Chapter Four: Home Again
Three hours had seemed like days, but somehow the three had managed to make it back to the caves. Boone, now the main support for the two, was ready to collapse as relief overwhelmed him at the sight of people.
"I need some help over here!" Boone shouted, too exhausted to realize there were at least a dozen people staring at him.
Michael hurried over to take Kate before she fell, and Steve helped Jack, who didn't accept the help generously.
"I'm fine," he insisted, pushing Steve to the side.
All Jack really wanted was to sit down, and maybe drink some water. Shannon rushed over at the sound of Boone's voice, and immediate relief overcame her. To everyone's surprise, she threw her arms around him, hugging him as if they hadn't seen each other in ages. Boone staggered a bit, trying to let go. Shannon balanced him.
"Nice to see you too," Boone muttered.
Someone got a bottle of water from beside the small stream, and handed it to Shannon, who handed it to Boone.
"Where's Locke?"
Jack turned from where he was, and was surprised to see Sayid sitting on a rock with his leg out in front of him. Last he saw, Sayid was under drug care and hardly able to walk.
"Went to look for Claire," Boone said, sitting down.
"You didn't find her?" Michael asked, looking up from where he was beside Kate.
Boone shook his head. A long moment of silence passed as the castaways took the information in, knowing that their efforts had been proven useless, causing even more damage. In attemp to break the silence, Jack stood up. His head exploded with pain, but Jack was smart enough to know that the tension wouldn't go down if everyone knew their doctor was hurt.
"I'm going to go get some stuff from-" he stepped as he motioned towards the caves where all the medical supplies were.
It wasn't until then that Jack realized how bad off he was. He didn't know what Ethan had done to him, but all in one effort to take just one step on his own, his head began to pound worse than ever, and his vision wavered. He felt dizzy. Hurley caught his arms as they faught for balance, the world growing dimmer by the second.
"Dude, maybe you should sit down," Hurley said, letting go of his arm.
"No, I'm fine," Jack insisted again.
He tried taking one more step, but this time his body completely shut down. His head was so overwhelmed with pain that he felt himself falling.. and that was the last thing Jack remembered.
The world was black. Voices echoed from a distance, very far out from what it sounded like. Unlike before, Jack couldn't feel anything. He was frozen.
I'm dying.. he thought.. I'm dead.. I'm..
Suddenly he felt something: the cool slap of a hand against his cheek. The slap got harder and harder, and the yelling became clearer.
"Jack.. Jack!"
He knew he was alive because Jack could tell it wasn't Locke this time, but a female voice. But he couldn't tell exactly..
"Jack.. Jack!"
He felt his head move side to side. He tried to open his eyes but they didn't work.
"Jack.. come on Jack..!"
The voice grew nearer, then further. Jack tried to open his eyes again, and this time it worked. Slowly, light brightened his vision, which he soon realized wasn't very bright. He was in the caves, that was one thing he could tell, and the second(which he guessed should've been the first) was that Kate was leaning over him. The slaps and voice had obviously belonged to her.
"Kate.." he moaned.
Kate smiled, relieved.
"Thank God," she said, moving to the side.
Someone who Jack couldn't see helped him sit up.
"Gave us a scare," Michael said, handing Jack some water.
"How long was I out?" Jack asked, taking the water gratefully.
"Ten minutes," Hurley answers. "You weren't breathing."
"I wasn't?" Jack asked.
His first thought was tat Kate had given him CPR, and he was embarrassed to admit that he was actually hoping for that to be the case. The feeling of the cold water triggered his energy, and the coolness of it made him shiver.
"You okay?" Kate asked, obviously concerned.
"Yeah," Jack said, trying to push her back, "fine."
"That's what you said last time," Hurley reminded him, "before.."
Jack glared. Michael sighed, and decided it was his turn to lay down the law.
"Maybe you should take it easy tonight," Michael advised, "just get some sleep."
"I can't sleep," Jack said, shaking his head.
"No," Kate said, agreeing with Michael, "you really should-"
"I can't sleep, all right!" Jack shouted, standing up.
