Chapter 18 to a LOST Love

"God damn it, where is Kate? She should be here by now with Sun and that damn medicine!" Sayid practically shouted.

"Easy, easy, Sayid, she'll get here. She has taken a long time…but she'll get here. Alex isn't going to die on us right now, Sayid, so everything's okay for now," Jack said calmly.

"She isn't going to die on us now!" Sayid turned on him. "She isn't going to die on us NOW!"

"Alright, Sayid, knock it off!" Jack said gruffly. "I didn't mean it like that…I mean that she's stabilized and has fallen asleep now." He turned his gaze to look on her sleeping form. "She's exhausted from coughing. And she's losing blood quickly; the longer she sleeps, the less she'll cough, and then less blood she'll lose. Do you know what blood type she has?" Jack turned to face Sayid again.

"No, I have no idea," Sayid said frustrated. He rubbed his face with his hands. "Isn't there a…how do you Americans say it…a "universal donor"?"

"Yea, there is, but I don't know anybody's blood type or if they'd be willing to give it," Jack said. "Besides, I have no surgical needles or tubing or machines or anything to work with. There'd be no way I could give it to her anyways. I'm sorry, Sayid, but the best she can do is just to sleep. Sleep, eat, and drink water…the three best medicines we have."

Sayid looked about ready to cry, but he nodded nonetheless. A few seconds later, Sayid suddenly burst out, "That's it! I'm going to find Sun and Kate, wherever she went off to." And with that, he stormed out of the cave. Jack shook his head in Sayid's direction and suddenly saw Sawyer come around the corner.

"Sheesh! What was that all about?" Sawyer asked. He had Jack's clothes in his hands and tossed them to him.

"Sayid's just really upset, that's all. He really cares for Alex and he's just worried," Jack explained. "Sun hasn't been here either and Kate hasn't been back since you guys left. Speaking of Kate…" Jack turned a sly gaze toward Sawyer. "What exactly was that little kiss over there, huh?" He started to put on his shirt.

Sawyer didn't know whether to smile slyly back, to laugh, to ignore him, to be embarrassed… instead he simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "It was nothing."

"Nothing? That was nothing!" Jack asked astonished-bordering-on-sarcastically. "Didn't look like nothing to me…" Jack took off his shoes and slid his shorts on.

Sawyer turned on him. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, slightly threatened.

"Nothing, nothing, only…okay tell me Sawyer, do you have a thing for Kate?" Jack asked pointedly.

Sawyer took a moment, though never breaking his gaze from Jack. He finally said, "Yea, I think I do…is that a problem for ya?" he asked.

"No, no problem at all," Jack said defensively. "I was just curious, that's all. I was just gonna say given your history…Sawyer, you really need to lighten up."

"We all have our little problems, don't we, doc? And it seems like yours is waking up now," Sawyer said, gazing to Jack's right.

Jack turned around to see that Alex was stirring slightly. A soft moan came from her as she put her hand up to her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut. "Oh, Jesus, my head…aaahhh…"

Jack came and squatted down next to her. "Hey," he said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit, Jack," Alex replied. "My head feels like it's gonna explode and…" suddenly she broke off in a coughing fit. "…and my coughing is still bad. Great."

"Well, you weren't coughing in your sleep, which is a good sign," Jack said, becoming the doctor again. "If you were…well, you weren't and that's all that matters."

"Someone else is here," Alex said. "Who is it? I know you're there so don't try to lie to me." She waved her hand in the general direction of Sawyer.

"How can you do that?" Sawyer suddenly asked, coming over to crouch on her other side.

"Since my sight's gone," she coughed a couple times, a little blood speckling her palm, "I can hear a lot better. It's like my body is more in tune with my surroundings than it was with my sight. Try it sometime."

"Try going blind? I don't think so, hun," Sawyer said quickly, shaking his head.

"No, no what she means is just go off by yourself, shut your eyes, and just be still for a moment," Jack said, going all deep on them. "You start to pick up things you would never have noticed before."

"Exactly, Jack," Alex sighed. "Exactly…" She perked up suddenly. "Hey, where's Sayid?"

"He left to go find Kate and Sun," Jack replied.

"They haven't showed up yet? Wow, I must have only passed out for like 10 minutes," Alex said.

"No, you slept for a good hour or two. Sayid left about 5 minutes ago," Jack said. "I think Kate might have gotten lost or something; Sun shouldn't be that hard to find," he said, making a weak joke.

