Chapter 10: Raised by Another

The effect the golf tournament had on the castaways had been phenomenal. People were more relax and the atmosphere was lighter. The only shadow - apart from surviving, of course - was Sayid. It had almost been a week since the Iraqi had took off. As bad as it might sound, it didn't worry Jenn one bit. Sayid was a big boy and he could take care of himself. And she had other thing on her mind, like the roguishly handsome man kissing his way up her neck, keeping her from getting dressed.

"James... Please..."

"That's a word I love to hear."

"Stop, I've got to get dressed. And what if someone comes for..."

His lips crashed on hers, muting her.

"Jenn, you're there?"

"Shit, your brother!" whispered the Southerner.

"Wait a minute Jack, I'm coming!" She cursed under her breath. "You stay here!"

She got out and greeted her brother with a smile.

"Good morning caveman. What brings you down here?"

"I want to talk to you about Claire."

"Yeah, Claire." She tried to hide the entrance of the tent. "What about Claire?"

"She's gonna have the baby soon."

'Yeah, that's pretty obvious. She looks like she's ready to pop..."

"Well... I had hoped we would been rescued by now..."

"You're not the only one... You're afraid we'll have to deliver the baby?"

He just nodded. She took a deep breath and smiled.

"When it's time, you know where to find me, right? I mean, when's the last time you delivered a baby?" His shy smile was the only answer she needed. "All right, then."

"That's when Sawyer decided to leave the sanctuary of the tent, shirtless and sporting classical bed head.

"Mornin' Doc!" He circled Jenn's waist and whispered in her ear. "Does he look like he's gonna kill me?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll die a happy man."

He dropped a kiss on her cheek, smiled outrageously at Jack and left for his tent. Jenn was blushing shamefully.

"You can say it... I know you're dying to..."

Jack remained silent.

"The silence treatment? That's new..."

"I've already warn you."

"I know. Anyway, you never really liked any of my boyfriends."

Jack frowned. "Is that what he is? You're new boyfriend?"

"I'm going to tell you exactly what I told Claire: I'm having fun."

He smiled. "I'm gonna go talk to Kate then I'm going back to the caves." He paternally kissed her on the forehead. "Be careful, okay?"

She waited until he was a couple of feet away before yelling. "Hey, Jack!"

He turned around.

"This one... I like her."

She laughed and went on with the rest of her day. She had dinner with Rose and Kate before going back to her tent. Surprisingly Sawyer wasn't waiting for her. She changed into a pair of yoga pant and a tank top before heading to his tent. She found him asleep, lying on the makeshift bed. He looked younger, softer in his sleep. She crawled next to him, kissing her way from his navel to his Adam's Apple.

"Playin' with fire, princess?"

"I love living dangerously." she captured his lips. "I was hoping to find you waiting in my tent..."

He moaned when her hands started to travel South. "Well, I had thought you were havin' a sleepover with Freckles... I love when you do that... And after the little PDA with you brother..."

"Rule number 1, James: When we're alone, we don't talk about my brother, okay?"

And for the next couple of hours nothing more than moans and sighs of pleasure were utter. They were lying snuggled together, sticky with sweat, when she said.

"Claire is close to her due date..."

"And that's what worryin' you?" he asked, playing with a lock of her hair.

"Yeah... I'm... I'm scared... Scared for Claire and..."

"Stop worryin'. Dr Giggles will handle it."

"Rule number 1, James..."

He rolled over he, ready for round number 4 when someone started yelling.

"Where's the Doc's sister?"

"You're looking for Jenn?" said somebody else.

"That's her tent, right there."

"Have someone seen the beach's nurse?"

Jenn let out a loud sigh before grabbing her pants and Sawyer's shirt.

"What the hell is going on?" she yelled, getting out of the tent and ending up face to face with Steve - or was it Scott...

"Finally... The Doc needs you at the caves."

"Can't it wait 'til the mornin'?" asked Sawyer, behind her.

"It's the pregnant girl, she's gone crazy!"

Jenn sighed before heading to her tent to finished getting dressed. Sawyer followed her and watched her without a word.

"You're okay if I take a rain check on round number 4?" she asked, putting her hair in a ponytail.

"Way to kill the mood, right?" She kissed him softly. "You're not afraid of the gossip?"

"Gossip's the least of my worry..."

And she left. She was walking so fast that she quickly lost Scott or Steve... Damn these two were so confusing! When she finally reached the caves she was surprised to find it almost empty.

"Hey, where's everybody?"

"They all went to look for the pregnant chick's imaginary attacker" answered an out of breath Scott/Steve.

"Attacker? You never said anything..."

"Jenn!"

She turned and smiled sleepily at her brother.

"Can you tell me why you woke me up and made me come all the way from the beach in the middle of the night?"

"It's Claire... She's been having nightmare... Vivid nightmare..."

"Which is not uncommon for a pregnant woman in her third trimester. But you wouldn't have dragged me all the way here..."

"She said someone tried to stabbed her with a needle."

"Okay... Now I understand why Steve/Scott said she had gone crazy. what do you want me to do?"

He sighed. "Well, there's not a lot to do that late, but... I shouldn't have sent for you that late. We'll talk about it in the morning, okay?"

"Alright... Where's Claire? I might as well check on her..."

"She went back to sleep. Charlie's with her."

"I guess I'll go back to the beach... I'll see you tomorrow."

She started the trek back and was grateful to be able to sneak into Sawyer's tent without having to answer anybody's questions.

"Hey... So what did the great doctor wanted?"

She took off her top and lay down next to him.

"It's Claire, she..." She let out a sigh. "You know what, let's just not talk about it right now, okay? Will you hold me?"

