Jack was sitting in front of the computer, typing in the numbers, when he heard the distant calling of his name. He finished what he was doing, and pressed execute. He waited for the numbers to recount, before heading outside to see what was the matter. He was surprised to see Kate running up to the hatch, wearing nothing but jeans and a bra.
"That's a little forward, don't you think?" Jack joked.
"We don't have time. Someone got hurt and Hurley can't carry her much longer."
"Where are they?"
"They were about halfway here a little while ago, they probably still are."
The two of them set out into the jungle together, to find Hurley, taking baby steps, with the girl knocked unconscious in his arms.
"What happened?" Jack asked, as he took a hold of Haley in his arms.
"I dunno. She said that she needed to talk to you about something, and then boom, she fell and hit her head on a rock, and started shaking like there's no tomorrow."
Kate pressed her tank top onto Haley's wound more, to try and stop the bleeding, as Jack carried her the rest of the way to the hatch.
"Do you either of you know her name?" Jack asked, as her set her down on the bed, and applied pressure to her wound.
"I totally forget it, dude," Hurley said, sounding bummed.
"You know, I don't even know. I talked to her before, I helped her get…" She paused, and smiled. "Stuff. But you know, I don't even remember."
"One of you go back to camp and find out where she sleeps. See if she has a wallet there with a drivers license in it."
There was no need for anyone to leave the hatch just yet. Haley woke up on top of some covers, in a bunk bed. She could hear people whispering, but couldn't make it out, and didn't want to, considering the size of her massive headache.
"Hey, you finally decided to join us," Jack said, as he saw her open her eyes. "Can you tell me you're name?"
"Haley."
"I'm Jack." He pointed to her medic alert bracelet. "So you're epileptic."
"Ya."
"You hit your head on a rock when you had you're seizer. When the wound stops bleeding, I'm going to have to stitch it up."
"Um are you kidding me?"
"No."
"Well is there anything to freeze it with?"
"No."
"Ha. You're not stitching it up. I'll just keep this bandage on it."
"You mean my shirt?" Kate spoke up.
Haley saw that she wasn't wearing one, and blushed. "I guess. Uh… Thanks? But… don't you have gauze or something?"
"Ya, but we can't just put gauze on it. It'll get infected."
"I'm sure it'll get infected anyway. We're on a damn island. What do you want to sew it up with, fabric thread?"
"It works a lot better than doing nothing. If we don't stitch it up, it won't heal. The wound is too deep."
Haley could feel her face getting hot, and tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I can't… It'll hurt too much."
"Haley, it'll hurt more if we don't do anything." Jack still had his hand pressed against her head.
"You can't. I just… How many stitches will it take?"
"I would say about 12."
"What? It's that big? No." Tears were seeping out of her eyes now, and running down her face. She didn't like pain and wasn't good at dealing with even the smallest amounts of it. "Please."
"Haley," Jack looked straight into her eyes, and Haley looked back into his. They were so blue, so deep. Like he had seen so much for his day. Been through so much. "Trust me. Ok, it will hurt. But it will help. And it's ok if you cry. We all know that it hurts, and that's ok."
"Ya, sweety, we'll be right here, ok?" Kate chipped in.
"I… I can't watch." Hurley stepped out of the room.
Jack grabbed Haley's hand and put it on the tank top, to replace his own hand. "Press hard on that for a minute. I'll be right back."
Sawyer was sitting under a tree, reading Watership down, for 4th time. Charlie walked by, without looking at him, but Sawyer wouldn't let him pass without saying his own thoughts.
"You sure you don't want any of your stash? We could make a trade."
Charlie stopped, not thinking of anything he was saying, but only of Claire. He saw her in the distance, rocking Aaron in his crib. "It's not my stash. It's yours now."
"And you don't want any? Not even a little?"
"No. Not even a little." He continued on his way to meet Mr. Ecko to help him with building the church.
"Fine." He turned back to his book and started to read it again. "Back to my book. The only damn one I can find."
"Ok, close your eyes," Jack said, coming back into the room alone. "Just lie on your side and cover your eyes."
Haley turned onto her right side, so he could stitch up her left side, from where he was sitting. She put both of her hands over he eyes, and pressed so hard, it felt like she was going push her eyes right into her skull. She was afraid, more than anything else.
Jack had the thread and needle ready, but was nervous for Haley. She couldn't have been more than 18 years old, and she seemed really frightened to have this done. "Ok, I'm going to start now," he warned her.
She felt her hands digging deeper into her eyes as she managed to whimper an "Mhmm" through closed lips. She felt the needle pierce her skin and poke out. She felt the thread being pulled through her skin, and she wanted to scream. She didn't, but she wanted to. She bit her lip and closed her eyes tighter than she thought possible.
It seemed like it was taking forever to do, and she could hardly handle it anymore. She started to let out small wimpers as he re-pierced her skin again and again. By the time he was finished, she was onto crying for real. He taped some gauze to it, covering almost half her forehead, and down her temple. He rubbed her hair.
"You're done," He said gently.
She took her hands away from her face, revealing red and swollen eyes.
"You did good."
She didn't care. She was in pain and she felt like dying. When her crying calmed down, shortly after, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
"Hey Freckles," Sawyer said with a smile, as Kate walked by, wearing a new shirt.
"Hi."
"What's new and exciting these days? Any new weird people pretending to be one of us?"
"No. But a girl had a seizer and hit her head on a rock."
"Ouch," Sawyer sucked in some air to show the pain he felt for her. "That's gotta hurt."
"Ya. I need to look through your meds."
"I believe Jack needs to beat me in another poker game for the rest of those."
"I just need one. I need Depakote or Tegretol. Or… Damn, I knew there was some other ones. I should have written it down."
"You're not getting anything. I remember what you did. Don't you think I don't know."
"Know what?"
"You stole my tampons."
"Your tampons? What do you need tampons for?"
"Well what do you need 'em for?"
Kate just gave him a look and put her hands on her hips.
"Fine, I got nothing good on that one. But you ain't getting any Depakote stuff."
"We need to see if there's any seizer medication."
"Sorry freckles." He smiled and leaned back against the tree.