So Jack was going insane. Well, that certainly explained a lot. He wasn't seeing his father, he was just going mad. There was nothing else for it, no other explanation. He was hallucinating. He was exhausted and under stress and losing more water through his sweat glands that he could possibly drink, especially considering they had no water, so his mind wasn't exactly running at the level that it should be. Which actually made him feel better.

There was a reason behind all this, a sound medical reason. He was being grumpy for a reason. He was feeling sick for a reason. He was having mild panic attacks for a reason. He wanted to beat everyone up for a reason. He had a dream about that lifeguard for a reason.

Okay, he wasn't so sure that last one cut it. But there was no other explanation. It must be this special brand of crazy he seemed to have picked up lately after waking up in the jungle that time. Part of him wishes he'd never bothered to make his way to the beach, things would have been simpler that way. But he did and now everyone wanted him to look after them. But Jack didn't want to look after them, Jack wanted to look after himself. Jack wanted to stop being crazy and go back to being Jack. But life was never that simple.

He looked around from where he sat, dejected, on the ground but he couldn't see his father. He couldn't see a whole lot of anything. He had a brief panic that he wouldn't be able to find the beach again but then he realised that he didn't really care. He was bound to stumble across it sooner or later. Knowing his luck they'd send out a search team. And guess who would lead it, incompetent lifeguard.

Well, if Boone were to lead a search party at least they wouldn't actually find him, Jack figured. And then he felt bad. He did try, he tried really hard. Some people just aren't born with the leader gene, Jack reasoned. He should know, he was lacking it himself. But Boone was on another level all together. Boone was in a league of his own.

But Jack wasn't attracted to Boone because Boone was a man and Jack wasn't attracted to men. No, it was just the crazy, it was the dehydration, it was the hallucination. It really wasn't something he should worry about. His mind got skewed, the electrical impulses flickered off balance. Boone was fairly girly so his brain probably just got confused. It was Kate, Kate was hot. She was very pretty and she had a good body and her confidence seemed to have shot up since that first night. But Jack wasn't sure he could trust Kate, she seemed to have a tendency to run. Plus, there was that whole fugitive thing.

Boone was probably trustworthy. He was like a puppy. A loyal, obedient, tries-too-hard puppy. But he wasn't especially good at anything as far as Jack could discern. Unless you counted effort as a skill, because Boone could try harder than anyone he'd ever met. Still, he wasn't so sure that was a good quality to have. Maybe he knew a lot about wedding dresses.

But he was only thinking about Boone because he was losing his mind so there was really no reason trying to find logic in it. It didn't mean anything. But his sister was fairly good looking. Jack thought she came across as an airhead though. Not that he'd actually spoken to her but all she seemed to do was glam herself up and then bicker with Boone in an array of outfits. And Boone gave it back but not quite as good as he got. Shannon always seemed to win their arguments. Not that he'd been watching.

And anyway, he happened to think Claire was rather attractive. She was pretty and petite and also rather pregnant so maybe is was a little inappropriate to be attracted to her. Not that Jack was attracted to her but that wasn't really the point. He wondered where the father of her baby was. If he died in the wreckage. If he was waiting for her somewhere. If he even cared about her or the baby. Jack couldn't understand how someone could not care about their baby. But then Jack's experiences were different to most. Or not. A lot of people probably went through that.

Jack heard a noise that brought him out of his thoughts and went to investigate. He walked for a little while and tried to find something to prove that he wasn't insane, or maybe to prove that he was. Instead he came across some caves and a fresh water supply. Water. Fresh, clean, cool water. He'd found water. Maybe he could be a leader. No one else had found water. Admittedly no one else had been wondering around the jungle following their dead father around but that only dampened his victory a little tiny bit.

And then he saw the coffin. It was empty. He didn't know if that meant he was crazy or sane.