He walked down the hall on his way to the nurse's station when he got stopped short by a patient's overzealously religious girlfriend.
"Dr. Shepherd, do you have a moment?" Tina asked, looking at him ever so hopefully.
"What can I do for you?" Jack asked as he glanced down the hall to the nurse's station. Boone was already there and talking to the new and rather attractive nurse, Maria. Jack might be dating a man but he wasn't blind.
"We're holding a prayer service for Bobby tonight and I just wondered if you might be interested in joining us?" Tina looked at him with wide eyes.
"That's a very nice thought, Tina, but I'm not a religious person," Jack explained, attempting to excuse himself.
"After everything you've been through and you're not a religious man?" Tina asked him, apparently surprised.
Jack gave her his full attention for the first time and looked straight at her. "Excuse me?"
"I know I never said anything but I recognised your picture. From the newspaper. The plane crash," she explained. "None of that, the two and a half years you were missing, none of it ever made you believe in God just a little bit?"
Jack felt like he was telling a five year old he'd just backed over their brand new kitten. "No," he stated simply, unsure of what else he could add.
"You survived the plane crash, you survived the wilderness or whatever it was on that island and you never saw a glimmer of hope?" Tina and her ever hopeful eyes stared into Jack.
Hope, Jack thought, that's what Locke was always going on about. But he and Locke never saw eye to eye and he wasn't about to start believing in crazy ideas like that now, he'd seen too much to the contrary.
"I'm sorry, Tina, I have to go," he said, professional head taking over once again. "Good look with your prayer service."
"Thank you, Dr. Shepherd," she said as he started to walk away.
He didn't get very far, however, as he came up behind two doctors he used to work with back in the day. He was about to walk around them when he realised what they were talking about.
"Him? Are you sure?" Dr Joseph Mackel asked as he looked towards the nurse's station, unaware that Jack was behind him.
"I'm sure. When they were first brought in I saw them together," replied Dr Nick Jonsson.
Joseph looked Boone up and down. "He's a bit... pretty, isn't he?"
"He's a bit young, isn't he?" Nick replied.
"He looks like he's barely out of college," Joseph stated.
"He looks like he never even went to college," Nick continued.
"He went to college," Jack said, making the two doctors spin around in shock.
"Jack," Nick stated, clearly a little dazed.
"He also happens to be a very successful business man and the best thing that ever happened to me," Jack continued. "And I think he's totally hot," he added, a little more for effect than anything else.
"Well, that's..." Joseph attempted, but didn't get very far.
"Yeah, how about we keep gossip for the doctor's lounge in future," Jack suggested. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go have lunch with my boyfriend."
He took great pleasure in looking at their faces as he stepped around them. He could probably have gone about that in a better way but Jack was sick of people talking about him behind his back. Jack shouldn't be back at work so soon. Jack should see a psychiatrist about his misadventures. Jack must be a little rusty after so much time away. Jack should be treated very gently in case he snaps. Jack has a boyfriend now, isn't that just the weirdest thing you ever heard? Jack is actually fine but would be greatly appreciative if people would just talk to him like a normal person.
He walked up to the nurse's station where Boone and Maria were laughing about something.
"Hey, sorry, I got a little caught up," Jack said, putting a hand on Boone's hip.
"That's cool," Boone replied.
"Yeah, but if you were much longer I was gonna take him to lunch myself," Maria said with a smile.
Jack liked Maria. They both started on Monday and she was the only person that looked him in the eye rather than giving him sideways glances. There wasn't any history or expectations between them and he felt like he could just be himself around her. And even though she knew about the crash and the island, she never treated him any different than anyone else.
"So, you ready now?" Boone asked him.
Jack smiled at him. "Definitely."