Title: I couldn't find you

Author: Polly

Characters: Jate

Timeline: season 6, Missing Scene ep. 6x14

Rating: k

Summary: Kate is waiting for Jack to come back at the beach

Fear. It was all Kate could feel at that moment. She was watching the sea without blinking. With a grieved look, she narrowed her eyes, trying to see any move she could catch at the horizon.

The sharp pain of the gunshot wound in her shoulder had no end, but she didn't seem to feel it. Her heart was so tight that any other pain was incredibly tiny at her despair.

"Where is he? Where did he go? Why is he taking so long to go back?"

Words were hitting her mind all the time.

-Kate, you'd better sit down just a while - Hurley was trying to convince her without success.

-Don't you think that they are taking a long time? What is happening?

-They are coming. I hope they are coming.

Hurley was as worried as Kate, although he was a little quiet. Actually, his head was still trying to understand everything that had happened at that submarine. Sayid's sacrifice, the sea water flooding in... He couldn't even believe he had let that place alive.

Kate was feeling powerless. If she hadn't that wound, she would not hesitate, she would run towards the sea to help her friends. But how? She felt weak due to her blood loose; besides, she had just fainted during few seconds, when she was still in the submarine. She only remembered the fight between Jack and Sawyer, something about the bomb and after this, everything was dark. Her eyes closed and then, she woke up in Jack's arms. He was leading her, swimming, holding her tight. She was strongly holding his arms.

The lights were on and off, the water came up to their chest and it was rising more and more. There was some confusion. She was dizzy, but she could understand that the bomb had blasted and they were underwater, trying to leave from the wreckage. Jack let Hurley take care of Kate and he decided to go back to help the others.

Hurley and Kate swan with difficulty. She, because of her wounded arm and he, because of his panic. But, in the name of the survival, they bravely struggled against those adverse conditions and they finally reached the surface. While they were swimming, for several times, Kate stopped and looked back, but nobody was following her. They hardly swan until they arrived at the beach.

They stretched their bodies in the sand, with labored breathing. While she was recovering her breath, Kate was looking at the horizon. She didn't saw anyone.

Minutes elapsed. Nothing. She stood up and walked few steps without looking away from the sea. What she saw was just the dark night over that hugeness which had no end.

Some angst took her heart and minutes seemed hours. She knew him. She knew he was stubborn and he wouldn't stop until he saved everybody there. And this let her even more distressed.

"Come on, Jack, come back! Why can't I find you?" she thought, on tenterhooks.

Time passed and he hadn't come back. She looked at Hurley with tearful eyes.

-Something wrong happened, we have to help them!

-What can we do?

-I don't know, maybe we should go there...It's not so far and...

-No, no way. I'm also worried about them, ok, but dude... I don't know how I came here, the sea is very wild and we won't be able to reach the halfway.

Noticing that Kate was freaking out, Hurley tried to soothe her:

-Take it easy, Kate. They are coming.

Her head was aching. Kate could only think about what she hadn't done or said. "Maybe he won't go back". No, she couldn't think about this possibility. He couldn't go away this way, without solving things between them. Why were they so complicated? The fear of losing him and not seeing him anymore just made her sure that she definitely hadn't gotten over him; her feelings for him were still strongly pulsating deep inside her.

Her heart was beating fast. Her mouth was dry, the cold wind of the night was hitting against her wet clothes and there wasn't any sign of Jack.

They decided to walk furthermore; maybe the current water had washed their friends away. They walked through the rocks and watched every corner. Nothing. That waiting was making them nuts.

-They should have come back...

Her despair was increasing and she was about to cry when they heard some noise. Kate looked at Hurley; leaning on his shoulder, she was walking faster than she could. It was being hard to Hugo to accompany Kate, despite she was injured, she wanted to run.

-Jack!

Her face was taken by some breeze of relief when she saw him on his knees, next to Sawyer's body, on the shore. Everything seemed invisible. The only thing Kate could see was Jack. He was back! He was alive!

While she was running towards him, a bunch of feelings overwhelmed her core. She wanted to talk. She wanted to express how much she loved him, how important for her he was and the fact that she had almost died just thinking about the possibility of his death. But words didn't come and all she could utter at the moment was:

"I couldn't find you! I couldn't find you!"

She was on her knees in the sand; next to him, she was shivering. She was looking at him with tearful eyes, when Jack immediately wrapped her body in a soft manner, hugging her. He was devastated; not only because of his physical effort but also because of the whole sad scene he had just watched in the submarine. Jack had to let his friends behind. Jin's last words, asking him to go, were still resounding in his ear. It was impossible to describe what he was feeling inside, a mixture of shock, fear and panic. Kate was sobbing; tears were dropping down her face while she was nestling on Jack's shoulders.

All they needed at that moment was a hug. For the misery they had gone through and for the ones that were coming. They needed it to comfort and support, to get rid of their sadness, to feel that they had each other; they belonged together and, no matter what happened, they couldn't allow anything in the world keeping them apart anymore.

THE END