To Ernil i Pheriannath: Thank-you. We are. Okey. :)
"Allright almost there - just another push," Jack urged the young woman in labor, "That's it. Here it is."
A cry of a newborn babe could be heard and all the occupants in the tent, which were Jack, Kate and the former pregnant girl, were happy that all went well. Jack cradled the tiny baby in his arms and let the cries of a newborn sooth his heavy heart as he sat down on the sand. He did not look up as Kate sat down next to him. They watched the sunrise for a few minutes in peaceful silence, before his question broke it. "He's gone isn't he?" Jack asked.
Kate stared at the sun, it's light beams reflected by the still water of the ocean. She looked down at her hands, then back to the sun again. "Yeah, he is." she replied. "Went into the jungle to look for Claire's baby."
Jack slowly stood up, careful not to jostle the baby girl, who was now asleep. Walking back to the medical tent, he put the newborn down on a makeshift bed and tucked her in.
Kate walked in after him. Jack had a suspicious calmness around him. He was now packing medical supplies in his backpack and water.
"We're going after him, aren't we?" she said, more like a statement rather than a question.
"I am going." Jack said as he gave her a 'look'.
"Oh no you don't. I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not." she replied stubbornly.
"Kate," Jack started tiredly, but the person in question cut him off.
"No Jack. I am coming with you. Period."
The doctor just stared at the young woman and then shook his head with a small smile. "I'll never get rid of you, will I?" he asked playfully.
Kate smiled and replied, "Nope."
"Grab your stuff."
The woman breathed a sigh of relief when the child was finally out of her. That had been the worst pain she had ever felt. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked at Jack. "Thank-you for helping me," she said softly, "I want you to take the baby. Do what you want with her. I don't want the baby. I can't take care of myself and I know I can't take care of a child." She shook her head. "Before you protest, look at me? Do I look healthy? I know I'm sick." She sighed again and closed her eyes. "I know I sound horrible, but…" she shook her head, "I'm not."
Jack looked surprised and he didn't know what to do. On this island, he was already busy enough without also having to take care of a baby. On the other hand, he could not just leave the baby alone. Rather uncomfortable, he looked at Kate for help, but she looked just as surprised as he did and she just shrugged. Sighing, he turned back at the young woman. "I- I don't know. I mean, I see that you look a bit unhealthy, but the baby is yours, you…" Jack was at lost for words.
"I don't want the baby," she said, "I did not want her from the time I found out. I was horrified that I was pregnant. I was a cow." She looked down and sighed. "Please, sir," she whispered quietly. The woman looked up at Jack. "I heard another woman's baby was taken. Take her and offer the child in replace of the other."
"What? No! We can't offer up ones life to save another." Jack exclaimed. Taking a deep breath, he continued. "Fine, I will do my best to take care of the baby for you. However, I need something in return. You need to heal your body and listen to my instructions. I will not have my patients die on me, even if it's on this fucking island!" With that, Jack took over the baby who had been in Kate's arms and strolled out of the tent.
The woman sighed and closed her eyes. Tears fell. "You don't understand. I don't think I can," she whispered. The words were so quiet only the woman heard them. "I want too, but I can't," she said in a tiny voice that no one heard.
In the meantime, Charlie winced as he stood and looked around. "Come out. I know you are there."
Slowly, the French woman came out. She held the baby in her arms. "No," she whispered and ran.
Charlie followed and suddenly he ran into another trap. It fell down around him and pulled up. Charlie gasped and grabbed at his neck. "Help," he whispered over an over and the noose tightened. Blackness began to envelop him.
Jack and Kate ran through the jungle. Kate was a little behind. "Hey! Do you even know where you are going?" she called to him.
Jack slowed his pace and turned his head back to face Kate. "I figured that we should look at the places Charlie had been the day when he was wounded. Might find something." he called back and picked up the pace again.
Kate sighed exasperatedly and she would have rolled her eyes if she had not needed all her concentration to look where she was running.
Jack suddenly came to a stop. The first thing he felt was a great wave of relief that they had found Charlie that soon. The second wave of emotion contained pure panic at the sight of the young man half dead, strangled to a tree. Acting quickly, he ran over to Charlie and lifted him up so he noose wouldn't be cutting off his air supply anymore.
Kate ran over to where the ropes were tied and tried to cut it loose as quickly as possible. After a bit of climbing and cutting, the ropes finally broke and Charlie fell to the ground, dragging Jack with him. Jack wasted no time and immediately checked for breathing an
and a pulse. When he found none, he forced his panic down and started CPR. It wasn't working.
Breathe. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Breathe. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Breathe.. Come on! Why isn't this working! Breathe! Damn it breathe, Jack thought furiously.
Tears were streaming down Kate's face. Charlie was dead. Why? After all they have done to save him, why now? Kate tried to get Jack to stop, she tried to make him see it was useless, that he was dead now, but Jack wouldn't listen. He kept on going. In the end, he got so frustrated that he just started hitting on Charlie's chest. Hard. He punched. "Breathe damn it! Breath!" he yelled at the lifeless body before him, but of course, he got no response. Jack fell back down onto the soil ground and gave up. Why? Why did he have to die? Jack suddenly got a rush of adrenaline and punched the lifeless body before him a few more times, just for the good measure.
Like a miracle, at his last punch, the former dead young man took a deep intake of breath and coughed. Kate and Jack watched this with big eyes. Jack recovered first and started patting on Charlie's back, this time to get him to breathe more easily. Kate just stood there and laughed of relief, laughed of the craziness of this situation. Jack laughed too. It was a miracle.
He was falling…falling into blackness. It was like sinking into a warm bath. It was heaven. Slowly, the darkness faded and turned to a golden light. It was comforting and balmy, like a day in the middle of spring. Was this dying? Charlie thought so. Suddenly, there was pain. The pain in his chest and from the withdrawals had gone. It was now back. Charlie coughed and then cried out. Jack had hit part of the wound. He grasped Jacks arm tightly. Slowly, the air came into his lungs, but there was fire.
After what seemed like forever, Charlie could breathe and knew what was going on. Quickly, he got up. The man was dizzy and hurt horribly, but he did not pay any attention and started forward. A crazed glean in his eyes – whether it was from lack of oxygen or because he was on a mission, it was not clear.
Jack shook himself out of the shock he was in at seeing Charlie standing up so fast after practically being 'dead' for at least a few minutes and darted after the young man. "Hey! Charlie!"
"Where are you going?" Kate yelled after them and rolled her eyes exasperatedly combined with throwing her arms up in the air when neither responded. Not wanting to be left behind, she ran after them, throwing a "Jack!" and "Charlie!" in their direction occasionally.
"I have to get Claire's baby back," Charlie, rasped out, "I'm not going back without him. She's close." The man stopped and glanced around. He frowned and looked at the ground. There was a disturbance of growth and he followed it. Soon he got to a clearing and the French woman was there, crooning to the wailing baby boy while she wept.
"Give me the baby," Charlie whispered.
The woman looked up in surprise. She stared at the man. "I-I thought that he would bring Alex back," she whispered
Charlie walked forward. "Give me the baby," he repeated. Anger was in his eyes.
The woman nodded and handed the baby over. "I am sorry. It should have worked. I am sorry," she whispered and went into the forest slowly.
The man checked the baby over. He then held the child close and muttered, "Nutter." Slowly, Charlie limped back to Jack and Kate. "Lets go back," Charlie whispered.