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Chapter 22. Time Out

"Okay," Kate said, running through the list of instructions as she followed Sun through the apartment in search of Ji Yeon, "Her dinner's in the fridge, bedtime's at eight – what do we do if we need to tell her something?"

She'd been worrying about this since Sun first suggested she and Jack babysit; she wasn't sure why this was amusing to her until Sun shook her head. "She speaks English too – she just doesn't like to," she explained, and Kate let out a sigh of relief at the knowledge that she wouldn't have to rack her brains for the few words of Korean she knew.

"We thought it was important for her to learn, in case we…" Sun trailed off with a sad smile, and Kate remembered her telling her once, back on the island, that up until a few minutes before she boarded the plane, she was going to leave Jin to run away to America. After the island, she'd always assumed they would go there together. "Never mind."

They found Ji in the living room with Jack and J.J., parked in front of the TV, just as Jin stepped out of the bedroom knotting his tie; both parents kissed her goodnight, then rushed out the door to make their dinner reservations, leaving the four of them alone.

"So what d'you wanna do?" Kate asked her, but she just made a shushing motion and pointed at the screen, so Kate turned her attention back to her own child instead.

He was sitting on the rug with Jack in only a t-shirt and diaper, lining up a handful of cars; she watched as Jack drove one across the carpet, up along his bare leg, making him squirm and squeal with delight.

When it came to a stop around his chest, he pried it carefully from Jack's hand, and Jack sat there patiently, trying not to laugh as J.J. did the same to him, blowing little spit bubbles as he tried to mimic his sound effects.

"Are you copying Daddy again?" she asked him, stooping down to kiss the top of his head, and he flashed her a bright smile to let her know that he was having fun, before continuing to drive the car up as far as he could reach.

"I can't get over how smart he is," Jack told her, leaning forward to make it easier for him, wincing as it travelling over the back of his head. "He sees me do something…"

"Just wait until he starts swearing, or playing with knives," Kate said, but she dug her cell out of her pocket and took a picture of them anyway, "It won't be so cute then."

It was another half an hour before they managed to wrangle Ji Yeon to the table for dinner, and even then, it was only by agreeing to let her have ice cream afterwards. Sun had cooked her a special meal; some kind of orange soup with noodles in it; but halfway through, she decided she wanted what the grown ups were having, even though she ended up spitting most of it into the trash.

"What a waste," Jack said as he scraped the remains of both meals in after it. In the end, she hadn't eaten more than a few mouthfuls of either. "Next time we should just say no."

"What makes you think there'll be a next time?" Kate asked him, only half joking. The children were back in the living room where they could still see them through the divider; turning around from the sink to check on them, she saw that J.J. was waving one of Ji Yeon's dolls around while she followed it unhappily with her eyes. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can put up with."

Ji Yeon leapt to her feet when he stuck some of its hair into his mouth, whining something in Korean.

"He doesn't understand, honey," Kate called to her, hoping that this would encourage her to be a little more tolerant of her younger playmate, but she just switched to English instead, shrieking, "That's mine!"

"What a little charmer," Kate muttered, rolling her eyes to Jack, and he laughed.

"I think I liked it better in Korean," he agreed with a grin as she tried to figure out how best to diffuse the situation. If she took the doll from J.J., she would only upset him and make him cry, but if she didn't…

An ear-splitting wail erupted, and she realised with a pang it was J.J. Dropping the dishcloth she was holding, she raced into the living room with Jack on her heels, overcome by a burst of maternal fury when she saw the teeth marks on her son's wrist, Ji Yeon standing over him clutching the doll triumphantly.

"It's okay, I've got him," Jack assured her, reaching J.J. first, scooping him up into his arms to soothe him; she watched him bring their son's wrist tenderly to his lips, kissing the wound as he bounced him against his chest, before turning her attention back on the little girl.

"Ji Yeon Kwon," she said, filling each syllable with menace, "I think you need a time out," expecting her to hang her head with shame and try to talk her out of it, but she just eyed her with a wary look.

"What's that?"

"A time out is when you go to your room, and you think about how we don't bite people, especially people younger and smaller than us," Kate told her, swallowing her surprise as she took the doll out of her hand and led her from the room. "How would you like it if he bit you?"

"He can't – he doesn't have any teeth," Ji Yeon told her innocently, and as angry as she was, it was all she could do to keep from cracking a smile.

She was going to leave her to stew on her own bed until looking around, seeing all the toys she had to sugar coat her punishment, she decided to take her to the master bedroom instead.

"Now you sit here and you think of a way to apologise to J.J.," she ordered, letting go of her once she was seated. "I'll come get you when your time's up."

She was about to leave when she heard a small voice pipe up. "Kate?"

"That's Aunt Kate to you," she told her, and the little girl's meek expression got meeker until she was almost sinking into a puddle at the end of the mattress.

"Aunt Kate?" she corrected herself. "Are you gonna tell Omma and Oppa?"

She looked so genuinely remorseful that Kate's heart softened towards her. "I have to," she agreed, "but if you're sorry, I'll tell them that too."

"I am," she whispered, but before either of them could say anything more, Kate heard Jack's voice call out to her from the living room.

"Kate! Come look at this!"

Thinking that Ji Yeon had done more damage than she'd initially guessed, she gave her a sharp look, rushing out to the living room to find Jack more excited that she'd ever seen him, almost running into her as he met her at the door.

"Look," he repeated, and following his eyes she saw that J.J. had recovered from his injury, and was sprawled on his stomach on the rug, pulling himself towards the coffee table where she left the doll.

There were still tears in his eyes, and his wrist was still red, but his face was set into the same determined expression Jack got when he made up his mind to do something.

"I guess he really likes that thing," Jack said as their son's fingers wrapped around it, and he slid it down onto the floor with him.

"I guess he does," Kate agreed, grinning at him, overjoyed at sharing her first milestone with him.

They were both still ecstatic an hour later when they put the children to bed, J.J. tucked into Ji Yeon's crib with the doll as a peace offering.

Kate had just finished checking on Ji, to make sure she wasn't fretting about getting into trouble, when Jack slid his arms around her waist, pulling her down onto the couch with him.

"You'd better get out of here before Mr. and Mrs. Kwon see you," she teased him, and he laughed against her lips, kissing her a few more times before they settled onto their sides with her back moulded against him.

They stared at the screen in comfortable silence until she blurted out the thought that had been circling her head all evening. "When this is over, I think I wanna try to get pregnant again."

He didn't say anything, shifting his position so that they were facing each other, his expression unreadable.

"I don't mean right away," she added quickly, just in case he thought it was a bad idea. "I just think it would be nice for J.J. to have a little brother or sister one day."

"Me too," he agreed after a moment, his voice soft and hoarse, seeming to realise what had prompted this desire. She didn't just want it for J.J.; she wanted it for them. She wanted them to experience it together this time.

"I always wanted a little sister," he confessed, sliding her shirt up, absently caressing the skin it exposed with his fingertips, as if already imagining the baby there

"I think I wanted a brother," she told him, thinking of Tom in the days before she'd realised how she felt.

"No kid should have to be that lonely," he murmured, and all of a sudden, she wasn't sure if he was talking about her, or himself. "You're right – when this is over, he should have that."

For anyone who's wondering, Omma is Korean for mum/mom and Oppa is Korean for dad.

Next chapter: Jack and Kate decide to make the dream a reality by continuing their quest to bring down the Hanso Foundation and Coming Up: The appearance of another Lostie... ;)