Hearing Kate's heart wrenching cries for his help nearly ripped Jack's heart right out of his chest. He took a moment, counted to five and reigned his fear in. "Kate, I've got you, it's going to be ok, I promise." Jack was whispering words to Kate, trying to calm her down and praying that his words were true. Outside the tent he could make out the forms of Sawyer and Hurley, still engaged in their poker game. As loudly as he could, he called out to them.

"Sawyer! Hurley!"

"What does that Jackass want now?" Sawyer griped as he stood from his game with Hurley and the two of them made their way to Jack's tent. As they got closer however, both Hurley and Sawyer could tell that something was horribly wrong. The sound of Kate wheezing and struggling to breathe sounded oddly like the time after they first crashed when Shannon was having an asthma attack. Jack was holding her, trying to soothe her but it didn't seem to be helping.

"What the hell happened doc?"

"She's got fluid building up in her lungs, it's making it difficult for her to breath. We have to do something or she could go into respiratory failure."

"What can we do?"

"There is an oxygen tank and mask in the hatch. I need you to go find it and set it up in the bedroom. Hurley, I need you to find Sun and ask her if she can make more of the eucalyptus mixture she made to help Shannon and once she's made it, bring it straight to the hatch. Do you understand?"

Both men just stood, staring at the scene before them, both of them too frightened to move until Jack shouted at them, "If you want to help her, move!"

Hurley and Sawyer then ran off to take care of the tasks that Jack had assigned each of them.

In the meantime, Jack continued to try to calm Kate down, hoping to get her breathing stable enough to move her to the hatch. He moved from his position behind her until he was kneeling in front of her, holding both of her hands in his. He took one of her hands and placed it on his chest.

"Kate, I need you to listen to me, are you listening?" When she made no sign to indicate that she was, he reached up to her face and turned her head so that she was looking into his eyes. "Kate, do you trust me?"

Kate was struggling to breathe too much to voice her answer but she had no doubts as to what her answer was. She gave a short nod of her head, continuing to look into his eyes.

"Ok, that's good. I promise you everything is going to be ok, but I need you to do what I say ok?" Kate nodded again.

"Ok, I know it's hard to breathe, but the less you panic, the easier it will be, so we need to slow your breathing down. I want you to feel my chest, feel the rhythm of my breathing. I want you to try to match that rhythm ok? Breathe in through your nose, like that, good! Now try again."

Kate felt her hand on Jack's chest and felt the rhythm of his breathing. She let the feel of his chest rising and falling beneath her hand and the sound of his voice soothe her. It was true, she did trust him and she knew that he would fix this, whatever it was. She was still struggling to catch her breath but the tightness in her lungs was dissipating somewhat.

As soon as Jack was sure that she had calmed somewhat and was not in immediate danger of respiratory failure, he picked her up in his arms and began to carry her back to the hatch. Jack couldn't help but be disappointed that their walk back had turned out to be nothing like their walk to the beach. He tried to keep her head lifted up, knowing that would help the fluid drain out of her lungs but even with his efforts, she still continued to break out in labored coughing spells every couple of minutes.

"Just keep breathing Kate; everything is going to be alright. This is just a complication from the malaria."

Kate found solace in his words and in being in his arms but she was beginning to feel dizzy and lightheaded from the lack of oxygen getting to her brain. She was wheezing and coughing and trying desperately to remember what Jack had told about not panicking but it was getting more difficult with each passing second. The coughing spells were coming more frequently now and Jack noticed as well.

"Jack…I'm…so…dizzy…I see…black…spots…can't…breathe…" Kate wheezed out as tears began to leak out of her eyes. Jack knew that she would probably pass out by listening to her difficulty breathing but he was hoping he could make it back to the hatch before it got that bad.

"It's ok Kate, we'll be at the hatch in just a minute and then we'll get you oxygen and some medicine to help. Everything will be fine. Are you having any other symptoms right now?"

Kate eyes were already drifting shut, the dizziness making the nausea from earlier return in full force, along with her headache.

"Head hurts…sick" was that only response Kate could manage to force out. She let her eyes slide shut then, hoping to block out the dizziness.

Just as her eyes fluttered closed, Jack reached the door of the hatch and pushed it open rushing inside. As soon as he stepped inside, he knew something was off. Things were overturned and there was a general sense of chaos. When Jack walked into the computer room on his way to the bedroom, he found Locke laying on the floor, with deep gauges in his leg with Sawyer kneeling next to him trying to help.

