A/N: Hi, guys, I'm back, been busy,

Three (3) days later.

Olivia sat hugging her legs and facing the ocean, her gaze hidden underneath a pair of sunglasses that she'd found in the suitcase Hurley had given her. They weren't exactly Prada or even Channel, but they did the job just as well. In fact, she'd never been more grateful for a pair of sunglasses...now that she had to spend day after day at the mercy of the sun.

She was watching Hurley from a distance, attempting to fish with a sharp stick. Time and time again he'd failed to pin down a fish with the sharp edge of his tool. Yet, he didn't give up and kept trying.

Slowly but steadily Olivia had regained almost complete mobility in the last few days, except that her legs still refused to support her, despite all the encouragement she had received from Fitz.

She wasn't about to give up, no way. But she needed more time, she thought. The struggle had been great and too many awkward falls had wounded her ego.

"I can't Olivia, " he'd told her the night before, running a hand through his hair. "Let's wait until you make a complete recovery." he said pulling away from her. They'd been making out with the light of the moon as their only source of light.

She had felt as though she had been slapped. This was bullshit. Ever since she had re-gained her upper body mobility, she had done just about everything to let him know she wanted him to go all the way.

For a moment, she had believed that perhaps this was his way of 'encourage' her to walk (by refusing to have sex with her until she was well?). Yet, she chuckled at the thought: Fitz was not her daddy. He sure as heck didn't have the right to teach her lessons on the value of perseverance...it certainly was ludicrous to think he would withhold something (like sex) to get her to do something she would rather not do... just like a parent would.

Presently, Fitz glanced over at their closest neighbors: a young Korean couple that could not speak English. The Korean woman was staring at them with curious expression, undoubtedly wondering what their animated discussion was all about. He nodded back at her to let her know everything was okay and she smiled knowingly before going back inside her tent.

"I was thinking of asking Sun to stay with you...while I go with Jack and Sayid..." he started tentatively.

"Sun can't speak any English..." She countered.

"I'm sure you'll manage just fine...fortunately, body language and gestures are universal. Look, Liv, I've been here with you and days have gone by...I thought we would have been rescued by now. But now, it looks like we're just about out of bottled water." he concluded putting heavy emphasis on the last sentence. The truth was that he was beginning to resent being left out of all the action. He didn't like the fact that Jack had taken on the role of supreme leader of the survivors and that nearly everyone had taken to looking up to him for guidance.

Fitz was a natural born leader and it felt unnatural to him to follow someone else's leadership. Back home in Santa Barbara, he'd been the senior partner in his law firm and thus, no one made a move without consulting him first.

But now, as he spent his days taking care of Olivia, he had lost many opportunities for his voice to be heard. Last thing he'd heard was that there were plans for an expedition in search of sources of fresh water and that Jack had decided to burn the bodies of those who had perished and were still trapped inside the fuselage.

From Hurley, he had also learned that Sayid's attempt to send out a distress signal had failed since there had been another signal blocking it.

Thus, things were looking quite bleak from his perspective.

Olivia swallowed hard. Over the last few days she had grown quite attached to Fitz. Nothing like extraordinary circumstances to bring people together and create incredibly strong bonds.

"If you need to go, then by all means go..." she said trying to hide the anguish she was feeling. "But at least...can you wait until... later?" she asked trying NOT to appear overly needy. Being paralyzed had certainly being a humbling experience. It had crushed her pride and confidence to pieces. However, now that she had regained some of her mobility, she was starting to feel as though at least part of her old self was back.

She gave herself a little pep talk. She was thinking that she had to show Fitz she could survive fine without him. Yes, she could learn to rely on the Korean couple and Hurley for help. Yes, she could do this.

Even though, deep down this was killing her...and the truth was that now she felt she couldn't live without him.

But damn if she was going to let him know just how desperate she felt. In her experience, women that threw themselves at a man's feet were taken for granted and eventually abandoned.

Before she knew it, Fitz was talking to sun who smiled a lot as though she understood what he said. Maybe she did understand, Olivia reflected. Maybe she, Olivia, was the one that was clueless...the one who didn't understand Fitz.

She was still deep in thought, when something out of the ordinary caught her attention.

