*For those of you who want to know more about what happened to Matt, I suggest you read Bec's (Becimpala33) awesome fic "The Roads That Lead To Destiny Are Winding" for more details"*

Chapter 10: Fire Away

(1x15-1x16)

"Matt was shot?" Sawyer repeated to Mia as he stuffed water bottles in his backpack. "By who?"

"Kate...it was an accident." Mia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. The events of the last few hours played over in her head like a bad movie. Jack and Matt had been arguing and Matt had taken off fuming into the jungle, Mia and Kate had elected to go searching for him both armed with guns. All of them had been taken off guard by that friggin monster; and Kate was so startled that the gun went off and shot Matt through his side. When Jack assured Mia he was okay, she'd come back to camp to change her clothes and run into Sawyer.

"That why you came a running back to the beach?" Sawyer asked.

"I came to change my clothes." She replied haughtily, glad her shirt and jeans stained with Matt's blood were now burning in a fire pit somewhere. "But Sayid told me a nice, little story about how a boar took your tarp?" A taunting smile played at her lips.

Sawyer angrily shoved some cigarettes into his pack and got to his feet. "Yeah, well, I'll have my own story to tell when I find and kill that piggy sonuvabitch."

"And you plan to find it, how, exactly?"

"You offerin' up your skills, there, Mayday?" Sawyer smirked at her.

Pursing her lips together, Mia considered this offer. It was either sit at the beach or the caves worrying about Claire's memory and Matt's life, or search the jungle and perhaps find a source of food for them all in the shape of a boar... although it wasn't the most humane idea; she was hungry and that boar was damn tasty when cooked right. "Fine." She agreed after a moment.

Sawyer had obviously not been expecting her to accept, because he'd already started towards the jungle. "What's that?"

"Gimme five minutes to pack my bag," She said. "I'm coming with you."

xxx

Once it hit sundown and they still hadn't found the boar, Mia practically had to force Sawyer to stop for the night. They were going to have to sleep in the jungle if they wanted to keep on searching the next day. Sawyer, who was still intent on finding the damn boar he was convinced had it in for him, begrudgingly gave up the search and helped Mia set up a makeshift camp in a small clearing. They got a fire going, ate some mangoes Sawyer had brought along, and then he pulled out a little after dinner treat.

"You want?" He smirked and waved two mini-bottles of vodka

"Where'd you get those?"

"Swiped 'em from the fuselage before we burned it."

"Gimme." Mia held out her hand, suddenly desperate for some of that sweet tasting alcohol.

"Uh-uh," Sawyer smirked and pulled his hand back. "You want some; you gotta play."

"Play what?"

"I Never."

"Are you serious?" Mia raised her eyebrows as a smile played on her lips. "No way."

"How come?"

"Because we're not teenagers." She shrugged, keenly ignoring the fact that nor were they teenagers when they'd played this game on their first date.

"Never stopped us before," Sawyer held a lingering looked with her, knowing at that moment they were remembering the exact same moment. "I'll start."

Mia sighed. "Fine." She caught the small bottle Sawyer tossed at her.

"I never kissed a man," He smiled broadly. "Now you drink, 'cos you've kissed a man."

Of course he'd pick an easy one, Mia thought as she unscrewed the top of her bottle and took a swig. "You know, grammatically, it should be called I've Never..."

"Just ask," Sawyer cut in.

Mia chortled. "Ok, ok...I Never...I never been married..." She raised her eyebrows at him, he smirked and both of them took a little drink.

"I never worked a bar," He gave a wry grin at that.

Mia took another sip. "Stop asking questions you already know the answers to..." She scolded him. "I never won the lottery..."

Neither of them drank.

"I never got a tattoo..." He sent her a flirtatious look; he knew exactly where hers was.

Mia rolled her eyes and turned away while she took a sip from her mini-bottle. "I never blamed a boar for all my problems." She said knowingly, and took it as a slight victory when he took a drink.

Sawyer wiped his mouth and took a few moments before he continued the game. "I never followed my ex into the jungle because I was just looking for an escape..."

A nervous twinge was growing in Mia's stomach; but she followed the rules and took a drink. If he was going to go deep with this, then so was she. "I never lied about wanting to go hunting a boar when I just wanted to spend time with the one person on this island...who actually understands me..." She was sure he'd lie; sure he'd just keep that drink hanging between his fingers; but he didn't. He slowly lifted the bottle to his lips, making sure he didn't break eye contact with her, and took another swig from the miniature bottle. If he was going to be honest; she was, too.

