Lost belongs to JJ Abrams and crew. I'm just borrowing for some non-profit fun. After Sawyer and the others return to the island, he finds Kate has finally chosen Jack. Post Exodus II. (The events that lead up to previously posted stories –Incarceration, Interim, Ineffable) Enjoy!

Lost – Infected

By Mystic

July 2005

The jungle was always quieter the morning after a fight on the beach. Seemed like people slept in late, or just kept to themselves. Even the birds in the trees didn't whistle and screech like they normally did. Sawyer liked it that way. Didn't even care that Jack was probably lying dead over a tree stump; Kate sleeping next to the good doctor gripping a bloody knife. Smirking, Sawyer leaned against a tree with his free hand and unzipped himself with the other. He always enjoyed a good fight. Didn't even know what it was about. Locke had gone and disappeared again, maybe it was about that.

All he knew was he walked into a clearing and Kate was decking Jack. Decking him good too, Sawyer thought to himself. The people who had stopped what they were doing to watch the screaming match were suddenly turning away, moving out of the area to let them fight. They'd been going at it for days. Sawyer loved to watch the red creep into her face when Jack got near her. He thought if he watched long enough, he'd see steam shooting from her ears. He even teased her about him.

Sawyer wondered momentarily if Jack had hit her back. He glanced back over his shoulder, towards where the beach would be if he walked long enough, and made a mental note to take a good look the next time he saw her. It would mean not joking, not pressing, not annoying. Sawyer sighed, knowing that'd be hard. The girl was just too easy to frustrate. That was just the first thing in a long list of things Sawyer found intriguing about Kate.

He'd given up hope of having her, at least the rational side of his mind had. She'd clearly chosen Jack. Sawyer knew from the day he returned on what was left of the raft and watched her leave the tent when Jack asked her to. Kate visited him once during his long recovery, only to bring him food. Sawyer had shouted at her to go and she'd never come back. Now they had fallen back into their banter, occasionally running into one another on the beach of in the jungle.

She'd moved to the caves.

Sawyer found that the most shocking of everything else that had happened when he returned. Not even the hatch or the kidnapping of Aaron, or the Black Rock made him sit down. He returned to camp and went to bother her at her shelter and found it gone. The sand was smooth and the grass had grown over the log she used as a chair. He remembered the way he'd stomped through the jungle, ignoring Hurley and Sayid as he went with a wave of his arm.

And there she was, up a tree, adjusting the height on a tarp she'd tied up just outside of the caves. Jack was standing below her, telling her it was a good idea – most people slept just outside of the cave anyways. So she made a porch for the mansions, Sawyer had joked. He remembered the way Jack smiled and she rolled her eyes. Sawyer felt burned inside. He'd given her a nod of his head and gone back to the beach. He liked the beach more anyway.

A low moan made him lift his head. Shaking himself off and zipping up his pants, he crept through the jungle towards it, hearing a second. His eyebrows creased together in recognition and he peered through a wall of palm fronds, seeing Jack lying atop Kate. They were on what looked like a bed of bright green moss and he wanted to break through the curtain of foliage and tease them about being downright unsanitary, but his body froze, seeing Jack thrust into her with one smooth motion. She opened her mouth, but only let out a long breath as he lowered his head onto her shoulder, continuing to move between her thighs.

Sawyer swallowed hard, feeling his pants tighten the longer he stood there. He watched Kate wrap one long leg around Jack's back side and then saw her pull his head up, kissing him gently, his body shuddering, his knee slipping momentarily. Jack smiled and raised his head, giving it a small shake and she giggled. Kate giggled, Sawyer thought, his eyes widening and then slamming shut when Jack pressed himself deep into her, making her cry out loudly.

Turning away, Sawyer inhaled until his lungs hurt, hearing their breathing getting harder behind him. Kate said Jack's name on a loud whisper and the man grunted a response and Sawyer began to run. He wasn't quite sure where he was going, but he kept pumping his legs until they fumbled under him and he found himself falling. Sawyer slammed face first into the muddy ground and groaned in pain. His left knee stung and he flipped himself over, catching his breath as he found the energy to lift into a sitting position.

"Now that's gotta be one of the best falls I've ever seen," Locke told him with a smile, a half eaten fruit gripped in his palm. Locke held out a hand and Sawyer took it, letting the man lift him off the ground and towards a fallen tree where he sat and looked at the torn hole in his jeans. Blood was just beginning to leak out of the wound and he hissed when he touched it. "Mind if I ask what you were running from?" Locke looked back in the direction Sawyer had come and then looked at Sawyer.

Sawyer raised his head slightly, watching the older man munch away on what smelled like an orange and he shook his head, touching his knee again. "Nothing."

"Looked like more than nothing to me," Locke commented.

"Nothing you'd understand, then, old man." Sawyer stood and tested his leg. It hurt, but he'd be fine.

"You ran into Jack and Kate." Sawyer's head whipped up and he saw the other man staring at him, an amused smile on his face. Locke laughed and waved a hand at him. "They've been going at it all night." Locke shrugged. "Not safe if you ask me. She's going to end up with a young one on this island in less than a year, I'd bet on it."

Sawyer limped several steps away from Locke, his lips pressed together tightly. "Great."

Locke turned. "You need help getting back to the beach?"

"Nah," Sawyer mumbled. "I'll be just fine by myself."

"Alright," Locke responded. Within a minute, Sawyer turned and saw no trace of the old man, not even the tangy scent of orange.

The beach was still quiet when he returned. He kicked the edge of his new shelter. It was half the shelter his previous one had been. If he raised his head, he could see Michael's shelter. The man's beard had grown long and he spent his days in the jungle with Sayid and Jin looking for Walt. Sawyer promised he'd be out there with them as soon as his arm healed. It'd been months since the raft floated back towards the island, a charred mess of bamboo and coconut shells.

Sawyer wasn't even sure how they survived the return. He'd been bleeding into the water for days. He was sure, with every unknown bump on his legs, that he'd be eaten by sharks. Jin would throw his body farther up on the remains of the raft and nod his head as he and Michael kicked their legs until exhaustion. Sawyer was half unconscious when they hit land. He remembered they made him a stretcher and he remembered they put him on it and they walked for a few more days. Jin would shove squishy stuff into his mouth and he'd eat it out of hunger.

His stomach turned and he pulled hard on the string that kept the front flap of the shelter rolled up. The blue material rolled down with a rough flapping and a thump at the sand below. Tossing himself onto the bed of airline seat cushions, Sawyer saw his penis was still inflamed in his pants, despite the long walk and the disruption by Locke. He rubbed himself through his jeans and tried to imagine her, but now Jack was in the way and it occurred to him that he'd now seen Jack completely naked. His erection instantly went limp and Sawyer threw himself back, his head hitting the cushions hard, and he closed his eyes.