Thanks for the reviews. :) You know what? It just occured to me that J.J. has become a kind of mascot for the survivors -- everything they've done has been for him and Jack (It's about time someone did something for Jack!). Oh, and any similiarities to "The Beginning of the End" are unintentional... ;)

Chapter 33. Hurley Time!

"Will you stay over tonight?" Kate asked as they headed back to her car later that evening. She would have preferred to spend the night at the hospital, surrounded by strangers and bright lights, but visiting hours were over, and they'd been instructed to go home.

When Jack didn't answer, still not convinced that they should tempt fate, she added, "They were watching us in Sydney, Jack – they know we didn't listen."

The senses she'd honed as a fugitive took over and she counted at least two dozen cars still in the parking lot; a couple more in the adjoining streets. They all looked empty, but who could tell in this light? Especially with the glare of the streetlights beating off the windshields.

"It makes me sick to think that they could be out there, waiting for right moment to try to take him again." Shuddering at the thought, she wrapped J.J. in her coat, clutching his sleeping form tighter against her. At moments like these, she found herself wishing that she could have kept him inside her, where no one could get to him, at least not without killing her first.

"I promise you I'm never gonna let that happen, Kate," Jack assured her, slipping his arm around her waist, hugging them both to his side. "They're not gonna touch a hair on his head."

"Does that mean you're coming back to my place?" she checked, leaning into him gratefully, relieved when he confirmed, "It means I'm not letting him out of my sight."

While Kate slept sounder that night with Jack's arms around her, her presence didn't seem to have the same soothing effect on him. When she met him down in the kitchen for breakfast the next morning, his dark eyes were underscored by translucent circles, reminding her of all the times he was up all night worrying back on the island.

"You look tired," she told him, brushing his forehead with the back of her knuckles once she'd kissed him good morning. "Did you sleep at all?"

"I'll sleep better once I know everyone is safe," he assured her, which only worried her more.

"Who knows when that'll be?" she reminded him as she poured herself a cup of coffee and pulled up a chair next to his. "It could take us weeks to get all those flash drives out." He was slumped with one hand on his neck, feeding J.J.; she took the spoon from him to give him a break.

"That's why I was thinking we could get rid of another one today," he agreed, sculling the remains of his coffee, and pushing himself to his feet to get another one.

"Who else is here?" she asked, stopping to give him a curious look. As far as she knew, they were the only ones still in L.A. Everyone else seemed to have scattered.

"Hurley."

As soon as he said it, she remembered that he was a native, just like Jack. All of his family was still here. "Any idea where he lives?" she asked, relieved that it was only a short trip this time.

It took Jack a moment to answer, and when he did, it was with fresh guilt. "Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute."

"I can't believe Hurley's in an institution," Kate said as they pulled up at the gates of an imposing, prison like compound. She wasn't sure how comfortable she felt about taking J.J. inside, but with her father still in hospital, there was no one to babysit him. Jack's mother didn't even know he existed. Nor was she supposed to.

"He told me he spent some time in one before the crash," Jack confessed as they signed in and collected their visitor's passes. "I guess he couldn't cope with being back in the real world."

Hurley was watching TV in the common room when a nurse showed them inside; the colour drained from his face when he saw them, and he blinked a couple of times, as if hoping that they wouldn't be there when he opened his eyes.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn't hallucinating.

"What're you doing here, man?" he hissed to Jack when he joined them at one of the tables. "If they find out you've been to see me…"

"It's okay, Hurley," Jack assured him, holding his hands up in a placating gesture, and Kate couldn't help feeling disappointed at receiving another unfavourable welcome from someone who'd been a good friend to both of them. "You're safe in here."

"Why do you think I let them put me back?" Hurley agreed in a tone that implied he thought this should be obvious.

When an uncomfortable silence fell over them, his gaze shifted to Jack's left, resigning himself to the fact that he wasn't going anytime soon. "Hey, Kate," he said with a wary smile. "Who's the little dude?"

"This is Jack Junior, otherwise known as J.J.," she told him with a grin, enjoying the way his sad puppy dog eyes lit up in amazement.

"No way – he's yours?" he checked, looking to Jack for confirmation.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, smiling at Kate. "He's ours."

The words had barely left his mouth when Hurley leapt to his feet, laughing and throwing his arms around each of them, almost squishing J.J. in the process. "Sorry little guy," he told him with a sheepish grin, patting the top of his head. "I always knew she loved you, dude," he added to Jack, composing himself when it began to look as if he might actually belong there.

