People, namely Bernard and Rose, have started to confront Faraday and Charlotte about last night's message from the boat and Faraday's revelation of the boat's goal not to rescue us. "Maybe we should get Jack," I say to Juliet, who nods and goes to get Jack from his tent, who's slept in this morning. Though, how he's sleeping through all of this racket, I don't know.

I saw him clutching his abdomen last night, right over that sweet spot of the appendix. He's a doctor, and he probably knows what's going on, but for all of our sakes, I hope he miraculously recovers.

"I want the truth!" Bernard shouts at Faraday.

"I don't know," he says nervously, stroking his tie. "That's the truth. I'm telling you, I don't know why, but there's no signal now."

"Signal? What, there was a signal when you called them last night."

"That's right," Rose says, backing up her husband.

"So what? Now they're just ignoring us?"

"How are we supposed to know why they're not answering?" Charlotte counters. "And in case you haven't noticed, we're not on the bloody boat, are we?"

"Just watch your tone, Red," Rose snaps.

"I just wanna know why," Bernard asks again.

"Hey!" Jack says, coming up to the group, looking very pale. "Everybody just needs to calm down, okay?"

"Jack, these people are lying to us," Bernard says.

"I know they're lying. I know it. Sooner or later, their people are gonna come back for them, and when they do, we'll be waiting for them."

"Unless they run off again," Sun says.

"Listen to me," Jack says, losing his balance for a moment.

"Jack, are you all right?" I ask him.

"No, I'm fine. We just have to be patient, okay? I've gotten us this far. I said I was gonna get us off the Island. All of us. I promised that I would."

Jack starts to walk away, but then he doubles over in pain, clutching his stomach, breathing rapidly. Oh god, I hope this isn't it. If that appendix ruptures…

Juliet and I exchange a look of worry as we both pick up Jack and carry him to his tent, while everyone else at camp nervously calls Jack's name and asks what's wrong.

Jack's episode passes after about twenty minutes. "You know what's wrong," Juliet says to me.

"I'm not positive, but I'm guessing his appendix."

"Your right," she says. "But he'll never admit it. I'll go check on him."

"No, let me. He might admit it to someone he dislikes, just to try and be smarter."

"He doesn't dislike you," she says.

"Excuse me?"

"Jack admires you. If anything, I think he's jealous of you. The way people listen to you when you talk and your loyalty. Trust me, Jack doesn't dislike you."

I'm shocked at her sudden spew of complements and it takes a minute before I find my voice to respond. "Thank you, Juliet."

"Don't mention it."

I head over to Jack's tent and open the flap. "Knock, knock."

He groans. "I hate being sick," he says.

"What do you think it is?"

"It's food poisoning."

"What makes you think that?"

"I've got some cramping, dehydrated, nausea."

I bend down next to him. "I think your wrong," I say bluntly.

Jack chuckles. "Do you?"

"Or I think that you're denying the truth. You want to lift your shirt up?" I ask. Jack tries to avoid it. "If it's food poisoning, you got nothing to worry about."

Jack gives in and leans back, pulling up his tee-shirt. I feel around his abdomen, and when I reach the sweet spot, he winces. "It's your appendix, Jack. When did the pain start?"

"Yesterday."

"Has it ruptured?"

"Not yet."

"Well," I hear Juliet say from outside of the tent. "I guess we're just gonna have to take it out."

I reopen the flap and stare at her. "Excuse me?"

"What, are we just going to let him die?" she asks.

"You know I don't want that, but how are we supposed to take out his appendix? We don't' have any sterile environment, not equipment, no anesthetic. Juliet, I don't see how this is possible."

"But we do have all of that stuff," she says. "The medical station, where you and Kate took Claire, Everything we need is there. We can clean large pieces of wreckage to use as a surgery table."

"But what about anesthetic? He's just gonna lay there, while you cut out one of his major organs?"

"There should be some kind of chloroform at the station. We can do this, Tia."

"While you two are discussing my imminent surgery," Jack says. "You haven't even asked me if it's okay."

"You wanna die?" Juliet asks him.

"Fair point," he concedes.

Juliet has written up a list and handed it to Sun. "Do you remember where the medical station is or don't you?"

"Yes, I remember."

"These are the instruments that I need you to bring back. You'll find them in the drawers in the exam room."

"'Clamps'? 'Sutures'? Juliet, I don't know what these look like," she says, ogling the list.

"I can help you," Faraday says, stepping forward. "I'm familiar with surgical instruments."

"I thought you were a physicist," I say to him suspiciously.

"Yeah, well, I've done some animal autopsies, too."

"No," Jin says.

"We can't trust them," Sun agrees.

Charlotte lets out a huff. "See, Dan? I told you. They're convinced we're trying to kill 'em. Might as well keep playing the part."

"Damn it, Charlotte. That right there, that right there. Your attitude — your very bad attitude — it's exactly why they don't trust us." Faraday turns back to me. "Tia, please. Don't blame us for this, for whatever is happening. We're scientists. We don't want anyone to get hurt. We just wanna help. Please let us help."

Reluctantly I nod to Juliet, who hands him the list. I reach around my back and grab my glock, handing it to Jin. "If either of them tries to run, shoot them in the leg," I pause and he nods him head, understanding. I turn to Sun. "Get back here as fast as you can."

"Okay."

"Thank you," Faraday says, taking off.

"Back to you, boss," I say to Juliet.

"We need to create a sterile environment," she says to the group. "Find a hard surface, wash it down, gather as many tarps as you can."

