Chapter Seven: This, That…
That evening Kate came over to Sawyer, Andie and Claire's house asking to borrow the record player. The one in her own house was broken and she was anxious to play a Patsy Cline record she'd found. Andie was showering when she heard the sound of Locke's voice speaking rather irritably in the living room. Wrapping herself in a bathrobe she'd found, Andie exited the bathroom and followed the noises.
"I don't need to know why you did what you did, Kate." Locke was saying as Andie entered the room. "I just need to know what they said to each other."
"What's going on?" Andie asked, folding her arms.
"Andie." Locke held up a hand to her.
Kate sighed. "Miles told Ben that he would lie to the people he worked for on the boat, tell them that Ben was dead for 3.2 million dollars." She paused. "Listen, John. I'm sorry. I asked you where he was –"
"You're not welcome here anymore." Locke cut in.
"Ah; John; she's a guest in my house; she can stay as long as she wants." Andie reminded him firmly.
"Andie; the only reason I'm not asking you to leave too is because of your baby." Locke told her with a steely glare. He turned back to Kate. "I want you gone by morning." He looked at both women one more time before leaving the house into the night.
"You don't have to leave, Kate." Andie told her as she sat down next to her friend on the couch.
"Yeah; I do." Kate sighed. "It's not worth the trouble; staying with Locke on my back. Besides; I only came here to talk to Miles. I've done that."
"Are you gonna leave?" Andie asked. "The Island, I mean."
Kate shrugged. "Andie...I think you should come with me."
"Sorry?" Andie asked with a short laugh.
"You remember when Claire got sick; after we came back from getting Jack?" Kate reminded her. "What Juliet said..."
"You mean her speech about how women can't have babies on the island." Andie sighed. "Yeah; I remember."
"She said that pregnant women die..." Kate raised her eyebrows.
"Well; I won't. She told me being on this island was healing me; why heal me and then kill my baby?" Andie said with a weak smile; hoping she sounded more convinced than she felt.
Kate didn't really have a response. Instead she got to her feet. "I'll come by tomorrow before I leave." She promised. "G'night Andie."
"Night." Andie mumbled as she watched Kate leave.
"Andie?" Sawyer called to her from their bedroom doorway. His hair was still damp from his shower and he had a towel around his shoulders; his bronzed chest exposed. "You comin' to bed? It's late..."
"Yeah." Andie smiled at him and wandered back to their bedroom. She checked in on Claire and Aaron and saw that mother and son were both sleeping soundly in their own beds. She sighed and closed the door before heading back to he own room. Sawyer was already in bed flipping through the pages of an old book.
"You alright?" He asked her as she slid into bed beside him.
"Yeah; I guess." Andie muttered as she sidled up next to him and rested her head on his shoulder; glancing at his reading material.
Sawyer kissed the top of her head. "Well, it ain't that late, y'know..." He said suggestively. "And I did give you that 'I'll keep you safe' line..."
"Yeah; it wasn't that good." Andie chuckled; closing her eyes.
"Andie...bout this baby thang..." He brought up; obvious apprehension in his voice.
Andie didn't open her eyes but muttered a short. "Yeh?"
"It's...look; it probably ain't what I imagined I'd be doing but...it ain't gonna be the worst thing in the world." He managed to say. "Y'know?"
Smiling to herself slightly Andie agreed. "Yeah...although what we're gonna do with a baby I'll never know..." she chuckled.
"We'll figure it out; somehow." Sawyer laughed back. "Maybe we can get Claire to give us lessons."
Andie didn't even hear Sawyer's response before she drifted off to sleep; dreaming much easier dreams than she had in awhile.
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Retrieved from ".com/wiki/Eggtown_transcript"
The next morning as Kate was preparing to leave; Andie met her in her bedroom with an offer. "I've been thinking about what you said."
Kate raised her eyebrows. "You're coming with me?"
"In a manner of speaking." Andie replied. "Claire didn't die because she didn't conceive on the Island…Juliet gave her that vaccine which means she can give the same thing to me."
"If you conceived here." Kate nodded.
"I have to find out for sure." Andie said carefully. "If we leave now I can be back by sunrise tomorrow."
"What about Sawyer? What are you going to tell him?" Kate asked.
"I'll think of something." Andie reassured her.
Kate sighed. "Alright. I was gonna leave in about ten minutes."
"I'll be ready." Andie smiled quick thanks and headed back to her own house. Sawyer was still asleep. She scribbled him a quick note about taking a walk with Kate before seeing her off and then went into see her roommate.
"Claire?" Andie knocked on the door as she entered. Claire was sitting by the window in a chair with Aaron in her arms. "You sleep ok?"
