"…Three…Two...One. Ready or not, here I come!" Jack warned out-loud.

He opened his eyes and studied the path of grass and leaves in front of him. He wasn't as good of a tracker as Kate, but he did his best to catch any odd disturbances, but there were none. The little bugger was good, Jack thought with a smile. He walked, more like tip-toed, along a random path, and somehow he felt like he was going in the right direction. 'Hide and Seek' was their son's favorite game, and when he had the intricate plays of long leaves and high grass as his playground, Jack couldn't blame him to wanting to play in it all the time. He couldn't begin to count the many ways his son could hide without being seen or heard. He was small enough and sneaky enough, utilizing this remarkable ability to invent new ways to conceal himself, picking up that trait from his mother he supposed.

He heard something shift behind him, and turned to inspect, but there was nothing, just more empty space. He was never one to give up so easily, but he knew the sun would be going down soon, and they had to get back to the caves. "Okay kiddo, I give up! You can come out now!" As soon as Jack turned, his tiny, round blushing face appeared out of the leaves of a nearby bush, a smudge of dirt across his cheek. He was all smiles.

"I win again!" He boasted. Jack wiped the dirt from his face, picked up his small body and flung it over his shoulder, tickling his son's sides endlessly and melting at the screeched giggling that came from his tiny body. He was such a happy child, always in the mood to play.

Jack continued to tickle him. "You're too good at this, that's all. Your old man can't keep up anymore."

"Daddy! I can't breathe!" He whined breathlessly. Jack finally relented and released him from his tickling fingers, maneuvering him so that he sat on his hip. He kissed the tip of his nose and brushed his hair out of his eyes and the tears from his cheeks. He'd laughed until he cried; those were always the best kind. He placed his small arms around Jack's neck and allowed his father to carry him.

"Did you want to visit the beach later, play with your cousin Aaron and Ji-Yeon, not to mention, Tabitha, she's been asking about you. I'm sure they miss you."

"No, I want to stay here with you and Mommy." He decided, sounding so much like his father just then. When he made his mind up, there was absolutely nothing anyone could do to persuade him. He was twice as stubborn, inheriting the trait from his parents. "Wanna play again? I'll let you win this time."

Jack laughed loudly, tightening his grip. This child was unlike any other. Parts of he and Kate were more than obvious, from the tip of his head to the points of his toes, but he had a personality all his own. "I'm sorry kiddo, but we can't. We gotta pick these mangoes and get them back to your mother, before she grounds us both."

He giggled as he bounced around on his father's hip. "Mommy can't ground you."

"Oh yes she can." He didn't believe he would ever know what Kate couldn't get him to do.

They were now on their way back to the caves after grabbing, picking and inspecting every mango they could find. "You sure you're okay with carrying all of those mangoes. They can get pretty heavy."

"I'm sure!" He was such a little man, Jack thought. He was always out to prove himself, to be just as fast and as strong as his father. That iron-clad Shephard pride never skipped a generation.

Jack remembered those days as a child, wanting to be just like his dad. When he grew out of that infatuation phase and saw his father for the man that he was, the pushy, arrogant, demanding patriarch that he could never satisfy, he began to wonder why he even bothered. Even though he was bound to believe that his father loved him, it brought him more heartache trying to be his father than it ever had striving to be his own person. He finally learned that lesson and would never let the fragile little boy who walked beside him ever feel that kind of pain. He looked down at his little face, walking proudly with that sack of mangoes, and his heart filled with more joy than it could carry.

Jack looked back into the distance and there he was, the spotlight of the sun casting down in his shoulders. The same strands of grey all over, the folds of his face crinkled when he smiled, the crease at the slits of his eyes deepened as he squinted. Christian. He had to be imaging him, Jack thought, just like the other times he had, running haphazardly through the jungle in no definitive direction whatsoever just to get a steady glimpse of him. That was the only explanation, but only it wasn't. He was here. He felt the certainty of it seep into his skin. He finally came after so long.

"Daddy, who is that man?" His son asked from beside him.

Jack leaned down, and cupped his son's shoulders, urging him to turn and look into his eyes. His voice came out a little rugged, shocked. "You can see him, too?"

" 'Course I can! He's right there." He chimed and pointed, as if his father's question was the dumbest he ever heard.

Christian approached them. He and Jack shared a wordless exchange, using their eyes to express the sentiment of the moment. Christian looked down to the little boy by Jack's side, holding onto a bag that was almost as big as he was, and probably just a heavy, maybe heavier.

"Hey, kiddo. What you got there?"

"Mangoes." He said a bit shyly, but there was something familiar about the older man's eyes that caught him and somehow he knew that he could trust him, he already liked him. "We gotta get them to Mommy, before she gets mad at us." The serious look on his face caused Jack to bite the inside of his lip, so as not to laugh.

"Oh really? We don't want that, now do we?"

The child shook his head ardently. Christian became mesmerized by the bright green of the child's eyes. They were the only feature that was different from the vision of a young Jack that he still held close to his heart. He would definitely grow to be the splitting image of the man who stood next to him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Jack bent to his son's level. "Hey bud, why don't you get those to your Mom, okay? I'll be right there."

"Okay." He shrugged. He waved goodbye to the older man and scampered off in the direction of the caves before Christian could wave back.

Jack straightened, and took in his father's presence, that steely, commanding, authoritative presence was relaxed, proud, settled. "It's been so long, I didn't think you'd come."

"Don't I always?" He looked in the direction that the small child just ran off in, his eyes swimming with pride. That was his grandson. He was sure of it, and it knocked the wind out of him in a way he wasn't expecting. He was glorious, absolutely glorious.

