His eyes were cold as ice and burning hot that the same time. Cold to tell her he didn't care about her anymore, burning hot to let her know, he did care about her now. His arms outstretched , they framed her, his body shielding hers.

"If you don't stop", he growled, tilting his head, sweat dripping from his chin. "I swear Kate, I'm gonna make you." His lips were thin and stiff as he put as much rage into his words as possible.

Kate looked to the side, felt dozens of eyes on her face from the bystanders. The distant splashing of the cave's spring, calm and idyllic, the only sound in the thick tension lingering in the air.

She clenched her fists as she looked at him again, pushing her jar forward she squinted her eyes. Brilliant blue ones met her own over his shoulder. It's enough, they told her.

Jack noticed she was looking at Juliet and his lips got a little thinner still, his knuckles turned a little whiter as he clenched his fists a little harder. He was close to losing it and a part of her wanted to feel his fists on her body. It was the little part of her that still loved him and was hoping once he would punish her, he would be able to forgive her.

Finally Kate spun around and stormed off, hitting her shoulder painfully against Sayid's who didn't feel the need to step out of her way.

She didn't really know where to go now and she didn't want to think about it either. She didn't want to think at all but couldn't silence the nagging questions of what she was doing, why she had agreed to play this insane game.

Who – or better yet – what had she become? With a bittersweet feeling she found herself staring once more at the curtain of leaves her subconscious had led her to. Kate ran her fingers through her hair, tried to convince herself she didn't even want to be here, she didn't like what was happening here.

She dragged her hand across her face and felt at the edge of tears as she tried to fight the longing that brought her here day after day.

The cracking sound in her back made her gasp as her body stiffened for a second until she realized the noise had been made on purpose to announce her presence.

Kate felt unable to move when the remaining bit of sanity was screaming in her head for her to run, to free herself from the spell that held her captive. She couldn't.

"You shouldn't have followed me.", she finally managed to whisper, her eyes closed as she felt her standing right behind her.

"You wouldn't be here, if you didn't want me to.", she answered softly and Kate felt her curls being wrapped around a finger.

"We have to stop this." Kate said, trembling slightly as hands met her hips and even in her own ears, her voice sounded much too weak to be more than a faint protest.

Juliet's front met her back, her soft breasts heaving against her shoulder blades as she brought her lips close to Kate's ear, her hot breath against it sent a shiver down Kate's spine. The grip on her hips tightened, pressing them against the blonde's.

"Is that what you want?", Juliet breathed into her ear and Kate quivered at the sensation. She arched her back at the touch of the blonde's lips brushing against her neck, wiping the last bit of resistance from Kate's mind as she turned her head slightly, feeling the hot breath against her cheek now and trembled at the vivid memory of the sweet taste of her lips.

No, it wasn't what she wanted. What she wanted was exactly this.

She felt fingertips on her jaw, drawing a line down her chin, turning her head a little more until she felt a bottom lip between her own.

Like every one of their first kisses, it was tender, sweet even and like every one of those kisses it turned into a hot, teeth clashing one as Kate couldn't control her desire any longer. Her open mouth met Juliet's, her tongue pushing hungrily against hers as she turned her body and gasped at the sensation of firm breasts upon her own, at the feel of the blonde's peaked nipples through the fabric against her skin.

Her hands grabbed the blonde hair as she was being pushing backwards, feeling leaves brush against her arms as they entered their hiding place. Her back met the uneven bark seconds later. She groaned into Juliet's mouth at the burning sensation on her back as the blonde's hand cupped one of her breasts, the pleasant shiver caused by her massaging fingers numbing the pain.

Kate felt Juliet's hip pressing against her own, felt her thigh between hers pinging her against the tree trunk as quick hands removed her shirt, parting their hungry mouths hardly long enough for Kate to realize she was already half naked.

Juliet's mouth left Kate's parted lips, her taste still lingering on her tongue as the blonde placed hungry kisses down her neck, her teeth scraping along her collar bone made her gasp and whimper as her hands tightened their grip in the blonde hair and felt a breathed moan against her shoulder shortly after.

Kate pushed her head further down until she felt lips brush one of her nipples, felt it being taken between soft lips, the tip of Juliet's tongue pushing gently against it, circling it, teeth biting it slightly, pulling on it while a hand cupped her other breast, squeezing it to the rhythm of her mouth and Kate arched her back against her touch, her head meeting the bark.

Juliet's lips trailed further down and the combination of her soft lips, the wet tip of her tongue and her hot breath against her now sweating skin sent shiver after shiver down her spine, made her hands tremble in the blonde hair.

She closed her eyes as her pants were pushed down and her muscles tensed involuntarily at the feel of Juliet's lips brushing against the inside of her thigh. She grabbed the blonde hair harder still and forced her head up again, pulled her face to her own and looked at her flushed cheeks, the glow in the blue of her eyes and covered her rosy lips, parted in a gasp at the pain Kate's hand in her hair caused, with her mouth, ran her tongue over her teeth, sucked at her upper lip and bit down slightly at the sudden touch of the blonde's hand reaching between her legs.

Kate pushed her tongue hard against Juliet's before her lips sucked their way down her neck while her hands pulled Juliet's shirt up to reveal her breasts. She buried her face between her curves, cupping each bra-covered breast with her hand as she breathed Juliet's scent, felt her nipples hard against her palms as she massaged them.

