Chapter 11
Once they were on the road, the dread immediately started to creep into Kate's mind. She was inexplicably nervous and trying her best not to show it.
Glancing quickly at her traveling companions, she thought about how hardened they both seemed. How…used to this kind of craziness they both were. She wondered what kind of "adventures" they had been up to since they were rescued, and pushed away a sense of envy.
Sawyer had both hands on the wheel, his mouth set in a grim line, and he was scowling at the bumper to bumper traffic of the bridge.
Ana was in the back seat with her legs propped against the back of Kate's seat.
Damn it if they weren't digging into her lower back, making her uncomfortable. It was actually annoying, and uncomfortable, but Kate's newly attained manners automatically kicked in, and she chose to remain silent.
The fact that she did so, bothered her for the next hour.
Ana was right back at the apartment. Something had shifted on the inside, making her into one of those girls she used to hate. Until the point she and Sawyer had stormed into her life, Kate hadn't noticed that part of her slipping away. It was both a scary and important part, and she wasn't sure how she could get it back.
Kate sighed miserably and felt lost.
She was just playing the role fate had handed her right?
When Sam had taken the rap for her, she had decided, no, vowed, to always be grateful for the life he had restored. The she would become good.
Good.
She rolled that word around in her mind, and laughed bitterly. Kate had spent so much time and energy analyzing what the meaning of that word was, that she ran herself in circles trying to achieve it.
After the trial, Jack's expectations for her slowly grew into pressure for her to become what he thought of as good. Looking sidelong at Sawyer again, she thought that maybe he and Ana had thought she was "good" all along. The idea made her heart swell in a way it hadn't in a very long time. These two people were risking their lives for her, and Kate blinked back tears that she was surprised had sprung into her eyes.
Thinking of her last encounter with jack, his idea of "good" alarmingly snapped into focus. Riding on impulse, Kate turned suddenly in her seat.
"Ana! Would you stop digging into my back with those ugly ass commando boots your so fond of?"
The sharpness of her tone took Ana back a bit, and her mouth dropped open slightly in surprise. She quickly recovered however, and after a second, perhaps sizing Kate's new attitude up, she said simply "Sure" and slowly lowered her legs to the floor.
Kate faced front again, checking Sawyer for a reaction or retort. He glanced at her, but said nothing, and she settled back into her seat, feeling more confident then she had in months. She stretched dramatically, causing the corner of Sawyers mouth to rise slightly, and Kate never caught the amused look he and Ana shared in the rearview.
As Kate dozed in the seat next to him, Sawyer forced himself to loosen his grip on the steering wheel. They had been driving for over two hours, having just escaped Manhattan due to the God forsaken traffic.
That was one thing he did miss about Tennessee. The "country" of it. The wide open spaces with no taxies or limos or damn bike messengers, all trying to get to the same place at the same time.
The place they were in now, would be considered "country" by anyone who was used to the noise and crowds of Manhattan. But in reality it was the suburb of Long Island, disguised at "country".
One of the few memories Sawyer allowed himself to keep, was waking up before sunrise with his father to go fishing.
They would start out at dawn, and as a small child, young James would press his nose against the window, in awe of the rolling mountains in the distance. They were always covered in mist that early in the day, with their rounded summits poked through the top of the wispy white clouds. At the time, young James had thought it was a kind of magic.
His father had, at one point, been like any normal father. He took James fishing and camping, and indulged the young imaginative child with stories of powerful sorcerers and dragons, princess and magic.
Now, catching a glimpse of his eyes in the rearview, it was hard to believe that the cold hard blue steel looking back at him had ever believes in such nonsense.
Kate shifted in her seat so that her body was angled toward him.
Well…maybe he still believed in princesses.
But he was no prince. His father had made sure of that.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kate awoke to the darkness. It seemed they had been driving forever. But with the late afternoon traffic, she guessed that they weren't 15 miles from her apartment, even though the scenery had drastically changed.
Now, instead of tall sleek buildings, there was space. Great open fields….and farms?
There were farms this close to the city she wondered?
Where exactly were they going?
Sawyer seemed confident enough in their destination, and although it was something she rarely did, she decided to just trust him.
She snuck a sideways glance at Sawyer. His face was illuminated by the dash board lights, and she felt a familiar, if uncomfortable, tug in the pit of her stomach.
Noticing her looking at him from the corner of his eye, he almost blushed under her stare. Then laughed at the absurdity of it.
"What's so funny?"
"See something you like?" His dimples deepened.
"ha."
"Starin awful hard there Freckles." Now he was grinning.
She was at a loss for words. Physically, she DID see something that she liked. What woman wouldn't look at a man that looked like Sawyer, and find him attractive?
But, more and more, she saw something deeper in Sawyer that she liked. It scared her beyond belief, but, his heart was shining through his armor more and more with every passing mile.
"Just drive Tex."
He laughed silently, and Kate stared out the window, willing her thought somewhere else.
When they finally arrived at the house Sayid had arranged, both girls were sleeping.
