As You Like It
Chapter Ten
Author's Note: As of now, the rating will be boost of to the equivalent of 'R' just to be safe, though it's just for possible uncofortable themes.
Chapter Ten: Unfaithful
Charlie kicked hard at the ground every few steps as he walked the path back to the caves. He didn't know what to do. Shannon hadn't even so much as looked at him since the argument with Claire, and Charlie wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a good thing or not. Was this the point where he was supposed to confront Claire? Suddenly Charlie felt himself being pulled down to the ground.
"Woah!" Someone said as they caught his arm just before he fail.
Once back on both feet Charlie saw that he had practically plowed into Jack.
"Sorry about that," he muttered.
Jack shrugged it off and Charlie coughed as he caught a whiff of something in the air that smelled like a biology classroom after the students dissected worms.
"God you smell," Charlie coughed, covering his nose.
"Thanks for the compliment," Jack grumbled.
"Well I guess I'll go," Charlie said, not feeling up to a conversation at the moment.
"Wait," Jack said, stopping him, "have you seen Kate?"
"Isn't she at the beach?" Charlie said.
Jack shrugged.
"The caves?"
"Just checked," Jack explained.
"Then I guess you're out of luck mate," Charlie said with a wink and walked off before he could be interrogated any longer.
At the Caves, five minutes later
"Have you seen Jack?" Kate asked, approaching Hurley.
"He was just here looking for you," Hurley said and walked right on by.
Kate raised an eyebrow, wondering what his problem was. Hurley wasn't usually the one to just blow someone off like that. An abrupt outburst of whispers made Kate turned around, and she saw that a group of people had formed a circle around something at the entrance of the caves. Her stomach fell because she just knew something had happened to Jack. Working her way around the crowd Kate squeezed in between two castaways she didn't know, and looked down to find Boone laying on the ground with a bloody bruise on his forehead. She sighed in relief when she saw that Jack was there, but safe and sound as he tried to revived Boone.
"What happened?" Kate asked, falling down beside Jack after pushing through the crowds.
Jack lightly tapped Boone's cheek but his efforts resulted in no response.
"I'm not sure," he admitted, "I found him like this..come on.."
As if Boone had heard his plea he stirred awake on cue, groaning. Jack helped him sit up slowly, and the crowd gradually broke up, some sounding slightly disappointed. It seemed that their only source of entertainment nowadays was an attack or fight.
"Do you remember what happened?" Jack asked him while handing Boone a bottle of water.
Boone gratefully took a sip and shook his head.
"Last thing I remembered.." Boone began.
He tried to recall but gave up and shook his head again.
"Nothing," he sighed.
Jack and Kate exchanged glances of worry. What if he had come back like Claire, not remembering anything? Kate turned away, suddenly feeling sick, and noticed Shannon watching anxiously. She gave Boone a sympathetic smile and nodded to Jack as she walked over to Shannon, and explained what happened. When she was finished with the story, Shannon looked at her in fury in disbelief.
"So who did it?" She inquired right off.
"Shannon-"
"Who did it!" Shannon demanded, sidestepping Kate to walk over to where Jack was steel beside Boone.
"We don't know," Jack said to Shannon, a little more patiently than Kate thought she would've.
"Like hell," Shannon muttered underneath her breath.
Jack sighed, showing first signs of frustration.
"We'll find out what happened," he promised, "but that's all I can tell you right now."
Shannon hesitated before nodding in acceptance and sitting down beside Boone. Boone groaned in pain as Shannon's weight shifted slightly against his.
"He only got hit in the head," Shannon said to Jack, "he shouldn't be this out. What could do that?"
"I don't know," Jack said in frustration as he begun to clean the wound on Boone's head.
But it wasn't in frustration caused by Shannon, it was because he really didn't know.
"And what's this on his neck?" Shannon asked, disgusted.
Jack scooted over to wear Shannon was sitting with her hand on Boone's sweaty neck. She moved her hand out of the way for him to get a good look. Tiny red spots dotted Boone's neck, similar to chicken pox spots, but these spots were more fuller and redder, like blood. His eyes narrowed and above him Shannon was expressing a mixture of fear and disgust.
"What the hell is that?" Kate asked, suddenly appearing above them.
"Wait," Bone muttered, startling them all.
He cleared his throat and tried to talk, but failed. Instead, his eyes trailed above him landing on Kate. With a raised eyebrow, Jack followed his gaze in confusion. Kate looked like a dear caught in the headlights, in the dark as much as everyone else. A few lingering onlookers seemed intrigued by the scene, waiting for the knife to cut the tension.
"She did it," Boone said hoarsely.
Kate took a small step back and Shannon looked as though if she had had a gun at the moment, she would've fired it right then and there.
"What?" Jack asked, staring or no- was he glaring?- at Boone.
"Kate did it," Boone repeated.
Jack looked at Boone, both incredulous and furious at the accusation.
"Wha-" Jack had to stop before continuing, "what makes you say that? Are you sure?"
He glanced up at Kate who looked hurt and betrayed.
"Sure," Boone muttered, easing back down, "she's the criminal."
He muttered the last words before falling asleep, leaving the caves in a deathly silence to everyone that heard, including Charlie who looked theroughly disgusted. Shannon let the silence linger on for a few moments before being the first to speak.
