When Sawyer and Kate reunited, it felt to me more like a reunion of friends or even mere acquaintances. I then thought that any romantic interpretations of future scenes would either be paranoia or Skate fans being in denial. Before then, I'd thought there was a slight risk that the writers could choose to return to the love triangle (it is such a common trope in writing) but I hoped that it'd be over.

When I first watched Lost I didn't ship Jate, so I held on to the bitter end lol :D

^Fair enough. I've been guilty enough of that with non-endgame couples I love.