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

He wasn't paying attention when he went into the jungle. Sawyer was getting bored on the island, and restless. He flirted with the other girls now. Maylin, Shannon, Rhonda, even the old woman, Rose – who still hadn't given up hope on her husband. He took care of all of them because he didn't know what to do with the one he felt responsible for. Sawyer hated himself for not being able to just forget her.

Just yesterday he walked into the caves to find Jack with his hand between her legs. He'd jumped and given a shout of surprise and the duo looked up at him. Kate sighed, unashamed and Jack explained he was giving her an exam. Sawyer just rolled his neck and walked away. Exam my ass, he'd thought to himself, remembering the beads of sweat rolling down both their faces.

Sawyer pulled a fruit off a tree and jammed it into his backpack. He took a long breath and removed his shirt, walking towards where he knew a nice little pond of water would be. The kid had been moved to the beach, he knew, where Michael talked to him all day and hoped for the best. He wasn't talking. Sawyer got the urge to smack him sometimes, the way he just stared at people now. It was almost like his brain was trying to make some connection – to remember how life was supposed to be, who these people were, what they were doing. Walt had said one word since he'd returned.

"Locke."

It made Michael stand up and punch a tree hard enough to break the skin on his knuckles. He'd become convinced the man had hurt his boy, or was involved with those who did something to his boy. Sawyer didn't look on Walt as a boy anymore. He'd grown a foot taller and on his chin were a few long hairs Jack trimmed.

"Sawyer?"

His head whipped around just before he undid his pants to enter the water and he saw her sitting on the wet sand, leaned against a rock. She smiled up at him and rubbed her head with the back of her hand. "Freckles?" He questioned.

"Got this far, needed to rest," she told him. She hated admitting she was tired, or in pain, or anything a normal pregnant woman would feel. Kate motioned towards her bag, several feet from her. "Could you get me my water, please?"

Sawyer jumped towards her, pulling his shirt back over his head and getting her pack. He eyed it curiously as he took the two steps towards her. "How'd this get over here?"

"I threw it," she told him with a shrug of her shoulder.

"Why?"

"I fell," she said simply, showing off the scrape to her knee. Sawyer watched her a moment, watched the way she fidgeted with the shirt. Something wasn't right here, he knew.

He knelt in front of her, took her water bottle and poured a small amount on the cut, handing her the bottle. She drank freely as he went through her bag, finding the small rag she kept and blotted the blood off her knee with it. He looked at her. Her face had rounded just a small bit and her eyes looked tired. Sawyer touched her forehead, feeling it burning under his fingers and he frowned.

"Why'd you fall?" He questioned suspiciously.

She squinted her eyes and pouted her lips. "I think…" she started, but shook her head.

"Kate?" Sawyer asked. "Don't lie to me. Not about this."

"I had a contraction," she told him on a short breath, looking away from him.

"When?" He demanded.

"About ten minutes ago?" She guessed, shrugging and swallowing more water.

"I should get you to Jack then," Sawyer told her, the other man's name sour on his lips. He felt her hand on his wrist and he looked back. "What?"

"Get Jack to me." Then she added, "I can't move."

"Why not?"

"I'm…" she trailed, "pain, I'm in pain." He watched the expression race across her face and saw just how quickly she hid it back underneath the surface. Terror.

Sawyer nodded his head slowly, but the shook it. "I can't leave you here by yourself."

"I'll stay with her," Locke told him, staring down at him from just behind her. "I've been watching her for a good long while now."

Sawyer stood, his heart leaping into his throat. "You need to get the hell away from her."

The other man touched the top of her head gently, almost caressing her dark waves and he grinned. "Don't worry, Sawyer. I'm fine."

"You're infected." He looked down at Kate. "You lied, he threw your bag." He held out his hand. "Get up and come with me."

