A Bend In the Road
Chapter One
NOTE ON THE SERIES: This fic is two of two parts of a 'finale', as I'll call it, of a series I've had on here for a while called 'Fated'. It begins with Whatever the Case May Be and the order is listed in my bio, though I have to update it with the new incoming fics. Really all you need to read is my version of "Hearts and Minds" and know that Jack knows about Sawyer's past(or some of that anyway). I decided I liked that plot. You'll also need to read the last four..unless you want me to give you a long summary of what happened. I think it's four- the last two about Jack, anyway. And, oh yeah, Claire's still pregnant in my fic.
Disclaimer: I'll only give one disclaimer, unless I use a particular song or quote. Lost belongs to J.J. and co. at ABC. A Bend In the Road is a book by Nicholas Sparks.
Summary: Life after the raft sails off doesn't suit too well with Jack, but it' all good when the six castaways return- or so thought. Now Jack finds himself racing against time to save another, which is hard when the only person there to keep you san is, well..Sawyer.
(Space)
A man of forty-two stumbled around in the jungle, his head bobbing down and up as he struggled to remain awake. His head was bleeding and he felt dizzy as he pulled away some brush that blocked his few of the cause of the noise of crashing waves nearby. At first he saw nothing, but as he looked to his right, he was certain that he had dreamt the entire journey he had been taken from days. Twenty plus people were spread out across the beach, tanning and reading, building fires, talking, and laughing. Yeah, it had to be a dream, because somehow, he recognized some of them..
(Space)
Jack leaned against his cave wall for support, placing his hand firmly up to it, trying to maintain his balance as well as his mind. Last night seemed like a distant blur in a galaxy far, far away, and he was determined now that there was no way that it actually happened. Any moment now, Kate would come running in, complaining that she had heard from the cavers that he had once again gotten no sleep, and maybe along with that that Walt had scraped his knee again while attempting to climb a tree. But Walt was no longer here and neither was Kate, and while fewer castaways should've eased his worry, it did anything but.
"Jack?" A voice asked with a knock against the stone wall.
Turning, Jack saw Locke standing at the entrance, looking at Jack with obvious concern.
"Yeah John?" Jack said, clearing his throat as casually as he could.
"Why don't you come outside with me?" Locke offered. "Go on a hunt."
"Don't you have Boone for that?" Jack asked, wondering why Locke was so willing to let Jack come along with him all of a sudden.
And then he realized that that had been the case all day. Shannon had volunteered to take over Sun's garden, with help from Claire, and had asked Jack if he wanted to come help. Charlie had then said that gardening was a woman's thing and had offered Jack a game of golf with him and Hurley. Jack had thanked them for asking, but had turned down every offer.
"Boone hasn't been feeling up to doing much lately," Locke explained, "and with his knee, I'm surprised you even suggested it."
Nodding, Jack realized that he should've seen this coming. Last night after the raft had sailed, Sayid had led him to the caves where Boone confessed to killing the survivor, whose name was Marcell, but he never caught the last name. Truthfully, Jack hadn't really been paying attention. Afterwards, he checked Boone's knee to find that Locke was a pretty good doctor himself, redressed it, and told Boone that all he had left to do was to take it easy while it healed for a few days, and come get him if it began swelling again.
"What do you say?" Locke said, swiftly taking a knife out of a shaft and gracefully flipping it over, offering it to Jack.
Knowing he had no other choice, Jack accepted the knife, and followed Locke out of the cave.
(Space)
Jack's arms faded into the same plaid he had been wearing for two days. His face was pale, lined with faded bruise lines and small scars that stood out for miles against his ghastly skin. Though Shannon had donated a spare mirror to the caves, Jack hadn't looked at himself in it yet, partly in fear of what he'd see.
"Yo, Jack," Hurley said from where he sat playing backgammon with himself, "long time no-"
One look from Jack told Hurley what kind of state he was, in and Hurley immediately shut up after a, "woah- dude". Jack felt himself walk through space, his arms lifting heavily with his feet each step as he felt dozens of eyes watching him as they entered the jungle.
"We're not going hunting, are we?" Jack asked ten minutes into the hike.
"How'd you guess?" Locke said, as though he had just been waiting for Jack to say just that.
"Because we're heading towards the beach," Jack said just as they stepped on the first grains of sand, "I take this path every night."
"Not last night," Locke pointed out.
"Are you stalking me now?" Jack said, amused at how worried everyone was about him when he thought there was no reason to be- when he didn't want it.
"Come on, let's sit down."
(Space)
Jack stared out to sea as he had done oh so many times at that exact spot, except this time, it had seemed so unreal. As he sat there, he knew he was sitting there, and he knew there was a man sitting beside him, but Jack didn't want to believe it. It was a feeling he was unfamiliar with- thinking, being aware of things.
"Can I ask you a personal question?" Locke asked, breaking Jack away from his thoughts.
"Um..sure.." Jack said.
"Are you married?"
"What?" Jack said, startled.
"Just a question," Locke said quickly, "you don't have to-"
"No, no," Jack said, shaking his head, "it's fine. I was married."
"Was?"
"We divorced," Jack explained, "she had an affair, got herself pregnant, and left me with nothing but a note and an empty house."
"Sorry to hear that," Locke said sincerely, not sure what to say after hearing a story like that.
"It's okay," Jack said and let out a dry chuckle, "she wasn't right for me."
They sat in silence for the next few minutes, and Jack realized that though he had only coped himself up for a day, he had to admit the fresh air was a good change from the dusty caves, and hoped that the sun could turn his skin the least bit darker. He couldn't stand people coming up to him time after time, asking him if he was sick.
"Why did you ask?" Jack said suddenly, the question bothering him.
