Thank you for reviewing and for adding me to story/author alerts :) please continue :D

Rachel x

Chapter 4

The next morning came too quickly for me, I knew without checking the compact in my carry on bag that I would have serious dark circles under my eyes. I crawled out of my tent, bleary eyed, and stifled a yawn with the back of my hand as I pulled myself into a standing position.

I stretched my body out to loosen my locked muscles and clicked my neck. I grabbed a bottle of water from my tent and headed further up the each to where I could see a few people gathering. As I got closer, I saw that Sawyer was there. My stomach did the flip thing again. To be fair, he wasn't the only one there, but he the one I noticed first. Then I saw that Kate, Shannon, Boone, Charlie and Sayid were also there.

"What's going on?" I asked Sayid, who seemed to be organising the group.

"We're going into the jungle to get a signal for the transceiver, we need to be on higher ground" Sayid explained.

"I'll come with you" I told him firmly, leaving no room for negotiation. Sayid nodded his agreement.

Sayid nodded once.

"Meet back here in five minutes and then we'll get to higher ground" Sayid instructed.

We all nodded, even Sawyer. I saw Kate and Jack share an icy glare. I wondered what was going on there, but it wasn't really any of my business what was going on between those two.

I quickly went back to my tent, grabbed some water and fruit and packed them into a spare rucksack I'd managed to scrounge.

"Let's go" Sayid instructed.

We set off into the jungle; Sawyer hung back, not really wanting to get too involved in the conversations that were going on around him. Shannon and Boone seemed to be bickering, when weren't they bickering? I wasn't in the mood for small talk so I kept myself to myself, every now and then thumbing the photograph in my pocket.

We walked for about a kilometre and a half before we heard a God awful roaring sound. We all stopped, frozen. A look of recognition passed across Kate's face.

"Run!" she yelled, and we did.

Everyone seemed to split up in different directions, I ran and tripped my way through the jungle, pushing branches out of my way as I went. I could hear bullets being fired nearby and I flinched. And then suddenly, I was pulled sideways into the undergrowth. Without loosening his grip on my waist, Sawyer raised his other hand that held a gun, and pointed it towards the thunderous sounds. For a second nothing happened and then the crashing was getting closer. Without realising, I pressed myself closer to Sawyer, and he tightened his hold on me. Out of the trees crashed a polar bear, and honest to God polar bear.

Sawyer didn't flinch, didn't seem shocked or scared, no, instead he just fired until the beast, the polar bear, lay dead on the floor. Panting a little from shock, I clung to Sawyer for support.

"Are you ok?" he asked me.

I nodded, not trusting my voice to behave as it should. Instinctually, I touched the photo in my pocket before letting out the breath that I hadn't realised I'd been holding.

Sayid, Kate, Charlie, Boone and Shannon crashed though the trees towards us, and Sawyer let his arm drop off my waist. I tried not to feel hurt by this, it wasn't a personal insult, it wasn't meant to hurt me. It really, really wasn't.

"Is that…a polar bear?" Boone asked.

"No, it's a chipmunk" Sawyer taunted, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head mockingly.

Boone and Sawyer tensed up, ready for a testosterone fuelled fist fight. But Sawyer had a gun in his hand which made it that little bit more dangerous.

"What is a polar bear doing in the jungle?" Boone asked.

"I haven't got a clue, its crazy. All of this is crazy" I said, shaking my head.

"How much higher do we have to go, Sayid?" I asked, trying to steer everyone's attention onto more important matters.

"Higher yet" Sayid answered.

We climbed higher for a good few more kilometres. I was too hot and my vest top was clinging to me, as were my shorts. Finally, huffing and puffing and reading to collapse, we reached a point which Sayid deemed to be high enough. As the rest of us took a quick swig of water from our packs, Sayid turned on the transceiver. It buzzed a little, picking up static. We all let out a sigh of disappointment before a voice began playing.

