From Better Times

"So I'm here. Where is it?" demanded Kate of Sawyer. She looked down to where he was tied to the tree, his hands behind his back, his muscled chest bare and exposed.

"Happy to tell you as soon as I get that kiss." Sawyer was unsurprised. He'd know that sooner or later, she'd come.

"What? Are you serious?"

"Baby, I am tied to a tree in the Jungle of Mystery. I just got tortured by a damn spinal surgeon and a genuine Iraqi. Of course I'm serious. You're just not seeing the big picture here, Freckles. Are you really gonna let that girl suffocate 'cause you can't bring yourself to give me one little kiss? Hell, it's only first base. Lucky for you, I ain't greedy."

"Okay." Kate's word escaped out of her mouth before she could stop it.

"Okay."

Kate dropped to her knees, to reach his level. She stared into his eyes, compassion overwhelming her despite herself. For Shannon, she told herself, again and again and again.

Her arms stiffly behind her, she leaned forward slightly to touch her lips to his. After a few seconds in which she refused to get closer to him, she began to pull away.

Murmuring a slight noise of contentment, he drew her back in again. Afterward she would never know how, with her unwillingness and his hands bound, but he did. He opened his mouth wider and tasted her lips, her tongue when he opened her own mouth with his tongue.

She broke away, looking breathless and startled. He stared at her and tried to reach for her again, but she didn't let him.

"Where's the medicine?" she asked again.

Sawyer let out a grunt of satisfaction as he was finally able to undo his hands, and free himself. Kate's eyes widened in alarm as he came forward and has pushed her back onto the dirt ground before she had time to think.

"What do you say to a few more bases, Freckles?" he asked. Kate wanted to move, to run, to find Jack, or Sayid, or anyone, but a moment later, his lips were on her and she could not.

He sensed her unwillingness but went on nonetheless. It had been so long. It had been forever, since he'd wanted a woman as much as he now wanted Kate, who was underneath him, thinking of him and not Jack, returning his kisses for all she was worth.

She writhed underneath him, but he now knew it was just for effect, and it worked. He kissed her neck, not caring that they were both sweaty, that he'd just been tortured, that they were on the jungle floor.

"Sawyer..." his name came out, and he smiled triumphantly. He knew it had all been an act, that she'd wanted him just as much, that Jack had never really mattered. He knew that after this afternoon, Kate would never helpfully do favours for his rival again.

Kate wrapped her legs around his waist and flipped them. He stared as she shed her short sleeved green shirt to reveal her bare, toned chest and a light coloured bra. He knew about the bra, he'd pictured it in his head many, many times.

He grasped her wrists and pulled her back down so their bodies touched again, and flipped them. He leaned down and and gently tugged on her earlobe with his teeth.

"That's better," he murmured. He reached around her and experetly unhooked her bra. As he threw it away, she giggled.

"I'm feeling like I'm at a slight disadvantage her Sawyer," she said softly. He looked down and devoured her bare skin with his gaze.

"What, you don't want me to take advantage of you now?"

Later, she would be able to respond endearingly to this comment. But then, all she could do was free her wrist, pull him down to her and kiss him again until they both lost all conscious thought.

Fulfilling her silent desire, he awkwardly slipped out of his own pants, until he was just in his boxers. They pressed their almost naked bodies together, relishing the comforting feel of skin after so long, so many years of emptiness.

"I was pretty sure you'd be the biggest," she murmured, as his boxers came off and her hand touched his length. His hand joined hers, pushing it in further, and she tightened her grip. He let out a grin as she ran her hand up and down it.

He kissed her again. He trailed his lips down her neck. She let her hand fall and let her eyes slid close as he kissed her breast.

A moment later, she'd flipped them over and positioned herself over top him. He responded to her sharp cry of satisfaction as she slid herself in to him, and he entered her tightly.

Kate's scream ran through the jungle. Part of Sawyer wanted to shush her, to keep some amount of privacy around them, but he couldn't bare to make her stop letting him know how he was making her feel.

Much later, after Sayid and Jack presuambly assumed that she'd killed him or tortured him herself to get Shannon's medication, Sawyer rolled off of her and onto the soft ground. He chuckled.

"Damn, Freckles, didn't know you were so desperate," he commented. She glared at him. "...For the medicine."

"Where is it?" she asked in annoyance, trying to pretend she didn't still feel the heat eminating from his body, didn't still see his distinct stomach muscles. She looked at his soft facial hair, his shaggy blonde hair. Her green eyes grew small and innocnet in her face. She shook out her hair, which had come down through the course of the afternoon.

He buried his hand in her curly dark hair, drew her back in to him and kissed her deeply on the mouth. His lips slid to her ear again, and he whispered:

"Don't have the girl's medicine. Never did..."

Kate awoke sharply, staring up at the roof of her tent in surprise. She was surprised at the memory she'd dreamed, once so powerful and at the same time so painful.

She stood and looked out onto the sea, hugging her arms to her chest. Her hair blew in the wind, and she remembered his hands in it, his lips on hers.

"Nice and bare, Freckles. Just the way I like it," said Sawyer in satisfaction, coming from behind her, from out of the jungle to wrap his arms loosely around her waist and kiss her neck softly. His hand lightly fingered the edge of her underwear.

Kate smiled in silence, happy to not be alone again with her thoughts. She leaned in to him.

"Why so quiet? Hormones again?" he asked. His hand slid upward onto the slight roundness of her stomach and her hand joined his to finger the thin band of leather he'd begun to wear on his left hand after the first two years.

"No. I'm good. I was having a dream," she said.

"Was I in it?" he asked suggestively.

She turned around in his arms and kissed him. He dropped the bottle of water he was carrying and tightened his hold on her, protective of her and the child she carried, as he always was.

"Always."

He smirked, and pulled her down onto the tent floor with him. Charlie and Claire, taking a walk with Aaron, smirked in their general direction and left them in peace.

He kissed her and let his sun bleached hair fall down around them.

"Yeah." He kissed her one more time. "Always, Freckles."