Go H.o.m.e, Get [Stoned]

[Marie Kennedy]

( Back on the Island. Open )

Marie was sitting down uncomfortably on a rock, her backside leaning on (surprise!) another rock and she was chewing on her nails, thoughtfully. She had woken up this morning in the cave, and just like all the other mornings, it took her a few seconds to realise where she was and how she had ended up there. The memories were miles from anything you could call a nice wake up call. It was very hard to realise how she was somehow starting to get used to it. Not that she found the situation normal and pleasing now - hell no! It just became ... clearer, less surreal than it was in the beginning.

The pain of her mother's loss was still the same, if not greater, but now she understood that it had happened. She was no more stuck in 'childish-denial' land, but all the credits somehow went to herself. The other survivors, which she had made a pretty lousy job at avoiding, were learning to stop asking questions about why she was alone, and she was completely fine with that. Less questions, less answers, less answers, less conversation. Less conversation about her mother, less memories...

However, memories were not something you were able to just shut out, just like her horrible headache. However, there was a clear solution to it all, a solution that the society loved to use to solve every problem ; medication. She had seen Jack giving pills to someone. To whom and why - she didn't care. The important thing now was that she knew exactly where to find the pills, and that was why she had been sitting on her rock, staring at the suitcase from times to times. She had been very patient, and this area of the caves was now empty.

But why wouldn't she ask Jack for the pills, like anyone else would ? Simple... Because he wouldn't be giving her the desired amount of pills she wanted. The girl herself wasn’t entirely realising what she was about to do. She wasn't even sure if she was seeking to stop her headache, or something else... Marie watched as the last person left the cave after taking his backpack and water bottle with him. Her following movements seemed like the ones of a machine and the teenager got up almost unconsciously, making her way to the 'medical corner' at full speed.

She kneeled down, opened the suitcase in a flash and stared down at the reasonable amount of pills cotenants. She looked over her shoulder and her green eyes darted off to the entrance of the cave... No one in sight. Marie returned to her search, chewing on her lower lip nervously.

'Something strong, something strong...' She muttered to herself, seizing a few cotenants to read the medical writings on the cup.

[shannon]

The air was stifling. What she wouldn't give for a nice, air-conditioned hotel room. With spa service. God, how she needed a manicure. A massage would be nice, too. Maybe a facial. But these things, the creature comforts of civilization, were little more than distant memories now. Instead, her life was steamy hot air, sand, and bugs. Oh, the bugs.

Sick of sitting out on the beach to get burned by the sun and bitten by nasty little creatures too small to be seen, Shannon had decided to trek into the jungle towards the caves. She hated the caves normally, but she had to admit, she was craving the shelter from the sun. The air in the caves was usually cool. And she'd heard Michael had set up some short of shower thing using the waterfall. It would be so nice to have clean hair for a change. Washing it in the ocean just dried it out.

But as she approached the caves, all was quiet. The silence was eerie, now that she was used to having 40 some odd people everywhere she went. She didn't even know what it was like to be alone anymore. Everywhere she turned was some other person that she didn't know or care about.

"Hello?" she called tentatively. "Anyone here? Or did you all get eaten by polar bears?"

She almost laughed at the polar bear comment. What a weird freaky place this island was, anyway.

[Marie Kennedy]

She didn't get any of the writings on the pills cups, she could even swear that some of them were written in freaking Korean! All the names didn’t ring any bells. They weren't anything close to some well known antibiotics, like Advils, Tylenols, nor even Viagra. Then again, that was a good sign - wasn't she looking for anything but headache treatment ? Yes she was, and she had made it very clear to herself. So why was she so hesitant regarding her choice of pills ? She was just so puzzled about them all, about which to choose and how many to take... but there was no hesitations allowed ! She was going to clear her mind of all that crap with any measures meant necessaries, and right now the pills were her last resort.

She dropped the cups she was holding and took another handful of medication, reading trough the notifications quickly when a distant sound startled her with terror. Her green eyes widened and she spun her head around to gaze behind her, listening. 'Shit!' she muttered, trough her clenched teeth. Someone was there, and judging by the now stronger feminine voice, she was getting closer. The girl had to act fast while she still could.

Marie threw half of her pile back into the damaged suitcase, keeping two medium sized cups in her right hand before closing the suitcase in the blink of an eye. She then got back up on her feet at full speed and shoved the pills in the front pocket of the black hoodie she was wearing before jumping off the rock that consisted the ground of the 'medical lab'. She had left the scene of her crime just in time before she could spot a tall, blonde haired figure at the end of the caves. Shannon... Well, as long as it wasn't Jack, or even Sawyer, she would be able to talk her way out of it all. She was unable to lie to tall, confident guys... Just the thought made her shiver.

