This story is set in near the start of Season 2.
The breeze on the island runs fresh and cool on a summer morning.
Jack, Kate and Charlie are carrying water back towards the beach, and it feels like same old, same old to them by now. Jack's on his way to check on his patients for the latest on the minor tropical maladies affecting their castaways.
They chat comfortably amongst themselves - talking about the weather, their food stocks and plans to improve their shelter.
There is nothing that stands out as memorable on this particular morning until Kate falls suddenly silent, and stops participating in their conversation.
Jack is the first to pick up on it. "Kate - are you ok?," he asks, sounding concerned.
Kate nods quickly, and hastily explains. "Yeah, just a little tired."
They keep walking and its only a few minutes later that it becomes clear that everything is not ok.
Jack sees the way Kate's face has turned pale and her skin has taken on a glossy sheen.
She suddenly turns away from them both and runs away into the thick overgrowth. She only wants to be alone, away from them both. She doesn't want or need Jack's concern or his questions right now.
Jack follows her quickly, undeterred by her attempt to get away, his face confused and worried.
By the time he reaches her she's bent over vomiting, her stomach heaving.
A moment later she's done, but she feels too exhausted to stand and she's bent over, her weight on her hands, feeling sweaty and weak.
"That didn't sound good Kate," Jack says as he starts checking her over with a professional eye. Feeling her temperature, checking her pulse and eyeing her carefully.
All this makes Kate feel nervous. She didn't ask for him to do this, but if she yells at him not to then this becomes a bigger deal than she wants him to make of it.
So she allows him to do a quick check then brushes off his concerns.
"I think it must have been the fish," she says. "Maybe it was out too long in the sun yesterday evening."
Jack makes a noise like "umm" while still eying her with concern.
"Do you have any other symptoms," he asks.
"I just feel a bit drained," Kate responds.
"How long have you been feeling queasy for?"
"Just started during the hike," Kate comes back with, now picking herself up off the ground and turning around to head back.
Jack catches up with her and presses his hand to her forehead again. "You've cooled off a bit. So I don't think it's a fever. Maybe it was something you ate," he finishes.
Kate nods in agreement.
"We'll just take it easy the rest of the way. No need to rush." Jack decides.
Kate brushes off Charlie's worries with an explanation that something she ate disagreed with her, and Charlie comes back with too much detail about how Hurley got the runs a couple of days ago from some of the berries in the jungle.
Kate makes a face at Jack, who interrupts Charlie quickly.
"Might not be the best topic Charlie seeing as Kate just lost her breakfast back there."
Charlie looks surprised, then switches topics back to the glory days of the first band tour, and everything gets back to some sense of normality for the rest of their hike.
Nothing more is said about Kate feeling sick until a couple of days later when she's at the caves collecting water again.
The walk there has her feeling unusually tired, and she's still yet to return to the beach.
She's packed up her bag with water and has only set off a few steps when her body feels heavy and strange, while her head is suddenly light.
It's takes her a few minutes to come to again, and Sun and Jack are now by her side, fussing busily around her.
"What..." Kate starts, sounding confused.
"You fainted," Jack explains.
His hands are checking her pulse, her forehead, her cheeks while his eyes peer at her closely.
"How are you feeling?" he questions.
"Ok just a bit weird. Might have gotten a bit hot for me today," she adds lamely.
"Hmm, yeah," Jack replies. Today isn't any warmer or cooler than any other day on the island, so it doesn't seem enough to knock her out.
"You don't have any other symptoms - no fever, no chills, no tiredness?" he asks.
Kate shakes her head in reply, but she keeps her head down and doesn't look back into his eyes.
Jack's unpacked one of the water bottles from her backpack and passes it over to her to take a drink.
He doesn't like this new development, especially in light of Kate being sick in the jungle so recently. It's unsettling him.
At medical school he was taught to always start from the the most likely, and therefore common illness and work his way backwards, eliminating the obvious possibilities one by one.
If she were over 60 he would start going through her medications, checking her blood pressure or worrying about vertigo.
But Kate's an otherwise healthy women in her 20s. And for her sex and age, the most obvious cause of bouts of vomiting and dizziness is pregnancy.
He's gotta go there, even if he doesn't want to. Even if it's Kate - and it hits too close to home for them both to ask her these questions. Even if she's something more than a patient, or a friend, or a fellow castaway, however undefined that something is.
He clears his throat uneasily. "Kate the vomiting and the dizzy spells. They're classic first trimester pregnancy symptoms. Is there any chance you could be pregnant?"
It shouldn't come as a shock that Jack's put two and two together but her head is still far too dizzy, her thinking is all off, and her mouth feels dry.
She isn't mentally or emotionally prepared for this discussion with Jack. It has to happen at some stage, but it's too soon, and she can't deal with the fallout right now.
There's something in her expression in response to his question and her hesitation that makes Jack think, Oh fuck she's pregnant.
Kate prevaricates in response. "I don't think so."
It's not a yes - because she's not ready to go there yet. But it's not a no either.
"When was your last period," Jack resumes doctor mode once more.
Kate shakes her head ever so slightly, like this is an unwelcome question and she doesn't want to or can't go there right now.
Jack's not deterred, and there's something driving his need to know that's not even related to his status as a doctor, though he would never admit that, even to himself.
"Kate," he prompts her again, waiting for an answer.
She looks away from him, and her voice sounds hesitant.
"Before we got here, in Australia. I don't remember exactly."
It's been six weeks since they got to the island, so its possible she's as much as six weeks pregnant. Or even more.
"It could just be the poor diet, or stress, but with the nausea and the dizziness it could very well be pregnancy, if that is at all possible," Jack adds, and waits for her reply.
He wants her to come back with some sort of definite denial that its possible that doesn't destroy all of the unspoken, unacknowledged wishes he has built in his head about Kate and him together.
But she's silent, and her lips press together while her gaze drops to the ground.
"If you keep getting the vomiting bouts and dizziness then it's very likely you are pregnant. We can't tell for sure as we don't have any tests left here. So we'll just have to monitor your symptoms for now."
"I don't think you should be in the jungle alone," he adds, decisively. "If you have another fainting spell you could hurt yourself."
Kate turns away from him and the tears prick in her eyes. She walks away quickly because she knows her limits and she can't take any more of this particular conversation. She knows she's hurt and disappointed Jack.
Hell, she's hurt and disappointed herself.
She's not as good as he is, she's not as perfect, and this reminds her of that.
Please review if you liked this chapter, thanks.
Also I have written another Jack/Kate story called A Million Reasons you can read it by clicking on my author name (it is M rated so you may need to update the rating settings if it doesn't show up).