"When were you going to tell me about this?" You ask, holding up a pamphlet for the police academy. You're smiling; it feels weird, like the first time you ride a bike after spending years not doing so.

"Signed up yesterday with Miles. What'd you want me to do? Run to your place to tell you the news?" Sawyer smirks.

You sit silently for a moment, just soaking it in. "I'm proud of you," you finally say.

"Thanks Freckles. Never thought you had it in ya," he teases.

"Shut up," you fire back, rolling your eyes.

He came back from Miami different. Like he was finally at peace with himself and all that had happened before in his life. There would always be that sadness in his eyes - there was too much that he could never forget - but he was moving on. Everyone was moving on. Everyone except you.

He'd come over to your house the week before, the first time you'd seen him since he'd left, and awkwardly asked about Clementine.

"Would you like to see her?" You probe.

"Yes," he nods, the anguish palpable on his face.

So here you were packed into your car, on the way to see her – Clementine. The idea of seeing Cassidy right now wasn't your favorite idea, but you wanted to be there for Sawyer. He seemed nervous as you walked to the door, so he waited in the background as you rang the doorbell.

She was surprised to see you, but that faded quickly when she saw the man standing behind you. "What is he doing here?" She hissed, eyes blazing.

"He came to see his daughter," you say, indignant and yet almost pleading with this woman. This was not the same man who had broken her heart.

She glares at you, and you can see it in her eyes. She can't believe that you would bring him here, after everything you had been through in the past three years. But in the end, she concedes. You were always the stronger one.

"Clementine, there's someone here to see you!" Cassidy calls angrily as you and Sawyer let yourselves in. You watch from afar as he knells down to talk to her, and after awhile, you can even see Cassidy's frown soften. She walks towards you slowly, wiping tears from her eyes.

"He really is different isn't he?" She says, watching Sawyer wrap his daughter in his arms.

"Yeah," you say, nodding.

"So what? Are you two together now?" She asks.

"We were never together," you say simply. You know she would never be able to understand that no matter what had happened between you and Sawyer, your heart had always been with Jack.


It doesn't take long for you, Claire, and Aaron to get into a routine. At first, Claire struggled. You were still "mommy" and it took almost four months to make that transition from mom to just Aunt Kate. The first day he called Claire, "mommy", you both broke down in tears. Claire looked at you with such a sense of joy that you couldn't help but smile back even though you felt hollow.

On his first day of preschool, he was already so eager, ready to run off and make some friends, but Claire pulled him back to give him one last kiss on the cheek. He looked to you then and fell into your arms, his tiny arms engulfing you with all this strength. "I love you," he whispers into your ear.

"I love you too, goober." Your voice sounds strangled even to your own ears.


Every night you pull out one of his shirts and slip it on, hugging its silky fabric to your skin. You crawl into bed and close your eyes and just breathe in his scent.

One by one, the clothes lose his presence, his smell, like sand seeping through your fingertips, until one day he's just gone, and you realize you have nothing left to hold on to.


You go to their place to see Sawyer. He seems to be the only one you have left to talk to, even if when you are together, you hardly ever talk about things that really matter.

You knock on the door and Richard answers. "Is James here?" You ask, fidgeting slightly.

"No, he went to go visit Clementine this morning," Richard says. He pauses for a moment and you see the concern written on his face before he even asks, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just wanted to talk to him. I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing," you say, turning around to leave.

"Wait!" He calls out. You turn back slowly.

"Any chance you know how to sail?" He asks with a grin.


"When did you get a boat?" You shout, as the wind rips through the sails.

"Just a few weeks ago. I thought it would be an adventure, but I didn't even know where to start," he laughs lightly, sitting down alongside you now that you are fully underway.

"Well, you're a natural. You must have sailed at some point on the island."

"You'd think I would have, but I've always been just a little bit scared of the water." He looks out at the ocean then and gently fingers a chain that lies around his neck. He catches you staring as the gold cross emerges from underneath his collar.

"It was my wife's….Isabella," he begins with a trace of a Spanish accent. "She died in 1867."

"I'm sorry," you murmur.

"It was a long time ago," he says, placing the chain once again back into his shirt. He clears his throat as if to erase some forbidden emotion, to bury it deep inside.

"Does it ever get any easier?" You ask softly. You're desperate for the answer and yet so scared to know just how long you might feel this way.

"No," he says, looking you dead on, his eyes betraying every emotion. "But they would want us to live. It only took me 150 years to realize that," he finishes with a trace of a smile.

You both are silent then, contemplating. Two broken souls just trying to find the will to float on.


I should have the next part up sometime towards the end of the long weekend, but let me know what you think of this part! I love reviews and it only takes a bit of your time! :)