A/N: I added in the infamous 'counting' line at the end, because I thought it fit in well with the scene. I know a dozen other people have used in their stories, so please take no offense if you have.
Thanks for the reviews!
Chapter Four:
Boone felt his head roll as his eyes flickered open. He groaned as he fought to sit up, and finally gave in, collapsing against the wall behind him.
"You won't be able to stand on your own," a voice advised, "you'll be fine, with a little help."
Squinting, Boone strained to see as he looked up to what became a form of John Locke, who had a hand out in front of him. Boone looked at him, wondering what was going on. Why was Locke helping him after all he had just said? Nevertheless, he knew Locke was right; he'd never make a step on his own. The right side of his face was swollen in, and he knew there must of been growing some kind of bruise on it. His jaw screamed in pain, and his gum felt soft, like he was feeling the blood seep through. Whoever had hit him had known what he was doing. Boone closed his eyes, bracing himself for the pain as he reached up, grasping Locke's hand.
As the man helped him up, Boone realized right off that his back was sore, and that must've meant he was out for a while. It wasn't long before he was in a full stance, and Locke held on to his shoulder for a moment before letting Boone stand on his own. Boone's hand immediatly flew to his head, grabbing the side as the pain hit, shooting towards his head. Locke was patient as Boone let his head drop before bringing it back up.
"I'm fine," he lied, bringing his hand back down, "I'm all right."
"Are you sure?" Locke said.
Boone knew Locke could tell he was lying, but he wasn't going to give in.
"Yeah," Boone said, "I'm sure."
Looking down, Boone noticed for the first time another person in the room- a person who was now a body, knocked cold, face down.
"Is he.. dead?" Boone asked slowly, staring down at it.
"I'm not a killing type of man," Locke quoted from their earlier conversation, "but he was. Put up a fight."
Boone glanced towards Locke, and noticed his knuckles were red from battle. Locke seemed lost in thought for a minute, but as soon as Boone noticed, he shook himself out of it.
"Will you be able to make it out?" Locke asked him.
"Yeah," Boone nodded.
He knew it would require some agonizing pain, but Boone didn't want to stay down here no longer than Locke did. Actually, he wouldn't of been surprised if Locke made camp down here, but he wasn't about to suggest it.
"Let's go," he added.
"Jack! Jack!" Kate screamed as she ran through the jungle, ignoring that branches that swung at her.
"Calling.. his name.. won't.. help!" Michael panted from behind her as he raced to keep up.
All it took was for Michael to point Kate in the right direction, and she had taken off.
"Turn right!" Michael shouted as he realized Kate had gotten too far ahead of him.
Kate was on it, and didn't need any further direction to know where to look. Sayid, Shannon, Hurley, and Charlie where standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down at something.
"Oh God," Kate whispered, stopping at the site.
The others must've heard her, because Sayid turned at the sound, Charlie following.
"Kate-" Sayid said slowly.
"What happened?" Kate interrupted, nervous at the sympathy she was getting.
She didn't receive an answer, only saddened gazes of the other castaways.
"What happened?" Kate said louder, walking towards them.
"Um, maybe you shouldn't-" Hurley began, but Kate ignored him, pushing Sayid's arm out of the way as she looked over the edge.
She almost fell over herself, losing her breath at what she saw.
"Oh no-" she said under her breath.
She was dreaming. She had to be. That was the only explanation because there was no way she was seeing this. There was about a twenty foot drop off the side of the cliff, and the bottom was set amongst a pool of smooth rocks, though all with jagged sides, and Jack lay between them.
"Jack," Kate whispered helplessly.
"I'm sorry," Sayid began, "we didn't even notice-"
"Yeah," Charlie cut in," we were just on out way back to the caves, and Jack saw something and just began running towards it."
"Did anyone else see it?" Kate asked, running her hand through her hair, trying not to lose it.
"No dude, it was weird," Hurley said, staring back down at the body, "he just, ran towards it and- wait, what are you doing?"
Kate had thrown her backpack down, and begun bending down over the edge. After examining the climb, Kate looked up at Sayid, with a small trace of hope running across her face.
"I can do it," she said confidently.
"Do what?" Shannon asked plainly.