The sudden raise of his voice started those around him, even those who had parted from the small group. Kate looked concerned, but more annoyed now. Why wouldn't Jack do anything to help himself? Her question stood in the air as Jack took a last look to the ground, rubbing the side of his head, and stormed off.
"What the hell was that about?" Kate asked, following him as Jack stumbled out of the caves, still feeling a little woozy.
It hadn't taken Kate long to catch up, even with a hurt angle, which she was quickly getting used to.
"Go sit down Kate," Jack said, not even looking back to her.
Jack took one of the pill capsules off of a makeshift table. He popped open the top, and threw two into his mouth, easily swallowing them. Kate watched his every move.
"What are those?" She asked, worrying that Jack was on some kind of drug.
He turned to her for the first time, showing the pills to her.
"Aspirin," he said, showing her. "Want some?"
Kate shook her head.
"What is with you?" She asked.
"What are you talking about?" Jack retorted cluelessly.
"Putting on the bravery act!" She exclaimed. "You were just unconscious for ten minutes, and that doesn't even start the list! No one's going to care if you just.. take a break for once."
"I'm fine Kate," he insisted, looking at her straight in the eye, "seriously."
"Sure," she said taking one last look at him as she began to leave, "whatever."
Kate walked back towards the caves to get some water, but she found herself not thinking about Jack, but the night that had changed her life..
She was lost in the bank, and beginning to wonder if she was even supposed to be there. She walked through the isle of the back vaults in the bank, but a crash stopped her. She turned. Nothing. Silently and carefully, she moved forward. Suddenly she was grabbed. She tried to scream but it became muffled as a gloved hand covered her mouth. She was put up against the wall.
"Here's the thing," the robber said, "there's no night jobs at banks."
Kate was shoved into the now open fault.
"What the hell!" She exclaimed.
The robber pulled off his mask. It was James. He was sweating, and looked slightly nervous.
"Hell sweetheart," he said, showing off the same mischievous grin that he did earlier.
The same grin that had haunted her all day.
"What the hell are you doing?" She demanded, taking a subconscious step back.
"It's more like what you are doing," James said. "The bank closes at seven. It's ten. I went and opened the door so you could get in."
"What?" She said, confused. "Why? I don't understand.."
"There's nothing to understand," he said quickly.
He took a step towards her, causing her to be trapped against the wall. Three other men dressed in black entered then, grabbing all the money they could and stuffing it in bags.
"But what you're going to do," James said in a low voice, "is stand back and let us do the work."
"But.. why do you..?"
"No questions," he hissed, "just let us do our job."
"Our job?" Kate cried. "What the hell are you-"
"Shut up!" James shouted, staring her in the eye.
Kate stared back, and made up her mind. She moved to the side, trying to escape. She wasn't fast enough. James brought his arm around, and smacked his knuckles against the side of her face. Her breath faltered. Spinning, she fell to the ground and gasped for air. She touched her hand to her face and brought back blood. She looked up at him, stunned. He had never even motioned to hit her before.
"This didn't have to go the hard way," James said as his crew of robbers filed out.
Kate couldn't answer, she could only stay fallen on the floor, trying to regain her breath.
"What's going on back here?" A gruff voice bellowed.
Kate and James turned.
"Thanks for your help," James said, smirking, "see you in the morning."
Footsteps began to echo, coming closer in closer. James took a gun out of his back pocket, and gave it to Kate.
"You might need that."
Then he left, as he came. The footsteps began coming closer. Kate struggled to get up. Suddenly the footsteps stopped.
"Who are you?"
Kate turned, causing her head to begin pounding. A man appeared in the doorway of the vault. He looked to be in his fifties, with gray hair. He was wearing a business suit, and Kate figured he worked at the bank, or possibly even owned it. Kate looked at the name on his jacket: Frank Marcino.
"What's going on here?" Marcino demanded.
Frank looked from the gun in Kate's hand to the money that as left on the table, and began to play out his view of what happened. Then he looked at Kate.
"What?" Kate asked, not sure if she was still breathing. Then she understood. "What? No.. no.."
Frank began to take out a phone. Kate grabbed his arm.
"Wait!" She said, looking like she was about to start crying. "You don't understand! It was set up! I swear!"
