A/N: Thanks for all the reviews on the previous chapter, I'm glad everyone enjoyed it. Here is chapter 18, which I hope is just as good :D. We are nearing the end of this story tho (20 chapters total), I have it complete and so will be updating every 2-3 days so you all have time to read. The last chapter is kind of an epilogue. Anyway, here's Chapter 18, please enjoy.
Chapter 18: Caught In a Net
"Ya know, I've been thinking a lot about the island lately." Kate said as they drove to Hurley's.
While Jack, Kate, Charlie and Claire were relatively close friends given Jack and Claire's relation to one another, the other castaways had drifted apart a little. But when it came to Hurley's parties, everyone showed up.
"Oh, yea? What about the island have you been thinking about?" Jack asked quizzically.
"I kinda miss it- all of it. As annoying as 'the Others' were, I really couldn't complain about living on a beach- especially after growing up in Iowa." Kate laughed, and Jack joined her.
"Yea, I guess that makes sense. It was a pretty crazy time out there. Those 100 or so days were probably the most hectic of my life." Jack replied, reflecting back on his time as the islands resident doctor.
"Yea, and you deciding you were the leader and doctor who was constantly on duty didn't help either." Kate chided.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Jack exclaimed, "Let's get something straight; I didn't really want to be the leader. I was kinda needed during the crash seeing I was the only one who had any medical experience, and when Sawyer and Sayid started fighting it looked like I was the only one who was going to even try and stop it." Jack explained.
"Yea that's true, but that doesn't mean you couldn't ever sleep. I still dread to think about what would have happened to you if I hadn't drugged you that one time. You'd had like three hours of sleep since we'd crashed, and it had been almost a week." Kate said.
"Yea, I never did thank you for that, seeing as how Locke and Shannon went crazy afterwards. I'm pretty sure you saved my life, cause I wasn't planning on sleeping anytime soon." Jack replied with a smile.
"Well we'll call it even then." Kate said, recalling when Jack had sacrificed his freedom in exchange for her and Sawyer's.
A momentary silence enveloped the car, but it was soothing; not awkward. "Why'd you come back for me Kate? I made you promise not to." Jack asked softly.
"Why'd you make me promise not to come back for you?" Kate answered his question with one of her own.
"Because that place was way to dangerous, you could've gotten hurt, and I couldn't live with myself if you'd gotten hurt because of me." Jack explained.
"That's exactly why I came back for you, Jack. Well, that and what I told you on the walkie. That was all true. I couldn't leave without you. The beach just wasn't the same." Kate replied, a slight smile appearing on her face.
"Kate, I'm really happy you didn't listen to me then now that I know you wouldn't get hurt, I don't know what I would've done." Jack said, as he quickly turned his head to look at Kate and they shared a momentary glance. "I mean there's a few other times that I would've appreciated you did listen to me…like when we went to find Walt…"
"Oh, don't tell me you didn't enjoy being tangled up in a net with me, Jack." Kate said laughing.
Jack laughed along with her, "Well, I did have an extremely hard time keeping my thoughts on aiming and off of you. I'm not gonna lie, I was tempted."
"I bet you were."
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They arrived at Hurley's mansion just a few minutes late and they walked up to the door calmly, ringing the doorbell. It was then Jack realized what was about to happen. To everyone in here, as well as the rest of the world they were two people living together who didn't know the other had deep feelings for the other.
"Hey Kate, do you want to tell everyone about…us…" Jack said, "or just keep it to ourselves today?"
"What, you embarrassed of me?" Kate said with a wry smile.
"Kate, if it was up to me I'd walk in there right now and announce it to everyone. There is no one I'd rather be with. I love you." Jack said, causing Kate's smile to grow larger.
"I love you too, Jack." Kate said as the front door swung open to reveal Charlie.
"Haha, I bloody knew it!" Charlie exclaimed. "You two…finally, bloody hell, I thought you'd never figure it out." Gesturing them inside before going off to presumably find Hurley.
