I have no excuse for the ridiculous wait, suffice it to say life's gotten more eventful lately. I do, however have an urgent story related issue. When Boone gets hurt and Claire's in labor where should Emma be? Also I have a bribe-if you review I will send you an outtake for Where are we? that won't be posted on Fanfiction. So review please!

The next few days I felt like my nerves were stretching to their max and beyond. After the first two days it seemed like everyone had given up hope. Charlie had gotten hurt on one of the hikes and Jack banned him from looking for Claire; he took to sitting by the fire, staring into the embers while he let it go out. Bathing took more out of me then I had thought and when Jack came back to check on me I was commanded to stay in either the infirmary or an alcove near him, I wasn't even allowed to pick produce until my head started to close up. I wasn't happy with the doctors' orders; sitting on a log waiting for news from the more able-bodied people who were out hunting for Claire. I joined Charlie and we sat in silence for hours at a time until Sun stopped by with herbal ointments.

She chattered in Korean for a minute and I tried understanding her. "여러분의 타박상 들어" she said, offering me a slab of gooey green stuff. She tapped her shin and pointed to my injured leg.

"For my leg?" I asked, taking a finger full and holding it up to my bruise.

She nodded quickly, and then reached around to hold up another. "꿰맨데을 돕기 위해" She brushed her hairline, then rubbed her temples.

I dabbed my shin, hissing at the painful pressure. "My head?" My fingers danced across my stitches. She nodded. "What about this?" I exposed my stomach bruise and she made a small noise of sympathy. She held the green ointment up.

"적용을 하루에 두 번. 그들은 여러분의 부상을 도와드립니다." She held up two fingers and moved them one-hundred and eighty degrees slowly. "하루에 두 번. 아침과 밤에. 하루에 두 번"

"Two. Twice? Twice a day?" I held up my fingers in response.

She smiled. "예, 하루에 두 번." She leaned back on her heels and folded her hands in her lap. "당신은 아주 용감했다. 난 네 친구가 실종 죄송합니다." She looked sad.

"Thank you."I said, touching her knee gently. "I appreciate this. Very much."

"너 뭐하는거야?" Jin called harshly. "나랑 같이있어."

She looked behind herself, panicked. "하루에 두번, 기억" She urged, holding her fingers up again.

What she said sounded familiar. "Twice a day." I replied, raising my fingers too. "Thank you." I smiled hopefully.

She hurried back to her husband and I pretended not to notice his angry voice. It wasn't like I wanted him to keep yelling at her but they didn't speak the language and anything I said would be incomprehensible to them. Charlie helped me apply the head salve which felt wonderfully cooling along my broken skin, and held my shirt so I could gently cover my big bruise with the green stuff. It felt more or less the same but my head felt so much better I felt myself doze off, head tilted back on a log, pants still rolled up to my knees. When I awoke it was evening, and there was a small pile of raw fruits and vegetables next to me.

"Boone brought them for you." Locke saw me looking curiously around the camp. "He borrowed your book, he hoped you didn't mind."

I enthusiastically pulled a dragon fruit out of the heap and used his offered knife to slice it open. "It's your book really," I said, digging into the flesh with my plastic spoon delightedly. "I just wish he were here so I could thank him. Any luck today?" Locke and Boone seemed to be the only ones who hadn't given up hope. The trail was gone but they went anyway, starting at the spot Charlie had been found at and searching from there.

"Not today." He replied, shifting as if uncomfortable. "Ethan was a great tracker. I don't know that we'll find anything anymore."

For the umpteenth time I wished I was able to do something. It was as if everyone at the caves was in on Jack's plot to keep me trapped there. Hurley in particular was an annoyingly chipper (and determined) jailhouse warden that somehow managed to pop up every time I thought I was home free. "Well thank you," I sighed. "I'd like to come with you once I get the okay."

"I don't think that would be a good idea." He looked at me seriously. "Your strengths are in providing for the group. You don't need to be wandering in the forest chasing after your friend."

I teared up a little in anger. "I can wander and provide." I spat. "I'm not giving up."

"No one is giving up. I believe the island will return Claire in a matter of time."

His calm expression only furthered soured my temper and I stood, swallowing the last of the dragon fruit. "Sorry I don't share your faith." I gathered the produce in my shirt, holding it like a pouch and stormed off into the direction of the little alcove I called home while Claire was gone. I swore, as I settled my presents into a hollow space that I'd find her, and then never let her out of my sight again. Settling in on a log beside Charlie I sighed. "Would you go with me to look for her?"