And that's how she woke up the next morning, snuggled in her Southerner's arms. She tiptoed to her tent and when she finally got out she came face to face with Hurley.

"Hey..."

"Hi, I... I'm doing some sort of census... You know, name, place of residence, traveling buddy, reason for being in Australia... You know, to make some sort of list of the remaining survivors..."

"Well, that's a great idea."

"So...?"

"Oh, well my name is Jenna Leigh Shephard - with an 'a', not an 'e'. Originally from Brentwood, but currently living in Burbank, California. Traveling with my brother, Jackson Shephard..."

"Wait a minute, Jack's name is Jackson?"

"I shouldn't have told you that... Please don't tell him I told you!"

"Jackson and Jenna Leigh? You're sure you're not from the deep South?"

"Pretty sure, Hurley. Born and raised in California, but our Nana was a Southern Bell. I'm named after her. Can I go now? Jack's waiting for me..."

"Yeah... Go... And say hi to Jackson for me."

"Hurley!"

She ran toward her brother who was already talking with Kate and Charlie.

"Hey..."

"Jenn, did you see anyone leave the beach last night?" asked Charlie.

"Well, no. Apart from me, no. People come and go during the day, but they tend to stay down here as soon as night fall. Kate can corroborate it..."

"Yeah. With all those noises coming from the jungle... What?"

"I'm not sure anything happened" answered Jack.

'Wait, what?"

Charlie was clearly ready to jump at Jack's throat.

"Claire told Michael and I that this attacker tried to inject her with something. But there was no mark on her stomach. She wakes up two nights, screaming. The first time, she was sleepwalking."

"You think she's making this up? She was terrified!"

"She said someone was trying to hurt her baby. Why would someone do that now with all of us 20 feet away?"

"You think she's lying?"

Jenn took a deep breath. "That's not what he's saying, Charlie. The thing is, it's not uncommon for pregnant women to have extremely lucid dream. Keep in mind that they are a bundle of hormones... After everything we've through it's a miracle that the stress didn't induced early labor... So a nervous breakdown..."

"A nervous breakdown? You think she's going..."

"Hey!" said Kate, getting all their attention. "Thank you... What do we do next?"

"Claire's due in a little more than a week. Maybe two. But if she stays stressed out like this or has another panic attack, it could trigger an early labor. Jenn has agree to help me, but out here with no instruments, no monitors, no anesthetic... That would not be good."

"It's not all in her head."

"Charlie... That's not..."

Too late. He was already walking toward the jungle, leaving the two young women and the doctor behind.

"I'll go back to the caves... Try to see if there's some safe anti-anxiety pills that could..."

"Hey, don't worry" said Kate. "Take it easy, or you'll exhausted yourself."

Jenn just smiled. "Listen to Kate, Jack. And I'll go check in my stash, see if I can find anything..."

She walked back to the Med Tent, but stopped when she heard Scott and Steve talking together.

"She spend most of her night in his tent, and that's when he's not spending it in her tent..."

"I saw her sneak out of his tent the other morning, you know. They must have done more than talking..."

"I don't get it! She's like Island Royalty - you know with being the doctor's sister and a nurse..."

"Why couldn't she be into a guy like, I don't know, Boone? Or me?"

"Or me?'

She had heard enough.

"Hey Scott, Steve" she said, making them aware of her presence.

"Hi Jenn!"

"I'm sorry... I'm not normally one to listen to private conversation, but I couldn't help but notice you were talking about me."

"We weren't..."

"Don't bother lying. Just so we're clear, my private life is that, private. Do I go around and gossip about the two of you being an item?"

"But we're not..."

"I don't gossip about you because I respect your privacy. So if I ever hear you talk about me behind my back..."

They both gulped and nodded.

"Oh and by the way, I'm not a nurse and you're not my type. Neither one of you."

She walked to her tent and was welcomed by applause.

"Amazin' performance with Laurel and Hardy, Princess."

"You heard?"

"You were pretty loud for someone who's tryin' to protect her privacy."

"Well, I don't like gossip, especially when said gossip is about me and my loverboy."

"So that's what I am, your loverboy?"

She bit her lower lip, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him inside her tent.

"Round number 4?" he asked.

"Round number 4 and, if you're nice enough, round number 5."

"Well I was a good boy. I gave Stay-Puff the flight manifest..."

She caught his earlobe between her teeth and laughed.

"And what did you asked in return?"

"Nothing..."

"You've got t be kidding... You acted unselfishly? You?"

"Yeah, me, Princess. Now that we've established that I was a very good boy how about..."

There was some sort of commotion outside the tent that got Jenn's attention.

"Wait a minute... Something's going on outside..."

She got up and buttoned her shirt.

"It's Hurley..." she said going out.

"Sonofabitch!" muttered Sawyer.

"Hey Hurley! What's wrong?"

The big guy kept running toward the path to the caves.

"Wait, Hurley!"

"I've gotta go tell Jack" he said, out of breath.

"Tell him what?"

"He's not on the list!"

"Who? And what list? Hurley, wait!"

"Ethan, he's not on the flight manifest!"

And he left. Jenn didn't moved, trying to understand what he had just said.

"What did Stay-Puff..."

"He said... He said that Ethan wasn't on the flight manifest... He... I've got to go to the caves... I..."

"Well I ain't lettin' you go there by yourself, Princess."

"If he wasn't on the manifest, then... He wasn't on the plane?"

'Calm down, sweetheart. Relax a bit..."

He took her to her tent and brought her some water.

"James... Will you come with me?"

"I told you, Princess, I ain't lettin' you out of my sight."

TBC

Author Note: Okay, so here's chapter 10... Hope you'll like it! The next update will probably be in the next 5 days. So, don't forget to leave a review! Luv - Lara K.