The Last Goodbye

Chapter One

Author's Notes: Welcome back! Well, I hope you guys came back. This story is fifteenth in a series, and you'll probably be confused about the Locke/Boone back story. Anyway, to my regulars who hopefully came back, I decided to throw in the Nadia thing, which I was going to do in "Forget Me Not" but I um..forgot. So the summary's changed a little.

Spoiler Alert: Possible spoilers all through season one.

Disclaimer: Lost belongs to J.J. Abrams and Co and ABC. Inspiration for the title "The Last Goodbye" came from a future episode of the Dead Zone, owned by USA studios.

Since I went to off island, here's a little reminder of what happened last time on Fated:

"There's something I should've told you a few days ago," Alex said, looking down to avoid his silence that followed and his eyes, "I..um.." she finally had to look up at him, "I found the tail section of your plane. Flight 815."

"What?" Jack said, stunned. "Are- are you sure? Where?"

Alex looked at him, as if trying to figure out if Jack would be up to the trip.

"I'll show you," Alex said, "if you're up for it."

"You kissed him!" Sayid protested, disgusted.

"He kissed me!" Shannon corrected. "And I'm guessing you didn't stay long enough to see me slap him."

"Locke must of accidentally shut the system down..

Without sincerely meaning to, Sayid caught glance of what was written on the sheet of notebook paper: numbers. A series of them, along with directions. They looked like some kind of alien language, and as long as Shannon and Boone were on the ground taking care of his wound, Sayid's curiosity took the opportunity to study the notes that went something like:

4815162342: On

2432615184: Off

4400: Left

0044: Right

The pattern went on with different compass directions and even cordanites. Opposite directions were just opposite numbers, a simple code that ran down the page, filling up two columns and starting again on the back.

Kate stared at the manila file she held in her hands. It was a police report- make that entire notes from an investigation. An investigation of a crime that had acurred over twenty years ago, concerning a suicide and homicide that took place all in front of a little boy- Sawyer- or as the report referred to him, James Judith Ford. God no wondered Sawyer never liked his name, it really was as bad as he had made it out to be. It also showed that at one time, many years ago, his parents were religious people, or at least people who hoped that going to church and naming their son after religious figures would shed some light on their families. Keep praying.

"This stuff is-" Kate searched for words, "-insane. I can't believe it. He's like some..monster. He's been tracking down this guy for years."

"Did you ever wonder why no one brought up the fact that no one mentioned your alias on the manifest?" Kate stared straight into her eyes, searching for an a reaction.

"I just thought that they were so concerned about Ethan that-"

"Sawyer," Kate said, annoyed with his denial, "think about it."

For the first time, Sawyer did, and when he realized what she was talking about, he cursed, turning to the ground, not wanting her to see his face because he knew that Kate could read right through it.

"Sawyer," she said again, more soothingly, and touched his arm.

Sawyer jerked it out of her grip, and whirled around, heading back towards the jungle as if the conversation never happened. Kate started to follow him, but Sawyer was moving to fast and was soon out of sight before she could even make out a trail. Angry with herself, Kate sunk back down into the ground, staring into the fire that she didn't have the strength to put out.

And now..

Sawyer was lost. He could admit it now. After nearly eight hours of wondering in the jungle for the third time in his life, Sawyer was now almost eight miles out of camp, dehydrated, and exhausted. When he left the previous night, he hadn't really thought that he'd be out so long, but once Sawyer had gotten into the heart of the jungle, his ego hadn't allowed him to go back; and the entire time Sawyer felt as if someone were following him.

The trees above swayed in movement with the wind and the leaves crushed below his feet as Sawyer turned while he was walking, hoping that something would trigger recognition. The only thing that triggered anything was pain when he slipped and felt something tear into the bottom of his jeans. He felt himself follow forward, but just as he did, a familiar hand reached out to help him.

"Thanks Freckles," Sawyer muttered, and then realized what he had said, "wait-what the hell?"

Sure enough, Kate was the one helping him stand, smiling in front of him.

"What, do you have a tracking device on me?" Sawyer shot, picking at a clog of dirt that had molded on his forearm.

"I followed you out here," Kate admitted, "I figured you didn't need to be alone."

"Yeah?" Sawyer said continuing down the path. "Well you figured wrong."

Kate grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Stop kidding yourself," Kate said, looking at him more intensely than ever before, "come on, let's go back."

"What makes you think that I'm going to just waltz right after you?"

"Because I'm the only one besides Locke who knows these woods."

