Life Interrupted
Chapter Two
Chapter Two: Welcoming Party
"That was nine months ago..."
She didn't need Jack to tell her that he had no clue of what she was saying. She also didn't need him to tell her he didn't believe her.
"Sawyer and I escaped," Kate began again, swallowing, as though the memory were painful to her, "they had you. That was nine months ago."
He only stared at her. Incredulous, Jack let out a laugh, too stunned for words. Kate looked away, mind racing.
"No it wasn't," Jack finally said, attempting to smile, as if that would change things.
Behind her, Kate could still hear Sun's screams of pain.
"Look around, Jack!" Kate cried. "Look at Sun!"
Jack took a moment to look behind her, his presence changing completly upon seeing Sun. She wondered if he hadn't noticed her while walking in...but how could he not? Not to mention the hatch's interior itself had changed; surely Jack would notice that in time. But before she could retaliate, Jack was rushing towards Sun, sitting down at her feet.
"What the hell are you doing?" Sawyer demanded, snapped out of his own riveri.
Looking up at him, Jack briefly met eyes with Sawyer.
"I'm delivering a baby," he replied, determined.
For a moment Sun stopped screaming, watching Jack, hope dancing across her face as he began to ask her a list of questions.
"Don't you think you should wash your hands first?" Sawyer snapped back with sarcastic sincerity.
Jack looked up at him, about to protest before deciding he was right.
(space)
The water splashed on his hands in an unfamiliar rush, a cold sensation bringing shivers up his spine, as though washing his hands was a process he wasn't used to. Running the soap over his rough, callused hands, Jack noticed that dozens of tiny scars were cut deep into his hands, decorating his skin in a thin color of pink. Water dripped from his hands, stinging his scarred skin as he examined the tiny wounds, interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Hey," Kate greeted softly, stepping into the room.
Jack shut the water off, subconsiously covering his hand.
"You ready?" She asked him lightly.
Jack nodded. It was weird, if he had been missing for nine months, he assumed that meant some of his medical memory would be faulty. But everything, every procedure that needed to be done and question that needed to be asked, came to him crystal clear.
"You don't have to do this," Kate told him, her voice remaining unusually soft for her tone.
"I'm fine," Jack insisted, "really, I don't see-"
"Nine months, Jack," Kate cut in, taking a step forward, decreasing the distance between them, "that's a long time for someone to suddenly come back into your life."
He didn't reply. He didn't want to accept it...nine months. Why didn't he remember any of it? Where had he been? With the Others? All the while, Jack had been holding onto the faded wounds on his hands, and he must've been obvious about it because Kate reached up to him then, bringing the hand holding the other down. Grabbing onto his wrist, Jack was surprised to find himself flinching in pain at the touch as she examined them.
"What the hell happened?" She demanded quietly.
Jack looked down to his wrist. Both on top and below the bones of his hand, each wrist was bruised heavily, sharing shades of blue and black. Underneath them, yellow spots of skin colored his hand and arms, implying that even older wounds lay underneath.
"Maybe you should wrap them," Kate suggested, nodding to Jack's injured hands. He wondered briefly how it was that they still had medical supplies left over, had it really been nine months. Were they still getting the balloon supply drops?
"I don't have time," Jack argued. He hesitated. It already seemed enough of a surprise that he was back, he didn't want anyone to be concerned or worried about the wounds. "Do you have any kind of jacket down here?"
Kate nodded.
"Sawyer has a shirt down here," she replied, already exiting the room.
He didn't ask, leaning back against the sink as she left. Taking a deep breath, a wave of dejavu came over him, the hundreds of surgeries he had prepared for in the past coming to mind. His mind slowly coming to a distantly familiar ease(for a moment of peace would eventually come to him when he took the time to accept it), Jack tried to take advantage of the moment, in his head running through everything he would need to do in order for Sun to have a successful delivery. If it really had been nine months, Jack hadn't been here to take note of anything that had happened with her- if she had ever been seriously sick or fainted. But he didn't have anytime left to feel guilty as Kate came rushing back into the room, handing him a black and red plaid shirt, long-sleeved. Jack glanced towards her.
"What?" She inquired, quickly regaining control of her breath.
"I feel like I should be killing a deer in this," Jack teased, chuckling.
To his surprise, Kate smiled, running a hand over head.
"What can you expect from Sawyer's wardrobe?" She joked, managing to keep her smile.
Jack returned it, rolling down the sleeves to make sure they covered his wrist. They exited the room only to find the same scene they had left, Sun screaming in pain with Jin panicing beside her. Quickly kneeling to the ground, Jack was once again about to get to his questions when Sawyer grabbed his arm.
"That's my shirt," he complained, bitter.
Jerking his arm away, Jack replied, agitated:
"Deal with it."
