Thanks for the reviews. Now for Jack's reaction... ;)

Chapter 26. Like Father, Like Son

Watching Jack shake his head stubbornly, refusing to believe what Claire was telling him, Kate's heart went out to him. It wasn't easy, learning that everything you'd come to depend on was a lie.

"That's not possible," he argued, setting his jaw, but she could see the doubt in his eyes. "My father's only been to Australia once, and that was right before the crash."

His apparent rejection of her must have stung; more than Kate could imagine; but she was impressed with Claire's patience as she waited for the news to sink in. "Trust me, if you asked me when we were back on the island, I would've said the same thing, but it's true," she assured him with an uncomfortable smile. "Lindsay told me. My father's name was Christian Shephard. He was a spinal surgeon from L.A. – like you."

"Then she's thinking of somebody else," Jack snapped, jumping up from the bench, throwing Kate's hands off when she tried to get him to sit back down.

She called out his name, but he ignored her, starting off across the park in the direction of the road before she could stop him.

"Where is he going?" Claire asked, staring after him, her voice laced with guilt.

"I think I have an idea," Kate told her, sick at the thought. He'd come a long way, but he wasn't out of the woods yet. This just proved it. "Can you stay with the kids?"

When she nodded, Kate shoved herself to her feet, glancing back at J.J. one last time to make sure he was still occupied with Aaron before she raced up the hill to the parking lot.

She searched every bar within a mile radius before she found him hunched over a glass in a dank, smoky dive near the harbour, the sight filling her with sadness, but above all, disgust. He was better than that. How could he not see that?

"God, Jack," she said, rushing over to snatch it from his hand before he could take another sip, ignoring the looks she was getting from the rest of the bar's all male clientele. The old Jack would have had something to say about that, but this one was too busy wallowing in self-pity to notice.

She couldn't tell what he was drinking, but whatever it was, it was working fast. "What're you doing here, Kate?" he asked when he was forced to acknowledge her, his eyelids drooping, his voice beginning to slur. "Where's J.J.?" He glanced around her as if expecting to see him.

"Safe," was all she would give him, taking hold of his elbow. "C'mon, we're leaving." She tried to haul him to his feet, dropping it again and letting out a frustrated sigh when he went limp, using his superior weight against her.

"You should go," he told her, and she figured he just wanted to drown his sorrows without her bothering him, but then he added, "I'm sure you could still get a flight."

"And leave you here to kill yourself?" she demanded, her stomach turning at the thought.

"I was going to," he confessed, and she decided he must be drunker than she'd anticipated until he continued, "He came here to tie up his loose ends – to die – and I was angry because I had to come after him. I didn't know – he was my father, and I didn't know the first thing about him."

Seeing how tortured he looked, she softened towards him, climbing onto the stool beside his. "You can't blame yourself, Jack – he should have told you," she said, touching his arm.

"Why didn't he?" he insisted, and she could see that he was working hard to understand, but there was a good chance that he never would. The only person who could tell them that was his father, and he was long gone. "He had this whole other life I didn't even know about."

"Which part of that bothers you more, Jack – that you didn't know about it, or that you weren't a part of it?" she asked, thinking that she could see the bigger picture here.

Jack had never felt like he'd lived up to his father's expectations; in his mind, that had to be the reason he hadn't seen fit to confide in him. He wasn't good enough, or smart enough, or loyal enough to earn his father's respect, when in reality, it was the other way around.

"The bitch of it is," he went on, ignoring her question, "at the end of the day, he and I aren't all that different. He was a lousy dad and a drunk when he was around, and he was a lousy dad when he wasn't – what does it say about me that the best thing I ever did for my kid was stay out of his life?"

She opened her mouth to remind him that that wasn't his fault; that he was a good dad, at least as far as J.J. was concerned, but he cut her off. "You should've left me, Kate – that night I took all those pills. It would've been better for everyone if you had."

Watching him turn back to the bar, ordering a drink to replace the one she'd taken, she found herself filled with the same desperate anger she'd felt at the hospital.

"Better for you, you mean," she spat, sliding off her stool, fighting back tears as she wondered how he could possibly think he would be doing her a favour by leaving her alone.

"You're not the only one in hell, Jack. My dad is in the hospital because he told me I couldn't save you – that I shouldn't even try – and I wouldn't listen. If he dies, I have to live with that, so maybe you can let this go, but I can't."

She couldn't watch him slip back into that shell of his former self either, so she tried to storm past him, but he caught her wrist, dragging her back. "Don't," she warned him, shooting him a furious look, but when he stood, pulling her into his arms, she didn't fight him, burying her face in his chest. "Don't leave me, Jack. I can't lose you too."

"I'm not sure I can," he assured her with a lopsided grin when she met his eyes.

"I won't let you," she agreed, hugging him tighter, smiling at him through her tears. He was back, her Jack.

"I'm sorry – I shouldn't've said all those things," he told her, letting his cheek fall against the top of her head with a sigh. "We're gonna go to this meeting, and we're gonna hear what this woman has to say, and then we'll decide what to do from there. Maybe we can go back to L.A. and check in with the doctors."

"Thank you," she whispered, rasing her head to kiss him before he stepped out of their embrace.

He was still a little tipsy so she had to support him as they left the bar, but she didn't mind as much as she knew that she should because it meant she didn't have to let go of him until they reached the car.

"Claire," he said as she helped him with his seatbelt, wincing as if remembering something painful. "If she didn't hate me before..."

"She doesn't hate you," she assured him, sliding the key into the ignition. "But as hard as this is for you, you've gotta remember – this is hard for her too."

He glanced over at her, and she could see the sympathy in his eyes as he realised that she was speaking from experience. "I really am sorry about your dad, Kate," he told her, resting his hand over hers on the gear stick.

She forced a weak smile for his benefit, squeezing back. "Yeah, me too."

Next chapter: Jack realises he has another reason to fight, and they go to the meeting... ;)