A/N: Wow, a really good response to the last chapter:D I love reviews, so let's take a look at what we've got here:
October Sky: Yeah, I could've made it longer, but I felt it ended well there. And thanks, we may be looking at a new shipper here… Skelly!
COLEHARLEY: Boonie? He he, love that nickname! Anyway, glad you like the crazy Jack :p And I'm glad you like Richard, too, I think he's the sort of character that could so easily go wrong, and end up just being weird and cheesy, lol.
Orlando-crazy: Thank you, I plan to!
hottietom: Ah, yes, I've heard of that show, but I never watched, coz I'm not a big fan of Amanda Bynes. And yup, Jack's jaw must be pretty strong.
Pen Lidden: Thanks, that really means a lot! And I can't tell you what's wrong with Jack; would you really want me to spoil the surprise?
shirik: Woah! Calm down! lol, you know you've got a good review when it's all written in caps
Raven2004: Yeah, I know how it is. There's this one story that I'm like that with (Metamorphosis by DemonQueen666, I highly recommend it), I just cant put it down, but I never thought my humble Lady Luck would be one of those! I'm flattered:D And thanks, I thought it was time Jack got Sawyer back, even though I love Sawyer! I feel for him, but he had it coming…
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It is very seldom that a man will give up his pride and so-called 'manliness' willingly. Not as willingly, at least, as Charlie did that day. In the simple act of picking up a pen and deciding to write a love letter, he had done, what some men may consider 'compromising his masculinity'.
From what he'd heard through, girls liked cute little gestures like this. He hoped this counted for Claire, too. Still, he couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed as he erased the 'Sincerely' from the bottom of the page and replaced it with 'love'.
He scanned the letter for what must have been the hundredth time, checking for spelling mistakes, making sure he had written the right name and that it all made sense. This wasn't something he did often, and he wanted to do it right. No, not just right. He wanted to do it perfectly. Because she was worth it, as quoted by L'Oreal.
He had to admit, though, it did look pretty good. Being a songwriter definitely counted for him on this one. He had a certain way with words, which allowed him to write well like this, but that didn't mean he enjoyed it. Writing songs, sure, he liked that, but writing soppy love letters was a completely different story.
He sighed in satisfaction, and signed his name at the bottom. He had at one point considered an anonymous letter, but Claire would almost be sure to immediately pick him as the secret admirer, so there didn't seem to be much point in leaving his name out. Plus, he wanted to make it personal.
"Dude." Charlie quickly shoved the letter into his pocket as he heard his friend approaching. "What are you writing?"
"Nothin'" He replied, slipping the pen discreetly into his pocket. "Nothing at all, why?"
"Well, y'know…" Hurley began, frowning. "You had a piece of paper, and a pen, so…"
"Oh, that? No, no, that was, um…" Charlie searched his brain for a plausible excuse. "That was nothing."
"Hmm…" Hurley mused, folding his arms. "So you said."
For a few seconds, Charlie didn't know what to say, and he just stared at Hurley, at a complete loss for words. It wasn't until Hurley politely cleared his throat that Charlie remembered where he was, and coughed, his cheeks turning a deep shade of pink.
"Ok, well, I was just gonna head over to that doctor's tent, y'know, check up on Boone." The bigger man quickly changed the subject. "So, do you wanna come?"
"Sure." Charlie nodded immediately. Right now, he needed to spend some quality time among males, before he sprouted breasts and changed his name to 'Charlene'.
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Sayid felt the familiar feeling of discomfort as Jack came into view. Jack saw him, too, and lifted his head, but his eyes looked straight through him. A small, eerie smile which didn't reach his eyes played on his chapped lips. Sayid couldn't deny, it didn't exactly make him feel much happier about approaching the man.
"Hello Jack." Sayid said, hiding his fear behind a stony façade. "You're looking happy today. Does that mean you are feeling better?"
Of course, Jack didn't say anything, but merely continued to rock slightly from side to side, his hand, which was chained to the large piece of plane debris from the crash, knocking repeatedly against the metal.
Sayid crouched in front of him, and held up the carton of food he was carrying.
"Lunch time." He announced, producing a spoon from his back pocket. "Eat up."
Again, Jack didn't make any move to take the carton or spoon from him, which didn't surprise Sayid at all.
"You have to eat, Jack." He insisted, scooping up some of the food in the spoon and holding it out to him. "I'll spoon feed you if I have to, but you can't keep this up."
No movement on Jack's part, or any visible effort to accept the contents of the spoon. Sayid sighed heavily, and dumped the food back into the carton, placing it on the ground beside them. It was like having a child, except, Jack was probably more co-operative when he was a child.
"Fine." He gave in and stood up. "We'll try the food again later." He stared at Jack for a few seconds, trying to locate any sign of life in his eyes at all. There wasn't much. "How about we just talk?"
Sayid waited for a reaction, but of course, there wasn't one.
"I am not fooled, Jack" He told the man. "I know you can hear me, and I know you can speak. You spoke to Locke and Boone when they found you tied up in the jungle, so why not me?"
He moved a bit closer to Jack, which wasn't the most comfortable of all feelings, but he wanted to be absolutely sure that Jack could hear him crystal clear.
"Why don't you tell me, my friend," Sayid began, crouching down so they were little more than a foot apart. "What happened to you?"
Jack did nothing, but Sayid noticed his smile widen just a fraction. This was sufficient enough proof that he could, indeed, hear him.
"What's wrong with you?" He pressed. "How did this happen?"
