FicWad

“Jack? What happened to me?”

The words rang inside his head like an alarmingly loud dinner bell. Jack rose from his makeshift bed and reached a hand out to a struggling and wobbly Kate.

“Here. Sit down. I’ll go get you some water. When I get back: I want you to explain what happened to you from the beginning. The whole thing.”

Kate was silent as she sat down on their bed, all the while watching Juliet feed her daughter. She thought the better of stroking her daughter’s cheek with her dirtied index finger. Her mouth hung open slightly as she became more frightened, tears beginning their descent down her face. She didn’t hide her tears from Jack when he came back with some water.

“Drink some of this. It’ll make you feel better. Now what happened to you?”

Her mouth hung open for a moment after she put the water down on the sand next to the bed. She nervously stuttered, trying to get her words out.

“I don’t know. The last thing I remember was you cleaning Megan up right after Juliet took her out of me. You uh, cut her umbilical cord and wrapped her in a blanket, placing her in my arms. After that, it was dark. There was no sound. The next thing I know is I’m waking up lying in a heap under a large tree about a quarter mile in from the beach. Everything was blurry at first. Then I saw someone. Once my eyes became clear again I saw who it was. I saw… I saw your dad Jack…”

She burst into tears again and her head sunk into her dirt-streaked hands. Uncovering her face, she looked at the angry wear marks on her wrists. Kate watched as Jack set Megan down inside the cradle that Aaron used to sleep in when he was a baby. She was afraid of what she saw out there in the jungle, but not knowing how she ended up there and lying unconscious under a strange looking tree scared her more. Jack’s large and frightened eyes met and matched her own.

“You… You saw my father in the jungle?”

Nodding Kate fingered the cradle and gulped in the fresh salty air.

“Yes. He said that I needed to give you a message…”

Eyebrows furrowed in confusion Jack tried to wrap his mind around these newest series of events.

“What message?”

She winced and shook her head as Jack began cleaning the dirt from her face. Minor scrapes and cuts lined her face, but other than being shook up, she looked fine.

“It was more of a warning.”

Jack cleaned out a cut just above Kate’s left eye and stopped. Worry was now turning into impatience. Kate knew how bad Jack’s temper was.

“What kind of warning?”

Holding still, she looked towards the tree line haunted eyes scanning trying to find what she saw. She’d seen too much on this island over the last 5 years.

“He said that something bad was coming, but he wouldn’t say what it was. Only that our children would be in grave danger. He even gave me their names. Including Megan. Cody and Grace.”

A pit was forming in Jack’s stomach; he felt sick and wanted to retch in the sand outside his tent. Could the man wearing his dad’s face see the future? It was impossible. However, Jack knew that everything he’d seen happen here on the island was the exact opposite of impossible, they were possible.

“How do you know he wasn’t lying to you Kate?”

The anger was simmering there just below the surface of calm and was about to boil over and explode. Megan let out a frightened wail and Juliet came back into the tent and reached for Megan inside the cradle.

“Jack. Calm down. You’re scaring the baby.”

Jack’s shoulders slumped as he sunk down on the bed next to Kate.

“I’m sorry I got angry. I just can’t believe anything that thing who calls himself my father says.”

Kate’s teeth were chattering and her face was flush. Worry once again tinged Jack’s features.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Juliet rocked Megan, looked between Kate and Jack and then back to him again.

“She has a fever Jack. Check her sutures. She may have an infection setting in.”

Megan’s cries had quieted and she had fallen asleep again. Juliet placed her in the cradle and then adjusted the blankets serving as barriers/curtains over the side and front of the
tent.

“Kate look at me. Stay with me.”

Juliet pulled back Kate’s shirt only to reveal a long and angry looking red line that ran down her stomach. Some of the stitching was coming out; some of it had flecks of dirt in
them. Teeth chattering, Kate bit her lip as Jack did his best to clean out the dirty stitches. As he cleaned out the rest of the stitches, he smiled and remembered the first time he saw Megan’s tiny foot pressed up against the very place he was fixing the stitches. He became serious as he took another piece of aloe and wiped away some of the blood. Looking to Juliet, he could see her shaking her head.

“Jack this is going to take some time. There’s a lot of oozing here that may take a little more time and supplies than we’ve got to fix. I can make it to the medical station and back before dark.”

Cautiously nodding, Jack gave her a worried look.

“Alright. But take Sayid and Sawyer with you.”

Juliet turned and left the tent, leaving Jack alone with a bewildered Kate. Her eyes went wide and she tried sitting up.

“Jack? Where’s the baby? Where’s Megan?”

Kate was feverish and confused. Megan was where she was supposed to be.

“It’s alright Kate. She’s asleep in the cradle. She’s safe.”

She frantically grabbed for Jack’s arm, and he noticed she couldn’t focus her eyes on him.

“Jack I can’t see either of you. It’s dark.”

This made Jack very nervous. More nervous than seeing the Black smoke monster. He tried reassuring Kate and placed a cool cloth on her forehead with water.

“It’s probably just a temporary side effect of your fever. Once I’m able to bring down the fever, things should return to normal.”

Jack hoped he was right.



To Be Continued…