Alright…next chapter. Ben's surgery…and I just love messing around with Jack and Sawyer because…they're just so interesting.
And…I will start doing longer chapters, I think. You not ever get two a day again that way(sad, I know, lol) but the chapters'll be longer so….I think it'll even out. Ok?
And you're right, luanee, Kate hadn't been to Disneyland either, neither of them had, but I just picked for her to say that about Sawyer cause I found it funny…probably should have picked something that one of them had done and the other hadn't but…I looked up the script piece online just cause I wanted to be careful and even though they both hadn't that one just amused me. lol
Oh and funny story…it took me about 3 hours to get home today cause I got on the wrong bus (I go to a big university…not giving names, but it's big, and there are buses to go everywhere) and it was heading way across town so I had to get off at a random point and walk about a mile and a half back to my car…actually it was probably longer than that cause I kept having to change my path to keep heading in the right direction so after about an hour it was pitch black dark and I was thinking "this is so NOT safe." LOL it was, however, amusing and it makes for an interesting story. heh
I don't own LOST…but I would love to visit the Hydra hatch and take a stay in one of those cages. Just to say I had.
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Sawyer woke slowly, first aware of Kate's breath on his skin, then her warm weight against his chest. Blinking against the light of the tank, he focused his eyes on her only to find her deep in sleep, her head curled up on his shoulder and her arm across him. Jack sat on the table, his head in his hands, clearly lost in thought. Moving carefully so as not to wake her, he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and slid away from her, laying her gently on the floor. She stirred briefly but didn't open her eyes, and he stood quietly then walked over to Jack. "What's on your mind, Doc?"
"The surgery. Whether or not they'll let you two go. I don't know, Sawyer…a lot of things."
Sawyer shifted, awkwardly stared out the window, then decided to jump right into what he had to say. "Look…we'll come back for you. We'll go back, get help. Me, Sayid, Locke, Eko…whoever else'll come…we'll come back for you."
Jack shook his head. "No. Don't you be worrying about that. You worry about Kate." Jack looked over at her, fast asleep on the floor. An angel, in both their eyes. "You just worry about her, and you get her out of here, Sawyer. Get her home and keep her safe. You take care of that. I'll worry about me."
"You know they won't just leave you here, let it go. You're everyone's hero, Doc. No one's gonna just forget you, don't be so dramatic, thinkin' you're just gonna sacrifice yourself and that'll be the end of it."
Jack laughed softly, shaking his head. "No, I know that's not the end of it. Just…just get Kate out of here, worry about it later. I don't….trust these people. And I really don't trust Ben with her."
It was the first time either of them had voiced that particular fear and they went quiet. Sawyer knew that this time Jack was right, even wondered why he cared so much that Jack had some hope they'd come for him, but maybe it was being stuck in here with him that had given them a bond. Maybe they had had it all along, underneath their anger. Maybe being stuck on an island with someone just did that to you, made you care, whether you wanted to or not. "I'll get her out. I won't…screw that up this time."
Kate moved a little on the floor, turned in her sleep. Jack could hardly take his eyes off her, but he ripped them away to meet Sawyer's gaze. "Just take care of her, Sawyer. And…take care of yourself too. Just get home. Tell everyone I'm alright. We'll go from there."
Sawyer gave a small nod. "I'll take care of her. You….you be careful in here. I don't trust them either." Hesitantly, Sawyer held out his hand to Jack, shaking it briefly. "Good luck, Doc."
"Same to you."
Kate reached over for Sawyer, a little more than half asleep, then woke up with a start when she felt only the cold concrete. "I'm here, Freckles." His voice calmed her and she sat up, stretching.
"You could have woke me."
"I didn't want to."
"Good morning, Kate." Jack was smiling at her, and Kate wanted to smile back at him but she only managed a small one. Everyone, everything was so much more serious this morning. Now that it came down to it, now that they had to really leave Jack…she didn't want to do it. Kate headed over to the table, sat down beside him .
"Jack…you should have bargained with them more. Convinced them to let you go, too."
Jack looked away. "Maybe they will."
"That's bullshit and you know it."
Jack's eyebrows raised a little. Kate didn't usually talk to him like that and he knew she was scared. Before, he would have been thinking maybe…maybe she cared about him. Now that knew that wasn't true…her love, even as the love of a friend, still felt nice. It would always be nice. Especially on a day like today, when they were taking such a chance. "I don't…know…anything. I don't know what's going to happen, Kate, I'm going into surgery and….no matter what I do, this man may die on the table. I can't say I'd miss him, but I don't know what they'd do to me then. But they had talked, before about…about letting me go." He didn't say they'd talked about sending him off the island. Somehow, he wasn't ready to share that. Mostly because he doubted its truth and he didn't want to get their hopes up. But even so, maybe it'd be best if he just disappeared anyway. He turned to see Kate looking at him, her eyes full of concern.
