This is my first ever Lost fic, but around my 15th fic in all. I'm a hugh SKate fan, and this fic is dedicated to Vikki, the anti-skater who I'm trying to convert lol.

It's not the best thing I've ever written, and they're a bit... well a lot OOC, but give it a chance, k?

It's a one shot.

Feedbacks always welcome

Spoilers: First season episode, Whatever the Case May Be, and refrences to an occurence later in the season.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

The Waterfall- (For lack of a better title)

Sawyer followed the now familiar trek to the waterfall, clamouring over the boulders that lay in his way, avoiding the trees that seemed to sprout out of every available space. He frowned as he realised that the grass was beginning to flatten on the way he was so used to walking now. He'd better be careful to not make the trail too obvious. What if Jackass found his way to Sawyer's haven? He would probably want to tell everyone about it. For the good of the group. Sawyer shuddered at the thought of seeing Hurley and co. diving into his waters.

At the beginning, after his original discovery of the waterfall, he'd decided that it was pretty enough, but the dead bodies at the bottom were just too disturbing to think about. However it was miraculous what Jack's whining could do to your standards…

Then he began disappearing to the waterfall a couple of days a week, not to swim of course, even setting one foot in the glorious water sent shudders up his spine at first, but just to gaze out at it. It had a calming effect on him, and he much preferred the crashing water to the dog's infuriating barking and the baby's seemingly endless snivelling.

One day, however, he'd been lying in the grass, dozing in the relative calm when he heard a crashing sound coming from the jungle. Immediately his head jerked up, and his keen eyes had begun the search for the cause of his disturbance. Kate had emerged looking breathless, and when Sawyer had asked her what was wrong, she insisted nothing was, before stripping off her jeans and diving into the cool waters again, acting as if the bodies weren't there. It hadn't taken long for Sawyer to follow suit. If those waters were good enough for Freckles, they were most definitely good enough for him. They'd spent at least an hour in the waters, ducking each other and playing before Kate had gotten out and disappeared back towards the beach. Back to the Good Doctor she seemed to worship so much.

Sawyer started visiting the waterfall a lot after that. He told himself it was because of the quiet, but he knew it wasn't true. Sometimes Kate made appearances while he was there, sometimes she didn't, but Sawyer never went in the water without her. The thought of swimming alone with the skeletons below him was too much.

So here he was, trudging along the path, trying to use the overgrown part rather than his path. He eventually broke out of the trees and he had to shield his eyes as the intense sunlight hit him hard. He flopped down onto his back and stared at the bright blue sky, bring careful not do look anywhere near the blinding light.

"Not getting in?" a voice called to him, and Sawyer sat up immediately, expecting to see Kate already bathing in the cool waters. However she was sitting by the edge, staring at a patch of grass.

"I will if you will" he said, rising from his spot, knowing what the answer would be. She only came here to swim. There was nothing else for her here. She silently shook her head, trailing her hand over the grass.

"Okay" Sawyer sat back down again, nearer to her this time, "So why're you here?"

"I needed to get away,"

"Away from what?"

"Everything"

"What happened?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Nothing" she said firmly, her hand movements on the grass speeding up. Sawyer raised his eyebrows but said nothing more. When… No, if she wanted to tell him, she would. Finally she spoke,

"It was Jack…. He…" she fell silent again

"He what?" Sawyer asked, suddenly feeling extremely hostile towards the Doctor. If he'd hurt Kate in any way, there'd be hell to pay.

"He told everyone that I was… that I'm a criminal. Said it was for the good of the group" she said with disgust

"How'd everyone react?" Sawyer asked. Most people hated him and he hadn't done anything that wrong that they knew of. Kate shrugged,

"Some took it better than others… Some of them haven't come near me since Jack made his announcement. Some of them are talking to me. Sayid says it doesn't matter what we did then, it's who we are now that counts. Pity no one seems to be listening to him…"

"As much as I hit to admit it, Mohammed's right. You've done more for the people on this island than anyone else."

"Jack says…"

"Screw Jack" Sawyer interrupted, "He's just jealous 'cos you've been spending all your time here with me"

"Maybe" she admitted. Her eyes had remained downcast throughout the exchange, and Sawyer began to wonder if he should attempt to cheer her up by some other method. It would probably earn him a slap if he pushed things too far, but she'd cared about Jackass, admired him, maybe even loved him and he'd let her down. Surely a kiss wouldn't make her too angry, would it? There was only one way to find out…

"Freckles, I…" he began awkwardly. He'd never felt this nervous over any woman before. Suddenly her head jerked up, staring past him into the dense forest.

"What?" he asked, confused

"Didn't you hear that?" she replied, tilting her head onto one side

"Hear what?" Sawyer said, listening hard, yet hearing nothing. He was beginning to think she'd somehow known what he had been about to do, and had created a distraction. Then he heard it. It was very faint, and certainly far away from where they were sitting, but they heard the crashing of the trees, meaning the monster was about.

