Title: Hitting the Brakes
Rating: T ( for some minor language later on )
Genre: Romance / Drama
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Lost". They were created by JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof and they belong to them, Touchstone, and ABC.
Spoilers: None. Completely AU.
Summary: AU Skate fic. What happens one of them saves the other's life? Where do they go from there? Please R&R.
Author's Note: OK so this is my second fic, and first AU fic. The first chapter is quite long, but I promise more condensed and more frequent updates in the future.
Please read, and please review.
Chapter 1
Kate was on the run. And this was what being on the run was like, she reminded herself for the seventh time that morning. It was 9.am in the morning and she was already up on this grey windy day. A Tuesday. Like that meant anything to her, she didn't have a job or a place to be. She was just in this city, well, because she was. And she was only walking the streets without nowhere to go because she was getting restless. She was exhausted too, she had rented a lousy bedsit, a few roaches but she couldn't moan. It was cheap. And the entire night the occupants of the above room had played loud music. She couldn't lodge a complaint of course, she couldn't risk exposing herself by causing a fuss. Plus in a way she was grateful for the loud music, it was a handy excuse to blame her tired, crazy state on. That way she didn't get to consider the guilty thoughts that plagued her every hour. Being on the run was strange. It wasn't all stations action all the time, in fact most of the time it was sitting round in empty rooms or wandering around un-known streets in boredom, looking for a purpose. Sometimes Kate even relished the moments when the police almost caught up with her, when she would have to take out two cops, make a break for it out the back window, steal a car and drive to her next nest. But it was a tiring life. She was too on edge all the time to sleep.
Wrapping her thin jacket around her Kate walked along the pavement, head down and her hair whipping around her face. She couldn't remember whether she'd brushed it or not this morning. She thought not which irritated her. But then again, where was her hairbrush?
Perhaps she'd left in that hotel back in L.A. The cops had caught up with her there too. She would need a new one.
But you're got no money, a bitter voice in Kate's head reminded her. Kate brushed the thought aside.
She was on the run. She was just getting her just desserts. No money, no hairbrush, just some girl wandering around some grey empty streets at 9.am, amidst the crowd on their way to work.
Suddenly a smell wafted past her, coffee. Looking up Kate saw a small Starbucks over the road. A warm, barely crowded Starbucks. With sofas. She had a couple of dollars on her right? Kate came to a halt and stared at the building. If not she could always pick pocket.
Making a decision and looking down again, Kate wrapped her coat tighter around her and stepped out onto the road. She needed a new jacket too.
Sawyer wandered along the sidewalk, aimlessly kicking a can along the pavement. It was a grey, cold day and usually he wouldn't even be up at this hour. But he had driven all night to pay back this one guy on time. And he had paid him back.
But busted a tyre on the way. Usually he'd be packed up and on the highway by now. But instead his car was in the garage and Sawyer was trying to kill a couple of hours before he could pick it up again. Then he could be on his way again. He was desperate to get out of this city. It was depressing.
He passed a Starbucks, looking through the window out of interest. But he didn't feel like going inside. He was cold and tired and hungry, but he felt like moving.
So he stepped out off the pavement, standing by the edge of one parked car Sawyer checked the road, even though it was relatively quiet, looking both left and right. Too late, an approaching car.
But glancing back Sawyer saw there was already someone in the road, A girl, brown hair, small, walking head down, oblivious to the approaching vehicle.
A rush of adrenalin went straight to Sawyer's head, she was going to get hit!
There was no time to think, blindly shutting his eyes, Sawyer launched himself into the road, crashing into a body then slamming against the ground, as tyres screeched wildly.
Broken out of her concentration, Kate heard a screeching of tyres, her head whipped round to try and locate the noise, but before her vision could focus a heavy weight slammed into her, with the impact of a human sledgehammer and a muffled yell, and suddenly the ground was whipped from beneath her feet.
Her whole world span sideways, dizzyingly, a blur of blue and a background wash of screams and screeching, then Kate could feel her body hit a surface, and the world stopped moving, and slowly everything went mercifully black …
" Son of a bitch! "
Sawyer looked up, cursing loudly and wincing in pain. He hadn't expected to hit the ground that hard.
