Categories > TV > Lost > Taken care of
“Why Kate? Ben? Why does she have an immunity to this dangerous virus that’s out there? How come my daughter, Juliet, and her son and daughter have to be vaccinated? Huh?”
Ben gave a low and almost humorless chuckle.
“You’re a doctor Jack. So you know something about genetics. If you need a refresher, there’s a rather large medical text over there on the table.”
Sometimes Ben gave Jack a headache without even trying too hard. Blowing out a frustrated breath, Jack looked to Megan who was asleep in a crib a couple of feet away from him.
“I don’t need that text Ben. Now tell me, who is your contact on the mainland? Can they help us?”
A flicker of hope filled Jack’s being as he waited for Ben’s answer.
“The man you are looking for is someone who isn’t easy to find Jack. I guess you could call him a hermit. I could bring him here to the island, but he has to be convinced of it.”
Jack glared at Ben. He hated it when he spoke in riddles. He wished he’d get to the point.
“Convinced to come to the island? You mean like the way we were brought here? I didn’t ask to come here in the first place!”
Ben made no attempt to show any emotion. His eyes flicked up to the man standing by the door armed with a rifle.
“Jenkins. I would like you to go and get Ford for me. Bring him here to the infirmary.”
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When Juliet woke, she wasn’t sure where she was until she heard the steady beeping of a heart monitor next to her. Turning her head, she smiled when she saw Cara in the plastic basinet to the right of her. A tiny arm had snaked its way out of the yellow blanket and was waving around. Wincing, she pushed herself into a sitting position. Reaching into the basinet she cradled Cara in her arms and cooed at her.
“I’m going to get you and your brother out of here Cara. I promise. You getting hungry sweetie? Let me just get situated here. There we go. You have your daddy’s eyebrows. That’s a good girl. You are going to love Miami Cara. I can’t wait for you to meet your Aunt Rachel and your cousin Julian. Miami is a lot like the island. Except for the fact that there are 400,000 people and cars and all sorts of other things.”
Juliet was occupied and didn’t notice Sawyer standing over by the screens that served as an entrance to where her bed was. A smile spread across his face as he watched Juliet and his little girl bonding.
“I think she has her mama’s nose. What do you think blondie?”
A tired smile came to Juliet’s face and she nodded. She could see Cara was nodding off and carefully pulled her away from her chest. Letting out an angry wail Cara’s little arms snaked their way out of the blanket and they waved in every direction.
“Hey sweetie. I’m sorry. Mommy thought you were finished. Come here.”
Andrew started to whimper in the other basinet next to the left side of the bed. Juliet managed a quick glance over at Andrew and then flicked her eyes over to Sawyer.
“James could you please change Andy? The longer you wait, the more upset he’ll be. There’s fresh cloths over there. Have Kate help you if you get stuck.”
At one point, Juliet would’ve been extremely jealous of Kate for helping Sawyer with anything. But now that they each had their own family, she didn’t think anything of it. Reaching into the basinet he picked up his son who began wailing. Carrying him out from behind the screens he looked Kate in the eye. She smiled and walked towards him.
“Need a hand in changing him Sawyer?”
Confusion crossed Sawyer’s face and he nodded.
“Thanks freckles. I don’t know the first thing about changing diapers. Come to think of it, this is the longest I’ve ever held my boy.”
Kate frowned but then went about undoing the cloth around Andy that was serving as a diaper.
“You’ll get the hang of it. I didn’t know the first thing about changing diapers when Megan was first born…”
Sawyer knew this was a painful subject for her to talk about, so he changed the tone of the conversation and flicked his eyes up at Megan who was standing up in the crib and patting her chubby little hands against Jack’s cheeks.
“Well look at your girl now. She’s growing like a weed. You and the doc are gonna have to find her some new clothes.”
Kate smiled as she thought about how lucky she was to have her family. Despite all the bad that had happened over the last year, things were finally looking up for the couple and their daughter. That is until Ben had intervened. Handing the dirty cloth to Sawyer she watched for his reaction.
“Andy, what else is your mama feeding you?”
Kate shook her head and stifled a small laugh.
“Throw what’s in it away and it’ll have to be washed. You’ll have twice as much laundry now. Don’t worry, it gets easier. You have all of us back at camp to help you out.”
Sawyer nodded and scooped Andy up in his arms and rocked him. Kate continued her thought as she watched Sawyer with his son.
“You are so good with him. I think Juliet changed you for the better James.”