Her eyes watered. "Sawyer, I'm having a baby. I'm not lying. I can't move." The desperation in her voice scared him and he pawed at the back of his pants for the hunting knife he usually had there. But it was gone. He'd lent it to Shannon that morning. Sawyer flared his nose and watched Kate pull her head out of Locke's hand. "Get Jack," she ordered.

"I'm not leaving you."

Locke's head jerked up suddenly and he looked into the woods. Sawyer debated whether or not he should tackle the man. Locke wasn't stupid, he was probably armed. He saw something move in the jungle and he took his attention off the man, towards the young man standing between two trees.

Walt didn't say anything; he just stared at Locke, whose hand dropped to his side. Locke began walking away from Kate and Sawyer jumped towards her, pulling her off the ground, ignoring her shouts. Walt shot off like lighting into the jungle and Locke took off after him. Sawyer put Kate's arm around his head and he forced her to run with him, but her legs faltered and she grabbed hold of his hair, making him slide to a stop and fall to the ground with her.

Kate bit down a scream and held her stomach, rolling onto her side, taking him down with her. Sawyer grimaced against the pain at the base of his neck. He wanted to smack her, but he knew it wasn't her fault. He promised her if he had to be there, he would be there and he'd let her hurt him if it made her feel better. That he remembered clear as day.

Her breathing slowed and her fingers relaxed and Sawyer sat up, pulling her into a sitting position against his chest. He put his hands next to hers on her belly. In eight months he hadn't laid a finger on her, he'd been scared to. Sawyer shook his head and looked up at the sky through the trees. He was so good at coming up with plans and now his brain was blank.

"We have to get moving," he whispered in her ear.

Kate leaned her head back against his shoulder, exhausted. Her eyes were still closed and she was taking small breaths through her nose. She shook her head. "I can't move."

"Moved just fine a minute ago," Sawyer told her angrily.

She sniffled and swallowed and tried to stand, but her legs shook and she fell to her knees, crying out. Kate shook her head and he stood, trying to get her up, looking around at the jungle. He couldn't see Walt or Locke and he didn't know which one to be more afraid of. He bent over and put an arm around her, heaving her off the ground. Kate grabbed hold of his shirt with her free hand and moved one leg in front of the other, shouting with each step.

"What's wrong?" Sawyer shouted.

"I don't know!" Kate shouted back.

It echoed in the silence. And then the howl erupted from somewhere close by and Sawyer felt his heart leap into his throat. "Oh, great," he muttered, dragging her. He could hear stomping as she pointed towards a large grouping of trees. Sawyer took her, feeling her fingers claw into him, trying to hold on. He saw her feet tripping over everything in their path and he reached down quickly, scooping her up and carrying her the distance.

They fell just inside the trees and Sawyer put himself over her, shielding her from anything that might attack them. It howled again, stomping away and he peeked up, seeing something large rampaging through the jungle. He could only hope it was going for Walt and Locke. Sawyer looked down at Kate and could see she was crying, her face contorted in a pain he couldn't understand. He tried to sit her up and she screamed.

"What's wrong!" He asked her again, more desperately.

Kate took his hand in response and pressed firmly, taking a few long breaths. "I lied."

"What'd you lie about?"

He watched the way she took labored breaths. "Two minutes. Maybe one minute. It wasn't ten. I was on my way to Jack. Locke found me. I tried to run. He was trying to catch me. I had a contraction. I fell. He kicked my bag away. He disappeared. Heard you coming. Didn't know if you were alone. With Jack." She paused to take a long breath. "You could. Kill him. I think."

She was breathing hard now. Sawyer felt her fingers constrict on his hand and he touched her head, smoothed away the curls that clung to her skin. "Hold on, Freckles," he told her. Then she gave a small jerk of surprise and tried to sit up. "What the hell's that?" Sawyer asked.

"My water broke."

"That ain't water, Kate," he cried. He touched her inner thigh and showed her the bloody liquid, watching her nod.

"Amniotic fluid. Not water. Some bloo…" she tried to sit up again.

