Thanks to Gorgeous Nick Stokes for reviewing This chapters going to have some background, and sorry if I messed up anything on Jack. The season premier was awesome! Wonder how the hell they'll explain that one…
As always, please read and review, even if you say yay. Hope you like this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Lost. I wish I did, but you don't always get what you want. Unless what you want is to get nothing, then you do get what you want, nothing.
4.4 Revelations
"Danoso, hey, kid, wake up." Danoso shook her head and turned away from the voice. She wanted to sleep, cause sleeping was good. It meant that she wouldn't have to do anything, but shut her eyes. Besides, yesterday's game of golf with Jack had lasted until nightfall, and by the time they got back, they were both whipped. Bottom line, she was tired.
"Danoso, wake, up!" Jack emphasized the last word by ripping off Danoso's blanket.
"Go away!" Danoso said grumpily, hugging herself.
"Danoso, if you don't wake up now, you're going to be stuck in this cave all day. I'm leaving in five minutes, and if you aren't by me, I won't wait up for you."
"Top of the morning to you too…you sound like my mother," Danoso muttered, sitting up and taking off the sweatshirt she slept in.
"Really? How about your dad?" Jack asked, attempting to joke. Danoso glared at him. Jack instinctively caught the balled up sweater aimed at his head she threw at him.
"What are we doing today?" Danoso asked hopefully.
"We're gonna be carrying water to the beach. They're running out, and since we have nothing else to do, I volunteered us," Jack replied, not seeing Danoso's face fall. He folded the sweater neatly and placed it on the ground.
"What are you now, the water boy?" Danoso asked.
"Nope, I'm the doctor, but they need water. Common, it won't be that bad," Jack reassured.
"How are we supposed to carry more then a couple bottles at a time, or do you aspire to grow multiple arms like Doc. Oct?" Danoso lay down on her back, closing her eyes.
"We'll be using backpacks. Now quit lazing and lets get started. The sooner we get done, the sooner we can do whatever else," Jack coaxed. He got up and disappeared from the cave. Danoso grumbled and reluctantly got up to follow.
"Here," Jack said as soon as Danoso left the cave. He threw her a heavy backpack that was missing a strap. Danoso caught it out of instinct, almost dropping from the weight.
"What the hells in here?" Danoso asked. "Dead body parts?" she laughed. She sigh as she hoisted the only strap on her shoulder.
"Nope, water. Common, sooner we get this done-"
"Sooner we can go on a walk or something. I know Dr. Phil, lets go." Jack nodded and began going down the path to the beach. Danoso followed at a slower pace, letting her mind wander as she absentmindedly stepped over escaped roots and overhung branches.
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"The longer you sit there and sulk, the longer it's going to take."
Danoso ignored her mother and turned up the volume of the TV. There was no way she was going to move. Not again. Not for the third time this year. They'd moved from New Orleans, to Vancouver, and now they were in posted in Calgary. And she liked it here. True, the only exciting thing about it was the Calgary Tower, which some office buildings matched in height, but she enjoyed the city. For the couple months she'd been living there, life had been okay, she'd even made a couple friends, and her school was a five-minute walk away. No way was she moving.
"Do you want me to come over there and help you get started? Because I know you don't want that." Empty threats. Danoso knew this for a fact. The only one who ever touched her in the house was Alison, and even then it wasn't that bad. But sisters fought all the time, and it wasn't a help that Alison was a little crazy.
Danoso stared at the old, black and white TV. There was no way she was going to move. Not again.
"Danoso, I'm warning you. You don't want to get me cross." Sure I don't, Danoso thought. She watched her mom turn off the TV and stand in front of her.
"Go start packing." Danoso remained motionless on the couch. Her mom raised her hand.
"You wouldn't dare," Danoso growled. She got up and pushed past her mom, leaving her stumbling to gain her balance. Opening the back door, she walked over to the shed and pulled herself up, using the fence. Ryan looked up from his toys wonderingly at her, and Danoso put her finger to her lips and crawled out of sight. Ryan understood.
"Where'd she go!" Danoso mom came bursting out the door. Ryan looked up alarmed for a moment, and then shrugged his tiny shoulders, continuing to play in the pitiful sandbox. Danoso watched her mother fume for a moment, before slamming the door and retreating back into the dingy house. Danoso leaned back against the wall of the house. There was no way her mom would find her. But she knew, all she was doing was prolonging the inevitable. She was going to move, whether she liked it or not. Again.
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Danoso suddenly came to her senses, only, seconds to late. She bumped into something and landed square on her bum, two-dozen bottles of water poking every which way into her spine. She looked up to see Boone's cool blue eye's staring down at her. Danoso's breath caught in her throat and she tensed up immediately, ready to attack. Remembering Jack's words, she forced hers body to calm down, reminding herself that Boone was not the one that had attacked her.
