Disclaimer: I do not own Lost or any of the characters in it. I also borrowed a quote from "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell.

Notes: Major major fluff. Lots of cute Charlie moments too. ) I needed a pick me up after the last chapter. Spoilers for The Greater Good.

Summary: Sawyer and Kate have a fight. Sawyer finds a way to make Kate happy again.

"Uncle Rhett Reads a Story"

The solemn mood around the camp had disappeared and things were beginning to go back to normal. That is, however, as normal as things had been in the first place. Because when you throw 46 people on an island and force them to survive on the same beach drinking the same limited supply of water and eating fish and boar day in and day out, well, nothing was ever normal.

Sawyer was sitting at his camp, reading more of the novel which had essentially changed his life forever. Hell, he thought, if he'd known that reading a sappy chick book like Gone With the Wind would get him a hot new girlfriend he would have subjected himself to it a long time ago. He smirked at the thought and skimmed through the pages. He knew the story, he didn't have to read it. He just liked to indulge the fantasy of Kate in the role of Scarlett. That image alone had opened up his imagination to all kinds of new and fun fantasies.

Sawyer took off his reading glasses and closed his eyes. He imagined Freckles wearing one of those who fashioned Civil War style dresses with all the frills and an extremely low cut bust line.

Yep, this was the life.

"I'm afraid to ask, but, what are you thinking about?" Sawyer opened his eyes to find Kate standing over him. He wondered how she had managed to keep her pale complexion in all of this sunlight. Her freckles still shone through just enough to make his heart beat fast. The innocence of them combined with the small muscles she had developed were the perfect combination to showcase the person that Kate was. So fragile, yet so strong when she had to be. Sawyer couldn't take his eyes of her freckles though.

"Hey…" He heard her say. He snapped out of his trance. "I asked you a question." She sat down next to him, curling her legs in an Indian style pose.

He smiled his classic Sawyer smile and squinted his eyes. "Well, Freckles, what do you think I was thinking about?" He winked to emphasize his point.

She rolled her eyes in that way that made his stomach do a flip flop. A smile touched her face.

"So, not about the Shannon almost killing Locke earlier?" She offered up the information teasingly.

He leaned in towards her until he was inches from her face. "Believe me sweetheart, the mountain man was the last person on my mind." Their lips met for a short but sensual kiss. Suddenly, Kate sat back and looked at him as if she was seeing him for the first time. She seemed to be studying him. This made Sawyer rightly nervous. He hated people staring at him, especially when they had that kind of puzzles expression on their face.

"What?" He finally asked defensively. He couldn't look her in the eye, it was too nerve-wracking. He could not emphasize enough how much he hated the way she was staring at him.

"Nothing." She replied in that tone of voice that made him want to tackle her to the ground. She dropped her stare and looked down at the sand underneath her. She began aimlessly playing with a few grains, obviously aware that this small action would annoy him all the more.

Sawyer was fuming. He wasn't angry. Not in the way that he usually got angry. But he felt exposed, and Sawyer hated feeling exposed. Somehow she had looked straight through him to the place that no one got to see. He'd shown her some of that place, but that had been on his terms. No one ever got a look at the whole thing. Especially anyone that he liked so damn much.

She must have noticed the fact that he was in full on brood mode, because she spoke again. This time her voice took a whole different tone. "I was just…thinking." She was more hesitant in her choice of words and there was less teasing involved. Sawyer found the courage to look up at her for a few seconds.

"And?" He prompted her to continue. She moved her mouth, as if she was trying to form the words but could not speak them aloud.

"I was just thinking about you." She stopped to check his reaction. It hadn't changed, he was still brooding. "You know, um, never mind. Its not that big of a deal." She shook her head to emphasize the point.

Now he was angry. "What is it Freckles? What do you want to tell me? That I'm an asshole again? I've heard that one enough since we dropped on this damn island. You may as well join the crowd with the name callin."

She had lost him and she knew it. She became defensive and the anger showed on her face. "No, Sawyer, actually I wasn't going to call you anything." She stood to leave. "You know, you're so damn closed off that you can't even imagine anybody ever saying something nice about you! Sawyer, give it a break already. Haven't you been punished enough?"

And then she was gone. He hadn't had a chance to make a comeback. He had barely had a chance to do anything other then glare at her. "Dammit!" He shouted and hid himself in his shelter. Of course he would screw this up. He always screwed everything up for himself.

Damn her and to actually stand up to him and tell the truth. He sighed in anger and closed his eyes. Dammit if he didn't need a lady like her to set him straight. Dammit if he wasn't too stubborn to admit it. Just dammit. He cowered in his shelter and decided to sulk for a few minutes before deciding what to do next.

Unfortunately, his sulking session was brought to an early close when he heard a baby crying nearby. He tried to ignore it, turning over to face the other side. Maybe if he just pretended to be asleep it would go away and stop bothering him.

But then, another sound added to the mix of annoying sounds. "Sawyer?" It was the rock star. He could tell by that damn British accent. He gave in and sat up. He opened his eyes and squinted until he could get used to the sun again.

"Yea? Whattda…" He could hear the annoyance in her own voice and halted mid sentence. "…want?" He finished in a calmer more subtle tone. He noticed that the rock star was holding the baby, which was still crying loudly and annoyingly.

Charlie shifted the baby's position in his arms and almost fell over in the process. Sawyer smirked and shook his head. "Can I help you with somethan?"

Charlie seemed frightened and hesitant to speak, but finally found the courage to do so. "Yea, listen I noticed earlier that, um, well the baby seems to like you so I was just wonderin if you could help me out, quiet 'im down a bit?" He ended the request with a large rather dorky looking smile. Sawyer rolled his eyes.