"You?" Hibbs snorted. "Are going on vacation?"

"That's right," Sawyer pulled the zipper tight on his duffle bag, "and sorry to say this, but you can't tag along this time."

"Guess all that money's gotta go somewhere."

Hibbs was throwing a baseball he had found buried in the couch of the hotel room Sawyer was staying in. Sawyer grabbed it just as it hit the air, and pocketed it. Hibbs didn't complain, only stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked around the room.

"You ain't going home, are you?" Hibbs asked curiously.

"Where's home?" Sawyer smirked, with a hidden touch of sadness.

Like any kid, Sawyer had wanted to travel the world, but not like this. The past decade had been a series of scams and constant running. Need money? Rob a gas station. Surprisingly Hibbs, a guy he met at a bar about six years ago, had caught up with him again.

"Back to Tennessee," Hibbs said in a tone way too serious for his personality.

Hibbs was usually a cold guy, who liked to crack an occasional joke. He claimed that he was from Jersey, but Sawyer could never really know.

"To that house you've been trying to sell for twenty," Hibbs finished.

Sawyer looked at him, incredulous. He hadn't said a single thing about his past to Hibbs, so how did he know?

"I ran a background check on you," Hibbs explained, seeing Sawyer's puzzled face, "and you've got one sad story- James."

The name made Sawyer freeze.

"How-"

"Credit card," Hibbs shrugged, and then smiled, proud of his work, "you didn't really think that you could hide long, did ya?"

"Well then," Sawyer slung his bag over his shoulder, "you know my story, you should know why I'm not going back."

Sawyer didn't say another word as he grabbed the room keys off of a table, and headed out the door.

When Sawyer and Kate got back to camp, they found the caves in an uproar, and Jack in the center of it. The caves reeked of blood and sweat, and the pressure Jack seemed to be under set a thick tension in the air. Kate made her way towards him, weaving through the crowds, and found Jack kneeling beside someone who looked liked a creature from beyond, covered head to toe with blood. Sayid was helping Jack, who seemed overwhelmed in pressure, and a thick layer of sweat.

"What's going on?" She demanded.

"Here," was Jack's reply as he threw her a stained washcloth, "help."

Kate looked to see what she was supposed to be doing, and decided on following Sayid's actions in trying to get a wound on the man's leg to stop bleeding.

"Who is he?" Kate asked as Jack poured some water onto the man's arms, and sent Charlie to go get some more. "Anyone we know?"

"You know how we thought that there were no survivors from the tail section?" Jack said, doing everything he could to get one of the man's wounds to close.

"Yeah."

"We were wrong."

"You mean," Kate looked at the guy, "he's been out there the entire time?"

"Yeah," Jack replied, and suddenly a new wave of thought sent Jack falling backwards, sitting on the heels of his shoes, "if only I had gone out to look for the tail section earlier. It was only a few miles from camp. Why didn't I?"

"Jack," Kate said sternly.

Jack looked up, embarrassed at being caught ranting to himself.

"It's not your fault," she finished.

"Right," Jack nodded, though he didn't sound convinced, "dammit, I'm almost out of peroxide. Sayid, do you still have that bottle you took for the beach camp?"

"Yes," Sayid nodded, and called Shannon over, who seemed a little edgy around the blood, "go to my tent-" he told her, "get me all the medicine you could fine."

Shannon nodded and ran out, throwing up just before exiting the caves.

(Space)

Once she reached Sayid's tent, Shannon searched through every suitcase Sayid had, until finally finding one full of medicine. Thinking that it would be easier to carry it all in a backpack rather than a suitcase, Shannon grabbed an empty pack Sayid had, but just as she put the first bottle of medicine in, her fingertips fell on something at the bottom. Feeling for what seemed to be a piece of paper, Shannon's mind switched from the medicine to what she soon found to be a photograph, and her heart dropped. It was of a woman. She flipped it over, and found some sort of foreign writing that she thought might be Arabic. Even though the language was unfamiliar, it wouldn't of taken a genius to tell her that the inscription had to do with love.

Author's Note: Sorry for the shortness. I guess that was more like a teaser. Thanks so much for the reviews from "Falling Up" and just to let you know, I think I have a plot for another off island fic, though I'm going to work on the on island ones first. And the journal plot is turning up, eventually. And don't worry, I'm not turning Skate on yall.

Coming up next on "The Last Goodbye":

Jack learns something about his new patient, and there's problems in paradise when Shannon confronts Sayid about Nadia's photo.

Thanks again!

Until next time..

October Sky