"Where's Kate?" Jack demanded of Hurley the following afternoon. "And where's Sawyer?" His eyes, combing the beach, found two absences he didn't particularly like, especially not together.
"I don't know, man," he replied. "They went off to get water together this morning but haven't come back."
"And they took the water bottles?"
"I thought so, man. I didn't see them, but they each had a backpack."
"Dammit. Dammit!" Jack cursed, spotting the string of empty water bottles down the beach under Sawyer's tarp.
"What is it, man?" Hurley asked, turning to follow Jack's gaze.
"They're gone."
Kate and Sawyer tramped through the woods, not saying a word.
"You know, Sweetness, I've been thinkin'…"
"That's surprising," Kate deadpanned.
"And this is what I think. You an' I, we've been skatin' around each other. We're like two peas in a pod, really. Confidence Man and his sidekick, Convict Girl. Sounds like superheroes."
"How philosophical of you, Sawyer. Could you get to the point?" She was tired of his antics.
"Anything for you, Sweetness. Like I said, we're just going in circles—"
"Actually, we're not," Kate interrupted. She stopped, so suddenly that Sawyer nearly plowed her over. "This is the place." She walked to the center of the clearing.
Sawyer's eyes widened at the sight of the tree stump. Bloodstains covered it, and a hatchet was embedded in the wood. A rust-colored substance encrusted the blade of the weapon and dotted spatters trailed up the handle. "And you were where, when you saw him?"
"I was crouched right over here," she picked her way to the cover she had been behind and turned to face him.
"Kate! Look out!"
She started to turn, in an effort to see what he was talking about, but she was too late. The familiar cold steel was pressed against her graceful neck, digging into her jawline.
"Well hello. How nice of you to grace me with your presence," her captor whispered in her ear, but loud enough for Sawyer to hear. "You," he said more loudly to Sawyer, "One more step and her head is gone." Sawyer froze in his tracks.
Kate spoke up, painfully so as the knife dug into her flesh increasingly with each passing word, "Kind of like the innocent baby you murdered?"
He tugged the knife, and she could feel the warm blood seeping down her neck. Sawyer watched in horror. "Kind of that," he whispered menacingly, "but slower. You're a feisty one, aren't you?" he growled, continuing. "We might just have a little fun one we lose Wonderboy here." He ran his hand through her hair and down her back to her waist. Her hand on the opposite side came to rest on the knife lying in its sheath and silently unbuckled it.
"I'm thinking, not so much." She punctuated her last word by drawing her knife up and plunging it into his upper leg in one fluid motion. Taking advantage of the reflexive loosening of his grip as he grunted in pain, she wrenched from his grasp.
Sawyer moved in, clubbing the mysterious man over the head with a fallen branch to knock him out. He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his pack. Kate flinched visibly.
"Don't worry, Freckles, they're not for you." He chuckled and handcuffed the unconscious man to a tree. "We'll come back for him. But now, you." He gently grabbed hold of her chin and lifted it to get a better look. She winced.
"I'm probably going to bruise."
"Well right now, I'd be more worried about blood loss than looking pretty. He got you good."
She laughed bitterly. "I got him back."
"I didn't bring the first aid kit." He shook his head. "But you need a Band-Aid, or something."
"You don't want to admit that we need Jack, do you?" she smirked.
"We need Jack? Last time I checked, Sweetness, I wasn't the one bleeding from the neck." His hand still lingered at her chin, and now he moved it up to cup her face. "And you don't need Jack," he continued. "Me with a first aid kit would do just as well."
"Somehow I doubt that," she shot back.
"Well, I did fix your little suicidal venture," he replied scathingly.
She raised her arm to smack him, but he caught it mid-swing. "You. Don't. Know. What. It's. Like," she breathed forcefully through clenched teeth.
"Don't talk about things you know nothing about," he snarled. He dropped her arm and pulled his shirt over his head. Turning his back towards her, he resumed, "What do you think all that is, Sweetness?"
She gasped. A network of raised scars marred his toned back. The white streaks rippled, across and across, as his muscles moved sleekly beneath his skin. The trail ran from his left shoulderblade almost all the way to his waist.
"I had rough times in my twenties. We have more in common than you might like to believe." His voice grated across her warring mind. Part of her wanted to trace all the abrasions with her fingers, make the hurt go away. A much bigger part, however, just wanted to run away. That part was afraid of this broken man. Just how deep had she gotten herself in?
The bigger part won out. Running, half-tripping over herself, she sprinted across the clearing, unsure of her destination but knowing she just wanted to get out. She hadn't gotten far, however, before she felt lightheaded and collapsed onto the grass.
"Damned blood loss," Sawyer cursed. "Now I gotta carry you."
When Sawyer, later that night, staggered into the caves with Kate in his arms and covered in blood, he drew plenty of attention.
"What did you do to her?" Jack, jumping up, demanded.
"Don't jump to conclusions, pretty boy. This is the handiwork of our good friend the baby killer. I take no credit."
Jack had cleared a space for Sawyer to lay Kate on his bedroll. "What?" A look of astonishment clouded his face." Over here," he directed.
Sawyer gently lowered her to the space Jack pointed out. "Baby. Killer. We handcuffed him to a tree in the jungle after he attacked her and she stabbed him. Long story. Freckles saw him do the baby in. Didn'tcha, sugar?" He ran his fingers through her hair, untangling the brambled mess it had become.
Jack took a deep breath. Sawyer just likes to annoy you by fondling Kate, he told himself. "Everybody out," he demanded. While the rest were filing out, Sawyer lingered. "This means you, too."
Sawyer smirked and sauntered out. "Of course it does."