Locke pushed Jack back down to the couch. His face mean as hell. "You might think that hitting that button every one hundred and eight minutes is pointless, but I don't; I entrusted you with a simple job, if you couldn't handle it you should have told me! Locke growled. Jack tried to get past Locke again to ignore him and once again Locke pushes him down to the couch forcefully. Jack had finally had enough; he got up and tackled Locke to the ground. He grabbed Locke by the shirt, shoved his heal against the ground. "If you ever shove me again and threaten me like that ever again I will make sure you don't live to push that button again. Do you understand me Locke?" Jack looked Locke in the eyes. Staring down at him for a couple of seconds it seemed as if they were having a starring contest, Jack still holding tightly Locke's shirt. Grinding his teeth finally Locke moved his eyes to look away from Jack. Jack still held on tightly to his shirt until he knew Locke absolutely knew he was serious. Finally Locke without verbally saying he understood physically through his body language gave in. Jack let go of Locke's shirt, got up, and then offered his hand to help Locke get up. Locke bitterly scolded Jack that he could do it by himself without anyone's help. Locke was visibly having trouble getting up. Jack couldn't understand why. He knew he knocked him down hard but not that hard. Jack became worried. "Locke don't be so stubborn, let me help…" "I said I didn't need your help, you knocked the wind out of me that's all, I can get up on my own give me a few seconds!" Locke finally slowly managed his way to the couch. Down came Ana Lucia with Libby and Mr. Eko behind her. "What's all the noise about?" Ana asked clearly worried. "Me and Locke just had a little misunderstanding that's all." Jack replied. "It sounded like a bar fight down here" said Libby. Locke exhausted on the couch sneered, " Jack almost let the timer go off. Had it gone off…" Jack bitterly interrupts "Had the timer gone off what Locke? What would exactly happen? The end of the world? The apocalypse? Y2K six years belated? What? Get a grip will you Locke! Ever since you found this hatch you have been out of your mind."
Jack had bit his tongue long enough about the situation. He didn't like or trust Locke much after Boone's death and after every thing that had been going down with the hatch and Henry. He decided to listen to Locke about the button all this time only because he wasn't stupid. As much as he didn't like or trust Locke, he knew he was essential for the castaway's survival. Locke was smart besides this button garbage. He knew a lot about nature. He could hunt, track, and was good with a gun and Jack knew this. Although the hatch had new supplies and food he knew ever since finding the supplies not to depend on them. If there was one thing that Jack knew it was that this island and especially the hatch was strange. There was also another reason he listened to Locke all this time. He knew Locke was loosing his mind and he wanted to keep a close eye on him. He knew the only way to do that was to listen to Locke and to comply with his crazy button theory.
That was then though, and this was now. He was fed up with Locke and his antics. Going behind his back and enlisting Ana to interrogate Henry was the last straw. She could have died along with Sayid and Charlie hunting for Henry's balloon and this was not the first time he put the castaways in danger for his crazy beliefs. The memory of Boone on his deathbed was still fresh in Jack's mind. Jack and Locke had finally calmed down enough where there was an awkward silence in the room. "Listen, Locke," Jack said emotionless "I'm done taking shifts, I'm done with it all. I quit. Find someone else to deal with this crap." Locke smiled eerily and said, "No problem Jack, you weren't very good at the job anyways! There is forty something other people on this island that can do that job a hundred times better than you." "Then good. For once we agree with each other on something." And with that Jack left the hatch with Ana and Libby leaving Locke alone on the couch with Eko staying behind.
As they were walking through the hatch hallway Libby broke the silence finally. "Strange weather we are having, huh? It's been raining three day's straight. It seems we might have to move all the people to the caves and some to the hatch seeing how the tide is coming in and the shelters are not that good for this type of weather." Jack liked this idea. Since the hatch most of the people forgot about the caves. They either resided on the beach or hung out in the hatch. The caves seemed like a perfect idea. "I think your right Libby, this storm seems mean and it doesn't seem like there is any end in sight. I say we move everyone to the caves. The tide is coming and we cannot afford to loose any of our possessions to the tide. Libby, I'm going to put you in charge of that while I'm gone." Both Libby and Ana looked at him stunned. Ana immediately asked, "Where are you going Jack?" "I need some alone time. From the moment the plane crashed I have been helping you guy's, saving your lives, dealing with my own issues and shock from the plane crash, and leading all these chiefs with very few Indians. I'm done. I need to take care of myself for a little while. I need to help me." Jack had been dealing a lot since before, during and after the crash. His father's death and the guilt he had about turning him in, the end of his marriage to Sarah, what happened with his mother. All this was just what he was dealing with before the crash. No one thought he was suffering and in shock and in panic and just as clueless as the rest of them after the crash as the rest of them. That's because he tried not to show it. But at this point he was tired of the ignorance on the island. He had become the de facto leader of the group. Whenever a strange occurrence or problem happened he was there. Whenever someone was sick, hurt or dying he was the one helping him or her. Even though he didn't have to especially the way the majority treated him. He did all this with no thank you. It didn't even have to be a spoken thank you but to just acknowledge what he was doing for them by sometimes listening to him when he asks them something to do. But not with this group. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. They all had their own agendas. Besides the obvious delusional Locke, he had Charlie who at this point looked like he was going back on a downward spiral into drug addiction and he was just as crackers as Locke. Jack also had Sayid who after loosing Shannon was loosing his mind with grief and the thirst for revenge. There was Michael who has also gone mad looking for Walt who was kidnapped by the others. There was Kate who was independent (which he loved about her) but didn't help his situation much when he's trying to keep her safe. Ana who is also thirsty for revenge and grieving after accidentally killing Shannon and after all the tail section survivors went through. He couldn't understand Jin and Sun who he could always depend on to help him but they had there own problems it seemed like they were hashing through. Claire had Aaron to take care of and all the stress the others put her through when she was kidnapped. The point is almost everyone had their own agenda and none of them were even remotely listening to him. He had had enough.
