The Message in the Bottle

Chapter One

Summary: A deadly storm reveals the creepy past connection between Locke and Boone, and a hallucination/insomnia ridden Jack is no help to the island's other dangerous events, including a fire and a boar's swan song attack on Sawyer.

Title Note: The title was changed because of a recently added story entitled, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Couldn't believe it. I was going to use this title for my Jack-centric post island fic. Oh well. I like this title just as much, and it's double meaning. See if you can catch it.

Flashback Note: Flashbacks are in italics. The name Mark was the name of Jack's friend from the episoed "White Rabbit". I just decided to keep it. Bridget's just a name I made up. Please don't be offended by the blonde thing, I'm not a judge against blondes, that's just her characters.

Spoiler Alert: Your one and only. This stories revolved around theories, pictures, and future summaries. The Boone/Locke connection is my own story line though, and it might not make since if you haven't read my version of "Hearts and Minds".

Disclaimer: The one and only. I don't own Lost. It belongs to J.J. Abrams and co. at ABC.

(That was a huge hint to those of you who have though)

Now on with the story..

A piercing scream woke Jack up that same night. And then another scream, and another. Looking around, Jack tried to detect where it came from, but sensed nothing. The scream came again, and this time Jack realized something- he recognized the scream. It was the same way Sawyer had screamed when he had been tortured by Sayid. But why would he be hearing that now?

His question was answered by a twig snapping nearby.

"Hello?" Jack asked to the errie night air.

At the second snap, Jack stood up, and as the third twig snapped, he moved closer to the entrance.

"Hello-"

His statement was cut off as he was shoved back against the far cave wall.

"Who do you think you are?" A voice said into his ear.

The voice was very angry, very revengeful, and it was a voice he had just heard.

"Sawyer," Jack groaned as Sawyer pushed him further back into the wall.

"Yeah, it's me" Sawyer said in a low voice, "you just can't keep your hands off, can you?"

"What-"

Sawyer punched him in the jaw and Jack doubled over as he was thrown to the ground. The dark was a disadvantage to Jack as he tried to get up, but was brought down once more by Sawyer.

"Oh don't try to act all innocent," Sawyer spat.

Grabbing Jack by the collar of his shirt, Sawyer jerked him back up.

"You know you did-"

Another scream broke through the night, but this time it was real, because Sawyer heard it too.

"What the hell?" He muttered, as if wandering who would dare ruin his revenge.

On the second scream, Jack took Sawyer's bewilderment to his advantage, pushing Sawyer off him and running towards the scream. As he followed the scream, more and more were added to it, growing louder and louder in frightening tones. His jaw was twitching, and he knew that Sawyer was behind him, rather chasing him or following him he didn't know, but that didn't stop him. He kept running until he saw where the screams were coming from, and didn't stop until he came to the site at the edge of the beach. From the sound of it, Sawyer had stopped behind him as well.

"Oh God," Jack said at last.

It looked like the entire beach was on fire, and all of it was centered around blocks of wood that Jack soon recognized as the raft Michael and some others had been building. Castaways screamed as pieces of firery-wood fell onto the beach, and others ran, falling wood just missing their heads. Through the thinning smoke, Jack could barely make out a figure coming towards him.

"Jack!" Kate's voice shouted over the screams.

Running towards her moving figure, Jack caught up to her half way, and lead her away from the fire, caughing at the smoke. Sawyer watched as he did so, but only smirked, not interfering.

"What happened?" He asked as she bent over, caughing. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kate said, knocking Jack's hand away, "someone- someone set the raft on fire."

They met eyes with the same look of loss. That was it. There went their only chance of rescue, and the two of them knew it. Sawyer did as well, as he watched the two in both disgust and with his own loss. It was official. He was never going to get off this damn island or away from these people.

"When did it start?" Jack asked finally as his gaze turned from Kate to the fire.

"About fifteen minutes ago," Kate replied, "I would've told you earlier, but I didn't know where you were."

"Doc was sleeping," Sawyer said from behind them, inviting himself into the conversation, "ain't it a crime?"

Kate and Jack looked at him, both with equal annoyance.

"Fine," Sawyer said, hands up in defeat, "I'll just go along my merry way."

Their eyes followed Sawyer until he turned onto a path behind some bushes.

"We need to get this fire out," Jack said after listening to the flames crackle in the air for a moment.

Kate's eyes trailed over to where Michael, Locke, and nearly ten other people were already at it.

"I'm going to go help."

Without a goodbye, Jack began to run to help. Just as he did, the bottom of the raft gave in, and rolled to the side, sparks echoing like bottle rockets. But as Jack stopped, looking closely, the raft wasn't the only thing that had rolled. A body was tucked between the fallen raft and the hole, its hand reaching out for help. As he stared at it in horror, Jack hadn't realized that Kate had caught up with him.

"Jack?" She asked slowly. "What is it?"

She followed his gaze to the fire, but saw nothing except the burning wood. Jack, on the other hand, was intrigued at the site of the man, his arm now hanging limply over the wood.

"I've got to help him," Jack said to himself, thinking that Kate hadn't heard him.

