Chapter 2 – Consent of the Governed

Jack gathered all forty four survivors around a fire when dusk set in. He couldn't implement control if the people didn't agree. A government's power rests with the consent of the governed.

"Alright, I know some of you want to believe rescue is close at hand. And maybe it is. But then again, maybe it isn't. We have to prepare ourselves for that possibility. So, since it has become glaringly obvious to me and, I'm sure to all of you, that our differences are so large that we can't live together peaceably, we need some guidance. I propose we establish a government here, to keep order only." Jack said quickly, judging by the sideways glances and murmurs through the crowd.

"All of you will be involved in the making of this institution, and anything you are remotely uncomfortable with will be thrown out." Sayid added.

There were whispers and murmurs, but no one spoke out their opinion yet. A small voice was heard above the dull roar of an undecided crowd.

"Kate, do you think we should?" Kit asked meekly, and Kate looked up at her in surprise.

"Uh, well, yeah. I do."

"Alright then. I'm in."

"Me too. I studied Government and Politics for three years in high school, so maybe I can help." Cole added.

"Anyone else?" Sayid asked, and murmurs of consent ran through the crowd, and the simultaneous nodding of heads and shrugging of shoulders.

"Perfect. Everyone start thinking of what you'd like to see included. We'll have a meeting tomorrow." Jack stated, and was gone to his own place.

He was lying on his back, staring at the cave ceiling, not really thinking about anything, when he heard footsteps approach him.

"Jack?" Her voice whispered through the dim light of dying campfires.

"Yeah, what is it, Kate?" He sat up as she entered and stood a few feet from him.

"I was thinking about this government thing. Just say, hypothetically that, someone's accused of something. They've made trouble before, but there's no proof of this thing that they're accused of. Would we have authority to investigate?"

"If you're asking if we could search Sawyer's tent for Kit's bag, I don't know yet. We'll find out at our meeting tomorrow."

Kate wouldn't look at him, just nodded and mumbled a goodnight, and turned to leave. Jack watched her leave. Why was she asking after Sawyer? He suddenly felt sick to his stomach and laid his head down. He wanted to sleep to escape the suspicion and jealousy, but his mind kept going back to her. To how bad he wanted to hold her, and the way she looked at Sawyer.

Nearly everyone showed up at the meeting the next morning. They gathered under the plane's wing, where it was an open space with some shade. Jack and Sayid stood up front, guiding the meeting, taking suggestions. Hurley was their unofficial secretary, jotting down the ideas shouted out.

"Right to privacy." Sawyer chimed in as he strolled up to the group. Silence followed as the people watched him approach.

"Good to see you joining us, Sawyer." Sayid greeted, since it was obvious none of the others felt he deserved a salutation.

"Just doing my civic duty." He replied sarcastically, and Hurley looked up from his papers.

"Do…I write that? Right to…right to privacy?" He asked uncertainly, glancing between Jack and Sayid.

"Yeah, it's a good idea." Jack stated, eyes moving from Sawyer finally to Hurley.

It was nearly noon when the meeting came to a close. The people were burnt out on government for one day. Jack told them to think some more and they'd have another meeting tomorrow to discuss anything they missed that day. The crowd then dispersed, going about their lives as they'd grown accustomed to for four months, now.

Kate wandered from the back of the crowd toward the jungle. Jack stopped her by calling her name from behind. She turned to face him.

"You didn't speak up today." He observed.

"Didn't really have any ideas to contribute."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Do you really think if I had an idea that I'd keep it to myself?" She asked with a smirk. He looked to his feet with a smile before returning his eyes to hers.

"No, I guess not." Jack replied, and contented himself in memorizing her expression of playfulness for a moment.

"I'll think more tonight, and I promise you'll hear from me tomorrow." Kate vowed with a grin that left him breathless, and all Jack could do was nod.

She walked into the jungle, following the path she'd memorized. It was a few minutes that she walked before coming to the waterfall. The one she and Sawyer had found. She tried to forget the fact that there were bodies strapped to airline seats beneath the crystal blue water, but it was not an easy task. She found herself sticking mostly to the right side of the pool to take her bath.

The cool water refreshed her as she dunked herself in it. She could almost feel the layers of stress and anxiety wash away with the rest of the dirt. Kate took her time, floating about for nearly an hour after she'd finished cleaning herself.

The sky was flawless and blue above her. She heard her own heart beating. She searched her soul for something. Anything to tell her she was still alive. A hint of anger, excitement, fear, anything. The faces of the other survivors ran through her mind. What did she feel for them? A loose belonging, maybe. Faint respect, brotherhood. There was nothing to keep her there. If there was anywhere to run, Kate would've taken it already, this she knew. It drove her crazy to stay in a place to long in her search for that special something. She had searched this place already, and found nothing at face value. That was all the further Kate could stand to see. Any deeper took more time. Time she didn't have to linger.