Before the plane crash he would have accepted the full plate he had and would grin and bear it but not today. He was letting go of that feeling he had that he always had to be the best. He always had to fix things. He always had to be dependable. He got this way from his father. Always expecting the absolute best from him and never accepting anything less. Always expecting perfection from him and always being disappointed because no matter what he did it was never good enough for his father. Always having to pick up his fathers pieces and then always having his mother tell him he should just grin and bear it. He just started to learn to let it go with the help of Kate and the island. Something about this island was changing him. He was scared of it, terrified of it, but also excited and looking forward to it. It was a weird feeling. One unfamiliar to him and it scared the hell out him.
Ana spoke up taking him out of his thought. "Jack your just going to leave camp like this alone? When will you be back? The storm is no time to try and take a walk to go and find yourself." "I have to. It has to be now or never. I have to do this or I am useless to the group." At this point they were outside the hatch and in hearing distance of Kate and Claire. Kate was playing with Aaron in their tent when she overheard. She suddenly turned pale white. Her face went from a huge grin to a sad worried look. "You can't possibly be crazy enough to go out on your own in the jungle during this storm" Kate said worried. "Don't worry about me I can take care of myself. I have been doing it long enough…" he suddenly stopped when he saw Kate's heart broken face. Her eyes misty although she tried to hide it by ignoring it. Him and Kate had been hot and cold since she decided not to listen to him about the trek to find Michael and the others. It wasn't that she was upset that she didn't listen to him. He loved that she was independent. It is one of the reasons he cared about her. It was because that night when he saw her tied up with a potato sack on her head captured by the others. It was that reason exactly he didn't want her to come. He cared about her too much to allow her to get hurt. He knew she could take care of herself but he still had the need to want to protect her. Kate was the only thing keeping him sane on this island. From the moment he met her he knew there was something about her he connected to. She was his life support on the island. The one person he could be real with on the island although she was not ready to be completely real with him yet. She accepted his good qualities along with his flaws and imperfections. He felt truly at peace and comfortable around her. That's why he had to separate from her after she got captured by the others. It's why he couldn't allow himself to get that close to her again. That's why he needed distance from her. If anything happened to her he would be crushed. He couldn't open himself to that kind of pain. Which meant he had to close himself up to those kinds of feelings for her. He had to. It was unbearable though. Being with Kate just seemed so natural to him. But for the sake of himself he had to stay away his logical mind told him although his emotions felt differently. That night while looking for Michael and the possibility of him loosing her was too much to bear and because he knew how Kate naturally is (stubborn, independent, and always on the run) qualities he loved but couldn't handle on this strange dangerous island. His logical mind decided to cut those feelings out.
After seeing Kate's face he told her not to worry about him. That he would return and all he needed was time to think. Some time away from camp. "Then I'm going with you and your not talking me out of it" Kate demanded. Jack was not in the mood to argue but he was not budging on the subject. He was leaving camp alone without her. "Kate please don't fight me on this. I need this for me. Please understand this. I can't argue about this right now. I am going now on my own please don't follow me." He hated the words coming out of his mouth but he knew they were for the greater good. Kate disappointedly agreed. She told him to be careful and they shared a warm good bye.
Jack was headed to his tent to get supplies. It was raining so hard he was soaked. His tent was also covered in rain and the top of his tent was coming down from all the heavy rain resting on top of it. As he was going through his things he grabbed a flashlight, some matches in case he needed a fire, a knife he kept from Locke, and a gun he had kept hidden from Sawyer for safety under the sand. He was missing his poncho he had found one day while looking in dead peoples luggage for supplies. He couldn't remember where he put it and he was frantically looking for it. It was cold, wet, and nasty out and he didn't feel like catching pneumonia. Finally he resolved it was not in his tent. He decided to look tent-to-tent to see if anyone had seen it.
Every tent he went to didn't have a clue where it went. Then he stopped by Sawyer's tent. Sitting smugly with his Harry Potter glasses on reading some obscure book with Jack's poncho on was Sawyer. How could he have been so stupid to have not checked here first? "Whatcha looking for Doc?" Sawyer hissed with an all too familiar smug and cocky grin to Jack by now. "Sawyer I don't have the patience or energy to deal with this right now. Give me back my poncho, I'm going into the jungle and need it." "How come you think it is your poncho?" ribbed Sawyer. "Because it was in my tent" Jack said aggravated. "But it is in my tent now so does that make it my poncho now?" Sawyer asked soaking up the attention he was getting from Jack. "I don't want to play your games Sawyer. Give it back!" "Or what? You and Apu going to torture me again? What are you going to give me to get this poncho back?" Sawyer asked. Jack wanted to say he would spare his pathetic life but he bit his lip as always. As Sawyer was continuing to bust his chops Jack shifted his eyes to the jungle. Something dark was watching them in the jungle. Then with a quick flash of lightning the face of the person appeared. The familiar face couldn't be! It just couldn't! When the lightning died down the face and the body disappeared into the jungle night. Jack shoved Sawyer aside not caring about the poncho anymore. He knew he had to follow the stranger in the dark. He knew he had to get answers from him. He had to get answers from his father…