DISCLAIMER: Lost and its characters are the property of JJ Abrams, Bad Robot Productions, Touchstone Television, ABC and Disney. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For sassyotp, who prompted with the "Secret Smile" by Semisonic.
CHALLENGE: Submitted for the first International Day of Femslash.
SPOILERS: Takes place sometime after 3x16: "One of Us."
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
A Smile Just For Her
By mysensitiveside
Jack wasn't sure exactly when it happened, but sometime in the last few weeks, Kate had stopped needing him.
Well, maybe needing him wasn't the right way to put it. Kate made a point of not needing anyone. But she'd stopped listening to him as closely, watching him as much, talking to him as freely. Something had changed, and he couldn't figure it out.
It was driving him crazy.
He watched her, as she made her way across the beach. Maybe feeling his eyes on her, she turned towards him as she walked by, offering a small wave, but continuing forward without a moment's pause. A few weeks ago, she would have stopped and at least chatted for a little bit. Not this time.
Jack allowed his gaze to follow her, and as he saw Sawyer up ahead, his heart dropped, realizing that Kate was going to see him.
He was wrong, though, and he looked on in surprise when Kate approached Juliet instead. He wondered if he should be concerned. As far as he knew, the two women despised each other.
Hoping to defuse the situation before the two of them inevitably erupted into some kind of argument, Jack started towards them.
He stopped in his tracks, however, frowning in confusion when something about them seemed off. It didn't look like they were about to get into a fight, after all. In fact, if Jack didn't know better, he might almost say that Juliet looked happy to see Kate.
But apparently Jack didn't know as much as he thought he did; he couldn't hear what Kate said, but she held a small grin on her face as she said it, and Juliet broke into cheerful laughter in response. He continued to watch them, fascinated, as Kate smiled widely, her eyes never leaving Juliet's.
When the hell had the two of them started getting along, never mind laughing together?
They continued talking quietly, standing close together. Jack's eyes widened when he saw Juliet reach out and lightly brush a strand of hair out of Kate's face and behind her ear. Kate blushed at the touch, but didn't stop smiling.
If Jack didn't know better, he'd almost say it looked like they were flirting. But that was crazy. Jack did know better in this case. Right?
Kate, still grinning, shyly studied her foot, digging slowly in the sand. When she looked up again, an odd little smile spread across Juliet's face. The smile was unlike any Jack had seen on the blonde before. It occurred to him that it might be the first real smile he had ever seen Juliet give anyone.
Jack finally tore his gaze away. Even from this far away, he felt like he was intruding.
His eyes caught Sawyer's, who appeared just as bewildered as Jack by the scene.
"What the hell?" Sawyer mouthed, jerking his head towards the two women.
Jack could only shrug.
No, he still didn't know what it was that had made Kate start to drift away from him. Something had changed.
But Jack was starting to figure it out.
The End