"But you know they probably won't let you go. And…Jack, I don't want to leave you here."
Her words pulled at his heart but he tried not to show it. He had to put on the brave face for her. Maybe that was love. "It's alright. Somehow or another, it'll be alright. They can't…keep me here forever." A lie, and they all knew it. The Others were capable of anything. " You have to go, Kate. You have a chance to get out….to get back and tell everyone about this place, where it is, all of it. You have to take it. You have to go…home."
Kate knew he was right, but that didn't make it any easier to let him go. To leave him, this man that she hadn't even met until that day when he asked her to stitch him up with a needle and thread. A man that she would have never met if not for a plane crash that saved her from prison and stranded her here with what she hadn't been able to have since before she started running….real friends, family almost, people to love and be loved by, and Jack had started it all by calming her nerves when she would have much rather sat on the beach and stared at burning wreckage. She didn't love him like she did Sawyer, she never could. There was a time she had wondered, but it was in the past. But it didn't mean that she didn't love him for who he was, and it didn't mean she was ready to leave him. Instinctively, she looked to Sawyer. He was watching her, and the look in his eyes told her to give it up. Not to be mean, not out of jealousy, but just because it was time to go. Time to let Jack be the hero. That, after all, was something at which he thrived. The door squealed open. "Jack? We're ready…in surgery…"
Jack looked up, nodded at Juliet. "Alright then." He dropped from the table, giving Kate and Sawyer one last look. Kate hugged him, tightly.
"Get out of here, Jack, as soon as you can. And…thank you." Kate whispered to him quickly, wanting him to know before he left both of her gratitude and that she and everyone else would be waiting for him. He had to try. He gave Sawyer a nod, then turned and joined Juliet at the door. It was time for him to become a surgeon again.
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Kate watched him leave, watched him walk out the door with Juliet, and she couldn't help but think that it could be the last time she ever saw him. If nothing worked out, that was the worst possible outcome…and she had a bad habit for thinking the worst. Tears came to her eyes but she fought it. She had cried far too much lately. She was sick of the stress. Sawyer wrapped his arms around her from behind and turned her to face him, tucking her head in against his shoulder and cradling it with his hand. She was so grateful for him then, grateful that he was there to hold her because without his steady presence she felt she would have been close to falling apart. But he had her, and while nothing could make her feel safe in this place, being in his arms made her feel loved. And that was enough. "I'm worried about Jack, Sawyer."
His hold on her tightened and he rubbed her back soothingly. "I know….I know. He'll be alright, Freckles. Worst comes to worst…they're still not gonna kill their only chance at a doctor. He'll be alright. And…once we get back…I'll come back for him."
Kate raised her head up to look at him. "Not by yourself."
His laugh was warm. "No, Freckles, I ain't quite that stupid. Me and the boys and about 20 guns'll be coming back here. If we can. Stage a real jail break, old Western outlaw style. Don't worry. Jack'll be alright."
Kate didn't really want to think about Sawyer coming back here, and she didn't want to tell him that if he did she'd be coming with him. He'd find that out when the time came. It was enough to think that Jack was going to be alright, though nothing could stop her from worrying about him until he was. "When do you think they'll let us go?" She didn't voice the dangerous 'if', even though they both knew it was there. She had been depressing enough for the day.
"Probably when he's done with the operation. I don't know." He was looking down at her, his eyes soft and calm. A window into his soul he only let her see. She loved that, knowing that even if he wanted all the world to hate him, he didn't want to drive her away anymore.
Kate reached up, wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled his mouth down to hers, kissing him slowly. Sawyer backed her up against the table, and he lifted her to set her on the edge of it. "Sawyer…" Kate pulled back from him a little, was going to tell him to wait, but he kissed her again before she could finish, slow and deliberate. Her protests were swept away for the moment, and she could do nothing to stop the shiver than ran through her.
"You like that, Freckles?" his whisper was soft against her lips, his hands sliding under her shirt to rub her back.
"Yes…Sawyer, wait." Forcing herself out of the haze his hands always put her in she backed a little away from him, not much but enough to regain her clarity. "Look." She inclined her chin in the direction of the camera, pointed across their way.
Sawyer sighed in frustration. "Yeah…well….there's one of those outside too."
"I wondered that." Kate muttered, almost laughing. It was almost funny. Maybe it was funny. "But…they'll be coming back for us. And that camera, and the window…way too…open. For me at least…though you'd have me working breaking rocks naked so…" Kate was smiling at him and he grinned at her suggestively, just like he had that first day they'd worked together.
"And you honestly think I have any objections to watching you do anything naked? Freckles, you're just not thinking, now."
Kate laughed. "Well even if you don't…I have objections to what the rest of them see. And so do you, actually."
The thought of Tom looking at her sobered him a little. "You win, Shortcake." Sawyer stepped back a little, resting his hands on her thighs and adding under his breath. "For now."
