Title: Faded Denim
Characters: Kate, Sawyer, mentions of Juliet and Jack
Summary: Set post The End, after the Ajira plane takes the last remaining survivors off the island. Sawyer/Kate friendship with mentions of Jack/Kate and some Sawyer/Juliet
They landed in Guam, the flight a blur to its passengers, as each of them had sunk into their own world, mourning, crying, and anticipating what is to come in fear.
In a small medical clinic, doctors tended to them, treating injuries and wounds, only the superficial ones, because the ones that mattered, the ones that truly hurt, those were embedded deep in their hearts, in their souls, deep where no one can reach and heal created by the only ones who could heal them.
Sawyer was sitting on an exam table, a young doctor stitching his forehead when he heard her cry, yelling at someone to get away from her. He was quick on his feet, rushing to the room next to his where she was being treated. She was pulling away from the doctor, covering her injured shoulder with her hand, twisting away from him.
"Hey! What's going on?!" Sawyer said, barging into the room.
"She's refusing to get her stitches and dressing changed," the doctor said, exasperation evident in his voice.
A sad smile drew on Sawyer's face, as his eyes travelled towards Kate, sitting on the edge of the exam table, curled up, her face contorted in pain and heartbreak. He knew why she didn't want the stitches changed. "Give us a minute, will you doc?" he said politely.
"Kate," he said softly, walking towards her, watching sadly as tears fell down her cheeks, her lip quivering. "Kate, what are you doing?" He said as he sat on the bed across from her.
She just shook her head, turning her shoulder away from him, not trusting her voice.
"I know you don't wanna change the stitches, I know why you don't want to change them," he spoke calmly, "but Jack would have wanted you to change them. He would not have wanted them to get infected." He said, hoping that logic would convince her.
The tears fell harder, her eyes red and swollen, and then suddenly, she looked up at him, the look in her eyes changing from anguish to anger.
"We'll, he isn't here, is he?! No, he isn't, James! No! Jack decided to stay on that goddamn island! He chose the island. He left me and chose the island!" She bit in anger, shocking Sawyer, who recoiled back on the bed.
Sawyer sat back, watching with heartbreak as his friend broke down in front of him. She had cried on the island, and then again on the plane, but he knew she had been trying to stay strong for Claire. He knew she was finally getting the chance to properly break down, for what they had just gone through, for losing Jack.
He slowly inched towards him, placing a gentle hand on her knee. He sat silent for a long time, letting her cry, letting her pour out the pain, anguish and heart break. "Kate," he whispered, when her sobs subsided, her face still buried in her hands. She shook her head quickly, wiping away the remnants of tears, and looked up at him, smiling reassuringly.
"I'm ok," she whispered, skiing wider, trying to ease the worry she saw etched on his face and in his voice.
He smiled back, knowing very well that she was wearing the brave face she always did, pushing away any vulnerability. "Kate, Jack didn't choose the island over you," he spoke confidently, "he would never do that. You need to know this."
Kate nodded, feeling a fresh flow of tears starting to fall. She remembered their hike to the heart of the island; when she asked him why he did what he did, choose to protect the island. His words still rang in her ears, 'it's the one thing in my life I haven't managed to ruin'. It broke her heart that he had given up on them, but she also knew she was partly to blame, never coming forward with the truth that she had forgiven him, that she had long forgiven him, and that she too was sorry.
"I'm all alone now, Sawyer. I've got no one left," Kate admitted, her voice choking with pain and fear. "Aaron is going to go back to Claire, my mother's dead and now… and now Jack," she sobbed, the weight of her heartache to heavy, and she fell onto the bed. Sawyer held her, hugged her to him and let her cry. Soon enough he felt his own tears wet his cheeks, Crying for his friend, crying for Kate, for Jack, for everyone else they lost.
He cried for himself, for his loss, for his loneliness. He was alone too. The one woman he had ever truly loved, the only woman who had ever truly loved him back, he lost to the island, too.
"You know what, Freckles," Sawyer said gently, "looks like we can be alone together. How about that?" He said, the typical snark returning to his voice as he tried to calm her down.
Kate smiled, chuckling lightly between the sob. She nodded and rested her cheek against his shoulder. She might be heartbroken, there might be a hole in her heart that would never heal, but she new that in Sawyer she had a friend for the rest of her life, and for that she was grateful.
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