"Is that true?" She asked Kate slowly.
Kate looked down to Jack, who was staring at the ground, obviously avoiding her eyes. Why wasn't he doing anything? Of anything, Jack could've at least spoke up and lied..but could she really ask that of him? All eyes were on her, waiting for her to say something, do something. But she couldn't. The moment got to much and Kate fled, running for the first time in months.
In the jungle
She ran through the jungle blinking furiously, determined not to cry. Someone was bound to find her out sooner or later. They had all been in Sydney, any of them could've seen the signs. But she just couldn't get it through her head that the freedom was over. She couldn't pretend anymore. Once again she was Kate Austin, wanted criminal.
"Are you going to say something or not?" A disgruntle voice said, surprising Kate so much she jumped.
Through her thoughts she hated realizing she had reached the beach, and worser yet, Sawyer.
"I wasn't going to," she replied quietly while clearing her throat.
"Well you're going to have to spill sometime," Sawyer said and held out an old bottle of rum, "the doctor is in.
"Uh-uh," Kate said, shaking her head, "I'm not playing that game again."
"You don't have to," Sawyer said, popping the bottle open and taking a swig, "I am."
Kate rolled her eyes and sat down, figuring that'd she wouldn't ever have any other company. Well, besides Jack who was still with Boone and Shannon.
"So," Sawyer said when she didn't say anything, "what's the problem? Catch Jack trying on your clothes?"
Kate was surprised to find herself able to laugh at the joke.
"I wish," she muttered, and Sawyer raised an eyebrow.
She sighed before continuing.
"Boone outted me," she explained dully.
"He did what?"
"Outted!" Kate cried. "Put out, told on-"
"I know what it means!" Sawyer snapped. "What the hell did he have on you that's gotten you so worked up?"
The realization that Sawyer didn't know about her criminal past hit her like a gust of wind. She was sure she was going to puke..how could she of forgotten this?
"You know.." she tried, hoping that maybe she could think of a lie to stall time.
She finally decided that sooner or later Sawyer would find out, and she figured it'd be better coming from her.
"I'm the fugitive," Kate admitted quietly.
For once, Sawyer was out of one liners and sarcastic comments, instead he just replied, "Oh, that."
Kate turned to him.
"'Oh that'?" She spat. "You knew?"
"Why else do you think I even bothered sticking around!" Sawyer said. "I've been with criminals, outlaws, jailbirds..I know one when I see one."
He winked at Kate, making her shiver.
"And besides," Sawyer went on, "I have to know the facts before I can be accused of spreading them."
He raised an eyebrow and Kate's shoulders dropped.
"Right," she said, "that."
"Yeah," Sawyer said, "'that'."
A moment of silence followed and Kate sighed heavily, itching to find an excuse to break it.
"So," Sawyer said finally, "what do you want now?"
Kate snorted.
"What do I want?" She repeated, and thought about it, "a time machine, which means I'm out of luck."
"I dunno," Sawyer said, looking around, "with this place? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole Enterprise was buried underground."
Kate chuckled, hiding in the fact that there really was something underground that neither Jack nor Sawyer knew of.
"So what did Jack have to say about it?" Sawyer asked curiously. "The whole 'ousted' thing."
"I never got a chance to know," Kate said with regret, "I ran."
She looked down in shame. Sawyer didn't reply, and Kate wondered if he was giving her a chance to speak her mind. She took her chances- and the opportunity.
"I don't know what to do," she said with frustration, "part of me feels like I owe him something and the other doesn't want him to be apart of this."
"That's a new one," Sawyer said with surprise.
"When people found out that Jack knew all this time.." she shook her head, not wanting to think about it, "he doesn't deserve that-" she lowered her voice considerably as she said the last part, "he doesn't deserve me."
"I thought you were over that," Sawyer commented.
Kate didn't reply. Sawyer sighed and repeated the question.
"What do you want?"
"I want to know what's right," Kate finally said, "am I supposed to be with Jack?"
"Fate, ain't it?" Sawyer replied.
"Yeah," Kate said, "but every time we move forward-"
"You get pulled back," Sawyer finished.
"Yeah," Kate nodded, "I don't know what to do."
Without realizing what was happening Kate found herself being pulled towards Sawyer. He kissed her, but not like he had ever done before. This time it wasn't with selfless determination, but with more passion..like he meant it. And what scared her was that she didn't mind. She accepted the kiss. She had to stop fooling herself.
Author's Note: Okay, don't hate me yet. Please! You know I'm a Jater, it's going to turn around..eventually. Trust me. Please? This chapter was actually going to be way longer, but I decided that I had enough planned to break it up into two chapters. Thanks so much to those who reviewed! You guys rock!
Coming up next, on "As You Like It":
The sickness is finally explained(and it really is, I promise!), a couple makes up, a couple's confused, and one couple..well, it's not pretty. Of anything, this next chapter is definetly rated 'R', and sets the tone for the finale fic..but never fear! I'm also doing another off-island sequel and I have another Jate fic in plannin..two more, actually, but when I say 'finale', I really do mean finally.
And why you ask, may all this depressing writing be going on? I'm an Alias fan:( An Alias fan in denial, that is.
Thanks again!
Until next time..
October Sky