A/N: WHAT AN EPISODE. Team Jate is back. Can't wait for next week, the promo looks amazing. Thanks for all the reviews for last chapter, I guess Ch11 wasn't my best work. Hopefully I can keep the writing level high. Anyway, here is Chapter 13, I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 13: A Matter of Time

It had been about a week since Sarah had broken up with Jack. In that time, as much as she regretted it, Kate had been on two more dates with Mark. Kate knew that Mark was a great guy; he was attractive, funny and charming, but Kate didn't deserve him. After all, she was just trying to use him as a distraction from Jack- a distraction that wasn't working very well.

The past week Jack and Kate had talked less than usual. After the events of last week, it was probably to be expected. They both were trying to forget what happened the previous night for very different reasons. Jack because he had just found out that his girlfriend was cheating on him, and only really using him to the pay bills, and Kate because of the way Jack had reacted to that news.

They had spent one afternoon together at the mall though. They put aside whatever they were feeling the past few days in order to keep each other company. They had walked through a couple clothing stores, and Jack was barely interested, but Kate was enjoying shopping.

It was a beautiful day outside, and so Jack had suggested they take the outside routes through the mall as much as possible, a suggestion Kate was more than happy to suggest.

They were on their way to a café to eat when Kate spied an old dress boutique. "Ohh, Jack. I almost forgot; I need to go in there." She said pointing across the way to the boutique.

Watching Kate shop for a dress to impress Mark with was probably the last thing that Jack wanted to do right now, but he'd suck it up- for her. "OK" He quietly replied.

They walked into the store and Kate took Jack's hand, dragging him around the store, past various racks of clothing- it sometimes amazed Jack that there could be so much variety. "You see anything you like?" She asked.

Jack was surprised by her question, "See anything I like? I thought you were buying for Mark." He said, not able to hide his resentment at uttering his best friend's name instead of his own.

"I am. I just figured you guys know each other so well that you might know what he likes seeing me in." She knew that Jack probably had no idea, but what Jack liked was definitely the next best thing.

"Oh." Jack relied curtly, feeling the awkwardness of the situations rising exponentially and began looking at some of the items Kate picked up. She picked up item after item and Jack looked indifferent to each one.

She finally picked up a dark green, silk dress that reached midway down her thighs. The minute she picked it up and showed it to Jack she saw his eyes light up, and though he hid it quickly, Kate noticed it and made a mental note. "Mark would like that one. He told me he thinks you look great in green." Jack stammered out, and it was clear for anyone to see Jack was embarrassed, and Kate couldn't blame him.

"He told you that, huh? Or is that just what you think?" Kate said, a playful smile appearing on her face. Kate was touched, not really believing Jack.

"No, well yes…. wait, no. Mark told me that. Not that I don't think it looks…never mind." Jack stuttered out, clearly embarrassed.

"So you don't like it?" Kate asked playfully.

"That's not what I said. Of course I do, it's just not my place to say." Jack replied awkwardly.

"So you do think I'd look good in this dress?" Kate asked.

"No…yes…yes you look great." Jack said. You look amazing in everything you wear.

"Thanks, Jack. We may not be dating, but I really value your opinion on these things." Kate said, heading over to the register to pay.

They paid for the dress and left the store, continuing to head for the café Jack had picked out for lunch. Jack felt the silence was uncomfortable and began to speak.

"Judging by the way your eyes lit up when you saw that dress, I'm guessing it must be pretty special." Jack said, nodding towards the dress.

"Yea, a really special dress, for a really special person." Kate said, and Jack felt even worse than he had when she'd first picked it out.

Here he was next to the woman of his dreams, helping her buy a dress that made Kate look absolutely stunning for her current boyfriend; a man wouldn't even be her boyfriend if he'd grown some stones in the first place.

It is not going to be fun seeing Kate in that dress before she goes out with Mark, he thought, before pushing all thoughts of Kate from his mind as they headed out for lunch.

Kate finished her shift right on time at 4pm the next day, but Jack's surgery was presumably running late because he was nowhere to be found, and so she caught a cab home. Jack would call her when he got out of his surgery, and she'd let him know she was already home.

Kate decided to spend her alone-time cooking. It really surprised her how much filing could make a girl hungry. She was just finishing preparing a small snack for herself when the doorbell rang.

"Mark. Hi." Kate greeted shyly.

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Jack had left the hospital early today. He didn't have a surgery, or paperwork, but he had a lot on his mind- most notably Kate and his feelings for her. It had taken the help of his father of all people to realize that, and now he was presented with an even bigger problem.