They sat in heavy silence, both pairs of ears straining for any sign of the creature; however neither could hear anything wrong.

"Maybe it's gone" Kate said optimistically

"Gone where? Things that big don't just disappear into the ground." Suddenly the crashing noise was back, closer this time and getting louder by the second.

"It's coming" Kate said in horror

"Come on" Sawyer stood quickly, dragging her to her feet.

"Where?" she asked, staring at him incredulously, "We might run straight into it"

"Well we can't just sit here and wait for it!" Sawyer half shouted in desperation. However he realised she was right. The crashing seemed to be coming from every direction. There was no escape from it.

"We can hide in the water!" she said suddenly.

"I don't think…" Sawyer began, but she had already plunged in, and Sawyer could do nothing but look over his shoulder and join her.

He gasped as he hit the water. Despite appearances, it was freezing and the contact made him shudder. Any other day, he would have gotten straight out again, but with the monster fast approaching, there was really no where else to go. He looked around wildly, trying to spot Kate, but she was no-where to be found,

"Freckles!" He shouted, knowing he was probably attracting the monster, but no longer caring, "Freckles!" he tried again, still with no avail. He was really beginning to panic now, "Kate!"

"What?" she said, from behind him sounding irritated, and urgent.

"I thought…" he paused, not knowing what he had thought, only knowing that a mad fear had gripped his heart when he couldn't see her.

"Come on" Kate said, swimming to his side

"Where?" he asked, "There's nowhere to hide here!"

"There's got to be something" Kate protested, it had felt like such a good idea at the time. Sawyer began to look around too and then he saw it. A shelf of rock, jutting out of the side of the cliff, near the waterfall, with what looked like an inlet below it. He didn't bother pointing it out, just began swimming strongly towards it, knowing that Kate would follow, and sure enough he heard her frantic swim strokes behind him as the crashing of the monster grew ever closer.

Finally Sawyer reached the shelf, and was delighted to see that there was indeed an extremley small cave beneath the shelf and together, he and Kate just might fit. He certainly didn't have any objections to being tightly pressed against a wet Kate anyway. He scrambled out of the water and crouched below the jutting out rock, pulling Kate beside him as she neared. No sooner had she squeezed in beside him, the monster roared, and Kate leant backwards, into Sawyer. He slipped an arm around her waist, telling himself it was just because his arm was cramped and there was only room in front of her for it. She let it remain there, telling herself that he wanted to make sure she didn't fall back into the water as they were so precariously balanced on the edge. They stayed there for what felt like an age, before Kate finally asked the obvious,

"How do we know when it's gone?"

"I don't know" Sawyer whispered back, his arm tightening around her waist, and now that he felt the immediate danger was over he was starting to really enjoy the feeling of soaking wet Kate pressed against him.

"Maybe I should…" Kate began, distangling Sawyer's arm from her and moving back towards the exit when the monster roared again louder than ever. She immediately stumbled back against him, causing them both to fall on their backs, her on top of him.

"You okay?" he asked breathlessly. She nodded wordlessly, and lay still on top of him, heart pounding. They lay still for over a quarter of an hour before Sawyer finally spoke,

"We can't just stay here forever Freckles"

"I'm not going out there" she hissed

"Then I will" he said determinately

"Don't" she said quickly,

"One of us has to" he said logically, "Or we'll be stuck in this little hole for the rest of our lives." She nodded in defeat, really not wanting him to leave. If he did, she might never see him again. Might never hear him call her "Freckles" again. Might never tell him that she enjoyed their kiss. He managed to turn over in the cramped space and sat up, staring at the exit with a faraway look in his eye. Suddenly he turned around, leaned down and kissed Kate briefly before leaving the cramped hole, splashing into the water.

Kate stared at the sky blue liquid, silently begging him to come back. She heard no sound from the water, no cries from Sawyer, she didn't even hear his swim strokes. Finally he shouted,

"It's safe" and Kate let out the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. She plunged back into the water, and instantly spotted Sawyer, sitting on the solid ground. When she eventually joined him, she opened her mouth to ask him about the kiss, tell him that she didn't hate him like everyone else seemed to, but he spoke first,

"We'd better be getting back before Jacko sends a search party out for you,"

"He doesn't care" Kate answered, remembering Jack's earlier betrayal of her. Sawyer gave her a knowing smile, heading back through the flattened path of trees the monster had created, before shouting over his shoulder,

"Once everyone hears how you were nearly killed, they'll be back to loving you again."

"What about you?" she asked, jogging to catch up

"He doesn't care about me" Sawyer echoed her words

"I meant about being back to loving me…" she said, and they both fell silent, before Sawyer mumbled,

"I never stopped"

Please r&r