He didn't look up from his guitar. Lately he'd been strumming it with enthusiasm I hadn't seen from him since the peanut butter episode. "Jack says you still need a few days."

I felt the traces of annoyance returning full force. "I know what he said. When I've got the okay will you go with me?"

"I can't hunt. Or track." He said sadly, finally looking up. "I'd be bloody useless in looking for her. Ask Locke or Kate."

My shoulders sunk. "Locke already shut me down." I replied guiltily. "And Kate and I's bonding moment" here I made quotation marks with my fingers, "Was over once Jack finished stitching me up."

"Why do you have such a problem with her?" he asked curiously, placing his guitar to the side. "She's perfectly normal."

I snorted. "I'm sure she is. She just rubs me the wrong way is all. It's hard to explain."

"Ah, the intricacies of the female mind." He teased, rolling his eyes dramatically.

I gently shoved his shoulder and smiled. "What were you playing?" I asked curiously.

He glanced down at a pad of paper near his knee. "Oh. I erm- I was writing." He cleared his throat. "A song."

I felt myself perk up. "Oh yeah? How's it coming?"

"Alright. I just started really." He hunched his shoulders over the guitar. "It's for Claire, when she gets back."

I leaned back on my hands. "Could I hear it?" I asked tentatively.

"Alright." He nodded slowly. "It's pretty rough yet." He cleared his throat and began to strum softly. "Their words mostly noises. Ghosts with just voices. Your words in my memory. Are like music to me. I'm miles from where you are, I lay down on the cold ground. I, I pray that something picks me up; and sets me down in your warm arms."

I smiled. "It's really nice." I commented. "It's soulful. Claire will love it."

He gave me a small smile. "I'm still working on it. It's a new approach for me, ya know?"

"It's really great." I nodded. "Think you've got a hit on your hands."

By the time Jack had given me the okay to leave the caves I'd come around to the idea that I'd end up monster chow if I went off in the jungle without a tracker, and since no tracker was willing to help me I was stuck hoping and praying for Claire's safe return. During the day it wasn't so bad- I picked produce and helped some of the people at the beach camp move their things away from the rising tide. At night though I had terrible nightmares of Claire getting poked and prodded with intimidating medical equipment that in some versions were so shiny they lit the entire room and in other versions were rusty bloody mangled messes. In most of them I was tied down to a bed adjacent to her; forced to watch her face as it went from absolute calm to abject terror. One of them made me into the head surgeon, leading the others in slicing open her belly and pulling her baby out screaming. I'd wake up drenched in sweat and panting, facing Charlie's worried face. He had been staying near me at night in hopes that it would help my nightmares but the truth was Ethan took Claire right out from under the both of us so how could I expect him to protect me? I thought about bunking in the little alcove near Jack again but the fact that he'd gone up against Ethan and lost didn't boost my confidence in his skills as a guardian. I ended up holing myself up in a corner and going to sleep right after serving everyone dinner. That way I had plenty of time to wake up repeatedly from my nightmares but still get a decent amount of sleep. The first day I did it I woke right before sunrise and was surprised to see Locke filling his water bottle.

He didn't seem to notice me until I was squatted next to him. "Good morning."

"Morning." He didn't sound surprised. Not that I thought much surprised him. "You're up early."

I ducked my head and sipped some water. "Couldn't sleep." I admitted. "What are you doing up?"

He gave me an odd look. "Boar hunting." He said shortly.

"By yourself?" I eyed the knife sticking out of his knapsack. I heard footsteps at the cave arch and saw Boone heading towards us.

"You're up early." He said by way of greeting.

I smiled wanly. "So are you."

He shifted from one foot to the other. "We're going hunting." He said, not meeting my eyes.

"That's what I hear. Bring back a big one." I raised my hand to scratch my stitches but caught myself just in time. "Thank you for the produce the other day." I said shyly. "It's been getting hard to find dragon fruit; it's my favorite."

He gave me a smile. "Yeah, no problem."

"You should stay for dinner." I offered. "You said you'd try some of my cooking."

His head bobbed as he glanced from Locke to me and back again. "I um- I'm not sure if we'll be back by then." He cleared his throat.

I nodded. "Oh, okay." I replied, a little confused by his awkwardness.

Locke was already slipping into the forest. "We'd better go." He said, more to Boone then me.

Boone nodded at him then quickly knelt to refill his water bottle. "I'll see you later." He offered, disappearing into the jungle behind Locke.

