"Here," she said. "Mrs. Stein has a question about her husband's surgery."
Jack looked at her. "Who's Mrs. Stein?"
Maria gave him a look. "Arthur Stein's wife," she stated. "Guy who fell off his roof."
"Oh, that idiot," Jack said. "Tell them I'll be right there, I just gotta put my stuff down."
"I'm on my break," Maria said, following him into the doctor's lounge and going over to coffee pot.
"Great, thanks," Jack muttered as he headed over to his locker, taking off his jacket. He turned back around and saw Jeremy sat at the table, fast asleep in his chair, several charts in front of him. Jack sighed. "How long has he been there?"
Maria looked over at Jeremy. "I think he came in here about half an hour ago but I don't how long he's been asleep."
Jack closed his locker and walked over to Jeremy. He leant down and shook his shoulder. "Jeremy, wake up."
Jeremy woke with a start and looked at Jack sleepily. "What?"
"How long have you been on?" Jack asked him.
"Oh, erm..." Jeremy rubbed his eyes and sat up. "I think I'm actually officially back on duty again."
Jack looked at him. "You just worked through all your down time?"
"I guess," Jeremy said. "I don't know, what time is it?"
"Go home," Jack told him, standing up.
"No, I can't, I have stuff to do," Jeremy said, becoming more alert. "I have all these patients and I haven't even started on my paperwork yet."
"Go," Jack told him. "I'll take care of it."
"But, Jack..."
"Are you stupid, kid, get out of here," Maria said softly, taking a seat at the table with her coffee and picking up a newspaper.
The female med student, who kept looking at Jack all doe-eyed, came into the room. "Jeremy?"
"Jeremy's going home, Jeremy's not here, Jeremy doesn't exist," Jack told her.
The med student looked at him. "What?"
"What's wrong..." Jack shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know your name."
"It's Lisa," she said. "I told you that at least twice just yesterday."
"Yeah, you probably did but I very rarely listen to anything anyone says to me," Jack said. "What's up, Lisa?"
"Well, I just wanted a second opinion on this patient, I was gonna ask Jeremy if he could come have a look for me," Lisa explained.
"I'll come have a look in a second," Jack told her.
"Okay, thanks, Dr. Shepherd," she replied.
"What's the date today?" Maria asked, studying the front page of the newspaper.
Jack looked at his watch. "It is the... 22nd." He stopped and looked back at his watch slowly as something clicked. "Oh shit."
Maria looked up at him. "What?"
"It's Boone's birthday tomorrow," Jack explained. "Oh God, I am so dead. I'm already in the bad books, he's never gonna talk to me again."
"It's tomorrow, not today, you still got time," Maria told him.
"Right, you're right," Jack nodded. "I need to find a baby-sitter."
"I can baby-sit for you," Lisa offered.
Jack looked at her. "That's really okay," he said. "No, I'll get my sister-in-law to do it. That means I can take him out. I need to get him a present."
"Mrs. Stein's waiting," Maria said.
"Right, okay," Jack replied. "Jeremy, you're going home. Maria... you're on your break, that's fantastic. Lisa, you come with me, I'll take a look at your patient in a minute." He nodded and then sighed. "Does anyone know a good restaurant?"
"Oh, Shelly's, fantastic, went there on a date last week, to die for, you have to try it," Maria gushed.
"Have you been there?" Lisa asked. "I've been trying to get my boyfriend to take me but he keeps making up excuses."
"It's really good," Maria said. "Made my date bearable which wasn't an easy feat, believe me."
"Shelly's?" Jack asked.
"Oh, wait, but you can't go there tomorrow, you need to make reservations, they won't be able to fit you in," Maria said.
"You should tell them that you're Dr. Jack Shepherd from Oceanic flight 815," Lisa suggested.
"That impresses no one but you, Lisa," Jack told her. "I'll work it out later, come on, let's go."
Jack finally got a chance to sit down in his office around midmorning but he still had no idea what he was going to do the next day. He figured the first step was to convince Shannon to baby-sit.
"Hello?" Shannon answered, sounding irritated.
"Hey, Shannon, it's Jack," he said. "Bad time?"
"My dog's insane is all," Shannon replied. "What's up?"
"I was wondering if Noah could stay over at yours tomorrow night?" Jack asked.
"I was wondering when you were gonna get around to asking me that," Shannon smirked. "You forgot, didn't you?"
"I remembered in time," Jack defended.
Shannon laughed a little. "I knew you'd forget."
"So you didn't think about reminding me?" Jack asked.
"I probably would have done if you hadn't called me by tonight," Shannon replied.
"So it's cool if Noah stays over at yours?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, it's fine," Shannon replied. "Did you get him a present?"
"Not yet," Jack admitted. "What should I get him?"
"Don't ask me, you live with him," Shannon said. "I'm sure you can work it out."
"I'm the worst gift buyer," Jack said. "Can't you give me a clue?"
"Giving you a clue implies I know the answer," Shannon replied.
"A suggestion then," Jack corrected.
"I suggest you get off your ass and think of something," Shannon said. "Just do something nice, spoil him, make it all about him," she offered. "We both know he's not on the receiving end of that treatment very often."
Jack nodded. "You're right."
"Boone's not big into things anyway, he never has been," Shannon told him. "He likes gestures."
"Well I'm taking him out for a meal," Jack said.
"Where you taking him?" Shannon asked.
"Well, I haven't really gotten that far yet," Jack admitted.
"You're useless, Jack," Shannon told him. "How you won a guy like Boone, I'll never know."
"We were on a desert island, I think that played to my advantage," Jack replied.
Shannon gave a little laugh. "So you gonna drop Noah off or you want me to drop by?"
"I'll bring him round," Jack told her.
"Okay then," Shannon said. "Well I have to go stop my dog from destroying my entire house and I'm guessing you've got lives to save."
"Actually I have paperwork," Jack said.
"Have fun," Shannon chimed. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, bye."