Lost belongs to JJ Abrams and crew. I'm just borrowing for some non-profit fun. After Sawyer and the others return to the island, he finds Kate has finally chosen Jack. Post Exodus II. (The events that lead up to previously posted stories –Incarceration, Interim, Ineffable) Enjoy!

Lost – Infected

By Mystic

July 2005

Jack touched Aaron's cheek gently, seeing the small boy flinch as he examined the cut. He'd been running along the beach and tripped, hitting his face against a large seashell. Jin handed him an ointment and he nodded his thanks, spreading the grey substance on the boy's face. Aaron closed his eyes and hissed, kicking the rock he was sitting on.

"All done," Jack told him with a gently slap to his knee.

"Is my face going to get infected?" Aaron asked quickly. It was a word that made anyone in the camp jerk, especially coming from the boy who'd lost his mother.

Shaking his head, Jack smiled. "No, Aaron, you're face is going to be fine." He didn't dare utter the word again. Jack looked out at the sky and sighed, wondering where Kate and Maggie could be. It was getting dark; they were supposed to be back hours ago. She'd promised him she'd bring their daughter back long before dark.

Charlie put a hand on Aaron's shoulder. "And that there, man, is why we don't run along the beach like a sodding dog."

"Dude's right," Hurley agreed.

From a corner, Walt gave a short chuckle and then stood, glancing about. Jack stared at the young man curiously, watching as his eyes darted from one side of the jungle to the other. He started to ask him a question, but Walt shook his head and then ran off.

Hurley watched the boy go and asked Jack, "We gonna follow him?"

Jack waved him off and went back to crushing flowers against a rock. "Nah, probably hears a boar or something."

"Have you heard from Kate, Jack?" Charlie asked. "Thought she was supposed to be back a long time ago."

Nodding, Jack looked at Aaron. "I'm sure they're taking the long way home." He laughed. "You know how Kate and Maggie are, they both like to explore, even if it drives me insane."

Charlie told Aaron to go lie down inside the caves with Shannon and Vincent and approached Jack, his voice hushed, "Heard you two fighting last night," he admitted. "Whole camp heard. Shannon slept with Maggie, said the girl was terrified. Had nightmares."

Jack lowered his head. "Maggie always has nightmares."

"Jack, you two going to get some kind of island divorce?"

Laughing, Jack looked up at Charlie, nodding when Jin took the flower from his hand and continued to crush it into a fine white powder. It was for headaches. "Charlie, don't worry. Kate and I are both stubborn, we're both smart and we both think we're right. It's bound to cause some fights along the way."

Nodding, Charlie sat on a rock. "I don't think all the fighting's good for the kid though, I mean, she's starting to push Aaron around."

Jack's face hardened as he stood his full height over the smaller man. "Charlie, I don't hit my wife and she doesn't hit me."

The other man smirked. "You called her your wife."

Jack blushed and shrugged it away. He listened to the jungle a moment and sighed. "She really should have been back by now."

"Worried?" Charlie asked, curious.

"Dude, I'm sure she's out there wrestling some boar. She'll come into camp all bloody in a couple hours and we'll be singing her praises while we roast up the meat." Hurley gave Jack a friendly slap on the back before going into the caves. "I'm going to check on the little dude."

Charlie grinned, thankful. Jack watched the man, saw the expression of guilt and sadness cross his eyes in a flash. He wished he could make everything alright for Charlie. He'd been trying to study the infection for a while. He was pretty sure it was a psychological sickness, somehow deteriorating parts of the brain.

He'd done an autopsy on Locke, much to Kate's disapproval, and had found nothing out of the ordinary. But without the proper equipment, Jack couldn't make official prognosises. If they found Claire he could talk to her, try to find out what it was, how they could treat it. If they found Sawyer, Jack would worry. Maggie's nightmares, the ones she didn't tell her mother about anymore, involved Sawyer.

Jack felt a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "About time…" he started, turning to see Shannon, who grimaced just a little bit before shaking her head. "Sorry, thought you were…"

"Kate, I know," Shannon replied slowly. "She's not back yet?" She asked curiously, her vision turning to the jungle. The sun had gone down at least an hour before, if not longer. "Jack, I'm worried," she admitted.