"I can climb down there," Kate continued.
"No," Sayid said, shaking his head, "it's too dangerous. You might hurt yourself."
"He's right," Charlie agreed quickly.
"Hurt myself?" Kate repeated slowly. "Hurt myself! Jack's just fallen twenty feet and he may still be alive, and you're worried about me hurting myself!"
"No one could've survived that fall," Sayid said, expressing the truth, however little he wanted to believe it.
"No one should've survived the plane crash either," Kate shot back calmly.
That got the others quite, and as Kate threw a leg over the side of the cliff, they knew there was no stopping her.
"Be careful," Sayid said with worry.
"I will be," Kate said with a small smile.
She took a final look down, and began to climb.
"Hey, hey," a voice whispered into Jack's hear, "Jack, wake up. Jack-"
"What?" Jack moaned, fighting off someone's constant tugging of his shoulder.
"Jack, Jack," the voice repeated worried, "you need to wake up, you're having a-"
"Nightmare?" Jack offered, gazing into the eyes that were looking down on him.
The eyes were the most beautiful he had ever seen, a light, jade blue, that stared into him with a deepness he could've never predicted coming from someone like Alana. Turning his head to the side, Jack saw that it was eight fifteen, and the relief of having the weekend off came over him, even though he knew how bad it would look- every other Saturday he had insisted on coming in.
"You were talking," Alana said, more worried then amused.
"Was it about breakfast?" Jack said, amused, as he sat up, sitting on the side of the bed. "Because I'm starving."
He felt better than he had in weeks. Maybe Mark was right, maybe it was time he added something to his life- even if that something was blonde and five foot four.
"Jack-"
"Um hm," Jack muttered, running his hand over his head, almost laughing at the fact that the last time he had even come close to a date like this, he had hair there.
"I can't do this," Alana said quietly from behind him.
Jack's hand stopped midway up his neck as he felt his insides turned cold in sickness.
"What?" Jack said, praying he had heard wrong.
"I'm not what you're looking for," Alana said, even softer than before.
Turning around, Jack stared at her. She was propped up by her left elbow, staring down into the cloud white sheets on his bed.
"Are you- breaking up with me?" Jack said slowly.
"Breaking up with you?" Alana repeated.
Jack felt the sheets move as she edged closer to him. The cool feel of her hands were soon against his neck as he felt her then draw her arms against him, holding him. Reaching up, Jack let his right hand linger on her left arm.
"Jack, we've only known each other a little over twenty-four hours," Alana continued, her breath cool against his neck, "I just- I can't do this. I don't want something settled like this."
"Then, why-"
"When your friend called me," she said, "he said he was worried about you."
"Don't bring him into this-"
"I just thought maybe one night and-"
"So you do this often?" Jack said, a streak of anger in his voice. "Letting guys down like this?"
"Yeah, but, they kind of expect it," Alana said, her voice falling.
Jack finally caught on.
"I was set up," Jack realized.
"Your friends are worried about you-"
"My friends don't know me-"
"I don't know you," Alana pointed out, "but from the past twenty-four hours, I have learned that your a good guy."
"A good guy?" Jack said, laughing a little. "What, is that like some kind of title?"
"Jack, there are a lot of single mothers out there who would pay to marry you," Alana said, desperately.
Jack looked down before looking back up at Alana, hurt in both his voice in eyes.
"So how much were you paid?" He asked as a lump formed in his throat.
"No one paid me-"
"How much were you paid?" Jack said louder, practically yelling.
"I've got to go," Alana said, shaking her head.
This time, Jack looked down as she got dressed, unable to release his hands from their grip on the mattress. A few minutes later, Alana was fully dressed back into her jeans and top, and reached for her purse that was strung over an old chair in the corner of Jack's room he had no use for and had meant to take out years ago. She walked towards the door, head down, turned the knob, then stopped, and turned back to Jack.
"You have friends that really care about you," Alana said, "and for them to be so worried, that they'd go to any crazy length to help- you don't know how lucky you are to have that."
Jack looked up at her, saddened, and Alana met his eyes on last time before leaving.
"You're a good guy, Jack," she said, and then left, leaving Jack alone, and miserable.
