Disclaimer: As much as I wished I owned Jack or Desmond, I don't own Lost or any of the characters, yada yada yada. You know the drill.
A/N: Okay, I always thought there should be more about Jack and Des being friends. I just thought the scenes on the raft and boat were good to tweak and throw in some more Jack-Des stuff. There's some of the same dialogue from There's No Place Like Home, just to warn you. It's hopefully not too slash-y; hope you enjoy it!
"Where's Desmond?" Jack yelled, scanning the dark water. "Sayid? Desmond?"
"Jack!" Sayid called, swimming awkwardly towards the raft. Jack saw that Sayid was pulling a limp body through the water. Desmond.
"Damn it," Jack said softly as Sayid swam up to the raft. "Get him to the raft. Get him to the raft. Get him up in the raft," Jack kept yelling. "We've gotta get him in the raft." Jack reached down into the water and helped Hurley and Sayid get Desmond's unconscious form onto the raft, where he lay unmoving.
"Is he breathing? Oh, my God, is he breathing?" Hurley asked anxiously.
Jack knelt next to Desmond, putting an ear next to his mouth, listening for breath. Damn it. Jack got up on his knees and started doing CPR. "Come on, Desmond," he kept muttering, alternately pumping up and down on Desmond's chest and blowing air into his lungs. "Come on, Desmond, breathe!"
Finally Desmond choked and coughed, spitting water everywhere, but he was breathing. "Yeah!" Jack said, grinning in relief. "You're all right, Desmond. You're okay." He put a hand on Desmond's shoulder. "That's it. Just breathe, man. There you go." He helped Desmond sit up and lean against the side of the raft. "It's okay. It's okay," he whispered, reassuring himself as much as Desmond. "We're alive."
--
"We're gonna have to lie," Jack said softly, so only Desmond could hear him, as the boat approached the raft.
"What?" Desmond asked, a puzzled expression on his face.
"We have to lie," Jack repeated, louder. He hated having to admit that Locke was right, but he was. He couldn't imagine the problems they would have if they told the public that an island, populated with over forty survivors of a supposedly doomed flight, had suddenly disappeared into thin air. "We have to lie about everything. Absolutely every single thing that has happened since we got to that damn island."
Frank spoke up. "Jack, man, I know that I'm new to this whole group and all that, but isn't this when everyone's supposed to start jumping up and down and hugging each other?"
"The freighter; those men, those...those animals, they came to kill every single one of us," Jack said seriously, looking at everyone in turn, and then turning back to Frank. "You said our plane was found on the bottom of the ocean. It obviously isn't our plane, so it had to have been put there by someone who wants everyone to think that we're dead." He looked at Desmond, who nodded. "What do you think is gonna happen when we tell the public that, 'Hey, guess what, that's not actually our plane!' What's gonna happen to everyone that we just left behind?" Jack's voice had risen to a yell.
"Jack, calm down," Desmond said urgently. "They're gonna hear ya, brotha."
"We'll never be able to pull it off," Kate put in.
"Just let me do the talking," Jack said, his voice quieter now. "I'll deal with it."
The raft finally pulled up next to the boat and there was the sound of men yelling in a foreign language, then one of them yelled back towards the stern of the boat. "Ms. Widmore! Ms. Widmore!"
Widmore? Jack thought. Isn't that the name of Desmond's girlfr— His thought was cut off by Desmond's wild yell.
"Penny? Penny! Penny!" Desmond yelled. Jack had never heard him sound happier. The next thing he knew, Desmond had scrambled up the ladder onto the boat and was tightly embracing a woman. Jack grinned. So this is Penny, he said to himself.
As Jack and everyone else were helped up onto the boat, an ecstatically happy Desmond made the introductions. "Uh, this is…this is Penny." He seemed almost too excited to speak, and Jack couldn't help but laugh in spite of all that had happened. "This is, um Kate, and…and Aaron," Desmond continued. "And…and
Sun, and Sayid, and Hurley. This is Frank. And…" Desmond paused. "And Jack." He turned to Jack, grinning. "Jack, this is Penny!"
"It's nice to meet you, Penny," Jack said, but then his smile faded. "But we need to talk."
--
"Go over the story one more time, Jack," Desmond said, running his hands through his now-clean hair. "We need to make sure you've all got it."
"We crashed in the Indian Ocean," Jack began, taking a deep breath. "Some of us got out the emergency exit and eight of us eventually washed up on Membata. Kate helped get everyone onto the beach and helped the injured, even though she was six months pregnant at the time." Jack paused, running his hand across his head. Three survivors died later on; then Kate gave birth to Aaron. A typhoon washed ashore some remnants of a fishing boat, and the six of us took the raft and sailed to Sumba." Jack paused again. "Good?"
Desmond nodded. "Yeah." He addressed everyone else in the room. "Got it?" There were general, subdued nods and "yes"es. "All right."
"I guess…I guess we're good to go, then," Jack said hesitantly. He stood. "Let's, uh, let's get on with this."
--
Desmond walked with Jack over to the raft. He exhaled deeply. "Jack…are you sure about this, brotha?" he asked, looking into Jack's eyes.
"Are you sure?" Jack repeated Desmond's question.
"As long as I've got Penny, I'll be fine," Desmond assured him, smiling in spite of the situation.
"Don't let him find you Desmond," Jack said seriously.
Desmond nodded, glancing away for a minute. He looked back to Jack. "Good luck, brotha, yeah?" Desmond said, sticking out his hand to Jack. Jack took his hand and shook it firmly, hesitated for a moment, then pulled Desmond into a hug.
Jack stepped back, looking into Desmond's eyes. "Then I guess I'll see you in another life, brother."