"Hey Juliet," Kate says, walking forward. "If everything that we need is at the medical station, then why don't we just bring Jack there?"

"Because if we move him, there's a good chance that his appendix will rupture. And if that happens, he's gonna die."

Bernard has found a large piece of wreckage that's perfect for the procedure. As I help him carry it over to the camp, Rose has boiled some water and is ready to wash it down. "Honey," Bernard says to her, noticing her worried face. "I am sure Jack is gonna be okay. An appendectomy is just about the most common kind of surgery there is, right Tia?"

Not that I know too much about it, but he's right. I nod my head, trying to place a comforting look on my face, even though I'm terrified as well.

"That's not what I was thinking about," Rose says. "I was thinking, 'Why did he get sick?'"

"Why?" Bernard asks, confused. "It's just…it's just bad luck."

"The day before we're all supposed to be rescued, the person that we count on the most suddenly comes down with a life-threatening condition, and you're chalking it up to bad luck?"

"Well, what are you saying, that Jack did something to offend the gods? People get sick, Rose."

"Not here. Here, they get better."

Bernard smiles at his wife. "I'm going to go grab another bucket."

"Rose what did you mean just then?" I ask her.

"I have cancer," she says, and my jaw drops. "No, not like that, sweetie. I had cancer. But this place," she says looking out into the jungle, then the ocean. "It's like it's healed me. There's nothing bad left inside me."

"Rose, Bernard is right. People get sick. The Others? They captured Jack because Ben needed surgery to remove a tumor on his spine."

"I don't have an explanation for that, but this Island has done everything for me. When you have something inside of you, something that's not supposed to be there, you can feel it. Like a parasite inside your body. But when we crashed here, when I woke up, that feeling was gone. And I'm not the only one who's felt it."

I nod my head. Rose is the kindest, sweetest person I've met, but she's stubborn as a mule. And if she thinks this place has saved her, then so be it.

"We've got a problem," Juliet says. "Jack wants Kate in the surgery room with us."

"He's gonna be knocked out anyway. What's the big deal?"

"He wants to talk me through the surgery. He says Kate can hold a mirror and he'll be able to walk me through, step by step."

"But you know what you're doing, right?"

She smiles. "Try telling Jack that."

"He's not going to be able to do this," I say. "No one has that kind of pain tolerance."

"He says we can use lidocaine."

I shake my head. "This isn't gonna work."

"I know. But I think we should just give him what he wants. It'll be easier on all of us not to fight a losing battle."

Inside the surgery tent, I'm having a weird flashback to the tent we set up to fix Boone. And I remember all too well how that one worked out.

Jack lays on the wreckage, his shirt off and stomach neatly shaved. I'm whipping the area of incision with antiseptic. "You know, Jack, they found some chloroform at the medical station," I say to him. "I could knock you out. Wouldn't you rather be dreaming about something nice back home?"

"No, I'll manage with the lidocaine," he says. Juliet was right. A losing battle. I grab the syringe of lidocaine and start flicking out bubbles. I eye the bottle of chloroform. I could knock him out without his permission…

"Kate," Jack says as she enters the tent, holding a vanity mirror. Juliet is here, getting her supplies ready. I start injecting Jack with the lidocaine.

Jack reaches up and adjusts the mirror Kate is holding. "Just hold it right there."

I roll my eyes. Stubborn doctors. "Okay," I say, adding the last shot. "Now this is gonna numb the area of the first incision. After that, well, I hate to be blunt, but you're gonna feel it." I lay down the syringe and get ready to hand Juliet her supplies.

"You ready?" Juliet asks, snapping her own latex gloves on. "Okay. Here we go." She grabs the scalpel and makes the first incision. It doesn't look too painful for Jack but when she starts the second, he grunts with pain. "Okay, Jack. One more," she says. This time, Jack actually exclaims a sound of pain louder than a grunt. He starts to retract from the scalpel, his human nature pulling him away from the pain. "Okay, try not to move," Juliet tells him. He grunts again. "Just stay still. Spreader," she demands, holding out her hand for me to place it there. I look for it at the table. Juliet gave me a quick run through of surgical items before we began. I knew most of them, but I don't work with a lot of these often.

"Kate, I—I can't see it," Jack says, worried about the mirror.

Kate apologizes and tries to adjust it.

"Don't worry about the mirror. Just stay still. Spreader," she says to me again. I recognize it and hand it to her.

Jack tells Kate that the mirror is good as Juliet inserts the spreader into his abdomen. But that's where he loses it. He starts grunting in pain, his reflexes trying to get him away from Juliet.

"Knock him out, Tia," Juliet says to me. I move to the bottle of chloroform. I struggle to get everything together as she argues with Jack and tells Kate to get out of the tent. Juliet soon loses her temper and I hear Kate start to cry. I've almost got the chloroform ready. Juliet calls my name several times.

"Kate. Kate, get outta here! Damn it, Tia! Knock him out!" Juliet yells.

"I'm sorry, Jack," I say, putting the soaked cloth over his mouth. He struggles out a protest, but it's too late. His eyes close. Kat leaves the tent, crying large wet tears out of her eyes. I've never seen her lose it like that.

Juliet is great throughout the rest of the surgery. She manages to pull out the organ and put everything back without Jack losing too much blood.

I see Kate sitting in front of the ocean, staring out, her eyes still slightly swollen. "Hey," I say, sitting down beside her. "Don't worry. It went well. She did good. She said you could go back inside if you want to."

Kate thanks me and heads toward the tent.