Acres - Cooper (Lost/OC) - PG
Prompt: Water for occhallenge
Characters: Cooper Mackenzie/Claire Littleton/Jack Shepherd
Fandom: Lost
Rated: PG
Summary: Cooper takes a break on the trek to the radio tower.
Disclaimer: I only own Cooper; I do not own the rights to Lost or to Rachel Weisz.
Comments: Are welcome and muchly loved.
Acres
For the first time in a long while; Cooper was nervous. And it was because Juliet wasn’t with her anymore.
The survivors plan had apparently not gone to plan, so Sawyer and Juliet volunteered to go back to the camp to check things out, Cooper wanted to go with them, but Juliet told her to stay with Jack. Annoyed, but too tired to argue with her friend, Cooper relented and was now resting by a creek nearby Claire while Jack tended to a few cuts and scrapes his people had suffered on the hike.
Aaron was fussing and making a coughing noise Cooper immediately recognized as wind; he needed to be burped. Shifting to the rock closer to Claire, Cooper gently offered the young mother this information. “It happens when they lie on their backs too often after being fed,” She said.
Claire scowled. “Thanks,” She muttered. “I’m just so new at all this.”
“Do you mind...?” Cooper asked, raising her eyebrows and extending her arms to the infant.
With obvious trepidation, Claire bit her bottom lip and removed Aaron from his sling and passed him carefully over to Cooper.
Unable not to smile at the gorgeous baby boy, Cooper rested him against her shoulder and gently patted his back. It only took a moment for him to gurgle and burp simultaneously. “That’s better.”
“So, you’re a doctor, right?” Claire asked, relaxing when she saw how calm Aaron was.
“Midwife, actually,” Cooper said with a smile, resting Aaron in the crook of her arm; he started to suck on his fist. “I mostly worked in Africa, Vietnam... until I was asked to come here.”
“Yeah, ah, Sun was telling me what Juliet said...” Claire said quietly. “That pregnant women die here...”
Cooper nodded, and then looked up to Claire. “You were a wonderful exception.” She smiled, and then glanced down to Aaron. “As was this one. He was born healthy,” She stroked the side of his soft, rosy cheek. “Weren’t you, my beautiful, beautiful darling,” She smiled down at him as he opened his mouth in a big yawn.
“At least we’re getting rescued soon,” Claire said hopefully as Cooper passed her son back over to her. “And you’ll get to have your baby in an actual hospital, not in the middle of a creepy jungle.”
Claire’s optimism made Cooper feel stronger for the first time since Juliet had traipsed off with Sawyer. “Let’s hope so,” She smiled.
“Hey, Claire,” Jack knelt in front of Cooper. “Can I talk to Cooper alone for a second?”
“Sure,” Claire gathered up Aaron, smiled once more at Cooper, and then took her son over to Sun and Rose.
“Alone?” Cooper gave Jack a wry grin as he took her pulse at her wrists.
“Doctor/patient.” Jack replied. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired. Dizzy. Thirsty. Nauseous.” Cooper listed.
“Here,” Jack pushed his water bottle into her hands and watched her drink. “You have to stay hydrated; I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”
“Sorry, sir,” Cooper teased him. “I was more concerned with hiking halfway through a part of the jungle I’ve never been to.”
Jack’s brow crinkled. “You’ve never been to the radio tower?”
Cooper sighed, taken a long drink of water, before she answered him. “Ben wasn’t very... lenient with where he allowed us to go.”
Jack had to laugh at this. “This from a woman who orchestrated her own pregnancy right under Ben’s nose?”
“Well, when you put it that way.” Cooper giggled, but it turned into a cough, and that cough wouldn’t stop.
“Hey, lean forward,” Jack sat beside her and pushed her shoulders down. “Breathe in real slow.”
Cooper breathed in; but it was as though her throat wouldn’t take in enough air and she just coughed again. “I can’t...” She coughed and heaved her chest, which only made her convulse more violently. “Jack.” Frightened, Cooper grabbed his hand and squeezed it, as if it would somehow release the tension on her throat and allow her to breathe.
“Ok, it’s ok, Cooper?” Jack knelt in front of her. “You have to breathe through your nose, and I know it’s gonna be hard but you have to, okay?”
Cooper inhaled sharply and coughed again. Was it happening? The shortness of breath; this was a symptom. As soon as the patients started experiencing it; it never went away, she could only control it with an oxygen mask; something she definitely did not have in her backpack.
“Cooper!” Jack was in front of her, holding both of her hands and staring intently into her eyes. “Breathe. Through. Your. Nose.” He squeezed her hands with each word.
Tears in her eyes, Cooper clamped her mouth shut and drew a breath in through her nostrils. Jack was breathing with her; she couldn’t tell whose benefit it was for; she knew Jack had a habit of wanting to fix things; and here she was, in dire need of fixing.
Finally; a breath held in her lungs, and she was able to breathe it out through her nostrils without having a coughing conniption.
“Good,” Jack smiled, nodding to her to keep breathing. “Good, just like that.”
Her panic subsiding, Cooper concentrated on her deep breathing, and eventually she felt fine; like nothing had happened, except now she was just holding Jack’s hands and everyone was watching her like she was about to explode.
“Is she okay?” Kate asked; breaking from the group and kneeling before Cooper; unscrewing the top of her water bottle as she crouched.
“I’m fine.” Cooper managed to answer on her own, a shaky smile tweaking at the corners of her mouth. “I just... water went down the wrong pipe,” She tried to project a confidence to all the concerned eyes on her. “I’m alright, really.” Slowly she took a sip from Kate’s water bottle and was grateful it didn’t come back up.
They rested for another ten minutes before Jack announced it was time to move on. Kate took the lead, and Jack stayed with Cooper, helping her to her feet, watching her walk, making sure she always had a water bottle in her hand and rested every few minutes, especially if they went up an incline. She had to give him props for not getting impatient with her, and she wondered why that was.
Perhaps his fixing things extended to her unborn child; someone else in danger, someone else he saw a possibility of saving. It was as though he was searching for redemption for something he’d done wrong, Cooper had read everything in his file twice and there was nothing to indicate that attitude. He’d never been sued for malpractice, didn’t have a high patient death rate or something that would tell Cooper he felt guilty. Other than the issues with his father... maybe that was it, his severe Daddy issues were why he was on this never ending path to salvation.
Jack was a good man; Cooper didn’t understand how he could have such a weight on his shoulder that seemed to be unmovable. And no amount of love, lives saved or people helped could shift it. And in the midst of all the support Jack was giving her; Cooper could only feel pity for the man adjusting his plans to keep her alive.
xxx