Chapter Seven- Return of a Nightmare
The next day dawned bright and clear at the new camp. Everyone was involved in their own activity. Jack was helping Walt get a splinter out of Vincent's paw. Charlie was fussing over Claire and her new daughter, Hope, and Boone was helping Locke clean and sharpen some of his 400 knives.
After Jack successfully removed the small sliver of bamboo from the dog's paw, he made his way over to where Locke was sitting.
"Hey John, have you seen Kate today?"
Locke looked up from the knife he was buffing and studied Jack. "Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I did see Kate earlier. She mentioned going with Sawyer to gather bananas for the camp. Does that help?" he asked, squinting up at the doctor.
Jack was having trouble hiding his disbelief. "Sawyer? Sawyer is out doing something productive?"
Locke smiled and nodded. "Yeah, he is. He overheard Kate talking to me and asked if she needed a hand."
Locke stood and slipped the knife he was holding into his belt. "Come Boone. We need to go and follow those boar tracks by the stream." Locke waved good-bye to Jack as he tramped off into the woods, Boone tagging along behind him.
Jack watched them go, wondering when Kate would be back.
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Kate shimmied up yet another tree, harvesting the fruit and tossing in down to Sawyer, who caught it and put it in a duffel bag. When the tree was picked clean, Kate dropped back to the ground. Sawyer grinned at her.
"We got enough yet, Freckles?"
Kate pushed a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, we can head back now."
The two walked together, not saying anything at first. Kate was the first to break the silence.
"Sawyer, can I ask you a question?"
"Well, I reckon you already did, but feel free to ask away."
"Why did you come with us to the caves yesterday? No one asked you to, you volunteered. Why?"
Sawyer sighed. "That's probably because I like you. A lot."
Kate stopped walking and stared at Sawyer. She hadn't expected an answer like that. Sawyer stopped too, and turned around to look at Kate.
"You coming?"
Kate said nothing, just continued down the path with Sawyer trailing behind her.
-
Sayid and Alex reached the camp around noon, causing a flurry of excitement. Charlie immediately went up and shook her hand, offering to introduce her to everyone, and offer she accepted. While Charlie took Alex to meet Hurley and Walt, Sayid pulled Jack aside and explained about Danielle's death. Jack sighed and looked over at Alex, who was holding Hope in her arms, cooing to her about how beautiful she was, while Claire happily looked on.
"How did she take it? Did she seem okay this morning?" Jack asked, looking back at Sayid.
"She cried at first, then she calmed down and slept most of the night." Sayid replied, his gaze wandering over to the object of his affection, whose head was thrown back in laughter at a joke Hurley just made.
"Any nightmares?" inquired the doctor, who still looked concerned.
Sayid was silent, remembering the night before, how Alex woke up screaming in his arms, shaking and crying, babbling to him about how her mother had come back and told her she hadn't killed herself, and that it was her fault her mother was dead. Sayid had comforted her through the night.
"Sayid? Did she have any nightmares?" Jacked asked again, louder this time.
"What? Oh, yes, she did have one." He answered, not taking his eyes off Alex.
"Well, that's to be expected." The doctor said, satisfied by the reply. "Can you ask her if she's okay for me? We need to make sure she isn't showing any self-destructive behavior. Finding your mother hanging from the ceiling can do things to people."
Sayid looked over at Alex again, who was now telling Hurley her own joke. "I don't know Jack. She doesn't look very self-destructive at the moment. She actually looks very happy."
"Just ask her, okay? Some people are very good at hiding what they are feeling inside." Jack turned and walked away, leaving Sayid standing alone.
Sayid made his way over to Alex. He caught her eye and smiled at her. She smiled back. After saying good bye to her new friends, Alex went over to Sayid, who held out his arm. She beamed at him, and slipped her arm through his. The two started walking down the beach, the sands running between Alex's bare toes.
She sighed, then spoke to Sayid. "I can see why you like it here. It's very…homey. Everyone seems to be really friendly."
Sayid laughed "That's because you haven't been around them for a month! We've all had our moments of disagreement."
Alex giggled, "I can't imagine that!"
"Keep in mind that you haven't really met Sawyer yet. Where is he, by the way?"
As is on queue, Kate and Sawyer came out of the jungle, Sawyer grinning and Kate looking completely annoyed.
"What's wrong?" asked Sayid as Kate drew nearer.
"Sawyer's just being Sawyer, as usual." Kate said, rolling her eyes.
Sayid looked like he was going to say something, when suddenly Charlie came running full-speed out of the trees. Spotting the small group, he dashed over to them, panting heavily.
"Guys, he's back! Ethan's back!" Charlie gasped out.
Kate took in a sharp breath, Sayid's face darkened and Alex's eyes grew wide with terror.
Questions left unanswered: How does Alex know about Ethan? Does Kate like Sawyer back?
Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long to type! I have chapters 8-10 written, but I still need to type them. I'm not even done with the story yet! I'm not sure how much longer it will go on, at least 4 more chapters, I would say! I'm writing my fingers off, I hope I can post chapter 8 tommorow!