He didn't know why Sawyer was so irritable, why he seemed to hate the fact that he had returned. From what Jack knew, the last time he and Sawyer had talked they were on pretty good terms. But he pushed this aside, and in only minutes a newborn baby was in his arms, crying quietly as Jack cleaned its face, taking care of all the necessary precautions before handing the child to Sun, congradulating her. She took the child, grateful, smiling as she faught to catch her breath, Jin looking like someone had lifted a load of bricks from his back as Sun loosened her grip on his hands. He didn't hear what they named their daughter, already heading back to the restroom to, once again, wash his hands. The baby had been healthy, that he was thankful for, but his mind was already elsewhere.
(space)
When he walked back into the room, Sun and Jin were already gone, pressumingly moved to a much comfortable position on the couch or bunkbed...asumming they were still there. Sweaty blankets and pillows were left in their place, the room ready to be cleaned up. And Kate and Sawyer were standing right by it, talking in low voices. Silently, Jack slipped away to hide behind a wall. He didn't really want to listen into their conversation, but part of him was curious. Sawyer had acted riddiculously bitter upon his return, and now that he thought about it, even Kate had been acting strange. Or maybe she had just changed.
"Thanks for helping," Kate was saying, wiping her hands on a handtowel.
"Looks like you didn't need it," Sawyer replied in the same bitter tone as before.
Kate looked at him, as if to say 'Don't start'. Sawyer rolled his eyes.
"Come on, the guy just walks back in here like nothing happened!" Sawyer complained, rolling one of the blankets angrily into a sweaty ball.
"Aww, you're worried," Kate teased, "it's cute."
Not replying, Sawyer looked at loss for words.
"Don't worry," Kate replied quietly. Jack turned around, curiously peeking into the room.
He almost wished he hadn't. Leaning forward, Kate planted a soft kiss on Sawyer's lips. Though it didn't last long, it was obvious that that one action made up for anything Sawyer had to be bitter about. He didn't smile about it, but he was clearly pleased in his own, silent way. Nevertheless, as Kate slowly pulled away, a smile crept upon her lips.
"Nine months is a long time," she finished.
Jack sank back against the wall, feeling slightly sick. He didn't know why he cared so much...it wasn't as though he and Kate were a couple this supposed nine months ago, but still...nine months in a relationship with Sawyer? It felt like an insult, a personal blow. Like anything he ever did, said, or attempted to say didn't matter. Closing his eyes, Jack didn't see Kate enter his side of the room, and jumped at her voice.
"So where are you staying tonight?" She asked him, a new smile on her face. A smile that she wanted him to see, to cover up what was really going on.
"It's night?" Jack asked, the question catching him off-guard.
Vaguely he could remember being on the beach and the sun going down. But who knows where that beach was, or how he had gotten there... Now he was feeling Claire's pain, the pain of a life interrupted. But this wasn't just a few weeks. This was nine months. Nine months of time gone. Nine months of change...
Kate gave him a sympathetic smile.
He wondered if he should mention seeing the kiss, asking her about it. Then he remembered Sawyer. Had he left yet?
"Where are you staying?" Jack said curiously, studying her for a reaction.
Kate unmistakingly blushed a little.
"The beach," she replied.
Jack looked around the hatch. It felt awfully quiet in there just then. Though the hatch wasn't filled with people the last time he was there, there was usually someone down there. And shouldn't people be asking about Sun's baby? It hit him just then that there may not be anymore people...if it truly had been nine months, who was to say they were all still there? Feeling sick again, Jack swallowed to try and make the feeling go away.
"What about down here?" He asked.
Kate considered it.
"Sun will probably stay down here tonight," Kate informed, "but she probably wouldn't mind if you took the bed."
Jack nodded. Somehow a baby and a bunkbed didn't seem like a safe idea to him, so he assumed Kate meant Sun would be taking the couch.
"How has she been doing?" Jack remembered wondering about any pregnancy difficulties Sun may have head.
"Fine, considering," Kate shrugged, "it's been hard for her."
"I could imagine," Jack agreed.
They both looked away, as if simutamiously agreeing for a moments of silence to pass between them.
"So you don't remember anything?" Kate asked suddenly, quietly, with a hint of desperate hope in her voice.
Jack shook his head.
"I remember being on the dock," Jack recalled, "when I woke up on the beach...I just assumed that somehow we had been rescued-" he realized his wording quickly, "not permanitly, but, you know, I thought the plan had worked."
Kate grimaced, and Jack wanted to know then more than ever what he had missed out, what had happened that day. Why he couldn't remember anything.
"Not for all of us," Kate whispered. Another moments of silence passed between them, and Kate glanced down at her arm, as if there were some imaginary clock of time there that Jack couldn't see. "So, do you want to change...or is there anything you need?"
Jack shook his head again.
"I'm good."