"Nothing, I just saw you at the airport with some woman," Locke said, "I'm guessing she wasn't on the plane?"
"No," Jack said, shaking his head, "she was catching a flight to Europe. We haven't talked in awhile."
"And your father?" Locke continued. "Was he on the plane?"
"What?" Jack said, the question catching him off guard.
"They found your father's body," Locke said, looking out to the ocean, "was he on the plane?"
"Sort of."
"Sort of?"
"My father died in Sydney," Jack said, in a quiet tone, hating to have to repeat the story again, "he used to be a chief of surgeon, until I lost him his job."
"How'd you do that?" Locke asked curiously, looking at Jack.
"My father was a drunk," Jack went on, "he'd been drinking for years, but this year it was worse. My mother showed up a year ago after being gone for years, I hadn't seen her since I was young- four maybe. Anyway, one day my father came in drunk to work and another member of our team warned me, so I got into the OR before him, but I was to late. The husband of the woman who died sued, and i ended up turning my father in. And he lost his job." Jack sighed drastically. "And that's my story."
"It's a long one," Locke commented.
"What I don't understand," Jack said, taking the opportunity to continue, "is why I'm here- why I'm still here." Jack turned to Locke, looking for answers. "Why did I survive that crash?"
"You know, I remember you from that first day," Locke said, recalling, "I woke up, didn't know where I was, and when I stood up, I see this man, running out of the jungle like he knew exactly what was going around. And for the next thirty minutes he just runs around- running around saving everybody's life, even when they didn't really need it."
Jack snorted, picturing that in his mind.
"I must've looked like an idiot," said Jack.
"No," Locke said, and looked at him, "I didn't think so."
Jack stared at him, confused for a moment, before realizing that was a compliment.
"This island does brilliant things," Locke went on.
"The only brilliant thing I've seen it do is crash a plane and leave forty-eight survivors," Jack cut in under his breath, before realizing that Locke had heard him.
"And why do you suppose it was we all survived that crashed?" Locke asked.
Jack was looking at him, wondering if Locke knew more than he was saying when he heard the frantic shouts coming from nearby:
"Jack! Jack!"
Smiling, Locke turned and looked at Jack.
"Looks like your needed."
Jack nodded and stood up, tearing off into the jungle.
(Space)
Thinking the voices had come from the beach, Jack took that route, but stopped shortly when he reached the sand, and rubbed his eyes, thinking that he was hallucinating again. Sawyer was stumbling in the shallow tied, struggling to find his way towards land. He was coughing rough, haggard coughs, and tripping over each step. Jack ran up to him, and caught Sawyer's arm just before he fell.
"What happened?" Jack demanded.
Not being able to make out an answer, Sawyer looked up at Jack, who took a step back at the site of Sawyer's face. He had a large gash over his left eye, and blood was oozing out of it, flowing downwards over his twitching eye. Sawyer looked as though he could correspond with anything Jack was saying, but Jack didn't care as he grabbed his shoulders, shaking him.
"What happened?" Jack repeated desperately.
"The raft-" was all Sawyer was able to get out before another round of coughs escaped from his throats.
Jack dropped his arms in horror, and looked out to sea where a single body floated on the surface. The next thing he knew, Jack was diving, fully clothed, into the ocean, swimming like mad towards the body. He stopped before it, and his breath was caught in his windpipe when he realized who it was.
"Kate-" Jack said softly, horrified.
Kate was even worse than Sawyer. Her face was supporting a number of gashes, including one that had formed right where her dark brown hair met the skin of her forehead, and the entire left side of her face was covered with blood, dripping down to her neck and dyeing the waters below them red. Managing to snap himself out of it, Jack wrapped Kate's limp arm around his shoulder, not bothering to check for a pulse, and swam back towards sea. When he got there, he lay Kate down in the sand, and while he checked for a pulse, Sawyer was finally regaining control of his breath, and his coughs were becoming less and less rasp. Jack looked around for someone else to help him, and spotted Sayid sitting with Shannon in their tent, laughing at some joke.
"Sayid!" Jack shouted as loud as he could, catching Sayid's attention.
Sayid ran towards Jack and stopped, maybe thinking that he was hallucinating too.
"What happened?" Sayid asked, looking from Kate to Sawyer.
"I don't know," Jack said, shaking his head, "but I need you to help me carry her to the caves, and Sawyer-"
He received no acknowledge of having spoken from Sawyer, and Jack looked up to see Sawyer's eyes rolling back in forth, in and out of conscious.
"Sawyer!" Jack said louder and Sawyer snapped back to life. "Do you have anything left at the beach?"
"I think-" Sawyer said hoarsely, not even sure what the question was.
"Great," Jack said, "I need you to go and get me all the achohol you can find, along with some towels, and a new pair of shoes."
Both Sawyer and Sayid looked down at Jack, wondering if they had heard right.
"Go!" Jack yelled when Sawyer didn't move, and Sawyer ran as well as he could, following the order.
Sighing, Jack drew his sleeve across his wet face and looked up at Sayid,
"Grab her feet," Jack ordered, "and be careful."
Sayid nodded and did so, and with his help, Jack began carrying Kate to the caves, praying he wasn't too late.
Author's Note: Okay, I don't think I'm doing flashbacks this fic because I don't know how much longer they're going to be on the island. I'm going to let it sneak up on ya. Thanks for all the reviews from last fic, and hope you guys came back!
Next up:
Sayid expresses Shannon's concern for Boone, but Jack doesn't have time to worry about that as kate continued to remain unconscious. Meanwhile, the beach goers find themselves having to deal with the shock of the raft, and a new survivor. Guess who.
Until next time..
October Sky