A Bend In the Road
Chapter Four
Groaning, Sawyer tried to lift his head off the ground, and as he did, he brought traces of leaves and stems with him, and he knew his face had to be muddy, along with the rest of him. The song of a gun cocking stopped the movement.
"Stay down," a woman's slurred voice ordered.
No problem, Sawyer though, knowing there'd be know way he'd be able to get up even if he was forced. His head felt heavy on his shoulders, and the area above his eye felt cold, and he wondered if that was because his head was bleeding again. He heard the attacker set the gun, uncocking it. Sawyer winced, expecting his life to end any moment.
"Drop the gun," said a dry voice.
Great, Sawyer thought, and now Aladin's flying in on his flying carpet to save the town..
"Drop the gun, Danielle," Sayid repeated, staring at Danielle, trying to send the message through eyes, but she didn't receive it, as he and Sawyer felt themselves fading into darkness one after the other.
(Space)
Kate smiled as she spotted Jack on the beach, tying his shoes in the early morning light, his foot propped up on a piece of wreckage. She snuck up behind him, carefully placing her cold hands over his eyes.
"Guess who," she said mischievously.
Her heart lifted as she saw the corners of Jack's mouth turn up in a smile, something rarely seen from him these days.
"I thought I told you to take it easy today," Jack said, though it was clear he wasn't disappointed in seeing her.
"Yeah?" Kate said. "Well this makes up for all the times I told you the same thing."
Kate took the time to sit down beside Jack, but realized she had nothing to say. Lucky for her, Jack covered for her.
"So are we still on for tonight?"
She had to laugh at how formal Jack sounded.
"Yeah," Kate nodded, "but Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't be a dork," Kate said, standing up.
"What?" Jack said, lifting his head up and looking at her.
"This isn't a date," Kate said, rolling her eyes, "you don't have to play dress up or anything."
Jack smirked.
"Then don't say anything when I come shirtless wearing surfer's shorts," he said sarcastically.
"You could do that," Kate said playfully, thinking that that wouldn't be such a bad idea at all.
"You won't leave me stood up, will you?" Jack challenged.
"I won't find you crying later, will I?" Kate teased.
Jack chuckled a little, though couldn't really say anything, remembering how former dates turned out.
"I've got to get back to um..yeah," Kate said, trailing off, "just remember- not a date."
"Yeah," Jack repeated to himself under his breath, "not a date."
(Space)
Sawyer's head heavily lifted off his chest as he tried to make sense of where he was. He tried to move, but realized he couldn't, and trying to jerk his arm around resulted in a grunt of pain behind him, coming from Sayid.
"You're finally awake," Sayid said, calmly as can be.
Sawyer was beginning to think that Sayid was the only person in the world who could grunt calmly, and the only person who could get bored while being held captive.
"And this is so easy for you," Sawyer spat.
"She's not as smart as she appears to be," Sayid said quietly, as if not wanting someone else to hear.
"She just kidnapped two men with nothin' but that rifle of hers," Sawyer reminded him, "yeah, I'd say she's pretty damn smart!" He struggled against the type rope that held his wrist. "So Macgyver, how're you going to get out of this one?"
"Do you feel the loose rope right at your fingertips?"
He could sense that Sayid was smiling at his faults without even seeing it. Figuring out the rest himself, Sawyer began working his way through the rope, soon untying himself and Sayid. But as they stood up, they both noticed something odd: Danielle was nowhere to be seen. Obvious footprints led into opposite paths, and the site had been scraped clean.
"Think she's still around?" Sawyer whispered, now knowing enough about kidnappings and such that you shouldn't go around yelling at the scene.
"No," Sayid said in a hoarse whisper.
"Good," Sawyer said, turning, let's go.
Sayid sighed and did the same, but they didn't get far before they were facing gun point again. They took a step back, and found Danielle glaring at them.
"Look," Sawyer said calmly, "we just want to talk to you. We ain't gonna hurt you."
Just the suggestion of it received a glare from Sayid, but surprisingly, Danielle lowered her gun, and sat down.
"All right," she sighed, and looked up at them, "what do you want?"
"We want to know more about you," Sayid said, sitting down, and nodding to Sawyer to do the same, "your..science team..and your daughter- Alex."
