A Bend In the Road
Chapter Three
Author's Note: If I didn't mention this before, then I'm incredibly sorry, but this story(and series) revolves around SPOILERS for future eps. Sorry for any inconvience!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Jungle Book. Not sure who does though..yes, I am ashamed..
Author's Note: I really wanted 'flirty Jack' when he first talks to Kate again, so sorry if he's a little out of character! Jack needs a little time off from himself..
The world spun as Sawyer walked from the beach back to the caves. Or at least, he thought he was on the path from the beach to the caves. One wrong turn had led him down a path he didn't know, and one stumbled sent his head spinning into space, and he wasn't even sure which way was forward or backward. Maybe, he decided, it wasn't such a good idea for him to be tramping through the forest with a cut over his eyes that clearly thought it was okay to begging bleeding off and on momentarily. Because of all this mishap, Sawyer hadn't seen a small trigger planted into the ground, and a loud boom rang through the air. Surely someone heard that..
(Space)
Jack looked down at Kate in pride and protection, staring at her, noticing every feature from the curls in her hair to a tiny miniscule scar on her ankle, too light to have been from the crash, neither the plane crash nor the boat crash. Kate needed to take some antibiotics he had found for her, but she looked so peaceful in her sleep, Jack couldn't bring himself to wake her. But he didn't have to worry about that as Kate stirred, moaning slightly as she shielded her eyes from the light that wasn't there, probably a habit she had developed from months of living on the beach.
"Here, drink this slowly," Jack said, holding the water bottle.
He should've seen it coming as Kate tried to lift herself up to swallow, but failed, crashing back down onto the cot she was lying on. The only solution was for Jack to do it for her, and he lift the bottle to her mouth, tilting it the slightest, allowing the liquid to soothe her chapped lips. Though Jack would've preferred that she had drunk a little more, just to avoid dehydration, but Kate laid her head back, groaning in protest.
"How do you feel?" Jack asked, just to have something to say.
"Like someone just opened the door to hell and threw me in," Kate said, voice sore, "I can't feel my legs-"
"They're just sore," Jack assured her, "your circulation's down."
"And how is my circulation going to get back up," Kate inquired playfully.
"Well if you were in a hospital I'd say physical therapy," Jack said, and was interrupted by Kate.
"But here?"
"How about a walk on the beach?" Jack said with a smile.
"I'd like that," Kate said, and gave Jack her hand to pull her up, but felt herself fall back as her back gave out, "but maybe tomorrow."
(Space)
"Jack!" Hurley shouted, running as fast as he could to Jack, who was walking out of the jungle.
Jack looked up. Kate had fought and fought to stay awake, but her body had given away, so Jack decided it would probably be a good idea to go check on the other survivors from the raft. He didn't have to get far, when he noticed that half of the camp left at the beach was crowded around a figure who looked like he was in the position of a comedian who just forgot his punch line.
"There's something I've gotta tell you," Hurley said, panting for breath "the pilot-"
He began swinging his arms towards the man sitting down in the mist of the circle, and Jack's eyes grew wild as he recognized him as the pilot of flight 815- the pilot he saw get eaten. Jack mentally kicked himself.
Of course..Jack realized..the moment the monster 'killed' Sayid, he should've remembered the pilot.
Why didn't he? Why didn't Kate? But Jack didn't ponder it long as he rushed up to where the man was sitting.
(Space)
A little less than five minutes later, Jack reintroduced himself(the pilot claimed he had never seen Jack in his life) and requested that he let Jack recheck him for injuries. Borrowing a pen from somebody, Jack was now performing the infamous eye test, and set the pen down, assuring the pilot that he was perfectly fine, and to take it easy. It didn't take Charlie long to pull Jack aside, looking very much confused.
"What the bloody hell's going on?" Charlie asked, as if thinking that Jack was trying to pull some prank on him.
"I don't know," Jack lied, "but it's something greater than I've ever had to understand before.."
"Yeah?" Charlie said. "Well that's all rainbows and roses for you, because I just met the same guy I saw get eaten- eaten Jack!"
"Has he said anything?" Jack said, sighing, knowing Charlie would never understand it.
"What?" Charlie said, and blinked. "Oh, about where the phoenix has been for the last five thousand years? Get this- he says that he was unconscious. For two months! Who's unconscious for that long?"
"It's possible," Jack said, speaking on personal experience, remembering coma patients from medical school.
"But how do you explain something like that?" Charlie said, like a child who wondered why storks lived for the purpose of dropping wrapped blankets onto the ground.
"I don't know," Jack lied again, and looked around at the beach camp.
Everyone seemed okay, Sun, Jin, and Michael were crowded around the shade of a tree, with Walt just a few feet from him, rubbing Vincent(who looked all right for a dog who had survived a boat crash). The skin just below Walt's leg looked red from the distance, and Jack knew that he'd have to remember to ask about that later. But now his concern turned towards something that stood out from the start.