It was French, of that I was sure, but I couldn't be sure what it was saying. We all stood in silence, listening to the woman on a loop; our hopes soaring and dashing at the same time.

"What is that?" Charlie asked eventually.

"Does anyone speak French?" Sayid asked.

"Shannon does!" Boone exclaimed excitedly "she lived in Paris!"

"I don't speak French, Boone, not well. And that was years ago" Shannon argued.

"I speak a little" I interrupted "high school French, you know"

Shannon reached for the transceiver and held it between the two of us. I closed my eyes and listened to the words of the French women. I tried to dredge up my high school French lessons, but I hadn't taken part in them since I was sixteen and even then I wasn't amazing. My mum had taught me a little too. For a moment, Shannon held the transceiver to her ear. She squeezed her eyes shut with concentration.

"It killed them" Shannon translated.

"It killed them all" I finished.

Sayid suggested we set up camp for the night; there was no point in hiking through the jungle in the middle of the night. We'd set up camp, and then Sayid told us the earth shattering news that the French woman's message had been playing on a loop for sixteen years.

After deciding that it was best not to tell the other back in camp, we sat around the campfire; Sawyer sitting on the outside. We ate the shellfish that Jin had prepared for us and some mangoes from our packs.

There was an argument over who should look after the gun that Sawyer had lifted from the Marshall's belongings. Sayid didn't trust Sawyer with the gun, and Sawyer didn't trust Sayid. I didn't want it; I didn't know how to use it. Shannon certainly wasn't going to get her hands on it; she was even less of a candidate than I was. Boone wasn't keen, so that left Kate. She seemed reluctant at first but eventually gave in and took it. I was glad that neither Sawyer nor Sayid had the gun; one of them could easily get hurt. Or at least that's what I told myself, really. I was more worried about Sawyer's well being than Sayid's.

It wasn't long before we lay down on the floor to go to sleep. Kate and Charlie had sleeping bags, and Sayid, Boone and Shannon were wrapped in blankets. Soon, they were asleep. No matter how hard I tried, or how much I tossed and turned, I could not fall asleep. Sawyer was lying next to me, that didn't help. He had his eyes closed but I couldn't tell if he was really asleep, but what wouldn't he be?

"Urgh" I groaned, rolling over and climbing to my feet.

I shuffled to the glowing embers of the fire, and sat down on the log. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my photograph. I let out a huff of breath. I didn't have many pictures of Leah, and this was the only one that I had on the island. I had a few back home but even then I didn't have very many there either, only the ones Trina sent me. I didn't cry this time; I just looked at the picture, running my finger across Leah's face every now and then.

"So" Sawyer drawled, collapsing onto the log beside me, "who's the kid, your sister?"

Startled, I jumped a little before smiling hesitantly at him, my heart fluttering a little.

"Leah" I said quietly, showing him the photo, "my daughter"

"Daughter?" he said, looking a little taken aback.

I smiled wryly, I was used to the shock; and then the look was usually followed by a look of disgust.

"Yep, my daughter" I nodded "she's going to be two next week"

"You don't look old enough to have a kid" Sawyer mumbled.

"Well, I do. I'm eighteen…it's always possible"

"True, true, Sunshine" Sawyer grinned.

I smiled.

"I'm not really a fan of the name 'Sunshine'" I remarked, slipping the photo back into my pocket.

Sawyer grinned again, eyes sparkling, with mischievousness.

"Why, Sunshine, that's just mean"

I chuckled lightly.

"Mean is my middle name"

We sat there in silence, side by side, our bodies almost touching. It felt nice. I'd sworn off men, or at least the bad boy type long ago, but her I was, acting like my pre-Leah self once more. I mentally slapped myself, I shouldn't even be entertaining the idea, but here I was. I shuffled a little closer and rested my head on his shoulder. Surprisingly, he didn't flinch away or shrug me off. Instead, he pulled me a little closer. We didn't say anything but that was ok, I liked this.