"Sorry," he mumbled, untangling his arms from Boone's and rubbing his eyes.
"What are you doing?" Boone asked, looking up at him hazily.
"Nothing," Jack replied. "Nothing. I'm sorry. Fell asleep."
"Good," Boone said.
Jack moved his hands to the back of his neck and rubbed the muscles trying to relieve some tension. It wasn't working. And something didn't feel right. He gave up and turned to Boone. "Any better?" he asked.
"Well it's not worse," Boone allowed. "But I don't know."
Jack nodded. He moved to check on his leg, he shouldn't have left it elevated that long without checking on it. He ran his finger along the sole of his foot and was glad when his toes curled in response. He examined the leg itself and saw that the swelling did seem to have gone down.
"Can you wiggle your toes for me?" Jack requested.
He watched as Boone did so and smiled. Things seemed to be looking up slightly.
"Do I pass?" Boone asked weakly.
Jack nodded at him. "You pass."
Sayid entered, standing just inside the area. Jack looked up at him.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, I was looking for Shannon," he explained.
"She said she had to do something," Jack replied. "I thought she might be with you."
"I haven't seen her," Sayid said, shaking his head a little.
Jack closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck again. "Sorry, she did say she was coming back." And then it hit him. The key. That's what was missing. It was the key to the gun case. He moved his hands around to the front of his neck and looked down.
"Something wrong?" Sayid asked.
"The key to the gun case is missing," Jack explained. He got up and walked past Sayid, seeing Kate sat by the pool. "Kate, who's been in here?" he asked, striding up to her.
She looked up at him, clearly lost. "What?"
"Who was in there while I was asleep?" Jack demanded.
"I don't know what you're..."
"Someone took the key, Kate," Jack stated, signalling his neckline.
Kate looked at him for a second. "Maybe it fell off," she offered.
Jack shook his head. "It didn't fall off, Kate, someone took it."
"Jack, no one went in there while you were asleep, I was sat here the whole time," Kate insisted.
"Then where the hell is it?" Jack yelled.
"Jack," Sayid called.
Jack turned around, losing his temper rapidly. "What?" he demanded.
Sayid signalled to Boone. Jack rushed back into the medical tent, dreading what he was about to see. He knelt down by Boone's side and checked his over quickly with his eyes before settling on his face.
"What's wrong? Are you in pain? Is something wrong?" Jack asked.
Boone shook his head a little. "Shannon."
Jack sighed. That was all? He was just asking for Shannon again? Surely this could have waited. "She's coming back, Boone," Jack told him, sitting back of his heals.
"Shannon has the key," Boone stated.
Jack leaned forward again. "What? You saw her take it?"
"She must have done," Boone replied. "Why else would she hug you?"
Jack remembered the hug. It came out of nowhere and it felt awkward the whole time and Shannon had her arms around Jack's neck, never keeping still. Never keeping still because she was undoing the thread, she was taking the key.
"She's gone after Locke," Sayid stated.
Jack stood up and faced Sayid. "What's she going to do?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer. He knew because it's not like it hadn't occurred to him too.
"She wants revenge," Sayid explained. "She asked me to help her."
"Did you?" Jack asked.
"I had Locke take me to the Beechcraft but I believe it was an accident," Sayid said. "I told her I wouldn't help her any further."
Jack glanced down at Boone and then turned back to Sayid. He weighed up his options. Jack wanted revenge too, he wanted Locke to suffer. But he couldn't let Shannon do this. It would feel good now but she'd have to live with it for the rest of her life. "We need to find her and stop her."
Sayid nodded.
Kate stepped fully into the area, having been hovering at the entrance for some time. "Jack, you need to stay here, Sayid and I will deal with it."
Jack shook his head. "I need to be there."
"Jack, you're being stupid. You need to be here," Kate told him. "You need to watch Boone. If anything happens you're the only one that can help him."
"Boone's stable, he's fine," Jack dismissed.
"What if he goes into shock? Or arrest? Or something else happens?" Kate asked. "Why do you want to come with us?"
"Because I have to confront him, Kate," Jack stated, getting angry that she clearly wasn't getting this. "He left. He just left Boone here. And he lied. If Boone hadn't come round enough to tell me what really happened he'd be dead right now, okay? No buts or maybes, just dead. I want him to explain that to me. I want him to explain why the hell he just ran off like that."
Kate looked at him. "They'll be time for all that later," she told him softly. "Right now you have other things to concentrate on."
Jack nodded reluctantly, he knew she was right. "Don't let her do anything stupid," he told them.
Kate nodded and the two of them headed out. Jack stood and watched them go, hoping they got there in time.
