It's been two weeks since she contracted septis.
Fortunately the antibiotics took effect quickly and she's now fully recovered with no side effects.
Something's changed between her and Jack since everything went down, but she can't quite put her finger on what. She knows that it has brought them closer together and clarified the depth of her feelings for him. But she's never been sure how he feels about her, least of all now.
When Jack appears on the beach, she's quick to grab a handful of mangos and bananas and join him as he strides down the beach towards his latest patient.
She's said thank you once before, but she feels like he brushed it off as if it was nothing, when it was felt like everything to her.
Kate shoves the mangos and bananas towards him as an offering, and turns to look at him as they walk.
"Jack, I just wanted to say thanks for everything you did for me when I was sick. I could have died if you weren't there."
She feels suddenly shy, trying to express to him everything she owes. The words don't seem enough, nor do the pathetic bunch of fruit she has given him.
Jack stops and takes her fruit, his expression switching between grave and amused.
"Thanks Kate. I don't really have time to go and gather fruit myself so these will be great," he says sincerely.
"And I only did what I needed to do for you to make sure you got better," he adds, as if it were no effort.
Kate bites her lip, and if she's disappointed by his response she won't let it show.
Because she has feelings for Jack that go beyond what she feels for any other survivor here, so him telling her he's treating her like any other patient aren't exactly what she wants to hear.
It frustrates her that they have to much chemistry, and so much synastry together, but he's never made a step to take it beyond friendship. Maybe he doesn't think of her the way she does of him.
Kate nods.
"There's something I should tell you," Jack adds, looking around to check they aren't going to be overheard.
"I took a sample from you when you miscarried. It's in the hatch. It will have your DNA and the Marshal's DNA in it. I thought you should have the choice whether you want to use it in court. It would prove that he assaulted you. If your case goes to trial the jury should know what he did to you. Even if he's dead and he can't be charged, he shouldn't be allowed to get away with his crime," Jack adds, looking tense.
He's still angry over what the Marshal did to Kate, and he wants her to have something close to justice. If she'd seen him after he had assaulted her he could have taken a DNA sample from Kate, but Jack can still wants to call the Marshal to account from the baby's DNA.
If the jury knows the Marshal raped her, then they're likely to reduce her sentence. Because if her sentence is all about her suffering, then they'll know she's already suffered enough - both from the rape and then the miscarriage.
Kate looks back at him shocked.
After a moment she speaks. "I appreciate you thinking of that, Jack. But I don't know if I want to talk about what happened to a court room full of strangers."
She pauses. "It would be really difficult," she adds, and he doesn't miss that her voice is starting to quiver.
Jack puts a hand on her arm. "Kate you wouldn't have to speak to everyone. They can close down the courtroom and you just speak to the judge and jury. The media wouldn't be allowed to report on that either because you would be entitled to privacy."
Kate looks away. "I don't know Jack. I would have to talk to a lawyer and see what he thought. I don't even know if a jury would believe me if I said what happened. I'm a criminal and they might think I seduced him."
Kate struggling to control herself, and she's trying to suppress the tears that are threatening to break out at the thought of that traumatic event.
"You were in handcuffs Kate, under the marshal's custody," Jack raises his voice, and it's only now that all of his anger over the Marshal's actions starts spilling out of him.
"He should never have laid a hand on you, it's illegal. And I can testify about your back injury if you want me to. The jury's not going to buy that you got an injury like that from seducing him," he finishes angrily.
Kate bites her lip and nods, "I'll talk to my lawyer about it."
"And you tell the jury about your dad," Jack continues, passionately. "How he beat up your Mom, how he hit you and tried to assault you. How he shook your cousin when he was a baby and how he might have killed and assaulted your baby sister. You tell them all about that. A jury is not going to be sympathetic to men who hit their wives and abuse their kids," he says, all fired up. "They might let you off with no charges," he adds.
Kate nods, Jack's conviction that things might go better for her on court than she thought gives her comfort, and hope.
She plucks up the courage to ask him what's on her mind.
"Why do you care about this Jack?" she asks, finally. Because a moment ago he was telling her he'd cared for her like any other patient.
Jack looks back at her, and then looks down at his feet for a moment.
Then he looks back up at her, and meets her eyes.
"I care about you Kate. I care too much," he adds, sounding almost shamefaced.
"When you had the miscarriage and then you got the infection I realized how much I care for you, and how I couldn't do without you. When I thought about losing you it terrified me," he admits quietly.
"And I want you to tell the judge and jury everything because I want you to stop running and I want to have a future with you when we get off this island. I think if you told the truth about what really happened you could get quite a light sentence or even get off without a conviction. And then we could be together like I want us to."
Jack looks back at Kate, watching her face carefully. He's carried these feelings for her for so many weeks, but he's been afraid to say them out loud for fear she doesn't return them.
Kate's looking back at him, startled, but then she starts to smile, and her green shining eyes burn back into his.
"I want us to be together too Jack. I've always wanted that. I've always been with you ever since day one here. Only I know that once we get back home I was going to go on trial and go to jail and I didn't want to put you through that. So I told myself you're better off without you."
Jack shakes his head, disagreeing sharply. "I'm not better off without you. When I though I might lose you I was a mess Kate."
Jack steps into Kate and places his head onto her forehead, and she looks back at him shyly.