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The beeping of the monitors, the scrubs, the utensils…it felt so strange to Jack to feel like he was back in a hospital. Back in his element. And it hadn't really been all that long since he'd been gone but it felt like a year….more than. He scrubbed in in silence, staring through the window at his patient. A man he hated. If he hadn't been so worried about Kate and Sawyer, hadn't been hanging everything on his hopes for them, he'd have been ready to follow Juliet's suggestion and kill this man. But for their sakes he would get it done, and get it done right. If everything went according to plan. But then again, when did anything ever these days? It seemed that all the rules had gone out the window with the plane crash. He'd just have to wait and see.
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Kate and Sawyer were sitting back to back on the table, talking about everything and nothing, mangoes and Sun and Jin and sand when Tom pulled open the door. "Alright you two. Let's go."
Kate hopped down off the table first. "Is it over? Where's Jack?"
Tom held out two bags to them. "No questions. Just put these on, and we'll get going. Alright?" Kate was frustrated, but she knew she really had no choice but to comply. This was the Others game, and they had to play by all the rules. She pulled the now familiar brown bag over her head.
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Kate knew before the bag was pulled from her head. She heard the cage door, and she knew. Tom pulled the bag from her head and shoved her in. Sawyer turned on him, seething. "You bastard. Told Jack you'd let us go just to con him, didn't you?"
Tom smiled, that damn infuriating smile. "Come on now, James. You really didn't think Ben was just gonna…let you go, now did you?"
He didn't see Sawyer's fist until it connected hard with his jaw, knocking his head back to hit the bars. Sawyer got in two more before the stars cleared and he pulled the gun from his back to point it at Kate. "Alright, James, enough." He was bloodied, hurt, and Sawyer could have easily beaten him…maybe could have even knocked the gun from his hand. But with it pointed at Kate it wasn't a chance he was willing to take. Eyes smoldering he backed off, holding his hands out. Tom motioned in the direction of his cage door and Sawyer backed into it, slowly. The gun still pointed across the way, Tom followed and slammed the door shut, locking Sawyer inside.
"I told you once, Zeke…you and me ain't done. I don't think you heard me."
Tom slid the gun back into his pants and wiped the blood from his eyes. "Oh I heard you. And maybe someday you will kill me…Sawyer. But I don't think that would mean good things were in store for Kate. And we don't want that, now do we?" He turned to walk away, calling back over his shoulder. "Don't try to get out again. I wouldn't like to think about what could happen to Jack, or to either one of you, if you do."
They remained where he had put them, just inside the door, once again staring at each other through rusty metal bars.
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Jack slid his bloody gloves off into the trash, hours from when he had pulled them on. It was over and done, his first successful spinal surgery since the crash. The thought was as ridiculous as it was bizarre. "Thank you, Jack."
Juliet's words caught him by surprise, but he didn't turn in her direction. "I didn't do it for you."
She stepped back a little, seeming disappointed. He wasn't sure when she was lying and when she wasn't. "Yes…of course. Well….I have to take you back now. I'll get dinner ready as soon as I can for you."
Jack stopped her just before she took him by the arm to lead him back. "Kate and Sawyer….they're gone?"
She smiled warmly. "Yes. They're gone. They should be back at your camp in not too long."
Jack nodded, and the relief that swept through him was more powerful than he expected. It had been worth it. "Good. That's good."
Juliet took his arm. "Come on, Jack. Let's go."
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Night had fallen. Sawyer and Kate had talked little. There wasn't much to say. They had been tricked. And Jack…Jack probably thought it had all been worth it. Maybe all it had done was save their lives. If that. The thud behind Sawyer surprised him and he looked up to see Kate kneeling there, dusting her hands on her jeans. "Freckles! What the hell! I thought you heard the man, we can't be-"
"I'm not breaking you out. If you'll give me a boost, I know I can reach the top again, climb back out and be back in my cage for the morning. I'm here for you. Somehow I doubt they'll care or notice. Bet they don't watch those cameras all the time."
Sawyer cocked his head and smiled at her. "Guess we make the best of this then?" She nodded, a little shyly, he thought. It didn't matter. She was here. He stood, sliding his shirt from his shoulders and watching the look that came over her face. "Come here." She came eagerly and he kissed her, holding her hands anchored to his chest while he slid his hand under her shirt, not really touching her so much as just brushing against her skin, teasing her to draw her in closer to him. He might not could save her, maybe just not yet. But he could love her, and if he tried hard enough, he might could make her believe in his love, even if she couldn't believe in their rescue. That had to mean something.
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So…poor, poor Jack thinks they're actually gone. I'm so mean to him. Heh lol anyway….hope you enjoyed it. Slowly, slowly, I'm getting these things a little longer. lol so….action coming up. Angst coming up. Again. LOL and…maybe some actual skex since I keep skating around it….maybe some of that before the angst to make everyone happy first. In any case…I'm having fun with this. The reviews rock my world. Love you all.
