Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Lost, although I'd really like to own Sawyer and Kate!8) And Sayid, and Jin, and Sun, and... P

Author's note: I want to thank my friend Ludovico (nicknamed Daemonfey :P) for being my beta-reader and correcting a few mistakes here and there. You rule!;) English is not my first language, so forgive me if you spot some calamity here and there. ) Enjoy and please review!

Chapter 1

Kate woke up only to find out Sawyer wasn't in the cage in front of hers. She stood up quickly and tightened her hands around the bars, trying to check if he wasn't lying around on some dark corner she couldn't see from her stoned bed. Her eyes travelled through the area and saw nothing.

She began to walk back and forward nervously, caressing her still wounded wrists.

"Mornin', Kate!" a slightly southern drawl announced.

She turned her head in a fast movement and managed to force a little smile when she spotted the Other who used to wear the fake beard.

"It's Tom, right?" she asked, politely. "Can I call you Tom?"

"Well, ain't that a surprise!" he exclaimed, grinning. "Never expected you to be attentive enough to remember my name. Mr. Friendly is fine, you can call me that." He unlocked her cage and gestured for her to come out. "Time to work."

"Where is Sawyer?"

"Your friend James went for a walk. A very special walk." He grabbed Kate's arm gently and guided her to the quarry where she and Sawyer had worked two days before.

"Is he alright?"

"Of that, I'm not quite sure" Mr. Friendly answered with a hint of honesty. "You see, that James of yours isn't exactly an easy person. And some of us may wanna see him dead."

"He's not mine!" Kate spat, her tone venomous.

"Whatever you say, hon." He dropped his hand and stopped next to her. "Juliet! Kate's here. I'm going back now."

Juliet nodded and came closer.

"Hello, Kate" she whispered, smiling.

Kate glared at her. She hadn't forgotten the gun pointed at her chest when Sawyer attacked the Others.

"What did you do with Sawyer?" She remembered the day before, when the blonde had passed near their cages with Jack wearing a bag over his head. "Where did you take Jack?"

"Less talk, more work."

"Or what? You'll shock me?"

Juliet grinned, her eyes sparkling. "Yes. Same thing as the other day, break the rocks with the pickaxe. No talk, no breaks." She offered Kate the tools and pointed the place where she would be working today.

Kate sighed and walked slowly to the pile of heavy stones, noticing Pickett wasn't nowhere to be seen. She had a feeling it had something to do with the woman lied down on the stretch the previous day.

"If you're not back by tonight, Sawyer, I'll run away without you. It's every man for himself." She broke the first rock with anger and wiped both men away from her mind.

Sawyer was oddly quiet during the journey back from the cliff where he had seen the other island. His island. It was a long walk, they would only arrive at the camp in the middle of the afternoon.

He was feeling stupid. How could he have believed they had implanted a pacemaker near his heart? How could he have let the Others know how much he cared about Kate? Now they had arguments against him. And Sawyer? Sawyer had nothing.

"Hey, Crusoe!" he called out. "We didn't come this way."

"You're right, James" Ben said, calmly. "Why? Do you miss your cage?"

"Hell yeah!" Sawyer replied, his voice full of sarcasm. "I sure am in the mood for fish biscuits right now!"

"We're moving you."

"You what?!" The con man stopped abruptly and grabbed Ben's collar.

Two guns were immediately pointed at Sawyer's head.

"We're moving you to a better place." the Other continued.

"I don't even wanna know what is your concept of a better place. Take me back!"

"Let go of me, James." Sawyer did as he was told, his eyes burning with hatred. "Don't you want a shower? A nice hot meal?"

"I don't want anything that comes from you, Palpatine. The food would probably be poisoned and I bet you have gas chambers instead of showers!"

"Kate would disagree."

"What d'ya mean?" His forehead was frowned in distrust.

"She took a shower and had a nice meal before we put her in that cage." Ben restarted his march. "Maybe that's why she tasted like strawberries."

"You..." Sawyer was getting ready to hit Ben as hard as he could, but the other two men prevented him. "Take me back there, you son of a bitch! Take me back!"

"I never thought you'd be so eager to go back to a bear cage, Sawyer..." Ben commented, his blue eyes scanning the con man intently.

Sawyer stopped struggling and got rid of the other men's grab.

"Listen to me, you little rat" he whispered, dangerously. "I don't know what the hell do you want from me, but you're putting me back on that cage or I'll be a specimen so difficult that you might as well kill me!"

"Then you might as well be killed."

Sawyer was stunned.

"You said it yourself you were no killers."

"I'm not very fond of killing, if that's what you're implying. But the bruises on your face show that maybe Pickett is." He shrugged his shoulders. "You never know."

"Look!" Sawyer insisted, now with an almost desperate hint of pleading in his rough voice. "Take me back to that cage just for today, for tonight. Then you can do whatever you want. I'll behave."

Ben grinned, a wicked smile dancing on the expression of his eyes.

"You've got yourself a deal... James."