Chapter Six

The morning after Jack's strange confession, a woman drowned. Boone had tried to help her but ended up nearly drowning himself. Jack had saved him, but didn't have enough time to save them both. I could tell it was getting to him just by looking at him and if it were anyone else, I'd be worried. But Jack always felt the need to save everyone.

After all the drama with the drowning happened, I made my way into the shelter I'd called my own. I had found my suitcase a few days ago, and since rescue didn't seem to be coming in the near future, I figured I may as well start to unpack. I didn't end up getting very far before I heard a commotion outside on the beach.

I peeked my head outside of my tent, dreading even the thought of another fight, to see Charlie, Michael and Kate carrying a very passed out Claire into the infirmary. I shot to my feet within seconds.

"What happened?" Kate and I asked at nearly the same time. If it had been any other time, I might have laughed, but looking down at my pregnant friend, I really couldn't.

"She just dropped." Charlie replied, as they laid her down on the table.

"It must be the heat. Is she breathing?" Kate asked.

"Yeah, I think." Michael answered.

I watched for a moment as they tried to get her to wake up, causing her to stir a bit. I let out the anxious breath I had been holding in. Charlie searched around for water to give Claire and looked up at us with wide, worried eyes.

"The water's gone. Someone stole it." He said and I think all of our anxiety came back within milliseconds. First the food, and now the water. How were they going to survive on this damned island?

It had to have been around an hour later that Kate asked to speak to me alone. I was almost certain she was going to apologise for ratting on me to Jack when I collapsed a few days earlier, and I felt awkward as I prepared for it. I really wished that was what she said to me.

"Lana, no one can find Jack." The words rolled out of her mouth easily, but there was a nervousness in her eyes.

"What?" Heart racing, I turned around. My eyes scanned the beach, looking at everyone, searching for one person but coming up empty. I couldn't tell you how many times I did this, before Kate gripped onto my shoulders. "But—but where is he?"

"We don't know. Did he... say anything to you?" She was hesitant and I knew there was something she wasn't telling me. But all I could think back to was what he had said the night before. He saw our father.

"I need to find him." I jerked myself out of her loose grip, ready to go somewhere – anywhere. She had her grip back on me within seconds. "Kate—"

"Look, he's only been gone for a couple of hours." She stopped me and I turned to face her, my eyes not meeting hers. "If we don't see him by tonight, we'll go find him. Together."

I didn't respond, but I gave her the tiniest nod I could muster. She let go of me after that but doesn't move to walk away. I ended up doing that, heading straight towards the shelter I was forced to call my home. And as I plopped myself down in the sand in front of it, all I could think of was what Jack had said to me before. We're the only family we have on this island.

*Flashback*

I checked my suitcase one last time, making sure for the fifth time that I definitely had everything, before there was a knock on my door. I glanced up to see Nancy, a blonde haired nurse that I had decidedly considered my friend. She was a lot nicer than the other ones in here. She actually had a heart.

"Your ride is here." She told me, but her feet remained planted. I eyed her with a sad smile on my face before casting a look down to zip up my suitcase. A moment later, I had my arms around her in a hug.

"I'm gonna miss you." I revealed and I heard her laugh against my hair before pulling back.

"Believe it or not, I'll miss you, too." She replied with a smile, before she led me down a hallway I could walk with eyes closed. Looking down the corridor, I expected to see my mother waiting for me with a fake grin plastered on her face, like I had every other time. But the chairs were empty. I really didn't expect to see my brother's car parked outside the main doors.

"Jack?" I questioned, approaching the car after waving goodbye to Nancy. He glanced up at me and gave me a tight smile.

"Surprise." His eyebrows raised as he stepped out of the car, reaching for my suitcase. I watched him put it in the trunk with eyebrows scrunched. Why was he here? Did mom die or something?

I made my way over to the passenger's seat, putting my seatbelt on as he closed the door behind me. When he finally got in his side, I turned to him, ready to fire twenty questions. He stopped me before I could even ask the first one.

"We're going to Australia." My eyes widened, head slightly tilted as I was suddenly under the impression that I'd lost my mind. "To find dad."

It made sense then.

*End flashback*

With the sun setting in front of me, I picked uselessly at the frays in the hoodie I had in my lap. Jack was still nowhere to be found. Instead of helping figure out who stole the water with Kate, or sitting with Claire to play nurse for the day, I had just sat here – waiting. Kate had said she'd wait till night time, but she wasn't his family. I couldn't wait any longer.

As I made my way through the beach, I kept an eye on Kate. She was speaking to Sayid with arms crossed and I forced my legs to move faster to pass by without her noticing. I barely made it to the jungle line before I felt myself being pulled back.

"Now where the hell are you goin', Cathy Gale?" My eyes closed as I let out a breath, really not in the mood for whatever crap this man had to say. I didn't even know who this Cathy person was.

"Where do you think?" I ripped my arm out of Sawyer's grasp and stared him down. Or rather, tried to stare him down. He was a lot taller than me and a lot more intimidating. "Jack's been gone—"

"What, and you're gonna play hide and seek with the polar boars and whatever else is in that thing?" He threw a pointed hand towards the trees I'd tried to go through. "Look, that man can't go a day without bein' some kind of hero. Might as well be tattooed on his freakin' forehead."

"That's cute and all, Sawyer, but I really can't chance that." I shook my head, prepared to turn back to the tree line before there's shouting down the beach. My head turned to see Boone lying in the sand with Charlie shouting over him. I threw once last glance a glance at Sawyer before rushing over.

"Claire could've died!" I heard Charlie shout as I approached. A crowd started to form and I can't help myself search for Jack's face.

"I tried to give her some sooner, but it just got out of hand. No one would have understood." Boone said, before Kate runs over.

"What is going on?" No one answered her and within seconds, the two men are pushing each other.

"Leave him alone!" I nearly jumped at the sight of my brother stepping in. Charlie and Boone stopped fighting, Sayid helping a little bit with that. Everyone's eyes were on Jack. "It's been six days and we're all still waiting. Waiting for someone to come. But what if they don't? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning just going for a swim and he tried to save her, and now you're about to crucify him? We can't do this. Every man for himself is not going to work. It's time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we're going to survive here. Now, I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley. I'll take a group in at first light. If you don't wanna come then find another way to contribute. Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now. And god knows how long we're going to be here. But if we can't live together, we're going to die alone."

Jack's eyes caught mine on the last part of his speech and a few minutes after he was finished speaking, I was crushing him in a hug. I could wetness on my arms, my own tears soaking me, but I didn't care.

"Don't ever do that again." I told him once we separated. The look on his face told me he wouldn't. With a small smile, he walked off to speak to other people. I imagined it was to plan their first trip to the fresh water he'd found. A throat cleared loudly behind me and I spun, spotting Sawyer behind me.

"Well," his eyebrows raised with a satisfied smile on his lips. "I hate to say I told you so."

I grinned.