kate asked, still mad that Jack had made such a big deal about her spending the night away. She didn't need to be babysat and she knew he was just doing this because of her past.
"I was just wondering if you would help me refill the water bottles… at the waterfall." Jack asked nervously, hoping he wouldn't be shut down.
"Can't you get anyone else to do it?" Kate asked harshly but then realized he didn't mean harm and relaxed, "I mean… is there anyone who could go? I'm a little tired"
"Hard night?" Jack asked, not really wanting to know the answer
"Not exactly… Jack, do I have to go?" Kate's voice almost begging now.
"No Kate, you don't have to go but… the only person who could come right now is Sawyer and, I think we all know that wouldn't go too well," Jack looked into her eyes, trying to persuade them and hoping her body and mind would follow.
"Fine," Kate answered after a long pause. "I'll come but you owe me," she grinned at him and they both filed out of the tent, walked to the make-shift kitchen to collect the empty bottles and putting them into two backpacks.
"So… which way are we going?" Kate asked distracted as she looked around the beach trying to find Sawyer to give him a hug before she left. She would only be gone 2, maybe 3 hours but she didn't want him to worry. "Yeah right" she thought "like Sawyer would worry about me…"
"Kate… you've been there before. Are you okay?" He asked, noticing the distant look on her face. She seemed to be looking for something, or someone.
"Yeah, fine," She said smiling. "can we get going?" she didn't wait for an answer, just pulled her pack on and started the walk to the edge of the jungle, looking back to see if Jack was following.
Jack followed Kate slowly through the jungle, only saying things like "watch that branch", "you okay? Yeah, I was gonna warn you about that rock…", and "damn this walk is longer than I remember…"
But he enjoyed the whole thing because he got his alone time with Kate. It might have been awkward and quiet but it was still time when Sawyer wasn't interfering.
"Sorry…" Jack said when he bumped into Kate, not noticing that she had stopped.
"What's that?" Kate asked, referring to a baby doll on the ground, "Maybe someone dropped it or something." She said walking over to it
"Maybe… but there weren't any kids on our plane Kate… atleast none in our section"
"You never know, maybe it's Claire's that she was going to give to her baby?" Kate suggested looking up at Jack. He walked over to where she was and studied it with her. Kate slowly reached down and picked it up. If only she had known they would get caught in a net…