Title: Cheers
Summary: SANA. Sequel to 'Off the Map'. Ana considers her feelings for a certain Southerner.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.
Author Notes: Second instalment of the nameless series... I really can't come up with a name, any suggestions would be really helpful...
Ana Lucia stood in the rubble that was all that she had left of her shelter and swore under her breath. She felt someone watching her and turned to see Sawyer, leaning against a tree with a lazy grin on his face.
"What do you want Cowboy?" Ana asked, the demolition of her shelter hadn't exactly left her in the best mood. This was incredibly obvious as she kicked a piece of it and continued to swear under her breath.
"Someone's in a bad mood." Sawyer said his voice on the brink of being sing song. Ana shot him a look and he just grimaced at her.
"You got something constructive to say?" Ana asked and then muttered to herself, "Do you ever?" Sawyer heard her and chuckled.
"Play nice Chica, I'm here to make an offer." Sawyer said and she regarded him curiously.
"What would that offer be, Cowboy?" She asked, the curiosity taking over her annoyance at his joy at her lack of luck, and Sawyer's eyes danced mischievously.
"Well, since you ain't got a shelter of your own anymore, I figure you could camp out in mine." He made the suggestion and Ana stayed quiet for a while, turning the offer over in her mind, as if trying to figure out if he was for real.
"Are you serious?" She asked, still not sure if he was actually genuine in his offer. He shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest with an expression that made her have a sinking feeling in her stomach. It was the type of expression someone who had a royal flush on the final hand at a poker game would have.
"Unless you'd rather camp out here." He said, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow at her. Looking around her at the wreck pointedly she sighed and nodded.
"Okay, but you try anything and you will lose a limb." Ana warned, her brown eyes darkening as she warned him and he just chuckled again.
"No worries, Muchacha." He replied with a wink and then walked off. After a moment he turned around to see her standing there, still swearing at the shelter that hadn't been able to stand the storm, and chuckled, "You coming Chica?"
She nodded and with a last dirty look at her pile of rubble she followed him out of the trees and down the beach to his shelter. Raising the blanket he allowed her to go in first and she looked around the shelter, it was surprisingly furnished. A lot more than anyone else's, that was for sure. There was a large collection of books to the side and Ana picked up the nearest one.
Reading the cover, she gave Sawyer a look.
"What?" He asked defensively and she showed him the cover and he winced at it.
"I didn't know you were into that, Cowboy." She said, winking at him and he actually got slightly embarrassed and looked down at the ground.
"Look, you can take the bed, and I'll take the ground." Sawyer grunted and Ana looked at the 'bed'. It was a thick blanket with several small pillows that were taken from the plane, and then compared it with the ground which was just a thin blanket covering the floor of the plane. It didn't really look like there was much of a difference but Ana bit her lip and took it as a compliment.
Theirs was a tentative relationship, built upon the fact that neither had the best past, and that neither was willing to talk about their own or ask about the others. And Ana knew not to test the boundaries of that friendship further than she should. Sawyer had been uncharacteristically generous with the offer to share his accommodation, and she didn't want to insult her host too much. At least, not yet.
"Thanks." She muttered and threw the book back to the corner where the other books were and Sawyer gave a yelp like he'd been shot.
"Hey, watch that!" He said and went over to where the book had been thrown to check it over for any damage. Ana just sneered at this and he turned to see it and held up the book, "These books are the only things that keep my head on straight round here Chica, so you'd better watch were you throw 'em." Holding it to his chest, like a protective father with a child, he walked past her muttering to himself.
Ana rolled her eyes at his strange behaviour and sat down on the 'bed'. Looking around she realised that, unlike her own sparse accommodations, Sawyer had actually made this his home. Something she'd never dreamed of doing. The thought that she would get rescued, along with all the other survivors of flight 815, never left her mind. But it seemed that Sawyer had accepted their fate a long time ago, and had went about making it his lair, taking all the little treasures from the plane and placing them in their spots.
Ana sighed and decided that she should probably go out and make peace with Sawyer, after all the man had just given her somewhere to sleep. She sucked up her pride and went outside to meet the music, the loud, insensitive, rude, foul speaking music. Lifting the tarp and walking outside she was almost immediately met with the legs of a seated Sawyer and let out a yell as she tripped forward over his legs, somehow landing in his lap. This was done with some confusion, and Sawyers arms extended to stop her face planting in sand along with Ana trying to turn her fall into a somersault, which made it easier for Sawyer to catch her and bring her back to the safety of his lap.
