A/N- based on a prompt from a friend, who said "I want a Lost fanfic with Sawyer. And Jack, or Sayid. Surprise me."

Here you go...

Sayid came awake with a low groan and a pounding in his head. A thick wall of greenery surrounding the small clearing he was in let him know he was still on the island. Less than a moment later, aches in his body and the inability to move told him that he was also restrained so that he knelt, arms behind his back and tied around a tree. He tried to ignore the pain in his head. He had learned during the war that soon enough, everything, from the pain in his head and the ache in his shoulders, to the pull of fabric creases on his thighs, would only become more uncomfortable as time passed.

"Welcome back, sleeping beauty," a voice said. The voice was familiar, deep, and with an American accent, the type he had been told was 'southern'. He heard footsteps behind him; and then the voice's owner came into his view. The tall blonde man bent down so that his face was level with Sayid's. "Well, now…doesn't this look familiar. Except if I recall, the last time it was ME tied to a tree; and YOU were the one who was walking around free."

Sayid shook his hair out of his eyes. "What is it you want, Sawyer?" he asked.

Sawyer dropped to his knees on the sandy soil in front of Sayid, a grin on his face. If you had not spent time torturing this man earlier, you might have thought he resembled a friendly Golden Retriever, with his blonde hair hanging in his eyes, and that smile on his face; Sayid thought to himself.

"You know if you had asked me that about a week ago, I would have told you that I didn't want to be tortured by a genuine Iraqi torturer for an inhaler that I didn't have. But, since we've passed that point; I guess what I want is… I want you to feel just as helpless as I did. I want you to know that there is nothing that you can say that will make me let you go. Think you can help me out with that, chief?"

Sayid kept his face still at Sawyer's words and tried to stay calm. This would not be the first time he had been in this situation. Revenge was something that Sayid could understand. Revenge was a personal thing; something that you tucked away into yourself until you could act on it, something that you cherished. And, from what Sawyer had just said, revenge was what he wanted. Sayid did not even blame the man for desiring it.

After all, he had tortured Sawyer to find out where the inhaler was. And Sawyer had not had the inhaler. Sawyer had not said that he did not have the inhaler. He simply refused to say where it was. Not that it would have mattered if he had told them that he did not have the inhaler, Sayid admitted to himself. He had been so certain that Sawyer had it in his possession; he would have discounted anything other than a location that led to the inhaler as mere lies to end the torment.

Sawyer cocked his head at Sayid, still smiling as he did so. "So, did Freckles ever tell you boys what I wanted her to do to get me to tell her about that inhaler?"

Sayid looked away into the lush plant life that surrounded them; trying to concentrate on the sounds nearby, hoping to hear someone else from the camp stumbling around in the bushes. Or, moving through almost as quietly as the local wildlife would be nice. That would tell him that Locke was in the area. Locke was more likely to be able to convince Sawyer to release him than most… if Sayid could convince Locke to do so. It was hard for Sayid to tell how Locke would react to this situation. The sounds of birds calling and the chirring 'whirr' of insects were the only things that he could hear.

A short, sharp slap to the face brought his attention back to the man in front of him.

"Now, you keep that up, and I'm likely to think that I'm boring you and need to be more entertaining." Sawyer's grin grew just a little wider. "Unless you were trying to find out if there was anyone else out there." He lifted his head and yelled out into the jungle, "Hey, anyone want to join me over here? I'm thinking about torturing someone!" Looking back at Sayid with that same grin on his face, he said, "Nope. Sorry about that. Seems like most folks don't like to go where Jack doesn't want to go; and our fearless leader avoids this place for some reason."

He leaned forward and spoke again. "I asked you a question…did Freckles tell you what it was I wanted for the information about that inhaler?"

Sayid sighed and looked up at Sawyer's face. "No. Kate never said anything about your demands."

Sawyer pulled away, sitting back on his heels. "Demands?" he said, with a short laugh. "I didn't DEMAND anything. I didn't need to. All I had to do was tell her what I wanted, and she gave it to me. If I recall, you and Jack did most of the demanding. If you boys had asked me nicely what I knew about it, instead of demanding to know where the inhaler was; I would have told you without things needing to get messy. And without poor Kate having to pay the price for it."

"What did you do to her?" Sayid asked angrily.

The smile dropped from Sawyer's face. His eyes searched Sayid's face for a moment, before he said, "I think you might just need to find out for yourself." He leaned closer to where Sayid knelt, tied to the tree, and rested his hands on Sayid's thighs. "Ain't it against the law in Iraq to be gay?"