"Where's Sawyer?" Jack asked, seeing no sign of him anywhere, and what was left of Sawyer's camp, abandoned.
"What?" Charlie asked, looking to where Jack was behind him. "You didn't see him? Sayid sent him to go find you a half an hour ago."
Without meaning to, Jack met eyes with Sayid, and walked over to him.
"How's Kate-"
"Which way did Sawyer go?" Jack interrupted.
Sayid stopped, as if trying to decide if Jack was joking or not.
"Why?" Sayid asked slowly.
"Which way did he go?" Jack repeated flatly.
Pointing, Sayid showed Jack a second trail that led to the beach.
"I'm going after him," Jack said, making up his mind.
"What about Kate?" Sayid reminded him, and Jack's face showed the slightest bit of remorse before Sayid voluntarily said, "I'll go after him."
"What?" Jack said, to busy coming up with a plan to remember that Sayid was even there.
"You worry about Kate," Sayid said confidently, "I'll go find Sawyer."
Jack was about to protest when he realized that Sayid was right, Kate was and should be his first priority. Assuming he had Jack approval, Sayid took off down the path.
(Space)
Sayid began to see how Sawyer was able to get lost so easily, and the head injuring had to of helped. Though he had a good idea, Sayid wasn't exactly sure where he was. The paths in this area all seemed to form together in one loop, and it was agonizing to the brain to apprehend. He chose a trail to the left, but stopped at the sound of voices.
"But Jack said you'd be okay, right?" A worried voice that Sayid soon to realize to be Shannon, was saying.
Deciding it would be best to leave the conversation where it was, and not get himself in a situation he didn't need to be in, Sayid turned to change paths, but the next statement changed his mind:
"Jack has better things to do then to deal with my mental health problems."
The voice, he recognized, was Boone's, but what 'mental' problems could he have?
"What do you want from me then?" Shannon was asking sarcastically. "Want me to step into the Jungle Book and go find your friend and tell him that you can't come to work today?"
"Actually I've already talked to Locke," Boone said, his voice changing slyly. "And you hated the Jungle Book."
In the scene, Shannon's eyes narrowed heavily.
"That was the point," Shannon said, and Boone redeemed himself with a shrug.
"I just hope that you're remembering through all of this that the reason I'm stuck here was because I was saving your skin- again," Boone said coldly.
"Yeah?" Shannon replied. "Well if you weren't so damn protective-"
"Maybe if you had a life-"
"Maybe if you had control over your life-!"
Sayid heard nothing else as he listened closely for any sign of movement, where really Boone was busy studying a rolly polly crawling over a stick.
"I'm sorry," Shannon said in a hushed voice.
"Yeah," Boone nodded, "yeah, you should be. Look, what I wanted was-"
"I've got to go," Shannon said quickly.
"No!" Boone said desperately. "Shannon-"
That was when Sayid noticed that if he moved this one single tree limp the lightest, he would be able to get a clear view of Shannon and Boone. He moved towards it as they continued their conversation.
"What I wanted was-"
Sayid pulled the branch back at the wrong moment. Just then, Boone leaned forward, caressing Shannon's cheek into his, and letting their lips brush against each other. Shannon accepted it the first few moments, getting the dirty feeling that if she truly missed her old life, this would be what she should want.
If only Sayid would've stayed a few seconds longer, he would've witnessed what little sense Shannon had come back to her, and pull away, slapping Boone with a cracking snap that Sayid failed to hear, to confused to understand anything.
Author's Note: I'm soo sorry this took longer than usual to get out! I decided to stop it here so I'd be sure I'd be able to get a chapter out tonight. I've been too tired to get on late now, but it's almost the weekend, and I hope to have this story done tomorrow night, or Saturday. Thanks so much for your reviews!
Dark-angel206: You're probably confused because as stated first chapter, this is the last story in a series of, I think, twelve, may be wrong on that though. It picks up right where the last left off. There's a reason in this chapter that Boone doesn't have control over his life, and it's all explained before hand. The series order is in my bio, if you want to read it and be unconfussed.
Coming up next in "A Bend In the Road":
The next chapter is all about the fine art of chatting. Informative chats, romantic chats, angsty chats, and they all come to an end when the big roaring thing from the sky saves them all. Just in time, right? We can only hope!
And I have two future stories(besides the sequel) planned that won't be apart of this series. I don't know if I'm going to do these, but please, no idea stealing! Lol!
From the Water-
Ethan didn't come up from the water. In fact, Ethan didn't kill Scot at all. Maybe it was the fact that Steve heard Scot being called by his name one to many times, or maybe that that 'buisness trip' wasn't very buisness like at all..Scot/Steve centric, non-slash!
The Greater Good-
The pressures on as Sayid sets out to kill Locke, and Kate tries to prevent Jack from doing so, but her plan fails when her case is stolen, and when Jack begins pointing fingers, that can't mean good for the both of them. Maybe Sayid-centric.
Sorry for the wait and thanks again for the reviews!
Until next time..
October Sky