A tiny grin crossed Sawyer’s face as he watched his son nod off into a peaceful slumber. Kate left Sawyer and made her way back to the crib where Megan was holding up her chubby little arms. As Sawyer made his way back towards the screens that hid Juliet and Cara from view, he heard Jack’s voice behind them. Stepping behind the screens Sawyer’s eyes darkened a little.
“Well geez doc, why don’t you give the woman some privacy?”
Jack gave Sawyer a hard to read stare.
“Relax Sawyer. I was just checking her heart. Cara’s asleep in the basinet.”
Now it was Juliet’s turn to intervene.
“It’s fine James. Besides, it’s not like he hasn’t seen any of this before.”
Sawyer’s ears perked up and his face paled a bit at Jack’s statement.
“What’s wrong with her heart doc?”
Jack shook his head and took the earpieces of the stethoscope from his ears.
“Not a thing. I was just correlating with the machine. She’s on monitors and oxygen because she had a seizure. A reaction caused by the green substance Ben calls a ‘vaccine’. He says it’s supposed to protect her from a cross between a normal flu strain, chicken pox and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.”
For the briefest of moments, Sawyer looked frightened and Jack couldn’t blame him. He lowered his voice so that only Jack could hear him.
“That son of a bitch didn’t give any of that stuff to my kids did he?”
Shaking his head no, Jack frowned but tried to reassure Sawyer.
“No. But he was going to. Juliet and Megan had bad reactions to it. He says he can bring someone who can cure them to the island. Kate has a type of immunity to this virus. But Juliet, your children, and Megan do not.”
Sawyer looked ready to pummel a handcuffed Ben. Jack tried to reason with him.
“Sawyer, if this man can help us, we have to give Ben the benefit of the doubt regardless of what he’s done to us in the last few years and recently. He says he’s trying to help, maybe we should listen.”
Sawyer narrowed his eyes at Jack and looked at him as if he had four heads.
“Let me get this straight doc, you want us to trust Linus to get some scientist to the island just so he can help Juliet, Megan, Cara and Andy? Nuh uh. No way. You and Juliet can figure it out can’t ya?”
Jack shook his head.
“Juliet and I don’t know what these elements are. We’ve never seen them before.”
Ben gave Jack a smirk and adjusted his position on the floor. It wasn’t very comfortable but it would have to do.
“The man that will be able to save them Jack, his name is Mark Amberson. He’s the Jonas Salk of the 21st century. The only way we can contact him is by going to The Flame. If you would kindly undo these handcuffs I can be there and back in two days. Three tops.”
Jack shook his head no and stood his ground.
“No Ben. You find some other way to communicate with him.”
Ben kept the smirk firmly planted on his face as he ducked his head towards the ground.
“A promise is a promise Jack. Doctor Amberson isn’t an easy man to convince, but he is one of the brightest minds out there. Look at Juliet, Jacob picked her because she’s intelligent, and she could help solve our problem with the pregnant women here on the island.”
Sawyer felt his defenses kick in and he looked over the screens hiding Juliet.
“Now wait just a minute there Benny-boy. Those nine women who lost their lives, it wasn’t Juliet’s fault. It’s the islands. Problems can’t be solved overnight.”
Ben brushed off Sawyer’s remarks and looked him straight in the eye.
“He is the only one that can save your children and your future wife.”
Sawyer didn’t want to appear desperate but there didn’t look to be any other choices right at the moment.
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“Thanks for coming on such short notice Doctor Amberson. You’re time here will be well-spent I assure you. Now who would you like to examine first and take a blood sample from?”
Doctor Mark Amberson was a tall man, jet black hair and round rimmed glasses and he almost seemed arrogant at first glance. All business Doctor Amberson looked towards Juliet, who was clearly visible. Jack had taken away the screens.
“I would like to examine Doctor Burke first if that’s possible?”
Nodding Ben strode over towards Juliet who was talking to Jack. Jack looked up when he saw the two men approaching. Sticking his right hand out for Doctor Amberson to shake, the man shook hands with Jack stiffly.
“Doctor Jack Shephard. Nice to meet you Doctor Amberson. Three days ago Juliet suffered a gran mal seizure as a result of having been administered a dose of your vaccine. I gave her an injection of Phenobarbital to stop the seizure. In the last two days she’s complained of no feeling in her feet and both of the calves of her legs. I’ve done a couple of x-rays and there doesn’t seem to be anything impinging upon her spine.”