"Well that was weird." I said to myself quietly. I gave myself a mini sponge bath, getting my face, back of the neck & knees as well as the small of my back and other stinky, sweaty parts rinsed and refreshed. God I miss indoor plumbing. By the time I was done most of everyone was awake and I went picking for some more braising greens and starches. Most of the fruits near the caves were picked clean but people were still sort of afraid to pick vegetables so I didn't have to go far to find Gabi and Calabasas to mash, and Kamunggay, Kangkong, banana buds, lotus roots & long beans to spoon on top. I found some chilies and garlic for flavor and scaled a coconut tree to grab a couple coconuts to sauté everything with. I returned to the caves loaded down and was startled to see what had become my cooking area piled high with fruits. "Uh okay." I said, drawing out the y confusedly.

"Oh, so we thought you could make dessert." Hurley shifted his weight from side to side. "There's bananas, papayas, mangoes, guava, passion fruit, star fruit, dragon fruit, kiwi. The Korean chick brought some kind of nuts." He gestured to a small piece of plane doubling as a bowl holding what looked like almonds already shelled.

I was a little annoyed. "I'll need some help." I replied crossly. "Someone to keep an eye on the starches and help prep the vegetables. I'm also gonna need at least three more coconuts."

He nodded, obviously relieved. "Alright, cool. I guess I'll get some." He wandered off and I let out a sigh, blowing a loose hair out of my eyes.

"도움이 필요하십니까?" I turned to see Sun looking at me apprehensively, holding a bundle of what looked like cucumbers .

"Oh." I hated language barriers. "Um, put those over here I guess. I mean if they're for the group." I settled my vegetables on the ground and made big hand gestures to try and communicate all this food was for everyone.

She smiled and added her cucumbers to the pile. "당신도 원한다면 나는 저녁 식사를 만들기 위해 도움이됩니다" She pointed to the pile of fruit and then back to herself.

"You brought the nuts I heard. Thank you for shelling them." I tucked my hair behind my ears and mentally went over what I needed to do first. I separated the Gabi and Calabasas from the rest of my produce and was surprised when Sun joined me. "You want to help?"

She nodded shyly. "제가 도움이됩니다. 당신도 무엇이 필요합니까?"She pointed to herself again.

"Um okay. You can wash, you know wash?" I mimed washing the tuber.

She nodded again. "야채를 청소하십시오. 예. 이해합니다." She gathered the starches in a purse and hauled it towards the spring. While she was carting the various vegetables back and forth I organized my space. Since all the fruits had skins they were okay to stay on the ground until I needed them, and I took stock of my cooking utensils. A medium sized chunk of airplane wall served as a wok of sorts, and a metal bucket someone found somewhere that wound up with me as well. Filling it up with water I hung it above an established fire to begin boiling. I added a little evaporated seawater for salt and began whacking at coconuts to get to the coconut water. Sun seemed to laugh a little at my energetic if futile efforts. "나는 누군가 당신을 도와 얻을 것이다" She held up her finger and wandered off for a moment, returning with Michael.

He laughed at me a little too. "Need some help?"

"Yes please." I replied, smiling gratefully. "I may need you and Walt to help mash later. It's Hard to do in big batches."

He nodded, focusing on the coconut. "Yeah no problem. Just let me know."

Between Sun's exacting skills slicing up fruits and vegetables and Michael's willingness to put Walt to work it turned out I had very little to do in the process of making dinner. I kept an eye on the starches and with some palm fronds tied together we managed to drain them relatively easily. Michael and Walt mashed and Hurley finally returned with more coconuts so I put Sun in charge of sautéing the vegetables while I dug out the coconut meat to toss on our fruit salad dessert. I also grilled the pineapple, mango and papaya to make it a little different from what everyone was probably eating all day. By the time night fell and everyone gathered around the campfires to eat I had a moment to think about Claire, and was immediately hit with guilt. Looking around I noticed Locke was back but not Boone.

"No luck today?" I asked pleasantly, handing him a plate.

He shook his head. "Doesn't look like we need it." He replied, taking a bite. "You seem to have grown into the role of provider well."

I fidgeted a little, uncomfortable with how he was characterizing me. "I had lots of help." I stammered. "Did Boone already go back to the beach?"

He nodded sagely. "He has some business to take care of. He'll be back in the morning."

I was a little irritated that Boone so blatantly blew me off. What, did he have a hot date? Doubtful on this island.