Chapter 6

Backs at camp things were not looking pretty without the doctor. Aaron was screaming non-stop and Claire was doing everything in her power to quiet her down but nothing was working. Her fever was through the roof and her forehead was burning up. "Where did Jack go? I haven't seen him for the last three days and Aaron's fever is back with vengeance." Claire asked Kate within hearing distance of Charlie. "I haven't seen him since the storm and to tell you the truth I am worried about him too" Kate said sitting on the beach next to her favorite tree staring into the ocean worried. "Why didn't you go with? Usually you love to go on treks whenever someone has something to do?" Claire asked. "Because he asked me not to" Kate replied remembering how upset Jack was the last time she didn't listen to him and how long it took to regain his trust again. "What's wrong with Aaron?" Charlie wanted to know. "None of your concern or business anymore" Claire said sourly while cradling Aaron and moving away from Charlie with him following her close behind. Rose and Bernard were arguing on the beach. "Bernard, I told you to get that checked out before Jack left." "It was not a big deal then" Bernard shot back. "Well it's a big deal now isn't it?" Rose said not letting him get the last word. "What are the love birds quarreling about?" Hurley quipped. "I think he has severe migraines," Sayid said helping Ana make boobie traps for the camp for the others. It seemed another couple of lovebirds had problems in their nest too. Jin and Sun were arguing over at Sun's garden. Jin was pointing at Sun's garden and Sun's pregnant stomach. Presumably demanding that Sun not work in her garden while she is pregnant.

"Where are Doc and the other six Dwarfs?" Sawyer said to Hurley rubbing his sore shoulder still from the bullet wound. "I don't know," responded Hurley. "Why do you need Jack?" "I don't need anyone Hurley, especially of all people Jack. I just wanted him to check out my shoulder because it has been giving me trouble as of late. I thought as much that he owed me seeing how I let him win during poker," Sawyer said with a sly grin. "Whatever dude, Jack kicked your butt fair and square. Acceptance is the first step to recovery; I learned that in the ward. Maybe Jack can school you when he gets back" Hurley chuckled. "We all witnessed Jack kicking your ass in the game. In all seriousness though we need Jack to come back soon. I'm having a little problem rationing all the food." "What's the problem you purple teletubby? Threes enough food to feed an army in that Hatch. Not even you could eat all that food Pillsbury" Sawyer said rudely. "Hey its not me that's eating all that food you frog killer. At this rate we will be out of food in a month, two months tops if we ration the food right as soon as Jack comes back" Hurley said defensively annoyed that Sawyer assumed he ate it all. "We have been taking more than we need around here and eating it sparingly." "Who are you calling we?" Sawyer said surprised. "I only eat what I need nothing more. I have caught you stealing the ranch dressing for yourself though." "At least I am not stealing it and not eating it like you. I don't have a secret stash that you bargain people for after you steal it. I'm not using it as blackmail" Hurley said. As they continued to slam each other Sawyer's arm started to ail him again and he winced at the pain. "Maybe Libby should check that out for you? She's a clinical psychologist you know." "What is she going to do? Talk my injury to heal" Sawyer joked. "No, she started pre-med and flunked out then got into psychology. I admit she is not as talented as Jack but she can help while he is gone." Hurley and Sawyer headed to the hatch where Locke, Eko, and Libby were. Eko was guarding Henry. Locke was on computer duty. And Libby was just hanging out by the records listening to music and doing her laundry.

Sawyer's infection was getting worse and Libby didn't know what to do other than prescribe the antibiotics Jack had already prescribed him that were not working. Libby suggested she see Dun in her garden to see if any herbal medicines could work better. Sawyer left in a huff saying all moonbeam was going to do was talk his wound to heal and he knew it. Locke overheard Libby's conversation about medicine and asked her to check out his legs. Since Jack knocked him down to the ground his legs were worse than ever. He was having a hard time moving and he wanted a professional opinion that was not his rivals Jacks. She looked at his legs. Nothing was broken or fractured. She couldn't find out why he couldn't walk. "Other than Jack shoving you to the ground do you have any other history of injury to your legs?" "No, never." Locke responded sharply and quickly like it struck a nerve. "I can't figure out why you still can't walk" Libby said concerned. "I can walk!" Locke scolded. "Don't tell me what I can and can not do!" "Okay Locke, calm down. You came to me wanting to know my opinion. I gave it to you. I don't know what else to tell you."

Things were going haywire outside of the hatch too. Claire was growing increasingly worried and impatient with Aaron's fever and even more irritated with Charlie. "Come on Claire, I swear I'm not using again. Why can't it be like it used to be Claire? I miss you and Aaron. Let me see him and maybe I can help," whined Charlie. "The only reason you are not using is because you have nothing to use and you looked me straight in the eye Charlie and lied to my face. I don't believe anything you say anymore. I can't be selfish with my feelings and whom I allow into my life anymore. I have to look out for Aaron's well being to now. You stole my baby and brought him into the ocean while you burned down camp. I want nothing to do with you and neither does Aaron. Please Charlie, if you really do care about Aaron and I then you will leave us alone." Charlie looked devastated by what she said.

