As Boone's face hit the sand he thought about telling Charlie that there was really no point in beating him up, he was already constantly beating himself up anyway. He had been doing ever since they crashed in this place. Actually, he'd been doing it since before they crashed. He'd been doing it most of his life. But he probably deserved this anyway so he didn't tell Charlie not to hit him.

He did try to explain himself though. Not that it was doing him much good. But what was the point? He was wrong and he knew it. He shouldn't have taken the water, he shouldn't have gotten involved. But he felt involved. If he hadn't of yelled at Jack for no good reason then maybe Jack wouldn't have taken off into the jungle and he would have been around to sort the water out himself. But Jack wasn't around so someone had to take charge. Still, Boone was stupid for thinking he could do it.

And he was fairly sure that he was just about to receive a sound beating when Jack stepped in. Again. And Boone kind of wished that he hadn't because this was getting kind of embarrassing. But Jack was sticking up for him so maybe Jack didn't think he was such a bad guy after all. Or maybe he just didn't want to have to stitch him up.

So Boone went back to sitting and staring and thinking and not getting involved. He kept thinking that Shannon was going to come up any second and start gloating again, pointing out what a failure he was, like he didn't know that already. But thankfully she left him alone. In fact he didn't even know where she was. Not that he cared.

Then, just as dusk was falling, Jack came and sat next to him, not saying a word. Boone looked at him out of the corner of his eye, careful not to move his head, but Jack was just staring out to sea. Boone looked down.

"You okay?" Jack asked eventually, not looking at him.

"Yeah," Boone replied.

Jack seemed to sigh a little and then turned to face Boone. "Don't take it too much to heart," he said. "You were trying to help, you just got it a little wrong."

Boone found his lips curling in an ironic smile. "Got it a little wrong," he echoed. "Story of my life."

"At least you tried," Jack offered.

Boone nodded a little but he wasn't quite sure why. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," he said after a pause.

"That's okay," Jack replied. "My fault, I was out of it, I should have stayed and talked to you." He turned to face Boone. "You want to talk about it now?"

Boone shook his head and looked back to the ocean. He kind of wished Jack wasn't so nice to him, he didn't know what he'd done to deserve it. In fact he was fairly sure that he didn't deserve it. He didn't like the feeling that he got whenever Jack was sat next to him because it felt good and nothing good ever seemed to last very long in Boone's life. He always felt scared whenever he started to let himself be happy because it was always much harder to lose things you actually felt something for. So he concentrated on not feeling anything for Jack. Fantasies were okay, daydreams were cool, they put Jack on the same level as Johnny Depp and that was okay because Johnny Depp was never going to leave him because Johnny Depp wasn't real, but if he let Jack be real and let himself feel something that was more than some stupid visual then he was gonna get very disappointed when Jack made it clear it was never going to happen.

"Do you want me to leave?" Jack asked.

Boone didn't say anything. He didn't really want Jack to leave, he'd quite like him sitting right there for the rest of the evening, but he wasn't going to beg and he wasn't going to make Jack stay against his will.

"Look, just remember, you're not a bad guy," Jack told him. "What you did might have been wrong but you did it with the best intentions. Unfortunately you don't get a lot of points for effort in life."

Boone turned to look at him in the fading light. He looked serious. He also looked so grown-up and together, so the opposite of Boone. "Where did you go all day?" Boone found himself asking, and then cursed himself for undoubtedly trying Jack's patience.

Jack looked a little amused. "Not quite sure how to answer that," he said, looking a little conflicted. "The short answer: I was wandering around the jungle."

Boone wanted to ask him what the long answer was but he didn't want to push his luck. "You didn't get eaten by anything," he pointed out, but he was fairly sure Jack already knew that.

"No, not yet," Jack agreed.

"And you found water," Boone said, wondering why he was making stupid statements that Jack was well aware of. Jack didn't seem to mind though.

"Yeah, a waterfall, little pool, some caves, luggage strewn around too, might be able to find some useful stuff," Jack explained. Boone nodded. "We're gonna go check it out tomorrow when it's light." Boone nodded again. "If you wanted to come," Jack added.

Boone looked at him. He wanted Boone to go with him? Why? So he could feed him to the monster and save the useful people? What the hell would Jack want Boone's help for? But Jack was looking at him like he wouldn't mind the company. That didn't mean it was a good idea though.

"I think it's probably best if I stay here and don't talk to anybody or touch anything," Boone pointed out. Jack looked as if he was going to say something but then didn't bother. "Thanks for the offer though."

Jack nodded and looked down at the sand. He then looked back at Boone. "Well, if you change your mind we'll be leaving at first light."

"Okay," Boone said.

Jack nodded again and stood up. "Get some rest, you'll feel better, trust me."

Boone wanted to say something, anything really, to let Jack know that he appreciated his help, that he liked talking to him, that he thought he was a great guy and a pretty awesome leader, but that was all the stuff Boone was being careful not to feel so he didn't say anything at all.

Jack gave him a half smile and then walked away. Boone watched him leave and then dared to look out over the rest of the beach. No one seemed to be giving him dirty looks. No one seemed to be looking at him at all in fact. Back to normal then, he figured. Invisible Boone. He looked around more carefully but couldn't spot Shannon anywhere. He wondered if he should worry about her. Then he wondered why he was wondering that because he knew he was going to worry about her anyway, it was what he spent fifty percent of his waking hours doing anyway, even when they weren't stuck on stupid islands. Not that this happened often.

He looked back out to the ocean and tried not to think about Shannon. But then he found himself thinking about Jack instead. Jack looking at him, Jack smiling at him, Jack wanting him to go into the jungle with him, alone, his breath hot against Boone's, their lips meeting, Jack's expert hands working his fly. Boone shook his head. Worrying about Shannon was probably more productive than this. He got up and went to look for her.