Kate laughed at Charlie's greeting and then turned to Jack, "Well, I guess that settles it. Give it ten minutes and the entire house will know."
"That's fine by me." Jack agreed as they walked hand in hand towards the living room where the rest of the survivors were gathered.
They entered the room and were first greeted by Claire, who had literally run over when she'd seen then walk in holding hands.
She was very calm as she greeted Jack, "Hey, Jack." She said, embracing him.
But when she turned to Kate, her eyes lit up and a grin spread on her face wider than Jack thought possible. "Oh my god! Finally! Congratulations!" She squealed.
Kate returned Claire's smile and hugged her before asking, "Thanks Claire. Where's Aaron? He normally loves these things."
"He's around somewhere. Charlie said he'd take care of him for a while. I'm sure he'll be so glad to see the two of you. He didn't stop talking about the day you babysat him for weeks." Claire said, causing both Jack and Kate to smile.
"I'll let you two go see everyone else, I should probably go make sure Charlie isn't subjecting Aaron to any more of his songs." Claire joked as she went off to find her son.
"Dude, I still don't believe you!" Hurley could be heard shouting from behind them.
Jack and Kate turned to find Hurley and Charlie walking towards them, with Aaron in tow behind.
"Oh. Hey dudes. Uhh, how's things?" Hurley asked, ever the party host.
"We're fine Hurley, thanks for having us." Kate replied for the pair of them, stealing a glance at Jack as she spoke.
Hurley noticed the quick glance between the pair of them, "That look….you guys…you're…" Hurley started.
This time, Jack answered. "Together. Yea."
"No, no, no, no." Hurley moaned.
Kate frowned. "Is there something wrong with that, Hurley?"
"What? No…no, definitely not. It's just…" Hurley stammered.
Hurley was at a loss for words, but to his side Charlie silently held out his hand in front of Hurley.
"Oh come on dude." Hurley asked, turning to face Charlie.
"I believe I won." Charlie stated matter of factly.
"Right. One sec." Hurley responded, reaching into his pocket for his wallet.
Jack and Kate started at the duo confused while Hurley placed $250 in Charlie's hand.
"You bet on us?" Kate said incredulously.
"It was almost free money. Hurley didn't think you'd ever figure out one another, but I believed. I figured you two out the day we went looking for that transceiver. I figured if I had to listen to you lot verbally copulate until world's end I was going to make some money out of it." Charlie explained to Jack and Kate's shocked faces.
Behind them though, Hurley felt a tug on his pants, and looked down to see Aaron. He had his hand outstretched just as Charlie's was.
"Oh right, little dude. I almost forgot about our bet." Hurley said to Aaron, leading Aaron to clap at the good news.
"Wait, even Aaron bet on us? He didn't even know who we were on the island!" Kate exclaimed through laughter, leaning on Jack for support standing.
"Yea, turniphead here is a smart one. He knows a good bet when he sees one." Charlie joked.
"What exactly did he bet on?" Jack asked, directing the question at Hurley and Charlie.
This time, Hurley answered. "He bet me that Charlie would win the bet." He explained, causing Jack, Kate and Charlie to burst into laughter. Aaron, sensing he had missed something, started laughing as well.
"Oh baby, come here." Kate said kneeling down and extending her arms as Aaron ran over to her. She grasped him in a big hug before picking him up.
"Auntie Kate!!!" The boy screamed, and Kate nuzzled his nose with hers affectionately.
"Hey baby, havin' fun?" Kate asked him.
"Yup, lots. Hurwey's house is fun!" Aaron replied, causing Kate to laugh.
"Yes it is, Aaron. It's definitely fun." She said as she lowered Aaron back towards the ground.
Aaron didn't take long to find a new person to talk to, immediately walking over and hugging Jack's leg. "Uncle Jack!" He yelled, causing Jack to kneel down and pick him up once more.
"Hey buddy, I heard that you really liked the aquarium?" Jack said, and at the sound of the word aquarium, Aaron eyes lit up.
"Fishes!" Aaron yelled, causing Jack to chuckle.