Mia followed suit and drank down some more vodka. Something changed in Sawyer after that; he'd always hated being too honest, almost as if it made him weaker. And there was usually a price to be paid for making him feel that way. Turned out; Mia was right.

A dark glare crossed Sawyer's eyes. "I never lied to get someone to move to Australia..." he drawled.

Mia didn't drink, even though by rule of the game she should have. "That's low, James." She whispered.

He just shrugged. "It's the truth, ain't it?"

Mia swallowed down the last of her drink, tossed the empty bottle at Sawyer's feet and got up off the ground. "I always do this," She muttered as she gathered up her stuff. "I always think somewhere inside you're a good man," She shouldered her bag. "And then you do that." She stormed off into the jungle.

"Where you goin?!"

"Back to camp," She spat over her shoulder. "Find the damn boar, yourself."

xxx

November 2000

Her new job was boring; Mia knew that within the first five minutes. It had the potential to be exciting, but that would only happen whenever her boss, David, saw it fit to give her an actual case rather than doing follow up work for the more experienced agents at the bureau. Simply titled Cristal; they worked in the business of tracking elite members of society who earned their millions by less than notable means. All of their business was conducted under the table, off the radar from the police and most branches of the government. The sector of SRF where Mia had been recruited was one of the few military operations that were aware of Cristal's existence.

It all sounded exciting; and the real action probably was, but six months in and Mia was yet to see it. Her injuries from the attack that killed Rork were completely healed now; she saw no reason to still be sitting at a desk. Of course; she'd been saying that since the day she'd arrived. Nevertheless, she was marching into her boss's office that day to demand a better job; or rather, an actual job.

"David?" She knocked twice on his open office door.

"Oh, yes," He said. "Mia, please come in. What is it you wanted to speak to me about?" David took a seat behind his desk; he was a good boss; just like his brother. He listened to his employees, but he was definitely the man in charge. In his late fifties and with a stellar record in the military; he could have retired, but instead he'd taken over Cristal and loved every minute of it.

"Well, to be honest, I want better cases." Mia saw no point in wasting time.

David chuckled and ran a hand through his greying brown hair. "Yes, my brother warned me you'd ask eventually."

"I've been here almost six months now and the most interesting thing I've done is security for a government party."

David watched her for a moment, contemplating. "I know your background; so I know how dangerous you can be."

Mia gave him a wry smile. "What, are you afraid I'll snap?" She teased.

Dave laughed. "It's just a precaution."

Mia smiled, but then went right back into business mode. "You told me new recruits were given three months to "ease into the job"," She reminded him. "And it's been six months. Give me something good, Dave. Please."

Sighing, David gave in. She was definitely too qualified to just sit at a desk; he may as well use her talents for something worthy. "Okay. I do actually have something you might be interested in." He sifted through a stack of files on his desk and pulled out a Manilla folder. "Yeh, her name is Eve Anderson..."

"Lemme guess, her husband's cheating and I have to catch him out?" She'd learned within her first week that the 'cheating spouse' case was usually the first for rookies.

"Not exactly." He handed the folder to Mia. "Eve was the one who was cheating."

Mia crinkled her brow and flipped through the folder. She saw bank account details, checks, statements and an invoice for a wire transfer for almost half a million dollars. "What is all this?" She muttered.

"This case is very unique," David told her as he got up and shut his door, keeping their conversation private. "And thus it has to be kept very low key, even more so than we usually are. This will be between you, me and your partner. No one else."

Her interest piqued, Mia sat up a little straighter. This was the kind of excitement she was looking for. "My partner?"

"Yes," David went to his file cabinet and grabbed a folder from one of the back sleeves. "On loan to us from the marines," He clucked his tongue and flipped through a few pages. "He's dangerous; but no more so than you. I think you'll work well together. He's already been briefed on the case." There was a sharp knock at the door.

"Oh, here he is, come in, Martin." David called out.

Mia swivelled in her chair and saw a giant of a man enter the room. He was well over six feet tall, possibly in his late twenties but his body bore the scars of wounds that made him appear older. His dark brown hair was very short, military specific, and had piercing dark eyes that appeared as though they were sinister at all times.