Right, it was all for safety. Sawyer reassured himself that was exactly the reason that he had ensured that she would land on him, and not any other, erm, reasons. He looked down at her and she looked more than a little disorientated and shook her head, as if trying to regain some sense of balance and then noticed that Sawyer had his arms around her and that she was currently sitting in his lap.
"Uh, Cowboy, question." She said and Sawyer hoped against hope that she wasn't about to remove a limb of his, he nodded at her and she took it as an invitation to go ahead, "Why am I in your lap?" To this Sawyer didn't have an answer, but knew that if he didn't come up with one quick the dismembering was going to, very quickly, become a reality.
"Well, ya see Muchacha, I didn't want you hitting your head on the ground an' all, it's pretty hard. And I know your head is hard too, but still," Seeing the look on Ana's face darken he quickly changed the subject, "So, as to save you from a mighty strong ache, I decided to, erm... Catch you." He finished lamely and realised that this was the first time he'd ever been rattled, especially by a girl.
"You decided to catch me?" Ana echoed his words and he shifted uncomfortably.
"Yeah." He said and she just stared at him for a moment and then decided not to attack his obvious vulnerability.
"Well, thanks." She said and he let out a breath that he didn't know he was keeping in and grinned at her in relief that came from the fact that she'd actually let him off the hook, and knowing Ana it wasn't a thing that happened very often.
"No problem, Chica." He said and Ana looked down at his arm which was still encircled around her waist, following her gaze he suddenly realised it and quickly let her go, and muttered, "Sorry."
She just gave him a strange look and stood up, disentangling her limbs from his. He watched her stand up and when she did, he finally returned to some form of normal, well normal for Sawyer.
"So, what's up Chica? Had to be a reason for your visit, eh?" He asked and she cleared her throat, obviously trying to regain her own sense of normalcy and distance from him.
"Uh, I just wanted to..." She hesitated and her eyes went down to the book that Sayer held in his lap, the one she had previously wronged, and had now managed to squash in her little trip. Sawyer's eyes followed hers and he realised what she was trying to say.
"No worries, Muchacha. No harm no foul." He said and flashed her a charming grin, and suddenly she felt that she needed to shake herself back into reality before her legs gave out again. She gave him a small, unsure smile and then turned away and started to walk down the beach.
"Where you going Chica?" He asked her and she stopped and looked back at him over her shoulder.
"A walk." She replied and continued to walk down the beach.
"Well, at least she replied this time." Sawyer muttered to himself and turned his attention back to the well thumbed book in his lap.
Ana Lucia walked for a long time, when she got tired of walking she sat down and just stared out at sea. She remembered when, not so long ago, she had sat with Sawyer and watched the sun go down. It hadn't been planned, but then very few things were. And usually the unplanned things were so much better, take their 'rough and tumble in the jungle' as Sawyer had dubbed it. That sort of passion couldn't be planned.
She sighed and put her head in her hands. This was confusing, Sawyer was confusing. One moment she wanted to punch him, and the other...
Damn.
It wasn't just confusing, it was a huge fucking problem.
How could she have feelings like this about Sawyer? Sawyer, for god's sake. Mr Self Proclaimed God's Gift to Women. With his blue eyes that sparkled mischievously most of the time, and his long dirty blonde hair, and his bad boy persona. She, Ana Lucia Cortez, had fallen for the bad boy con. Jeez, it sounded like some sort of romantic comedy movie plot. Or romantic angst.
She'd seen how some of these deals had ended, and it wasn't pretty. And that was aggravated since she felt like murdering Sawyer a not small portion of the time. Sometimes he made her feel like taking his head clean off, and others she felt like...
No! It would do her no good to think of things like that, images like that were her enemy. If she started thinking like that god knows what would happen the next time she saw him. Then again, if it were in front of Jack or Kate that could maybe be a good thing. Then she shook herself out of that thought, winding up that love square more than it already was would cause a lot more hurt than chuckles.
But this had to be actually thought about. How could she ever think of having any thing, even a fling, with someone like Sawyer? He represented everything that she had spent her whole life battling against. Maybe that was what drew her to him, he was such an opposite, yet they were so similar in so many ways. The stubbornness, the insults, the violence.