"Yeah; fine." Claire muttered; turning to smile tiredly at Andie. "What's up?"
Andie quickly explained to Claire what was going on and her plan to keep Sawyer off her trail. Undisturbed, Sawyer might very well sleep until noon. Andie asked Claire to cover for her; tell Sawyer she was with Kate and would be back soon. She wasn't sure how long the story would hold but it gave her enough time to get to Juliet.
When Andie finished speaking, Claire nodded in agreement. "Yeah; sure. No worries."
"Thanks. I owe you. Anytime you want me to watch that one; I'm yours." She pointed at Aaron. Claire smiled and went back to staring out the window. "Claire…are you sure you're ok?"
Claire heaved a weighted sigh. "Charlie's dead, Andie. No; I'm not ok." Her voice shook a little. "You better go."
"I'll be back soon." Andie promised her; suddenly very torn between helping her friend and helping her baby. But the latter was more important right now so Andie turned and left Aaron and Claire alone.
Kate was waiting for her by the treeline. "You sure you wanna do this? If something happens to you out there…" She trailed off.
"I'll be alright, Kate." Andie smiled as confidently as she could. "Let's move."
The two women walked pretty swiftly for about two hours before they stopped for a break. Andie sat on the log of a fallen tree while Kate leant against the trunk of a large elm. "I'll be so happy when we're off this rock. I am so over running through the jungle."
"There's something I never thought I'd here." Andie chuckled. "Kate Austen; over running." Kate returned the giggle. "What about Jack...I mean; what about you and Jack?"
Kate drank from her water bottle. "What about us?" she shrugged.
"Don't give me that." Andie tossed a rock at her. "You love him; he loves you. Don't tell me you had another fight."
"No; no." Kate shook her head. "It was his idea that I come back…it's just…you heard what Miles said; I'm wanted."
"Kate...you can't run forever. You know that." Andie told her. "But Jack; he doesn't care about what you did. He cares about who you are."
Kate sighed and put her drink bottle back in her bag. "Yeah." She mumbled. "We better get moving."
Another two hours later Andie was happily daydreaming when she heard the unmistakable sound of a babbling stream. She caught up to Kate and had her listen. The two headed towards the water to fill up their water bottles but when they came into view of the river; they realized they weren't alone. Charlotte and a man Andie assumed was Daniel were already there. Having heard Andie and Kate approach; Charlotte had her gun drawn on them.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's--it's okay." Daniel said; lowering Charlotte's arm. "It's okay. It's Kate."
Charlotte and Andie exchanged a nod; they hadn't seen each other since she'd left with Sayid a few days before. However; Andie had only heard of Daniel; she'd never met him before. He was a nerdy looking man with a beard and seemingly scattered yet intelligent way about him. He came towards the women and held his hand out to Andie.
"I'm Daniel Faraday." He introduced himself.
Andie cautiously shook his hand. "Andie." She nodded back at him.
"Good to meet ya." Dan smiled. Then he turned to Kate. "So they have Miles?
"Yeah, but he's fine." Kate replied as she bent to fill up her water bottle. "They're treating him fine. I thought you two were with Jack at the beach. What are you guys doing out here?"
Charlotte exchanged a glance with Daniel. "Jack was trying to communicate with Sayid and Desmond on the freighter, but their sat phone ran out of juice. It's totally dead. There's no way we can call the boat."
"What does that mean?" Andie asked with her arms folded. "Sayid and Des; did they make it to the boat? Are they ok?"
"Yeah; they arrived fine." Daniel told her. "Des had a bit of a…"
"They're fine." Charlotte cut in. "We volunteered to get the spare batteries out of the packs that we threw out of the chopper."
Kate locked eyes with Andie and darted them at Charlotte's pocket. Andie looked and saw a satellite phone with the power button gleaming bright green.
"So... if you threw your pack from the chopper, what's that?" Kate asked Dan; indicating the large bag over his shoulder.
"This?" he tried to shove it out of sight a little. "Uh... it's... just borrowed this."
Andie and Kate looked at each other. "Mind if we take a look?" Andie asked with a sweet smile.
Dan looked apprehensive but Charlotte had other ideas. "Go ahead, Dan. Show them." She said with a nod.
Daniel dropped his bag on the ground and allowed Kate to open it. Inside she spied gas masks and protective clothing. "Batteries, huh?" Kate scoffed as she pulled a mask out of the bag. "What's this for--uhh!" Charlotte suddenly smacked Kate in the back of the head with her gun.
"Kate!" Andie lunged at her friend but was met with a similar back-hand smack in the jaw from Charlotte's weapon. She tumbled down beside her friend.
Dan looked accusingly at Charlotte. "What?" She replied with a shrug.
