Title: Redeeming Critters
Rating: Pg
Summary: Sawyer discovers a small part of his humanity.
Warnings: Some language, mangos.

Status of Fic: Finite
Author's Notes/Disclaimer: Written partially in response to the Mary-Sues, partially to see Sawyer redeem himself.

And I love writing about mangos.

It began as a normal day for Sawyer. Wake up, eat a mango, annoy Jackass, engage in mindless witty banter with Freckles, nap, wake up, bargain with Sticks, argue with the resident terrorist, threaten to eat the dog, etc. But then something went wrong. Very wrong.

Sawyer was quite used to bargaining with the other people on the island. Lately he'd begun to go a little easier on his 'prices' at Kate's insistence and he had been know to (rarely. Very rarely) make a small gift if a person couldn't pay and if that person asked nicely. Being Southern, he appreciated good manners. Even if he didn't have any himself.

Still, all things considered, Sawyer saw himself as running a business.

So, when Miss….whoever she was, showed up in front of his tent and meekly asked if he had any tampons or pads, he was inclined to barter.

"I am not giving you a box of feminine hygiene for a pair of used flip flops."

The girl blushed. She couldn't have been very old, Sawyer guessed she wasn't out of her teens. Legal, maybe, but not pretty enough to be worth his while. Besides, he liked to be able to hear his women when they spoke and this critter mumbled.

"Um….what 'bout…uh….my hair clips?" She took the glittery objects out of her mousy brown mane and held them out to him.

Sawyer sighed. He could tell she was embarrassed at having to ask for such a thing, especially from a guy. Normally he would have teased the girl to death before accepting her offerings and giving her a few of what she wanted. However, the critter he was talking to was so damn meek and pathetic he had half a mind to feed her to the polar bear.

"No, I am not trading a box of goddamn tampons for a pair of goddamn hair clips! Get lost, Critter." He had suddenly gotten an odd premonition that this would end up being one of those rare moments where he felt compelled to do something nice for his fellow man. Sawyer really didn't feel like being nice at that moment, especially not to this idiot. "Come back when you have something useful to trade." He closed his eyes and didn't see her run off in tears.

Half an hour later the con man felt hungry and, despite his earlier threats toward the dog, went off in search of food. Being a practical con man he went in search of the island's resident hunter; Baldy.

Locke was surprisingly easy to find, mostly because he was sitting still for once instead of wandering around the island.

"Howdy." Sawyer flashed his trademark grin.

Locke gave his own smile and nodded in greeting. "Nice day for a walk."

"Ain't here 'cause I'm walkin'."

"Oh?"

"I'm hungry." Sawyer explained. "You got any food?"

Locke's smile got bigger. "What'll you trade for it?"

This was new. Locke had always been willing to share his catches with whoever asked. Whatever. If Baldy wanted to play, Sawyer knew the rules of the game.

"What d'ya want for it?"

Locke looked around thoughtfully. "A couple of tampons."

Sawyer blinked and gaped before regaining his senses. "There somethin' you ain't tellin' us?"

Baldy chuckled. "They're not for me."

Completely forgetting his earlier conversation with Critter, Sawyer took the bait. "Who then? Boone might be kinda girly but I never woulda guessed he was a she."

Baldy shook his head, still wearing that infuriating smile. "Nope. But I heard there's a girl on this island who might need a handful of what you got. Seems you won't give 'em to her."

Sawyer put two and two together and came up with five. "I get it. This is where you guilt trip me into giving the li'l lady what she needs. Well forget it, Baldy. I can hunt just damn fine on my own." Saying that, the con artist left.

Locke ran his hand over his head. "Baldy?"

Two hours later, starving and exhausted, Sawyer collapsed against a tree. Wiping beads of sweat off his forehead, he reached into his handy dandy back pack for his water bottle.

It was empty. Sawyer swore and banged his head against the tree.

"You know, you could just give her the tampons and be done with it." Only one person on the island spoke with that accent.

"Well, if it ain't Aladdin." Sawyer snarled. "Gotta question for ya."

Sayid raised his eyebrows to indicate that he was listening. "Go ahead."

"How is it that the whole damned island knows I wouldn't give that stupid kid a tampon?"

"She was going around asking the other women if they had any." Sayid bluntly stated. "She was trying, I think, to be discreet. However…"

"If I didn't know better I'd swear you were blushing." Sawyer held up his water bottle. "You got any?"

Sayid rolled his eyes and fished a bottle of water out of his own backpack. "Always carry extra."

"Whoopdefuckin'doo for you." Sawyer snarled, taking the bottle and chugging half of it.

Sayid arched an eyebrow. "That's not really healthy…."

Having finished his chugging Sawyer felt slightly ill, but he chose not to advertise that fact. "Tell me something else, if she was asking all the women for tampons, how come you know about it?"

Settling down on the ground across from his former adversary (now just wary acquaintance) Sayid shrugged. "I was there when she asked Shannon."

The blond rolled his eyes. "Dumb child can't even ask for a tampon without letting the whole island know about it."