"Wait, isn't that against the rules?" he asked, frowning at them when he remembered where they were, and why he hadn't been pleased to see them. "What if they find out?"

"That's why we have this," Jack agreed, taking a flash drive similar to the one Christine had given them out of his pocket, and sliding it across the table to him.

"What is it?" Hurley asked, turning it over in his hands as if it were some kind of puzzle.

"Proof that the people who rescued us aren't as good as they want everyone to think they are," Kate explained, beaming at Jack. It was going to work. It had to.

"If any of them give you trouble, you tell them you have it – and that you're not the only one," Jack added, and a few seconds later, he was rewarded with another crushing bear hug.

"Thank you, oh thank you," Hurley said, squeezing him until he coughed in protest, and he was forced to let go. "You guys have no idea what this means to me."

After spending another hour with Hurley, catching up, they left the institution in higher spirits than they'd arrived.

"Did you see the look on his face when he found out you were J.J.'s dad?" Kate asked as they headed back to the hospital to check in with her father. It was nice to know that their friends were cheering them on, not just in their fight to restore things to the way they were, but their relationship, though they hadn't been to see everyone yet.

"Our sixth day on the island, he asked me if we were gonna move into a cave together," Jack confessed, sharing her grin, "So I guess it's fair to say he called it."

His smile faded as he caught sight of something in the rear view mirror. "Am I paranoid, or has that car been on our ass since we left Santa Rosa?"

"They're following us," Kate agreed when she saw the one he was looking at. "Turn here – maybe we can lose them."

He did as she suggested, turning right into an empty stretch of road, but rather than sail harmlessly past, the other car swung around the corner after them, clipping Kate's taillight.

"What the hell was that?" she cried when it dropped back to a safer distance, turning to check on J.J., who was beginning to whimper.

"I have no idea," Jack agreed, but before either of them had time to recover, the air was filled with the sound of someone revving their engine, and the screech of tyres as it slammed into them again. "Okay, now tell me that was an accident."

J.J.'s whimpers had escalated to a terrified wail; reaching into the back, Kate fumbled with his seatbelt, but Jack grabbed her shoulder to stop her. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Kate – I don't know how much longer I can stay in control if they keep that up." J.J.'s face was an angry puce as he continued to scream, and she could see that it was affecting his concentration. Any minute now they were going to crash.

"I can't leave him back there," she cried, shaking his hand off when the car moved in again. Throwing off her own seatbelt, she finally managed to free their son from his car seat, pulling him into her lap just as they were hit for a third time, the impact shattering the back window, sending shards of glass raining down over the backseat.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, you're safe now," she whispered as she hugged him to her chest, but her relief at getting him out unhurt didn't prevent her from peeking behind her, to see what the other car was doing.

"I think they're giving up," she announced, letting out a sigh of relief as it fell back, then disappeared.

"Is he okay?" Jack asked her once they'd resumed a normal speed, eager to leave their pursuers as far behind as they could.

"Just shaken up," she agreed, rocking J.J. against her to get him to settle.

"You?" he continued, but before she could answer, the message tone on her cell went off.

She thought it might be father wanting to know why they weren't back yet, but the number was one she'd never seen before. "It says we've be warned," she read, closing it and dropping it back into her purse, alarmed when she realised who must have sent it.

"I'm taking you back to the hospital and you're gonna stay there," Jack told her in a tone that warned her not to argue with him.

Too bad. "What're you gonna do?" she pressed, rubbing J.J.'s back when he hiccoughed, too exhausted to cry anymore.

"I'm gonna finish this – alone," he insisted, but she shook her head.

"We're in this together," she reminded him. "I thought we agreed."

"You saw what just happened – our son could have been killed," he said, his eyes pleading with her to listen to him just this once. "I won't let them hurt you, Kate – either of you."

"How can you stop them if we're not with you?" she pointed out, pleased when he relented. She wasn't going to let them hurt him either.

"Fine, you can stay, but we need to get out of L.A. – make it harder for them to find us," he told her seriously, and this time, she didn't hesitate before agreeing.

"Where did you have in mind?" she asked him, apprehension creeping into the pit of her stomach when he answered.

"Miami."

Next chapter: Jack, Kate and J.J. go to Miami see Juliet (and I'm going to try to resist the urge to do one of the infamous Lost crossovers!)... ;)