Danielle's hand flew to her gun, which Sawyer snapped from her. Sayid sighed, knowing how difficult that just made things. But Danielle seemed so transfixed with what Sayid had just said, she completely ignored the act.
"How'd you know she's my daughter?" Danielle asked, her eyes dancing around in fire.
"You said that Alex was your child," Sayid said slowly.
"Child," Danielle pointed out, "I never said..daughter."
Sayid sighed.
"We think we found your daughter.
Danielle's eyes lit up.
"How?"
"We could tell you," Sayid said gently, "but we don't have the time. But if you come with us."
Danielle looked at him, as if trying to find an excuse to prove that Sayid was lying, but couldn't.
"All right," Danielle nodded, "I'll come with you."
Sayid nodded and helped her stand up.
"You sure do have a way with women," Sawyer muttered sarcastically, and Sayid just smirked, wishing it had been this easy during his last meeting with Danielle.
(Space)
It was around two in the afternoon when Kate was walking on the beach. When she had woken up for the second time(rehab made her feel so lazy) she had been able to sneak away. The dusty, claustrophobic atmosphere of the caves was getting into her head and sinuses, and it was driving Kate insane. But now on the beach, with the bright son bathing down her neck, Kate had never realized that one of the reasons she hadn't moved to the caves was because, well, she'd miss the beach. Hiding away in dark shadows all day might have suited all right for Jack, but definitely not for her, and clearly not Sawyer either, who seemed to be having no problem hiding in broad daylight.
"So I guess it really was a three hour tour after all, huh?" Kate joked as she approached Sawyer, who lay rested against a pane of wreckage.
"Yeah, but I think Gilligan's retired," Sawyer said, nodding over to Michael, who said, kneeled, his head hanging in depress.
"Who can blame him?" Kate asked, flopping down beside Sawyer in the sand.
He glared at her, annoyed, and threw his book down.
"Did you want something?"
"Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to talk about it-"
"Talk about what?" Sawyer demanded, though it was obvious that he knew exactly what she was talking about.
"You know what?" Kate said, standing back up and dusting off her pants. "I have tried and tried to help you, but if your just going to react like that- fine. I give up." Her hands flew to the air. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"
Sawyer just glared up to her in disbelief.
"You don't have to be the next Boo Radley, you know-"
"Who?" Sawyer asked, confused.
"I thought you were a book worm," said Kate, eyebrow raised.
"Not all the time."
"Well, he was this guy who hid in-" she shook her head, "that's not important. Just forget it."
"No really," Sawyer said, standing up and facing her, "I want to know."
Kate looked down.
"You don't."
She looked back up at him, and they stood in a stand off before Kate whipped around, and left.
(Space)
Jack reached up to adjust the pack on his shoulder, when he remembered that he didn't have one. Kate had made Jack promised that if he was going on this hike with her that he'd bring nothing, and after assuring him that she'd bring two bottles of water from the beach, Jack had agreed. After all, how many things could go wrong on one walk down the beach? He began to second guess that when he heard some rustling from above, but relaxed when he saw that it was only Sawyer, stocking up on some freshly ripped fruit.
"I can see you've picked up on some of Kate's skills," Jack joked.
"I can see you haven't," Sawyer said, pulling an apple loose from the branch and looking back down at Jack, "from what I've seen, she hasn't kissed you yet."
To Jack's surprise, Sawyer threw down the apple he had just picked, and Jack caught it with ease before letting it hit the ground.
"Got you a spare one," Sawyer said, and began making his way back down the tree, "speaking of your girl friend, I talked to her today."
"Oh yeah?" Jack said.
He hadn't even known Kate had been out of the caves that day, and from what he heard, Sawyer hadn't been there either.
"What did she have to say?"
"Do you have any idea who the hell Boo Radley was?" Sawyer said, and then jumped down from the tree, planting his feet on the ground.
"No clue," Jack said, shaking his head.
"Good," Sawyer said, "that'll give you something to talk about on your date."
"It's not a date," said Jack, sounding more like he was still reassuring himself.
"Say what you want."
"How'd you know anyway?" Jack asked, beginning to wonder if Kate had let everyone on the beach know that they weren't going to be there that night.