What to do about it?

He cared deeply Kate, he was sure of that. In fact he'd never actually gotten over her. His 'fling' with Sarah, as he now referred to it, coupled with Kate's absence in his life had simply subdued those feelings.

The problem was he wasn't sure of Kate's feelings towards him- she was with Mark after all. And as much as he hated to admit it, Mark wasn't the kind of guy a girl dumps easily.

He needed advice, someone to turn to, and he was running out of options.

He could talk to his dad again, but he was pretty sure he'd gotten all the positive response he was going to get from Christian Shephard for the rest of his life.

He couldn't go see Sawyer for obvious reasons. Even if he weren't still bitter about their break-up Jack still doubted he would be thrilled at the idea of him going after Kate.

Sayid and Locke had dropped off the face of the planet, and Hurley…well Hurley was never very good with relationship advice.

In Jack's mind there was only one person left that he could talk to in complete confidence. Mr. Charlie Pace. He just had to find a time when his sister Claire wasn't around or Kate would know about all of it before he had the chance to drive home.

He pulled up to the house, and thankfully Claire's car was missing. Hurriedly parking his Lexus on the street in front of the house, he hurried himself to the door.

"Jack! Bloody hell, I haven't seen you in ages!" Charlie said, hugging his long time friend.

"Hey Charlie. Can we talk?" Jack asked, returning the gesture, but getting to the point.

"Lemme guess, woman trouble?" Charlie ventured, already knowing he was right.

"How'd you know?" Jack asked puzzled as to how Charlie knew.

"Let's face it Jack, if it was anything else, you'd just talk to Kate about it." Charlie replied smugly.

Jack had to admit, Charlie had a point.

"Yea, well... you got me there." Jack admitted, smiling slightly.

"Of course I bloody did. So, what's on your mind?" Charlie asked, "Cause Claire's due home real soon. I'm assuming you don't want her finding out about this little talk?"

Jack laughed, "No. Definitely not. That would not end well."

"Right then, let's get on it with it." Charlie joked, grinning.

"I never thought I'd be here saying this after…after what happened. But I think I'm still in love with Kate." Jack stammered out.

"Bloody hell, can't say I didn't see that coming. And does she feel the same way about you?" Charlie asked sincerely.

"That's my problem, I'm not really sure. I mean right now, she's… with… one of my friends, and I kinda encouraged her to that." Jack explained.

"Old habits die hard, I see. You certainly aren't making it any easier on yourself." Charlie joked.

"What do you mean, old habits?" Jack asked indignantly.

"I've got a list actually. You wouldn't talk to her after she kissed you…you wouldn't…." Charlie began listing.

"How do you know she kissed me?" Jack asked.

"Being the snoop I was back then, I'd always catch her grinning when she thought nobody was looking, and you were the only one who ever made her smile." Charlie explained quickly, "But back to my list. You wouldn't speak to her after she followed you into the jungle. Oh, and you wouldn't even stand near her after whatever happened in Otherville."

"But I had good reason. She slept with Sawyer!" Jack exclaimed, defending himself.

"And she apologized about 100 times. Bloody hell, even I could tell she'd made a mistake." Charlie said, almost scolding Jack.

"Alright, I guess I kinda pushed her away sometimes and in my defense we did get together eventually. But now she's back and I don't know if she's still into me. That's what's been running through my head for about a week now. What do I do, Charlie?"

"Well, this Mark blokes a bit of a bloody problem if ya know what I mean. You could've done without that part." Charlie started muttering, thinking of what to do.

"Yea, I've blamed myself all week, but it didn't help Charlie. Which is why I came here, hoping for something helpful."

"Good bloody decision there, Jack. Pick the one man who's never won anyone's heart." Charlie said.

"You won Claire's, didn't you?." Jack injected.

"Touché, Jack. Right, just gimme a second to think, you've put me on the spot here." Charlie replied, thoughtfully.

After a few moments thought Charlie response came, "You've got to fight for her, Jack."

"What?" Jack asked confused…

"If you love her, you have to go get her. You can't just wait for her to come to you." Charlie explained.

"Well what can I do?" Jack asked impatiently.

"Don't prove it to me, idiot. Prove it to Kate. I've seen enough of those looks, and heard enough of your verbal bloody copulating that I already know." Charlie chided him.

"What the hell am I supposed to do? She's got a boyfriend." Jack asked, almost spitting out the last word.

"Don't you have that hospital party coming up soon? I'm willing to bet Kate doesn't have a date… yet. If you ask soon I bet you can beat Mark to the punch." Charlie suggested.