The intense fear she'd felt in the beginning had faded. The 'security system' had all but disappeared from the minds of the survivors. It had begun to hurt, being around Jack. Where before there were chills and heats in all the right places, there was now disappointment. She was pretty sure Jack would always think of her as just his friend, and every time she thought she saw a glimmer of goodness in Sawyer, he pissed her off and she stormed away.

There was an enigma if she ever saw one. So callous on the outside, but their game of I Never in the jungle that night revealed things a lot deeper. As much as Kate feared the feeling, she had a connection with Sawyer. There was too much in common to deny it. They understood each other. He knew when he should stop, though he seldom did. He knew the perfect buttons to push to make her angry, which he seemed to enjoy doing. And she was the only one who knew his secret.

Thinking of him always got her stirred up. She couldn't lie around anymore, she had to go somewhere, do something, anything.

As she was climbing out and reaching for her pants, she heard the bushes rustle to her immediate right. She snapped upright, a motion that nearly sent her slipping backward into the water again.

Suddenly, Sawyer emerged from the brush. As if her thoughts of him had drawn him to her. Upon seeing her, the biggest grin covered his face.

"It's about time you took a bath. You were startin to attract flies." He drawled, not even attempting to cover up his blatantly wandering eyes.

"I could say the same about you." Kate fired back, only half annoyed. Her cheeks grew warm as she struggled to pull her wet legs into her jeans.

"Aw, you're done already? Damn, I missed it." Sawyer said as he peeled his shirt from his remarkably toned body. Kate just scoffed and rolled her eyes, concentrating hard on dressing herself so she wouldn't dare steal a glance his way.

"You didn't miss much. You've pretty much got me paranoid enough to bathe with my clothes on."

"Oh Freckles, you think about me!" He pretended to swoon, and Kate laughed.

"Call it suspicion."

"It's more than that." He said in a low voice as she finally buttoned her pants and reached down for her pack. Kate just furrowed her brow at him. "Come on, Freckles, you have to feel it, too. We understand each other. And if we're at all as alike as I think we are, you have to feel it." As he spoke, he stepped toward her. He was looking down at her, but she just watched as his bare chest drew nearer and nearer to her body.

"Feel what?" Kate practically whispered. Sawyer bent down to catch her eyes, then stood again, drawing her gaze with his so she would look up at him.

"This." He replied in a deep whisper as he pulled her body flush against his. Kate gasped quickly and quietly. Sawyer grinned that dimpled grin that she hated herself for loving. His body warmed hers through her wet tank top, and his fingertips ran down the length of her arms, shoulder to wrist and back up again.

Kate was on fire from the inside out. She hadn't been touched like that in so long, she couldn't even remember the last time. Even if she could, she doubted it was as good as this. Looking into his blue eyes, Kate forgot she was on an uncivilized island thousands of miles away from restaurants and hospitals. She forgot she was a fugitive on the run most of her life.

Then, Sawyer abruptly pulled his warm, strong body away from hers and made his way carefully down to the water, dipping his feet in. He made a sound of contentment, a groan that sent shivers through Kate's already warmly sensitive body.

"Sawyer?" She said, almost impulsively. It was an exclamation of confusion. How could he touch her like that and walk away unscathed? He looked back to her.

"Oh, now you feel it." He said, and Kate bit her lip for a moment before nodding. "Well, are you gonna just stand there and watch? Or are you gonna help me wash my back?" Sawyer drawled in a voice she could describe only as sexy. She swallowed hard. This was wrong. On many different levels. He was all wrong for her, they were on an island after a plane crash, and they both suffered irreversibly damaged emotions. But that burning in her body fried her brain for the moment. He touched her, and now all she wanted was for him to touch her again. To feel his hands on her, that fiery sensation and more. She knew he could give her more.

So, she set her pack down, and unbuttoned her jeans. Sawyer waded into the water, and Kate watched his retreating back as she pulled herself out of her pants. She swam out to him and tread water for a moment.

"I've been waiting so long for this." Sawyer said gruffly, and pulled her into his arms. She drew a sharp breath, and Sawyer waited for her to adjust to his touch. Her hands ran up his arms around his neck as she studied his strong shoulders. He was watching her face, the way his body fascinated her. Pleased her. As soon as her eyes came back to his, he leaned in quickly to cover her mouth with his. Kate pressed him harder into her, kissing him as if it would be the last kiss she'd ever receive.

She remembered his taste from their kiss in the jungle. How their lives had changed since then. It seemed like years ago, but was only a matter of a few short months. With Sawyer's arms wrapped tightly around her body, Kate's head was spinning. The feel of his kiss, his tongue was intoxicating. She could pretend she wasn't running. Their plane didn't crash.