"I want you so much Kate it's killing me. I think about you every hour of every day. When I'm away from you I miss you like crazy. It's like you're running in my bloodstream. You're my addiction and I go into withdrawal when you're not around," he says horsely, and he strokes her hair.
Kate's startled by his admission, and she opens her mouth to say something. "Jack, I..."
But Jack cuts her off before she gets out the words, his mouth suctioning onto hers, as he kisses the breath right out of her.
She eventually breaks the kiss off, desperate for air.
Kate turns to see that several people on the beach have paused what they're doing and are watching them with rapt attention and amusement.
"Yeah, you go Doc," Hurley hollers back, enthusiastically.
Jack smiles back, embaressed, but doesn't reply to the remark. Instead he grabs Kate by the hand and takes her towards the jungle.
Kate follows along without question, because as she told Jack, wherever he goes, she'll always with him.
Fifteen minutes later they reach a secluded spot where a rash of colourful flowers breaks up the jungle canopy.
"Do you like it?" Jack asks, indicating to the flowers around them.
"It's beautiful," Kate replies, nodding.
Jack steps closer to her. "I remembered it because it's a beautiful spot to take the most beautiful girl. My girl."
Kate smiles shyly. Them being together is so new to her that it feels strange, but so thrilling.
Kate steps in closer to Jack. "I'm so happy you told me how you feel Jack."
Jack closes the distance between them so he's right up next to her face. "Kate I want to be with you. I want you so much. But I know that what the Marshal did to you was traumatic. So I understand if you need to take some more time before we can be together," he adds.
Kate looks down for a moment, then looks back at Jack and shakes her head.
"There's no one else I trust as much as you Jack. I feel safe with you and I know that you would never hurt me. I've had these feelings for you for so long and I don't want us to wait any longer."
Jack doesn't reply back and instead he wraps Kate into his arms, and presses his mouth against hers.
Jack's arms feel strong and warm around her. Kate returns the kiss and opens her mouth, allowing his tongue to invade her mouth.
Neither of them can get enough of each other and after a minute Jack picks Kate up into his arms, wraps her legs around his waist and lowers her down onto the mossy ground beneath them.
His hands move to pull off her tank top and then reach for the buttons on her cargo pants, while her hands are tugging at his t shirt and jeans.
A moment later they're both naked and Jack's hands are running reverently over her body, caressing her hair, her face, her breasts and her skin, and his touch leaves a trail of fire against her skin.
Kate presses little kisses against his chest, and runs her hands over his broad shoulders and chest, feeling the sinews of his muscles.
Then Jack's mouth is in her ear, his words leaving hot breath in her ears.
"You're so perfect Kate. You're too pretty to be real. I love your hair on my skin, your nipples against my chest, the feel of your legs around my waist."
She lets him speak to her without replying, because it's like the sum of so many day dreams she's had about Jack and what being with him might be like, all coming to fruition at once.
Kate continues to drift off in Jack's arms, her hand running over his back, finding it hard to believe this is real life.
A moment later Jack is fishing down into his jeans and he draws out his wallet. A few seconds later he triumphantly pulls out a condom.
Kate looks at him puzzled. "I thought we were all out of those," repeating what she's heard from several of the island's women.
Jack looks back at her, embarressed. "I kept some. In case we got together."
Kate looks back at him, surprised. "For how long have you been thinking we might get together?"
Jack shrugs his shoulders.
"I always thought about us being together.," he replies like it's obvious.
"I couldn't help myself. I wanted to be inside you since the first day I met you. It was always about you Kate, ever since I met you. I'm so much in love with you," he admits.
Kate blushes, and rubs her hand over his face tenderly.
Jack unwraps the condom and rolls it on, then takes Kate in his arms again.
Kate speaks from underneath him as he pushes himself inside her, feeling her tight walls against him. "I think love you too Jack," she breathes against his neck, as she runs her hands over the breadth of his back.
Jack runs his hand over her cheek, then presses his lips against her jawline as he eases himself out of her then back in again.
"Love you more, baby," he says into her ear and follows it with a slow groan.
Jack builds a quick rhythm and soon there's no more talking only a breathy urgency overtaking them both as he thrusts into her with a growing need to finally claim her as his.
He finally comes inside her with a hard thrust and by then she's already undone by everything he's said and done to her today.
Afterwards it's so still and quiet in the jungle as they lie tangled together.
Kate has her head against Jack's chest and his heart beat is steady and strong, while his hands are in her hair, stroking it comfortingly, and pressing little kisses into her cheek.
Kate's used to running but she doesn't think she can ever part from Jack after this.
They are forever fused together, body, mind and soul, intertwined through physical passion that burns through their veins and has somehow united their hearts.
They are like the missing pieces of one soul, once separated, now indelibly reunited.
Underneath her, she thinks Jack must be reading her thoughts.
"You can't run from me now, baby," Jack says, capturing her hand in his and pressing it into where her breasts are pressed against his chest.
Kate looks up at him, and smiles, shaking her head. "I'm not planning to Jack."
"Good because we need to start planning our future together," Jack replies, and his head is turning to a new home, and children and a happily ever after.
Nestled in his arms, after several months of turmoil, Kate finally feels whole once more.
It's only when Jack's lulling her off to sleep with talk of their future together, and sweet endearments whispered from his mouth into her ear, that she realises she was wrong.
She doesn't think she loves him - now she's certain of it.
THE END.
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