Shannon dragged him to the caves so that Jack could take a look at him which was so unnecessary and just one more embarrassment to add to the list. But he was kind of glad to be there just so that Jack could keep an eye on Shannon. She wasn't too bad now but she was starting to wheeze and she wouldn't last much longer without the inhaler. Jack was a hero type, maybe he'd be able to get it for her.
So Boone spent the day sat with Shannon in the caves and she acted like she actually needed him. Once she could breathe again she'd undoubtedly deny all knowledge of this but for now it was actually kind of nice. She actually got worried when he stepped away to talk to Sayid and asked him not to leave her. That must mean that she was really sick though, Boone figured, and he was starting to worry that she wasn't going to make it.
But for once it wasn't Jack that bailed him out of a tight spot, it was the Korean woman, Sun. Boone had no idea what she was saying to him but she put some stuff on Shannon's chest and it seemed to clear her right up. Boone wished he had random useful knowledge like that. He had plenty of random knowledge, like what a three bedroom, two storey house went for in Malibu or where to import Italian wedding dresses from, but none of that was particularly useful.
He stayed with Shannon until she fell asleep and he then watched her chest going up and down rhythmically, feeling better every time it rose and fell. Jack came over and crouched next to Boone.
"She doing okay?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah, I think so, she seems to be breathing a lot clearer," Boone replied.
Jack nodded and leaned into her a little, listening. "She seems fine," he said, turning his attention to Boone. "You want me to take another look at you?"
"Jack, it's fine, really, I'm fine," Boone insisted.
Jack looked at him for a second. "Will you let me take another look at you?" he rephrased.
Boone smiled a little and gave him a look. He then shook his head a little. "Fine," he shrugged.
"Move over here where I can see better," Jack instructed, getting up and going over to the fire.
Boone got up and followed him over. Jack grabbed a bottle of water and a cloth and positioned himself in front of Boone. He wet the cloth and wiped the worst cut on Boone's head, an expression of concentration and care and his face. Boone tried not to think about how close Jack's face was to his or how that actually felt kind of nice against his skin. He tried to breath evenly and hide the fact that his heart was racing.
"You okay?" Jack asked. "Does it hurt?"
Boone managed to shake his head a little. "I'm okay."
Jack wet the cloth again and wiped at a different part of Boone's face.
"Aren't you just wiping off that stuff you put on there earlier?" Boone asked, remembering the stupid, stinging peroxide.
"No, it's okay," Jack said, finishing up. "I just want to make sure all the blood's off?" He leaned back a little.
"So, am I good now?" Boone asked.
"I don't know. Did he hit you anywhere else?" Jack asked.
"He hit me just about everywhere, Jack," Boone stated.
"Does it hurt anywhere else?" Jack persisted.
"I'm fine," Boone insisted.
"Lift up your shirt," Jack instructed.
Boone looked at him. "Why?" Jack looked down at his stomach and then back up to his face. "There's nothing wrong with me," Boone maintained.
"You make a very bad patient," Jack said.
Boone smiled a little. "I never said I wanted to be a patient."
"Just let me take a look at you and I'll leave you alone," Jack told him.
Boone rolled his eyes and reluctantly lifted up his shirt. Jack got closer again and ran a hand lightly over his stomach, almost teasingly. But that was a stupid thought because Jack was just being a doctor, he was being professional, so Boone really had to keep his mind clean here. He attempted some small talk to try and stop himself from thinking about sex.
"Don't they say doctor's make the worst patients?" Boone asked.
"I guess," Jack replied, concentrating on Boone's abdomen. He pressed firmly along his stomach. "Luckily I've never really been on that side of the knife, so to speak."
"No, me either," Boone said. "I had my tonsils taken out when I was eleven. Shannon was so jealous that I got to stay off school, she asked the doctors if they'd take hers out too."
"Yeah?" Jack asked, looking amused. Boone flinched as he pressed a spot on his left side. "That hurt?"
"It's kinda tender," Boone admitted.
Jack nodded and took a closer look. "Doesn't look like anything serious but you'll probably have a pretty impressive bruise tomorrow."
"Bruises aren't as cool as scars but I guess they're less permanent," Boone jested.
Jack smiled up at him and Boone tried not to think about the fact that his hand will still on his side. He tried really, really hard not to think about it because his body was about to start doing things on it's own any second now.
"So we done?" Boone asked.
Jack removed his hand and sat back. "Yeah, we're done," he replied. "I think you'll live."
"Thanks," Boone said and then wondered what he was supposed to do now. Did he stay and chat to Jack, did he go back over and sit with Shannon, was he supposed to be going to bed?
"Well, you ever need me for anything, you know where I am," Jack told him. "It's not that far a walk so you beach residents shouldn't be strangers."
Boone wasn't so sure how to take that. He was talking in fairly general terms but Boone wondered if there was a personal invitation hidden in there. No, probably not, why would Jack do that? He did invite him on the scouting mission though.
Jack looked at him for what seemed like the longest time and Boone was trying to think if he was supposed to be talking when Jack spoke up, suddenly seeming a little awkward. "Look, it's been a long day, I think I'm gonna go get some rest," he declared, standing up a little too quick.
"Okay," Boone replied.
"Yeah, so, I, erm..." Jack stuttered. He shook his head a little. "Night."
Boone watched as he walked swiftly but a little unevenly away. Oh good, I freaked him out, Boone thought. But then he couldn't think what he'd actually done that would of had that effect. Maybe he was just altogether too obvious. Maybe Jack had seen through everything. Maybe during that pause when Jack was just looking at him he'd put everything together and realised Boone's true feelings. That would suck. It's not like Boone was ever planning on acting on said feelings, he was good at hiding stuff, he was really good. But Shannon had said that she'd always known that Boone had been in love with her, always. So maybe Boone was clumsy and obvious. Maybe Boone was destined to be alone.
There were a lot of maybes there but Boone figured one of them had to be right. What other explanation was there?