A/N- okay guys, my first fic. Be gentle!
Disclaimer- I, in no way, own Lost. Shucks.
The sun shined brightly through the trees as morning dawned. It's rays glistened on the smooth sand, the heat reaching every little crevasse. The sound of people stirring from their peaceful sleep filled the caves. Even with all this comotion, a man lay under a makeshift tent made of rocks, tarps, and pieces of debris, soundly sleeping. It had been a trying previous night for him, curing spider bites, scrapes, and bruises late into the evening. A small whisper suddenly awoke him from his slumber. A tall, brown-haired girl await at the foot of his cot, a piece of scrap metal in her hand acting as a serving tray.
"Hey," she repeated. " I thought you might want some breakfast before it's all gone. People are eating like crazy out there."
She gently set the food on the floor next to the man. Knowing he was in no mood to talk, she turned to leave.
"Kate." The man said quickly. She turned back around, her eyes meeting his. He slowly nodded his head and continued, "Thanks."
She gave a half-hearted smile, and proceeded on her way.
As she walked past other survivors, she couldn't help but think of life on the island. She was beginning to think that maybe they actually could really live here, if needed. They could start their own little life together, however strange it might be. Now that Ethan was gone, there was hope. A kind of hope that wasn't seen before. Snapping back into reality, she had finally felt the presence of someone behind her. Thinking it was Sawyer, she turned around quickly, ready to make rebuttal to one of his witty comments. She stopped abruptly, noticing it was not Sawyer, but Sun that had been following her.
"Kate?" Asked the nervous follower, apprehension playing across her face. Kate nodded, and looked around for any sign of the others.
"I – I just wanted to let you know, there is no more firewood." Sun looked at the ground sheepishly, clearly uncomfortable.
Not knowing what to say, Kate responded with a small, "Oh, okay. Thanks." She was about ready to say something else, when Jin walked around the corner of the cave, carrying a small net. Sun diverted her attention to the cave wall, trying to make it seem interesting. Jin beckoned Sun back to him, an all too common scene. Kate watched her walk away silently; head to the ground, hands crossed in front of her.
As Kate was preparing a knapsack for her search for firewood, Sawyer strolled by. Noticing her, he came back, placed one arm above his head, leaned against the cave wall and commented, "Hey hey, Freckles. So, what's the big adventure today? Saving world hunger? Finding more psychos? Being eaten by a mammoth polar bear?"
"Something like that." She replied, not amused by his half-wit comment.
"Ah, well. Every maiden needs her knight to protect her." He said with a cocky smile as he turned his back to the wall, and crossed him arms. "Where's my sword?"
Having no suitable response, Kate rolled her eyes and retorted, "Yeah, right." She snapped up her sack, and brushed by him as she left. Much to her dismay, he followed.
"Why are you following me, Sawyer?" She asked in an annoyed tone, clearly not up to his sense of humor. He quickened his pace to match hers, and grabbed her arm lightly, making her stop and face him.
"Well now, I told you that. I'm protectin' ya. Wouldn't want your sweet little behind being snatched up, now would we?" He looked down suggestively, then back up to meet her eyes. With a coy smile and a small chuckle, he set off walking; leaving her to comprehend what he had just said.
She didn't now why she had followed him. He was now laying on a rock, one knee bent in the air and his right arm shielding his eyes. Resisting the urge to suddenly pelt him with fruit, she slowly climbed down the tree.
"I thought knights were supposed to help the maidens." She was now hovering over the sleeping man, one arm grasping the sack of fruit, while the other rest on her hip.
Sawyer awoke suddenly and slipped his arm from his face. "Well, it looked to me like you were doin' a mighty fine job up there." He slowly sat up and rested his elbows on his knees, still looking at her. "Didn't wanna interrupt you."
Kate rolled her eyes and sighed. As she turned around to head back to the caves, she let out a soft reply of, "A lot of good you are."
Barely hearing her comment, Sawyer attitude turned a complete 180 as he replied, "What, you think I'm no good? You think I'm just some scammer who's only in it to get some?"
Kate, knowing this was a tender subject, looked at the ground, not wanting to start anything.
"Freckles, you don't know half my story." Sawyer gave her one last glare, then stood up to walk away. Just as he was nearing the edge of the trees, Kate uttered, "Sawyer … wait."
He slowly turned around, meeting her eyes. She saw the pain in his stare, the secrets he held, the secrets he wanted to share.
At a sudden loss for words, she stumbled upon, "I-It's dark."
She set down her bag as she took a seat on the rock, and watched him draw near. He sat down next to her, and again set his elbows on his knees and ran his hands through his hair. His gaze turned cold as he remembered:
"Are you crazy, man? You just left the money there?" The small man started pacing around the empty room, pounding one fist into his other hand.
"Look, you didn't see what I saw, I-" Sawyer started.
"What did you see Sawyer? Huh? Another family you were going to ruin? Because if that's your excuse, you're out of chances, buddy. This is the third time, Sawyer. And yet, you still wont tell my why you didn't take the money those other times." The small man sighed, and sat down on a creaky barstool. "This was supposed to be our chance, man. Our chance. Our chance to make a good life for ourselves. Cuase lets face it- that one couple you conned didn't provide enough money for us to live on. Its gonna run out sooner rather than later."
Sawyer took his head out of his hands, and stood up suddenly.
"Look, I just couldn't do it, okay?" In a fit of rage, he grabbed an old beer bottle and threw it across the room. Not even waiting for it to smash into pieces, he walked out of the room and slammed the door.