It was necessary, and he knew it. He knew it from the very moment he realized some of his pills went missing. Quite a lote of them were gone, actually, and the doctor could only guess who had stole them – the person most likely to do so.
Jack walked toward Sawyer's tent all alone, planning on getting those pills himself – he's had enough of Kate following him around all the time, claiming she was the only one who could get the con man to do anything. If the survivors of the plane crash saw the doctor as a leader, he might as well try to make Sawyer follow his orders without using any tricks.
"Sawyer, I need to talk to you."
"Are you breaking up with me, Doc?" The blonde's lips formed a charming smile in the most annoying way Jack could describe, and his dimples got the spinal surgeon's attention for a bit longer than he wished they had. Noticing the uncomfortable expression on Jack's face, Sawyer closed his book and sat on his improvised bed – not without taking off the ridiculous glasses first. "Ok, what can I do for Dr Giggles this time?"
"Just give me the pills and we're good."
"Good? Hell, we're stuck in a damn island with nothing to entertain ourselves, Doc, how's giving them to you gonna make it any better? Unless the deal includes a helicopter coming to rescue us just as soon as I give you the pills, I'm keeping them." The distracting smile was back and so were the dimples. This seemed harder than Jack thought it could be, but he wouldn't let Sawyer have his way.
"I don't have time to play your games, James." The blonde man closed his eyes for a second, laughing quietly as he heard the doctor say his real name.
"Have you ever considered the idea that I might not have them, Hoss?" And he hasn't, in fact, considered that. Because even though Sawyer would try to make the doctor think there was something to consider, Jack couldn't think of anyone else who would want those pills so bad, just for the hell of it.
"You can either give them back or you can keep on wasting my time. If I were you, Sawyer, I'd choose the first option."
"Who's suffering so bad that you can't even have a chat with a friend, Doc? Whatever it is, I'm sure Tokyo Rose could make it go away with all that oriental crap."
"It's Boone. He's having a severe headache and Shannon won't let him accept anything other than painkillers."
"Well, well, it's not my fault Barbie has trust issues with the Japanese." Jack thought about telling Sawyer that Sun and also her husband were, in fact, Korean, but decided not to as it probably wouldn't help him. The doctor had to do better if he wanted the medicine, so he took advantage of Sawyer's distraction to make a fast move – the con man had opened his book again, put on his glasses, and was now reading while waiting for the spinal surgeon to go away. Jack quickly opened one of James's bags, looking desperately for the pills, when a hand held his arm strongly, forcing him to stop.
Jack couldn't help to notice that Sawyer pulled him closer, yet he couldn't really say he didn't like it. The doctor felt shivery as his eyes met the other's – so teasing and dismantling – thinking that he had not only lost his mind, but also the battle. Surprisingly, Sawyer took the painkillers and placed them in Jack's hand, without breaking the eye contact for not even a second.
"Next time your boyfriend's in pain, Hoss, you should try to ask nicely."
"Jealous, Sawyer?" Now Jack was the one smiling, a sincere and relieved smile, somehow wishing it would all last a bit more.
"Get outta here, Doc." The con man let go of the spinal surgeon's arm, turning his attention back to the book. Shephard got out of the tent without saying anything else and went back to the caves, where Shannon and Boone were waiting for him. Sawyer tried to concentrate on the book, but he kept on skipping words, sometimes missing whole sentences. A strange feeling started to take place inside of him and maybe, just maybe, he should've kept a bottle of painkillers for himself, in case the doctor started to mess up his mind.