"Yea. What d'ya say we go back there soon?" Jack asked, causing Aaron to enthusiastically nod his head.
"OK, I'll ask your mom. That sound good?" Jack asked once again, and once again Aaron answered by nodding his head as Jack put him down.
"Hey, Aaron buddy, why don't you go talk to mommy? She's over there talking to her dad." Charlie suggested, causing Aaron to run off in the direction he had pointed.
"My dad's here?" Jack asked incredulously, he wasn't much of a partygoer.
"Yea, he got here a few minutes before you did. Why, that a problem?" Hurley asked innocently.
"No, it's just weird. He's not usually one to party. Besides, he doesn't exactly fit in with our group if you know what I mean." Jack explained.
"What, you mean how he's like 80?" Hurley asked.
"Hey, he's not that old. That would make me older than…I don't look that old do I?" He said to Hurley, before turning to face Kate.
"I dunno Jack, you look sexy enough to me." Kate whispered causing Jack to grin and kiss her cheek, but Hurley overheard.
"OK dudes, that's enough really. Now I know what Charlie meant when he said verbally copulating." Hurley said as he made his leave towards some of the other guests.
"That went better than expected. Aside from the whole betting on us part." Jack reflected, and Kate agreed. "Want to grab some drinks?" Jack offered, taking Kate's hand.
"Definitely." Kate said as they made their way towards the alcohol.
The pair of them spent the next 20 minutes talking between themselves. They both noticed that the other opened up a lot more frequently; there were no more walls between them. Everything was out in the open.
Their conversation had started on the island, talking about Charlie and Hurley and begun telling each other of their favorite moments there.
"So, what was your all-time favorite moment from the island?" Jack asked.
"Hmm… all-time favorite… not counting crashing?" Kate joked.
"No, not counting crashing." Jack laughed.
"That's an easy one, Jack. No doubt in my mind." Kate said.
"Oh yea, what is it?" Jack asked interestedly.
"I'll tell you if you tell me yours." Kate made a deal.
"Alright. Sounds fair. Mine would have to be our first kiss on the island. You know the one, in the woods." Jack revealed, and seeing Kate's grin, continued, "What's yours?"
"You just said it." Kate answered, kissing Jack tenderly on the lips.
"That's great you two, but have either of you seen Aaron?" Claire jumped in, panting.
"No, sorry Claire. We haven't seen him. Do you need some help looking for him?" Kate asked sincerely.
"You're a lifesaver, Kate. Thank you so much." Claire thanks her, before running around the rest of the room to recruit more for her personal search and rescue team. It wasn't look before Claire had recruited all of the survivors.
Unfortunately though, Hurley's house, being worth a few million dollars, was huge. If Aaron had wandered into the wrong place, or had been gone to long it could take a good deal of time to find him.
Jack and Kate checked the kitchen in case Aaron had gone off to find something to eat, but with no luck. They then headed upstairs to check each individual bedroom- a process that could take a while seeing as it was an 8-bedroom house.
"OK, Jack. Let's start here and work our way down the hall. Aaron's bound to be around here somewhere." Kate outlined the plan.
The couple headed into the first bedroom but Aaron was nowhere to be found. A thorough search of the second and third bedroom in the hall yielded the same result.
Jack thought they made a breakthrough in the fifth bedroom when they saw the bed sheets rumpled and the closet door half open, but yet again Aaron was nowhere to be found.
They reached the last bedroom in the hall after about a half-hour of searching with no luck. This room was the messiest of the entire house and it may take a while to look through.
Upon entering the room, Jack headed straight for the bed while Kate checked the closet. Jack look underneath the sheets, behind the pillows and underneath the bed to no avail. Kate started flinging items around the room in a frantic effort to find little Aaron.
Frustrated, Jack sat down on the bed.
"Where is he? We've checked everywhere." Jack said dejectedly.
"C'mon Jack, he'll turn up. We just have to keep looking." Kate said as she stood up from her place, turning around to find Jack staring at her. "Were you checking me out, Jack?"