The way he smelled, the way he touched her took her away from the worries of the island, and she never wanted to go back. So what if she knew it was all a mistake. So what if she knew it would end in a big mess. Right then she didn't care. All she cared about was that breathless excitement she felt when Sawyer's hands ran down her body.

Sawyer had lain in his bed that night, hands behind his head, staring up at his ceiling with a triumphant grin adorning his chiseled face. Sure it had taken some doing, but he finally did it. He finally got his Freckles to give in to him. She had held onto him as if he'd fall away in the earthquake that rattled only them. He'd seen the raw desire in her eyes, and trembled still at the thought that he'd put it there.

Kate was, well she was different. There wasn't any other word for it. Her face wasn't more beautiful than any he'd seen, nor was her body. But for some reason, he hadn't been able to get her out of his head. Those eyes that held such mystery called to him.

She was his now, he thought with an ever widening grin. She would save her heavy lidded stares of passion for him, all her smirks, grins and smiles for him. All her days would be just for him. And his would be for her.

The feeling stayed with her all day, night and the next morning. That same earth dropping sensation she'd experienced with Sawyer. She avoided the man at all costs, of course, because she knew how incredibly awkward it would be to see him after that. But if she closed her eyes, she could see his blue eyes watching her, and feel his lips on her neck, his hands on her back. She didn't realize she was smiling until Jack interrupted her thoughts.

"What's put you in such a good mood?" He asked with a smile. If he only knew. The good feeling Kate had was suddenly gone. It was replaced by…what was that? Guilt?

"Oh, nothing in particular." She remarked.

"Well, people are gathering. Looks like the meeting's about to start." He nodded toward the plane, and Kate glanced over his shoulder to see people had indeed begun to mill about the wing of the plane. They walked next to each other into the meeting, Jack touching her arm and giving her a smile as he left her with the crowd to stand on a small piece of debris so everyone could hear him. The unnerving feeling of being watched made Kate look around her, and find Sawyer's even stare on her. She quickly looked away, and fought the urge to glance over at him again, if only to confirm what she thought she saw in his eyes. No, it couldn't be, she reassured herself. Sawyer wouldn't be jealous of Jack, would he? He had no reason to be, Jack had never felt that way for her. And she and Sawyer had already made it very clear the way they felt toward each other.

The Second Constitutional Convention, as Hurley had so dubbed it, turned out a few more imperative ideas for the outlining of their government. But they had hit most of the big ideas the first day, so Jack and Sayid dismissed the citizens after only a few hours of brainstorming.

Jack took a gentle hold of her elbow from behind, and Kate fought her first instinct to jerk away from him.

"You didn't speak up again." He chastised good naturedly. Kate smiled sheepishly.

"I've been…busy." Jack just gave her a curious smile and called Cole, Sayid and Michael over to him before they could disperse.

"You four aren't done yet." He said cryptically. They stood near the trees away from camp. "Tomorrow we'll start writing. We'll take Hurley's notes and meet in the caves around noon. It probably won't take all that long, we can just incorporate some things into the original Constitution and name it ours."

"I don't think this is going to be as easy as you think it is." Cole said skeptically.

"Why not?" Michael asked.

"Well, the original Constitution was created in 1781 by a group of white Christian males. It wasn't ratified until eight years later." Michael just raised his eyebrows, wondering where this kid's point was going to come in. "The people living here are of such different backgrounds and ideals that it'll be nearly impossible to create a government they all agree on in the time frame necessary."

"I don't know, most of these people are just as desperate to get some sort of structure and rules to their lives. They're afraid of each other. Maybe they'll be pretty open minded just to get some rules over the community quickly." Kate suggested.

Cole opened his mouth to argue, but Jack's voice was heard instead. "We'll just have to see once we get their opinions on the first draft." With that, the matter was closed. The representatives of the community walked away. Kate didn't see it, but as she strode off to her shelter, Jack stopped his walk toward the direction of the caves to throw a glance back over his shoulder at her. He sighed wearily and continued through the jungle.

There, just enough drama to get you hooked so I can leave for a week. Sorry, but it has to be done. Maybe, if you're all good, I'll squeeze in another chapter before Sunday. If I can't seem to, however, you'll have to wait until next Friday. This hit counter's a neat little thing, isn't it? See, now I know I got 80 hits on the first chapter alone. So I know there's more people reading and not reviewing. Which just irks me more. My story's not worth a review? I'm going to develop an inferiority complex. My self esteem is fragile as it is.

Eclypse – hope this provides you with enough distraction from a rambunctious 5 year old.

Hekate Trivia and elvenladygreenleaf4ever – thanks for reviewing. Good to have a new comer to my stories (to the former) and glad to hear from you again (to the latter)

I remain ever yours,
-Austin B.