There was something...out in the ocean.

A pair of arms? Waiving?

"FITZ!" Olivia yelled. "There's someone out there..."

As if on cue, a man with a thick Australian accent yelled with extreme urgency,"I can't swim, who can swim?" Two swimmers out there drowning!"

Fitz swiftly took off his T-shirt and kicked off his shoes.

In two seconds flat he was swimming in deep water.

He swam and swam. For a minute, he was disoriented for he could have sworn he'd seen somebody.

Then, he saw a piece of clothing or something red underwater. Without hesitation, he dove underwater several times until he brought to the surface the body of a young man, gagging and coughing.

"Easy, easy there...take deep breaths.." Fitz suggested.

"She's out there! I was...save her!" the young man spoke in between breaths.

Fitz looked out into the distance and sure enough, deeper in was a woman drowning, flailing her arms. For a few moments, Fitz struggled to keep the man's head afloat (his whole body was limp like a dead fish) and turning his head back in the direction of the woman.

The woman was so deep in the ocean, Fitz was sure she couldn't have swam that far out on her own accord. It must have been a riptide that had pulled her so far away from the shore.

xxxx

"I decided not to try...I decided not to go after her, " Fitz said, once he brought the young man back to shore safe and sound, not far from where Olivia sat.

A crowd gathered, including Kate and Hurley.

"Who, who are you talking about?" Olivia asked.

"There was another swimmer...a woman. I could hear her screaming for help. I hesitated. I had Boone, I had him...so I brought him to shore...and then, I thought I would go back..."

"It's okay, Fitz," Kate said. "You thought you had time to go back..."

"Yeah, dude. There is nothing else you could have done," Hurley chimed.

"No,No... I decided no to go after her, "he reiterated, out of breath and with a pained look on his face. "And then it was too late." Never before in his life had he felt personally so responsible for someone else's demise.

xxxx

Still shaken up by the experience, Fitz decided to move forward after making sure one more time that Sun would be there for Olivia.

Olivia said good-bye to him coolly, determined not to reveal her internal turmoil which sometimes vacillated between annoyance and a feeling of downright desolation.

Then, she watched him address the crowd.

People around him started asking for Jack.

"Look, people...Jack is out somewhere. In the meantime, I am here."Fitz began in an authoritative tone. "Listen, it's been six days and we are all still waiting for someone to come, but what if they don't? We need to figure things out on our own," he continued enunciating each word carefully. "Every man for himself is not going to work. We need to start organizing..."

What are you, a politician? " someone in the crowd yelled in a mocking tone.

"Every man for himself is not going to work. Last week most of us are strangers but we're all in this together now. " Fitz continued without missing a beat. "We got to pull in our resources, stop fighting amongst ourselves. We can survive together, all of us as one. " he paused, making sure he had the complete attention of the crowd. He shook his head, and the intense expression on his face unequivocally revealed that what he was about to say was really, really important. "If we can't live together in harmony, people...we're gonna die alone," he concluded with nearly perfect delivery and intonation.

"We need water and food!" someone else yelled. "There's not enough left for all of us!"

"It's cavemen style now!" shouted the Southerner.

"It sounds like we all need to hire some lobbyists to represent our interests!" a man sneered. "Who's gonna decide where our resources go? Who needs what the most? like I could be the pregnant woman's lobbyist!"

"Good point there," Fitz conceded. "Until we find new sources of food and water..." he made eye contact with Hurley. "I nominate Hurley here to distribute the few resources we still have left." Fitz declared, thinking that a seemingly altruistic person like Hurley could be trusted to make such decisions.

Some people in the crowd cheered. Hurley offered a shy smile.

And with that, Fitz left with a group of people trailing behind him in search of very much needed resources. Olivia watched from a distance, her heart sinking when she realized that he was leaving without even a glance in her direction. Never in her life did she feel so useless...and so much in need of a man's attention.

And Olivia cried tears of burning anger.

Unbeknownst to her, a few hours later her angry tears would disappear to give way to fear and uncertainty.

A/N: Do you like this story? Wish for more romance? Tell me what you think. YOUR REVIEWS KEEP ME MOTIVATED!