One hand reached to Juliet's back and felt her muscles tense as her fingertips brushed against her skin, unclasping her bra to lose it with the shirt the next moment. Her fingers ran down from Juliet's collar bone to the side of her breasts and wetting her lips she took in the sight of her rosy peaked nipples still grown at her feather-light touches, at the rapid heaving of her chest as her fingertips trailed around the curve to the middle of her chest.

She placed her palm on it and pressed her body against the blonde's, looking deep into her eyes she pushed her hand down Juliet's pants so suddenly, the woman cried out as her fingertips met her clit and pressed down on it.

Kate sucked on her neck as Juliet threw her head up, arching her back as her hips trembled, her hands clutching Kate's shoulders to keep herself upright.

Her finger circled the nub above the cleft between her companion's legs and every time she brushed it she felt the fingers dig into her shoulders.

Kate's tongue trailed down the blonde's chest and flicked over her nipples while her middle finger kept rubbing her clit in sync and earned moan after moan from Juliet's lips. Leaving feather-light kisses on her stomach she pulled her hand out again followed by a whimper of protest.

Kate crouched down between her legs and very slowly undid the button and zipper of Juliet's pants, pulling them down with her underwear even slower as she looked up at her, blue eyes following her every move through heavy eyelids.

She threw the pants playfully away and swung her hair with a swift move of her head onto her back as she brought her face close to the inside of the blonde's thigh, her lips barely touching her skin and watched her squirm at every contact, watched the quivering of her breasts and enjoyed fully having her at her mercy like that once again, enjoyed the shifting of Juliet's hips in anticipation and desire to be touched.

Playfully, smiling against her soft skin, she ran her fingers up the other thigh which was accompanied by a frustrated groan from the blonde's lips as her lower body trembled and she lifted her arms to dig her fingers into the bark in her back.

In her blue eyes Kate could read the plea to be touched as her fingertips met wet skin, felt the heat between her legs against her cheeks. Her mouth hovering over her wet spot Kate dragged a finger down Juliet's stomach, felt her lift her hips towards her face and pulled away just enough to keep an inch of distance. She felt the muscles of the blonde's stomach tense under her finger and when she reached her lower belly, Kate lay her palm to rest on her triangle, pushing up her skin to tighten the folds between her legs and received another moan of pleasure from above.

She brushed her bottom lip against the clit before placing a soft kiss on it that caused Juliet's hips to tremble heavily. Kate put more pressure on her lower belly to keep her still as she ran the tip of her tongue around the nub and flicked over it again and again, the movement of her tongue accompanied by whimpers and moans.

Now and then Kate would pull away and suck on her own lips to taste Juliet on them and to increase the blonde's desperation for her touch she saw glowing on her flushed cheeks and hungry eyes as she kept them on Kate crouching between her legs.

She was almost there, Kate could feel it, almost desperate enough. It wasn't her intention to make the blonde beg – Kate was waiting for something else. And sure enough, she felt Juliet's slender fingers grabbing her hair just seconds later and press her face between her legs as she arched her back at the hard collision of Kate's teeth with her clit, a cry echoed in their hiding place behind the curtains of the ancient tree.

Juliet was clutching her hair so hard now, it stung as she sucked, nibbled and licked at her clit, pushed against, scraped her teeth over it in her own hunger to taste as much of the blonde as she possibly could.

The thighs against her cheeks tensed more frequently with every second and Kate knew she was almost there, incited by the gasps and moans, by the quivering and she sucked even harder before the pain on her scalp increased, made her eyes water as her head was being pulled out between Juliet's legs. Burning blue eyes were looking down at her and the fingers loosened in her hair.

Kate pushed herself up and locked her hips against Juliet's, allowing her to taste herself in a deep kiss while she felt Juliet's fingertips trailing down her stomach and reach between her legs, her gasp at the pressure on her nub broke their kiss, fingers sliding into her made her suck in the air sharply as she leaned her forehead against Juliet's, her body trembling under the blonde's fingers moving in and out, curling inside of her, slowly at first but soon she increased the speed, using her strength of her thigh to thrust her fingers even deeper inside Kate who had closed her eyes, unable to do more than just breath through the increasing tingling between her legs at each touch.

Juliet's palm rubbed against her clit as her lips left feather-light kisses on the corner her mouth, her chin, her jaw line. Kate felt closer to the edge with every thrust of Juliet's fingers deeper inside of her and grabbed the blonde's leg, pushed it up to her own hip where she felt it wrap around her waist as Kate's hip moved hard and fast against Juliet's wetness, causing her to thrust back her head as she gasped for air just to cry out at the same time Kate clutched the blonde's shoulder as shockwaves shot through her body, tensed her muscles in tremors and painted the world a delicious black for a few seconds as she bent whimpering down on the blonde's chest, feeling the fingers inside of her slowing down but resting between her legs until she'd ridden out her orgasm.

She panted against Juliet's chest, steadying herself with her hands clutching to the bark of the tree in Juliet's back. Her breath got steady enough to place her lips on Juliet's skin. She felt her head being lifted and found ocean blue eyes looking at her, a kindness glowing in them, she only saw in a moment like this.

Soft lips met her own, a slowly moving, tenderly caressing tongue against hers ended their intimate encounter in their hiding place. Before Kate could even pull herself together she found her back leaning against the tree now, Juliet fully dressed again, flattening her tousled hair, a cocky smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.

Juliet's lips brushed against her own one last time, her hand cupped her cheek for the last time she would be able to look at her with glowing, desiring eyes until they met again, right here to start anew tomorrow.