The day to set sail arrived and the survivors were anticipating the worst; the French woman showed up warning them of the mysterious Others and their signal of black smoke urging them to either, run, hide or die. She told them that they would be coming for the boy, like they took her child many years before. This spread concern around the beach. Claire was outraged that her baby would be taken and Jack once again took the leadership role. He got a group of survivors to help Michael launch the raft while he set off with a few others to locate explosives that would open the hatch. His main plan was for everyone to move to the caves for ultimate safety. The annoying, yet accurate Artz was giving another science lecture to anyone that would listen; which was rarely a handful. They needed to head out "yesterday" or the change in tide would lead them off to uncharted territory, with no chance of rescue. Last minute repairs on the raft were taking place; Michael, Jin, and Sawyer were working double time to fix the mast.

Elle found herself sitting on a log, watching Sawyer chop bamboo, earnest with every hack of the axe; he was focused on proving that he wasn't the loser Michael saw in him. In silence, they kept one another company, their eyes meeting every once and awhile, as he lifted his arms, the axe raised ready to blow. As the bamboo splintered, Elle felt her heart thump, emotions caught in her strangled throat. He was leaving and her body ached for him.

Jack who came to give Sawyer some last minute advice, along with a handgun, interrupted the silence. What Sawyer wound up telling Jack made Elle wish she hadn't second-guessed his motives. He told Jack that he had met a man, a doctor, who had wished his son knew how proud he was of him. Jack was speechless, Elle imagined, for two reasons; he never knew how his dad had truly felt about him and perhaps Sawyer wasn't as sadistic as he projected himself to be. The two men wished one another good luck and they parted ways. Sawyer caught Elle's glance as Jack walked away.

"I could have kept that to mah'self, but I got to thinkin' I would've liked to have known my daddy loved me too."

Walking towards Sawyer, Elle reached out for his hand. He drew her into his chest, brackish with hard-earned sweat, his lips resting a small kiss on the top of her head, and cradled her. Elle kissed his cheek and her words were bittersweet.

"It's a shame he didn't see you grow up into the man I know."

Pulling away, Elle told him that she was going to head back to the beach to take care of a few things. He told her he needed to finish chopping the reeds, or Mike would have his ass if they were stalled another day. They said they would meet up before the raft set sail, but little did he know, Elle would get her wish; she wouldn't have to say goodbye, because she would never allow it to happen.

Chapter 27

Kate, her backpack in hand, found Elle, her face towards the sea. Taking a spot to Elle's left, Kate stood there in silence, waiting.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kate questioned her, concern coating her words.

Elle sipped from her water bottle and screwed on the cap. Tossing it into her backpack and zipping it up with finality, she answered Kate.

"Yeah, Kate," Elle draped the bag across her shoulders, "I'm sure."

Elle did not intend to see Sawyer off and it wasn't an easy decision to make. She toyed with the idea as a cat plays with a mouse, right before the final kill. Two choices teeter tottered back and forth in her mind. She could say either hello like Sawyer suggested or she could go far into the jungle away from the launching of the raft. She chose to be as far away as possible and she had to stick with that decision, no matter how much her heart ached. She knew that he would wonder where she was and realizing that the few things she had to take care of was her meal ticket out of saying goodbye, he would get on that raft.

Together, along with Jack, the French woman, Locke, Hurley and Artz, they trekked through the jungle, heading off to the Black Rock that held their only chance at safety. The cryptic French woman, Danielle, ushered them along, guiding them to dynamite, their weapon of choice to open the hatch Locke had found in the jungle. Moving along, Elle seemed preoccupied at times.

Looking towards the sky, Elle noticed the layout of the sun. They should be setting out by now, she thought to herself. What she didn't think about was Sawyer's reaction to her not being there. Back on the beach, he asked Charlie if he had seen Elle, and Charlie had told him the last he saw of her, she had put a note into the bottle. Handing it off to Sawyer, they set off, waving to everyone on the beach. Simultaneously, as if they knew they were both thinking the same thing, Elle whispered hello towards the sea as Sawyer whispered hi'ya Gorgeous off towards the jungle.

"You think she's going to be alright," Jack pointed his water bottle towards Elle, "she seems distracted."

"We don't need any mistakes, Kate."

Kate looked towards Elle and back at Jack. Requesting to tag along, Kate couldn't tell her no. She knew what it was like to watch someone worth caring for, fade into the distance. No one should have to do that.

"She's strong, Jack." Kate assured him. "We can use someone like her with us."