The teenager swallowed hard. She wouldn't have to lie as long as she didn’t give anyone any reasons to be suspicious about her for anything. She had been too nervous to register the woman's question when she had entered the cave and so she stared at her as casually as possible, her small hands hidden in her pocket, tightly wrapped around the pills cotenants.

[shannon]

Shannon stood on the fringe of the cave camp for a long moment, listening for any sound of any other person. The deafening silence chilled her, and she wondered if she should turn back. This seemed like the opening scene of every crappy slasher flick she'd ever watched: The innocent and beautiful blonde (which was her, of course) wanders through the jungle and finds her campsite abandoned. She walks slowly through the camp, looking around for any sign of her friends, unaware that she's being stalked by the stealthy serial killer. Just as she finds the bodies of her friends lined up neatly inside the cave, the killer comes up behind her and kills her, blah, blah, blah. She could practically write it herself.

"OK, crazed serial killer, I'm on to you," she said in a low voice. She reached into her bag and pulled out a can of hairspray. If she was about to be accosted, she would be ready. Not that such things ever worked in the movies. She'd probably end up spraying the eyes of the only person in the camp who could protect her from the killer.

Normally, of course, she would have thought she was just being ridiculous for thinking such thoughts. But on this freaky island, she reasoned, it seemed like anything was possible, especially if it was bad. And everyone knew that there were other people on the island. So she decided it couldn't help to be prepared.

As she walked further into the camp, wielding her can of hairspray in front of her like a can of mace, she looked around cautiously. "Hello? Where the hell is everyone?"

No sooner had she spoken those words did she hear a rustling sound coming from inside the cave. Oh, God, it better not be a polar bear, she thought. Biting on her lower lip, Shannon moved closer to the cave.

A minute later, someone walked out of the cave, looking wide-eyed and nervous. It was the teenager, Mary... no, wait... Marie. Shannon didn't know her well. The girl seemed to prefer keeping to herself.

"Oh, it's you," she said. "What were you doing in there? Where is everybody?"

[Jack Shephard]

"C'mon Jack! Some old sod on the plane HAD to have some--some morphine! T-That'll make me feel--"

Jack felt a sigh escape his lips. Charlie was going through probably day two or three of withdrawls, and the worst was yet to come. Still, the young man looked horrible, pale and shaking, and for a brief second, Jack pitied him. "Charlie," Jack said, a frown spreading on his face as he bent down to dip the rag into the surprisingly cool waters of the Caves. His shoulder still throbbed, and he knew Charlie knew that he was taking painkillers for the pain, however mild they were. "You know as well as I do that if I give you anything opiate-based, it'll just set you back ten steps. You don't want to exacerbate the problem--"

"B-But I do! I do! They--they say I'm a chronic exacerbator!"

At Jack’s look, Charlie found himself laughing slightly, though he frowned as waves of shooting pain traveled through his stomach. He wrapped his arms around his torso with a frown. "Ow. Ow, don't make me laugh."

Jack shook his head slightly, the slight smirk slowly falling off of his face. "Look, Charlie, I'll look and see if I can find some 800mg of Motrin. I think there's some left, but that's about all I can give you right now. It'll help, but you'll have to get through this by yourself. You can do it, I'm sure you can. I'll be back soon."

Jack moved from Charlie to weave through the caves to where his medical luggage bag sat, only to see Shannon and another survivor hunched over his medical bag. Jack's eyebrow arched as he walked up, seeing the medical bag halphazardly strewn. His eyebrow arched higher as he looked at the young girl. Marie, yes, that was it. Jesus, did he have ANOTHER addict to worry about?

"Somethin' I can help you find, Marie?"

[Marie Kennedy]

She sucked in a deep breath when she registered the identity of the woman that had been talking to her. She was tall, slender and blond... Shannon. That was a good thing. She didn't mind Shannon, for the simple and good reason that the women didn't know much about her and that she wasn't really one to ask personal questions... as far as she could tell. She didn't really want to lie to anyone, but now that it had to come down to it, she preferred having to do so with her.

Marie smiled awkwardly to Shannon's words, as if to look sorry for not being however it was she might've been expecting. '' Oh, I'm just, you know, '' She cleared her throat and made her voice as flat as possible. '' Just goofing around. '' She made it sound as uninteresting as possible. It was only half a lie. She was goofing around, indeed, but the results wouldn't be as harmless and insignificant as she made them sound. The woman didn't have to know, tough. She didn't deserve the burden of knowing Marie's intentions regarding her own health.

She stepped further away from the medical corner, casually, trying to keep up some sort of smiling face. She was about to answer Shannon's other question, regarding the other survivors, when footsteps were heard in the distance. Marie's eyes darted up to see who was joining them in the caves, and they widened to the sight of Jack, walking straight up to them.

The 'Sh**' word rang repetitively in her head like a choir as she reminded herself to look as innocent as possible, keeping the pills safely hidden in the depths of her pockets. Her plan was now to walk away and make herself as undetectable as possible, but it was jeopardized before she even got the chance to move an inch. She pressed her lips together and looked up to Jack when he questioned her. She frowned lightly, trying to look amused by his question, as if she didn't see why he would be asking that. '' Hmm, Me ? No, nothing. '' She stated with a shrug of her shoulders, making a step forward, past the tall man.

[Jack Shephard]

Jack prided himself in his ability to pick things apart. Even the smallest things, and as he looked at Marie, he noticed her fumbling in her hoodie pocket, the way she looked too amused at what he was saying, the way her eyes darted towards the left and then to the right...she was lying.

She pushed past him, and he moved, grabbing her upper arm to stop her. Jack leaned down towards her ear. "I don't know what you took, but put it back and we'll forget it ever happened." If there was one thing he didn't like was people taking as they needed from his med bag. He already had one drug addict that he had to take care of, he really wasn't looking to take care of another.

"You need something? You don't take, you ask me, and I'll give it to you." He looked down at her hoodie pocket, waiting for her to turn it out. "Come on, I don't have time for this."

[Marie Kennedy]

There was a sudden block in her throat when something caught her by the arm, and her eyes darkened with anger suddenly as she looked up to Jack, to find out that he really was holding her back. '' What do you... '' She started, but she was soon cut by him as he spoke to her in a low voice, to make sure that Shannon couldn't hear them. Marie looked away and pressed her lips together. She didn't care to know how he did, but he did know what she had done. She mentally screamed at herself for whatever it was that she had done to make herself get caught.

He might not have been aware, but he had just lied. He wouldn't have given her what she wanted if she had asked, and thus it had forced her to go for it herself. She wasn't planning on getting caught, not at all. She had struggled for the contrary, but against all odds, she had to fail. And, there she was, trapped.

Her eyes darted up to glance at Shannon for one short second. She had to be witnessing the whole thing, curiously. This was bad. She couldn't see any sort of way to get out of this safely. All the exits were ugly to her. If she just did as he said, which was as likely as finding an army of flying pigs on her way out, he would still check what kind of pills she had taken, and the teenager had no idea of how strong they were, and that would bring up questions.

Reason was fighting with her stupid impulses as she stared down at Jack's hand, wrapped around her arm. There was still the opportunity to run... But Marie wasn't that desperate, and it was somehow painful to realise. Why wouldn't she want to end everything, bad enough to run from him? No. She did want to, and she would, even if that meant putting up a childish fight with anyone that would attempt to stop her. He was expecting her to surrender, but she wasn't going to… at least not really.

'' Just let me go. '' She spoke darkly, refusing to meet his gaze and admit defeat. Reason had definitely lost the fight, just like it did so many times, in the past. He wouldn't let her go, and her plan was about to be burned to ashes.

[shannon]

Shannon watched as Jack appeared from out of nowhere and accused Marie of stealing something from his medical bag. It didn't surprise her, really. Who knew what kinds of medications Jack had scrounged up from the wreckage? And they all knew so little about each other that there had to be a few people with some pretty dark secrets.

For example, just because Jack said he was a doctor, how did they know he was telling the truth? He could just be lying in order to make himself the leader of the group. Or maybe he'd been lying in his real life and he was actually a pervert who just liked to get women's clothes off and do unspeakable things to them under anesthesia.

But as she looked at him--tall, strong, and handsome, looking rather like an overgrown boy scout, she knew that none of that could be true. Oh, she didn't doubt that he had his dark side--after all, everyone did. She sure as hell did. She was a bitch, pure and simple, and she knew it. She was a liar and a user and a snob. She hadn't cared about any of that before, but suddenly, thrown in with people she didn't know and with nothing to really gain from anyone, she wondered to herself if maybe she could be different. Like maybe she could start again. Of course, it would be easier if Boone wasn't around to judge her and to give her that long-suffering look all the time.

She moved her eyes past Jack and looked at the girl. It had to be hard for her. She was so young, and she was alone. And yet, she made it worse by keeping to herself. And if she was stealing drugs from Jack's bag... well, that certainly wasn't going to help her situation one bit.

Marie had that look about her that hinted at the potential to be pretty, underneath her messy hair and dark clothes and heavy eyeliner. If they'd met anywhere else, Shannon would have taken the girl to the mall for a much-needed makeover. But, hell, maybe she still could. Maybe if she looked better, she'd feel better about herself and she wouldn't feel the need to steal drugs from Jack.

"Seriously, Marie, did you take something?" she asked, stepping into the situation. Perhaps it was unwise, but she was a witness, and as such, she was already involved. "Whatever it is, I'm sure you don't really need it. Just give it to Jack, and you can come with me for a talk. What do you say?"

[Jack Shephard]

Jack's hand wrapped around Marie's small wrist, and he shook his head. Shannon spoke, and his eyes glanced at the blonde before looking at Marie once again. Whatever was happening with her, he'd try as hard as he could to take care of it. Charlie was withdrawling, and he was handling it as best he could without a detox unit, and if Marie was also using or withdrawing, he'd deal with that too.

"Look, I know you think you can't talk to anyone here," Jack said, loosening his grip slightly on her arm. "but you can talk to me. Whatever it is, I can help you. Just give me whatever you took and we'll talk about it."

[Marie Kennedy]

[ Sorry for the wait - and weirdness XP ]

It had to look so freaking pathetic, from the outside. If you ever had the will to look at it in a comical way, you could pretty well compare the teenager to a dwarf, thinking fiercely that she had any chances or skills to fight an elf's battle. Yet, she stood her ground.

While she was still silently praying that Jack would succumb to her order, or pleading, and that she insisted on not meeting his glance, she heard Shannon speak, and she couldn't prevent her green eyes from darting off to her. She took in her words and there was a sudden clog in her throat. The girl would've been thankful, some times ago or in any other circumstances, but for the time being, the woman's apparent concern scared her, or at least the way she let out the possibility that they could talk about her actions seemed like concern... Talk. It was the last thing she wanted, the very thing she seeked to avoid by taking a little sneaky trip to Jack's medical bag.

Afraid that her eyes could betray her again, Marie tore her eyes away from Shannon's and intended to walk away, but Jack's hold on her didn't allow her to. This was ridiculous. It was supposed to be simple. She hadn't even considered the possibility of getting caught, and she was now at a total loss of anything to do. She did not wanted to talk, to remember why she was suffering and why she would steal medication, in order to make it go away.

Even tough there was clearly a dim spark of reason left, inside of her. Just a tiny little voice that still persisted to tell the truth, that screamed its lungs out for help, because it knew what Marie was going trough and what she needed above all things, at the moment, well the teenager wouldn't let it talk, nor would she listen to it. Her pride, as foolish and senseless as it was, always took the upper hand in those situations, until the very end. But it wasn't doing a very successful job, however. It couldn't think of anything to say or do - way too busy trying to hold the broken mess that she was together.

She had to take a deep breath when Jack spoke the same kind of words, the one that brought realisation and memories to her. She didn't need this, and before she even knew it, she cut him mid-phrase, snapping her head up to glance at him. '' You don't know what you're talking about! '' The clog in her throat had made her voice husky, making her regret ever trying to sound tough. Feeling the emergency to escape growing bigger, she could only repeat her words again. It was so useless, yet it was all she could manage. '' Just let me go. ''

[Jack Shephard]

It was like the ER all over again. The drug users and the runaways and the people that no one loved, they had all come to his ER, and he had to tell them that they didn't need one more hit. That there was other ways. He glanced at Shannon for a brief second before looking at Marie once again. "Five minutes. That's all I'm asking. And you can even time me if you want." he told her and moved her over, away from Shannon. He let her go, ready to chase after her if she decided to run. "Look, I'm not the best at this, alright? I've been told that my doctor to patient conversational skills are less than stellar, but...but just listen to me for two seconds. Maybe you are right. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about and maybe this is all a misunderestanding, but I have a pretty good feeling that it's not. And believe me, if I could reach into my bag and take a couple clonazepam and relax, I would. But I can't, because in the end, it's going to run out, and in the end, it's not going to fix anything."

"I've seen what happens to people that try to chase away their problems." he thought of his father, drinking in Sydney...dying in Sydney...

He pushed the thought of his mind and looked from the ground to Marie. "All I'm saying is that I may not know what's going on, as you say...but I understand. And I also know if you take too many of those, I'm going to have a possibly dead girl on the floor of the Caves. And we've got a kid here, Marie. And a pregnant woman. I really don't want to upset them, or the other passengers. So please. Just give them to me. If you need something to help you sleep, to help you calm down, I can give you something. Just let me help you."

[shannon]

Shannon stood awkwardly by, trying to decide what to do next. Technically, she had made her offer and been rejected, and Jack seemed to have things under at least some kind of control. So she was released of her responsibility, right? Yet, somehow, it felt wrong to leave. She stood there, vaguely annoyed, trying to make out what Jack was saying. They were standing just out of range of her hearing, so she could only catch a word here and there.

Clearly, the kid was a junkie. And Shannon hated junkies. Sure, she'd tried her share of legal and illegal drugs, but ever enough to become a full-on junkie. Ever since she'd had to hold a friend's hair while she threw up uncontrollably while going through withdrawal from cocaine, she knew she could never allow herself to lose that much control. She wondered what had ever happened to the girl she'd partied with in St. Tropez.... what was her name? Jane? Jeanne? Was the girl even still alive, after all the crap she'd put her body through?

Oh, well. The point was, she knew how pathetic and hopeless a real junkie could be. Now she understood the hollow, desperate look in Marie's eyes. But did she want to be responsible for the girl? It made more sense to leave her to Jack. He was a doctor, after all. Yet she still stood there, watching. Maybe it was just a perverse curiosity. Or maybe she genuinely wanted to help. She wasn't sure.

[Marie Kennedy]

(( Sorry for the wait! But I'm all back together now. ))

She could not believe that this was happening - the one awkward moment of a lifetime between an overreacting teenager and a 'full grown adult' was happening, to her. However, she let him lead her a few steps away from Shannon, and she rolled her eyes out of his sight before glancing back at the woman, shortly.

She gave him an annoyed nod of her head when he mentioned he only asked for a few minutes, and she did thought about timing him, as he even suggested, and she didn’t show any surprise at his statement of how his patient talk might just suck. But seeing as she didn’t have a watch on her, all she did was glance down and listen.

Maybe he was right. Maybe he could use a few pills once in a while, but that it wouldn't change anything for him... But it wasn't the same for her. She did not wanted a little medical cheer up, once in a while... and it would fix something - everything, in the end.

He claimed that he had witnessed people trying to handle their problems the way she did - or well at least, however he thought she did - and quite frankly, the teenager wasn't all that surprised, but she made it look like it was an important statement by finally bringing her attention to him, lifting her gaze to stare at him. He was an adult and a doctor, which gave him a lot more experience in life itself than she had, and it was most likely that he had to deal with suicidal patients - not that she was consciously attributing that qualification word to herself.

Obviously, the enlightenment he might have wanted to trigger did not happen, and she let him go on after what seemed to be a moment of hesitation. Hell, maybe he had dealt with some very suicidal wackos, after all - what with him seemingly going thought a mental breakdown, by remembering them! But she didn’t let a flow of compassion overwhelm her, though in any other given occasions, she would have.

The words that followed his statement, however, did manage to shake Marie, somehow, as safely hidden as she was, behind her stone expression. Her glance began to shift away, and she glanced up at him - clueless. He understood?... She was expecting some moral, a sermon about her behaviour, strict and empty. Something the adults that ever entered her life, in the past, always did… But Jack understood? She wasn’t planning on being understood – she couldn’t be… Getting away became a bigger priority.

Realising that the confusion might just be showing in her eyes, she looked away and arched one of her thin eyebrows. ‘’ Wow… Your talk does suck! ‘’ The teenager said, trying to make the situation lighter for herself, with some cheap sarcasm and a fake crooked smile. Her hand was now wrapped more tightly around the pills cotenants, and she let out a deep sigh.

Her hand slowly slip out of her pocket, holding three small cotenants, and she looked away as she handed them to Jack in a sharp movement. That was it. Her pride took a hard hit in the balls ( if that was possible ), but if she gave him what he wanted, then maybe he would stop confusing her.

[Jack Shephard]

For a second, Jack thought that it wasn't going to work. She wasn't going to budge, but yet, as he followed her eyes, he saw something in them that told him whatever he had said...well, it had worked. Because as she looked back at him and reached into her pocket, she pulled out three bottles of pills and sharply handed them to him.

He exhailed the breath that he hadn't known he was holding, and lifted the bottles to his eyesight to read them.

"Darvocet, a bottle of...vitamins, and...blood pressure medication."

Jack looked from the bottles to Marie. "Did you even read what you were taking, or did you just reach in blindly?" he asked. "Minus the vitamins, the blood thinner medication could have caused you to bleed out. The darvocet could have caused stomach cramps before you probably would have had some sort of sezuire, painful and then you might have either gone into respitory arrest or into a coma. It's hard to tell."

He paused for a moment, and then looked fromt he bottle. "It's very good that you gave me these, Marie. I want you to know that." he told her honestly. "And if you need anything, or just want someone to listen, I'm here, but you can't go in my bag anymore, understand? You need something, I'll give it to you."