"'Scuse me?" He said. He'd heard the guy, he just wanted to mess with him. He could use some entertainment about now.

Charlie laughed nervously. "Yea I know, I don't really get it either really. I mean, the baby actually liking you, well, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself." Sawyer's smirk dropped to a scowl and Charlie looked as if he was ready to run away as fast as possible.

Sawyer sighed. He knew everyone hated him, he just hated hearing it out loud. Maybe Freckles was right. Even the damn rock star was terrified of him. "Yea, so what you want me to do is…" He began, hoping to actually discern what the rock star was actually doing here in the first place.

"Talk to the baby. Maybe, hold him." Charlie chanced. The baby was still upset, but had stopped screaming since they'd been here. Sawyer sat up and tried to figure out this situation. Finally he just scooted over, acting like it had taken all his energy to do so.

"Hand the little brat over." Charlie knelt down next to him and gently laid the newborn into his open arms. For a moment he just sat there looking at it. It was wrinkled and full of skin folds. Its head seemed to weigh more then its entire body. Its cheeks seemed to take up its entire face and it seemed to enjoy sticking its hands in its mouth. And, surprisingly even to Sawyer, it seemed to like to him. "So, uh, what do I do now?" He looked over at Charlie, who seemed to be enjoying the newfound quiet.

"Um, I don't know. Talk to 'im?" He paused. "Or you could sing. He likes rock music." Charlie smiled like a proud father. Sawyer gave him a look that said singing was not an option.

"Uh, hey kid." He said. The little ball of skin looked up at him with big blue eyes. He had to admit, this wasn't so bad. "How's life treatin ya so far?"

Sawyer wasn't sure what he was expecting. Of course the kid didn't answer him.

Lucky for him, the rock star came to the rescue. "Here, try reading him this." Charlie handed him a magazine. It wasn't Sawyers magazine. He knew this because he wouldn't be caught dead reading Guitar Magazine.

"Get that piece of crap away from me." He ordered. Charlie put it down. "There." Sawyer pointed to the book he'd been reading earlier. "That one." Charlie picked it up and looked it over.

"Gone with the Wind?" He paused to consider this. "You wanna read the baby a book about the bloody wind?" The question sounded even more idiotic in his British accent. Sawyer rolled his eyes.

"Just give me the damn book, will ya?" He paused. "And, just, shut up."

Charlie didn't seem to take offense. He was just grateful that the baby had stopped crying.

Sawyer managed to balance the baby against his chest with one hand and support him, while opening the book to a random page with the other hand. He then realized that the words in the book were blurry.

"Dam…" He began but stopped when he noticed the big blue eyes staring up at him. "Hey rock star, wanna get them there contraptions and give 'em to me?" He pointed towards the glasses which were sitting on the ground next to them. Charlie looked around and picked up the glasses with amusement.

"You mean these reading glasses?" He proclaimed loudly. Sawyer shook his head and sighed.

"Yes I mean the reading glasses!" He mocked the young British man. Charlie laughed slightly. Sawyer took the glasses from the young mans hand. "Wanna yell that louder so the rest of the island can hear 'ya?"

Charlie shrugged and smiled his elfish grin. Sawyer didn't notice this, as he was busy trying to hold the kid, the book, and get the glasses on his face. It wasn't working as well as he'd planned. Charlie noticed this.

"Want me to put them on for ya?" He offered. The way the words sounded in his British accent made Sawyer's head hurt.

"Hell no." Charlie had reached out to grab the glasses but Sawyer pulled back. "Touch me and these glasses go through you're eyes, you understand boy?" Charlie pulled back, but still found the whole situation more amusing then anything.

Admitting defeat, Sawyer dropped the book from his hands and let it fall to the ground. He put the glasses on his face and flashed a smart ass grin at Charlie, just to show him what was what. Charlie could barely contain his laughter both because of the grin and because of the new addition to Sawyers' face.

The baby had started to get anxious and was moving around a lot in his arms. He looked at it as if it was an alien child, something he had never seen before. He looked over at Charlie who was just waiting for what he would do next.

"Hey rock star, he ain't gonna start looking for a nipple is he?" He talked lower, as if he was embarrassed by the question. Charlie just shrugged.

"Bloody hell if I know. At least you can keep 'im from crying. That's more then I can do." He paused at the look of utter fear that crossed Sawyers face. "But he's not hungry. Already tried that a half hour ago."

He looked down at the bundle of skin in his arms and watched it smile at him. "Don't even think about kid, got it? I ain't your momma." The baby smiled at him and began to suck on its fingers. Sawyer seemed satisfied that the message had gotten through and reached for the book. He opened it to the first page and began to read.

"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarelton twins were. In her face were too sharply blended the delicate features of her mother…"

As he read, Charlie made himself comfortable, his hands under his chin like a small child would sit. Sawyer didn't notice this, and if he had he would have had the compulsive desire to kick the rock stars ass. Moments flashed through his head as he read, moments of "what the hell am I doing?" and "I can't believe I'm acting like such a pansy". But mostly, he was enjoying the story he was reading and even somewhat enjoying the ball of skin in his arms.

Somewhere, in the middle of the second page, the baby began to fall asleep. Somewhere around the beginning of the third page, Sawyer looked up from the book. Not only was the baby asleep, but making herself at home right next to Charlie was Freckles. He looked at with question, and she smiled back at him. It was the same smile she gave when he did something that she found incredibly cute. He rolled his eyes at the whole situation and she giggled silently.

Suddenly, the baby began to stir in his arms and it whimpered.

"Don't stop." Charlie warned, as if the world would end if the baby let out another cry. Sawyer obliged and continued reading. What the hell? It's not like he had anywhere he had to be.

And Freckles was happy again.

If reading and holding a kid was all it took to see that smile, he could do that.