Lost and its characters belong to JJ Abrams and crew. I'm just borrowing for some non-profit fun. Kate accepts a tag-along on her walk from the caves to the beach. Written in response to the Walt challenge on the Lost Ficathons LJ. Enjoy.

Lost – Half a Mile
By Mystic
August 3rd 2005

Kate adjusted the straps on her backpack and sighed, filling a bottle with fresh water before standing. Her knees were already coated in mud and her face was streaked with sweat from the walk up from the beach. She hated the walk, and more and more was considering moving to the caves. Moving there didn't mean she had to stay put, she kept reminding herself. But Kate was stubborn; anyone with a good sense of hearing and a half a drop of common sense would know that.

"My dad says I can come along," she heard Walt manage as he hopped up the rocks to where she stood.

Turning quickly, Kate gave Walt a confused, unappreciative glance. "No, you can't." She raised an eyebrow when he did and she held the straps that went across her stomach in her hands, pressing into the material uncomfortably.

Walt turned back and took another step closer to her. "I've been sitting on that rock," he pointed, "for the last three hours because my dad is making some kind of shower over there. I'm bored to death. Please, Kate."

"Look, Walt, I know…" she started.

He shook his head. "I swear I won't get in your way. I'll go down to the beach with you."

Kate crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. "What story did you spin, Walt?"

"What do you mean?" He played a good confused, but Kate read through it easily. Walt frowned and swung an arm as he lowered his head. "Told him I asked if I could hang out with you and you said it was ok."

"Why would you do that?" Kate shook her head and nodded when Michael gave her a short wave.

Walt watched the exchange. "I figured you were always doing things for everyone else. Maybe you'd help me out."

Turning towards the jungle, Kate took a long breath and walked past the water pool. She glanced over her shoulder. "You coming?"

A grin spreading on his face as Walt bounced up the remaining rocky steps to join her. She pushed aside branches and let him catch up when he fell behind. Kate stopped him after a few moments and motioned towards a tree. "Going up," she told him just before hoisting herself a few feet in the air.

"Why do you climb trees so good? Isn't that something boys do?" Walt asked, squinting his eyes against the sunlight that made it through the thick trees.

Kate pulled herself higher and glanced down at him. "The only thing boys do that girls can't is pee standing up and I'm sure with a good funnel and some force, I could accomplish that too." She listened to him laugh below her as she planted her foot against a branch and climbed another level. "You climb trees, don't you?"

He shrugged. "Well, yeah." Jerking a few fruits off the tree, she jammed them into her pack and slid down. "Why d'you need those?"

"Tracy likes them, but since she's a normal girl, she can't climb trees."

Walt nodded his head and followed her deeper into the jungle. "Thought we were going to the beach?"

"Thought you just wanted to hang out?" Kate pretended to act hurt. "What, Walt, don't really want to hang out with me?"

Walt smirked. "I didn't know you could be funny."

Kate nodded slowly, trying not to let the words hurt, and continued forward, looking towards a large tree covered in vines. She began tugging at the twine hanging off it and rolled it between the underside of her arm and her palm. After she'd gathered a good long rope, she handed it to Walt. "Carry that for me, will you?"

"What's it for?" Walt asked, hanging it off his shoulder.

"Good for the shelters. It's kind of like rope, holds things together." She watched Walt nod his head. He remained silent as she made her way through the trees. It was a little unsettling, how he planted his feet in all the careful spots she had to avoid making noise. She didn't want to attract unwanted attention from whatever lurked in the jungle.

Kate kicked at a metal box with muddy wires springing out at one end on the ground. Eyeing it a moment, she picked it up and jammed it into her backpack.

"What's that for?" Walt tried to get a look at it, but she zipped up her pack before he could.

Kate shrugged. "Looks like it might have been part of the engine. Sayid might find a use for it."

"I bet you used to work at a pawn shop," Walt guessed, shrugging his shoulders. "Or Goodwill."

She laughed and shook her head. "Neither. I just came from a family that didn't let a single thing go to waste."

"I bet you ate all the food on your plate when you were little, without being told to."

Nodding slowly, she smirked and pressed on into the jungle. She wiped her head and glanced back at Walt who held onto the twine on his arm and looked at the trees around him. Every so often he gave a long sigh and on the fifth one she stopped, pulling off her pack and letting it drop to the ground. "Bet you were having more fun on the rock," she told him quietly.

Walt shook his head, watching her pull out her water bottle. "Nah, this is way better than sitting back there."

"Glad I could be of service," Kate laughed.

"But it's cool. You're like, kind of like, Mr. Locke, 'cause you know lots of stuff. I bet you could hunt boar too."

Kate nodded, watching him wipe the sweat off his forehead. Licking her lips, she sighed. She touched the cap of the water bottle in her hand. "Here," she told him, handing the bottle over.

"I bet you'd die for me," he said offhand as their fingers touched on the bottle. Walt let his eyes find hers as she stared down at him with a look of shocked confusion. "I'm sorry," he started, feeling her grasp loosen so he could take the water. Holding it against his chest, he bit his bottom lip and searched the ground for something that wasn't there. "I just meant…"

Kate waved an arm and laughed. She watched him uncap the bottle slowly and crease his eyebrows. She knew the look well. She used to practice it in the mirror to use it against her parents when she forgot to do her homework, or when she'd been busted stealing candy from the corner shop, or any of a number of other crimes she'd committed as a child. It never worked. She waited until he drank and watched as he held the bottle out to her, still looking ashamed. Kate took the bottle and recapped it, putting it into her pack as he stared at her.

"Aren't you going to drink?" He asked.

"Not thirsty yet." Kate zipped up her pack and slung it over her shoulders, snapping the belt across her stomach and continuing into the jungle. Walt stopped sighing, but she didn't stop checking on him. Kate listened to the sound of the beach approaching and she smiled, knowing the ocean breeze would cool the sweat soaking her shirt. She turned to Walt and waited until he came to her, then she removed the twine from his shoulder and touched his head gently. "Guessing I have to return you before nightfall?"

Walt shook his head. "Nah, dad said I could go back with Jack after he makes his afternoon rounds."

Kate nodded and she found herself frowning. She watched Walt study her expression and she could see he was slightly confused by her, but she was used to that. So she forced a grin and gave his back a small prod towards the beach. "Go on," she told him, watching him grin bashful-like and start out towards the beach. Kate watched him kick off his shoes and make his way towards the ocean, splashing in the water before locating Locke a few yards away. "Hey, Walt," Kate shouted. She watched the boy jerk, his eyes finding hers again as she walked across the bright sand towards him.

"Yeah?" He asked, cocking his head slightly as he looked up at her.

"I would," she told him. His eyebrows rose and fell as his mouth started to speak, but she shook her head. Kate knew Walt wasn't a normal kid and it wasn't the first time she'd been struck with the notion that he knew things no one else did. Unsnapping her backpack, she turned away from him, and Kate felt the twine burning into her own bare shoulder as she walked away knowing she would, but she hoped she wouldn't have to.

Finis