"Set up?" Marcito asked. "Then where'd the gun come from?"
Kate looked at him with pleading eyes, then let go of Marcito's arm.
"I'm calling the police," Maricto said, not feeling at all sorry for Kate.
He began to dial, but never finished. There was a loud pop, and the last thing Frank Marcito remembered was the bloody face of a young woman staring down at him, as if begging for forgiveness; frightened, in shock at what she thought she could never do.
Kate continued to walk with a pain look on her face, beginning to think that maybe this island was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
Ten minutes later Jack was opening another capsule of medicine: Tylenol. He leaned against a tree, a foot propped on a rock, distancing himself from everyone else. On the far side of the fireside was Charlie, who was still staring into the fire. He was startled to here a voice.
"Never thought I'd find myself in this position."
Jack smiled slightly, nodding, knowing who it was.
"Rose," he said.
"I saw Kate trying to talk to you," Rose admitted kindly, "she's right. You need your rest."
"If everyone knew their doctor was in bad shape-"
"But a sick doctor won't help anyone," Rose reminded him, "you need to take care of yourself."
She handed Jack a bottle of water. He hesitated, and then took it. They stood in silence. Jack glanced at Charlie, feeling helpless.
"Not that I don't like talking to you," Jack said, still holding the unopened water in his hands, "but I can think of someone who needs your help more than me."
Rose followed his gaze to Charlie, and understood. She walked over to Charlie, trying to keep her presence low. Charlie didn't move or even acknowledge that she was there.
"It's Charlie right?" Rose asked, trying to start a conversation.
Charlie didn't answer.
"From what I hear," Rose said, "you're very lucky, Charlie."
She stole a glance to the rope burns on his neck.
"If I'm lucky," Charlie said in a low voice, "why didn't Claire survive?"
Rose looked at him, wondering if he knew more about the situation than he was saying.
"We don't know that she's dead," said Rose.
Charlie didn't say anything, or change expressions.
"And you're very lucky to have all these people who will risk their lives to save you," Rose commented.
"They should've left me there," Charlie muttered. "I should've died-"
"Don't think like that," Rose said, "don't-"
Charlie cut her off, raising his voice a little, surprising her.
"You have no idea what it's like!" Charlie argued.
Across the fire Jack pretended not to notice.
"This was supposed to be my second chance!" Charlie continued. "And then I had to go and act like a bloody idiot!"
"You're not an idiot," Rose said calmly.
"I should've gone to get Jack!" Charlie said.
Other survivors walked by, not daring to say a word or even glance at Charlie. It was as if this was all he had been thinking in the past days, and now was his time to get it all out.
"I should've gone!" He repeated. "But I left it up to- Ethan. And now.. and now.."
Charlie couldn't continue. It was the weakest he had ever felt, and the closest he had ever come to crying. Jack glanced at Charlie from the side, and then got up, giving him his space.
"It's all right," Rose said, trying to calm Charlie down.
Charlie's hand began to shake out of nerves. Rose took it, holding his hand in hers.
"It's all right," she repeated softly.
"Shannon right?" Sayid said, approaching her.
Shannon looked up. They were on the beach, and she was laying in a seat, taken from the plane, in short shirts and a tank top. She sat down a magazine that she was reading.
"Yeah," she answered, looking at him. "What?"
Sayid bent down next to her, showing Shannon a few sheets of paper and maps.
"What's that?" Shannon asked, glancing at the sheets of paper he held.
"Notes I took from the french woman," Sayid answered, "her name's Danielle. Danielle Rousseau."
Shannon eyed him.
"Okay.." she said cluelessly, "what does this have to do with me?"
"You translated the message on the transceiver," Sayid said.
Shannon cut him off.
"Yeah, but that was-" she started, not wanting to get into this.
Sayid interrupted.
"I don't think it's hard French," Sayid said desperately, "please. If we can figured out names of places-"
"Wait, hold on," she said, "places.. on the island?"
"We might be able to figure out where we are," Sayid finished.
He looked at Shannon, eyes full of hope. It was then Shannon realized that she was their last chance, unless some foreigner stepped up and began talking.
"All right," she finally said, letting out a breath of nerves that were already starting to build up within herself.