"What's going on?" Jack asked anyone who was listening

Sawyer looked up and replied, "I got here and had to pry to door offa him, had 'em pinned down, crushing his leg and Charles Manson in there was standing here watching. Got him locked back up and got that oxygen ready for ya. You take care a Freckles, I'll watch Johnny boy til you can help 'em."

In that moment, Jack was extremely grateful for Sawyer's presence, and for his understanding that helping Kate was his main priority. Jack carried Kate into the bedroom and sat her on the bed. He grabbed the oxygen mask and placed in over her face before turning to rummage through his medical supplies. Jack was very grateful in that moment that altitude is often a cause of pulmonary edema and as such, most airplane first aid kits came with some type of medicine designed to treat it and Oceanic 815 was no exception. He located the medicine and then helped Kate to swallow the pills. Jack then climbed into bed with Kate, propping her up against his chest. He needed to keep her sitting up right to prevent further fluid from accumulating in her lungs. Jack had known that she was better yet even before they went down to the beach. He had hoped that she wouldn't have this kind of complications though. If they were back in the real world, she would be in a hospital, getting drugs and fluids continuously through an IV and probably intubated after experiencing this level of breathing difficulty. Jack wished he had the right equipment and drugs to help her properly. He was terrified that she would never get better without that. All he could now was treat the symptoms that showed themselves, as they came up and even then there was little he could do. Jack did not like feeling helpless. He needed to be able to fix things and it was killing him to know that the most he could for Kate right now was hold her and keep her from panicking. She was in pain and scared and he just had to hope that it would pass.

Jack was pulled out of his musings when he felt a hand reach up to move the oxygen mask. He gently grabbed her wrist and moved it back down to her side.

"Oh no, you can't take that off just yet. It's helping you to breathe easier. Can you feel it working?' He asked her

She turned her head to look at him and attempted to take a deep breath. Her breathing was still heavy and labored but it was nothing like it had been when he was carrying her back. She simply nodded her head before laying her head back against Jack's chest. Then she suddenly bolted up, moved the mask, and leaned over the side of the bed and vomited. Jack jumped up and got a cool cloth to wash her face with, knowing he would clean up the mess after she had fallen asleep again.

Kate fell back against the bed, feeling completely drained. She'd been sure she knew what true misery was before she came to island. She thought her life had been filled with misery but now she was thinking that she had never known misery before this. This was a level of wretchedness she had never experienced before. She looked up at Jack with a look begging him to help her. The helplessness Jack was feeling before was nothing compared to what he felt now. He would do anything, absolutely anything to take her pain away. The tormented look in her eyes was enough to bring him to his knees. She was openly crying though he wasn't sure she was even aware of it. He took her hand and leaned down and kissed her forehead. He could tell that the fever had taken hold of her again. She was once again in the throes of full blown malaria.

"Shh, Kate, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I'll fix this. I'll make it stop hurting, I promise," he whispered in her ear as he brushed her tears away. He quickly returned the oxygen mask to her face. He then turned to his bag and pulled out a vile and syringe, deciding to give her a sedative, something he had found amongst Desmond medical supplies in the hatch.

"Kate, I'm going to give you an injection now. It'll make you sleepy so don't fight it. It'll help the pain and hopefully when you wake up you'll feel better again," Jack explained to her. He then tied a piece of fabric around her arm and prepared the medicine. "Ok, you'll feel a little pinch," he warned before sliding the needle into her arm. Kate was already hurting so much that she didn't even feel the small prick. Jack got rid of the needle and then turned back to Kate, moving her hair out of her face. He could still see the tormented look in her eyes and for the first time since he had known Kate, he saw pure fear in her eyes as well.

"Kate, do you remember the story I told you the first day we met? When you stitching me up on the beach?"

She smiled weakly at the memory and softly replied, "About your first solo procedure in residency, angel hair pasta."

Jack was touched that she remembered that story. "Remember how I told you about letting the fear in, but only for five seconds?"

She nodded, remembering the times that the technique he taught her had helped her on this island.

"Ok then, let's do that right now. Let's let the fear in for five seconds and then put it away, ok?" Jack asked her

She smiled and said "One," as she allowed the fear to paralyze her.

Jack followed with "Two," while letting all of the possible worst case scenarios play through his mind.

They finished together, "Three, Four, Five"

When they reached five, they both took a deep breath and pushed the fears into the farthest corners of their minds.

At this point, Jack could see Kate's eyes beginning to droop. He kissed her again and whispered, "Sleep now, my beautiful Kate," as she fell asleep.

Jack rose, with one last look at the sleeping Kate before moving out into the next room to deal with whatever disaster Locke had waiting for him.