"What about when Mark asks why I'm taking his girlfriend to the party?" Jack retorted skeptically.

"Just say you asked her when you first got her the job, just so she wouldn't go alone. Trust me, he won't pry any further." Charlie said confidently.

"I dunno, Charlie. It all seems so…risky, I mean the last thing I want to do is push her further away." Jack voiced his concerns.

"Look, Jack. If you love her, you have to fight for her. And trust me, if you fight for her, it's only a matter of time before she realizes she loves you to." Charlie said.

Jack turned to leave and said as he walked out the door, "Thanks a lot Charlie. It means a lot. Listen, I gotta go before Claire gets home, but I'll see you two at the reunion right?"

"Yea, and I better see the two of you there as well." Charlie said smiling, adding "Together!" as Jack walked out the door.

As Jack sped off toward home, Charlie walked to the phone and dialed a number he knew all to well.

"Hey Hurley. You remember our little bet? You better get it ready for me to collect." Charlie said into the phone.

Hurley replied, "DUDE! I don't believe you."

Charlie laughed, "You better believe it. Just you wait and see. The rock god is never wrong about these things." He said sarcastically.

Hurley burst into a hysterical fit of laughter. "What, you don't think I'm right?" Charlie asked.

Hurley couldn't stop laughing on the other end of the line, "No…. it's…. it's just… you called yourself… a rock god!!!!" Hurley began to laugh again.

"Bloody hell, Hurley! That's a low blow! I'll have you know we're on the comeback!" Charlie defended himself, but he was laughing as well.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Rock God. Whatever you say. I'll believe it when I see it." Hurley replied, unable to stop his laughter, and hung up the phone.

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"Mark. Hi." Kate greeted shyly, no matter how many dates she went on with Mark, she just didn't find the same comfort in him as she did in Jack. It was pretty obvious, at least to her.

"Hey, Kate." Mark greeted, sounding confident but really just as nervous.

"So, what brings you here?" Kate asked, trying to mask her true mood.

"Oh, I was just looking for Jack. Is he here? He wasn't at the hospital when I checked. I kinda need to talk to him." Mark asked quickly.

"Uhh, No. Actually, I thought he was still in surgery. I'm not sure where he is." Kate said honestly.

"Oh, well then I guess I better get out of here then." Mark apologized, turning to leave, before having second thoughts.

"Kate. I know our first week, wasn't exactly…well, it wasn't any good because of the whole Blondie thing, but maybe we can keep it goin' steady for a bit?" Mark asked hopefully.

Kate didn't really know what to say. She knew what she wanted to say, but she also knew she didn't have any right to expect Jack to fly back to her.

This decision could impact her life for the foreseeable future; it wasn't a decision to be taken lightly.

She could tell Mark she had to break it off, and hope that Jack found his way back to her. But then again, Mark could get jealous and drive Jack away from her.

On the other hand, she could tell Mark she'd like to take it steady, and risk driving Jack away just by virtue of her being with someone else. Again.

After remaining silent for what seemed like hours, she finally reached her decision.

"I'm sorry Mark, but I don't think I can do…this… you know, us… anymore. The past week has been really fun…it's just…." Kate tried to explain, but the words just wouldn't come.

"Kate. I get it. I knew the minute you accepted my offer it was only a matter of time." Mark said knowingly holding his hands up to signal for her to stop.

"Only a matter of time until what, Mark?" Kate asked, cocking an eyebrow towards him as she waited for his answer.

"I've seen the way you look at him, Kate." Mark said, the smallest hint of a smile forming. "I'm not exactly good at reading people, but when it comes to Jack, you're obvious."

Kate just nodded, returning the smile shyly.

Mark paused for a second, and then said, "It was only a matter of time until you realized what you felt…what you still feel for him."

Kate fell silent, knowing Mark was speaking the truth. "I really am sorry, Mark." Kate stammered.

Mark chuckled out loud. "Kate, from the moment Jack described you, to the moment I met you I knew you two were perfect for one another. I just didn't think I'd be the one to make you realize that."

Kate cracked a smile at the irony.

The very person she'd used to push her feelings for Jack away had made her come to realize how strong they were.

Seeing Kate's smile, Mark knew he'd guessed right. "Like I said, it was only a matter of time." He said as he returned to his car.

A/N: There it is, hope you enjoyed it. If you liked/loved/hated it, please leave a review. It only takes a few seconds, and it will probably make me want to update faster ;).

Coming Up: Going with who you think is someone's girlfriend to a party is kind of awkward, isn't it?