"What?" Kate asked as Jack began to ran towards the man only he could see. "Jack!"

But Jack couldn't hear her. He was focused on the man, and was unaware of the eyes watching as he crept closer and closer to the body. Suddenly the man's head turned, its eyes staring into Jack's. Jack stumbled back, recognizing the body. It was his fathers body. Without warning, smoke began to engulf Jack, and he choked on his own breath as he felt himself fall to the ground.

-

When Jack came to, it took him a minute before he realized that he was back in the caves, and that it was still dark out. The smell of smoke was thick in the air, and his eyes watered from the exhaust as he looked around, right away spotting Kate's figure in the caves with him. She looked hopeless, sitting on a pile of suitcases she had pushed up against the caves wall to the left of Jack. Her head leaned against the side, and something about the position made Jack certain that dry tears stood on her face. Smiling a little to himself, Jack spoke the best he could:

"Sleeping on the job?"

Kate jumped, and spun around. Sure enough, a few dry tears lingered under her tired eyelids, and suddenly, Jack felt bad about waking her up.

"Oh- oh my god, you're awake!" Kate gasp under her breath. "I'm sorry-"

"That I'm awake?" Jack questioned, an eyebrow up.

"No, that I fell asleep," Kate said, walking over to him.

Jack shook his head.

"I was the one asleep when the world turned Armageddon," Jack said.

"Jack-"

"How long have I been out?" Jack cut in, not feeling up to Kate's pity.

"A few hours," Kate said, running a hand through her hair, "I had to get Sawyer to help me carry you back to the caves."

"Sawyer?" Jack said in disbelieve.

"Yeah," Kate said, knowing what Jack was thinking, "he was the only one who wasn't helping with the fire," she rolled her eyes, "he'll probably think you'll 'owe' him or something."

"Great," Jack muttered. "Did they get the fire out?"

Kate nodded.

"They got it down to a minimum," she said, "but let's face it, if no planes or ships saw that, we're never getting off of here."

There was a pause as Jack considered this, knowing she was right. The pause soon turned awkward, to the point where Jack could no longer stand it.

"So where were you last night?" Jack asked, changing the subject.

Kate stopped. How had Jack found out? According to Sawyer, he had carried her down the trail back, and had arrived back at his dwelling around four in the morning, when Jack should have been asleep.

"I was just- down at the beach," Kate lied.

"Don't," Jack said, sitting up.

"Don't what?" Kate said, puzzled.

"Don't lie to me," he said, standing up.

As well as he could, he walked over towards where all the medicine was, noticing right away that Boone had already taken his medicine, sneaking in sometime during the night. Pain suddenly shot up his back, worse than he had ever felt it after the long shifts at the hospital. Losing his balance, he stumbled, clutching to the makeshift table for support. Kate grabbed onto him, steadying him. When he gained his balance back, Kate let her hand slowly slide down his arm, giving Jack his space.

"What are you talking about?" She asked quietly, hoping that Jack wouldn't notice the nerves in her voice.

"Some people at the beach saw Sawyer bring you in this morning," Jack said, looking into her eyes, which seemed sad to her.

Kate threw her head back and then brought it back down, innocently running a hand through it and laughing a little.

"Oh that was nothing, I had just-"

"You slept with him Kate," Jack continued, jumping to his own conclusions, "you're drunk, or were."

"What makes you think that?" Kate exclaimed, trying her hardest not to give herself away. "How are you not sure that-"

Jack grabbed the wrist of the hand she had been guiding through her lie.

"Don't," he said, looking into her eyes.

He then let go of the wrist, but didn't take his eyes off her.

"It's not worth it," he finished, weary, and in an even lower voice than she had been talking in before.

Kate felt sick as she felt Jack's hand leave her. He sounded so devastated, betrayed. What had he ever done but try to protect her? But then the other side of her brain clicked in, and she begin to think.. but had she really betrayed him? Had she really done wrong? With all this on top of her, Kate felt herself no longer being able to stand his presence, the way it made her feel. Turning her head to the ground, she left, leaving Jack to his own thoughts..

"Okay, so a guy walks out of a bar," a woman's voice was saying, "and sees this police man.."

Jack didn't listen to the rest of the joke as he stared deep into the stirophone sides of his coffee mug. He and his friend, Mark, who also worked at the hospital, but on the children's floor, were eating in the hospital cafeteria along with Mark's fiancé, Bridget, a real blonde who had been lucky to have even seen a guy like Mark in Jack's opinion. Nevertheless, the two had fallen in love, and Jack was granted best man and the joys of listening to endless hours of wedding talk during his little time off of work. It wasn't like he had a life, anyway, here he was thirty-four and single with a shabby apartment topped with a tv set he had had since high school, a wall phone that hadn't been used in two months, and one good friend he could count for who had known him since third grade, and most likely only stuck around because the guy didn't have the heart to leave.

"And then the other man said-" Bridget stopped short, seeing Jack's off-look,

"oh I'm sorry," she said quickly, "I didn't- offend you or anything, did I? Mark told me about your father."