"What? You checkin' up on me?" Jack pretended to mind.

"Maybe." He looked around as sunlight bounced off of the floral greens and tainted yellows of the undergrowth, stinging his eyes a little. "I knew that magical things would happen here, but I wasn't expecting him. He's beautiful Jack. He looks exactly like you, minus the eyes. What's his name?"

Jack sighed, letting go of a breath he forgot he'd been holding. He was waiting for this moment, but never thought it would come. "His name is Christian."

Christian's eyes grew startled, and then glazed over with unshed tears; he blinked them away. He cleared this throat and smiled as he held his son's gaze, then laughed. Jack couldn't help but join him. "You sure that was a good idea?"

He nodded wordlessly. "I wanted him to have something of yours. Hope you don't mind."

"Not at all." After a beat, Christian moved closer, pulling his son into a hug, his arms cradling, tight and fierce, relentless. It caught Jack off guard at first, but he instantly fell into his father's embrace. The last time they hugged this way, he consoled him after he discovered that he died, after the shock of it tore through him, but now, here, he had never felt more alive.

"I love you son." Jack could hear the emotion in his father's voice, that quiet, sinking shatter of his baritone that always meant he was holding back tears. He'd said this in the church. They held each other in the church, but this was different. Everything was so different here, except for the sentimental air that blew around them.

It felt like a lifetime ago when he last heard those words, but Jack gripped his father's shirt in his fists, his knuckles bare. He held him tightly and sighed. "I love you too, Dad."

Christian pulled away first, patting Jack on his shoulders, and took a good, long look before he turned and began to walk back from where he came, slowly, as if he never wanted to leave. He looked back and caught the forlorn glint in his son's eyes, desperate, pleading for him not to leave just yet. "Don't worry, son. I'll be back. All we have now is time." He reassured and began walking away. At the blink of Jack's eye, he was gone.

Jack entered the caves, and caught sight of Christian running circles around his mother while she walked around, preparing dinner. She bent down and kissed him on his forehead, as he continued to talk to her a mile a minute, without a breath in-between. He made sure to wipe the tears from his eyes, because Kate had this radar when it came to the tides of his emotions.

Kate bent to the ground, handing her son some silverware. "Here baby, take these over to the blanket for me, please." Christian skipped merrily to the blanket. "Carefully please..." She warned, and he instantly slowed down.

She spotted Jack from the corner of her eye, and turned. "Hey you. What took you so long?" Jack opened his mouth to explain, but was interrupted by their son's squeak of a voice.

"Did that man leave already, Daddy?"

"What man?" Kate asked turning her attention back to Jack.

"I'll tell you later. Right now, we should enjoy our dinner. We've been working our tails off, right kiddo?"

"Right!" Christian squealed from the blanket he now sat on, his fork and spoon in hand, ready to fill his little belly.

His fingertips caressed the smooth skin of her neck, the delicate curve of her spine, and the silk of her arm. He brushed her hair away from the back of her neck, and bent down to let his lips glide over the skin there, tickling her, making her shiver and shake. They lay snuggled under a blanket, naked, watching as the fire crackled next to them, sending warmth in every direction.

"Today was pretty great, as always." He said, breaking the calm silence of the night.

"Umhmm." She moaned, still basking in the afterglow.

"I asked Christian if he wanted to head over to the beach tomorrow, but he's content to stay here with us. Do you think he's avoiding Aaron? They try to bury each other in the sand a little too much, and Aaron always gets the best of him. Boys will be boys."

"He loves his cousin. I think he's avoiding Tabitha, to be honest. She picks on him far too much for it not to be something more. I think she has a crush on him."

Jack let out a playful gasp. "You think Tabitha has a crush on our son?"

"I was a little girl once, a tomboy like she is, and I was too shy when it came to boys, so I just decided to act like one, and hang out with them like a friend, to get a better understanding of them. I even picked on a few of my own that I liked, but they never liked me back."

"Aww." Jack laughed guiltily, somberly. "Well, if it's any consolation, you definitely learned how to come out of your shell, because this boy," he pointed to himself, "is crazy about you, can't get enough of you." He kissed her on the lips to emphasize his point.

She giggled as the scruff that he refused to shave, scratched at the skin of her neck. "I'm serious Jack, I think our son has a serious problem where Tabitha is concerned."

"Should we talk to Sawyer and Juliet about it? Get their wedding plans on paper?" He was half-listening now, feasting on the swell of her breasts and the dip of her torso.

"No," she moaned when she felt his lips travel over her panty-line. "They're just kids. It's a harmless crush, it'll pass." She urged him to come back up from underneath the blanket, and he begrudgingly did so. He tipped over onto his back, taking her along with him until she found a comfortable position over his chest. "So, ready to talk about the mysterious man in the jungle?"

He brought his arm around her waist and pulled. "It was my dad."

"Christian was here?" She asked, tilting her head to meet his eyes.

"Yeah, he was." His mind was caught between consciousness and sleep. "It was great to see him."

"I'm sure it was, and I'm sure it meant a lot to you that he came." It did, he thought. It really did. She yawned and placed her head into the crook of his shoulder, amazed at how perfect it fit. "Jack?"

"Yeah, Kate?" His large hand cupped the back of her head, urging her to fall all the way into him. She melted, she always melted.

"I love this place we created together." She whispered, her voice trailing off as sleep took her.

He smiled and wrapped both arms around her as he laid a gentle kiss to her forehead.

"Me too." He suddenly yawned, and pulled the blanket all the way over them.

Everything was finally the way it was supposed to be, the way it should have been.

Jack's eyes closed, but not for the last time. Never for the last time.

THE END