Alex smiled slightly to humor him, then her chest convulsed and a huge torrent of coughing blood seized her. Alex clutched at the side of the bed and Sawyer pried her hand off of it and squeezed it in his own. She squeezed back hard, retching blood and breathing hard between coughing spasms.

"Easy, easy Alex, take a breath," Jack said sternly.

"I…I can't," she managed to gasp out between coughs.

"Yes, you can, Alex, try," Sawyer said. "Come on girl, I know you can. Be like Shannon when her asthma kicks in; take deep breaths."

Alex attempted, failed, and tried again. After she would take a couple breaths, the coughing would start over again, blood flecking from her mouth. "So…painful…" she gasped out. "Insides…burning…" then she managed to succeed in taking more and more deep breaths between the coughing and it slowly subsided. Breathing hard and still squeezing Sawyer's hand in a death grip, she slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

"Damn it!" Sawyer hissed. He bowed his head in anger, still clutching Alex's hand. Jack sat back and rubbed his face with his hands.

Sayid's escapade…

Sayid had been walking for a little bit, fuming that Kate was taking so long. He finally got into his head that he should call her name to find her. It was a big island, but she shouldn't have gone far to find Sun.

Cupping his hands to his mouth, Sayid called out, "Kate! Sun! Where are you?" Receiving no reply, save for the wind howling in the trees, he tried again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

Now he was beginning to get frustrated. "God damn it Kate, where are you?" Sayid muttered under his breath. Suddenly, he heard a small voice on the wind, crying "Sayid!" Sayid paused and listened for it again. The small voice chimed again, "Sayid!" and he walked slowly in the general direction of the voice.

"Kate? Sun?" Sayid called out.

"Here! Over here!" the voice cried, louder now. Sayid kept walking toward the voice until he rounded a corner and found Kate sitting next to Sun. Sun lying down, one knee bent, with a wet cloth over her forehead. They looked up when he entered the cave and Sun lowered her cloth. A huge purple bruise was emblazoned on the side of her forehead.

"Sun, what happened to you?" Sayid asked worriedly.

She paused for a moment before answering, "I was standing up and I," she motioned with her hands, "hit the top of the cave." Kate just looked at Sun but didn't say anything.

Sayid said, "Kate, where have you been? Why didn't you come back to the cave? Alex needs Sun and her medicine!"

"I'm sorry, Sayid, but I found Sun lying unconscious on the ground and I had to stay with her until she woke up," Kate said defensively. "I've told her what Alex needs and she's got it right here."

She pulled from behind her a chipped ceramic bowl that Sun had found and inside there was a green pasty stuff. Sayid took it from her and made a face. "What's in this?"

Kate looked at Sun for an explanation, too. "There is a plant in there that will ease coughing and some of Shannon's medicine to help her breathe."

"Thank you, Sun," Sayid said, breathing a sigh of relief. Suddenly, a flash went off and thunder crashed in the sky. Sayid ducked a little, spooked, looking about at what made the noise. Within three seconds, rain came flooding down from the dark sky.

"It didn't look like it was going to rain today," Kate said wonderingly. "Huh…must be the climate here; sunny one instant, pouring rain the next." She shivered suddenly. "Jesus, it got cold all of a sudden. Did you guys feel that?"

"Yes, I feel cold, too," Sun replied, putting the cloth back on her forehead.

"Well, I'll have to go out in this rain to get this back to Alex," Sayid said, motioning toward the bowl.

"Sayid, you can't go out there now! You'll get soaked then you'll get sick. That's the last thing we need right now is another person sick." Kate sighed. "You'll just have to wait here until it stops."

"Kate, its just rain; there's no harm in rain," Sayid said. A huge crash of thunder exploded from the sky and they all flinched. "Shit…I guess I can't go out there now. I'll wait until it lightens up a little. I have to get this back to her as soon as I can. Every moment counts…" Sayid stopped, growing forlorn suddenly.

Kate stood up and came over to him. She touched his shoulders comfortingly. "Sayid, she'll be alright. She's a strong girl; she'll pull through."

Sayid looked deep into her eyes and saw she was telling the truth as best as she could. He took her hand and kissed it gently, his eyes never leaving hers. Kate's heart broke and she reached over to hug him. Sayid returned the hug, tears threatening to spill over. Sun just watched the two quietly, not saying anything.

More to come! Why do you people not review! lol I like reading your guys's reviews!

A Bleeding Rose