A SKY WITHOUT STARS

"Hurry it on up, girl! We don't got all night." yelled Sawyer from the foot of the stairs. If she was so intent on going to this stupid party, she could at least show a small measure of punctuality.

Then he realised, and wondered, just why she was taking so long. She wasn't one too obsess over her appearance - she no longer paid heed to the opinions of others. His brow furrowed suspiciously as he waited.

It was only when she'd descended the staircase and met his dubious gaze that he discovered why she had taken her sweet time. She decided to wear makeup.

He didn't need his glasses to know that her face was different and not in a way he liked. She was stunning and ideally perfect and the epitome of feminine and absolutely nothing at all like his Freckles. No, she resembled the woman he'd seen in the magnetised pictures on the fridge in the home she'd shared with Aaron and Jack. He didn't want that - not the homemaking single mother or the pristinely perfect trophy-wife of the good Doctor. He wanted Kate - raw, keen and wayward.

"I thought I needed a little change, you know?" She shrugged as if it was some trivial matter, though she was visibly anxious as she toyed with the ends of her blouse. She was uncomfortable and Sawyer was having none of that.

He shook his head in disapproval. "No, I sure as hell don't. There ain't nothing wrong with you - nothing needs changin.'"

Kate sighed, sagging her shoulders. "James…" she started.

Instead, he interrupted her in favour of his own grievances. "Who you tryna impress, Kate? You got some new beau ready to steal ya away from me?" he smirked, aware that the former statement would irritate her more than the latter.

"Maybe I do." she countered. "And stop calling me 'Kate'. You never do that." And he knows just how she hates when he does.

He stepped closer to her. Kate remained on the bottom step, which was already quite aways from the floor and when he stopped before her, their heights were matched, as were their gazes. "Show me the reason I don't," he challenged with that delightfully defiant glint in his eye.

With a groan, Kate relented. "Fine!" She exclaimed before stomping back upstairs to clean all her hard work from her skin.

Although he had no business telling her what to do, and she generally wasn't inclined to listen whenever he tried, Sawyer knew she wasn't entirely comfortable with wearing the makeup in any case. She knew he was right – it wasn't her and that was likely why she hadn't even made an attempt to debate the matter.

When they'd first met, on the island, he'd intended to keep her at a distance but, whether it was his amusement at her expense or her irritatingly inquisitive nature, he'd failed right off the bat. In her he sensed a kindred spirit and was ultimately drawn towards her, and she to him. It happened in the beginning and throughout the 108 days thereafter. And despite the hindering circumstances three years following the Oceanic Six's departure, it happened again. He couldn't have maintained that initial distance if ever he kept trying. It had been a futile effort from the start and instead, he embraced her the way his heart had done before his mind had taken notice.

For her to desire to change her appearance, however scarcely, was to deny who she was; the woman he loved against the odds. He would not have her take her away from him with something so unnecessary as makeup. For as long as she remained with him, she would be herself, utterly and shamelessly.

Finally, he heard the door to their shared bedroom close. "There she is." He beamed, leering up at her as she approached him.

Her face was clear, beautiful and perfectly freckled. Then she smiled that smile that could make a man forget to breathe. For all his bravado, Sawyer too was only a man after all.

Kate rolled her eyes in response to his expression and patted his chest as she passed him over the threshold. "Come on, James."

Sawyer grinned and did as he was told. "Right on, Freckles."