Sayid was confused by the abrupt apparent change in subject. "What does that have to do with anything?" he asked; only to widen his eyes in shock as he felt Sawyer's hands begin to slowly slide up and down on his thighs. He could feel the heat from those hands through the fabric of his pants. No, Sawyer wouldn't want…would he?

The blonde man leaned closer, close enough for Sayid to see each hair of the stubble on his chin, almost close enough to feel his breath on Sayid's face; but not close enough to allow Sayid to attempt to harm him. "If you want out of here in one piece; you're going to have to do something for me. The same thing that Kate did. And you're going to have to ask me nicely for what she gave me; or you're going to be here for a very long time…and it won't be comfortable." Sawyer leaned back again, the smile back in its place on his face. He rose to stand in front of Sayid, gave him a small salute with his fingers and said, "Let me know what you decide. I'm just going to get comfortable and relax." With that, he turned and walked over to a nearby tree, lowering himself down to lounge comfortably in clear view. Sawyer reached around to his back pocket and pulled out a beaten-up paperback. Opening it up, he began to read.

He had been tied to this tree for hours. Sayid knew that he was dehydrating in the heat, and begrudged every drop of sweat that he lost. He could see Sawyer still relaxing by the tree, reading his book and occasionally taking a drink from one of several water bottles that he had apparently brought with him. The ache in his shoulders had grown now into fine tremors that twitched under his skin as cramps racked Sayid's arms. He knew that he could last longer, HAD lasted longer in the past, but no one was looking for him. No one but Sawyer knew he was here. And without food and most important—water—he would soon be in serious trouble. And eventually, Sawyer would get what he wanted. Sayid knew this better than most. After a while, the sharp-tongued man would grow tired or bored with waiting, and it would become very unpleasant to be Sayid. And as Sayid well knew, once it became unpleasant, it was only a matter of how much time it would take for Sayid to agree to what Sawyer wanted. By that time, however, it might only bring him more pain and damage. If he agreed now, while he was still relatively in good condition, it probably wouldn't be too bad. It had not taken Kate that long to return with the information, after all.

It was a little thing, he told himself; and it would not last long. He could put it behind him and never think of it again. After all, Sawyer would not be able to speak of it around the others without telling them what he had done; and if he had planned on killing Sayid, he most likely would have done so already.

He looked off into the greenery again, scanning to see if he could see or hear anyone from the camp. Once again, the search proved to be fruitless. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly and called to the man who rested against a nearby tree.

"Sawyer…"

"Yeah?" came the reply, the blonde man not even looking up from his book.

"I would like to talk to you," Sayid said.

"Keep talking, then," came the grunted response.

"About Kate…and what she did…"

The southerner closed his book around his finger and rested it in his lap, a smirk on his face as he said, "I think I said you had to ask if you could do for me what Kate did."

"What did Kate do for you?" Sayid asked, just wanting to get on with things.

"Ah, ah," Sawyer said, smirking at him as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You have to ask if you CAN, not what it was that she did."

"How can I ask, if I don't know what she did?"

"Why, you just ask me if you can, Sayid," he replied. "I'll take you through things…one step at a time."

Sayid turned his head away from the other man for a moment. Rolling his eyes, he said, "Fine, can I do for you what Kate did?"

Sawyer smirked at Sayid. "You want to do for me what Kate did."

"Yes."

Sawyer gave a theatrical sigh. "I'm not really feeling like you mean it, Sayid. I don't think that I'm convinced that you want to."

Sayid hung his head for a moment. Tossing his hair back, he looked at Sawyer sitting at the base of the tree. "And how would you recommend that I convince you?"

Pretending to think for a moment, Sawyer looked up as though mulling the question around in his head. "I think…you should beg me."

"You want me to beg."

"Yep."

"You want me to beg you to let me do what Kate did."

"That's right."

"No," Sayid said, his voice flat.

Sawyer shrugged, unconcerned. "Suit yourself," he said, going back to reading his book.

Minutes passed, and the only sounds were the turning of pages and the sounds of someone trying to get comfortable with restricted movements.

More minutes passed with no other sounds, and then…

"Sawyer…"

There was no response to be seen or heard from the man sitting under the tree, to all appearances engrossed in the book in his hands.

There was a loud sigh from the clearing.

"Sawyer, may I do for you what Kate did?"

"You can do better than that, Sayid," came the reply, as a page was turned.

