Chapter 26

Here's the next... let me know what you think!

Jack sat watching Sawyer sleep, the images of his lifeless body now mixed with his yells of pain. He could feel Mike looking at him. When too much time had passed, when he couldn't ignore him anymore, Jack looked back at him.

"If you have something to say, just say it."

"If I have – what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Excuse me?"

"What was that? What you did to him was - "

"Was what? Hard? Upsetting? Because it wasn't a picnic for me either you know. But it had to be done. If we were home he would be in a hospital, getting antibiotics and pain medication and treated in a burn unit, but he isn't. He's here. And I want to make him ok, but I can't. I'm doing the best I can."

"We need to stop the pain, not add more to it. What we put him through, it was too much."

"It had to be done. If the wound gets infected, I won't be able to do anything here. He'll suffer. Then die. We can't let that happen... although cleaning it with just water isn't going to do much really. We need to get back to the hatch. Next time we clean it..."

"Next time?"

"We have to keep the wound clean, we have no bandages..."

"I'm not putting him through that again."

"We have to. It'll help him in the long-run. I promise."

"Yeah? Try telling him that," Mike nodded at Sawyer, who was restlessly asleep, "and for another thing, I don't want my son to see you torturing him like that."

"That was not what I was doing. How dare you say -"

"Looked like it to me."

The sound of Walt's voice at the mouth of the cave stopped the argument, which was growing in volume. Mike turned his back on Jack, not looking back as he walked to his son. Jack watched as he hugged Walt, who was telling him about the interesting things he and Sayid had seen. Sayid walked past them, straight to Jack.

"We had no problems. We managed to get fruit, but nothing else. How were things here?" He looked across the cave at Sawyer.

"Emm, not the best, but as good as we're going to get. I think it's best if you stay back tomorrow, some father-son time will help them out."

"Ok," Sayid looked at Jack intently, knowing there was something else going on, "I tried to get Walt to talk about his time with the Others, but it did not work. I think it best to get him to talk about it, it will help him deal with what has happened, help us know what really happened." Jack just nodded.

"I said I'd wake him when you got back, but it'll be best to let him sleep. We should eat." He walked over to the fire, sitting down across from Walt and Mike, the latter making a point not to look at him. Jack heard Walt ask about Sawyer, Mike saying he was fine, but nothing else. Sayid walked over with the fruit, sitting down and began to divide what they had. No one spoke until they had eaten.

"Shouldn't Sawyer have some?" Walt had been constantly looking over as he ate. It was Jack that replied.

"We're going to let him sleep for a bit. We've kept some for him though."

"Is he ok?"

"He's ok. But Walt, I was wondering if you could tell us about what happened when you were separated from us? When you were with the Others?" At this, Mike looked at Jack for the first time, Walt showed no emotion, except shallowing a little harder. But he nodded. "That's good, that's good Walt. We need to know everything, everything. Even bits you might not want to tell us. Bits you feel you did something bad, or wrong. You didn't. Nothing you tell us will make us mad at you. Ok?" Walt nodded again, looking at his dad, who sat staring back. Walt drew breath and began.

"When we first got there, when they locked you up, they took me into the building. We walked through corridors. They all looked the same, all white. They left me in a room. It was... nice. It had a bed and a TV with old cartoons and a mirror on the wall. They brought me food and chocolate and I just stayed there."

"A mirror?" Sayid sounded interested.

"Yeah, it was high up. Like... I couldn't see myself it was so high. But it was fine, warm and no one bothered me."

"That's good. What happened the second day? When they took you to see Sawyer?" Jack could see his question had made Walt uncomfortable. He paused, looking over at Sawyer. Jack could tell he didn't want to think about it. "Walt?"

"Frank would bring me food. I wasn't really sure what time it was. But Frank came in, with the food, he was asking if I was ok but his radio crackled and Ben spoke. He said Code Three." At this Mike looked at Jack and Sayid, remembering the moment well. "He told me to stand and come with him. I asked where we were going, if I was going to see you," he looked at Mike, who nodded back, putting his hand on his son's arm.

"What did he say?"

"He said we were going to see James Ford. I didn't know who he meant but we were walking through the corridors and I wanted to pay attention. It was brighter outside and I saw Sawyer sitting against the bars with his eyes closed. We were pretty close by the time he noticed us. He stood up, almost fell over trying to get to me, to help me. He was shouting, asking if I was ok, but I was too scared. I didn't say anything."

"It's ok, you did good," Jack interrupted when Walt looked as though he was struggling.

"Frank told Sawyer dad wasn't co-operating," he looked at Mike as he said this, "he said that you wouldn't really care what happened to Sawyer, but he was all they had to try and make you behave. But Sawyer just started telling him to let me go... that having the four of you was enough and they were to leave me alone, Frank laughed at him. Just stood there and laughed. Sawyer was finding it hard to stand, and Frank kept laughing. Sawyer told me to not look while Frank..." Mike bowed his head hearing it, "He hit him, hard. I shouted at him to stop but he wouldn't listen. Then Sawyer hit back. He had him against the bars. It didn't last long, but he didn't give up, he fought. Then Frank hit him and Sawyer went down. Then Frank kicked him, then again... where the taser had hit him. He yelled really loud. He was in pain, that was the first time he'd yelled. Then he passed out. But Frank kept kicking him and kicking him. I was yelling at him to stop, to leave him alone but... I thought he was dead."

"It's ok, it's over, you're both ok," Mike squeezed his son's arm as he spoke.

"What happened after that?" Sayid wanted as much information as possible.

"We went back into the building. I kept asking if Sawyer was ok, but they wouldn't tell me. But I kept asking. Later the next day they let me see him. I was so happy to see him alive. Frank made him get on his knees. Sawyer did it straight away. It was hurting him. He was in a lot of pain. Frank just laughed," Walt was looking angrier the more he spoke, "I went in the cage, I was just happy he was ok. He hugged me really tight, like he was scared what would happen to me of he let go. That's when he told me to run when I could."

"After that, what happened?"

"Nothing. They put me back in my room and I didn't leave again."

"Then, how did you get away?" Sayid was trying to piece it together.

"A girl came. She said it was clear. Told me to run but in the opposite direction of the beach and to hide in a secret place only she knew about. Then get to the beach after a few hours, when it was dark. She left my door open and made sure I had water."

"Do you know who she was?"

"No. No idea. She wasn't old, I mean she was a teenager."

Jack looked at Sayid, who obviously found this very interesting. But he said nothing.

"So, I did what she said. I had only been under the boat for about half an hour before you came for me."

"You did good Walt. I'm proud of you," Mike looked at his son as he pulled him into a hug.