Sprawled over the ground he could feel pain coursing through his body in hundred different places. He had sore aching muscles that would be probably bruise like crazy, a pounding headache from where his head had thwacked against the pavement, a million burns all along his exposed upper arms, and a few through his jeans, and something that felt oddly warm on his head and detracted from the pain, making his head feel light and weightless. Yup, thought Sawyer, taken a pretty good beating.
It took a moment to remember how he got there, but a dead warm, weight underneath him soon reminded him.
Sawyer was lain on top of a body. He thought maybe he'd landed on something soft. But looking down Sawyer recognised the girl.
She too wasn't in great shape, there were tiny flecks of blood all over her skin where gravel had been embedded after she slammed onto the road and her head was tilted to one side, at an awkward angle that exposed her long pale neck.
If she doesn't clean out those wounds they're gonna get real ugly, was Sawyer's first assessment.
Apart from that she didn't seem to have suffered any great injuries, well at least no bloody gashes, gushing head wounds or missing limbs, which were what constituted as serious injuries to Sawyer's untrained eye.
What really concerned him was the fact that she didn't seem to be conscious, the fall had knocked her out cold though. Though Sawyer could tell she was breathing because as her chest rose and fell Sawyer could feel her move slightly beneath him. Because he was lying right on top of her.
For a brief instant Sawyer worried if he was squeezing all the oxygen out of her, and decided pretty quickly he should probably get up. Also, as the world around him was coming more into focus Sawyer could hear a set of running footsteps coming towards him, growing louder, and a few muffled shouts and honking of car horns.
Carefully Sawyer transferred his weight from the girl beneath him, to the balls of his feet and his hands, by flexing them out and resting them on the pavement, wincing at the pain this caused.
As he rose Sawyer experienced more of the pain he had received, his back felt sore and every muscle in his body seemed to groan with the effort of moving. Placing a head on his head, Sawyer tried to stem the wave of dizziness that broke over him as he was upright, and felt the warm sticky fluid that was slowly sticking his hair to his skull, just above his right ear.
A groan from below re-directed Sawyer's attention. Looking at the girl below Sawyer could see for the first time how she had been impacted. She had landed in an oddly symmetrical position, her legs spread apart and her arms forming a v-shape above her head. It looked oddly enough like someone had frozen her in the middle of making snow angels.
But she was waking up, Sawyer waited, with slightly bated breath, feeling the rays of the sun warm upon the back of his neck, as the brunette coughed, once, twice, and rolling onto her side, groaning at the pain caused by movement.
Coughing a little more, the girl opened her eyes, blinking, at the sun shining and also as she tried to focus her line of vision. Once open, the girl lay there for a few seconds, assessing the world from her perspective. Lain sideways on the road. There was a long expanse of gravel, a car parked haphazardly on the road, numerous feet milling in the distance and one pair of white trainers hitting the ground at rhythmic intervals, growing louder and larger as they came near her.
Trying to sit the girl gasped slightly as everything was sore. Instinctively Sawyer crouched down quickly, reaching out toward the girl to steady her and stop her from moving, but instead the girl grabbed onto his hand with surprising strength, using Sawyer for some stabling support. And by pulling on Sawyer's arm, and balancing herself with one arm extended gingerly in the air, the girl brought herself up, wincing, to a sitting position.
Sawyer looked down with some concern, despite the fact that girl was gripping onto his hand, she didn't really seem aware of what had just happened, where she was or why she was hurting. In fact she looked around in in disorientated bewilderment, dizzy, bruised and confused.
Looking down at herself the girl stared at her free hand, inspecting with a frown the flecks of blood and cuts there. She was still only balanced by Sawyer, so whilst not letting go of her hand Sawyer also reached down and gripped her forearm. The girl briefly glanced at Sawyer's hand, nodded, almost imperceptibly, and together they manoeuvred the girl till she was sitting on the curb. The girl didn't look up the whole time, she still dealing with after shock, and her reactions were a little stalled. At that moment her forehead was creased in pain, both physical and that involved in trying to figure out what had happened. And her movements were slow, and lost, as if she moving through water, and she was only yet reacting to physical contact.
Still crouching beside her, Sawyer noted all this, and thought it best not to say anything just yet. So he found a seat on the pavement too, watching the girl, and holding her hand. He felt a little awkward to say the least now that he had gained awareness of the situation, but she hadn't yet and he couldn't just leave her. So her held her hand, her tiny fingers till coiled tightly around his palm, which reminded him of the way babies wrap their whole hand around someone's finger.
