Until the events of the night before came flooding back, and so did the anger.
Sawyer sat up. There was a steady drizzle going on. He pushed his
blanket back and got up, deciding to fill his water bottle.
And who should he run into at the spring but Kate.
"Oh. Morning, Sawyer." she said, like he didn't know.
Which, Sawyer reminded himself, Kate didn't know what he'd seen.
"Morning, Freckles." Sawyer said. He bent down and filled his water.
Kate stood up. "Too bad it's raining today. I usually like it when it rains, but
when you're on an island, it's not so nice. Plus it's cold, and-"
"That's fascinating." Sawyer cut in. He left.
Kate shrugged. No use being nice to him. All he is is nasty to people.
"Good morning!" Claire came into the vicinity.
"Hello, Claire." said Kate. "How are you feeling?"
"Just wonderful." said Claire cheerfully. She knelt down and filled her water
bottle, then Charlie's.
"How's the baby?"
"He's just fine. He's still asleep. Charlie's with him." she added with a smile.
She sat down on the ground. "I cannot believe I would ever want to give him
away."
Kate smiled and sat down beside Claire. "Yeah."
"You wouldn't understand," said Claire. "I went through all that, and I was
going to leave him. Just seeing that beautiful baby and knowing that he's
yours, he's all yours... it's amazing."
Kate smiled. "I'm sure it is."
Claire said, "It is." She stood up. "Well, see you later, Kate."
"Bye, Claire."
Claire walked away, and soon, so did Kate.
Ever since the death of her brother, Shannon had been very
contained. She kept to herself and barely spoke to anyone, even Saiid. Most
of the time she sat on the beach, staring at the waves. She didn't eat or talk
or anything.
Saiid was worried about her. If she kept this up, she'd get herself
sick. And the last thing Saiid could bear was to see Shannon sick.
He approached her on the beach.
"Shannon?"
She didn't turn around.
Saiid sat down beside her. "There's nothing you could have done to save your brother."
Shannon didn't speak.
"He was destined to die," said Saiid. "No one could have saved him. Jack tried his hardest."
Still, Shannon didn't speak.
"You can't hang onto the past forever." said Saiid. "He's gone, and nothing
anyone says or does will bring him back. You just have to move on."
Shannon remained quiet.
Saiid picked up her hand. He kissed it gently. Then he left.
Jack, who had been ready to explode up until the night before, was
finally relaxing a bit. Boone had died. But Jack couldn't hang onto the past
forever. He knew the way things like this were. And now that he finally knew
how Kate felt about him, he could relax a bit.
"Walk with me?" Kate asked Jack in the late afternoon. It had been raining
mostly all day, and everyone was confined to the camp.
"Of course." said Jack.
They stood up. They walked into the woods. The sky was a dreary
gray, but they were happy.
"So," Kate asked. "What made you want to become a doctor?"
"I don't know." replied Jack. "My dad, mostly. He was a doctor, too."
"Yeah," Kate began to say, but then someone came running out of the bush
nearby.
Sawyer jumped on Jack's back. "Son of a BITCH!" he yelled. Jack
fell to the ground. Sawyer punched him in the face.
"Sawyer, STOP IT!" Kate yelled. She jumped on top of Sawyer and
attempted to get him off.
"Leave Jack alone!"
Sawyer hit Jack again. Jack tried to fight back, but wasn't able to.
"SAWYER!" Kate screamed. "STOP IT!"
Jack moaned and Sawyer hit him in the jaw again. He reached up and punched
where Sawyer's head had been, but only got thin air. He punched again. This
time he hit Sawyer's jaw.
Kate finally managed to get Sawyer off Jack. She punched him in the nose.
"What the hell is your problem?"
Sawyer held his bleeding nose. "Dr. Do-Right over here, that's my damn
problem," said Sawyer.
Jack took off his sock and mopped up his face with it. "What did I do now?"
"Don't pretend you don't know," said Sawyer.
"It'd be a lot easier if I knew what you were going on about," said Jack.
Sawyer stood up. "Forget it," he said. He left.
Kate kneeled down on the ground beside Jack. "What was that all about?"
"It's you. He must have seen us together. You know how Sawyer is. Big baby."
Jack stood up.
"Go wash your face or something," said Kate. "Let me deal with Sawyer."
"Don't."
"What?"
"Don't do anything," said Jack. "I don't want him to hurt you too."
Kate smiled at Jack. Then she just left.
"SAWYER!"
He turned around.
"What the hell was that all about?"
"What?" said Sawyer.
"Why did you just go and beat on Jack? What did he ever do to you, huh?"
Kate was infuriated.
Sawyer was even madder. "Because... because... just because." he said.
Kate wasn't about to take that. "Oh, please. You're just jealous. Leave Jack alone."
"You sure aren't leavin' Jack alone. Expecting your first baby yet,
Freckles?"
Kate got madder. She smacked him across the face.
"Hey," she said. "It is NONE of your business what I do with Jack."
"Don't tell me you didn't bang him yet, Katie..." Sawyer started, trying
to get her infuriated.
"Shut the hell up, Sawyer. You're acting like a twelve year old."
"All right, don't get your panties in a tangle." he sat down in the dirt. "Tell
me somethin'..."
Kate sighed.
"Oh come on, I'm not that bad."
Kate sighed again. "What do you want?"
"What's he got that I don't got?"
Kate sat down. "He treats me like a human being." said Kate.
"What, do I abuse you or something?"
Kate stood up. "I don't know why I even bothered." she walked away and left
Sawyer how he was, and how he'd always been. For his whole life, he'd always
been- and he always will be- alone.