Sawyer nodded slowly, realizing there was no way he could get her to Jack before the baby came. "I don't need a lesson in bodily fluids; just tell me what to do."

Sick of seeing her struggle, Sawyer put his hands under Kate's arms and pulled her up against the closest tree. She stared at him with sleepy eyes. "I push; you catch."

He laughed. "That all there is to it?"

Kate smiled weakly. "Clean her, him – when it comes out. Make sure the baby can breathe," she warned him, spreading her legs and planting her feet on the ground close to his knees.

He started to ask her another question, but she pressed her lips tight together and closed her eyes and Sawyer's eyes widened as he looked under the shirt, between her thighs. He moved closer, putting his hands on her ankles. She blew her air out in a laugh.

"Sawyer, I'm not doing sit-ups."

"Where you want my hands?" He shouted at her.

Kate shook her head and huffed a few short breaths before going into another push. Sawyer counted, because it's all he knew to do at the moment. He counted to ten and told her to stop pushing because her head was turning a bright shade of reddish purple that was frightening him.

"How long you gonna push?" He asked after the third.

Kate breathed a laugh. "Sawyer, it has to come out."

"It," he repeated. "You ain't got names picked out?"

"One." She held her breath and pushed again.

"Awe, shit," Sawyer let slip, seeing the beginnings of a head. She pushed harder and stopped, picking up her feet and slamming them roughly into Sawyer's shoulders. He jerked back, but pushed against the pressure she was putting there.

He watched the way she grimaced against the pain and then he looked down, quickly bringing his hands to her privates as a set of small shoulders escaped, followed quickly by two small arms, a round little belly and two skinny legs. "I think you got yourself a girl," he told her, cleaning the child's mouth and nostrils. "Kate?"

She calmed, letting her feet slide so her legs hung against Sawyer's back. He cradled the squirming infant against his chest as she wailed, pumping her legs and arms at him. Opening her eyes, Kate shook her head when he tried to hand her the child. "Get Jack," she told him.

"I ain't leaving you behind!" He pressed the baby onto her, forcing Kate to take her, and removed his shirt, wrapping the child up in it. Sawyer glanced around, and then listened. There weren't any howls or gunshots or any signs of Locke and Walt. He stood and picked Kate up in his arms, watching her instinctively clutch the baby closer to her as he ran through the jungle towards the caves.

He ran straight into Jack who stared, wide eyed, at the woman holding the baby in Sawyer's arms. Jack opened his mouth, but nothing came out as he ushered Sawyer towards a bed of airline seat cushions. Sawyer stood just behind Jack as he took the baby girl and examined her, separating her from her mother. Jack stood, gently handing the girl to Sawyer. He gave Sawyer a nod and Sawyer backed away a few steps, holding the little girl firmly against his chest. She was sucking her own thumb now, her eyes closed.

Jack pulled Hurley's shirt off Kate and began examining her, pressing onto her stomach and ignoring her when she moaned at him to stop. Sawyer touched the man's shoulder, "What are you…"

"Sawyer, take her outside a minute, please?" He motioned towards the infant.

Nodding, Sawyer went out of the caves and was met with a few of the inhabitants. Claire smiled and coddled the baby, with Charlie grinning at her side. Aaron babbled underneath them, his arms outstretched, wanting to be picked up to see the baby. Shannon came slowly, her eyes hollow, looking defeated and she touched the little girl's head, feeling the soft dark brown hair there and she grinned. It was the first time in months Sawyer could remember Shannon smiling. He glanced back into the caves, seeing Jack emerge.

"She alright, Jack?" He asked the man, turning.

Jack's mouth broke into a large grin. "She's fine, she just needs some rest." He looked at the child in Sawyer's arms. "A girl," he laughed. "She thought it was a girl."

Sawyer nodded slowly, letting Jack take his daughter and go back into the caves. "What's her name?" Sawyer asked.

Jack turned and smirked, looking down at his baby. "Maggie."