While they sat Sawyer looked at the girl. She was a young thing, he guessed twenty-four, maybe twenty five and thinner than most. And she had a plentiful scattering of freckles across her face Sawyer noted. She was certainly attractive, in a lithe, very natural kind of way but she didn't look very cared for. She was way too skinny, which detracted from her face, making her cheekbones way too outstanding and her cheeks a little hollow. Like she had been sapped. She looked exhausted too, and Sawyer guessed that wasn't just her near-death-experience taking it's toll, there were shadows under her eyes and her was tousled and a little matted, like it hadn't been washed in a couple of days.
" Is she alright?! Is she hurt? Oh god … she's not that bad is she?!"
The pair of white trainers had finally arrived, and with them a body. One, Sawyer noted as he glanced up at the figure outlined by the sun, that came in the shape of a nervous, sweaty, man, slightly tubby with grey hair, dressed in a shirt, jeans and a baseball cap. Which he was currently nervously wringing in his hands.
This, Sawyer guessed, was the driver. Idiot.
" Is she alright?! "
" Calm down buddy she's fine. You didn't get her. "
And looking the driver up and down Sawyer glared at him and added for good measure.
" You tried hard enough though. "
" I didn't see her! She just wandered out into the road - "
" Hey! Quieten down alright?! "
The driver stopped his guilty babbling as Sawyer yelled at him. Sawyer welcomed this quiet break and used it to look back at the girl. She appeared to be a little more alert now, looking at the car over the road and the driver, as if piecing the jigsaw together.
Sawyer looked at her with a little less concern and a little more speculation. She must have been a bit of a ditz to wander out onto the road in the face of oncoming traffic without realising.
A possible con? Lonely wife really grateful to her rescuer?
Sawyer glanced at her wedding finger. No ring. Sawyer wasn't that surprised, or disappointed. She hardly looked rich. Besides, he doubted he could really sum up the energy to charm this one, she looked like she'd had enough of rough time of it recently.
The girl was now fully coming to her senses, and aware of the shadow over her, she became aware of other people, though she still had her hand in Sawyer's, he noticed.
Automatically and with a shaky breath she blurted out;
"I'm fine."
Sawyer, who had leaned in a little closer to hear her, concerned and curious, couldn't help but be amused.
" Sweetheart I hate to break it to ya but you're far from fine. "
At the sound of his voice, the lilting southern accent, Kate looked up, and stared at her rescuer for the first time.
Meeting her eyes Sawyer was a little bit unnerved, they weren't as vulnerable or as grateful as expected, they were narrowed, almost suspicious. But the way Kate then shrank away from him, belied her. She took her hand out of his, and looked away from him, peering defensively out of the gaps in the hair that fell across her face. She reminded Sawyer of a cornered animal. He stared at her bemused, what was her story?
The girl broke contact first, placing her hands either side of her on the curb steadying herself, took a deep breath, then looked back at Sawyer, and stated, in a deliberate attempt to ward him off.
" I'm fine. "
The driver, who had been watching this with a nervous, un-involved air, hovering around the edge, now butted in.
" Hey! Let me drive you to hospital? "
The driver wrung his hat in his hands, still clearly nervous, but Kate took one look at him, squinting in the sunlight, and glanced up at Sawyer briefly, before looking back down again. Picking up her left hand, which had a sore, red wrist she fondled it carefully, probing her injuries.
Turning to Sawyer the driver addressed him instead, desperately.
" Please, it's the least I can do. "
Sawyer was all but ready to comply, heaving a sigh, he looked sideways at the ground, then glanced back and nodded at the driver, who nodded too, un-consciously smiling in relief.
Time get rid of this sweaty little man and be on my merry way.
But, as Sawyer turned to look back at the girl and help her up, he was surprised to find her already staring at him. Pleadingly, desperately. Her eyes, harsh and cornered earlier, still contained that same sense of panicked urgency, but it was openly displayed in front of Sawyer, a cry for help, and she silently mouthed the word "no" at Sawyer.
And without realising it Sawyer found himself nodding to her, he didn't really know what he was agreeing too. He just wanted to wipe that scared look off the girl's face.
