A LOST fanfic: Taken care of

Chapter 20: Hope is all we can ask for

Jack trudged through the sand towards Juliet and Sawyer's tent making it difficult for Kate to keep up with him. Megan's wailing hadn't stopped and it worried him. Kate managed to catch up with a few quick strides of her own.

"Jack why is she still crying?"

Megan's red face got a shade redder as Jack answered his girlfriend.

"She's in pain."

A look of pain crossed Kate's own face. But Jack knew it wasn't physical pain, it was emotional. Kate could see an angry storm brewing behind Jack's seemingly calm expression. Storming over to the front of the tent of Juliet and Sawyer he found her cutting his hair.

"We need to talk Juliet. Out Sawyer. This is private."

Kate shot Sawyer a look of apology and shrugged her shoulders. Juliet put a hand on his shoulder and gave a small smile.

"James its ok. Just go for a walk down the beach. It'll do you some good. Besides I'm sure Aaron would love to have someone help him build his sandcastle over there."

Jaw set, Sawyer stomped off like a child ready to have a tantrum. Turning away from Sawyer Juliet gave her full attention to the howling little baby girl in Jack's arms.

"Jack! Why did you tell me her lips were blue? We need to get her to the medical station immediately and onto monitors."

Juliet ran a finger over Megan's arm and sighed continuing her thought.

"Shh. It's ok sweetie. When did you first notice this?"

Jack rocked an angry looking Megan and tried to speak over her wailing.

"Maybe 20 minutes ago. Kate was the one who discovered her symptoms."

Juliet's eyes roamed over Megan's tiny body wracking her brain for other symptoms she might have.

"She seems to be having trouble catching her breath. Could be from crying for almost 30 minutes though. Let's get her to the medical station and see what's going on exactly."

Jack had never felt so patient before. He'd felt awkward with Aaron after he was born. It wasn't until Juliet informed him that Claire was his half-sister and that Aaron was his nephew that he felt more relaxed around them. Trying to keep Megan comfortable all the while cooing at her, Jack found that as frustrating as fatherhood was sometimes, he had grown comfortable with it.

"Hey. Everything's going to be fine sweetie. Daddy is going to figure out what is going on with you."

All the way to the medical station Jack went over in his head all the things that could be done to help Megan if they were on the mainland. She'd be surrounded by a dozen heart specialists at least and hopefully on a donor list in less than a year. Of course this was only wishful thinking. When they arrived at the medical station he stole a glance over at Kate whose eyes were red-rimmed from crying. He could tell she was at her wits end, but she was trying to stay calm. Inside the room behind the lockers Jack gingerly set Megan down on the exam table her little arms and legs flailing in every direction.

"Shh. Let's figure out what's going on with your heart sweetie."

Juliet took over after she cleaned her hands. Running a gentle hand over Megan's stomach she hoped it would calm her slightly. For a moment it seemed to be working but then

her wailing started up again when Juliet placed a quarter size of conducting gel onto her chest.

"I know sweetie that's cold. I'm sorry."

Jack and Juliet stared at the black and white image of Megan's heart. The squishing sound that it made filled the entire room. Zooming in on the moving image Juliet pointed out the evidence with her index finger.

"Here. You see this Jack? She has two holes in her left ventricle the size of a pin. But the longer we wait, the bigger they'll become. Now why it wasn't apparent to us before I'm not sure. There are two options here: A: We perform major open-heart surgery on her to repair the damage. At this stage in her development though, her organs are still paper-thin. Anything we try and fix will just tear more. Or B: We make her comfortable. I'd have a third option but we don't exactly have a list of donors for heart transplants on the island."

He wasn't accepting Juliet's answer. Option B wasn't an option at all. It felt like giving up to Jack.

"Why are you giving up Juliet?"

Concentrating on wiping the gel from Megan's chest, Juliet ran a free finger over Megan's cheek. Shoulders slightly slumped she barely made eye contact with Jack.

"I'm not giving up Jack. I'm being practical. You of all people should know that. The best I can do for now is make her comfortable until we can find another solution."

Kate had enough and burst into tears. All she wanted to do was scoop her baby up and run from the room, run as far away as she could. A lump began to form in Jack's throat making a difficult to breathe.

"If we aren't able to find a viable solution, how will she...?"

Juliet didn't like this part of her job. As she had once told Jack she wasn't used to being around dying people. She tried to remain emotionless, detached from the situation and yet leave room for empathy only to come up short.

"Most likely in her sleep."

Turning away from a tense Jack, Juliet placed the palms of her hands on the metal countertop and held back a sob. Slamming her right fist into the offending piece of furniture she

let the sob out. Jack giving her a minute went to Kate who was still trying to soothe a screaming Megan. Looking up at the ceiling Juliet yelled, almost forgetting the two frazzled parents with a very ill baby behind her.

"When will you stop tearing children away from their parents!"

Shoulders still slumped, Juliet regained her composure and blotted her face with a couple of tissues. Facing Jack, Juliet felt his strong gentle hands on her shoulders. His eyes held

a large storm in them. Whether it became fierce or not remained to be seen.

"Something tells me this happened before on this island. Tell me what happened."

Juliet had seen Jack angry, but she played it down. Swallowing she went about fiddling with the drawers behind her.

"Megan isn't the first on this island to have a congenital heart defect. There was one other. His mother was bedridden for her entire pregnancy. She could barely stand. I monitored her closely 24/7. She had three injections a day. It wasn't pleasant for either of us. She made it to her six month mark and went into labor. Same as Kate. But I couldn't it stop it.

The mother died on the table of a pulmonary embolism."

Jack's eyes softened as he thought of Megan. Tears were beginning to shine in his eyes but he was doing his utmost best to hide them.

"What happened to the boy?"

Juliet had her eyes on a piece of dirt on Jack's brown shirt.

"He died in-utero. Heart failure due to a 3 millimeter hole in his left ventricle. Hope is all we can ask for Jack. Megan was a miracle. There has to be another solution to our problem. For now though, I can give her something for the pain and to help her sleep. She's exhausted."

His stomach tied in knots, Jack knew that they would have tests to perform once Megan got some rest. He knew now that they had to get the hell off this island.