Title: In Admiration - Part 40
Fandom: Lost
Characters: Jack Shephard, Boone Carlyle
Prompt: #65 Healing
Author's Notes: Written for the LiveJournal community slash100 (underscore between "slash" and "100" – for some reason FFN deletes it)
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Everything hurt. That had been his last and first conscious thought. Before, though, there was the crash and then excruciating pain on full volume that made him black out, feeling nothing as his body's defenses kicked in. He didn't remember anything from the crash until now, or have any idea on how much time had passed, but physically he didn't feel as bad as he did before. His body hurt, but this pain seemed muffled - sensory adaptation, perhaps, but he was thankful nonetheless. It was still there as a chronic reminder of what happened, but it was almost tolerable, and he didn't want to go back to sleep immediately upon reentering consciousness.
Okay, that was a lie, he still wanted to go back to sleep, but someone was crying and it was kind of irritating. He also felt fingers on his forehead, brushing his hair off his face over and over again. Slowly opening his eyes, Boone realized it was Shannon, although she looked kind of strange; her eyes were red and puffy and it looked like she had dirt and a leaf in her hair, like she'd been running in the jungle and had tripped. "Hey," Boone said, wincing from how raspy his voice sounded as he heard a surprised gasp from Shannon.
She studied him for a moment, like she didn't believe he was awake, before hugging Boone fiercely, Shannon crushing her body to his chest and causing Boone to yelp in pain. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Shannon exclaimed, jumping off him like Boone had burnt her. Fresh tears began to run down her face as she smiled a little. "I'm so glad you aren't dead."
"Me too," Boone replied, trying to smile but even his face hurt. "You have island in your hair."
She laughed, and it sounded kind of forced, like she didn't want to let Boone know she'd been so worried that she had a lapse in appearance. He could tell, though, even if Shannon never said anything, he'd know. Boone wasn't certain, though, if she didn't want him to know she was worried because she was embarrassed or because she didn't want him to know how bad off he had been. She ran her hands through her hair, picking out the leaf and brushing out some of the dirt. "There was a root," Shannon clarified, "that someone rudely put in the middle of the path between here and the beach. Even scraped up my knees."
"Maybe you should change into pants before Jack finds out and chases you around with the peroxide."
Boone was trying to make a joke, but Shannon's face got gravely serious. "Jack! He'll want to know you're awake!" She disappeared for a moment, and Boone couldn't crane his neck far enough to see where she went, but he could hear her talking to someone somewhere and then she was back at his side. "He looks awful."
That fact didn't surprise Boone. Jack got stressed over minor things and Boone didn't doubt that he'd stayed by him until he thought he was going to be fine or someone kicked him out. In a sense Boone thought it was kind of sweet, but since he had no idea how long he'd been out for, he didn't know how much time he took making Jack anxious, and Boone doubted Jack ate or slept in that time. "How long have I been here?"
"Since yesterday."
Well, that wasn't too bad, Boone thought. He was nervous that he'd been there for a week or possibly even longer. "Does Jack look better than you?"
"No he looks worse." Shannon tilted her head to the side, something she did when she was trying to figure out if she should say what she was thinking or not. She didn't do that a lot, usually talking without thinking. "Looks better than you, though."
"Thanks, Shan."
Boone heard what sounded like tarp being moved aside, feeling a hand on his own that moved up his arm as Jack quickly came into view, and Shannon was right - he did look awful. Boone felt bad, making them worry over him, and thought maybe he should have listened to Jack and not gone out with Locke. The man had made him lie to everyone, and Boone wasn't even sure if that damn hatch was any helpful. "How are you feeling?" Jack asked, Boone noticing the waver in his voice before he forced it away.
"Like thousands of teeny tiny hammers are hitting me all over my body."
"Do you feel like you have a fever?" Boone shook his head, wincing at the pain it caused and the stiffness in his neck. Jack's hand went to his forehead anyway, like he didn't believe Boone and he was looking for the slightest indication of a raised temperature. "You seem to be healing well, but if you start feeling warm it could mean an infection, so you're sure you're feeling okay?"
"Jack, I feel fine," Boone said, trying not to sound as exasperated as he felt. He knew Jack had a right to worry, but he should also have a right to believe him. "Well, except for my chest...and my leg...and breathing feels a little weird. So does trying to move. And speaking." Boone gave Jack a small smile, trying to get him to stop acting like he was still dying - he had said he was healing, right? "So, um, what's the prognosis?"
"You'll be fine," Jack said, finally giving him a smile, but it was tight-lipped. "Barring infection, anyway. You were pretty beat up, cuts on your arms, legs, and a big gash on your forehead, but only the ones on your chest needed stitches. One of your lungs collapsed so you had a tube for a little while."
Boone smiled slightly at the irony, thinking back to the first plane crash. "The pen-in-the-neck thing."
"This was in your chest, though. And it wasn't there because your trachea was crushed. But...kind of." Boone felt Jack grab his hand and saw his gaze flicker down at Boone's leg for a moment, putting a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. The feeling doubled when Shannon held his other hand, her thin smile mirroring Jack's from before. He started to panic, wondering what was wrong with his leg, and if his leg was even still there. He couldn't reach down and touch it, but Boone had heard that amputees sometimes still thought the limb was there, so how could he be really sure? Boone's mouth went dry as Jack opened his mouth to continue. "You, uh... The fall broke your right leg. I reset it and then since you lost a lot of blood started a transfusion."
"Where'd you get the blood?" Boone asked, confused, wondering if maybe Sawyer happened to have bags of blood in his infamous stash, but then he noticed the gauze wrapped at the pit of Jack's elbow, very much like on his own arm. "You gave me your own blood?"
"You needed blood. No one who knew theirs was a match to you, and I'm the universal donor." Boone was too shocked to think of anything to say. Jack had given him his own blood. "You woke up during it and talked to me."
"I don't remember that," Boone said, although the more he thought about it, he did think he saw Jack at some point, but Boone had thought he was dreaming. He certainly didn't remember talking to anyone.
"You told me what happened. When Locke brought you back he said you fell off a cliff, so I didn't think to check for... You're leg looked really bad, even after I reset the bone, and I thought the swelling was just from my setting job, but after you said what really happened, I realized it wasn't because of the break. I had to do some surgery, which is why I'm worried about infection. There's going to be a sizeable scar on your leg and when you're well enough to sit up, it won't look pretty as it's healing." Jack squeezed his hand, and this time when he smiled, it was genuine relief and happiness, which made Boone feel a lot better. "You scared me, Boone. I'm not going to lie - if you hadn't woken up for that little bit, you'd probably be dead right now."
Boone tried to take in everything that Jack had told him, but it just seemed like too much, and he was so tired. On top of it all he was confused. Why did John lie to Jack about what happened? If he wanted to be stubborn about keeping the hatch a secret, that was fine, but Boone didn't see why John couldn't tell Jack about the plane. It wasn't like it was Locke's fault that the plane fell. Boone noticed Jack and Shannon looking at him, studying him to gauge his reaction, waiting for Boone to say something, and he suddenly felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny. "I want to get some rest."
"Okay," Jack said, squeezing his hand once more before letting go. Boone saw Jack go around whatever he was lying on to Shannon's side of Boone, guiding her out of his little room in the cave before closing his eyes and letting the healing darkness of sleep claim him.