Because that's what it was. That's why the girl had looked so damned defensive and accusing, panicked and suspicious. She was just plain scared.
Sawyer could recognise the look in her eyes, the trapped look, only driven by something sharper, more intelligent, more brutally instinctive. The need to survive.
This girl is no ditz. She's running, Sawyer realised. He knew because he knew what that felt like, and it occurred to him what he must be to her now. Just another stranger, a shadowy figure, terrifying because they are un-known, another threat that can't be neared because they might grab you by your skin and drag you down. For a brief moment a thought came to Sawyer. Did she walk out in front of the car on purpose?
But mentally he brushed the thought aside, she was here now. And so were two of the afore-mentioned threats to this girl, himself and this guy. And at least 10 or so observers on the opposite pavement, curious enough to stand there watching but not concerned enough to be compelled to go see if they could help. Or just unwilling to.
Every person present was divulging all their attention on this one girl, and it had obviously scared her and made her clam up more. He wasn't surprised. Being on the run meant you definitely didn't want to be centre of attention.
" Sir?"
The driver's irritatingly intrusive voice interrupted Sawyer's moment of revelation, and caused him to turn around, breaking the contact with the creature below him.
"What?!"
The driver cowered under Sawyer's gaze.
" Um, I mentioned the hospital? Can the lady walk? "
Sawyer turned back to the girl, who was still staring at him desperately, all her hopes hinged on his answer.
" She can walk just fine, she won't be needing no hospital."
Sawyer didn't break eye contact with the girl as he spoke, and he saw the fear retreat, her face relax and she looked down, breathing out heavily. She had been so close to the edge.
Strangely Sawyer felt the loss of a physical presence when she looked away, and absurdly for a fleeting moment, wanted the girl to look back up again.
Of course the loss of one presence, regretfully didn't mean the loss of another.
" But - "
The driver was still stood there, nervous as ever, now confused, having blurted out his protest but not yet formulated an argument to go with it.
Sawyer having turned around, took the time to look behind the driver, and assess the situation beyond himself and the two people next to him, properly, for the first time.
The crowd behind the driver had practically dissipated, everybody had lost interest when they say Kate wasn't seriously hurt and Sawyer wasn't going to sling her over his shoulder and rush to the nearest ER, or at best, sock the driver one.
People doing their shopping had returned to doing so, and people on their way to work had decided it was time to set off again; they didn't want to be late again this week. The only people that remained were two mothers with their babies in pushchairs, they obviously had and one old man, sitting on a bench on the die walk, who had been there the whole time, watching all the drama play out form beginning to end. He was the only one who had really noticed the car heading toward Kate, and had seen Sawyer's heroics. He hadn't moved from the spot though, he just sat there, smiling, strangely at peace with the world, the sun bouncing genially off his head, as if the world were at peace with him too.
Sawyer noticed this old man staring, and instead of averting his gaze on being caught, the old man just smiled at Sawyer, then lifted his hand and waved.
Sawyer frowned at him in return.
" Mister?"
Sawyer was snapped back from one freak to another, and looked at the driver, expecting him to do something just as weird maybe.
In the last 5 minutes what had been a grey day had brightened, the clouds clearing, the sun reappearing and the sky actually visible, splotches of blue were scattered across the sky like blue paint.
A wind had also picked up, blowing litter like tumbleweed across the pavement, and, blowing the driver's few tufts of hair like bird's feathers in the wind. Sawyer stared at them, oddly transfixed for a moment.
"Uh, mister?"
Sawyer blinked, and wondered what the hell had come over him. Looking at the driver Sawyer tried to re-direct his attention.
" Yeah, what?"
For the first time the driver looked at Sawyer like he was crazy.
" The hospital?"
Oh yeah, that.
Sawyer looked back at the girl still crouched on the floor, as if needing an extra catalyst to speed up the decision he had already made. She wasn't looking at him however so he couldn't read anything off her, but looking at her, staring at the ground, mulling over her situation and lost in thought, Sawyer felt an un-explainable need to look after her. Because he understood why she needed to be looked after.
Sawyer turned back to the driver. The sun was now positioned directly behind him, so light framed the guy, creating a dark, slightly, tubby, profile in Sawyer's eyes.
