TITLE: Drawn Together
CHARACTERS: Kate and Sawyer
RATED: PG-13 for now... (Language, somewhat specific details)
EPISODES: After "Outlaws"
STATUS: Chapter eight of -?
BETA READER: Harlequin
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of LOST's characters. That privilege is entirely ABC's. (Dangit! jk.)

Chapter 8

Kate and Sawyer climbed on in silence up and around the edge of the cliff. They were somewhat high up, because that was the only way to get there without having to swim. He kept looking down to see how high up they were, and as it was, they were quite a few feet from the water. Kate stumbled accidentally, and almost fell, but Sawyer grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. She looked up at him, grateful, and he looked down at her. He nodded ahead and let her go. They went on. After awhile, Kate came to an abrupt stop, and Sawyer was confused.

"What's goin' on?"

"The cliff ends here…"

He had a very bad feeling about this. He looked past her and saw it too. She was staring down at the water. His shoulders slumped and he sighed.

"You gotta be kiddin' me," he shook his head.

"I was sure there was a way to get through..."

"We gotta go in there? Right now?"

"To get to the cave, yes. But we should probably climb down – "

She was cut off by a loud splash that forced her eyes closed. When she opened them and looked behind her, she saw nothing, except a shirt. She looked down, and there he was grinning up at her. She laughed with her hands on her hips.

"I think you lost something," she called to him, wagging his shirt in the air.

"A nighttime dip," he toyed. "Come and join me, Freckles. The water's fine!"

She laughed, her hands still on her hips and just watched him. She pulled her backpack and shoes off and tucked them inside. She wrapped his shirt around the bag and tossed it down to him - he caught it. She looked at him anxiously waiting and laughed one last time before jumping in. She realized he was right under her, and so did he. He tried to swim backward to avoid getting hit, but it was no use. She fell into the water and tumbled right on him, submerged. They both rose up and caught their breath.

"Git off me!" he laughed, shoving her off.

"Sorry!" she laughed too.

"Jesus," he shook his head.

She couldn't resist saying it: "So is this the first time you've actually shoved a woman OFF of you?"

He looked at her, surprised. "Think you're funny, do ya, Freckles?"

He shoved her head underwater. She came back up, right in front of his face – only inches between the two. His grin faded, as he stared at her longingly. Her grey/green-hazel eyes were staring back at him, blinking frantically as always. He saw pain, and yet, desire in them and he leaned forward. Her eyes fluttered closed and his too, as their noses grazed. Her lips were but a breath away from his. Then she whispered,

"We should really get to the cave…"

He opened his eyes looking at her, hers still closed, but she was looking down. Something wasn't right. It looked as if she had wanted it too, didn't it? Then why did she pull away at the last minute? Was it something he'd done? He felt intense heat and sudden anger take over him. But he kept his mouth shut, and just glared in the other direction.

"Fine," he said as calmly as he could, although there was much tension in his voice.

He swam under the waterfall and back to the rocks they were on when he found her earlier. He tossed the backpack up first and then climbed out himself. Kate slowly followed. He pulled his shirt from the bundle and put it back on, wringing the water from it first. He opened her backpack to get out his flashlight, but then he saw something else. It was a tiny plastic plane laid on top of a photograph. He pulled the photo out and looked at it. It was a picture of Kate and another man. He heard her drawing closer so he stuffed the photo in his pocket and closed the backpack.

She climbed up on the rocks too and sat. She wringed out her hair and put her shoes back on. Finally ready to go, she stood up and put her backpack on. He shoved the flashlight into her arms and she looked at him for a moment. He just narrowed his eyes at her and she rolled hers. They turned and both looked in the cave. She shone the light in, but it was all darkness.

"Ready?" she asked him.

"Have been for ten minutes now," he responded coldly.

She glanced at him, disgusted by his sudden rage. She shook her head and tried to forget about it, and took the first step into the cave. For the first few minutes, the cave was nothing but darkness and rock walls. They heard nothing but their feet walking through it. Then they both heard a fluttering sound and stopped, simultaneously. They looked at each other questioningly. Suddenly, a large cluster of bats flew at them. Sawyer backed himself against a wall, looking away, and instantly pulled the screaming Kate next to him. She buried her head in his arms, in order to protect it. They stood together in silence.

After the bats were finally gone, Kate slowly turned her head out of his arms. She went to pick up the dropped flashlight and another bat flew at her. She jumped back out of the way as if flew by. Sawyer only laughed. She glared at him and picked up the flashlight.

"Scared of bats," he said with a snicker.

She rolled her eyes, "Come on, cowboy."

Again, they walked silently through the cave, the light wandering around. Soon enough, it ended at a large area, fit for a family of bears. However, it did not serve as a home to one. There were signs of a fire, a small pond in the far left with a bit of trickle running down the wall. On the right, there was a few muddy blankets, or what seemed like blankets, and tons of huge leaves, undoubtedly from the trees of the island. It looked like quite a nice shelter.

Sawyer walked around it, and noticed torchbearers on the walls. He took out his lighter and lit the torches. Startled but the sudden light, Kate looked at him. He shrugged as he lit a cigarette when he was done with the torches. She switched the flashlight off and took a look around. She went to the center where a fire seemed to have been. She studied it and decided that this place was abandoned a very long time ago. Sawyer's smoke started to fill the area pretty quickly. She coughed lightly and glared at him.

"What!"

"You wanna put that out?"

"Not really."

"I didn't think so anyway."

He looked at her and sighed. He tossed the cigarette into the ashes of the old fire. Suddenly, it went ablaze. It grew uneasily silent yet again. Sawyer was leaning against a wall, and Kate sat in front of the fire.

"Well, whoever was here before us had a pretty good shelter," Kate concluded.

"Guess so."

"You think we should tell the others?"

"Seems like this only fits one family, sweetheart. Ain't much point in tellin' anyone, is there?"

"Then we won't. We'll keep it to ourselves."

"Fine."

Suddenly there was a loud rumbling a bit down the tunnel. They stared at each other, both wide eyed. Kate got up and grabbed the flashlight and disappeared into the darkness again. Within minutes, she was back and her face was wild with worry. He was about to ask her, but she answered it for him.

"We're stuck."