"So what's down there?"
Jack brought himself out of his thoughts and looked at Boone. "What?"
"What's down the hatch?" Boone asked. "What did you see?"
"I didn't see anything, Boone," Jack replied, shaking his head. "I don't know what's down the hatch."
"But you blew it open, right?" Boone asked, looking puzzled.
Jack nodded. "Yeah."
"So then what's behind the door?" Boone pressed.
"It's just a shaft, a long, dark shaft," Jack replied. "There was a ladder but the rungs were broken off after a couple of feet. There's no safe way to get down there."
"But John and Kate are gonna, right?" Boone asked.
"I guess so," Jack replied, staring at the fire.
"Well, wasn't there anything you could tell by opening it?" Boone continued. "Any clues, any hints to what might be down there?"
"I don't know, Boone," Jack sighed. "Like what?"
"I don't know," Boone shrugged. "Hey, was there a handle on the inside?"
Jack looked at him. "What?"
"The inside of the door," Boone elaborated. "There was no handle on the outside, was there one on the inside? Could you open it from inside?"
Jack thought about the inside of the door, the 'quarantine' stamped across it, and he wondered if it really meant anything. He wondered whether he should mention it to Boone. Boone had a right to know, he was the one the dug the hatch up and toiled over it for weeks, he put a lot of his energy into it, he very nearly died for it. And yet Jack didn't really want to tell him. Not because he wanted to withhold anything from Boone, more that he wanted to protect him. They didn't know anything about what was down there yet and until they did it wasn't safe to make assumptions on the little information they had.
"Yeah, there was a handle," Jack replied.
"So you can get out but you can't get back in again," Boone mused. "Like a hotel room door."
Jack looked at him again. "Boone, what?"
Boone rolled his eyes a little. "When you're in a hotel room," he began. "When you close the door to your room you can open it from the inside by using the handle but from the outside you need a key," he explained. "You never got locked out of a hotel room?"
"No," Jack stated. "And I can't imagine you would either. Boone Carlyle forgetting anything? I doubt you leave the house without triple checking the whole keys, wallet, watch thing."
"I had a flighty girlfriend once," Boone explained simply.
"You dated a flighty girl?" Jack asked. He could imagine Boone having a meltdown if he had to be anywhere near a flighty girl.
"It didn't last very long," Boone said.
Jack smiled at him. "Hotel thing the last straw?"
Boone shook his head sadly. "She left the parking brake off my car," he explained. "It didn't end well. Last time I let a girl near my ride, though, believe me."
"I can't see you tolerating a girl like that," Jack stated.
"It was, erm..." he stopped and considered his words. "It was an experiment," he said. "It didn't work."
Jack nodded. "I guess we have to try these things while we're young," he said.
"What did you try when you were young?" Boone asked.
"Oh God," Jack moaned. "Nothing I really wanna rehash right now."
"No fair," Boone grumbled. He looked at the fire for a beat before turning back to Jack. "So what do you think John and Kate are gonna find down there?"
Jack looked down. He thought about coming up with some story about his misspent youth just so that he didn't have to talk about the hatch anymore. He really didn't want to think about it right now. He was trying very hard not to think about it. And especially not to think about Locke down there, undoubtedly claiming the place as his own. He hated the fact that Locke was getting ahead of him, getting one up on him. Which he knew was very immature but he couldn't help the way the man made him feel.
It wasn't just that though, it was also the fact that he didn't trust Locke as far as he could throw him and he guessed that wouldn't be very far. Locke could be doing anything down there. He could be doing anything to Kate down there. He couldn't trust Locke to be fair and honest. He wanted to see for himself what was going on down there.
"Jack?"
Jack looked back at Boone. "Huh?"
"Are you okay?" Boone asked him, looking concerned.
"Yeah," Jack nodded. "Yeah, sorry, spaced out a little."
"What were you thinking?" Boone pressed.
Jack shook his head. "Doesn't matter," he dismissed. "What were we talking about?"
"The hatch," Boone reminded him, looking at him like he was in the special class.
"Right, yeah," Jack said, realising too late that it came out sounding rather disinterested.
"Sorry," Boone said, looking away. "You're probably sick of all that."
"Me?" Jack asked. "You're the one that spent three weeks out there."
"Yeah, something like that," Boone agreed.
"You're not sick of it?" Jack asked.
"I was," Boone admitted. "I got kind of bored of it. Well, bored of sitting there everyday and never actually achieving anything. I'm used to getting results, I'm not used to a job where you do literally nothing. What's the point? Except John kept insisting that we were doing something. I guess I must have believed him because I kept going out there with him."
"Do you still believe him?" Jack asked carefully, not sure if he wanted an answer. If Boone was still on Locke's side then he wasn't sure he could take it right now.
"I don't know," Boone replied, thinking about it. "Whatever's down there, it's got to matter, right? I mean, it was buried, it was hidden. Doesn't that mean that it's valuable?"
"Or dangerous," Jack added.
Boone looked at him. "Someone hid it from us cos they wanted it kept for themselves or because they wanted to protect people from it."
"So which option are you going with?" Jack pressed.
Boone looked amused. "Is this where I'm supposed to pick sides?" he asked. "You or John? Optimist or pessimist?"
"Which one am I?" Jack asked.
"You tell me," Boone replied.
"I have no idea anymore," Jack admitted, shaking his head a little. "I wanted to open it, right? I wanted to get down there. I was looking for supplies or shelter or something. I was hoping for it. And John wanted to open it too. But that doesn't put us on the same side."
"Why not?" Boone asked, looking at the fire instead of at Jack. "Because you don't want to be? I don't think that's enough, Jack."
"We're not the same," Jack insisted.
"Would that be so bad?" Boone asked.
"Yes," Jack stated strongly.
Boone looked up at him, a slightly questioning look on his face. "I don't really get it," he said.
"There's nothing to get," Jack dismissed, looking away.
"Well I don't think that's true," Boone said, rolling his eyes. "Is the only reason you hate him because of what happened to me?" he asked. "Because if it is then you're wrong."
"It's complicated, Boone," Jack told him.
"Yeah, right, it's probably grown-up stuff that I'm too young to get," Boone said dryly.
Jack looked at him and he had a sarcastic smirk on his face. "You're not too young," Jack told him. "You're too naive. There's a difference."
Boone expression shifted into one of annoyance. "Don't tell me I'm naive, where the hell do you get that from?"
Jack sighed and looked away again. "You trust Locke don't you?"
"Maybe I just see the good in people," Boone said.
"You do," Jack stated. "But no one's all good, Boone, and you don't like to see the bad parts."
"Jesus, Jack, could you be anymore condescending?" Boone asked, clearly aggravated. "You sound like my life coach or something."
Jack stood up. He couldn't take the sitting around and waiting any longer. "I'm going to the hatch."
Boone looked up at him, clearly thrown for six. "What?"
"I'm going to check on them," Jack said. "I want to know what's happening."
"Okay, well, maybe you just stop being such a control freak and sit down," Boone suggested. Jack shook his head. "Jack, I'm sure they're fine. Have a little faith."
Jack looked down at him. "I don't have faith," he stated, shaking his head a little.
"Jack, don't go," Boone pleaded. "We have to watch the sunrise."
Jack couldn't help but think how he looked like a little kid asking to stay up for ten more minutes. And he didn't want to leave him, he really didn't. But he didn't trust Locke and this was too big a thing to leave in his hands.
"I'll be back soon," he promised.
He took a step away and then turned back and leant down, placing a kiss on Boone's mouth. Before Boone had a chance to react he pulled away again and stood up, heading to retrieve his pack and get back to the hatch.