"You're dressed like a dork," Sawyer commented.
"These are the same clothes I've been wearing every day," Jack said, thinking that this had been the most awkward conversation he had ever had with Sawyer.
"Exactly," Sawyer said, and shook his head, "wouldn't want to miss the show tonight, though."
"What show?"
"A reunion," Sawyer said, wondering why Jack didn't know.
"Between who?"
"Danielle and Alex."
(Space)
"Hey, Sayid?"
Sayid had been sitting a fire he had made for him and Danielle, but she had gone off with Sawyer to the beach, so he guessed he appeared alone. He had agreed with Sawyer to let Sawyer do the introductions, but Sayid was going to question all three about it later. Something told him that he should be far away from this reunion.
"Can I talk to you?" Boone continued nervously, as if expecting Sayid to jump up and attack him. "I know you saw me talking to Shannon earlier."
Sayid looked at him.
"How did you know that?"
"I found your compass," Boone said, taking it out of his pocket and showing it to Sayid, "you must have dropped it when you took off."
Speechless, Sayid took it, and for the first time on the island, he felt like just another person in the crowd, like everyone else had more power over him.
"Look, I wanted to talk about what you heard," Boone set after Sayid examined the edges of the broken compass for so long, he noticed that at some point Locke had just barely scratched the surface of it.
"I'm not sure if I want an explanation," Sayid said truthfully.
"My life is more screwed up now than you or anyone else could probably ever know," Boone started, before realizing that Sayid could most likely care less about any of that, "I mean- I guess the reason it was so easy for me to kill that guy was because..I've already murdered someone before."
"What?" Sayid asked, startled.
Of all things, 'murder' wasn't on the list of things that Sayid had thought Boone capable of doing. That's why he wa so suspicious of him the first time. To him, Boone was just another rich snob- well, not snob, more like overconfident- who got on the wrong flight with the wrong group of people. He had at once thought the same about Shannon, until he realized that Shannon was only holding herself back from this set image she had upon herself. Or maybe even one Boone had set for her.
"About eight years ago I was in a car wreck," Boone explained, "I was drunk and it was raining. It was like for something in the morning. The woman and girl in the other car died."
Sayid didn't know what to say. Part of him naturally felt sorry for Boone, but the other part still wasn't sure what to think. Finally he thought of something to say.
"Does Shannon know?" He asked, curiously.
"She only found out a few weeks ago."
It was now clear to Sayid why Shannon's attitude towards Boone had changed drastically over a short period of time. Every now and then when they were on the beach, he'd catch her glancing towards the jungle, worried, though he never said anything to Shannon about it.
"You're not really Shannon's brother, are you?" Sayid asked, hoping for a negative answer that would maybe make things less confusing for him.
"No, I'm only her step brother," Sayid still glanced towards him, "our parents got married when we were kids and split up a few years later. I've barely even seen her in the last few years."
Boone paused, and placed his hands on his knees, standing up.
"I'm going to go before I make myself sound any more like a pervert," he said, leaving.
"You care about her a lot, don't you?" Sayid asked, making Boone stop before exciting the caves.
"What was that?"
"She worries about you," Sayid informed him, "maybe you should- talk to her. Without the yelling."
"Oh," Boone said, considering, "thanks."
(Space)
Purple. Blue. Pink. Gold. The sky was a blend of an unfinished painting, left alone in an unconfident artists' basement, when really it belonged in a gallery. A gallery of paintings with the exact same strokes, shades, tents. It was perfect.
"I can't believe twelve hours ago I was actually considering leaving this place," Kate said, sighing dreamily as she gazed into the sunset.
"I can't believe twelve hours ago I'd thought I'd never see you again," Jack admitted, and turned his own gaze from the sunset to Kate.
But Kate couldn't look back at him. She felt so guilty. While in the caves, Kate got Charlie to confess Jack's behavior during her absence, and her heart fell when she heard exactly what she had been afraid of.
"Jack, I'm sorry about that," Kate said, feeling the need for an apology that was a long time in coming, "I shouldn't of assumed-"
"No, I understood your reasons," Jack second guess it, "I think. But Kate, I just wanted you to know that you're not a burden to me, no matter what you think. You've helped me in more ways than you could probably image."
