A/N: Sorry I've taken such a long time to update… I extend the apologies even more, because this is a pretty short chapter. I was uninspired for a long stretch of time, and for about a week, all I had written was the first line of this chapter. Anyway, away from the stupid apologies -- it's a short, meaningful chapter. Read it, enjoy it, and leave a little bit of feedback!

-mo

…

"What… what are you doing?!" Ralph jerked his head away, not violently, but in a more surprised manner.

"I… don't… know…" Jack focused his eyes on the clear, pure water, trying to hide the bright redness that was washing over his face. "Oh, damn, Ralph -- I'm sorry!" With that said, he turned on his heel, as fast as he could in the pool, and sloshed away from the other boy.

Ralph crossed his arms over his chest, and only then could he feel himself trembling, shivering, as if he was genuinely cold. The water was warm, the air was temperate and humid, but… It must have been himself that was cold… A frown creased the boy's forehead, and before he knew what he was doing, he called out. "Jack! Jack! Wait, don't go! Come back!"

The red-haired boy came to a halt, the current pushing against his hips. "What do you want?" he asked in a deadpan voice, not facing Ralph.

"I want to talk to you," he replied, not budging from his spot near the waterfall. The falling spout was roaring in his ears, though Ralph was certain that it hadn't been that loud before. He couldn't hear the chirps and squawks of the brightly-plumed tropical birds, only the crash of the waterfall and his loud, shallow breathing. "Please, come back. I won't hurt you."

Jack whipped his head around fiercely. "Who said you would?!"

"Sorry, Jack."

"You're sorry? Why should you be sorry?!" Slowly, he approached Ralph, the blush fleeting from his face. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry for acting like a fairy! I'm sorry for it all! Can you just please forget it?!"

Ralph scratched his chin, immersed in deep thought. He shook his head slowly and murmured, "You don't need to be sorry."

Jack stared past the other boy and at the white foam of the spout of water. "It's wrong," he grumbled, repeating the effects of the brainwashing that all the boys had undergone in England. "It's wrong, immoral, and I'll likely go to Hell for it."

Ralph rolled his eyes. "You and your Hell! Don't you realize, this island we're on is Hell! The fire, the death, the sad excuse for the food that we eat! D'you really think we'll ever get rescued from this rock?!"

"You seemed to think so, if I remember correctly."

"Why, that was ages ago! I don't still believe that! And I sure hope you don't!"

Jack shook his head. "I don't…" He pointed at the waterfall. "Is that Hell, Ralph? The blue sky, unchoked by smog? Something we never see in London? Is that Hell to you? The jungle, with all of its trees and bushes, the clean stream that we're standing in, I assume those are Hell to you, too."

"I didn't mean…"

"Of course you didn't." Jack rolled his eyes and instead studied the long, green fronds of a palm tree that was bent over the tranquil pool.

"Jack, our differing versions of Hell wasn't what I wanted to talk about." Ralph extended a hand, grabbed Jack's arm, and yanked him closer, with a certain amount of strength that surprised the other. "Listen, boy," Ralph whispered, using a pronoun that he had never dreamed of appointing to Jack, "what you did to me, oh, five minutes ago -- thanks to all this quarreling we've been having -- was one of the best things that has happened to me on this stupid island!"

Jack blinked, but didn't pull away, even if the older boy was grasping him rather roughly. "No! You're not telling the truth, Ralph! I know that as soon as we get back to Castle Rock, you'll be running everywhere, telling all the other boys how much of a fairy their chief is!"

The fair-haired boy shook his head slowly, mouthing the word no. "You're wrong, Jack. That was the first time in months that I've felt needed, that it's seemed like someone wants me. Like I'm loved." Ralph looked away, ashamed for sounding so poetic, and watched the sky; a storm would be rolling in, soon, he could feel it in the air. "Jack, you don't need to be sorry."

The chief shuddered, and all of a sudden, the water that pooled around his hips felt very cold, like ice. He slogged through it, until he reached the rocky bank, and pulled himself out, shivering in his soaked state. He frowned, hugging his knees to his chest, and whispered haltingly, "P-prove it."

A shudder coursed through Ralph's body, like a blast of chill, and he waded through the pool until he reached the bank where Jack was seated. Still in the water, Ralph leaned forward, placing his hands on Jack's bony shoulders, and brought the younger boy into an embrace. A moment later, their lips were pressed against each other, sharing warmth and maybe something else, and Ralph wondered just what the hell he was doing.

…

That afternoon, it rained, with as much intensity as a gale at sea. The waves, riding a stiff ocean breeze, ripped away at the shoreline, ravaged the rocks, and dragged bits and pieces of the island away. The wind tore at the palm trees, sending their fronds and leaves flying through the air. Ralph was glad that he was on high land, sheltered in Jack's cave near Castle Rock. There was a feeble fire going, but it looked like it would blow out at any moment, and so he just wrapped a large, bristly pig hide around himself. Jack was elsewhere, in the farthest corner of the overhang, huddled against the stony wall. He refused to talk to anyone -- even Ralph -- and so he cowered, alone, far away from the weak glow of the fire.

Ralph sighed, and poked at the orange embers with a stick. He didn't know what had happened down by the waterfall that morning, and he didn't really want to think about it. For some reason, it made him shudder uncontrollably, not as if he was scared, but… Ralph sighed again. He hoped that Jack wouldn't make a big deal of it, or misinterpret it and take it all farther. But at the same time, Ralph had craved that human contact. There was something special about it, a special warmth, a certain connection that nothing else could quite mimic. The boy was finding himself so starved for human affection that he didn't care whom it came from, whether it was a boy or a girl, a man or a woman, an acquaintance or a stranger.

He groaned and jabbed at the embers again. Ralph decided that he was a sad case, a poor excuse for a boy, a child deprived of everything that had been so important to him several months before. Rubbing his hands together to keep warm, Ralph watched the turbulent, angry sea, the whitecaps rolling into the shore. A lone seagull struggled against the wind, so much that it was flying backward. Ralph wished that he was home, away from this all, curled up in front of the fireplace with his golden retriever lying beside him, breathing softly… Stop it! he told himself madly. Stop it. How many times have you wished for this before?! It'll never happen! Never! Make do with what you've got, boy! You don't have anything else!

Ralph twisted around and squinted into the darkness of the rocky overhang. Jack was there, cowering in the shadows, looking directly at the older boy. Surprised, Ralph glanced away, and returned his gaze to the turbulent water of the ocean. It was another long, awkward stretch of silence, but the crashing of the waves seemed to atone for some of it. Ralph squirmed, and wished he was dead.

"Hey." It was Jack, whispering, but his sudden voice seemed to boom over the gale. "I want to talk."

"You're talking," Ralph murmured. "Carry on."

"Did you really mean it?" he asked, still hiding in the depths of the overhang. "Or were you just trying to make me feel better?"

"There's more important stuff going on, Jack." Ralph turned around so that he was facing the red-haired boy. "There's the deaths, there's Roger, there's the littluns -- they're scared, you know. There's the fact that you're their chief. You don't want to let them down."

"But, Ralph…"

"Forget about what happened this morning, alright? Leave it alone." Ralph's dark eyes never left Jack. "Take care of what's important, first."

"I don't know what's important anymore."

Ralph heaved a sky and crawled across the floor of the cave until he was seated next to Jack. "At times, neither do I."

…

A/N: Um… Way too short. I'm sorry. Did you like that chapter? Why or why not? Thanks for bearing with me and reading. Hope it was worth your time… If it was, leave a comment… It's much appreciated, so I can see how I'm doing. 'Till next time…

-mo