"I should've been looking where I was going…" Danoso stated, lowering her eyes, stabbing at conversation, not able to get past the fact that Boone looked extremely familiar.
"Well… I should have too, I guess…" Boone regarded her suspiciously, his voice guarded, history not on her side.
"Look-," Danoso hesitated, looking up. "Look, I'm sorry I attacked you, but… I thought you were someone else… Sorry," she said hastily, grabbing the strap and awkwardly they both tried moving forward, running into each other. They both froze and looked at each other.
"Danoso!" Jack's shout could be heard from far ahead. "Common! Where'd you disappear to!"
"I- I gotta go." Boone moved back and allowed Danoso through. "Sorry," she muttered again, and Boone nodded. She ran to catch up with Jack, Boone looking after her.
-----------------------------------"Jack, where the bloody hell are you taking me?" Danoso asked, swiping the branches that pelted at her face. For the past two hours Danoso had been hanging around with Charlie, pretty much the only one who believed she wasn't going to stab him, some kind of emergency calling Jack away. As a result, Danoso was started to pick up on his use of the word "bloody".
"Me, I'm trying to look for a part of the plane wreck that we can use. Or, if we can find them, anyone else who survived, and don't know that there are other people alive."
"Do you think… do you think that the pilot's still alive?" Danoso asked quietly.
"Why do you ask?" Jack turned around to look at her.
"Just…cause," Danoso answered, walking past him. Jack started after her, getting a feeling that she wasn't telling him everything she knew.
"Hey, why don't you tell me about yourself? Like, where you came from, who your mom was, who your dad was, you know, that kind of thing?"
"Well," Danoso said, looking at Jack. "The elderly always go first."
"I'm not old!" Jack protested but Danoso only laughed and continued on. They walked for a half hour before Jack began talking, unexpectantly. He hadn't known Danoso for long, but he felt an odd connection to her, one that made him want to share his past with her.
"My dad was a spinal surgeon, like me… he died in Australia. We were never really close, and when I was little; he always told me that I didn't have what it takes to be a doctor, like him, and that I shouldn't try helping people because I didn't have what it took. That's all he ever told me. You can't do this, you can't do that, you're not strong enough for this and that. I went to medical school when I was 19 and there was a rift between us. I moved out and barely spoke to him. Eventually I graduated and started working at the same hospital that my he worked in. Pretty soon I got promoted to spinal surgeon, my dad to chief of surgery… I think he had a drinking problem, because every time I would see him, outside the hospital, he would have a drink in his hand. One day I was working and a nurse ran up to me. She said that there was a girl, Bethel or something, who needed to get an emergency surgery, and my dad got called in from his lunch to perform it. She said she saw his hands shaking. Normally, I would have left my dad alone, but he was operating under the influence. I had to do something…" Danoso slowed down so she could walk in pace with Jack. He seemed in a far off world, a glazed look in his eyes, as if he was narrating a movie going on in his mind to her. Danoso understood when he said that he had to do something. Jack seemed to have an uncontrollable need to help people.
"I went into the operating room, and took over. My dad was indeed operating impaired, and I tried as hard as I could to save the girl. I tried everything, but it just won't work... She ended up dying. I couldn't call it though. It's tough for me when I lose someone; it's hard for me to let go. My dad always seemed to just create this iron wall when something went wrong, it seemed like he was made of steel, nothing ever upset him. He had no emotions. The next day he called me into his office and asked me to sign the forms. I obliged, and a couple days later we had a formal hearing. That's when I learned that the girl was pregnant. I changed my statement, spilling that my dad had been knowingly operating on a pregnant women under the influence of alcohol. He lost his license, he lost his rep., and he lost everything and left. It was the last time I saw him, he never spoke to me again. It was all my fault that he lost his job, and I felt miserable. He made me feel like I betrayed him or something…"
"A couple months later, my mom called and told me that he was in Australia, and I was the only one who could go to fetch him. But I didn't want to go. All I ever wanted to do was make him proud of me, like a father should be, but it never worked. Whatever I did, he was always saying that it wasn't me, and I couldn't help anyone. I'd only end up hurting them more. I went to Australia, and found out that my dad had died in some alley. There was alcohol in his bloodstream…. I thought he hated me, cause I was never like he was. He was never the kind of father I wanted. He never encouraged me; he was always getting on my case. He said that I was soft metal, and he had to make me into steel…" Jack trailed off and stopped talking. Danoso milled over what she had learned about Jack. She realized that everyone had something they kept secret, something that they hid in the deepest, darkest parts of their mind, hoping and wishing that that secret, whatever it is, would never resurface again. But Jack had shared his secret willingly, letting it resurface and take over.
