Lost Video Island

[Lostaway]

This is a fanfiction i worte a while ago while we were waiting for the second season. Remember when we all thought the "new guy" was gonna be called "Emeka"? Good times, good times...well, here it is! R&R, please!

Title: Brief Encounter
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Jack/Kate
Content: Violence and some language
Summary: Kate has an encounter with a mysterious person on the island.
Disclaimer: I don't own Lost (blast you, JJ, for getting the idea before me!), the characters, plots, blah blah blah.
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Brief Enounter

Flashback.

Kate Austen, young and pretty and tired of being tired, was awaken by a sharp tapping at her bedroom door. Not today, she thought. Of all days. "C'mon, Katie, time to go!" Her father called into her room. Kate moaned and rolled over. Looking out her window, she could see a fresh blanket of snow covering the ground from the night before. This had to be karma.

Kate showered, dressed, had a bowl of soggy Cheerios that her mother set out for her, and as she ate, her father joined her at the table. He opened the paper to the front page and frowned as he often did when hearing about the state of the world.

"It's all gone to hell, Katie. We'll kill ourselves before God kills us."

Kate sipped the milk from her spoon and her eyes drooped. It was nearly five-thirty on a Saturday morning. Her father looked at her and nudged her shoulder. "Hey, you awake over there?"

Kate dropped her spoon in her bowl and sighed. "Can't we skip the hike this Saturday?" She asked.

Her father folded his paper and raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're turning into a sullen teenager already! You're thirteen, Katie, let me enjoy what little child enthusiasm you have left."

Like you'd know the difference, Kate thought.

Kate's father set his paper aside and sipped his coffee. "Ah, that's good. I see your mother went back to sleep." He tilted his head beyond Kate and looked down the hall.

"Yes, sir." Said Kate, saving the last two of her Cheerios.

"One of these days we'll have to do this together. As a family." He said.

Kate was silent as she dipped her spoon in the milk and poured it back in the bowl. She watched as her father rinsed his mug in the sink, took his coat from the closet, and head downstairs. "We better go before it gets too light out there. The earlier we're there, the later we can stay. Coming, Katie?"

Kate sighed again and hopped off her stool. She put her dishes in the sink and prepared herself for another long day of hiking.

Kate scrounged the jungle floor for any fruit or edible veggies she could find. She knew she was a ways off from the caves, but not too far off to get truly lost. She figured if need be, someone would eventually hear her scream. She shook her head at such a thought, knowing that panicking while being lost would only get you more in trouble.

Although Sun had started a wonderful garden, certain plants still needed time to mature, and there wasn't much a starving vegetarian could eat besides what she found in the jungle. Coconuts were all well and good, but there's only so much a person can take before they need a change.

Kate told Jack she was going out to look for some fruit, and he gave her the same look he always did--that look that said he would never forgive himself if she had gotten lost or hurt out in the jungle. "Be careful." He had said. Kate admired the way Jack was always looking out for everyone, and even though it got tiring sometimes, he was still the one to look out for everyone, especially, it seemed, for Kate.

She waded through the thick brush of the jungle clearing, looking for anything that was good to eat. She came across a few figs here and there, but she knew she would sooner or later need to climb a tree and get her bearings. Kate stopped and brushed the sweat from her forhead. She took a swig of water from her pack and looked up at the bright sky. Behind her, she could hear ruslting.

Kate turned slowly and put her water bottle away. She took a rock and threw it at the bushes, but nothing happened. She exhaled sharply and turned again toward the sun. She set her pack on the ground, held her arms out, and deliberately fell to the ground, exhausted from the heat and needing a break. Kate brushed her hair off of her face and draped her arm over her eyes. And then . . . she heard the rustling again.

Kate sat up straight, her heart pounding, and watched as Jack came towards her. "Hey," he said, "you okay?"

She sighed, relieved, and put her hand on her forhead in a kind of salute to keep the sun from her eyes. "Yeah, just resting. What're you doing out here?" She asked.

Jack shrugged and sat down beside Kate. "Just . . . making sure you don't get lost."

Kate smiled and looked at him. "You worried about me, doctor?"

He grinned sheepishly and put his hands together between his legs. "Maybe. I thought you collapsed--you know, heat exhuastion or something."

Kate lay back down and folded her arms behind her head. "Playing dead, incase something comes by. Think it would've worked?" She asked.

Jack laid down next her, sighed, and put his hands over his chest. He pointed to the sky. "Keeping a lookout for planes?"

Kate chuckled. "Something like that."

They sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying each other's company but not saying a word. Kate liked the way Jack had followed her into the jungle; normally she would be annoyed. But there was something about the way he always needed to protect her--to protect everyone--that made her shut up and let him join her on the ground. She smiled and blushed as she thought of their current position.

"What's so funny?" Jack asked, turning his head to better look at her.

She shook her head. "I was just thinking . . . with everything going on, we still have time to lay around and watch the clouds go by."

Jack followed Kate and put his hands behind his head. "Well, even doctor's need a break now and then. Too bad there isn't a good Starbucks around. Besides, time doesn't matter on an island."

Kate's smile faded. "It does now." Jack knew what she was referring to, and blew out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm sure Michael and Sawyer are okay." He said.

Kate avoided his eyes and bit her lip. "Yeah . . ."

Jack sat up and caught her gaze. "It'll be okay, Kate. They know what they're doing."

Another reasuring gesture made by the resident doctor. Kate knew that he was trying to be optimistic to make her feel better, but Jack wasn't always right. Still, somehow, it made her feel a little less worried at least for a little bit.

Jack stood and held out his hand to Kate. He pulled her up and she gathered her pack and the fruit she was picking. "It's too bad you're a vegetarian, Kate." Said Jack, noticing her haul.

She shot a quizzical look at him. "I figure I'm doing my part by letting someone else have my share of fish and boar."

He smiled and shook his head. Kate walked ahead of him and he followed. "I'm just saying that there isn't much for someone like you to eat around here." Said Jack. "Soon the trees will be picked clean and I'll have to see you suffer through eating meat."

Kate laughed and nodded. "I see. You won't see me resorting to meat anytime soon, Jack."

"I know. If I could, I'd plant you all the banana trees in the world. Just don't get too hungry, Kate."

She rolled her eyes and grinned. "Do you want a date, Jack?" She asked.

He stopped in his tracks and watched her turn. " 'Scuse me?"

Kate pulled out a fig from her pocket and tossed it to him. Jack caught it on his chest and looked at the brown fruit. He smiled.

"Eat up." She said.

TBC
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