Chapter 17 to a LOST Love

Kate burst through the trees and found herself in an open rocky area. The beautiful waterfall cascaded down the rocks and made a huge roar. Kate could see a fine mist coming off of the waterfall and a beautiful rainbow had formed…

Suddenly, Sawyer and Sayid crashed out into the open and Kate dismissed the beauty of the falls. "JACK!" Sayid suddenly yelled, taking off toward the water. Kate and Sawyer looked and saw Jack, Michael, Charlie, and Hurley swimming in the cool water. Well, Hurley was on the side, watching the others, staying in the shade. At Sayid's call, Jack looked up and saw the three of them.

"Hey guys! You have no idea how excellent this water feels!" Jack said happily. The other men turned to look at them and called out to them to come in the water.

"Jack! Please! Alex needs your help!" Sayid said urgently.

The smile instantly fell from Jack's face and he swam over to the rocks. "Why, what does she need? What's wrong?" Jack asked quickly. "Has she regained her sight?"

"No, no, her sight's still gone, but now she's coughing up blood! Hurry, Jack! She needs you!" Sayid said impatiently.

Jack choked on some water and finally managed to get out, "She's coughing up blood? Jesus…" He scrambled to get out of the water but slipped on the rocks. Sawyer bent down and offered his hand to Jack. Jack looked up uncertainly at Sawyer, but then grabbed it firmly and Sawyer helped hoist him up. Jack instantly let go of Sawyer's hand when he stood up, and looked uncertainly at him. Sawyer said nothing and turned away. Jack had stripped himself of his clothes and was only wearing navy blue boxers for swim trunks.

"Come on, Jack! Hurry!" Sayid cried out. Jack flung his sneakers on and took off after Sayid, not bothering to tie the laces. They all ran through the forest, and seeing Jack run through the forest in nothing but boxers, sneakers, and being dripping wet, would have been funny if they weren't racing to help Alex. They all ran and ran until finally they reached the cave. Jack could hear Alex moaning and coughing horrendously inside.

Entering the cave's entrance, Jack saw Alex lying on the "hospital bed", finishing an excruciating cough. He jumped over clothes piles, skirted around the "medicine cabinet", and dropped to his knees next to her. He felt water splash on his legs from the cave floor and looked down…no, it wasn't water, it was blood. A whole pool of it was under his knees. Looking up at Alex's face, he saw that she had turned very pale and a trickle of blood was coming out of the side of her mouth, the only evidence that it was her blood that Jack was sitting in.

Feeling Jack's hands, Alex finally asked, "Jack? Is that you?"

"Yes, Alex, it's me. I heard you were coughing up blood and I came to see how you were." Jack responded gently.

"Yes, blood…so much of it…" A coughing spasm seized her and Jack tipped her on her side so the blood could hit the floor. Her blood was very dark, almost black, when it hit the rocky floor. She really was coughing up a lot of it…she wasn't vomiting the blood yet, but Jack didn't think she would. Coughing it up seemed to be the only way she could get it out of her system.

When she was through, Jack laid her down on her back again. Sayid, meanwhile, had come to the other side of Alex and, when she had finished coughing, took her left hand in his and squeezed it. Alex knew it was him and squeezed back, not saying anything.

Jack leaned his head against her chest, having lost his stethoscope a few days ago. "Sorry, Alex, I can't find that damn stethoscope so this is the only way," he apologized. Sayid just looked at Jack, jealousy flickering in his eyes.

"S'ok, Jack…I understand," Alex replied quietly. She turned her head and sightless eyes toward Sayid and squeezed his hand again, letting him know that everything was alright. Sayid stared back into her blind eyes and wished wholeheartedly that she could see him and respond to his loving gaze.

Jack sat up after a moment and said, "You have a lot of fluid in your lungs. I can hear it even without my stethoscope. It's probably where all this blood is coming from." He indicated to the blood that he was kneeling in to Sayid.

"Jack?" said a voice suddenly from the cave entrance.

Jack turned around, realizing that Kate and Sawyer were still behind him.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Kate asked, frightened.

Jack thought for a moment before replying, "Yea, there is. Can you find Sun for me? Ask her if she has any remedies for coughing. Oh, and can one of you go grab my clothes down at the waterfall? Thanks."

Kate turned to Sawyer and Sawyer said before Kate could say anything, "I'll go get Jack's clothes; you find Sun." Kate nodded in agreement. Without another word, Sawyer suddenly kissed Kate quickly, turned around, and walked away to get Jack's clothes. Kate stood there in a stunned silence for a moment, staring after Sawyer, then headed toward the beach to find Sun.

Jack turned back to find Sayid also looking at where Kate and Sawyer had stood. Sayid returned Jack's gaze and smiled wickedly. Jack smiled, too and shook his head slightly as if to say, "They're silly."

Kate's searching…

Kate walked quickly among the various campsites, asking the other survivors if they had seen Sun at all. They all said they hadn't seen her at all and they were sorry.

After the tenth person she asked, Kate was beginning to lose hope. She sat down on a big rock near some bushes and put her head in her hands. She took her hands away and looked around, distressed. "This sucks," she sighed. She sat there for a couple more moments when suddenly she heard whispers coming from around the corner.

Turning very slowly around, Kate ducked behind the bushes and peered through them. She saw Sun and Jin standing aggressively toward each other, speaking in Korean in heated whispers. Sometimes their voices would get a little louder but they would each tell the other to shush. Finally, the shushing didn't work and they didn't seem to care anymore.

Kate stood very still and watched them through the bushes. She made no noise as she didn't want to be discovered. They began to yell at each other loudly; Kate caught a few names like "Sawyer" and "Alex" and "Sayid" in their argument. That perked her interest but still she didn't move.

Without warning, Jin became extremely loud and Sun cowered down in fear. Her eyes became huge and she couldn't get a word in edge-wise. Suddenly, Jin shoved Sun really hard and she fell backwards. Kate heard a sickening crack and Sun didn't get up…

"Hey!" Kate jumped up from her hiding spot to confront Jin. Jin's eyes were huge at what he had done, but when he whirled around, he became very angry again.

"What did you do that for, Jin! She didn't do anything wrong!" Kate walked quickly over to Sun and knelt down beside her. No blood…that was a good sign. She just hit her head and went unconscious. Jin was yelling at Kate the whole time, probably using many profanities in Korean, she guessed. She stood up and confronted Jin.

"Jin, calm down, alright! She didn't do anything wrong!" Kate gestured to Sun's still body. Jin's face fell when he looked at her just lying there; he looked back at Kate with deep remorse written all over his face. He tried to open his mouth to say something, but closed it again and hung his head. Turning around, he slowly walked away. Kate just let him go and sat down by Sun to watch over her.

Sometimes you just get really mad at Jin….rawr I'll update soon!

A Bleeding Rose