"Then Sawyer tells me, he met a guy in a bar one day. That they got talking and the guy's son was a doctor. The guy said that him and his son had a falling out, and he knew that it was all his fault, and that he was proud of what his son did to him. That it was the right thing. Cept his son thought it was his fault, and thought that his dad hated him. The guy told Sawyer that he wanted to call his son, but he couldn't. He said that the guy wanted to say that he was sorry to his kid, that it was all his fault. That he was a better doctor then the guy would ever be. But he never got around to calling…" Jack wiped away a couple of tears. "And that's my story about my dad."
"Your turn," Jack said cheerfully, shoving the memories of him and his dad back into the darkest part of his brain. He had never told anyone that, and why he had suddenly felt compelled to tell Danoso about it, he didn't know.
Danoso took a while to get started, organizing her thoughts.
"First of all, I never really knew my father. Either he died, doesn't know about me, or doesn't care. The only thing I know is that he's a doctor. My families sort of really screwed up. I have an older sister who's in jail, and a little brother. My sister has a different father then me, and I'm pretty sure that my little brother is her son. Don't ask," Danoso shrugged, seeing Jack raise his eyebrows. "My mom moved us a lot, I personally think she enjoyed making our lives miserable. We lived in Canada for 4 or 5 years, always moving around. My sister got arrested for drug trafficking and some other crap, so my mom left her and took us all to Australia. I thought it was because she wanted to get away from Alison –my sister. She was trouble, I can say that."
"So when we landed in Australia, my mom went to go find a job. I don't know if she ever got it, but she was always out, late into the nights, leaving me to take care of Ryan. He turned 6 the week before I got on the plane. He was the sweetest kid, and I felt like his mom, not his sister. Then one day, my mom comes running into the house, shouting that she had to get Ryan and move, hysterically. Right in front of my eyes, I saw a man walk in; shoot her in the back, and leave. Bastard didn't even look at me; he was laughing the whole time. I ran to my mom, but she was already dead. A note was in her pocket, and I read it. It was addressed to me, from her. She- she was going to take Ryan and leave me to child services, or to fend for myself. It said that there was a man chasing her, and that was why she was leaving. The man was Alison's father, and for some reason, he wanted my mom dead. I got Ryan and ran. Pretty soon I realized that I wouldn't be able to take care of Ryan by myself. He was cute, so I left him at child services with a note, saying that I was his mother and no longer able to take care of him. I still don't know what happened to him…" Danoso trailed off, crying. She hoped that he was all right, and that he was staying with someone nice. She felt guilty for leaving him, guilty for not being able to stay with him.
"I bet he's fine," Jack whispered into her ear. He gave her a comforting hug, and she realized that she had stopped walking. She hugged him back, burying her head in his shirt. He rested his chin on her head, wishing he could do something more then hug her, even though he was surprised he was doing even that. He felt that he had to protect her, and make her world right, make her see that not everything was bad.
"I have to go to the bathroom," Danoso once she had calmed down a little. Jack released her and let her go do her thing. He realized that they all must have secrets that they tried to hide away. He didn't know why he told her about his dad, or why she told him about her family. She came back looking rejuvenated.
"Any idea where we are?" she asked, looking around. They'd been so absorbed in each other's story's they hadn't paid attention to where they were going.
Jack looked around. "Would it be a good idea to say that I don't know?" he asked. They laughed nervously.
"Well, lets go this way," Danoso said, pointing away from the big mountain.
"Sounds good to me," Jack replied, taking up the lead position. They soon left the forest area and went into a big field filled with bright green grass.
"By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, where did you get a name like Danoso?" he asked, letting his hands graze on the waist long grass, walking across the field.
"Um, I think Jamie came up with it. I don't know what it means, and my mom tried to change it to something like Hailey, but I wouldn't answer to it."
"Cool…who's Jamie?"
"Just some guy my mom knew when I was a baby. He was Spanish, I think, and he kept calling me Danoso when I was little, so I kind of grew up with the name. He hung around us a lot, and he always moved with us. Then one day he disappeared… wonder what happened to him," Danoso answered, biting her lip and looking up ahead. "Is that water I hear?" Danoso asked, stopping and straining her ears. Jack stopped and listened. A quiet, continuous splashing sound could be heard, and Jack nodded.
"I think it is," he confirmed. Danoso ran into the forest, Jack right behind her. They came into a small clearing, a tiny waterfall splashing peacefully into the rocks and water below it. The water was clear, and there were different colored fish swimming around in it. Danoso bent down, taking off her shoes and socks. She unbuttoned her jeans and took off her shirt diving headfirst into the water. She popped up at the surface seconds later, laughing.
"Common in Jack, its warm!" She encouraged, treading water, trying to splash Jack.
"Hey!" Jack protested, backing away. She laughed and dived below the surface again. Jack shook his head and took off everything except his boxers. Danoso came back up, and Jack dived in to join her.