Doctor Amberson nodded and added his two cents worth.
“I see. What is your specialty Doctor Shephard?”
Jack wasn’t sure he liked this man’s attitude. Was I really like that when we first got to the island? Sitting up a bit straighter, Jack tried not to fiddle with the stethoscope draped over his neck.
“I’m a spinal surgeon.”
Doctor Amberson made a noise in his throat and looked straight at Juliet.
“Interesting Ben. That you chose a fertility doctor to try my vaccine on.”
Juliet’s heart sank and she could feel that Sawyer was becoming angry in the chair next to the bed. Ben fidgeted next to Doctor Amberson.
“You gave specific instructions to administer the vaccine to women and children. You didn’t say anything about women who had recently given birth or who were pregnant.”
Heart sinking further Juliet felt her blood begin to boil.
“I gave birth two weeks ago.”
A deepening frown appeared on Doctor Amberson’s face as he stepped closer to Juliet.
“I won’t know what effects it’s had on your body until I get a blood sample from you and run it. Tell me Doctor Burke what is this?”
Doctor Amberson had taken one of the vials of her serum from a refrigeration unit in the far corner of the room.
“That is my serum. I developed it. It was designed to help the women on this island survive the late stages of pregnancy. For some reason the problem begins at conception and eventually the mother’s immune system turns on the fetus they are carrying. None of the women I’ve tried to help made it past their second trimester. They all died. Until Claire Littleton and Kate Austen. Those two were my control cases. I myself am part of that group. My serum saved my life and my son and daughter. Without it I wouldn’t be here. So yes, you have my permission to examine me and take a blood sample.”
Sawyer became worried. He wasn’t sure he trusted this new doctor yet. Lowering his voice so that only Juliet could hear him, he spoke softly.
“Are you sure you’re ok with this blondie? There’s still time to figure something out. You and the doc can figure this out…”
Juliet shook her head and squeezed his hand to try and comfort him.
“This is our best chance James. I would love to be able to feel something below my knees and able to be mobile again. I can’t even move my legs right now. Who knows what this vaccine is doing to the rest of my body?”
Sawyer still felt on edge, but he knew to trust Juliet with all he was worth. He’d finally found someone to love him for who he was.
“You got it blondie. But we should have Jack working closely with this new guy, I’m getting some weirdo vibes from him.”
To Be Continued…
Ben gave a low and almost humorless chuckle.
“You’re a doctor Jack. So you know something about genetics. If you need a refresher, there’s a rather large medical text over there on the table.”
Sometimes Ben gave Jack a headache without even trying too hard. Blowing out a frustrated breath, Jack looked to Megan who was asleep in a crib a couple of feet away from him.
“I don’t need that text Ben. Now tell me, who is your contact on the mainland? Can they help us?”
A flicker of hope filled Jack’s being as he waited for Ben’s answer.
“The man you are looking for is someone who isn’t easy to find Jack. I guess you could call him a hermit. I could bring him here to the island, but he has to be convinced of it.”
Jack glared at Ben. He hated it when he spoke in riddles. He wished he’d get to the point.
“Convinced to come to the island? You mean like the way we were brought here? I didn’t ask to come here in the first place!”
Ben made no attempt to show any emotion. His eyes flicked up to the man standing by the door armed with a rifle.
“Jenkins. I would like you to go and get Ford for me. Bring him here to the infirmary.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Juliet woke, she wasn’t sure where she was until she heard the steady beeping of a heart monitor next to her. Turning her head, she smiled when she saw Cara in the plastic basinet to the right of her. A tiny arm had snaked its way out of the yellow blanket and was waving around. Wincing, she pushed herself into a sitting position. Reaching into the basinet she cradled Cara in her arms and cooed at her.
“I’m going to get you and your brother out of here Cara. I promise. You getting hungry sweetie? Let me just get situated here. There we go. You have your daddy’s eyebrows. That’s a good girl. You are going to love Miami Cara. I can’t wait for you to meet your Aunt Rachel and your cousin Julian. Miami is a lot like the island. Except for the fact that there are 400,000 people and cars and all sorts of other things.”
Juliet was occupied and didn’t notice Sawyer standing over by the screens that served as an entrance to where her bed was. A smile spread across his face as he watched Juliet and his little girl bonding.
“I think she has her mama’s nose. What do you think blondie?”
A tired smile came to Juliet’s face and she nodded. She could see Cara was nodding off and carefully pulled her away from her chest. Letting out an angry wail Cara’s little arms snaked their way out of the blanket and they waved in every direction.
