Sawyer woke with a light blinding him. He opened his drowsy eyes to a squint and realized that he was lying on the beach, and that it was the light of the sun hurting his eyes. He leaned on one elbow, rubbing his eyes, gradually becoming aware of the feel of a soft body pressed up against his. He turned around to see Kate's sleeping form curled up behind him, one arm carelessly thrown over his waist. Her hair was half covering her face, the rest sprawled around her, her dark locks contrasting with the whiteness of the sand. Sawyer couldn't help but feel a smile form on his lips. He wondered if he would always feel like this. That waking up beside her would always be so thrilling, even years downs the road.

Sawyer frowned, realizing he had been thinking of their relationship in years. They didn't know what would happen one day to the next on this island; it was dangerous thinking like that. But he couldn't help it. He had known that being with Kate would be something permanent, something for keeps, something forever. The events of the previous night came flashing back upon him. Watching his letter turn to ashes was something that would always be etched into his memory. He suddenly realized that he having given up his revenge, given up his old life; all of a sudden wealth of possibilities were open to him, that he hadn't dared consider before. He was snapped out of his train of thought by Kate moving onto her back sighing, her eyes opening. When she fixed eyes on Sawyer she gave him a lazy smile, and Sawyer found himself responding automatically, all thoughts banished form his mind momentarily.

"Mornin' gorgeous," he said, leaning down to give her a good morning kiss.

Kate returned the kiss, feeling the last edges of sleep slip away. Sawyer pulled away, allowing Kate to look around at her surroundings. "Guess we never made it back to the tent huh," she said with a slight smile.

"I think we exhausted ourselves too much last night for that," Sawyer said, smiling wryly, knowing she knew he didn't just mean the sex.

Kate acknowledged this with a slight nod, "Do you feel any different?" she asked.

Sawyer thought for a moment, "My pocket feels lighter," he said, trying to make light of the situation, but knowing he had failed miserably when Kate gave him "The Look". He sighed and lay back down on his side, his head resting on his hand, "I dunno Freckles, I do feel different, every time I think of the letter, I realize its gone, that I can't go back to my routine of holding it and reading it; even though every word is in my head, I think of what I'm going to do now, who I'm gonna be now..." he frowned and rubbed his temples, and Kate noticed this and reached for his hand and took it in hers gently.

"It's alright, its going to take time, I know that."

"How do you feel?" Sawyer asked, the question feeling strange coming form his lips. He wasn't used to having such open conversations with anyone, and was pretty sure that Kate was, in fact, the only person it had ever happened with.

"The old feeling of guilt's still there," Kate replied, her voice tinted with bitterness, "But now I tell myself that there's no point dwelling on it, that there's nothing I can do to change what happened in the past, and it does help, because I'm slowly beginning to believe it."

Sawyer reached out for her and hugged her tightly to him. With her in his arms he did feel a measure of peace that wasn't there before. That truly she was now his reason for living, for waking up in the morning. Every time he thought of what had happened to him, his parents, the real Sawyer. He tried to banish them from his mind with thoughts of Kate, pictures of her in his mind, of everything they've been through together, and it did help. She intoxicated him, mind, body and soul.

He withdrew from her slightly so he could see her, "You think we should return to the beach?" she asked.

Sawyer sighed, "I guess we should get back," he replied, rolling onto his
back and stretching. "Although, I don't know about you, but I'm covered in sand, especially in places it got no business in being, you care for a swim before we get back?" he said, turning his head and grinning at returned his grin and her eyes flicked to the seas nearby, she gave him a quick kiss, "Betcha I can beat you down there," she said, her eyes glowing with the idea of a challenge, and before he could reply she had got up and begun to run towards the sea. Sawyer laughed and took a moment to appreciate the view of a butt-naked Kate running, before getting up himself and chasing after her.

