Chapter 10

Afternoon turned to evening and Sayid and the others weren't back yet. From the beach, the jungle seemed tranquil, but that didn't mean the "monster" hadn't found them miles away. The others figured Locke was dead, having been gone for too long. Kate was alone with Aaron, though she probably shouldn't have been. She hadn't slept since the flight. She nodded off once when the baby did, but her anxiety crept into her sleep and she thought she heard the baby's cries, though when she awoke, Aaron was still asleep. Kate rocked him too roughly.

"Shhhhhhh," She pleaded with the infant to stop crying. Hurley had found a grove of coconut trees not far from the beach, and brought her enough to feed the baby for days, but Jack was hesitant in continuing feeding the baby the coconut water. Too much potassium could hurt him. The baby resisted it anyway, unsatisfied by the fact that it was not milk. Kate held one of the new bottles that Sayid and the others had found in the diaper bag, and tried to feed Aaron once more, and again he thrashed his head around, wailing.

"Please Aaron, please," Kate cried softly.

"Don't rock him so fast."

Kate jumped at the sound of the Korean woman's voice and stopped rocking the baby. She looked up at the woman, shocked.

"You speak English?" Kate asked in disbelief.

"My husband doesn't know," She responded.

"Why?"

"He has a bad temper." The woman looked down ashamed.

"Clearly… but why are you telling me?"

"I want to help… in Korea, we… I inquired about adoption… I wanted to help…"

Kate regarded the woman. She was slender with shoulder length hair. She was beautiful, but troubled. Aaron screamed again and Kate began to rock him, slower than before. He quieted down, but still fussed unhappily.

"I don't know your name," Kate said after a moment.

"Sun." She walked nearer to them and peered down at the infant. She smiled at him and reached out her finger, which Aaron grabbed with his tiny hand. Sun looked at Kate earnestly, and stretched out her arms, offering to take the baby. Kate hesitated for a moment, contemplating whether she could trust this woman who had already lied once. Finally, her exhaustion won out when the baby let out a loud sob, and she handed him over.

****Flashback****

Kate signed the final paper in the collection of insurance documents the agent had handed her. Clicking the pen, Kate asked, "Are we finished here?"

"Yes ma'am, your mother's house is fully insured."

Kate rose from the chair, heart pounding, and pushed through the door. Step one in her plan was complete, now she just had to wait. Kate jumped on her moped and sped away from the office. She tore through the small town to the local community center. I can't believe I agreed to do this… they don't even want me here, Kate thought ruefully. Nevertheless, when she parked in the gravel lot, she only hesitated a moment before entering the building.

Inside, balloons were everywhere. Helium filled balloons stood sentry along the hallway, and more were taped to the archway. Blue and pink blurred together as Kate scanned the room, searching for a friendly face. Instead, her eyes landed on the host. Eight months pregnant, Nicole looked like she was hiding a basketball under her long slip dress. Kate rolled her eyes, not even thinking to go say hi to her, and kept searching the crowd. She could feel the partygoers staring at her, underdressed in her jeans and denim jacket. Ignoring them all, she finally found Tom and his girlfriend signing the guest book.

"Hey," Kate greeted the couple. They turned to face her, holding a large wrapped gift. "Shit."

"You didn't bring a gift, did you?" Tom shook his head, smiling.

"I've had other things on my mind besides Nicole and her accident," Kate remarked.

"Katie!" Tom scolded, and Kate fought the urge to hit him for using her old nickname. The group walked over to the refreshment table and Kate noticed they had a cooler labeled, "beer" and she grabbed one.

"Hi Katie!" Nicole was approaching them slowly in an exaggerated waddle. Kate winced.

"Hi Nicky!" Nicole had been called icky Nicky as a child, but she didn't know it was Kate that came up with it. Nicole frowned at her, but Kate just sipped her beer and smiled as if she didn't notice. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, you know, my back hurts all the time and I'm peeing constantly, but pregnancy is just beautiful."

Kate fought hard to not roll her eyes again, but Tom was her savior.