She stole a quick glance to her boyfriend, who gave her a warning look. Mark and Jack, of course, had known each other since elementary school, and in the process had become like twins, who could sense what the other was thinking, and half the time, for Mark, it was a good thing.

"Maybe we should discuss the honeymoon again," Bridget said, and with that, all her sympathy for Jack seemed lost, "did your parents finally agree on Hawaii or-"

Seeing that Jack had given a sigh at the mention of 'honeymoon', Mark cleared his throat, looking back up.

"Maybe we should change the subject," he suggested, glancing towards Jack.

"Oh, don't let me ruin your fun," Jack said, coming out of his daze.

He held up his coffee cup that was now empty.

"I'll just, go throw this away.

Pushing himself away from the table, Jack began to stand, but a man walking through the other side of the cafeteria caught his attention. He looked closely, trying to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

"Jack?" Mark asked, sounding a little worried.

Being used to worrying about his friends, Mark followed Jack's gaze over towards the exit sign where a man was headed. A man, who, in fact, was Jack's father. Mark suddenly understood Jack's silence, knowing all about Jack's 'daddy issues', or at least what Jack had let him in on. He was about to advise Jack, maybe tell him to stay calm, or to not do anything stupid, he didn't know, but wasn't quick enough. Leaving his coffee cup, Jack strode over towards his father, trying to catch up before he had a chance to escape. In the process, he had to ignore and deal with the turned heads, and ears that had clicked on as Jack ran by.

"Dad!" He called, surprising himself.

Jack hadn't been sure what he'd say to his father once he had caught up with him, but since this was the first time in the past week and a half that he had seen so much as his father's head, he was determined not to let the opportunity go. His father stopped, as if he himself were pondering the situation, and after a moment of what seemed like heavy thinking, he finally turned around.

"What?" His father said simply.

Interested eyes were watching the two as Jack took in his father's drunken appearance. It had seemed like the entire ward had known about the ordeal between the two, though Jack had no ideas as to how, and somewhere along the lines, rumors had leaked to other floors of the hospital. Rumors that haunted Jack as he had attempted and failed at trying to sleep the past ten days. Across the room, Mark watched the scene, eyeing the two tentatively.

"What are you doing here?" Jack sputtered at last, it being the only thing he could think of to say.

Reaching into his pocket, Christian Shephard took out a piece of paper, which turned out to be a check.

"My last cheek," he said, shaking the paper in front of Jack's face, "and I guess I have you to thank for that."

"Dad, please, just listen-" Jack tried, but was only interrupted by his very drunken father.

Jack could even smell the achohol on his teeth as he shouted to the hospital.

"I had this!" Christian shouted. "I worked for years to become this, working harder and longer in a day than most people do in a week! And for what? For it to be thrown away for some misunderstanding?"

"A misunderstanding," Jack repeated in awe, his anger for his father taking over the joy of seeing him. His voice lowered drastically. "Dad, you were drunk. Your hands were shaking."

"I was not drunk," Christian said, exposing each word separately. "You had no right being in there."

He stopped, shaking his head as he began laughing.

"What?" Jack said, sickened that his father could find any humor in this.

"Look at me," Christian said, shaking his head, "repeating history."

Jack's father didn't continue until he met Jack's eyes, staring straight into them. Somehow, he was able to ignore the obvious pain and betrayal Jack held, if, that was, he had seen it at all.

"It's over," he continued at last, "we're.. over. You're no son of mine."

He took one last look at Jack and then shook his head as he turned, leaving the

hospital one last time.

"Dad!" Jack called after him desperatly as his father headed out the door. "Dad!"

But Christian ignored his son, leaving him standing in hurt and disbelief.

Author's Note: Finally I finished it, and I finally I know where this fic is going! It'll be shorter than the others, I'm pretty sure, and very down to earth. I think things will happen chapter by chapter, an event in each, in order to fit everything in. I'll write it, but expect possible editing later if I change my mind. It's very important that you have read my version of "Hearts and Minds" to understand the next chapter. Thanks for all the reviews for "The Stranger". I loved them! Love yall! I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this out, but I hope it was worth it! Three day weekend so I'll try my best to get as much of this down as I can!

Coming up next: Charlie returns, but without Locke and Boone, who go searching for Ethan's liar, in hopes of solving some island mysterious. But things go awry, and the situation heats up(not in a romantic way) dark past connections are revealed, and character relationships(not romantic) change, or, at least, innerly change.

And in the future: A boar's swan song attack endangers Sawyer, who gets caught in a deadly situation with Jack and Kate during a hazardous storm that suddenly erupts at sea. Ironically, one of the survivors of the storm is a piece of paper that has a message to Claire written by Charlie.

Sound interesting? I hope yall will like it, I do. Big things come in small packages. That's true for this fic. Short, but essential to the series(my own, not the show plot). Old plot lines will return, and Jack will have to make a life-alternating decision and advice from Kate(well, Locke, but Kate says it- you'll see!) may or may not help. In fact, the only person who can is Boone, who is currently missing, along with Locke in the jungle.

Once again, thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them! Until next time..

+ October Sky