A/N: Written for PornBattle 8 on Dreamwidth for the prompt Lost, Ben/girl!Jack, hatch, shifting obsession

I didn't understand. Why? Why a tumor? Hadn't I been loyal, hadn't I done everything I'd been asked? Then to be shot, tied up, tortured inside this stupid hatch. For what?

Jacqueline.

"Let me get that bandage changed for you, Henry."

I suppose I shouldn't have doubted. I smiled weakly, "Thank you, Jacqueline."

"You can call me Jackie if you want, everyone else does."

"I'd hate to presume—captive/jailer relations and such." She raised an eyebrow in my direction, and I sighed. "If that is what you'd like, Jackie."

I hadn't really registered how beautiful she was until our eyes met that split second before the armory door slammed shut and Sayid started his questioning--Jackie shouting and pounding away on the metal between us. I knew everything about her, but I had mentally filed her appearance somewhere next to her high school GPA and social security number. She was tan, athletic, with warm brown eyes, and dark, tightly braided hair. She also had the unfortunate idea that if she tried to be the son her alcoholic father wanted instead of the daughter he had, she'd find his approval somehow. I knew from experience there was no hope in that, even if the man hadn't been dead. All in all she was very different from the light-eyed blonds I tended to favor. I refused to think of Juliet—I've got a new doctor now.

Jackie cleaned my chest wound and covered it in fresh bandages while I tried not to shake as I felt her cool hands on my skin. After the last bit of tape was secure she moved on to the lacerations on my face, dabbing peroxide soaked cotton lightly over the cuts. The feel of the tingling bubbles under her fingertips shot strait to my groin, and I knew I was staring at her more intently than the situation warranted. I hoped she wouldn't notice how hard I was getting, this wasn't the time for base reactions.

Destiny.

I'd gotten sick on an island where people didn't get sick--a spinal tumor. Then literally falling out of the sky--a spinal surgeon.

Fate.

Now I knew how simple it was. Why was I sick? Because I needed to be sick so I could meet her.

Jacqueline.

"I think I'm done for now. I'll bring in dinner in a couple minutes, alright?"

"Thank you, Jackie."

I'd never be like the husband who didn't need her after she'd fixed him. When the tumor was gone Jackie could try every second of every day of her life, and she would never be able to fix me.

My lips curved in a smile as the heavy door clanked shut behind her.

I looked forward to her trying.