"You still here, Jack?" asked Alice, a nurse with a mother hen complex that Jack thought was sweet but slightly overbearing at times.
"Looks that way," he replied. "Have you seen my goddamn chief resident?"
"Watch the mouth, honey," Alice smiled. "You tried his office?"
"Just come from there," Jack replied.
"You looking for Jeremy?" Dr. Bailey asked, walking around to use the phone.
"Yeah, you seen him?" Jack asked.
"Round there," Dr. Bailey replied, motioning around the corner. "Just about to start rounds with the med students."
"Great," Jack sighed, gathering up his charts again.
"Go easy on the kid, Jack," Alice requested.
"I go easy on him he's never gonna get anything done," Jack replied, walking away. "And I wanna go home at some point tonight."
Jack walked around to find Jeremy standing in front of a small group of medical students, chart in hand, looking completely out of his depth. Which Jack knew wasn't really true, he'd been one of the people that appointed him in the position in the first place after all. He still had a lot to learn though, and he could definitely do with a little more self-confidence. But right now Jack just had to make this quick and painless and get out of there before he got dragged into doing rounds with him.
"Jeremy," Jack called, getting his attention. "I need you to take these patients, I'm going home."
"What? No. Give them to Bailey," Jeremy requested.
"I wasn't asking, Jeremy," Jack told him, thrusting the charts in his direction. "Three patients, all of whom you saw earlier, you'll be fine."
"But I gotta look after the students," Jeremy complained.
"And I left a mountain of paperwork on your desk," Jack told him. "I don't want it to be there in the morning."
"Now when you say mountain..."
"Get it done," Jack instructed.
Jeremy nodded a little but looked rather unconvinced. "So, hey, you wanna meet the students?"
Jack sighed and was about to attempt to excuse himself, the last thing he wanted to do was talk to a bunch of kids. Okay, so he was a medical student once too but he was a hell of a lot more mature about it and he didn't nag his superiors nearly as much.
"Guys, this is Dr. Jack Shepherd," Jeremy announced.
"Oh my God," one of the students said. "You're Dr. Jack Shepherd."
"That's what I just said," Jeremy stated.
"No, I mean, you're Dr. Jack Shepherd from Oceanic flight 815," she said, an amazed look on her face.
Jack tried not to roll his eyes. "Actually, I'm just plain Dr. Jack Shepherd now."
"Actually he's Dr. Jack Shepherd, chief of surgery," Jeremy corrected.
"Yeah, I'm that too," Jack agreed. "But right now I'm Dr. Jack Shepherd, going home. Make me proud, Jeremy."
"Uh-huh," Jeremy mumbled, biting his lip.
"Don't let me down, okay? I'm checking up on you in the morning," Jack called back, heading for the doctor's lounge.
When he finally made it home he found Boone in the living room, playing with the remote control.
"I'm late, I know," he stated as he came into the room.
Boone didn't look up. "You're late."
"I know," Jack repeated, watching him. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm..." He threw the control onto the sofa cushion next to him. "...fine." Jack gave him a questioning look. "It's broken."
Jack went over and picked up the control, sitting down next to Boone. He took the back off the controller and pushed the batteries firmly in before replacing it and trying it out. "See. Did you drop it?"
"Noah probably dropped it," Boone complained.
"Yeah, blame it on the kid," Jack smiled.
"Well he breaks everything he touches," Boone stated.
"He gets that from you," Jack told him. Boone gave him a look. "He in bed?" Boone nodded. "Sorry."
"He asked me if he had a mommy," Boone told him.
Jack looked at him. "Crap." Boone nodded. "What did you say to him?"
"I told him I had to stop for gas then I bought him a cookie," Boone explained.
Jack gave him a look. "That's great, Boone, fantastic parenting skills."
"Well what would you have done?" Boone asked him.
"I don't know," Jack admitted.
"Well you should think about it cos you have to tell him tomorrow," Boone said.
"Why do I have to tell him?" Jack asked.
"You're a doctor," Boone said.
"What the hell's that got to do with anything?"
"You know about the human body and stuff."
"I think you know where babies come from, Boone," Jack told him.
"Yeah but you're a doctor so you should do it," Boone repeated. "Besides, you're outvoted."
"Outvoted by who?" Jack asked.
"Me."
"You and who?"
"Just me," Boone replied. Jack looked at him. "I get two votes cos I'm special," Boone explained.
Jack sighed. Boone moved closer to him and gave him his best puppy dog eyes, which Jack should really have some immunity to by now. Jack attempted a defiant look in return but instead Boone leaned in and kissed him. Boone pulled away and looked at him.
"Please?"
"You've been spending far too much time with Shannon, I'm putting a stop to this," Jack told him.
Boone smiled. "That a yes?"
"I don't see why I have to explain it to him, it's not like it's all medical," Jack complained.
"But you're so much better at it than I am," Boone told him.
"You've definitely been spending too much time with Shannon," Jack observed.
"But you'll talk to him right?" Boone asked. "You gonna be around tomorrow morning?"
"Yeah, I will be," Jack said. "So we can talk to him at breakfast."
"Right, we, that's totally what I meant," Boone nodded.
"Of course you did," Jack said, giving him a look.
Boone smiled and leaned in again, kissing him. Which really wasn't a bad thing to come home to but Jack was too tired to take advantage of it right now. After a few moments he pulled away.
"Did we have sex last night?" he asked.
Boone gave him an unimpressed look. "Yeah, we did, I'm glad it meant so much to you, you really know how to make me feel loved."
Jack sighed. "I didn't mean it like that."
"So how did you mean it?"
"I'm just too tired right now," Jack explained. "But I wanted to make sure I'm not neglecting you."
Boone smiled at him. "You're not neglecting me," he told him. "But I'm allowed to stay up past 8 o'clock so I actually get to see you when you come home late."
"I know," Jack said. "I've been behind all day. If they'd just cut out all the paperwork and let me concentrate on the patients I'd be fine."
"You took the promotion, Jack," Boone pointed out. "You didn't have to take it."
"You don't say no to that, Boone," Jack replied.
"Sometimes you really should," Boone told him. "Remember when I thought like that. I wound up CEO of my mother's company."
"But you hated that," Jack said. "I like the job. I'm happy to have the job."
"Cos now you're level with your father and you don't have to compete with him anymore?"
Jack looked at him. "My father's dead, I don't have to compete with him anymore anyway."
"I know that."
"Boone, if you didn't want me to take the job..."
"I never said that," Boone argued. "I'm dating the chief of surgery at St. Sebastian hospital. I'm the coolest guy ever."
Jack smiled at him. "Well, coolest guy ever, is there any food? I'm starving."
"Yeah, come on, get up," Boone said, getting to his feet.
"You could just bring me it," Jack suggested.
Boone shook his head. "Come on."
"Fine," Jack said, following Boone out of the room.