Back at Sun's garden Sawyer had met up with Sun to see if she had anything to help his shoulder. "I'm sorry Sawyer. I have nothing in this garden that will help you better than Jack's prescription." Sawyer was looking unusually pale for as tan as he usually is. He was sweating and getting dizzy. His eyes were getting blurry. "I need to go lay down. Jack is never here when you need the S.O.B but always here when you don't need or want him." Sawyer went into his tent once again frustrated. Sun then continued to argue with Jin about continuing to work in her garden while pregnant. She explained to him that women all over the world continue to work a lot longer farther along in their pregnancy than she is. Jin then told her everyone in the world but not his wife. He was not going to allow anything to happen to his wife and his child. They had almost lost the ability to conceive and Jin believed this was their miracle and their last chance to have a child together. Throughout all the arguing with Jin Sun started to get cramps in her stomach. "We have to go see Jack. Something is wrong Jin," cried Sun. Jin immediately ran to the hatch expecting Jack to be there. Instead he found Libby finishing up her clothes. He frantically went up to her. She could not understand a word he said except he looked worried and she understood the words Jack and Sun. She ran to Sun's garden with him to see what was wrong.

Sun was sitting on the ground clutching her stomach moaning in pain. Now Jin was becoming irrational. None of it Libby could understand and Sun was not in the exact position to translate. 'Sun. what's wrong?" Libby asked. "I'm having really sharp pains in my stomach. I cant loose this baby. Please go find Jack," she cried. "Jack's not here. He went off somewhere in the jungle during the storm and he has not been here for three whole days. Maybe I can help. I studied medicine before deciding to be a clinical psychologist." Libby was also very afraid and nervous. She was a psychologist before she went to the psych ward and was unsure of herself. She only practiced medicine a little bit and only said she did to Sun because she wanted to calm her down before Jack got her so she wouldn't be stressed because she that stress was not good for the baby. "Sun try and breathe." Libby took Sun back to the hatch and laid her on one of the bunk beds. She took out a bottle of water spilled it on her handkerchief and put it on her forehead. Jin was still going crazy with panic. Sawyer was lying down in a different room on the hatch couch moaning in pain. His infection was getting worse. Locke was getting increasingly frustrated with his legs. Claire came down to the hatch with Aaron crying followed by Charlie. In the hatch pantry Hurley was asking an arguing Rose and Bernard if they could help him divide up the food. Ana and Sayid were interrogating Henry and arguing how they were going to get him to answer their most burning questions. Sayid was all for unmerciful torture. Ana did not believe in that until it was a last resort. Ana wanted her and Sayid to play good cop bad cop on him and use her background as a cop to get answers. The entire camp was anarchy without Jack. Usually Jack was the moral compass that even if everyone did not agree with they followed and listened to. He was their go to guy when ever any one was sick, hurt, dying or needed help solving a island problem for him to be the judge. Without him their cam turned into "Lord of the Flies". More castaways continued to come down to the hatch to hide from the rain and complain about their problems and look for Jack. The chatter was overwhelming.

