In the Jungle

"Are we ready yet?" Tina asked, loading her gun. She was one of the five that received one.

"Almost. Locke have you see Casey?" Jack was worried. They had been waiting for her for a while now. But soon, as if reading Jack's mind she came into view. "Where were you? We've been waiting." He walked up to her.

"I don't know which one of you jackass's hid my backpack but you better not do it again." She set down her navy backpack to prove a point. "I'm ready when you all are."

"Finally C.C. We've been waiting forever!" Sawyer emphasized.

"Sawyer…I swear if you call me that again…" Sawyer had taken to calling her by her initials. Casey thought it was just to be and ass about things and he knew it annoyed her. "My name is Casey. That is the name on my birth certificate. That is the name you will call me. If I get angry enough I will make you call me Doctor Call!" Casey seethed. She hated being called C.C. Like she was some buddy of his or something. She picked up the backpack and walked up to Jack. "Let's just get this done."

"Okay…now we're ready." Jack said sarcastically to Tina.

"Very funny." She breathed.

The group of seven went into the jungle for the third day in a row. They were all tired of each other but they knew they would have to live until they found Maggie. She was what was important at the moment.

"So, Sawyer…when do you think we should take that walk you were talking about yesterday?" Tina walked next to him.

"Hell, chickie! We're taking a walk right now!" Tina smiled wildly with her perfect teeth again. Sawyer loved it.

"This reminds me of Claire's kidnapping way to much." Charlie expressed his worries out loud. He had volunteered right away when her heard of Maggie's abduction.

"It does me too, Charlie." Kate answered him. "I just hope we find Maggie soon."

"It looks like there's some foot prints here. I know their not ours from yesterday too." Locke pointed to the trail of shoe marks.

"That's great! We actually have a lead!" Casey was ecstatic. She pushed ahead of the group and followed Locke.

Jack could tell she was extremely determined today. He hoped they found Maggie soon or that she came back on her own, like Claire had done, for her sake. He could tell she had had no sleep lately. The dark circles under her eyes were there and lines in her face were incredibly apparent even though she was only twenty-eight.

000

The group continued on. They had traveled an even amount of distance as yesterday. They path in front of them was still there so they kept walking. Casey, Locke and Kate headed up the front while Charlie and Jack took the middle and Sawyer and Tina followed behind them.

Tina and Sawyer had not talked to one another for a while. It's not that there weren't things to talk about, Sawyer never ran out of things to talk about with Tina, they were just tired. All seven of them were but the kept trudging along.

Tina stopped. She heard something. She listened carefully and it sounded like Maggie. It was distant but she could follow it.

"Hey guys! This way, I can here her." Tina took off running in the direction of the sound. Everyone else followed her.

"There aren't any footprints here!" Locke exclaimed.

"Think of it as a short cut!" Tina yelled behind her.

Soon they reached a clearing. Tina stopped running to look around. Maggie was tied to a tree with a gag in her mouth. She was making noises and Tina could see the terror in her eyes. Bryan, the fish guy stood in front of her. He was tall and plane looking. Blonde hair and blue eyes. He really wasn't anything to write home about. Tina took the chance to show off.

She went up behind him and grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. She drew back her arm and mustered all the energy she had into one punch. He landed face down in the dirt.

"That worked well," she said to herself. Casey was already untying Maggie and Tina rolled Bryan over, sat on his chest, pinned his arms with her knees and punched him again.

"Well, chickie. Thanks for holding down the fort till we got here." Sawyer joked. She looked up and smirked as a 'your welcome'. But when she looked away from the man underneath her he push her off and stood back up.

Tina quickly got up and raised her hands into a fighting stance. But she was to slow. Bryan got in one good punch, causing her to stumble backward. She stabilized herself and whipped the hair out of her face. Her lip was bleeding and she looked pissed.

"Okay, fish boy. That was one hit to many!" She ran and kicked him in the chest with her hiking boots. He was knocked down again and Tina took the opportunity to grab him by his hair. She looked up, strands of dark hair in her face, but smiling none the less. "I love kick-boxing." She told Sawyer.

"I do too." He looked at the man she held captive smugly.

"Maggie? Can you tell me if anything hurts?" Maggie shook her head. "Does anything feel different?" Maggie shook her head again. "Maggs where were they keeping you these last few days?" Casey asked now that she was able to breathe again.

"They were going to let me go." Maggie said in a hushed tone. She started to sway.

"Who?" Casey asked. "Who was going to let you go?" Maggie looked at her with glassy eyes.

"The other's," she got in before she fainted. Casey looked at Jack who looked at Kate.

"Stay with her." He ordered.

The two rushed to Tina who was having difficulties keeping Bryan restrained. He finally broke away from her and she prepared herself to hit him again but stopped herself when he pulled out a gun.

"You'll never know our secret!" He announced. The he raised the gun and shot himself in the temple.

"NO!" Casey screamed. She ran to his side and checked his pulse. Everyone else waited for her news. "Damn it." She whispered. They all took that as a 'sorry guys but he's dead'. They all pulled themselves together and were determined to get Maggie back to camp.

000

Jack offered a cup to Casey. "Sun made tea." Casey smiled a small smile and took the cup from Jack gratefully.

"Is she awake yet?" Casey asked. Hope lit her eyes.

Jack shook his head. "No, not yet." Casey took a sip of her tea and closed her eyes to enjoy it. Jack decided to sit down next to her.

"Does this have chamomile in it?" Casey suddenly asked.

"I don't know. I didn't make it." Jack said.

"I'm glad she's okay." Casey took another sip of her tea. "I was really worried."

"I was too. Now I just want her to wake up so we know what happened to her." Jack grinned at Casey.

"Me too." She looked in Jack's face. He really was good to her. He worried about her and took care of her. Speaking of which she put her cup of tea down and rested her back on the rock behind her.

Jack put an arm around her shoulders and felt content. Casey didn't object to the sign of affection so, this was a good sign. Jack couldn't really sort out his feelings for Casey. All at once he would marry her in a heartbeat and then he wasn't sure if he really wanted to be with her every day for the rest of his life. He was confused but decided he would do what ever felt right at the time.

"You know? I really like having another doctor on the island. It takes a lot of stress off of me." Jack confessed.

"Happy to be of service." Casey said sarcastically.

Just then the two, who were conveniently seated closest to Maggie's resting form, heard a groan and they knew she was awake. They started to get up when they heard her scream.

NEXT CHAPTER: Perplexity

Maggie is finally awake but alas, she doesn't remember a thing. Just when Casey though she had her best friend back she is let down again. Now she must try, with Gabe's help to restore Maggie's memories while trying desperately to figure out how she feels about Jack. And we all know how hard that can be without a best gal pal to give you advice.

A/N: I won't be updating tomarrow because I am auditioning for Into the Woods at a local theater and that lasted from 11:00 - 5:00 p.m. So by the time I get home I'm going to want to throw up from nerves and then just go to bed. For all of you that have ever had to audition for anything whether it is a play or sports team or whatever you know the feeling I'm talking about. Anyways, I'll update on Sunday...I promise!