"Sawyer. May I please do the same thing for you that Kate did?"

The book closed with a soft 'snap' of pages. Sayid looked over to see Sawyer smirking at him again. "There now, was that so hard?"

"Are you going to let me go now?" Sayid asked, hoping but not expecting to hear 'yes'.

"Let you go now? We're just getting started. I said I would take you through things one step at a time; that was just the first step."

Now, you can beg me to let you kiss me."

"You want me to kiss you?"

"No, Sayid, I want you to beg me to let you kiss me."

"Why?"

"I gotta say, Sayid, you are purely sucking the romance out of the moment," Sawyer said, grinning at the other man's obvious discomfort. "Now, go on…beg me."

"This is foolish and unnecessary…"

"I say it is necessary."

"Fine. Sawyer, may I please, please kiss you?"

The grin surrounded by blonde hair came closer. "See, all you had to do was ask…" Sawyer said softly as he moved close enough for Sayid to kiss him.

For a moment, all that Sayid could think about was how very satisfying it would be to bite Sawyer as hard as he could, to punish the other man for putting him in this position. He gave up on the thought as a bad idea, one likely to lead to far worse things than what he was already going to go through. Taking a breath, he leaned forward and pressed his lips against the mouth in front of him. Quickly, he pulled away.

"There," he said, "I kissed you."

Sawyer frowned. "I've had better from my eighty-year-old great aunt. Kiss me like you mean it, Sayid. If you have ever loved anyone, really loved them, you kiss me like that. Like I was them, or the deal's off. And I don't think I need to tell you what to expect if you don't want to do things this way."

"Okay, okay!" Sayid told him, "I will do it this time…" He leaned forward again. Nadia, he said to himself. Think of Nadia. Soon all this will be over, the island will be found, and you will go to LA and find Nadia. And when you do, you will wrap your arms around her and hold her so tightly you will never lose her again; and she will look up at you and smile that smile of hers that puts her heart in her eyes for you to see. When you see that smile, you will smile back and you will kiss her so that she knows that she is your very breath, so that she can feel how she makes your heart beat…and….

And in his mind Nadia pulled away from him suddenly and Sayid heard a man's voice saying…

"Hoowhee, now that is a kiss!"

Sayid opened his eyes to see a grinning Sawyer staring at him, just out of reach again.

"Not bad, Sayid. Not bad at all. That was almost enough to make me want to give guys a try." The blonde rose to stand in front of Sayid, reaching to pick up the book that was lying on the ground. "I'll send someone to turn you loose, soon."

Sayid looked up at Sawyer. "You didn't want…?"

Sawyer smirked even more. "Not really. Why? Were you looking forward to it? 'Cause a couple more kisses like that one…"

"No!" Sayid said, interrupting him. "You said that you would free me…"

The other man gave a small laugh and shook his head. "I never said I would turn you loose. I said you needed to beg me if you wanted to get out in one piece;" he made a show of looking over the bound man at his feet, "and you sure seem to be in one piece. Unless I'm miscounting?" He turned and began to walk away into the jungle, calling out over his shoulder, "Don't worry, it won't take too long."

Almost an hour later, Jack came through the bushes, calling Sayid's name. The doctor came to a stop when he saw Sayid tied to the tree.

"Sayid, are you alright? What happened?" he asked as he cut the bonds holding Sayid to the tree.

"It was Sawyer. He knocked me out somehow and tied me here."

"Did he say why?" Jack asked concern evident on his face as he passed over a water bottle.

Sayid took a long drink before answering. "Yes. It was because of what I did to him…"

"We should…"

"We should what, Jack? I tortured him. If we tell everyone at camp what he did; he will tell them what we did. I am uninjured. We will simply let it go."

Later that day, Sayid was walking through the camp when a voice called out to him.

"How's it going, Katy Perry?"

He turned to see Sawyer leaning against his shelter, a satisfied smile on his face as he looked at Sayid. Sayid turned away without a word and continued to walk. Hurley, who had been coming to meet him, spoke as he caught up to Sayid.

"Dude, what's that all about?" he asked.

"I do not know," Sayid said, trying to look unconcerned by anything Sawyer-related. "I am not familiar with Katy Perry…"

"She's like a singer, man. You know, she had that song out? 'I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It?"

"Then I have no idea," Sayid said, as he walked on down the beach.

A/N-If you mess with a con man, you should expect to get conned...

I hope that you enjoyed this, and that the ending surprised you.