A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed and read. I hope you enjoyed it.

We Should Say He's Mine

Chapter 2

Lies

She feels something on the side of her face. Fingers gently strumming away on her cheek. Rough and calloused pads dancing into her hair, "Kate?"

There's a voice, cloudy but persistent calling her name. She scrunches her nose and ignores the constant beckoning. The beat of the fingertips speeds up with urgency, no longer delicate along her cheek bone.

If she moans in annoyance she doesn't hear it, but instead swats at the pestering jabs. A hand catches her wrist midair, on instinct, she moves up her knees only to find them pinned.

"Kate, wake up," the patience and singsong playfulness drops from the voice

The harshness makes her wonder what is so important. She hears the sound of waves and assumes she's on the beach, but something must not be sitting well with her because she feels like she's moving and it's making her nauseous. Was the helicopter back? Was she on it?

"What," she mumbles, barely audible above the waves as the back of her hand presses to her forehead not in pain more out of habit.

A hand pulls it away, "Kate, open your eyes."

She hesitates. Is this a dream? It feels like a dream. She feels her body moving again, like someone is rocking her. Why would she be rocking on the island? Is she cold?

Two hands on her shoulders. Blunt fingers clamp down like a bear trap. "Kate, look at me."

Her eyes twitch, eyelashes spread and through a slit the size of a coin slot she sees Jack looming over her. He starts to ask her again, but she opens her eyes as wide as she can to get him to stop talking and shaking her.

Jack smiles, a pull in the corner of his mouth, but when she tries to sit up, he forces her to lie back down, "You were thrashing when I came in. I think you were having a bad dream."

"I was in a helicopter." Her voice sounds strained and the cadence flutters. "It was crashing,"

One of his hands covers her forehead. He grimaces at the results and leaves his hand longer than he should, "You're skin's hot."

"I was having a bad dream," she counters wishing that he would let her sit up. She tries to push her arms out sideways but her elbow bounces off a wall. A wall?

Her eyes open again. This time they really open and notice all of the extreme details she somehow missed before. Like the linoleum floor underneath her or rusty metal leg from a cot that is less than an inch from her face.

The rocking is still upsetting her stomach and for a second all she feels is pure terror because she doesn't remember what's going on. Her body wiggles from the fear and the unfamiliar surroundings and from the claustrophobic feeling she's getting from Jack holding her in place.

He barely has time to push himself to sit on the cot as she bolts into a sitting position. "Take it easy," he tells her as he places a hand on her back.

"What's going on?" she searches the room frantically, noticing the sun streaking the white painted planks on the wall and a laundry basket filled with blankets. Where is she? Where's the island? The beach? The clearing?

"Where's Sa—"

"Aaron's fine," he tells her like it's common knowledge. "He's fine. He's upstairs with Penny and he's eaten."

"Aaron?" her eyes fall to the laundry basket again and the last week come flooding back. Sawyer jumping, the boat exploding, the helicopter crashing, the rescue boat and breakfast that morning.

Aaron in her arms sucking on an almost antique bottle, the glass kind with a rubber nipple that attaches separately. Penny laughed when she saw the baby and brought it out of a cardboard box from storage stating that when she brought the boxes of dishes on board it was tucked away with the cups. His blue eyes stared right into hers as his cheeks expanded with the milk Desmond warmed for him.

"Aaron's upstairs, you can see him in a second," Jack promises as he gently turns her head to look into hiseyes. "You said you had a dream about the helicopter crash," his index finger moves in front of her eyes as his other hand holds her chin.

"Yeah, just like how it happened." Except Aaron wasn't there. She doesn't tell him that, she won't because he's already against her becoming a mother. He's moving his finger closer and further away from her face and she doesn't understand why. She shakes her head from his grasp, "Jack, I'm fine."

She sees his jaw set and knows that he's going to begin an argument with her, "I think you have a little bit of PTSD."

"What?" She wants to roll her eyes at him, because now he's being ridiculous.

"Post traumatic stress disorder. It's when—"

"I know what it is Jack," she stands trying to keep her anger and her balance in check because the last thing she needs is some insane diagnosis from him that keeps her captive in this room. She pushes past his knees with her eyes set on the door, "I do not have PTSD."

His hand dashes out catching hers and effectively ends her quest for the door. "It's not that uncommon. Hurley's showing signs of it. Sun was easy to diagnose."

"Did you even talk to Sun?" she rips her hand from his and raises an eyebrow with the challenge. His eyes don't hold anger or defiance as she expects, but instead sadness. She forgets that they were both pawns in Jin's death probably because she doesn't think Jack feels the same level of guilt she does.

When he doesn't answer, she understands that this is a taboo topic to them. She turns back towards the door, her hands in fists so he can't grab her again, "I'm going to see my son."

She hears him sigh loudly as his hands cover his face. It's his equivalent to her eye roll and as much as she just wants to sit with Aaron she stops in the doorway. "He's my son now Jack."

"There are other ways for us to get him a family. I don't know why—"

"Do you want me to lie about the island?" her voice is low, almost a growl as she narrows her eyes at him. She doesn't remember the last time she was this angry. Then she remembers the last night she spent with Sawyer and how it ended in the morning.

"Kate—"

"Do you want me to lie?" There's no bargaining, he's going to answer the question whether he wants to or not.

"Yes," he averts his eyes again but the anger she is not allowing him to show laces his voice.

"Then you will lie about Aaron being my son."

Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed it, let me know! Next chapter will contain the dreaded meeting and be pretty canonical.