Jack's mind was in overdrive as he sat by Kate's bedside. He was having trouble wrapping his mind around that information he had just received. He most likely had a little sister. And somehow that little sister had ended up stranded on a mysterious tropical island with him after a plane crash. And now not only did he possibly gain a sister, but a nephew as well. Jack was beginning to realize just how little he knew about his father. Jack was beginning to feel a burning desire to know and understand the man who was Christian Shepard. Jack knew that he had a long way to go to get over all of the guilt and disappointment he felt from his relationship with his father but maybe finding Claire and Aaron would be a step toward closure for him.

Jack was pulled out of his musings by a change in Kate's breathing pattern. Her breathing began to quicken, indicating she was on the verge of regaining consciousness. Jack was still absolutely terrified for her, knowing that the disease ravaging her tiny body was nowhere near finished with her and also knowing that she couldn't take much more before it would be too much. As things stood at the moment, she would be extremely fortunate to escape this without some form of brain damage from the incredibly high fever she was suffering from sporadically.

Feeling her hand stir in his, he leaned over her and began to talk to her. "Hey Kate, I need you to wake up now, ok? You've been sleeping for a while; wake up so you can have some water."

Kate slowly opened her eyes at the sound of his voice. She was extremely confused. All she was aware of at the moment was that everything hurt, especially her head and chest, and that Jack was with her. Hearing his voice calmed her down despite the searing pain in her head.

"Jack? What…?" Kate's questioned died off as she tried to get up.

Jack gently pushed her shoulders back down onto the pillow, not about to let her get out of bed. "Kate, sweetheart, we've talked about this; you need to stay in bed right now. You need to rest so that you can get well sooner." Jack spoke softly to her, hoping to calm her down.

"Rest? Get well? Jack I don't understand, what's going on? Where are we?"

"Kate, you collapsed at the beach, you were having trouble breathing and so I brought you back to the hatch, don't you remember?"

"No…why did I collapse? I'm confused."

Jack was beginning to get concerned by Kate's confusion. She seemed very groggy and slow to comprehend anything at the moment.

"Kate, what is the last thing you remember?"

"I went on a hike with Claire…oh no, you weren't supposed to know about that…please don't be mad"

Jack was definitely freaking out now. She had no memory of her entire illness. He was terrified that this was due to her struggles with high fever.

"Kate, I'm not mad, don't worry about that ok? Can you tell me how you are feeling?"

"I feel confused, I don't understand, did something happen on the hike? Why am I in the Hatch?"

"Kate, you're sick, you've been sick for quite a while now. You've had a pretty high fever and that's probably why you are having trouble remembering things right now but don't worry, it'll clear up for you soon, I'm sure. You were feeling better so we walked down to the beach but then you got sick again so I had to bring you back here to give you some medicine and help your breathing."

"Sick? What kind of sick? It must be pretty bad because I feel like I got hit by a truck."

"Kate, you have malaria, probably got it from a mosquito bite."

"Oh…"

Jack could see that Kate's energy was draining and he knew that she was going to slip back into unconsciousness soon. He reached for a glass of water on the bedside table and handed it to Kate. "I need for you to drink this before you go back to sleep."

Kate took the glass and took a slow sip. It seemed to take all of her energy just to hold the glass. Jack turned to his medicine stash while she was drinking to arrange the medicines he needed her to take. He was brought back to her side immediately however when he heard the sound of the water glass breaking. He turned to find Kate in the throws of a massive seizure. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and her body was shaking and flailing. Jack made sure that there was nothing in the vicinity that she could hit and then had no choice but to sit and wait for it to end. He had no drugs to stop seizures with him, no ability to run any tests to understand what was going on with her. Jack was once again feeling completely helpless. After what felt like a lifetime but was in actuality less than a minute, Kate's body stilled and the seizure ended. Jack immediately bent down to check her breathing, sighing in relief when he felt her breath on his face. He then moved to take her pulse, not surprised to find that her heart was racing. Jack then placed the thermometer in her mouth to see how high her fever had risen, hoping that her seizure was related to her fever and not the malaria affecting her brain. The thermometer beeped and indicated that her fever was at 104.9. Jack realized that he was going to have to put her in the shower again in an attempt to reduce the fever because he could not afford to let it get any higher.

Just as he was about to pick her up, she opened her eyes. Jack looked at her and noticed that her eyes had taken on a glassy, faraway look, as if she were not really seeing anything.

"Kate? Can you hear me?"

"Jack?" Kate replied in a voice that was barely audible. "My head hurts Jack."

"I know Kate, I know, I'm so sorry." Jack was once again stuck watching her suffer.

"No Jack, my head hurts! It hurts!" Her voice was gradually rising and Jack wasn't sure what to do.

"Kate, calm down and tell me what it feels like. I need you to tell me where your head hurts."

"Jack, please, please make it stop! I can't see! Where are you? Don't leave me alone! It hurts!"

Kate was fully screaming now with tears streaming down her face. Jack was crying as well. He had never experienced this kind of heartache before. He was a doctor, he should be able to help her but instead she just seemed to be getting worse.

He reached over and took her face in his hands, "Kate, please, I need you to calm down, please!"

Kate began to calm down slightly at the feeling of Jack so near. "Jack, my head is going to explode and I can't see anything! Everything is just black! And it hurts, I think I'm dying." The last part slipped out in a whisper but it was loud enough for Jack to hear.

"Kate, you are NOT dying, not here, not today, I won't let that happen, do you understand?" Jack was trying to remain calm but inside he was completely falling apart. He reached for a flashlight and shone it in her eyes and felt the panic rise when he got no response. She was honestly unable to see. His beautiful spirited Kate was blind. After checking her eyes, he moved to his medical bag and took out a syringe filled with morphine. He could not bear to see her in this kind of pain and so he would use part of his precious limited supply of the pain killer to help her.

"Kate, I know you are scared and I know you are hurting but I need you to trust me ok? I'm going to take care of you, I promise. I'll always take care of you. Right now, I'm going to give you a shot of morphine to stop the pain in your head. When it starts working, I'm going to take you into the bathroom and put you in a cold shower to bring your fever down. It'll be uncomfortable, we had to do it a few days ago, but it's the only way to get your fever down and it's too high to not do something. Hopefully once we get your temperature lower and your pain managed, your eyes will be ok." Jack then injected the morphine into her arm. He watched her face relax as the medicine began to take effect.

"We'll figure this out Kate, I promise you, no matter what; you're going to be ok. Even if I have to swim to Australia to get help, I'll do it." Jack was not one to make promises in vain and he knew that this was a promise above all else that he would keep or else he didn't think he would be able to go on. Jack bent down and picked her up just as her eyes were beginning to drift closed. He kissed her forehead and whispered in her ear, "I love you," before carrying her into the bathroom while praying that her loss of eyesight was just a temporary result of the fever and pain in her head and not permanent blindness.