Ana was sprawled across the back seat, her head at an awkward angle as she tried to use a bag for a pillow.
Kate had her feet tucked up with her arms wrapped around her knees and her head drooped lazily on her knees.
How in the world could anyone sleep that way? Sawyer wondered.
He noticed her lips were pursed together and she was snoring lightly.
That fact amused him immensely. Some princess he thought lightly, resisting the urge to brush her hair back so he could see her freckles.
Instead, he swung the car door open, and climbed out, feeling stiff and suddenly exhausted.
He left them sleeping and started to haul their gear.
It was a small house, but elegant with large floor to ceiling windows making up the front of the house. A large worn wooden porch took up the entire front of the a frame, and Sawyer scanned it quickly for the stupid gargoyle statue, that Sayid had told him the key would be hidden under.
He located it tucked between a long iron planter overgrown with late summer flowers. They look quite frightening in the bright moonlight.
Before replacing the statue, the gargoyle itself caught his attention.
It was small, no more then eight inches high. But it was crouched down and sticking its tongue out obnoxiously. It was as if the statue was mocking him!
Oddly freaked out, he stuck his tongue out and immediately felt childish.
"…and what did he ever do to you?"
It was Ana, and she was standing there with her hands on her hips, an all too serious look on her face.
For a moment, Sawyer tried to think of an answer, but then realized, as her face change to a smirk, that she was messing with him.
He rolled his eyes, and all but threw the statue back in its position. Walking over to open the front door, he squinted his eyes, intent on looking evil, and said.
"Reminded me of you is all."
Ana laughed, and punched him in the shoulder, following him inside.
After bringing everything inside, Sawyer went back out for Kate who was now sprawled across the front seat, not bothering to wonder why they had stopped.
"Kate?" he called.
She stirred a little, and he felt his stomach tense up. She was just so damn beautiful!
Getting annoyed with himself, he shook her a little roughly, and she shot up, shrinking defensively as far away as possible. She had the look of a caged animal in her eyes, and seemed confused….or afraid he thought miserably.
Feeling bad, and not knowing what to say, he tucked his hands into his pockets.
Slowly, her eyes came into focus, and she peered out the window into the dark forest that surrounded the property.
"where are we?" she asked.
"We're uh….home. I guess."
She seemed to notice the house for the first time. In the darkness, it glowed warmly with the lights burning bright. Kate could see Ana walking from room to room though the tall windows.
Sawyer came over to her side, and opened the door, taking her hand.
The contact broker her thoughts, and she looked up at Sawyer as he was pulling her to her feet.
She felt stiff, but didn't think she had slept that well in months.
Vaguely, she wondered why, but already knew the answer.
"Gonna spend the night out here?"
Kate smiled at him, and he quickly dropped her hand from his, alarmed at what her smile could do to him.
Disappointed, Kate grabbed her backpack and brushed part him toward the house.
This distance between them had been there from the beginning of their relationship, but Kate was beginning to get tired of it. She looked back at him. He was still standing by the car, but with his back turned to her in thought.
"you coming?" Kate asked hopefully.
He didn't answer at first.
"Gonna smoke." he said simply, and walked away from her down the gravel driveway, disappearing into the darkness.
Her eyes followed him sadly. She wanted to go with him, but her pride had her turning back into the house to find the shower.
Sawyer stood at the edge of the dirt road that ran in front of the house. From the road, you could barely make out the warm glow of the lights of the windows.
He supposed that the seclusion of the woods made for good cover, but couldn't suppress a creepy feeling that was nagging at him.
Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck was standing on end, and he turned quickly in an panicked circle, feeling like he was being watched.
There wasn't a sound in the night, and the silence seemed to be enveloping him. Scaring him.
To Sawyer, this was unacceptable. And so, in rebellion against his fear, he angrily peered into the woods. Staring hard to try and make out what was causing this sinking feeling. There was someone out there. He could feel it.
Before he could start over toward the brush that caught his attention, a car was speeding down the road. It was on top of him before he noticed it, and he just managed to step off the road as the taxi cab whooshed by him, its tail lights disappearing in seconds around the curve in the road.
Highly insulted, Sawyer hurled his cigarette at the retreating cab, and yelled a very rude obscenity in vain.
He stood there catching his breath, and looked back at the house.
Deciding he had spent enough time creeping himself out, he began making his way back toward it and the women who were waiting for him.
The cab driver almost jumped out of his skin when he almost hit the man who suddenly appeared in the road. He must have been starting to get fatigued, because he could have sworn he heard his passenger chuckle when the man practically dove for cover. And this kind of chuckle was the kind that made ones skin crawl.
"Stop" the passenger ordered.
And even though it was the middle of nowhere, the cabbie was glad to unload the passenger by the side of the road, in the dark. It had been a creepy four hours, and if the man hadn't kept shoving hundreds through the window, the driver would have demanded to stop a long time ago.
And so he sped off into the night, and The Wolf watched the tail lights disappear, and stood in the darkness allowing his vision adjust to the night, before stealthily stepping into the forest.