"Malone."
Sayid literally jumped. He did a double-take and stared at Jack. Did he just speak? The voice had sounded so eerie and cold, even inhuman, not Jack's own at all, but he was sure it had come out of the man.
"What did you say?" He asked him shakily.
"It was Malone." Jack capped off his sentence with a little laugh, just to prove that, yes, he was still completely insane.
Sayid stared at Jack, wide-eyed. If what Jack was saying was true, a lot of people were in danger. He pushed himself to his feet, and, completely forgetting about the other man, sprinted off towards the beach.
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"Charlie, my friend!" Richard exclaimed, holding out his arms as if to hug him. Charlie was very glad he did not. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
They had run into the British doctor only a few meters away from his tent. He had just come out of the jungle, and was now walking towards the two men, smiling warmly. And just when he had thought they were safe.
"Boone." Charlie replied politely, attempting, unsuccessfully, to keep his teeth from clenching. "We were just coming to pay him a visit."
"Hmm…" Richard said, frowning. "Well, I haven't checked on him yet today, but he's been a bit quiet, so I don't know how much talking you're going to get out of him."
Charlie was about to ask why it was already midday and he still hadn't checked on his patient, when he caught sight of something moving quickly towards them out the corner of his eye. He turned to get a better look. It was Sayid, sprinting towards them from behind Richard.
"Sayid, what're you -?"
"Oof!"
Sayid ran straight at the doctor, and without slowing down, he tackled him to the ground, promptly knocking all the wind out of him.
"Dude!" Hurley yelled, speaking for the first time since they had met up with Richard. "What are you doing?"
Sayid didn't answer. Instead, he rolled Richard onto his front and pulled his arms roughly behind his back, pinning him to the ground.
"Get off me!" Richard yelled, struggling, but to no avail.
"Is there something you want to tell me, first?" Sayid asked. "Something about the misfortune of our good friend Jack?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Richard gasped, panting.
"Do not take me for a fool." Sayid warned, grasping onto the doctor's hands as he tried to pull free. "I can tell when somebody is lying to me. Perhaps you should talk to Sawyer about what happens to liars."
Richard shuddered and immediately stopped struggling. He remembered well the day he was woken up by the southern man's screams echoing from the jungle. But even so, he couldn't tell them what he'd done. He just couldn't. He had never meant for it to get so out of hand, but they wouldn't see that. They wouldn't see past his crime.
"Wise decision." Sayid remarked, but he didn't get off him. "Are you going to talk now?"
Richard thought this over. How they found this out, he didn't know, but this was not the time for such questions. He had two choices. He could either admit to his crime, and hope that he would remain relatively unscathed, or he could plead innocent, have his fingernails literally cut off his hand, then see the rest of his body slowly disappearing until the Iraqi finally forced the truth out of him, or reduced him to a bloody pulp, then killed him out of pity.
He chose the former.
"I didn't mean…" Richard was shocked to feel fat tears welling up in his eyes. "I didn't mean for it to get so… I only wanted…"
"Yeah, yeah, save it for the judge." Charlie said harshly, folding his arms. Sayid and Hurley turned to stare at him. "What?" He asked. He grinned and turned pink. "I've just always wanted to say that."
"Uh huh…" Hurley frowned, half-wondering if his friend had caught Jack's insanity. Charlie crouched by the two men on the ground.
"So, uh, what exactly are you accusing him of?" He asked.
"This man was the cause of Jack's illness." Sayid spat, looking at Richard in disgust.
"What?" Charlie's eyes went wide, and he was on his feet, backing away from the man. "How do you know?"
"Jack told me." Sayid replied. "Not to mention this man's confession -"
"Wait." Hurley interrupted, eyes big as saucers. "Jack talked?"
"Yes." The Iraqi answered, staring daggers at the restrained man. "'Malone' he said. 'It was Malone'"
"You don't understand!" Richard attempted again. "I didn't mean to -"
"No, I don't suppose you did." Sayid said, getting to his feet and pulling the doctor roughly with him. "Very few do."
"Yeah. You have the right to remain silent, and all that." Charlie added as Sayid marched off, holding Richard firmly by the arm.
"Dude." Hurley finally said, staring after the two. "That was freaky."
"I'll say." Charlie agreed. "C'mon, we can still visit Boone. He'll be wondering what all the commotion is about."
They were so close to the tent already, that all they had to do was turn around and push back the flap to reveal the inside contents of the tent.
Boone was, once again, seated comfortably in his airline chair. His head lolled forward, chin resting on his chest. He didn't seem to see them. Charlie frowned. Perhaps he was asleep.
"Rise and Shine, mate." Charlie said, stepping into the tent. Hurley followed. "It's after lunch time."
This, clearly, wasn't enough to wake Boone up, but Charlie hesitated before talking any louder.
"Should we wake him?" He asked doubtfully.
"I dunno, Dude," Hurley replied. "He looks so peaceful. But then again…"
"Ok, ok." Charlie agreed. He crouched down to Boone's level. "Hey, mate, you awake?"
"I think his eyes are open." Hurley noted.
"What?" Charlie asked, then tilted Boone's head up. "Hey man, what are you -"
Charlie ended his sentence with a loud scream and jerked his hand back, scrambling backwards through the sand.
Boone stared at them, but their eyes didn't meet. It was like he was looking straight through them. He didn't move a muscle, apart from a slow and slight rocking from side to side. His eyes were misty and faraway, and a small, eerie smile decorated his chapped lips.