A LOST fanfic: Taken care of

Chapter 31: A dead end

Hunched over a microscope Juliet squinted her eyes. Jack sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Take a break Juliet. Let me see what I can find."

Reluctantly, Juliet moved her stool over so that Jack could take her place. Putting her bare and swollen feet up on another stool next to her she sighed content with taking the pressure off them. A dizzy spell suddenly seized her and she blacked out. Milliseconds too slow, Jack was unable to prevent Juliet from landing on her side. Wincing, Jack scrambled to his feet and knelt down next to Juliet. Pushing some hair out of her eyes he looked at her carefully. Not moving her still form, he examined her head for any bumps. Worry creased his forehead in great and deep crevices.

"Come on Juliet."

Reaching for the middle drawer under the microscope, Jack pulled out a blood pressure cuff. Wrapping it around her right arm he watched the needle go up as he squeezed the mechanism at the bottom. Letting the air out he frowned at the numbers the needle was indicating.

"90/60. Juliet what is going on?"

He said it more to himself than to an unconscious Juliet. She'd been drinking plenty of water, but he hadn't seen her eat anything since breakfast. She could get very caught up in her work, which was dangerous now more than before. Removing the cuff from around her arm, he saw Juliet's eyes flutter and open slowly. He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from sitting up. Something soft was under her head.

"Jack, what's going on?"

Keeping her calm, Jack explained what happened to a clearly confused Juliet.

"You lost consciousness. You were out for 15 minutes. You need to eat something Juliet. Your blood pressure is 90/60. Those aren't good numbers. Babies are doing just fine. There's no trauma from the fall, no bleeding and no obstructions. Where's Sawyer? He needs to know what happened."

Juliet's face grew red as she managed to get into a comfortable sitting position.

"James went to get me some fish and sea urchin from Jin. He should be back in about 5 minutes."

Jack helped Juliet lean against the counter and handed her some water.

"When I say take it easy Juliet I didn't mean sitting on the stool in front of a microscope and working. That's not taking it easy. Your retaining a lot of water. Your feet are still very swollen. Here put them up on this pile of blankets. I don't want you moving around until you get something into your stomach."

Juliet crossed her arms in protest.

"Ok. But I'll need to use the bathroom soon."

Arms still crossed she opened her mouth but it was Jack who piped up.

"I can help you solve that problem Juliet if you want. It's up to you."

Eyes widening in embarrassment Juliet shook her head.

"Jack we had a deal. Hell no. The deal was the catheter goes in when I go into labor. That was the deal. Nothing before that."

Jack put up his hands in mock surrender and put the catheter back into a drawer off to the side of the microscope station. Relaxing and leaning against the cabinet behind her she
watched as Sawyer entered the room, an old tray from the plane with a cooked fish and some sea urchin. Leaning down and setting the tray on her lap, Sawyer pushed a strand of hair away from her face. It'd fallen out of her messy bun on her head.

"What are you doing down here blondie? I thought you were supposed to be helping the doc find out what that green stuff is in that tube."

A small smile coming to her lips Juliet looked down at the tray in front of her.