Lost and its characters belong to JJ Abrams and crew. I'm just borrowing for fun. Written in response to the Fanfic100 prompts – Green
Lost – The Long Road: Child of Hers
By Mystic
Oct/Nov
May 2012
Sam's eyes were green. Something like the angry ocean in the evening and they stared at Jack from across the table. Sam had his chin resting on his hands and he watched Jack pour an unhealthy amount of sugar on top of his Rice Crispies. Jack'd always done it, since he was small. His mother would never buy him frosted cereals. No chocolate puffs or marshmallow bits, just corn flakes and milk. Jack didn't have his first pop tart until middle school. Cherry filled with white frosting and emerald colored sprinkles.
He glanced down at the boy and raised the cereal box. "You like Rice Crispies?"
"I don't eat breakfast," he mumbled. Those eyes staring up wide at him. "Makes me sick."
"Hmph," Jack responded, shoveling a large spoonful into his mouth. "Nothing?"
"A cup of milk." Sam raised his head and shifted himself off the chair he was too small for. He pulled open the refrigerator door and his mouth fell open. "You've got a lot of food." Jack laughed. Turning his head, Sam watched Jack a moment before pointing to a half gallon of milk. "It's two percent." Nodding, Jack stood and grabbed a cup out of his cupboard. But Sam shook his head. "It tastes watered down."
"You drink whole milk…" He wanted to tell the kid it was bad for him, but he knew as well as anyone else – it wasn't the same if it wasn't whole milk. Jack stepped around him and pulled the half gallon out of the fridge. "Drink this now and I'll pick you up a gallon of the regular stuff later, ok?"
Sam shrugged his small shoulders, but nodded, moving away to watch Jack pour him a glass of milk and place it on the table. He climbed back up into the chair, on his knees, and held the glass, staring at the liquid inside. "Got any chocolate?"
Lowering his eyebrows, Jack thought a moment, then pulled open another cabinet and slapped a bottle of Nestle chocolate syrup he reserved for ice cream onto the table. He checked the expiration date before letting it go. Things like chocolate in Jack's apartment often sat unused for too long.
Sam smiled, his tongue slipping through his thin lips as he popped the cap off and turned the bottle over his cup and began to squeeze. Jack watched as the boy recapped the bottle and put it back where he'd grabbed it and then waited, his green eyes finding Jack's brown ones. Jack raised an eyebrow.
"I can't stir it with my fingers," Sam explained with a grin.
Jack lowered his head, feeling a bit dense, and pulled a teaspoon out of a drawer, plunking it into Sam's glass. The boy stirred carefully, slowly, and when his milk had turned a sufficient shade of murky brown, he lifted the glass with two hands and took several long gulps. Jack sat back down in front of his cereal.
"You're going to need to brush your teeth," Jack muttered.
Sam nodded, watching him, his eyes alert and focused on Jack. "My bag's in the car."
"The car?" Jack raised his head, watching Sam's bright eyes glide towards the window. "Outside. We parked it out front. All our stuff's in there."
"You have stuff?" He watched Sam nod.
"It's not a lot of stuff. 'Bare necessities' is what mommy says." Sam smiled. "Mommy's smart, you know."
Jack frowned, looking away from the boy who cocked his head forward and just enough to the right to look like Kate… when she mocked him. He stood and went to the window, glancing down at the old olive car parked in front of the building. It'd be towed by the end of the day, he knew. "Can you stay here a minute?"
"Where are you going?" Sam asked quickly, panicked.
Jack turned. "I'm not leaving, just going downstairs." He stopped. "Mommy didn't happen to leave the…"
Sam dug a single key out of his pocket. "She always gives me the key." He held it tightly in his small fist. "I'm going with you," he told Jack, with a nod of his chin while staring defiantly with those determined eyes. He could see Kate, back on the island, insisting to go with him into the jungle. Jack placed his hands at his waist and smiled at the empty apartment before nodding.
"Fine, you can come."
The boy rushed over to his side, his hair flopping about, and he followed Jack down to the car, opening the door for him. Jack noticed he didn't let go of the car key. He wondered if he thought Jack was going to steal it. He wondered if he thought Jack was going to drive away.
They rode back up in the elevator with a suitcase and two backpacks between them. Sam held a large jacket in his hands. It was Kate's, Jack knew. He watched the boy bite his bottom lip as he stared down at it. It was hunter green and suede. Jack wondered where she'd gotten it.
They entered the apartment and Sam took the jacket and his backpack and placed them on the couch, unzipping one of the small compartments on his pack. Jack noticed it was plan dark beige with green trim, no Power Rangers or Dinosaurs, or other creatures and cartoons – like on most children's backpacks. It was dirty too, covered in smudges and stains he didn't recognize.
He wondered what his boy had been through.
Sam picked at his toothbrush and a small travel sized tube of toothpaste and looked up at Jack. "Where did mommy go?"
Biting his bottom lip, Jack tried to think of an answer that would satisfy the child, but he didn't have much experience with children outside of the few years he spent with Aaron on the island. "What did mommy tell you before you got here?" Jack sat on the couch, next to Sam's backpack.
Lowering his eyes, Sam shrugged. "She said she was hurt, that we had to go see daddy 'cause she knew you would make her better. She said it was bad though, and that you might take her to the hospital. She told me if that happened, I had to be brave because I probably wouldn't see her for a while." Sam raised his eyes to meet Jack's. "She told me she'd leave me with my daddy and he'd take care of me." Sam dropped his eyes again and touched her jacket, pressing his fingers into the material and Jack could see his bottom lip start to tremble, but he bit it hard between his teeth.
Jack touched his chin, lifting it up to see the green that sparkled up at him, bright with tears. "It's ok to cry, Sam." And he watched his son's face break in front of him before scooping him up into his lap and holding him as he sobbed. Jack took a long breath, feeling the boy shake in his arms until he was finished and had drifted off to sleep. Jack picked up Kate's jacket and took the boy into the room, lying him down and covering him in the soft material laced with his mother's scent.
Running his hand through Sam's hair, Jack looked around at his apartment. It suddenly struck him that he had no idea what to do. Jack didn't know what kids needed. He didn't know how to take care of one. He felt his heart beginning to pound as his breath escaped him and he knew he was going to have a panic attack. So he counted. He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth and he counted and when he hit five, he was terrified.
End Chapter 5