He caught up with her just as she reached the sea, the waves splashing against her legs, and he grabbed her around the waist, tickling her in punishment for running off before him. Kate giggled and squirmed, bending over; trying to loosen his grip around her, but all this achieved was Sawyer gaining the leverage, to throw her over his shoulder, with Kate's protesting screams echoing in his ears followed by the glorious sound of her laughter.

If anyone of their fellow castaways has happened to walk past at this moment, they would barely recognize their fellow survivors. Fun and hapiness, being carefree, not thinking of anything in the world but each others' company, not needing anything else, had transformed their faces. It made them both seem so young, so innocent, something neither of them was allowed to be for a very long, before it was cruelly snatched from their grasps, the disillusionment of adulthood coming years too early.

After exhausting themselves fully from the excursion into the sea, Kate and Sawyer returned to their make shift camp, pulled on their clothes reluctantly and began the walk back to the beach.

For most of the walk they stayed in companionable silence, hand in hand, exchanging the odd furtive glance or funny comment. Their frolicking in the sea had left them both in a good mood, despite the emotional trauma of the night before; they felt good as they began to see the familiar shape of their beach camp, the figures of people going about their daily routine.

As they got nearer, Kate stopped suddenly, forcing Sawyer to do the same.

Sawyer frowned at her, "What's up Freckles?" he asked.

Kate paused for a moment before answering, "I'm going to call you James from now on," she looked away, unable to meet his eyes for a moment. "I know that it feels strange and uncomfortable for you right now, but...I can't call you Sawyer, not anymore, not after we tried to leave behind, everything it represented last night. That name will always have special meaning to me because it was the name you used when I fell in love with you, but its time for you to leave that name behind now." She looked tentatively back up at him, "Do you understand?"

Sawyer could see the look of worry that was etched over her face, and he hated that it was because of him that she was feeling that way. He reached out for her and drew her into his arms, resting his cheek against the top of her head. "It's alright Freckles, I do understand, and it does feel strange and painful to hear it. I tried to banish that name from me for so long; I thought it was gone for good. So it will take a while for me to get used to hearing it again, but I know its something we have to do."
Sawyer withdrew from her embrace slightly and looked down at her, and was rewarded with his favourite smile, the one that she gave him when he had pleased her or done something cute. Kate reached up and kissed him briefly. "Did I ever tell you how wonderful you are?" she said smiling.

Sawyer returned the smile and took her hand as they continued walking. He pretended to think for a moment, "Ya know Freckles, as crazy as it might sound, I don't think you have."

"Oh," Kate said before turning around and staring straight ahead, not being able to prevent a smile from forming on her lips. Sawyer just looked at her in expectation, grinning to himself when he realized the game she was playing.

"Ya know it's not nice to tease a man with compliments Freckles and not deliver," he said, giving her his most dazzling grin.

"I thought you liked my teasing?" Kate replied, her voice taking on a more sultry tone, that automatically made Sawyer think of pressing her against the nearest tree.

"Hmm, I think we might just have to test that theory of yours out back at the tent," Sawyer said, drawing her closer to him and planting a kiss on her lips.

They continued walking at a slightly quicker pace, each with visions in their own minds of just what was going to occur when they returned. As the got closer, they noticed everyone gradually forming a group in the middle of the beach, and they could hear the lull of excited voices. Kate and Sawyer looked at each other in puzzlement, and quickened their pace even further to see what the commotion was about. As they got to the camp they were passed by Charlie and Claire, who stopped and turned around to speak to them.

"Hey guys," Claire said with a smile, she was accompanied by Charlie holding Aaron. "You guys have a nice break away from camp?"

"Yeah, it was...nice," Kate said, not sure that there was a word to describe the rollercoaster they had both been on. "What's all the commotion about?"

But they both saw him standing in the midst of the majority of the group before Claire could reply, "Oh yeah, you can't have heard, Jack is back at beach."

Kate and Sawyer exchanged a look before turning back to the figure of Jack. They both knew things were about to get even more complicated.