Sawyer cleared his throat, and paused, for some reason, before speaking.
" It's alright, I'll take the kid home. "
This seemed to surprise and worry the driver. This crude, redneck brute wanted to take the young girl home? Granted he had saved her life, but who's not to say he doesn't have ulterior motives? Should he let him take this girl home? Would that be o.k.?
" I'm not so sure - "
But Sawyer didn't want to hear his interruption.
" Look buddy she only needs some aspirin and an ice pack and she'll back on her feet again. Going to hospital is more trouble that it's worth o.k.? "
" But -"
Sighing heavily, a sign which makes the driver flinch a little and step back a little, Sawyer steps to the side to look at the driver without the sun glaring in his eyes, and stands in front of the girl behind him. Shielding her, it feels like.
Sawyer can tell what the driver's problem. He doesn't trust him. Sawyer can understand that at least. Hell, Sawyer wouldn't even trust himself. Everything about him is purposefully designed to inspire mistrust.
Sawyer lowers his tone, to fit a more placating manner.
" Look buddy, I aint gonna hurt her. I think you got near enough that already. "
A look of guilt flashed across the driver's face, and Sawyer, smiling slightly in satisfaction, continued in a reasonable tone.
" I'm just gonna take her home, give her something a little stronger than any hospital's got to give her, her strength back, then she can go. Back to walking down the middle of the road or whatever it is the hell that she does. O.k.?"
The driver nodded, just to appease Sawyer, but still didn't look convinced. He was staring at Kate, who wasn't staring back, with a look that clearly showed he longed to do something, if only to appease his own guilt.
" You sure? "
" Look if I say so course I'm damn sure. Do I look like the type of guy to be kidding?"
The driver looks back at Sawyer, blankly, then realises he is supposed to answer.
" Oh, um, yeah - I mean no! No, no. " The driver repeated himself for extra confirmation.
Sawyer nodded slowly, accommodating the driver. He obviously wasn't much a bright spark.
" Good. So I'll just take her back to my place then."
" But! Do you want me to drive you there?"
Sawyer lied easily and naturally, without moving a muscle in his face.
" My apartment's right round the corner."
The driver wrung his hat a little more and shot another look at the girl lying on the floor.
" Well, let me do something. I don't feel right just leaving her."
Sawyer inwardly groaned. He was going to have to make this guy feel better before he could get him to leave.
" Look buddy, you're not just abandoning her. You're making sure she's not hurt and leaving her in safe hands. "
Sawyer held up his hands as if to prove how safe they were.
" See, I can take it from here. "
The driver shifted on his feet nervously, considering, and glancing back to see if the crowd was still watching. The mothers were still there, and the old, bald man. But part from the latter no-one seemed to be paying attention any more.
When the driver turned back to Sawyer, Sawyer could see his decision had already been made. Though he still felt guilty about it.
" So I'll leave her with you? And you'll take care of her? "
Sawyer had to resist rolling his eyes.
" Scouts honour. "
" O.k. "
The driver leaned around Sawyer, to where Kate was still sitting on the pavement, still staring at the floor, but now listening to the conversation intently.
" Sorry."
Kate looked up startled, saw the nervous face of the driver looming, nodded once, briefly, then looked down again. This time staring at the ground in a more strained fashion, willing the driver to go away.
And slowly, he did. Biting his lip, hat still in his hands, the driver made his way back to his car parked in the middle of the street with door open. Apologetically and guiltily, he glanced back a few times, only deterred by Sawyer standing and staring at him till he retreated.
Once in the car it took another 2 minutes for the driver to drive off again, almost meticulously he strapped himself in and shakily placing his hands on the steering wheel, re-adjusting his rear-view mirror, and manoeuvring the car slowly and carefully, as if scared the young brunette was going to launch herself in front of the car again.
The man on the bench, the two mothers with their two babies, Sawyer, and the young brunette, Kate, all watched him go, and the driver watched them watch him leave in his rear-view mirror.
And then, with a rumble of exhaust, he was gone.
There was a moment of silence before Sawyer turned back to Kate. He towered over her and she looked up at him, wincing in the sunlight that surrounded him, ironically giving the impression of a golden halo around his head.
" Looks like you're stuck with me then Freckles. "
TBC in Chapter 2.
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