A/N: I am doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year, so this story may not get updated in November. I will be continuing this story, I promise (I love writing it!)

Jack awoke to a ringing in his ears and Matt yelling his name. "Matt?" he called back, struggling to his feet. Turning, he stumbled right into Matt, who was blinking rapidly, trying to clear the ash from his eyes.

"Here, hold still," Jack said gently. Extracting a worker bottle from his pack, he carefully flushed out Matt's eyes.

"Thanks," Matt said gratefully. His breath caught in his throat as he took in Jack's appearance. "Oh god, you're bleeding everywhere!" He frantically ran his hands over Jack's body, searching for the source of injury.

"That's not my blood," Jack said slowly, his eyes finally taking in the sight before him. "That…it's Arzt." Where Arzt had once stood was nothing but smoke and small bits of flesh.

"Oh god," Kate said as she moved up next to them, running the palms of her hands over her ash-stained face.

"There's still some dynamite left," Jack said softly, pointing at a pile a few feet away from where Arzt had been. "We've got to get it back to open the hatch." He turned to Matt and opened his mouth, but Matt immediately lay a finger over his lips.

"Nope," Matt said with a soft laugh, shaking his head. "No heroics. We're doing this together." Moving his finger, he kissed Jack, his lips lingering for a moment. "Just be careful, ok?"

"You too," Jack said, kissing Matt again before moving towards the dynamite. Each of the three left took off their backpacks and rested them on the ground, carefully laying a few sticks of dynamite in them and slowly zipping the packs back up.

"Here we go," Matt whispered shakily, inching his backpack up slowly and over his shoulders. The others followed suit, and began carefully picking their way back up the trail.

"You know, I once had to go into a building that was wired to explode," Matt called out conversationally from the front. "There was a man in there holding a woman hostage, and we knew if we couldn't get her out she'd die."

"Let's add that to the list of things you'll never do again," Jack said with a good-natured sigh.

"You're going to have me behind a desk as soon as we're back from this island, aren't you?" Matt said with a laugh.

"Behind the desk, on the desk…" Jack whispered in Matt's ear, grinning as Matt blushed.

"When you're not too busy having to arrest me," Kate said softly, resignation and sadness running through her voice.

"Kate…" Matt slowed his pace to match hers, getting as close as he could without bumping packs, laying a hand on her shoulder. "When we got back, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you stay out of prison, ok? I don't know how much weight my words will carry, but I'll milk the whole Oceanic Flight 815 survivor thing if I have to." Kate laughed, and Matt grinned back for a second before his face grew serious again.

"I understand," he said softly, and felt Jack's hand slip into his. "If I hadn't had Jordan there, I don't know what I would have done. But you're not alone now, never again."

As they rounded the bend toward the beach, Kate lifted her head and smiled. "Thanks," she whispered, but her words were almost drowned out by the chaos at their camp.

Placing their bags on the sand, they took off running towards the tents. "What happened?" Jack asked, heading straight for a screaming, crying Claire, grabbing her hands in his.

"She took Aaron!" Claire screamed, clutching at Jack. "She took him!"

"Who?" Matt asked frantically, hurrying over to Claire's side.

"That woman!" she yelled, sobbing and shaking. "She took him!"

"Danielle?" Jack asked, and when Claire nodded, he and Matt exchanged a look. "Which way did she go?"

"I don't know!" Claire sobbed.

"Charlie went that way," Shannon said, pointing to the trees off to the right.

"Then we'll check the other way," Matt said quickly, and Jack nodded. With no hesitation, the two men went off running into the trees.

"Someone's definitely been this way," Matt said, pointing to the broken branches near the path. Off to their right, the trees rustled, and they spun around, but not quickly enough. A figure leaped out and tackled Matt, slamming his head into the ground.

"Matt!" Jack screamed, running towards where Matt lay, unmoving. He was too focused on Matt to see the second figure, or the rock they held clenched in their hands. The stone smashed into the back of his head and he pitched forward, the blood in Matt's hair the last thing he saw before passing out.