Another shrug. "Why don't you just give her a few?"

Sawyer scoffed. "I run a business, not a charity."

Sayid leaned back and sighed. "It wouldn't kill you to be a little charitable, especially since she has a crush on you."

Sawyer blinked. "What?"

Sayid shook his head. "Shannon said you didn't know. She was right." He stood up to leave.

Sawyer stood up too. "Oh, and you did know?"

"Not until Shannon mentioned it."

"And since when does Sticks know everything about who likes who on this hellhole?"

Sayid threw up his hands. "They're women!" Sawyer stopped screaming to consider the implications of this statement. While he was thinking the other man continued. "She is attracted to you and it is cruel to keep insulting her, especially since it is her…time."

"Time?"

"Her…blood….that time."

Sawyer had a revelation. "You mean her period?"

"….Yes."

"I swear you're blushing."

Sayid chose to ignore that. "It is cruel to insult her and withhold the tampons, especially now and especially since she is attracted to you."

"Why should I care if Critter likes me or not? I made a living off of women being attracted to me."

"But, is Amy one of those women?"

"No!" Sawyer yelled. "And that is why I shouldn't care if she likes me or not. Those women had something to offer me, Critter's got a pair of hair clips and use flip flops!"

Sayid stood up. "I'm not here to argue with you. What you do is your business, it is none of my concern."

"Damn right." Sawyer leaned against the tree and scowled.

"Just remember: you're hurting someone who has done nothing to you, other than find you attractive."

"Yeah yeah. Save it, Omar." Sayid shook his head and turned to go. Sawyer looked away and remembered something. "Hey! You got any food?"

The mango hit him in the middle of his forehead. Several curses were hurled in Sayid's general direction.

Sometime later Sawyer found himself back in his tent on the beach, nursing a throbbing forehead. The headache got worse when Sun showed up.

The headache got better when Sun gave him some medicine. The medicine tasted awful but it did help.

"Thanks, Sunshine." He grumbled. Sawyer honestly liked Sun, even going so far as to give her a nicer nickname in place of 'Betty'. All the same, he wasn't in a good mood.

"You need water?" She asked quietly. "Taste bad, yeah?"

"Yeah, it tastes bad." Sawyer agreed. "No thanks."

"Okay. You let me know you need anything." Her voice was calm and even her pidgin English didn't bother him.

"I appreciate it." And he did. It felt nice to have someone quietly offer help and not force him to accept it. Hell, it just felt nice to have somebody genuinely want to help.

Not that Sawyer would ever admit this to anybody.

The conman fell asleep in his tent and woke up in the middle of the night. Headache gone and feeling refreshed he stretched out. He raised his head when his feet kicked over a small, pink and blue cardboard box.

Tampons.

Sawyer fell back down on the pile of rags that served as his bed and groaned. It figured that Sun had been able to do in mere minutes what Locke and Sayid talked about all day. He felt bad.

Not bad as in your mom cheated on your dad and your dad then shot her and himself. Not bad as in your girl was flirting with Mr. Nice Guy, who was handsome, clean shaven, educated as a doctor and was everything you weren't. Not bad as in people glared at you when you walked by and you know they were talking about you behind your back. No, Sawyer felt bad in a different way. It wasn't necessarily a worse feeling of bad than the other ways, just different.

It was the feeling of bad as in when someone was nice to you even when you didn't deserve it. Even when you treated another person like dirt.

No way around it, Sawyer felt like scum. To be specific, pond scum. The feeling intensified when he felt something nudge his foot and he lifted his head again.

"Not you too!" He banged his head against the ground a few times, muttering curses.

Vincent whimpered a little before lying down beside the con artist.

The next day the Southerner tramped his way to the caves. A brief conversation with Hurley revealed Critter was living with a lady he referred to as 'Ms. Rose' in a cave in the back of the campsite.

The girl was sitting down with a pile of weeds and Sawyer could only guess she was trying to weave them into a basket of some kind. He walked up without her noticing his presence and squatted down in front of her.

"Hey…" The shriek almost knocked him off balance.

Critter put her hand on her small chest and took a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! You just…you just scared me and I yelled and I'm sorry!"

Sawyer took a few deep breaths and willed his own heart to start beating again. "Don' worry 'bout it, Critter." He closed his eyes and got his bearing back. "Look, I got you something." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of tampons. He held them out to the girl. "Next time you need something don't let the whole island know 'bout it. I'll give it to you."

Critter blushed. "Um…you sure?"

Sawyer resisted the urge to smack her upside the head. "'Course I'm sure. Now take 'em before I take 'em back."

Critter took the tampons and her face turned even redder. "Th-th-thank you."

"Don't mention it." Sawyer growled as he got to his feet. On impulse he reached down and ruffled her hair before exiting.

He didn't see her heartfelt and genuine smile.

Once again, time kept passing as it has a habit of doing and Sawyer found himself enjoying a guilt-free nap in his tent. It was a good nap and on the whole, a decent day.

The End