"Isn't it? I can't wait to have kids." Tom's girlfriend Rachel blanched. "When it's the right time of course," he quickly added. Nicole's frown deepened, perhaps taking offense because everyone knew that at 20 the time hadn't been right for her. Suddenly there was a raucous across the hall. Kate looked over to see Chris, Nicole's fiance and the father of the baby, stumbling out from a group of people, quickly followed by an angry man. Chris regained his balance and swung at the man, hitting him in the face. The man fell, and the group behind him caught him before they all turned on Chris. People from around the room rushed to break up the fight before it got uglier. As the Chris was being shoved away, the wounded man got up from the floor and spit blood in Chris's direction, before turning and leaving the hall. Kate sipped her beer, confident in her resolve to never have kids.

****Flashback Ends****

After Kate washed up in the ocean, she found Jack stretching a tarp over some wreckage, forming a tent. He turned, saw Kate approaching and held out his arms.

"What do you think?" He asked with a smile.

"For me?"

"For both of you," Jack said. Kate smiled back at him and entered the tent. It was small, but it was already set with airplane cushions and a blanket. Kate noticed a small pile of fruit in the corner.

"Thank you… for all of it," Kate said, turning out of the tent.

"Of course, where's the baby?" Jack asked.

"Sun, um… the Korean lady. She came over, took the baby and shooed me off."

"She didn't say anything besides her name?"

"Not in English," Kate lied.

"Well, that was nice. You should get some rest while you can," He responded, not fully believing her lie.

Kate nodded, entered the tent and collapsed on the cushions. She heard Jack's footsteps recede in the sand, and Kate was alone. Her eyes instantly drifted close and she fell into an anxious sleep.

She awoke to silence. No screaming baby in the distance, no chatter of the camp, not even the waves seemed to crash on the shore. Kate rubbed her eyes and stood up as much as she could in the cramped shelter. She pulled aside the tarp, and found the beach camp gone. Nothing was there, but for Kate's tent. The beach was fully empty. No people, no tents, no wreckage, no plane. Nothing but sand with the looming jungle behind it. From within the trees, Kate heard Aaron's faint cry. Kate whipped her head towards the sound, and listened again. Silence so loud it made her ears ring, Kate waited for what felt like infinity, until the baby cried again followed by the roar of the monster, clicking close to where the cry emitted. Kate sprinted into the jungle, tearing past the spiked vines and thick leaves that lay in her path. The monster bellowed loudly to her right and Kate pivoted her trail. Deeper into the jungle she ran. The baby's wails got closer and closer, until finally across the clearing, a bundle of blankets was nestled at the base of a tree. A train whistle blew behind Kate and she took off towards the bundle, but as she reached the middle of the clearing she was lifted off the ground by some unseen force.

Kate woke up violently, covered in sweat. Jolting forward, Kate sat on the edge of the cushions. She could hear the waves now, the camp chatter, and the baby. It was all a dream. When Kate exited the tent, night had fallen. She looked up at the stars and cursed herself for not getting any true, peaceful rest. All around her, people jogged towards the treeline. Kate turned to see what the commotion was, and found that John Locke had returned. She joined the others and gathered around him, but it was Sayid that spoke first.

"We were unable to send out a distress signal with the transceiver," he announced. The group groaned in disappointment, but Sayid wasn't finished, "don't lose hope, we will try again…" he continued on but Kate noticed Locke walk away from the group with his eye on her, so she followed.

"Do you have it?" She asked, but Locke was already reaching into his pack. He handed her the canister, and she opened it. It won't last long the demon appeared abrasively. The angel soon followed, but it's something.

"Thank you," Kate said sincerely, not knowing what Locke must have seen. She took off hastily down the beach, to where Jack was pacing and bouncing the screaming baby. Kate made her way over to where the diaper bag lay, and quickly made Aaron a bottle.

"He came back?" Jack asked.

"Yes, so did the others." Jack handed her the baby, and Kate began to feed him. He promptly sucked down the bottle and Jack reminded Kate to burp him, so she lifted him upright and patted his back and he let out a loud, healthy burp. Kate giggled softly and for a moment she felt like things would be okay.