“Hey sweetie. I’m sorry. Mommy thought you were finished. Come here.”
Andrew started to whimper in the other basinet next to the left side of the bed. Juliet managed a quick glance over at Andrew and then flicked her eyes over to Sawyer.
“James could you please change Andy? The longer you wait, the more upset he’ll be. There’s fresh cloths over there. Have Kate help you if you get stuck.”
At one point, Juliet would’ve been extremely jealous of Kate for helping Sawyer with anything. But now that they each had their own family, she didn’t think anything of it. Reaching into the basinet he picked up his son who began wailing. Carrying him out from behind the screens he looked Kate in the eye. She smiled and walked towards him.
“Need a hand in changing him Sawyer?”
Confusion crossed Sawyer’s face and he nodded.
“Thanks freckles. I don’t know the first thing about changing diapers. Come to think of it, this is the longest I’ve ever held my boy.”
Kate frowned but then went about undoing the cloth around Andy that was serving as a diaper.
“You’ll get the hang of it. I didn’t know the first thing about changing diapers when Megan was first born…”
Sawyer knew this was a painful subject for her to talk about, so he changed the tone of the conversation and flicked his eyes up at Megan who was standing up in the crib and patting her chubby little hands against Jack’s cheeks.
“Well look at your girl now. She’s growing like a weed. You and the doc are gonna have to find her some new clothes.”
Kate smiled as she thought about how lucky she was to have her family. Despite all the bad that had happened over the last year, things were finally looking up for the couple and their daughter. That is until Ben had intervened. Handing the dirty cloth to Sawyer she watched for his reaction.
“Andy, what else is your mama feeding you?”
Kate shook her head and stifled a small laugh.
“Throw what’s in it away and it’ll have to be washed. You’ll have twice as much laundry now. Don’t worry, it gets easier. You have all of us back at camp to help you out.”
Sawyer nodded and scooped Andy up in his arms and rocked him. Kate continued her thought as she watched Sawyer with his son.
“You are so good with him. I think Juliet changed you for the better James.”
A tiny grin crossed Sawyer’s face as he watched his son nod off into a peaceful slumber. Kate left Sawyer and made her way back to the crib where Megan was holding up her chubby little arms. As Sawyer made his way back towards the screens that hid Juliet and Cara from view, he heard Jack’s voice behind them. Stepping behind the screens Sawyer’s eyes darkened a little.
“Well geez doc, why don’t you give the woman some privacy?”
Jack gave Sawyer a hard to read stare.
“Relax Sawyer. I was just checking her heart. Cara’s asleep in the basinet.”
Now it was Juliet’s turn to intervene.
“It’s fine James. Besides, it’s not like he hasn’t seen any of this before.”
Sawyer’s ears perked up and his face paled a bit at Jack’s statement.
“What’s wrong with her heart doc?”
Jack shook his head and took the earpieces of the stethoscope from his ears.
“Not a thing. I was just correlating with the machine. She’s on monitors and oxygen because she had a seizure. A reaction caused by the green substance Ben calls a ‘vaccine’. He says it’s supposed to protect her from a cross between a normal flu strain, chicken pox and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.”
For the briefest of moments, Sawyer looked frightened and Jack couldn’t blame him. He lowered his voice so that only Jack could hear him.
“That son of a bitch didn’t give any of that stuff to my kids did he?”
Shaking his head no, Jack frowned but tried to reassure Sawyer.
“No. But he was going to. Juliet and Megan had bad reactions to it. He says he can bring someone who can cure them to the island. Kate has a type of immunity to this virus. But Juliet, your children, and Megan do not.”
Sawyer looked ready to pummel a handcuffed Ben. Jack tried to reason with him.
“Sawyer, if this man can help us, we have to give Ben the benefit of the doubt regardless of what he’s done to us in the last few years and recently. He says he’s trying to help, maybe we should listen.”
Sawyer narrowed his eyes at Jack and looked at him as if he had four heads.
“Let me get this straight doc, you want us to trust Linus to get some scientist to the island just so he can help Juliet, Megan, Cara and Andy? Nuh uh. No way. You and Juliet can figure it out can’t ya?”
Jack shook his head.
“Juliet and I don’t know what these elements are. We’ve never seen them before.”
Ben gave Jack a smirk and adjusted his position on the floor. It wasn’t very comfortable but it would have to do.
