Lost and Found

23

Elyse felt relief wash over her when she heard the familiar voice.

"John? Is that you?"

Richard called out in confusion, with his gun aimed toward him still.

Elyse examined his features once he came into view, and sure enough, it was John Locke. He smiled up at them, pulling together the wrinkles around his eyes.

"Hold on, let me get you all down from there."

He called out in response before swiftly pulling a large knife from his waist and slicing the rope to Richard's trap first, causing him to hit the ground with a thud.

He then stepped over to help the two of them. Elyse kept her arms wrapped tightly around Desmond's hard chest, burying her face there and inhaling one last breath of his intoxicating scent, while she braced herself for the impact.

She felt Desmond wrap his arms around her at the last minute, just before the rope was cut and gravity was rapidly pulling them down to slam onto the hard ground beneath them.

Desmond grunted when his back hit the dirt and Elyse held her breath. She was surprised at the softness of her fall, when she'd landing right on top of Desmond. She quickly pushed herself off of him, worried he'd been hurt, and crouched beside him to scan his body for any obvious injury.

"Are you okay?"

She asked him as she brushed his wild, brown, hair away from his face with her thumb, to check for any bleeding around his head.

He groaned lightly before slowly sitting up and looking at her with amusement in his warm brown eyes.

"Aye, fit as a fiddle."

He told her playfully while he lifted his arm to reveal his bloody, skinned elbow.

"I suppose I should ask you the same, in case my body wasn't soft enough for ya."

He added with a light chuckle, going to return his arm to his side when Elyse quickly grabbed it to examine the injury closer.

"Do we have a first aid kit or something?"

She thought aloud, hoping that Locke or Richard would have something to clean it at the least.

"Nope, sorry. Is it bad?"

Locke replied, leaning down to look at Desmond's elbow with her now while Richard shook his head and stared at Locke in confusion still.

"Don't worry about it, it's just a little scrape. Doesn't even hurt much."

Desmond replied, pulling his arm away and standing to his feet in one swift motion, causing Elyse to follow suite.

"What are you doing out here John?"

Richard asked skeptically, watching Locke's every move with fire burning in his intense eyes.

"Jacob sent me. He knew you would need my help and, look at that, he was right."

Locke replied with his usual friendly smile, seeming completely unfazed by Richard's obvious suspicion of him.

"Jacob? But he told me it would just be the two of them and myself."

Richard replied, gesturing toward Elyse and Desmond, dumbfounded.

"Well as you know, Jacob isn't shy to a change of plans. We ought to keep on now, it'll be dark soon."

He replied causally, sliding the knife back into the holster on his waist before heading off into the jungle, likely expecting them to follow.

Elyse and Desmond looked to Richard for a moment, waiting to see if he would follow before they did so.