"He's alive!" A voice shouted in his ear. "Oh my God- he's alive!"
Sunlight blinded Jack's eyes as they blinked open, and he found himself staring into dark, brown, hazel eyes. Eyes that he would remember for life.
"Hey," said the girl leaning over him.
The girl had set him up, and his back was now against a wall of rocks.
"Kate," Jack muttered weakly.
"Don't talk," Kate said, turning up to the top of the cliff.
"Throw me some water down!" She yelled.
He winced at the sound, and she turned back to him.
"Sorry," she said, giving him a small smile.
Jack didn't say or do anything in turn, nor was he able to. His back was frozen in pain, and he couldn't even feel his legs. Before he knew it, Kate was catching a water bottle, and undoing the cap.
"Good catch," he offered as well as he could.
"Thanks," she said, "here- drink."
She lowed the bottle to Jack's mouth, and he forced himself to let the water fall into his mouth, recoiling at every swallow. After a few sips, Kate capped the water, and turned back up to the edge of the cliff.
"You guys go ahead," Kate called, "I can take it from here."
"Are you sure?" Michael said, concerned. "It'll be a hard trip, and the storm's coming."
"Don't worry," Kate said reassuringly.
She waited until she made sure the others were gone before she looked back to Jack.
"How bad do I look?" Jack said, regretting the answer.
"Like you just traveled to hell and back," Kate said, "but your face looks okay."
"I guess that's all that matters, huh?" Jack joked.
"It's all that they'll see," Kate said, knowing that would be all that Jack would care about.
But the comment silenced Jack, which made her think.
"Jack-"
"No Kate, don't," Jack said, "I'm okay."
"You're okay?" Kate said, incredulous. "You just chased a hallucination off of a twenty foot cliff and you're telling me you're okay?"
Jack didn't answer her, silenced by her words.
"Jack, you've got to start talking to me," Kate said, looking at him, "you've got to tell me what's going on. I want to be able to help you."
Jack looked into her eyes, and saw the sadness and guilt in them, and immediately began to hate himself. Why couldn't he just have told Kate what was going on? What was so embarrassing about it? What, did he think she would laugh? Here he was, killing himself, because he was afraid to tell a girl he'd probably be stuck with the rest of his life one little thing about him. He felt like a monster, and after all he had practically forced her to tell him. Maybe, he decided, it was time she got some of that truth back. She deserved that respect, didn't she?
"When my dad died," he began, "I got them to let me take his body on the plane. I was going to take him back to my mom, in L.A. I've found his coffin, but not his body."
"Jack-" Kate said, remembering the dream.
"No, don't," Kate looked slightly insulted, "I won't be able to start back up."
When her face softened, Jack started again.
"Every now and then, since the first week," he said, "I've been seeing some kind of image of him."
"The fire," Kate realized, remembering Jack's words.
'I've got to save him'. The 'him' that only Jack could see.
"Yeah," Jack said.
He would've nodded if he would've been able to move.
"And a few other times," he added.
Kate looked at him.
"Is there any way to stop it?" Kate asked. "Can't anyone help you?"
Jack thought back, to his lingering debate with himself about Boone's medication. It was the same ordeal, right?
"Yeah," Jack sighed, "but he's out somewhere in the jungle."
Kate looked at him in confusion, but then nodded, assuming he meant Locke.
"Well, Locke has to come back around sometime," she said.
"Locke?" Jack said, then understood. "Oh, yeah, I guess."
He wasn't going to give Boone's secret away. He felt bad enough that he had forced it out of the boy, after he had spent eight years keeping it so well hidden. Jack and Kate remained quiet, each thinking about the secret. After a few moments, Kate looked up at the darkening sky.
"We should go," Kate said, as they heard a distant rumble.
She began to stood, and reached down to help Jack, but he pulled away, staring distantly into the earth below them. Kate studied him, and saw that going anywhere was the last thing that Jack wanted to do right now, injured or not. He seemed to be in some kind of pain that she couldn't understand, and even after all she had been through, knew she never would be able to. Sitting back down, Kate leaned back against the rocks beside them, and didn't protest when Jack lowered his head, resting it on her shoulder, and as she held him, she begin to count in her mind..
One..two..three..four..five.
Six.