Nodding, Jack watched Jin brushing the white powder into a small glass baby food container. "I'm starting to worry myself." It wasn't something he liked to admit, but Jack didn't buy Kate's 'strong girl' act all of the time. He knew she had vulnerabilities. He'd seen them late at night, in her nightmares, when she gripped the airline pillow and pushed him away from her. When she whispered to her father to stop.

"Jack," Shannon said his name simply, bringing him out of his fears for a moment. "You should get some rest."

He went into the caves and he let her lead him to the farthest cave where the bamboo wall was covered in strange stones and mud drawings Maggie had put there over the years. Jack sat on the bed and watched Shannon turn her back on him and leave. The woman had become Maggie's nanny anytime Jack and Kate needed privacy. For the fighting and for the loving and for anything else.

Jack's eyes closed after a few hours and he only awoke when he heard people at the entrance shouting his name. He jerked up and ran through the caves disoriented. His eyesight was failing him from the sleep still there and he rubbed them, hearing Charlie shouting his name in a panic.

Emerging from the caves, he saw Walt standing there with Maggie in his arms. The girl was sleeping. Please, God, let her be sleeping, he prayed. Jack blinked several times and went to Walt, taking his daughter from him and placing her on the airline cushions at the entrance, next to what was left of the medical supplies. He examined her quickly, finding the bruising on her back.

Jack brushed her cheek softly with his fingers and heard Shannon breathing next to him. She bent down and took Maggie's hand, calling her name. "She's unconscious," Jack assured her, watching Shannon's eyes glide up to meet his as he nodded.

Giving his daughter one more look-over, he stood and went to Walt, taking hold of his shoulders. "Kate, where's Kate?"

Walt shook his head. "She wasn't there Jack."

Jack stared down at the ground, flaring his nose and pursing his lips and then he raised his head. "Where did you find her?"

"Jack, you don't want to go…" Walt started.

"Take me."

"There's blood everywhere, Jack," Walt warned him sternly. "I can pick up her trail, but do you really want to find her?"

Nodding, Jack shoved him towards the jungle. They walked as the sun rose and Walt took him to the tree where he'd found Maggie sprawled on the ground. Jack walked several feet away and stood over the blood soaked ground.

Walt touched his shoulder, "She didn't see anything, Jack. She was unconscious." The boy pulled him to continue walking. They went through the trees and found Kate's pants discarded near another red mess. Jack vomited while Walt held him steady.

"Jack, she's still alive," he told the man.

"How do you know?" Jack heaved on an empty stomach.

Walt stood and started to run, shouting back, "I want her to be."

Jack didn't ask what he meant, he just started running. The trees slashed at his arms and face and he felt something squish under his foot, something that squealed, but he didn't look down. Walt jerked to the right and Jack followed, trusting the boy. His legs felt wobbly and when Walt came to a stop, Jack halted himself and prepared. Walt turned slowly, his eyes terrified and Jack covered the distance, touching Walt's shoulder quickly before looking ahead.

Sawyer laid on the ground next to her. He rolled on his side, touching Kate's face gently as he muttered something in her ear. Kate moaned in response and Sawyer stood, laughing. "Come on, Freckles, ain't that bad!" Sawyer shouted just before Jack rammed him in the back. He slammed him into a tree and began punching into the other man, hearing him gasp with each blow.

Jack felt Sawyer's knee come up into his crotch and he fell over in pain. Sawyer started to attack Jack when Walt came forward quickly, slicing at Sawyer's chest with a small knife. The boy chased Sawyer into the jungle and Jack pulled himself up, crawling to where Kate lay. Her breathing was shallow and her left shoulder was crusted with red where she'd been stabbed. Jack closed his eyes a moment when she grimaced against his touch. She turned her head away and tried to roll onto her side, but she squeaked in pain. Jack pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around her naked bottom, picking her up off the ground.

He walked until his legs couldn't carry him anymore. Collapsing on the ground, he looked down at Kate in his arms. She wasn't moaning anymore and he jerked, placing her down and feeling for her pulse. "No, no, no," he muttered over and over, feeling the weak thump against his fingers. "Come on, Kate!" He shouted at her, seeing her eyes flinch just a bit.