He was one of the first people to ever put up with her when she was in attack mode, much less get turned on by it. She loved him a little for that. But not enough to make any decision regarding him easily. She knew on some level that he was manipulating her, just the same as she manipulated him. Still, just because she was also doing it didn't mean that it didn't annoy her. Who'd he think he was, Vin Diesel?
She realised that she was grinding her fists in the sand and stopped, looking at the knuckles which were on the brink of bleeding, the skin raw and red.
"Goddamn." She muttered as she touched it and hissed at the stinging sensation it caused. Licking her thumb, she gently started to wipe the sore area and tried to cool down the inflamed area. Shaking her hand, she swore again and stretched out her hands and lay them on her knees in front of her.
She watched the sun once more give way to darkness, and remembered her previous train of thought. Sawyer. Ugh.
Deciding that it would be less fun to walk back to the camp in the dark with no fire or flash light, she started to make her way back with the last of the sun peeking up over the ocean. She was dragging her feet, even though she didn't like the thought of walking on the beach in the dark, she didn't like the idea of having to deal with Sawyer more. Especially since he had been acting so weird as of late. She tried to forget the look he gave her when she was in his lap but it stuck there, burned into her eyelids so she saw it whenever she shut her eyes.
God, that look would haunt her for a very long time. Or at least, until she figured out her feelings for the man.
When she finally got back to the camp it was well into the night and the fatigue of the long walk were heavy on her limbs. Then she came across a really unexpected sight, Sawyer fast asleep sitting outside the shelter defensively with the book on his chest and his glasses askew. She couldn't help but smile as she realised that he had waited for her.
She grabbed some fire wood and put it on the waning fire and pushed back some of his fringe which had fallen over his face. Her fingers lingered, but she shook herself out of it and went inside. Coming back out with a blanket and a pillow, she lifted his head gently and put the pillow behind his head, as he murmured quietly, and then covered him with the blanket. She took off his glasses and placed them in his shirt pocket and, again, pushed back the stubborn fringe which had fallen back across his face.
"Sweet dreams, Cowboy." She whispered to him and then went inside to sleep.
---
Sawyer woke up to a smoking pile of wood that had obviously been used past its burning expiration. He shifted slightly and then realised that he, unlike in the past, had fallen asleep in the sand with a pillow and blanket.
"Huh." He said, wondering if the furniture had gotten up and walked to him. Then his mind got rid of some of the sleep and he realised that Ana must have come back and surrendered the blanket to him, and one of the pillows. He smiled slightly at that thought and got up, carrying the blanket and pillow into the shelter. He watched her sleep, curled up with one of his shirts acting as a blanket.
Sawyer smiled at the sight and lay the blanket on top of the shirt and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Then, again on a whim - he really had to get control of those - he bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead. Ana shifted and opened her eyes slightly, looking at him with sleepy eyes.
"What're you doin'?" She murmured, sleep blurring her words and combining them with each other. But this time Sawyer didn't withdraw, he didn't trip over words, he just simply said,
"Saying thank you." He murmured back and Ana accepted this, even having a slight smile on her face and then turned over and fell right back to sleep. He touched her on the cheek softly and left the shelter, in pursue of breakfast.
---
When Ana finally decided to get up she walked outside to find Sawyer munching on cereal. He was holding a mini box of Cornflakes and greeted her with a smile and a 'Good morning' said through a mouthful of Cornflakes. She winced at the view and he saw it and got a cheeky look, promptly closing his mouth.
"S'rry." He said, keeping his mouth as closed as possible and she just chuckled softly. He swallowed visibly and then said, "There ain't no milk, so I gotta make do. Love cornflakes." He grimaced before shovelling some more into his mouth.
"I can see that." Ana said and then asked, "How come you don't have it every morning?"
"There ain't enough around. I just save it for the special occasions." He said and Ana considered him.
"What special occasion is this?" Ana asked, having a slight clue but wanting to know for sure.
"Your first mornin'." He replied and grinned at her, his dimples furthering Ana's good view of Sawyer that had already been created by his actions. She just watched him with a slight smile on her face that made her eyes sparkle.
Sawyer swallowed down another mouthful of Cornflakes and reached around behind him to get something, which he threw to her. She caught it and saw that it was another mini box of Cornflakes, which she looked at curiously. To this Sawyer just grinned and held up his Cornflakes box.
"Cheers," He said and she stared at his held up box for a moment before knocking her box against his.
"Cheers."