Jack treaded water, watching Danoso attempt to touch the bottom of the little pool. Over and over she came up for a breath, only to dive down again. "It doesn't seem to have a bottom," Danoso complained, coming back up for what seemed like the dozenth time. She looked down, frowning.
"Let me try." Jack took a deep breath and started swimming to the bottom of the pool. As hard and fast as he swam, the bottom didn't seem to get any closer. When he felt as though his breath was going to run out, he went back out, breaking the surface surprisingly quick.
"Well?" Danoso asked, stationing herself on a rock that came out of the side.
"It doesn't seem to get any closer…Weird." Jack took another breath and tried again. He could see sand and some coral, but it wasn't getting any closer. He swam harder, determined to get to the bottom. A school of fish swam by him, scattering immediately when he accidentally touched one of the fish's fins. Rapidly beginning to run out of air, Jack gave up and began to climb to the surface. Again he was surprised by how short it took to break through the surface. It was as if he had only gone down a couple feet. "What the hell's going on?" Jack mumbled.
"Does it matter that much Jack?" Danoso asked from her spot on the rock, watching Jack about to dive again.
"I guess not, but what's going on?" he asked frustrated.
"I don't know. This island's weird. I wouldn't bother my head about it too much." Danoso began swimming leisurely laps.
Jack got out of the water and started looking for something on the ground.
"What're you doing?" Danoso asked, somersaulting underneath the surface.
"Looking for a rock," Jack answered absentmindedly, picking up a large rock and hucking it into the pool. He jumped in and watched it sink to the bottom.
"Give up on it Jack," Danoso sigh, and despite herself watched the rock disappear without hitting the bottom.
"What's up with that?" Jack asked, unsatisfied. He stared hard down at the water, Danoso sighing again and got out of the water. Jack noticed after she had put her shirt on that she wasn't beside him.
"Leaving already?" Jack asked, watching her struggle to pull her pants on her wet body.
"Well, you're acting all paranoid, and I would much rather be walking with a normal Jack." She finished pulling on her pants and sat down, pulling on socks and shoes. "You coming with me, or am I going solo?" Danoso asked.
"I'm coming," Jack grumbled, pulling himself out of the little pool, giving it one last analyzing scrunch. He pulled on his cloths while Danoso wrung out her long, wavy hair. The mysterious pool would just have to wait.
But Jack would find out why it had a bottomless bottom, he promised himself that.
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"Favorite bedtime story," Danoso asked, her face warmed by the fire as she looked intently at Jack.
"Hm… I'd have to say… the Velveteen Rabbit." Danoso laughed.
"Yours?" Jack asked unfazed.
"Um… Repunzel. Hey, don't laugh, it's a classic!" Danoso protested, as Jack echoed her laugh.
"Okay, um, favorite TV show." Jack looked at Danoso who stared into the fire, thinking hard. Once they left the little pool, they made a fire and decided to sleep in the forest that night. Danoso was worried that the others would be worried about Jack's absence, but Jack reassured her that they would be fine.
"I'm gonna have to go with Friends on this one."
"You like Friends?" Jack asked, not too surprised. Nearly everyone loved Friends.
"Yep." Danoso answered, throwing a small stick into the fire. "You?" She asked.
"I'd have to say House." Jack admitted.
"So your into the doctor shows, eh?" Danoso laughed. They lapsed into silence, the comforting crackling of the fire entrancing them both. Danoso yawned hugely at the same time that Jack did. They both laughed.
"Guess we're pretty tired, eh?" Jack yawned again. Danoso laughed. "Think we have to have a night watcher?" Jack asked.
"Nah, I'll scream if something happens to me," Danoso laughed. Using her bag as a pillow, Danoso curled up facing Jack. Jack did the same, shutting his eyes at once.
"Night Jack," Danoso whispered softly.
"Night Danoso," Jack whispered even softer, immediately falling asleep. Danoso looked at him for a second, wondering if her dad had stuck around, would she be here on the island with Jack and the others. What would her dad be like? Like Jack's dad, mean and coldhearted? Or would he be like Jack, always helping people, always trying to do the right thing? Danoso shut her eyes; wondering how different life would be if she had a normal family.
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He watched them silently from His position high up in a tree. This was perfect. The escapee had forged a bond with the doctor of the others, and that would work well in their favor. The escapee could not have popped up at a better location. And what was more alleviating was that they had found the pool, and thought nothing of it. He watched as morning rose and the doctor woke up the escapee. An hour later, they ventured off into, the forest, none the wiser as to their onlooker.
Everything was working out as planed, the girl escaping providing more satisfying and helpful then disastrous. And He knew the perfect way to get her back, along with some additions.
TBC…
-LOST-
Cohen101