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A Kate/Sawyer fic.

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Disclaimer: nope, still don't own Lost ...

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A/N: Okay, this is taken from the episode Confidence Man, the episode all we Skaters love. My take on what could have happened, to all my regular readers, you know how I love to take the original script and tweak it to make it more sappy ... so here we go!

Hope you enjoy it, I know I enjoyed writing it!

As always, please read and review, I live for feedback!

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Sayid was threatening to remove Sawyer's eye with a knife when Kate arrived. She took one look at Sawyer, tied to a tree, bloody from torture, and she couldn't control herself.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" she cried, switching everyone's attention to her.

She could see Sawyer, the look in his eyes, telling her this is the way it has to be, but she didn't care. There was another way. She just had to let herself go ... let herself feel ... once again.

"Kate, we're handling this," Jack said. "Go back to camp."

She shook her head. "No."

Jack looked at her with hard eyes. "Kate ... I wasn't asking."

She glared at him, fighting back her tears. She could cry later. "And I didn't ask for your orders, Jack, so back off."

Jack was surprised at Kate's harsh tone, but not as surprised as he was when she walked right up to Sawyer and kneeled in front of him.

She brushed a shaking hand over his bloody cheek. "I'm so sorry."

Sawyer shook his head. "Ain't your fault, Freckles. I brought this on myself. You don't need to see this, baby, go back to camp, please."

She could feel her heart thudding faster at the sound of him calling her baby, and she could feel Jack and Sayid's eyes on her but she didn't care.

Brushing a strand of hair off his face, she felt a single tear run down her cheek before she brought her lips to his.

The kiss was short, but thorough. She would remember the feel of his lips, the taste of his breath, and the light shiver that ran through her body when she pulled away, her body aching to be close to him.

She leaned her forehead against his, feeling the tears fall freely now, but she didn't care. She didn't care about anything except saving this man from any further pain.

"I don't have them," he whispered.

She opened her eyes, only partly surprised. "What?"

"The inhalers, I don't have them, never did."

She sighed, then nodded her head. She stood, and turned to face Jack and Sayid.

"He doesn't have them."

"He's lying," Sayid said.

The glare she sent him was enough to make even the trained soldier in him look away.

"He doesn't have the inhalers. You're done torturing him," she stated. "Now you leave."

Sayid looked at Sawyer, then back at Kate, and then nodded before turning around and heading back towards the caves to see Shannon.

Jack stayed a few seconds longer than Sayid, but then he whispered something that sounded like "sorry", and followed the other man to the caves.

Kate covered her face in her hands, wiping her tears away and sniffling before turning back to Sawyer. She walked around him, untying his hands and helping him stand up.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"No offense, but you look worse than I feel, Freckles."

Kate chuckled at that, leading him back to his tent.

She set him down in the airplane chair he'd salvaged, then grabbed a bottle of water from one of his many suitcases and handed it to him, watching him drink a decent amount before passing it back to her. She took a few swallows then put the lid back on, setting it beside Sawyer's chair.

She looked up at him. "Why?"

He met her still-scared eyes. "Why what?"

"Why would you let them do that to you, when you didn't even have them in the first place?" Kate wanted to know.

Sawyer shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

She sighed, feeling the tears welling up behind her eyes once more.

"I was so ..."

She looked away from him, hiding her head in her knees.

She felt his hand on her arm, then her whole body somehow ended up in his lap, sobbing and shaking.

"I thought ... I didn't want ... when I saw ... " She couldn't finish any of her sentences, and Sawyer knew he could wait to hear her explanations, but for now, he just held her close, safe inside his tent, just them and their pain, and then somehow ... their bliss.

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The End!

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Until next time ...