"Let's just hope that one of those ways doesn't come in your dirty little dream state mind," Kate teased.
"Who said it's only in dream state?"
Kate hit him playfully and Jack smiled.
"No really," Jack said after a short pause, "I just wanted to think you for everything you've done- for me."
"Well that's great and all Jack," Kate said, "really. But I was kind of wanting to talk about you."
"We are talking about me," Jack pointed out.
"No, you," Kate said, not making any since, "before the crash. Were you the same depressed, no eat, no sleep kind of guy?"
Jack nodded.
"I guess you could say that," Jack admitted, "blame it on the genes though."
"Mother's or father's?"
"Not sure," Jack shrugged, "father's probably. I hardly knew my mother, my real mother."
"Oh. Did she die?" Kate asked before immediately regretting it.
"No," Jack said, "she left."
"Oh," Kate said, "I'm sorry."
"But back to me-" Jack said, dragging out the last syllables, "I..um..went to college."
"Well that much was obvious," Kate said, bemused.
"You didn't let me finish!" Jack protested. "I went to college on an athletic scholarship."
"You?" Kate said, holding back a laugh. "So that's why you were so good at golf."
"It's all in the wrist," Jack joked, flicking his wrist out.
"So you were like the high school jock then?" Kate said, trying to picture Jack in one of those tight football uniforms before chuckling at the thought.
"No, actually I was like the nerd trying to be a jock," Jack confessed.
"So you were like one of those guys who always got their lunch money stolen every day and got beaten up afterwards?"
Jack looked down, that being one part of his embarrassing past he had hoped to have never had to bring up again.
"Oh- sorry."
There was a short pause, until Jack broke it, knowing that time was getting away from them.
"So what were you like when you were a kid?" Jack asked Kate.
"I was one of those kids who'd steal the money," Kate admitted.
"That bad huh?" Jack said, grimacing.
"Yeah," Kate said, "and I hold my head in shame."
Jack raised an eyebrow.
"Well what was I supposed to do?" Kate asked. "I was seven, my dad left every few months, and I always thought it was my fault.
"But it wasn't," Jack pointed out.
"Yeah, but you know how kids are," Kate said, trailing off, leading into even more silence. "Can I ask you a personal question?"
The silence finally broke.
"Shoot."
"Why do you worry about me so much?" Kate asked, the statement truly bothering her. "I've seen caged monkeys less active than you."
"Oh, I'm a monkey now?" Jack teased, before getting back to the subject. "I don't know. I guess being over protective just comes with the job. And I mean, I care about you, and I don't know..I think I even-
Love you. No I don't. Wait..I don't know. I don't know what I think or feel. It's all too confusing and now I feel like I'm back in high school again. Except back in high school, Jack was lucky to get dates with girls have as beautiful with Kate.
"Jack?" Kate asked, in slight concern, looking at him.
Jack opened his mouth to reply when he was cut off by a loud sound. An engine. The sound decreased as it shook the trees behind him, and the ocean's water crippled as the artists' painting dissolved into exhaust. Jack looked at Kate, wondering if he had just imaged that.
"Was that- a plane?"
Author's Note: Muahaha! I know, I'm so evil..and yes, it's been a while. Sorry, last night I surprised myself by falling asleep..well..last night, and not this morning. I apologize for the wait and hope this long, well, longer, chapter made up for the wait. I'm thinking of doing two chapters of leaving the island(no, Jack wasn't hallucinating), the second one being songfic, and then a chapter at a hospital in some Central America country(scurries off to find a map) and then a last chapter(maybe songfic again) at an airport in LA. Thanks for all the reviews!
Crazyhorsegirl88: (late review reply, sorry!) You're making that poor bunny go through hell, you know that?
Coming up, in the last chapters of 'Fated':
A mistake splits Jack and Kate up, while others declare truce. Offers are made all around with some tears, and the island's swept clean, leaving only the mysterious computer, which, btw, Locke forgot to turn off.
And want some more, just in case I fall asleep early again, or am not able to update? Neither Jack nor Kate show up at the airport in LA, but that's not because they ran off together, or arranged to meet together. And think Jack's depression was bad a day away from Kate? Try two weeks.
Hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for all the reviews!
October Sky