"Martin Keamy, this is Amelia Rowan," David introduced them.

"Pleasure." He held his hand out to her and gave it a firm shake. "Last partner you had was killed, right?" His thin lips pulled into an almost boastful smile as he shut the door behind him.

"Huh," Mia scoffed and retracted her hand. "You're an asshole; great." She went back to Eve's file.

"I knew you'd get along," David said sarcastically. "Sit down, Martin. Why don't you inform Agent Rowan of the case?

"Eve fell in love with a man who took her life savings," Keamy recited. "And she wants revenge. She wants us to find him and bring him in. She can't call the police or she'll be arrested." He smiled when he saw Mia's confusion. "See, she claims the original plan was for her and this man to take the money and run off together."

Mia nodded along. "He took the money; left her behind to pick up the pieces."

Keamy smirked. "Exactly. So, we have to catch him committing the same crime again for her to get any kind of justice."

"And how do we do that?" Mia addressed her superior.

"You are gonna go undercover." David told her. "We'll spend some time creating a cover story; make you a jilted ex-wife."

Mia cocked her head to the side. "But, even if I manage to do that, I'll be in the same situation. If I participate in the con; I'll be arrested just like him. The cops won't be on our side in an operation like this."

"No, they never are." David agreed. "But don't worry about that; it's not going to go that far. You're going to call the guy on it." He smirked. "Tell him you know he's conning you; and then convince him to show you how to do it. Make him teach you everything you need to know; show you how he does it all. And once we have that information; he'll play right into our hands."

Mia grinned. If she could obtain all that Intel; this guy would go to jail for life off his own stupidity at divulging his secrets. Flipping through the folder once more, Mia realized one vital fact was missing. "So, what's this guy's name?"

Keamy gave her a loose shrug of his broad shoulders. "Eve said she only knew him by Sawyer."

xxx

"Mia?" Jack called to her as he saw her trundling through the path ahead of him. He'd been on his way to the caves when he spotted her; but she didn't seem to hear him. "Mia?!" he called louder and jogged up behind her. "Hey," He reached for her elbow but the jerked it away. "What's wrong?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "What happened?"

"Nothing, I'm just...anxious to get back to Matt..." She lied.

"Well, you're going the wrong way..." Jack told her, knowing that she wasn't being truthful. "Kate said you went with Sawyer to find some boar?"

Mia scoffed a little but kept walking. "Yeah... I should know better than to help him..." She shook her head back and forth. "Maybe I really do hate him..."

"You don't hate him," Jack tried to soothe her. "He's just a jackass. And I'd have thought you'd know that better than anyone."

"No, I hate him," Mia spat through gritted teeth, recalling their stupid game, she started to pace back and forth with her fists clenched so tight she could feel her nails digging into her palms. "How could he do this?"

Jack tilted his head to the side. "Do what?"

Mia tried to take some calming breaths, but they seemed to just fuel her anger. "It's his fault I'm here!" She threw her arms out to the jungle. "Why did I say I'd come with him?" Angry tears jumped in her eyes. "I'm not supposed to be here! I let him talk me into getting on that plane!"

"Mia, it's ok," Jack clasped her shoulders to cease her flailing arms. "It's gonna be okay."

"No it's not!" She bellowed. "Matt's dying! We're stuck here! No one's coming for us!"

"Matt is not going to die," Jack assured her with a firm shake of her shoulders. "And we are going to be fine."

"I can't do this!" Mia cried, letting the frustrated tears spill from her eyes. "I can't be here! It's too much, Jack!"

Wiping a tear from her eye, Jack pulled her closer to him as she struggled to get away. "Mia; I promise. Everything will be okay."

Mia drew in deep, rasping breaths trying to calm herself down. She could feel Jack's warm palm against her cheek and pressed her skin against him. He was so selflessly kind to her. So unlike the man she was angry with, Jack reminded her so much of Rork. God, she missed him. Barely taking a second to think about what she was doing, Mia took Jack's face in her hands and pulled his mouth onto hers. It was passionate, but not a kiss of passion. It was loving, but not a kiss of love. What it was, was comfort; something both Mia and Jack had been lacking since they'd crashed, and something they both found in that moment with each other.

xxx