TITLE: Boomerang
CHARACTERS: Kate, Sawyer, Jack
RATED: PG-13 for the time being.
EPISODES: Set after the story "Drawn Together": The raft is successful.
STATUS: Chapter Ten of….Unknown
BETA READER: Nicki and Ben (Two of my friends that are hooked!)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any characters from the show LOST. I certainly don't own Kate or Sawyer. (tear tear) But I do, however, own the rights to this story and my imagination that created it.

Quickie:
This one turned out pretty good…writing-wise I mean…

Chapter 10

She looked down and pulled away, and he let her. She looked at the door, then to the floor and then back at him.

"I really should probably get going," she told him, regretfully.

"You don't have to go."

She ignored him, going into the pantry, shutting the door so she could get dressed. He stood behind it, waiting for her.

"I've got extra rooms upstairs…" he told her.

She didn't answer.

"They're clean!" he added.

The door opened, and she was fully dressed again, his robe draped over her arm.

"That's sweet. But I can't," she told him, handing the robe back to him.

"Why not?" he asked, pulling her arm back, before she could leave.

"Because. I just can't."

She pulled away and walked to the front door. He followed her quickly, and grabbed her arm again, turning her around to face him.

"Kate, come on. Don't go."

She laughed. "Don't try to be cute by using my name."

"I wasn't!"

"I can't," she shook her head, pulling away.

"Just one night," he pulled back, and her arm felt the robe again.

She looked at it, then up at his hopeful eyes. She frowned, then looked to the floor, and then back to him. She sighed.

"One night."

"Fine," he agreed, pleased.

"But one night only," she told him, warningly.

"Fine."

"No more."

"Fine!"

"Okay."

They were both quiet again, looking away from each other.

"So, uh, I'll go clean up the food," he said quietly.

"Okay. Um…" she looked back at the clothes, now in a basket on top of the dryer. "What should I…" she pointed.

"Oh. You can just leave 'em. I'll do it."

"It's okay. I need some way to busy myself anyway," she told him. "Should I fold them here?"

"You can fold 'em upstairs, since it's all my crap anyway."

"Oh. Okay."

She picked up the basket and carried it upstairs. Sawyer watched her go all the way up, completely forgetting what he was supposed to be doing. He turned back to the table realizing he spilled all of the Lo Mein onto it.

"Son of a bitch…" he muttered. Why had everything about her suddenly had the dropsy effect on him? He was never like this with any other girls. But then he remembered - this was Kate. He started cleaning the Lo Mein, slowly. It was bound to be a heck of a night...

Only a few minutes later, Sawyer finished cleaning up the food and he headed upstairs to find Kate. When he found her, he was surprised to find her in his room. She was folding clothes on his bed, thoughtfully. He leaned in the doorway, watching her back for a few minutes.

"You know, you can come in if you want," she told him, starting to fold a shirt. "It is your room."

"How might you know that?" he asked, walking in slowly.

"Well, I figured when I saw the bottle of liquor and package of cigarettes on the nightstand," she pointed.

He looked over and saw them too. "Okay, ya got me there," he said, sitting on the bed starting to help her.

"But I must admit, the perfectly made bed threw me off a bit."

"Think you're funny, do ya?" he said, throwing the towel he had picked up at her.

She laughed pulling it off her head. "You start throwing things at me and I'll stop folding your laundry for you," she said, throwing the towel back at him.

"Never said you had to fold it!" he retorted, throwing a pair of boxers at her.

"Hey!" she laughed, both amused and disgusted.

She tossed them back at him, and sat on the bed, armed with the already folded clothes in front of her.

"Don't you dare, Freckles," he warned.

Ignoring his warning, she grabbed a handful and threw it at him. When he finally got everything out of his face, he saw her grinning deviously. He, in turn, grabbed a handful and threw it back at her. She screamed, covering her face with her hands.

"See? Two can play this game, sweetheart."

"Well you started it!" she said, still pulling his clothes off of her.

"Me? Arghhhhh!"

He grabbed her and forced her down on the bed, taking handfuls upon handfuls of clothes stuffing them in her face. She laughed, shielding her face with her hands. When he finally sat back, finished, she cleared the clothes off of her and glared up at him, still smiling, and still laying there. He looked at her, shaking his head, then looked away laughing. They both sighed, looking away from each other.

But the amusement suddenly disappeared from his face, as he looked down at her longingly. Her grin, too, faded away. He leaned down and kissed her passionately. She pulled him closer, putting her hands on his back. He leaned more over her, turning off his side. He slid his hands under her shirt, slowly sliding them up her sides. She put her hands on his chest and pushed him away, breaking the kiss.

"We can't," she told him, gasping for air.

"What!" he looked down at her, bewildered.

She sat up, pushing him away from her. He sat too, watching her look down at his bed. Why does this have to be so hard? she thought, angrily.

"I can't do this. It's too much."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't live a normal life. I can't do this. Here? With you? I can't stay here."

"You can stay here as long as you need," he told her.

"And I appreciate that. But if I stay I'm going to get attached. And I won't want to leave," she said, stopping herself from adding the word you.

"What's wrong with that?"

"You know what's wrong with it. You know that I can't ever stay in one place. For me, everything is about getting away. And if I let myself get attached this early on, I'm never going to want to leave. And the consequences that come with that are just…"

What the hell just happened! he thought. Why was it that every time they were just getting close, they found someway to get even further apart? It was damn annoying, it was.

"Well why do we have to keep thinkin' of the future? Why can't we just take things as they come to us?"

It was like he was breaking her heart a million times over and a million times again. When he had said us, she felt like kissing him, letting herself just melt into his arms. She wanted so badly to just stop thinking of the future, and to just be with him and let things go whichever ways they would. But in her heart, she knew it wouldn't be a great turnout in the end.

"I'm just…afraid," she said, leaning her back into him.

He put an arm around her. "Afraid of what?"

"Of this. Of us. You. Afraid that I'm going to get hurt," she said, shifting her body around so her head was now buried in his chest.

Wrapping both arms around her now, he replied in a whisper, "I'd never hurt you."

"Maybe not intentionally…"

He lifted her head up, his hands on both sides of it. He looked directly at her, and she looked back. It would take a lot of courage for him to say what he was about to again, but he thought she needed to hear it again.

"You know I love you, Freckles," he smirked. "'Course you drive me crazy sometimes, but even so…"

She smiled up at him, relieved and thrilled to hear him say that. Finally, she thought, as she sighed.

"I love you too," she whispered.

She laced her fingers in his hair pulling him back down on the bed with her, kissing him affectionately.