Title: In Admiration - Part 2

Fandom: Lost

Characters: Jack Shephard, Boone Carlyle

Prompt: #6 Hours

Author's Notes: Written for the LiveJournal community slash100 (underscore between "slash" and "100" – for some reason FFN deletes it)

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It had been a couple hours now since Jack removed the shrapnel from the marshal's abdomen. The marshal who managed to stay conscious for long enough to tell Jack that his name was Edward. If anything, Jack thought, knowing the marshal's name made things worse for Jack. It forced Jack to realize that the marshal was a man instead of just another plane crash survivor or fatality. He was unconscious again at the moment, which was for the best. If the marshal was going to fight this, he needed to conserve his energy and hopefully his immune system would do its job.

Jack became vaguely aware of someone yelling "dude" and looked up to see Hurley rushing towards the medical tent. "Hey, dude, they're back."

He must have been talking about the group that went on the hike to try and get a signal on the transceiver. Jack got up and walked over with Hurley to where the survivors assembled in a semi-circle, listening to Sayid. Jack envied their hope; all traces of his vanished when the pilot had said they were off course. The pilot who then got ripped to shreds by some...thing in the jungle. Jack refused to call it a monster. Monsters didn't exist.

The doctor's gaze scanned the others, pausing when he saw Boone. Jack felt bad for the young man. He had obviously grown up in the city and never had the need for outdoor survival skills. Not that Jack had gone camping or anything as a kid. The fact that he had a medical license was his only useful skill he could contribute to their survival. Fortunately it was a very big skill, but unfortunately because he was a surgeon, Jack was used to making quick decisions in situations where a second's hesitation made the difference between life and death. This meant they all saw him as the leader.

Boone's piercing gaze met his, and Jack looked away quickly, trying not to look embarrassed and like he had been caught staring. That's not to say, though, that he wasn't staring. They may have been in a plane crash with no probable hope of rescue, but Jack wasn't dead. Well...not technically. All their families most likely thought they were dead, but Jack seemed fairly certain he wasn't. Although on this island, who really knew?

Now it was Jack getting watched when he caught Kate looking in his direction. Kate... Another island mystery he didn't know what to do with and everyone expected him to figure out. Everyone in this case just meaning Hurley, but it was more pressure nonetheless. Kate came over to where he was standing. She wanted to tell him something. Jack wasn't sure what he was expecting to hear from her...some sort of confession about what she did that had her in the marshal's custody. He sure wasn't expecting to hear about a transmission being broadcasted from the island by a French woman that had been on a loop for sixteen years.

Kate didn't feel like saying anything else, and Jack wasn't going to push her. If she really was as dangerous as the marshal said, he'd just have to keep an eye on her.

Jack looked back over towards the fuselage. The other survivors, having heard what Sayid had to say, went back to sorting through luggage to find out what no one was claiming, what was their own, and what could be useful. The only ones he recognized that were on his side of the fuselage were Sawyer, who was sitting on the piece of wing that fell off, smoking a cigarette, and the blonde girl that knew Boone. Sharon?

Oh, no, it's Shannon, Jack mentally corrected himself. If he was supposed to be their leader, he would need to start getting everyone's name straight.

Shannon had spread a towel down on the sand and looked like she was trying to take a nap. She didn't seem to keen on helping, which made Jack think that she was either a spoiled brat or in denial that help wasn't coming. He had been surprised to see that she went on the hike to try for the signal on the transceiver, but Boone had also gone, which made Jack wonder what exactly their relationship was. Boone seemed protective of Shannon, which could mean they were dating, but since the young man was trying to be helpful while Shannon just sat around watching made it seem to Jack like Boone and Shannon had more of a sibling relationship. Jack didn't have any brothers or sisters himself, but what he saw from his friends and cousins growing up, siblings had the tendency to try and be polar opposites of each other.

Jack was having a hard time convincing himself that it wasn't wishful thinking that Boone and Shannon were just related. First off, he didn't even know Boone. Second, there was a very good chance he wouldn't be interested. Third, Jack had to be at least ten years older than Boone and he didn't need to come across as a lecher. And fourth, they were all trapped together, so it wouldn't be worth trying anything that could make the situation even more uncomfortable than it already was. Still, Jack thought, that didn't mean he wasn't allowed to entertain his own private thoughts.

He moved his gaze to see Hurley trying to drag a row of seats through the sand and went over to help.