Thanks for the reviews. So I finally got around to updating this fic! I'll try not to leave it that long next time, but it sort of depends on what happens in the season finale. I always planned for Suliet to play an important role of this story, so if Juliet dies, or they break up, and we get hints of Skate in season six, I'm not sure when I'll feel inspired again! ;)

Chapter 4.

"Okay, what did you do?" Jack asked Kate, giving the air an appreciative sniff as he joined her in the kitchen, where she was frying pancakes for breakfast.

After deciding that Sawyer was right – no good would come from correcting his assumption that her pregnancy had come as as much of a shock to her that it had to him – she'd woken up feeling better than she had since they'd arrived back on the island, but at these words, the smile slid from her face. "I'm sorry?"

Sensing the change in her mood, he moved up behind her. "Hey, relax," he murmured, his strong arms encircling her waist, pulling her body back into his. "I was just kidding."

"I know," she agreed, swallowing against the dryness in her throat as he pressed a gentle kiss to the skin exposed by the open neck of her blouse.

"You okay?" he checked, scrutinising her expression, as if he thought staring hard enough would somehow allow him to read her mind. It was a good thing that he couldn't. "You're still a little pale. Did the doctor say anything about you being anaemic?"

"I'm fine, Jack," she insisted, forcing a smile for him as she turned the pancakes again. "Just trying to adjust."

"Well it's a pretty big adjustment," he agreed as he released her. "We just need to take it one step at a time – starting with getting you fed." He took the spatula from her hand. "Why don't you let me finish up here? That way you can sit down."

Under any other circumstances she would have enjoyed being waited on, but she wanted to do something nice for him, something to show him how much she appreciated him and it was all she could think of. "You know, you really don't have to do this," she argued as she watched him flip them. "Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean—"

"You're having my baby, Kate," he interrupted her with a grin. "Which means I intend to pamper you for the next seven or eight months."

He was handling the situation better than she could have dreamed; flicking the dial on the stove to off, she backed him into the cabinet, kissing him until a voice behind them exclaimed, "Dude!"

They both turned to see Hurley – already dressed for work in his khaki jumpsuit – frozen in the entrance to the dining room, his hand clamped over his eyes in an effort to give them some privacy. "Maybe we should have some kind of signal," he said, squinting at them through his fingers.

Kate glanced back at Jack and they both laughed. "It's okay, Hurley," he told him, letting go of her. "Grab a plate, come join the party."

"What're we celebrating?" he asked as he helped himself to a stack of pancakes. He shot them a wary look. "It's not, like, you're… uh… anniversary or something?"

They hadn't discussed whether or not they wanted to wait until after her first check up to make any announcements. "You should tell him," Kate said to Jack. She'd already talked to Sawyer and Juliet; he deserved the chance to be there when they shared the news with at least one of their friends, before he heard it from somebody else.

"Kate and I are having a baby," he explained.

Hurley's face lit up with surprise. "A baby? Wow, that's awesome!" he exclaimed, almost bowling him over as he threw his arms around him, pulling him into an enthusiastic hug.

"Ooph," Kate grunted, her lungs crying out in protest when it was her turn.

"Sorry. Is the…?" His eyes darted down to her belly, guilt written across his expression as he stepped back.

She nodded. "It's fine," she agreed, exchanging an amused glance with Jack. "You can't hurt it."

"So what's on the agenda for today?" Jack asked Kate when they were alone again. He collected the remaining plates and carried them over to the sink.

"I thought I'd resign from the motor pool," she told him, reaching for a dishcloth when he pushed up the sleeves of his jumpsuit and turned on the taps. "Juliet says being around all those fumes it isn't good for the baby."

"Juliet? When did you talk to her?" he asked.

It was hard to tell from his mild tone if he was upset or just surprised. "Just at work the other day. She was the one who told me I should get tested," she confessed.

She knew that she shouldn't have added the last part when he furrowed his brow in confusion. "I thought you said the blood test was mandatory?"

She remembered then that she had, but it was too late to backtrack. "What exactly're you implying, Jack?" Did he know that she was lying, about that at least?

The crease in his forehead deepened. "I'm not implying anything, Kate, I just didn't realise you'd told her."

"I didn't tell her, Jack – she figured it out," she corrected him. "She used to do this for a living, you know."

"Are you sure you're okay?" he insisted after a moment.

"Just a little hormonal, I guess," she lied, hoping that this would convince him to put her irrational outburst out of his mind.

It seemed to have the desired effect. "I know this isn't what we planned…" he began, his choice of words making her cringe on the inside where he wouldn't be able to see it, but she cut him off.

"I want this," she assured him. That much, at least, was true.

His expression softened into a grin. "Me too."