(space)
Hours later, Jack regretted saying that. He found his body aching with hunger, and when he looked in the pantry, Jack found that most of the food was taken. What was left were things like noodles and pasta and, somehow, just the thought of eating that kind of food made him feel even sicker. Not only was he hungry, but as time went on, his muscles began to turn sore, and even walking felt like an undoable chore. With every step a muscle cracked a little, as if he had aged years instead of months. He'd painfully wrapped his wrist with some medicine tape he found stored in a kitchen drawer, finding that they too grew more painful as time passed. It was as though the physical results of his missing time were hitting him, taking place of the emotional stress that came with it. Alone in the hatch, listening to the soft cries of Sun's child, Jack had nothing to think about except for what might of happened to him, and letting a dozen situations play in his head on how Sawyer and Kate's relationship had progressed. He didn't want to think about it, but they had just seemed so close, so at ease with each other at that moment...
Settling back down in the bottom bunk, Jack tried to push back his hunger and pain, and attempted to sleep. His eyes felt heavy, swollen. And from what it looked like in the mirror, they had been, at one time. If there was anything that confirmed his missing time was his appearance: a long scar lined his neck, light and faded, as though a knife had been placed there many times, threatening to kill. Like his hands, a couple of scars were visable on his face: running over an eyebrow or under an eye. But most curious of all were the bumps that lined his arms, what were plainly injection marks that dance across the skin under each arm. Even a scar from an IV cut into the inner part of one arm, all leaving haunting evidence from an experience he didn't remember.
Thinking of the scars and the burden of trauma he couldn't remember made his head hurt, a pounding headache that seemed to grow worse everytime he looked at an arm or a leg. He shivered a little, the headache coming onto him with brutal pain, and Jack put back on Sawyer's overshirt. But even after only seconds of wearing it, sweat began to race down his forehead in heavy drops. He shivered in the heated sweat, as though instead of becoming claustraphobic because there was little space, it was because of the heat. The hatch was cool, but yet Jack felt like he was lying under a desert sun. Shedding the jacket, Jack lay on top of the covers as he now tried to block out the heat, hunger, and pain, the effort making him blind to any moving in the room, even another person entering it.
Sitting up, Jack was surprised to see that the room was now dim, as if someone had turned off the other lights- pressumingly Sun. On a second thought, Jack was glad he chose to stay down here, who else was going to press the button? Kate didn't seem too worried about it, but someone had to do the job.
As the shadow of the man drew nearer, Jack recognized the figure as Sayid, with longer hair and, from what it looked like, a darkened tan.
"They told me you were back," Sayid commented, greeting him with a smile.
"That's what they say," Jack sighed, running a hand over his head. Remembering the scars on his arms, Jack quickly reached for the shirt that had been laying on the bed. "So, nine months."
It wasn't really a question, but an attempt at acceptance. Had Sun not have just delievered a once one-week old baby, Jack would've still been demanding proof. And he was still finding it hard to believe. The phsyical evidence was still convincing, though: the scars, and the fact that everyone's hair had grown longer, even his own getting a little longer(well, taller), and darker. But still, nine months...
Sayid nodded.
"Notice any changes?" He asked curiously.
Jack shrugged, looking around the room, wondering if that was supposed to imply anything specifically.
"Yeah," he began sarcastically, "Sun just gave birth to a child."
Sayid smiled at him wearily.
"You missed out on all the fun," Sayid complimented dryly.
"I would've rather been here," Jack sighed, laying back down on the bed, placing his hands behind his head.
Immedatily that heated feeling was coming back, and as he could feel his body temptarure growing warmer, his breath also grew raspier. He wondered if he was sick.
"I don't know where I was..." Jack went on, "...what happened."
Sayid took a thoughtful pause before responding.
"You're weaing a Dharma shirt," he noted, pointing at the white shirt Jack was wearing underneath the plaid one.
Glancing at his chest, Jack could now distincly pick out a faded Dharma symbol embroidened into the white fabric, now only black outines visible, as though it had been worn frequently.
"Guess that explains everything then," Jack sighed irritibly. He didn't know why he was so surprised, it wasn't as though he could've wondered around the island for nine months. He imagined that he'd have much worse phsyical results from that, as unbelievable as that sounded, at the moment.
The room sat in silence then, a hum of some kind of air conditioner sounding from somewhere far off. Jack expected the alarm to be going off soon, so he closed his eyes for a moment's rest before going into the computer room.
"You're going to sleep?" Sayid inquired uncertainly.
Jack opened an eye.
"Yeah," he replied blankly.
"You don't know where you've been for the past nine months," Sayid went on, "or what happened to you. And you're just going to sleep?"
"Yeah," Jack said again, "I've been missing for nine months, I have no clue what's happened to me, and I'm going to sleep."
Sighing himself into darkness, Jack closed his eyes, trying to focus on falling asleep. He didn't know if Sayid was still there, but his words were still in his head. Soon he was plunged into wonder, theories and ideas running through his head of what could've happened, and what he missed; and as much as he wanted to think about it, he felt himself growing more and more exhausted by the moment. Right now, all he wanted to do was sleep. Right now, all he wanted to do was get through the night.