Jack laughed, but his face turned bright red giving him away. "Trust me Kate, if I was checking you out, you'd know it."
"So you were checking me out." Kate stated matter of factly, placing her hands on her hips.
"No, I wa…." Jack began, but seeing Kate raise her eyebrows in disbelief, admitted, "OK, I was. But can you blame me?"
Kate smiled and walked over to Jack, whispering into his ear, "Have I ever told you how good you are at making a girl feel special?"
"A few times, yea." Jack responded.
"Good. Don't you forget it." Kate joked, leaning in to kiss him.
A scream was heard from downstairs, interrupting their moment together. Kate slowly moved away from Jack, causing him to groan.
"Keep your pants on, Jack. I'll be right back." Kate said heading over to investigate the scream. Wait. No, don't keep your pants on. Damnit.
Kate walked over to the door and looked around for the source of the noise, which did not reveal itself. Sighing, Kate shut the door and began to walk backward into the room- heading straight for one of the toys she'd flung across the floor.
"Kate! Watch out!" Jack said, but Kate didn't hear him. "Kate!" He tried again.
Too late. Kate tripped and fell straight into Jack, causing them both to collapse onto the bed, Kate lying on top of Jack.
"You know, you really need to get your hearing checked sometime." Jack joked, causing him to be hit playfully in the chest.
Neither of them spoke for a few moments, until it began to get awkward. "So, we just gonna lie like this all night?"
"I didn't hear you complaining." Kate replied smugly, grinning.
"That's true. Maybe I like this situation we find ourselves in. What was going on outside anyway?" Jack answered.
"I think they found Aaron. Which means we have some time alone up here." Kate said seductively.
"As much as I'd love to Kate, I really don't think we should do it in Hurley's house." Jack tried to explain, but couldn't quite finish because Kate was nibbling on his ear.
"Three hours to long a wait for you? Admit it, you missed me." Jack said cockily, grinning.
"You are so full of yourself, Jack." Kate joked.
"You have to admit though, it kinda turns you on doesn't it?" Jack replied, grinning.
"Just about everything about you turns me on, Jack. It takes a lot of self-control to not attack you every time I see you." Kate admitted.
"Kate, we've been together for what…24 hours? And you've 'attacked' me 3 times so far. Just how much self-control do you think you have?" Jack joked.
Kate didn't bother responding; instead she lowered her face to his and trapped his upper lip between hers. His mouth almost instantly opened and she could taste his tongue. It tasted like the wine they'd been drinking earlier, and she loved it.
Soon enough, Jack's hands began to wander from cupping her cheeks, eventually landing at the hem of her shirt. As his hands found their way inside, Kate moaned with pleasure and kissed Jack more passionately while she worked feverishly at Jack's pants.
A short while later, Jack and Kate were lying together on one of Hurley's many beds, savoring the company.
"We should probably get dressed, they'll be wondering where we are." Jack said, trying to get up, but Kate wrapped her arms around his chest and refused to let him leave.
"No, I've got this feeling we've got some more time." Kate whispered into Jack's ear.
"Kate, I think we can wait until we get home tonight. I don't really feel that comfortable on Hurley's bed. I mean don't you think once was enough for now?" Jack asked. Kate pouted in return but slowly removed herself from Jack's chest and the pair of them got dressed.
As they reached the door, Jack opened it for her and Kate walked through, finishing pulling her shirt down so as her chest was no longer exposed to everyone at the party.
"What the hell were you two doin' in there? We found Aaron a half hour ago." A voice behind them asked.
Kate turned and found Sawyer staring at the two of them. She was speechless, as much as Sawyer seemed to realize she never loved him, she didn't really want him to find out about her and Jack this way.
Fortunately, Jack saved her the trouble of answering.
"We got caught in a net, Sawyer." Jack answered, unable to hide his grin.
A/N: I couldn't resist throwing that reference in there...please review! The more reviews the faster I'll update. I'm probably going to put Chapter 19 up on Sunday, but if I get say...10 reviews...I'll do it earlier.