"Kate, hey," Juliet greeted her, sliding out from underneath the last van when Kate called her name to get her attention. She wiped her hands on a rag as she scrambled to her feet. "How're you feeling?"

"Good," Kate assured her. "Listen, you said you wanted me to keep you posted, so I came here to tell you that I'm—"

"Definitely pregnant," Juliet finished for her.

"How did you…?" It could just be a lucky guess, she supposed, but she seemed pretty certain.

"James told me," she explained. "He said the two of you ran into each other last night."

"What else did he say?" Kate insisted. Had he filled her in on the rest of her confession?

"That's all," Juliet agreed, and Kate found herself relaxing until she propped her back against the doorframe, fixing her with a thoughtful look as she sipped from her water bottle. "Only members of the Dharma Initiative and their immediate families are allowed to stay on the island, so since you and Jack aren't married, you'll need to find another assignment until you give birth."

"What brings you ladies here?" Amy asked, tearing her eyes from whatever she was writing when they entered the house that was being used as the administration centre.

"Kate here needs to be transferred out of the motor pool," Juliet told her. "Do you think you could arrange for her to do something a little less… strenuous?"

"We don't normally a—"

"She's pregnant, Amy," Juliet explained. "Surely you can make an exception?"

Kate was glad that she'd offered to come along when Amy nodded. "I could do with an extra pair of hands in the office," she agreed.

Kate flashed Juliet a grateful smile as she said her goodbyes and left her there to head back to the motor pool.

"How're you at filing?" Amy asked her.

"Okay, I guess," she answered, in case it was a test. Was it really a lie if she'd never had the opportunity to find out?

"Great." Amy dropped her pen and pushed back her chair, retrieving a set of keys from the desk. She used them to unlock a door on the other side of the room, returning with a box of papers. "These will need to be sorted and put into everybody's files. Do you think you can handle that?"

It didn't sound too hard, so Kate nodded. "Sure."

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Amy asked an hour later when she still hadn't made much progress.

It had taken her almost half an hour to figure out that as well as being arranged by surname, the files had been separated by rank and assignment. "Not really," she confessed, wondering if Amy had the power to fire her, and what would happen to her then. She didn't want to be kicked off the island.

To her relief, she just laughed. "It's okay, you'll learn," she assured her. "We've all gotta start somewhere."

Ethan's bassinette was set up in the corner, so that Amy could keep him close while she worked; as Kate got up make another trip to the filing cabinet, she couldn't resist peeking inside. He was wide awake, sucking his thumb, his blue eyes fixing on hers. "Your son is beautiful," she told her. It was hard to believe that something that precious would grow up to be the same man who'd kidnapped Claire and hung Charlie from a tree. "Would you mind if I…?"

"No, go ahead," Amy agreed with a kind smile.

It was so long since Kate had held a baby; as she lifted him against her chest, breathing in the familiar powdery scent, she realised with a pang that he was the same age Aaron had been when she began calling herself his mother. In the two months since she'd given him up, the pain had faded to a dull ache, but it still crept up on her sometimes, like now.

Amy put her pen down again to watch them. "Do you know when you're due?" she asked.

"Not yet," Kate admitted, even though in the back of her mind, she had a pretty good feeling. "I haven't been in for an appointment." Now that her life wasn't in danger, she was still clinging to the hope that she wasn't as far along as she thought.

Amy's gaze strayed her left hand, where it rested on Ethan's back; she knew that it must look conspicuously bare, without even an engagement ring, despite the fact that she and Jack were technically engaged. "Your boyfriend, did he come to the island with you?"

"Jack," Kate agreed, unable to help the ironic grin that spread over her features as she added, "He's a workman." It was strange to think that that was how people knew him here. It didn't seem to bother him now, but would that change if they stayed and their son or daughter grew up there? Or would he just be glad for the extra time with his family?

The corners of Amy's lips twitched into a smirk. "The cute one?" she teased her.

Kate felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment as she wondered if – without knowing their history – she would assume that that was why she'd slept with him. "Yeah," she agreed.

Amy smiled as she picked up the papers in front of her. "Good for you." She shuffled them in silence for a moment, a note of seriousness creeping back into her tone as she asked, "How does he feel about being a daddy?"

It took Kate a moment to remember that this was still the seventies: as modern as Amy seemed, like most of the people there, she might not entirely approve; that or she just felt sorry for her for getting herself knocked up in the first place.

"I don't think I've ever seen him that excited," Kate confessed with a grin before she could get the wrong idea about Jack or their relationship. Even if this wasn't something that they both wanted, he wasn't the kind of guy who could walk out on his child or push her into having an abortion. "He wants to marry me."

"Then I guess double congratulations are in order," Amy said. "You're very lucky."

The innuendo wasn't lost on Kate. "Thanks," she told her.

"You're welcome. And don't worry, Kate – your secret's safe with me…"