Jack looked up at the sky through the trees and he hollered, "HELP!"

Soon Charlie, Hurley and Jin were crashing through the jungle. The trio stopped short, seeing them lying on the ground. Hurley stepped forward first, picking Kate up quickly and Charlie adjusted the shirt over her before turning to help Jack off the ground. Jin joined the blonde haired man and they headed back to the caves.

Shannon jumped up from Maggie's side, seeing the men coming with Kate. Jack shouted, "Move her, move her, move her!" And Shannon picked Maggie up, taking her into one of the back caves.

Hurley put Kate down, jumping back when she screamed. Jack ripped at her shirt and looked up, "Get me water," the men didn't move, "SOMEONE GET ME WATER!" Jack hollered, watching Jin rush to get rags while Charlie and Hurley went to grab water bottles from the edge of the small pool of drinking water. They handed the bottles to Jack, watching him pour it over her shoulder wound as she moaned. He rubbed it with a rag until all the crust was gone and it was again bleeding freely.

Charlie turned to the trees and vomited and Hurley held him up. "Dude, I got this, go find your kid," Hurley told him softly.

Jack felt Hurley wipe stand at his side, waiting, as he examined Kate slowly. Pressing his fingers into every part of her body, Jack made mental notes whenever she shouted in pain. He figured she had a few bruised ribs, but aside from her shoulder wound, there weren't any other major injuries. Hurley turned away when Jack removed the shirt and spread her legs. Jack watched her hands grip the cushions under her as he poured water over her. She was dirty and… Jack stood and kicked a bamboo basket Hurley had made, breaking the side and sending it flying.

"Dude? What is it?" Hurley asked quickly, not turning to look at the woman who lay exposed two feet from him.

Jack gnashed his teeth and shook his head. "She's full of… him," Jack growled, going back to cleaning her.

"She's lost a lot of blood, man," Hurley pointed out. "I know this is kind of… bad… but it doesn't matter how clean she is if she dies."

Lowering his head a moment, Jack nodded slowly to Hurley just a second before grabbing some supplies from the medicine drawers and he went to work with the needles and the tubing on his arm.

"Awe, dude, not this again."

"She's O neg; I'm O neg. Any other brilliant plans?"

"Naw, you're the doctor. Just," Hurley started, "Don't overdo it."

Jack let himself chuckle. He inserted the other needle in Kate's arm just as the blood hit the tip and watched her face flinch. He tied it down with twine and whispered in her ear what he'd done, knowing Kate would listen. Touching her burning forehead, he frowned and began working on her shoulder.

He wasn't sure how much damage was done. He hoped Sawyer hadn't severed any arteries. He was sure it had gone through the muscle, but muscle will take care of itself to an extent. Jack rubbed his left arm, starting to feel himself get a little woozy, but he saw her cheeks had gone from ashen to pale, so there was some improvement.

An hour later, he bandaged her arm and sat down, feeling the sweat soaking his back. Kate looked like she was sleeping. He allowed himself to relax in the knowledge that she was. Jack wrapped his own arm and sighed, closing his eyes. He leaned back against the rocks on which the cushions and Kate lay.

"Daddy?" Maggie called softly, touching his knee. Jack's head flew up and he saw the little girl who looked at him with sleepy eyes. "Sawyer's a bad man," she muttered, moving forward into his arms. The little girl cried softly against him and he cradled her, glancing up at Kate. Jack sobbed loudly, feeling Shannon wrap him and Maggie up in a blanket. The other woman hugged them a moment and Jack could see she had a firm grip on both his hand and Kate's.

"Hey, you guys have been through worse, right?" Shannon offered. Her voice cracked and Jack could hear she'd been crying. "You'll get through this. She'll be ok; Maggie'll be ok." Shannon smiled when the little girl looked up at her.

"Sing the ocean song," Maggie whispered.

Jack smiled and listened as Shannon began to sing a song that reminded him of old days when the world was so insane that animated fish brought happiness to his heart. He fell asleep shortly after.