For the record, I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SURGERY TOOLS. This is fan fiction: Just go with it, 'kay? Enjoy and review.

Chapter 7: Medical Emergency part 2: Pinky Promise Broken

Libby looked uneasily at Alex.

"Here," Alex handed her a pair of disposable gloves and a mask, "I'll need your help." Libby gulped, nodded, and put them on. Alex got out a pair of scissors and cut from the bottom of Cindy's capris to just above her knee cap. Libby drew in a sharp breath to see her bullet wound.

"Let's get started," Alex said grimly, "Libby, I need you to hold these clampers for me when I'm done with them, okay?" She got out what looked like a pair of scissors with the blades sort of curved out. With these, she pushed into the muscle and parted it in a couple of inches until she found the bullet.

"Dang," she said, "It's lodged into the bone. Here, Libby–hold these." While Libby held the clampers (I guess they're called) in place, Alex got a long pair of tweezers and carefully went in. Slowly, she gripped the bullet shell and wiggled a little bit. Finally, she tugged it out and put it in a petri dish. Then she reached in her case and pulled out a small white bottle.

"This," she told Jimmy, who'd been watching her, "is artificial marrow, an invention of mine. There's a hole in her bone, so I'm going to fill it with this stuff (as she said this, she got a medicine syringe–like the one you put in your mouth–and filled it with the marrow) and the artificial marrow will attach itself to the real marrow and become real itself." Luckily for her, the bone was now dry, the blood and fluid having drained out of the wounded area. Alex filled the hole in with the toothpaste-like marrow and spaded it over with a one-inch long triangle-shaped tool. Within minutes, the artificial marrow hardened and became bone itself.

Alex breathed with relief. Now it was just a matter of stitching the muscle back together. It would take longer, but she could do it. After pouring some rubbing alcohol on the leg, Alex threaded her special medical needle and slowly but surely sewed the muscle back together. Libby put the clampers back in the case; they were no longer needed. Libby could now take off her gloves and mask.

"If you're done with me," she said, standing, "I need to talk to Jamal." Alex nodded and continued her slow stitching. She raised her eyes and looked at Jimmy.

"You should get some sleep, Jim," she said, turning back to her work, "You look tired."

"I'm fine," he said dismissively, "Besides, I've gotta work on the hovercar."

"No," she cut him off, "The rest of us can work on the hovercar. You need to stay with Cindy. Plus, you look like you've got a lot on your mind right now. What's wrong?"

Jimmy sighed and laid his head against the tree.

"Somehow," he closed his eyes, "I knew something like this would happen. You know I have enemies, Alex. Somewhere in the back of my oversized mind, I was afraid one of them would find out and try to hurt us. The last thing they want is to see me happy...I don't know what to do." He looked at her with pleading eyes, as if she had all the answers. Alex regarded him with her infamous owl-like gaze, like she was searching his soul for answers he couldn't find himself. Then she finished sewing the leg.

"Well, you won't have to worry about Beautiful Gorgeous," she said, putting her things away, "If she hasn't died in that crash, the government can arrest her for murder. She killed our pilot, so it'll be a lethal injection for her." Jimmy's face paled; this kind of subject is hard for anyone to swallow. He was sure Alex knew the chemicals they used too, but was afraid to ask.

Alex closed her case, removed her mask and gloves, and stood up.

"I'm going to find a spring to wash my tools in," she said, "Come on, Goddard. You'll need it, too." The dog gently put Cindy's leg down. As Goddard followed Alex into the jungle, Jimmy couldn't help feeling familiarity with this island.

Meanwhile, Libby talked with Jamal.

"Jamal," she said sternly, "Look at me." He dragged his eyes up to meet hers.

"Do you know why I'm not happy?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered dully.

"Then tell me why I'm not happy," she said.

"Because I disobeyed you?" he said.

Carl and Sheen were with them, silent.

"That's right," she affirmed, "Now tell me why you disobeyed me."

"Because I got scared about you," Jamal started to tear up, "I wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt, and I wanted to help rescue Cindy, too! So I told Goddard to find Jimmy, and he showed me to drive his hovercar." He started to cry. Libby didn't waver, but she saddened.

"Jamal," she said sadly, "You pinky-promised!"

"I'm sorry, Libby!" he wept, "I just"--

"I know, I know," she said, "Come here, baby." He went to her open arms and she held him and rocked on her heels. Jamal looked up and saw Sheen winking at him and giving him the thumbs up. Jamal winked and thumbed up back.

"I forgive you this time, Jamal," she pulled him back, "but from now on, you keep your pinky promises, okay?"

"Okay!" he piped.

"Now come on," she stood and took his hand, "Cindy'll be awake any minute." Sheen held his other hand.

"See, Little Man?" he said brightly, "I told you girls are suckers when you cry! OW!" Libby whacked her boyfriend upside the head.

"Hey, where's Alex?" Carl asked after Cindy woke up.

"Yeah," said Cindy, "Where'd she go, Jimmy?"

"She went inland to find water," he said, "so she...could..."

Then he remembered.

Cindy found she was able to stand, and she didn't hurt! She even did one of her karate moves.

"What's the matter, Jimmy?" she asked brightly. She saw him standing at the tree they'd been under. It had "J+C Forever" carved in a heart on it. That's when Cindy realized.

"Hey!" she lit up, "Jimmy, this is our island! Who would have thought it?" At first, she linked arms with him and leaned on him all cutesy. But then she saw his pale face and, after wracking her brain, realized what was wrong.

"If this is our island," she spoke Jimmy's thoughts, "that means..." They stared at each other, and the others suddenly remembered. None too soon, they heard a piercing feminine shriek deep within the trees. Their voices became one just before they scampered into the jungle.

"ALEX!"

Author's Review:

DON'T PANIC, EVERYBODY! Mwa ha ha ha! Another cliffhanger! I'm getting pretty good at this! YEAH! (I wish I had a bigger caps lock. Their panicked volume was much higher, but this is the best I could get out of all 3 prints.

Anyway, as I said before, I don't know how a surgery goes: the only one I've actually experienced, I've been asleep for...so...bleh. Just go along and tell me what you think, okay? L8R, GATORS!