“The man that will be able to save them Jack, his name is Mark Amberson. He’s the Jonas Salk of the 21st century. The only way we can contact him is by going to The Flame. If you would kindly undo these handcuffs I can be there and back in two days. Three tops.”
Jack shook his head no and stood his ground.
“No Ben. You find some other way to communicate with him.”
Ben kept the smirk firmly planted on his face as he ducked his head towards the ground.
“A promise is a promise Jack. Doctor Amberson isn’t an easy man to convince, but he is one of the brightest minds out there. Look at Juliet, Jacob picked her because she’s intelligent, and she could help solve our problem with the pregnant women here on the island.”
Sawyer felt his defenses kick in and he looked over the screens hiding Juliet.
“Now wait just a minute there Benny-boy. Those nine women who lost their lives, it wasn’t Juliet’s fault. It’s the islands. Problems can’t be solved overnight.”
Ben brushed off Sawyer’s remarks and looked him straight in the eye.
“He is the only one that can save your children and your future wife.”
Sawyer didn’t want to appear desperate but there didn’t look to be any other choices right at the moment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Thanks for coming on such short notice Doctor Amberson. You’re time here will be well-spent I assure you. Now who would you like to examine first and take a blood sample from?”
Doctor Mark Amberson was a tall man, jet black hair and round rimmed glasses and he almost seemed arrogant at first glance. All business Doctor Amberson looked towards Juliet, who was clearly visible. Jack had taken away the screens.
“I would like to examine Doctor Burke first if that’s possible?”
Nodding Ben strode over towards Juliet who was talking to Jack. Jack looked up when he saw the two men approaching. Sticking his right hand out for Doctor Amberson to shake, the man shook hands with Jack stiffly.
“Doctor Jack Shephard. Nice to meet you Doctor Amberson. Three days ago Juliet suffered a gran mal seizure as a result of having been administered a dose of your vaccine. I gave her an injection of Phenobarbital to stop the seizure. In the last two days she’s complained of no feeling in her feet and both of the calves of her legs. I’ve done a couple of x-rays and there doesn’t seem to be anything impinging upon her spine.”
Doctor Amberson nodded and added his two cents worth.
“I see. What is your specialty Doctor Shephard?”
Jack wasn’t sure he liked this man’s attitude. Was I really like that when we first got to the island? Sitting up a bit straighter, Jack tried not to fiddle with the stethoscope draped over his neck.
“I’m a spinal surgeon.”
Doctor Amberson made a noise in his throat and looked straight at Juliet.
“Interesting Ben. That you chose a fertility doctor to try my vaccine on.”
Juliet’s heart sank and she could feel that Sawyer was becoming angry in the chair next to the bed. Ben fidgeted next to Doctor Amberson.
“You gave specific instructions to administer the vaccine to women and children. You didn’t say anything about women who had recently given birth or who were pregnant.”
Heart sinking further Juliet felt her blood begin to boil.
“I gave birth two weeks ago.”
A deepening frown appeared on Doctor Amberson’s face as he stepped closer to Juliet.
“I won’t know what effects it’s had on your body until I get a blood sample from you and run it. Tell me Doctor Burke what is this?”
Doctor Amberson had taken one of the vials of her serum from a refrigeration unit in the far corner of the room.
“That is my serum. I developed it. It was designed to help the women on this island survive the late stages of pregnancy. For some reason the problem begins at conception and eventually the mother’s immune system turns on the fetus they are carrying. None of the women I’ve tried to help made it past their second trimester. They all died. Until Claire Littleton and Kate Austen. Those two were my control cases. I myself am part of that group. My serum saved my life and my son and daughter. Without it I wouldn’t be here. So yes, you have my permission to examine me and take a blood sample.”
Sawyer became worried. He wasn’t sure he trusted this new doctor yet. Lowering his voice so that only Juliet could hear him, he spoke softly.
“Are you sure you’re ok with this blondie? There’s still time to figure something out. You and the doc can figure this out…”
Juliet shook her head and squeezed his hand to try and comfort him.
“This is our best chance James. I would love to be able to feel something below my knees and able to be mobile again. I can’t even move my legs right now. Who knows what this vaccine is doing to the rest of my body?”
Sawyer still felt on edge, but he knew to trust Juliet with all he was worth. He’d finally found someone to love him for who he was.
“You got it blondie. But we should have Jack working closely with this new guy, I’m getting some weirdo vibes from him.”
To Be Continued…
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