Chapter 37- Rescued and Faith in People
Hope took a drink of water as Ben-Ben, Boone, and Michael dug into the cavern and handed rocks to Kate. "Kate, you need to take a break," Michael said.
"I'm fine," Kate grounded out, tossing a rock.
"Yeah, we'd better hurry. The air has to be terrible in there," Ben-Ben grunted as he put a large rock down.
"We've got enough people to dig; You and Ben-Ben keep going at this pace, you're gonna kill yourselves," Michael said to Kate.
"Wait. I've got something. It's an opening," ben-Ben said, crawling through the space.
Ben watched as two figures came out of the ground; Charlie Pace and Jack Shepard. "Hey! It's Dad!" Hope shouted, running out of the cave and into Shepard's arms. Ben's stomach clenched painfully at the sight of his daughter hugging another man and he would never get over her calling that man "Dad."
"Dad!" Benjamin yelled as he ran out and hugged Jack as well, th knife in Ben's gut twisting even worse.
"Oh! Ow! Easy," Jack said as Kate hugged him. "My shoulders, careful."
"How did you get out?" Reyes asked.
"Charlie. Charlie found a way out," Jack said, playfully hitting Charlie's shoulder.
"Charlie, thank you," Hope asked, hugging Charlie and kissing his cheek.
"Dude, you rock," Reyes said, picking Charlie up in a bear hug.
"Come on, Dad. Let me look at your shoulder," Hope said, leading Jack to a rock as they congratulated Charlie.
Hope examined his shoulder, her small fingers probing Jack's skin gently. "Ow! Easy, Hope!" Jack exclaimed, taking a sharp hiss of pain.
Hope rolled her eyes with the briefest of small sighs. "Men are such babies," Hope said softly and Ben chuckled under his breath.
"How is it, big sister?" Benjamin asked.
"Good. If Dad doesn't do any muscle building or rope pulls, his arm should heal," Hope said in a flat monotone.
"Your bedside manner leaves something to be desired, Hope," Ethan said, coming out of the bushes.
"I know, I know. Don't remind me," Hope said.
"Well, it's dinnertime. Wasn't Locke going boar hunting?" Jack asked, changing the subject as he stood and slung both arms around the children's shoulders.
"Something to that effect. I don't wanna really cook tonight and Mr. Locke offered to do it for me," Hope said as they all disappeared inside the cave.
"Ben, my sister's children are amazing. I don't think they are going to need us to save them from anything. They do pretty good saving themselves," Ethan said, walking over to the brush where Ben hid with the others.
"I know. Ethan, keep your eyes on them and report back to me on everything they do," Ben said, his eyes fixed on the cave opening.
Ben-Ben sat next to his father as Hurley handed Jack and Charlie water. "Dude, you feeling okay?" Hurley asked Charlie. Hope had told Ben-Ben that Charlie was coming off a detox from drugs. Considering how much he had taken, he had to be feeling bad.
Charlie drunk the water deeply. "He's right. You look a little-" Ben-Ben started to say.
"Flu. He's got the flu, son," Jack said. the lie telling Ben-Ben that no one knew Charlie was a drug addict.
"Oh, man, that's rough. After all you've been through. Take it easy, man," Hurley said, walking away. Charlie looked up to see Hope and Locke tending the cooking boar.
"I think I'm gonna stretch my legs," Charlie said. Jack nodded as Charlie stood and Kate took his place. She took a sling and placed it around Jack's neck.
"Made you something," Kate said as Jack chuckled.
"Aw. My very first sling," Jack said as he put his injured arm in it.
"How's that?" Kate asked.
"Good. Thank you. Usually Hope would do this, but she's a little busy right now," Jack said as Kate sat back, looking around.
"So these are the safe caves you've been going on about," Kate teased with a smile.
"This was a fluke/ Michael and Benjamin checked out the integrity of the rest of the caves, gave them an okay. So, you're headed back to the beach, huh?" Jack asked.
"Sayid should be back there by now if his plan worked, then-" Kate started to say.
"Then we're one step closer to getting off this island," Jack said.
"Yeah. I kinda want to go back to school now and I never liked school like Hope did," Ben-Ben said.
"I know, son. You never know how much you like something until you have to do without it," Jack said.
"That's the truth," Ben-Ben said.
"Thanks for the sling, Kate," Jack said after a few seconds of silence.
"You're welcome," Kate said in a hushed whisper. It didn't take much for Ben-Ben to see Kate liked his dad and the feeling was mutual.
Hope gently basted the boar with the fat dripping off it as Charlie came up to her. "Give them to me," Charlie said in a dull voice.
"This is the third time. I promised to give them back after three times. Are you sure you really want it?" Hope asked, licking her lips nervously.
"I've made my choice," Charlie said, holding out his hand. Hope looked at it, pulled the drugs out of her denim shorts pocket, and placed it in Charlie's hand. Charlie looked at the drugs before tossing it into the fire.
Hope smiled and turned to look at Charlie. "I'm proud of you, Charlie. I always knew you could do it if I prayed," Hope said as a moth fluttered away.
"Thank you, Hope. You didn't give up on me," Charlie said.
"I don't give up on people, Charlie," Hope said as she continued to baste the boar.