Kate had finally had enough. No one cared that Jack was in the jungle for three whole days in this storm with not hearing from him since. They only cared that Jack was gone for their own selfish reasons. None of them appreciated Jack when he was here but now that he is gone they all want their problems fixed by him. With anger in her heart and tears in her eyes she screamed so the whole hatch could hear her. "Shut up! Would you all just shut up! Would any of you care if Jack was away for three days and he couldn't fix all your problems? You should all be ashamed of yourselves! None of you realized Jack was gone until you needed him. For all we know he could be dead. I'm going out on my own and I'm not coming back until I find him. You can all stay here and drown in your problems, ignorance, and pathetic arguing!" With this she began leaving the hatch. As she was leaving Sawyer got enough strength to get up and go follow her. "Hey freckles, what crawled up your butt? Jack is a big boy; he can take care of himself. There is no reason for you to go out on your own and look for him by yourself. Why don't you say with me and we can do our own kind of sexual healing," sawyer said smoothly and with a sly smile. "You disgust me! How can you think about sex at a time like this? How can you act like everything is okay when it is not? I can't believe I ever though you had a heart and that I liked you." Sawyer paused for a second angry that she though she was better than him. 'You know freckles; you and I are not all that different although you wish and believe you are. We came from the same life. You're no better than me although you wish you were. That's why you hang over Doc every chance you get. But I have news for you sweetheart. You will never be good enough for Jack. Jack will never accept you for who you are. Who we are." Kate stopped him right there with tears in her eyes. "I am nothing like you. You obviously know nothing about me. If you ever took the time to get to know the real me beyond the exterior that you know like Jack does than maybe you would have a clue. I did what I did in my past because of survival. Out of love for my mother and I. Your life has been about self-pity and revenge. My life was a lot different before things got ugly. I want to change. I want to be better. You want to stay the same. Jack knows how I feel. He doesn't want me to change who I am because he loves who I am. He just wants me to be the best that I can be. He knows that I am so much more than a fugitive. A murderer. There is so much more that I have to offer. Unlike you who uses me and my twisted past for your advantage. You are an egotistical pig and I can't believe I ever…" Sawyer grabbed her by the arm and gave her a passionate kiss. Kate pulled away violently and slapped him across the face. "How dare you? You think this can be fixed by sex. You are not the man I thought you were Sawyer. I cared for you yes because we shared a similar troubled past. We both had some wounds I though we could heal together but after today I think I was wrong. Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent of how you react of it afterwards and that is where you and I am different Sawyer. I don't want to live in the past and you do. I want to be better and you don't. Jack has taken the time out to learn this about me. I will always care about you Sawyer and want to be your friend but I will never return to that life. I have a fresh new slate here and I'm going to take advantage of it. And I can't do that with you. Good bye Sawyer." She hated saying that but it needed to be said. Maybe then Sawyer could fix his life.

"I am not letting you go into that jungle alone freckles." " I don't think I invited you to come with" Kate replied. With this Sawyer turned his back and headed towards the hatch again. As he left all the other castaways came back and came with their problems too. "Kate i'm coming too, Aaron is sick and I wont rest until Jack examines her.' Charlie than stepped into the conversation lecturing her from behind "There is no way you and Aaron are going with Kate in this storm alone in this storm especially now that Aaron is sick. It's too dangerous. Plus this storm can't be good for his fever. "This is non of your business Charlie I was not talking to you." Kate then stepped in to referee. "Claire, Charlie is right, Aaron does need Jack's immediate help but going into the jungle in this storm isn't going to help. And Charlie, Claire obviously wants nothing to do with you so while she's waiting for Jack please leave her alone. When and if she is willing to forgive you she will. Until then let her be." After this Jin and Sun came. Jin was once again speaking incoherently but Sun this time translated. "We are coming with you" Sun said. 'We need Jack's help and we are not accepting no for an answer." Then Ana and Sayid left the hatch and with Locke not far behind all three telling her it is not safe and they are coming with. Libby, Hurley, Bernard, Rose, and the rest of the castaways soon followed all arguing that they too wanted to search for Jack. Kate became increasingly frustrated as she kept trying to explain to each one of them why she wanted to go alone and they all continued to argue with her back. Kate was finally reaching her wicks end when Eko finally stepped in.

"Silence all of you!" Eko said this in such a demanding, frightening authoritarian way that everyone hushed. "None of you are going. Locke you must continue to push the button in the hatch and your legs are not up to it. Sayid and Ana, both of you must stay in the hatch to guard and watch Henry and keep each other in check. Hurley, Jack gave you the responsibility of rationing the food for good reason. You must do it alone. Claire, Rose, Bernard, Sun, Jin and the rest of you are in no condition to be going on a trek. It is best if you stay behind and wait for Jack to return. This will be a good learning experience for all of you to learn how to adapt when and if Jack is not around again. Kate is going to find Jack alone." With this all the castaways listened and they all returned to the hatch or camp quietly while Eko and Kate stayed behind.

"Thanks" Kate told Eko with a nod. "No problem" Eko replied. "I am going with you and you cannot persuade me not to like we did with the others" Eko demanded. "No, I want to do this alone" Kate responded. "I don't remember asking you, I remember telling you" Eko said sharply. "Please, I don't want to argue. This is my thing and I don't want to deal with anyone else while I am looking for him" Kate pleaded. "Do you really think that a woman, alone, in the middle of this storm, in this mysterious and dangerous jungle will be able to find Jack and not get killed or hurt in the process? I know you are smart and independent Kate. I know you can track and take care of your self but you have barely seen as much as I have the real dangers this jungle has. Going alone would be stupid. I have seen what the others are capable of and they are vicious animals. I have seen the shadow monster and have looked into its unforgiving eyes. This storm is horrible. You are also way too emotional right now to go into these dangerous situations with out someone balanced. I promise I wont talk to or pester you. You won't even notice I am there. But I am not letting you go alone and that is final." With this Kate realized there was no stopping him anyways so why waste more precious time fighting when they can be using it finding Jack. Plus he had a point. "Fine, lets go before dusk and get some tents and weapons." With that both Eko and Kate left camp to go look for Jack