Sink or Swim

Chapter 28

Mac put her gun in her waist band, removed the sling from her arm, put her leather jacket on, and put her back pack on her back, before walking out of camp. "Desmond," she greeted.

"Going to look for them?" he asked.

"It's been six days," she answered. "I can't just wait anymore," she informed him. "Something's wrong, I know it."

"I don't doubt you do, but do you really think it's safe for you to go out there alone?" he asked.

"No, but there isn't much choice is there? I'd ask you but well, you have your hands full with Charlie. He told me, about what you've been seeing," she explained.

"Be careful sister," he told her.

"I plan on it," she stated, leaving.

Mac sighed, walking into the hospital in Los Angeles, going into the room she was given.

Jordan looked up. "She's still sleeping," she responded, hugging Mac. "So how's my globetrotting gallivanting sister?"

Mac pulled on Jordan's elbow, pulling her out of the room. "Why am I here? Why are you here?"

"Mom is sick, she needs a liver transplant," Jordan explained. "I'm not a match, and well, I was hoping that maybe you would be."

Mac looked at her. "I think my hearing must be going, Jordan because I know that you didn't just say that you hoped I would be a match for her. That would imply you hope that I would give part of my live up for that woman," she told her.

"She's our mother," Jordan pointed out.

"You say that like it should mean something to me, Jordan. She gave birth to us, and that was where she thought her obligations ended. How did she find you?" Mac asked. "Because that's what our mother is good for, finding us when she needs something and completely disappearing when we do."

"She showed up at the apartment in Washington," she admitted.

"Then she gave you this sob story about being sick and needing help right?" Mac asked, letting out a deep breath.

"Yes, but she is sick," Jordan pointed out.

Mac shook her head. "She's sick because she can't keep a bottle out of her hand."

"I remember you were hitting the bottle pretty heavily when you left," Jordan told her.

"I admit it, Jordan. I was drinking heavily, I had a few things going on if you remember," she told her. "You can do what you want, but don't bring me into it," she told her, walking away.

Mac took a drink of water hearing something, pulling out her gun walking toward the sound. "Kate? Juliet?" Mac asked, holding the gun at them.

"Didn't expect to see you here," Kate stated.

"What happened? Why are you handcuffed together? Where are Jack, John and Sayid?" Mac asked.

"Funny you ask about Sayid last," Juliet stated. "You would think he'd be the first you'd ask about."

"Shut up," both Kate and Mac told her.

"John left with them, he came to say goodbye. We were gassed, brought out here; they obviously left her behind too.I'm pretty sure Jack and Sayid are back at their camp, we should head back there," Kate informed them, pulling on the handcuffs to pull Juliet forward, while Juliet pulled on the cuff to keep Kate where she is.

"Oh this could get interesting," Mac stated.

"It's going to rain. Don't you think we should wait 'til morning?" Juliet asks.

"No," Kate answers. "Are you coming?" Kate asks Mac.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Mac assured Kate, as Kate pulled on the cuff to make Juliet follow her.

"Why?" Kate questioned.

"Why what?" Juliet asks.

"Why would they handcuff you to me and then drag us all the way out into the jungle?" Kate asks.

"Ben has a thing for mind games," she responded.

"If I remember correctly, so do you," Mac reminded her.

"That why he left you behind?" Kate asked.

"Do we really have to talk?" Juliet asked.

"Nope," Kate answered, as thunder and rain appears.

"I'll go ahead, pick up the trail before it gets to wet," Mac stated, walking ahead.

"I hope you're not dragging me all the back there with you for him," Juliet told Kate.

"Excuse me?" Kate explained.

"I hope you're not going back, for Jack, because I was standing right there, when he told you not to come back. And now that you've ruined his chance to get off the Island -" Juliet informed her.

Mac turns to see Kate punch Juliet in the face, then the two fighting on the ground.

"You done? I SAID ARE YOU DONE?" Kate yelled at her, Mac hearing a crack as Juliet screams. "I... I'm sorry, I, I didn't mean to..."

Mac heard noises. "The whispers," she told them.

"Get up," Kate yelled.

"You dislocated my shoulder!" Juliet informed her.

"Hurry up!" Mac told them.

"GET, UP!" Kate yelled again.

Juliet pulled herself up, and the two ran for cover. Kate noticed some vines and clump of trees.

"Quick, in here! Come on. Get in. Come on, get down, get down," she told Juliet as Mac squeezes in.

"What the hell?" Juliet questioned.

"Shh... up," Kate advised.

The sounds of the Monster screech right outside the trees where they are hiding. As it nears, blinding lights shine sharply on both of them. Juliet covered her eyes in shock.

Mac took a breath looking at Kate.

"Are we safe?" Juliet asked.

"You tell us," Mac answered.

"Do you think it's gone? Are we safe?" Juliet asked again.

"Are you serious? You've never seen that?" Kate questioned.

"Oh if you don't believe me, you can always pull my other shoulder out of its socket," Juliet told her sarcastically.

"I was, I wasn't trying to..." Kate told her.

"Don't flatter yourself. This is the fourth time it's been dislocated," Juliet informed them.

Mac looked at Juliet. "Give me your arm."

"What?" Kate asked.

"She needs it popped back in place. She's not going to be able to be much use if we don't, and the two of you are handcuffed together," she pointed out.

Juliet gave Mac her arm, screaming as she pushes on her arm pulling up.

Juliet took a breath standing up. "Thanks."

"Let's go," Mac told them.

"To answer your question from before, Jack told me not to come back to protect me, because he didn't want me to get hurt," Kate told Juliet as they walked.

"Is that what you think?" Juliet asked Kate

"Yeah that's what I think," Kate answered.

"We have cameras on the cages, Kate, all of them. He saw you, you and Sawyer. The reason Jack told you not to come back, wasn't because he didn't want you to get hurt, it was because you broke his heart," Juliet told her.

"You were right," Kate told Mac, taking a breath.

"Of course Mac would notice the cameras, she's trained," Juliet told them.

"Shut up," both of them told her again.

Mac took a breath, watching the doctor leave her mother's room, watching him come down the hall way. "Excuse me, I just saw you come out of room 3451. Are you that patient's primary?"

"I'm sorry I can't discuss anything about a patient to anyone but immediate family," the doctor told her.

"I'm Mackenzie Grayson," she told him pulling out her Army Identification. "I'm her other daughter."

"Your sister said that you couldn't make it," the doctor informed her.

"I was in Africa, volunteering. What can you tell me about my mother's condition?" she questioned.

"You're mothers liver is failing, and because of heavy alcohol consumption in her life, she isn't exactly the perfect candidate for a transplant," the doctor explained.

"Which means what?" Mac questioned.

"That without a transplant that she doesn't have much time left," he answered.

"My sister isn't a match?" she questioned.

"No," the doctor answered.

"I know my mother, if she gets this transplant; she isn't going to stop drinking," she informed the doctor.

"That is up to her, I'm afraid," the doctor told her.

Mac took a sip of water, walking ahead of Kate and Juliet.

"Did he say that to you?" Kate questioned.

"Sorry?" Juliet asked.

"That I broke his heart," Kate responded.

"He didn't have to," Juliet told her.

"You don't know anything about him," Kate told her.

"I know where he was born. I know what his parents did for a living. I know that he was married, and who he was married to. I know why he got a divorce. I know how his father died. I know his height, his weight, his birthday, and his blood type. What do you know about him, Kate?" Juliet asked.

"Ben must have taught you how to play the mind game well," Mac hissed at Juliet. "Let's go," she informed them. "Do you hear it?" she asked as the Monster could be heard again.

"Run, run, run," Kate told them, as Juliet tripped, and the two cuffed women landed in a mud puddle. "Get up, run, run, come on."

Mac saw the sonic barrier. "Stop, Mac," she warned. "We can't go through there."

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"I know what happens when you step through those things..." Kate told her.

"They're off. Kate! We can," Juliet starts to explain.

"We'll go alongside," Kate informed them.

"We don't need to, we can go," Juliet told her again.

"Go around..." Kate repeated, as Mac started to go around.

"I should have asked Sawyer to come around, he would have enjoyed this much more then I am," Mac mumbled to herself.

"They're off... dam it," Juliet exclaimed, grabbing a key from her pocket, undoing the cuffs, and runs to the other side of the fence accessing a control panel.

Mac ran to Kate helping her off the ground after she fell.

"You're gonna wanna be over here," Juliet informed them.

Kate hesitates. "Come on Kate," Mac told her.

Kate ran through the barrier covering her head. Once through, Juliet turned the switch, causing the fences to buzz. The Monster then headed straight towards Juliet, but it was completely blocked by the sonic fence, which acted like a force field. The Monster quickly gave up and flew away. Kate walked over to Juliet and pushed her.

"Alright, we don't know what it is, but we know it doesn't like our fences..." Juliet explained.

"I don't think this is about the fence," Mac pointed out.

"You had a key!" Kate told her.

"They left me behind too, they gassed me! I know that you don't care, but the people I spent the last three years of my life with, they just left me! I thought that maybe, maybe if I could make you think that we were in it together. Maybe I wouldn't get left behind again," Juliet explained, as Kate grabbed the key from her hand, walking ahead of her.

"You sure know how make an impression on a person don't you?" Mac asked, taking a drink of water walking with her.

Mac, Kate, and Juliet stopped at buildings after a few more hours of walking.

"Sayid's in one of those backyards down there. I'll go get him. You should get Jack," Juliet tells Kate.

"I'll get Sayid," Mac informed them walking away.

Mac walked into the doctor's office a few weeks after arriving in Los Angeles. "I got your message," she told him sitting down.

"You're a match to be a donor for your mother's transplant," he informed her.

"Everything came back in perfect order. I don't understand why you told me not to tell your sister or mother that you are still in town or even having the tests done. We can schedule the procedure anytime, the sooner the better," he told her.

"I never said that I would be her donor if I was a match," Mac pointed out.

The doctor looked at her. "Miss. Grayson why would you even hesitate doing this, she is your mother, your family."

Mac smiled, shaking her head. "Let me tell you something about the woman you're trying to save. She walked out on me when I was 14, leaving me to raise my two sisters. She came back now and then, usually when she needed something. The last time I saw her was in a lawyer's office trying to con her way into my two daughters' life insurance policy after they were murdered. So, please forgive me if I'm not eager to give up part of my body to save her. I'll let you know," she said standing up leaving.

Mac bent down beside Sayid. "Sayid, wake up!" she told him kissing him softly.

"Mac?" he asked dazed, sitting up. "What are you doing here? What happened?" he asked.

"Apparently you, Jack, Kate and Juliette were gassed and left behind. Locke went with them," she explained kissing him. "I was coming to look for you, and I happened to run into Kate and Juliette, they were dragged into the jungle after they were gassed."

"You shouldn't have risked coming," Sayid told her, running his hand through her hair, kissing her, standing up. "Let's do a sweep of the houses," he told her.