Sayid let out a huge sigh of relief.
"I'll do it," she agreed.
"Thank you," Sayid said, taking out a map.
Shannon looked at it. It was a map of an island. The shoreline was outlined in bold, and various places were marked.
"This.." Shannon started, looking at the map in amazement, "this is where we are?"
"It might be," Sayid said, resting his arm on the head of her chair.
Shannon didn't swipe it away.
"What am I looking for?" She asked. "Specifically?"
Sayid thought about it, and finally answered.
"Black Rock," he said, "a place called Black Rock. Do you know the words for.."
"Yeah, yeah," Shannon answered, engulfed in the map. She read every place carefully. "But.. Sayid.."
"What?" He asked, confused.
"There's no 'Black Rock' on here," she said, looking at him.
A half an hour later, Shannon and Sayid were sitting a few feet away from Charlie and Rose by the fire in the caves. Sayid was sprawled amongst the rocks, and Shannon was seated on one beside him.
"It's not possible," Sayid said.
He had been repeating it over and over for the past thirty minutes.
"It's not on here," Shannon said, going through the maps, "not on any of these."
"It just doesn't make since," Sayid said, more to himself. "Danielle said, 'we were coming back from Black Rock'."
"There is no Black Rock," Shannon said again, iritable.
"Look at the notes," Sayid urged, shoving them towards her, "see what you can make of them."
Shannon began to read, muttering to herself. Halfway down the page, she began shaking her head.
"I can't-"
"You can," Sayid said, sitting up, "just try. Concentrate!"
"Okay, okay!" Shannon gave in.
She repeated the message over and over, trying to make it click in her head, and she was still doing it twenty minutes later. Footsteps came behind them, and though they didn't see it, they belonged to Sawyer.
"She's saying 'Dear diary, we've been here an entire freakin' month. Something tried to attack us. Didn't see it. Tried to run, but Brendan took the keys. Tried to may day it out, no one heard. Tried to get them to Black Rock.' Little to know she would murder them all a month later."
Sayid looked at Sawyer.
"How did you know that?" He demanded.
"Dictionary," Sawyer said, throwing it to Shannon, "apparently fate don't like us. Sure could've used that forigner two weeks ago."
Shannon flipped through the French/English dictionary. Without saying anything, Sawyer walked off. Shannon ran her hand through her hair and fought back a yawn.
"Why don't we continue in the morning?" Sayid suggested.
"Yeah, sure," Shannon said, closing the dictionary, "I'm going back to the beach. We're moving in tomorrow."
"I'll go with you," Sayid offered, the idea of Shannon being hurt and it being all his fault in his head. He realized then that he already cared about this woman, someone he really did not even know.
"Whatever," Shannon shrugged, getting up.
Sayid was walking back to the caves when he noticed Sawyer's temporary shelter. Only one chair was left there now beside some clothes and a lighter. He looked closer. On the chair was a book that Sayid hadn't noticed he'd been reading. Sawyer picked it up and looked at the title by the little flashlight he had: Watership Down.
Setting the book back down, Sayid noticed an envelope that had fallen out of it, landing gracefully on empty cigaret box. He bent down,glanced around to make sure no one was watching, and picked it up. Standing up and taking a last look around, curiosity got the better of him, and Sayid began reading the letter. As he did, he stiffened, shocked by what he was reading..
He had run straight to the caves, and found Jack alone in the medicine cave, searching through the meds.
"We've got a problem," Sayid said, entering.
He had startled Jack, who spun around. Jack had obviously not wanted anyone to bother him. Sayid stopped, trying to catch his breath.
"What?" Jack asked, looking at him.
Sayid shook his head, bending down with his hands on his knees. He finally stood up straight, and handed Jack the envelope and letter. Jack took it, and began reading..
Note: Someone finding Sawyer's letter is a plot that I think isn't done enough in fanfics, and should be done in the series. I had fun with it, and hopefully you'll stick around and read it. The next story is Boone-centric, and it deals with an old 'spoiler' that never made it on screen- who's on the mind alternating meds that are running out? Thanks to those who reviewed, I really appreciate it:rockon: