[for Greg] Remember

[more_flexible]

Jack had decided that all the lifting and carrying he did was good for his arms and back, but his ass wasn't stellar and his legs...well, okay. So he had a moment of complete vanity. Looking in the mirror, he'd decided to run. He didn't tell House, that was just taunting. He didn't tell anyone, he simply headed south toward the lagoon and took off running on the hard packed wet sand. He figured he could get to the edge of dino territory and come back and call it good. Yeah, that would be a decent run.

He passed the last of the huts, he'd seen on the map it was someone named Chuck. Passed that and then it was straight, light sand ahead of him. A storm was coming up from the south, but it looked like it was going to skirt the island. Might make for some wet reptiles, but otherwise it wouldn't be much for the people. He kept running toward it, the clouds dark and heavy, boiling over one another as the wind pushed them along. He rounded an outcrop of rock and the beach was wide before him. He knew this area. He dove for lobster and crab just out in the waves here. He knew it, but there was something there that shouldn't be. Couldn't be. A boy...a familiar boy, just standing in the sand before him.

Jack stopped, nearly tripped, sand spraying before his shoes. He knew that face. Knew the boy. He wasn't any of the kids on the island. Not in the light linen clothing, the dark mop of hair nearly covering his eyes. Jack knew him from dreams. From memories.

"Gray?" he said softly to himself, staring for a second, then he started to run toward him, screaming his name, "GRAY!" Before he could reach him, the boy was gone. Jack looked around frantically, seeing only the beach, the ocean, and the storm. Somewhere in the jungle, monkeys began to scream, but Jack heard something different. Something far more terrifying. "GRAY!" he screamed again, turning, looking, searching. It couldn't be...was it like Rose all over again? Was he cracking up? Jack turned, searching for someone who obviously wasn't there anymore...and from back the way he'd come he saw a body lying in the sand. Another dream, another nightmare. A body in the sand, red blooming across his chest and a blonde woman kneeling over him, keening and pleading.

"Dad?"..."Mom?" he called, running back toward them. They disappeared, too.

A bright flash cracked the storm on the horizon and thunder rolled in with the sound of the waves. Jack stood, torn, looking east, looking west, seeing nothing as long as his eyes were open. But when he closed his eyes, he dropped to his knees in the sand.

He remembered. It had all been tangled, twisted, coming to him in flashes and nightmares. It had been creeping back in cries and cold sweats. But now...he remembered.

He looked back to where he'd seen the boy, looked over to where he'd seen his parents, and then stood up again on the deserted beach and made his way back, avoiding everyone. Sweaty and covered in sand, Jack walked into the hut and closed the door.

"I remembered," he said gravely.



[Spoilers abound. Fair warning]

Comments

[misanthrope_md]

House had been lying in their bed with a book, and when he heard the door open, he took off his glasses and looked up at Jack.

"What? You... god, Jack, you look like you've seen a ghost. Are you all right?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack blinked, moving to a chair to sit down. He shook his head slowly, confused.

"All the dreams...I remembered. Where I'm from. My...family."

[misanthrope_md]

"What?"

House laid down the book and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and looking at Jack curiously. "I didn't know you'd... I mean, didn't you already have memories? Not a family, but..."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"After Halloween I couldn't pick anything out and tell you it was real," he replied, struggling to keep breathing normally. "That blonde? That boy? I saw them. On the beach. They weren't there, but I saw them, Greg." Jack looked up, completely lost. "Like being home."

[misanthrope_md]

"You mean you know which ones are the real memories now? You actually... remember? Everything?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Nodding slowly, he couldn't keep his eyes up. The fell to search the floor, staring at some phantom spot of interest.

"I...let go of him. We ran, the invaders were attacking and I...his hand just wasn't there anymore." He paused and squeezed his eyes shut. "Nothing's mixed up anymore. I know how it went. How they died. How I joined up..."

[misanthrope_md]

"Well that's... a good thing, right?" House offered, not sounding very sure.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I lost my brother, and my dad died in that attack," he replied, forcing himself, visibly forcing himself to be still and just say it. "Gray. That's his name. My little brother. Gray."

[misanthrope_md]

"You had a brother..." It seemed so completely bizarre to House that one day you just suddenly have a family. This was truly fucked up.

"Well isn't - " Even before he said it, he sounded like Cameron in his head. "Isn't it better to remember that than not to remember them at all?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"No," he replied quietly. "That was...it was the worst day of my life. I don't want it. I...don't."

[misanthrope_md]

"We all have a worst day," said House, a little sharper. "What about the rest of it? The good parts?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He hadn't thought about anything else, the force of the one day hitting him so hard and unexpectedly.

"I don't know," Jack answered, shaking his head. "For just a few minutes, I was home. The Boeshane Peninsula. So hot, and the water rolling in and breaking against the beach. I could see where we lived and the smell of the air."

Jack closed his eyes and clasped his hands, leaning forward to think. Now that things had seemingly fallen into place, the city, the facilities, the Academy, they all vanished like smoke. He knew them, but it was the difference between remembering a story, something void of feeling, and really remembering.

"We used to play ball on the beach. My dad and Gray and I. We used to play for hours. My mom, I can remember her face. My bedroom...all of it."

[misanthrope_md]

"Maybe this is a blessing, Jack," House said, and patted the bed beside him. "Come here."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You don't believe in blessings," he said flatly, rising and moving to the bed.

[misanthrope_md]

House rolled his eyes. "Well I didn't mean blessing as a gift from some nonexistent god, I just meant... you know. A good thing." He slid his arm around Jack's waist. "I know it sucks to have more bad memories, but... without them, your family wouldn't exist at all, right?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You're my family," he said instantly. The people here, the family he'd made. "Why...why now? It's been months since Adria. Why now?"

[misanthrope_md]

"Who knows," House sighed. "Why does anything happen here the way that it does?"

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

A soft sigh and he dropped his head in his hands again. There wasn't anything else he could really say. Nothing here happened for any reason.

[misanthrope_md]

"I assume this is one of those times when nothing I say is going to help so I'd probably be better off keeping my mouth shut?" House offered.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He shook his head a little, not bothering to look up.

"I just don't know what to do with this. I mean, I've spent months trying to just..."

He sighed again. The worst of it had stopped, the horrible things he woke up from, the things he'd done. But now...now he remembered it all. Mor than he wanted to. He'd convinced himself all he needed to focus on was what was right here. Right now.

"...I don't know."

[misanthrope_md]

"Hey... maybe the nightmares will stop now?"'

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Maybe. Yeah." He really didn't think so. Now there was more to dream about than before. Now it would make sense. Now it would be real.

"...No more puzzle, I guess."

[misanthrope_md]

"Nothing wrong with that," said House. "Puzzles are more fun to solve than to be."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I've got a headache."

[misanthrope_md]

"I've got tylenol."

Pause.

"Want a back rub?"