"Jack?"
Jack turned around to face Boone and tried not to look quite so stressed. "Yeah?" he replied, giving him a smile that he hoped was at least part genuine.
"Was I really close?" Boone asked. Jack looked at him and shook his head a little, not getting it. "To death," Boone clarified.
Jack didn't know what to say. He felt like crying again. But he couldn't, he had to stay strong, he wasn't about to let himself break down now. "It was kind of touch and go there for a while," he admitted.
"I was in the room when you were yelling at Kate," Boone pointed out. "You said if I didn't tell you about my leg I would have died."
Jack could feel tears in his eyes. He pushed them back. He sat back down by Boone's side. "Yeah, I think you would," he granted. "But you didn't, so it's okay."
"I don't feel so out of the woods yet," Boone said.
"It's a jungle," Jack pointed out, trying to lighten the mood.
Boone rolled his eyes and gave him a smile. "I mean that everything still feels really bad."
Jack nodded. It undoubtedly would. He didn't know how Boone was managing to hold a conversation right now quite frankly. But maybe that was taking his mind off the pain, maybe it was helping.
"Do you trust me?" he asked, looking Boone in the eyes. Boone stared back at him and Jack noted that it was the most focused he'd seen him since the accident. Things were definitely getting better, slowly but surely.
"Yes," Boone replied.
"Then you're gonna be okay," Jack told him.
Boone carried on gazing at him and Jack leant down, stroking the side of his face. He looked bad. He looked like a wreck. Jack had cleaned him off the best he could but he'd tried to keep the stitches dry so there was still some dried blood on the worst areas. But he was still there under it all. He was still Boone. He was still his Boone.
Jack leaned down and kissed him on the lips, instantly feeling like an idiot. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, pulling away.
Boone looked like he wanted to say something but did bother. He didn't look upset though so if he was going to complain then it was probably wasn't that Jack had kissed him but rather that Jack had stopped kissing him. Jack reached down and took Boone's hand in his as a substitute. Boone seemed fairly happy with that.
"Claire had the baby last night," Jack told him, trying to use the conversation to keep him alert and distracted from his injuries.
"She did?" Boone asked.
Jack nodded. "Yeah?"
"Did I get in the way of the delivery?" Boone asked.
Jack shook his head. "Kate did it, not me," he replied. "They got along just fine without me."
Boone smiled. "Kate?"
"Yeah."
"How's Claire?" Boone asked.
"Fine. And the baby's fine. I checked them both this morning, no problems at all," Jack told him. "She doesn't have a name yet but it's a boy," he added.
Boone nodded. "You've been busy," he stated.
"Yeah, I really have," Jack agreed.
"Did you cry?" Boone asked.
Jack looked at him. "When?" he asked.
"Whenever," Boone replied vaguely. "Anytime."
"I haven't cried," Jack told him, wondering where this was going. Did Boone want him to cry? He'd been close. He'd been close too many times to count but he was stronger than that and he wasn't going to let that happen. Boone was okay, there was nothing to cry about. But Boone was looking up at him, clearly waiting for something. "I couldn't," he added. "I was looking after you. I can't be a doctor and your..." he trailed off, what the hell was he? Boone had said boyfriend last night but there was every chance he didn't know he'd said it.
"Jack," Boone said.
"Right, yeah," he replied. "I'm your Jack."
Boone looked amused. "No, I mean, Jack," he repeated. "As in getting your attention."
"Oh," Jack said blindly. 'Your Jack', what the hell was that about? He shook his head a little. "What's up?"
"It's okay to cry," Boone stated. "If you wanted to cry, that is. You'd feel better."
Jack probably would feel better, but he couldn't exactly turn it on and off. He didn't really want to do it in front of Boone anyway.
"I mean, not that I want you to cry over me or something," Boone added. "But I wouldn't mind it either," he said.
Jack nodded. Well, it was nice to have the option he supposed, but this time wasn't about him, this time was about Boone, making Boone feel better, making Boone forget the pain. He gripped Boone's hand a little tighter in his and put his other hand to Boone's face. There were a million things that Jack wanted to ask him. What was he doing at the Beechcraft? What was this hatch that was mentioned? What secrets was he keeping for Locke? He didn't feel like Boone was up for any of that yet though and the last thing he wanted to do was upset him. He just needed to be patient.
"Wanna play I-spy?" Jack asked.
Boone looked at him. "Pretty much all I can see is you and trees," he pointed out.
"Guess I'll win then," Jack shrugged. Boone smiled at him. Jack looked around the area. "Okay, I spy with my little eye..."