"Love makes people do some horrible things," she whispered, "like refusing to say goodbye."

Realizing that Elle had come along to avoid seeing Sawyer off the raft, Jack took pity on her. Why hadn't he realized back in the jungle when he was talking to Sawyer, how heartbreaking she had looked at his side? Wishing he had been more familiar to her needs, Jack walked towards Elle. His need to protect someone kicked into overdrive.

"Got enough water?" he asked her, offering his bottle. He noticed she hadn't bothered to drink anything since they had stopped and he didn't need someone to pass out on this hike through the jungle. Especially when it could be detrimental to the lot of us, he thought.

"Took a few swigs about a half mile back," she smiled, "haven't even broken a sweat yet."

Seeing her smile, Jack was relieved to see she wasn't on the verge of tears. He didn't handle sobbing women well; his past with vulnerable women had proven fatal in his lifetime. Who knows what he would have done if she had been crying. I'd want to console her, he thought to himself, but Sawyer would knock me out if I touched his girl.

"What'cha thinkin' about Doc?" she teased, wondering why in the world he had such a goofy look on his face.

"Oh, nothing," he shook his head, "nothing at all." Hearing her response, Jack didn't realize how much she and Sawyer sounded alike at times. It was like having the smart ass around, only better looking.

As everyone recollected themselves, they started out again towards the unknown. Wondering why in the world anyone would put their trust into the obviously deranged woman, perplexed Elle. Something about Rousseau just didn't sit right with her.

Arriving at a piece of black cloth tied haphazardly to a post, sticking out of the ground, Danielle spoke.

"Le Territoire Fonce," she said matter of factly, her rifle lay limp in her arms.

"English, please," Elle looked agitated.

"The dark territory," Jack translated. Nodding in concurrence, Danielle led them ahead.

"It's not much further," she began, "the Black Rock is just up ahead."

Stopping abruptly, Locke questioned her. Telling them that they had reached their destination, she separated some leaves of an overly crowded bush, and to their astonishment, there stood a capsized ship. Hurley pointed out that she never mentioned that the Black Rock was a ship.

"You assumed I meant a ship, I didn't tell you otherwise."

Laughing to herself, Elle looked at Kate. Kate knew what she was thinking. You know what they say about making assumptions. Making their way towards it, they were careful not to disturb the area. Hurley asked what everyone else was thinking, yet it sounded comical coming from him.

"How exactly does something like this happen?"

Danielle looked at him as if they shared a secret. "Are you on the same island as I am?"

Instructing them that the dynamite they had come looking for was in the hold of the ship, she told them she was no longer needed. Walking off, she left them at the ship. Jack became angry, shouting after her, but Locke told him to let her go, and he would lead them back. Giving up, Jack, Kate, and Elle made their way inside. Locke was behind them, in case they needed to make a fast break. One never knew when the monster would return. Artz and Hurley waited on a log. Artz wasn't going anywhere near that ghost ship. He was here for a tutorial in dynamite, not solving yet another mystery on the island.

Kate found the dynamite and together, Jack and she carried it out. Making their way out, Arzt was quick to join the cause. He instructed them all to move away from the crate, with fervor in his voice. He treated them like a bunch of dim-witted high school kids, which only pissed off Elle and Jack respectively.

"Do any of you have any idea the condition this dynamite may just be in?"

Shaking his head at them, as if to say tsk tsk children, his role of teacher took a hold of him.

"Do any of you have any idea what happens to dynamite in ninety degree heat, huh?" He began to pry open the crate with a pocketknife.

"It sweats nitroglycerin, the most unstable explosive known in creation."

Gently lifting a stick from the crate, he instructed them that he needed to wrap it with something to keep it from sweating onto the other sticks. You never know how unpredictable they could be, he laughed. Demanding Kate to take off her shirt, she did so unwillingly. She looked at Elle as if to say creep. They were hardly paying him any attention and this got him flustered. He was mentioning how nitroglycerin was invented, something about a man being blown up, and he began making his way towards the rest of the group.

"Nitroglycerin is extremely temperamental so we..."

The last words they heard before Artz disintegrated into tiny bits right in front of their eyes, were ironic. Goddamn, he was right, Elle thought to herself. The explosion blew them back and pieces of Artz splayed the area, not to mention their bodies.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Kate said, as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. Her hair saturated with blood and guts, literally, she thought to herself, hung in pieces across her face. Jack and Locke were clearly shocked, their mouths widened in horror. Hurley summed the whole spectacle into one word-

"Dude."