Chapter 10- A Debt Repaid

The first thing Alex felt the next morning was a pain in her left shoulder. Groggily, she closed her eyes and tried to remember the night before. It was slowly coming back to her in bursts of color and light.

The gun. Throwing herself at Ethan, knocking him to the ground. The bullet biting into her shoulder, biting into her skin and burning the surrounding flesh. The terrified look on Sayid's face as he held her. Being carried back to camp.

Alex heard a noise to her right. Her eyes flew open and she turned her head, trying to get a closer look at the approaching figure. It was Sayid. She smiled, happy to see him. Seeing that she was awake, he hurried over to her, kneeling by her side.

"How do you feel? Are you alright?" he asked anxiously, his dark eyes brimming with love.

Alex gazed up at him. "I'm fine, considering I took a bullet in the shoulder, which hurt like hell, if you were interested."

Sayid smiled slightly. "I know. I was shot in the leg when I was a soldier. Are you sure you're okay?"

Alex raised her head and shoulders off the cave floor, resting her weight on her elbows. "Yeah, the only thing is that there are some blank spots in my memory. What happened after we got back to camp?"

Sayid stroked Alex's hand as he spoke. "I carried you back to camp. Jack cleaned your wound more thoroughly. He said the bullet burned some tissue, so he had to use one of Locke's knives to scrape it out. That's when you passed out."

"I passed out?"

"Yeah. After Jack was done putting the bandage on, I laid you here and you slept the rest of the night."

Alex sat up slowly and leaned her head against Sayid's broad shoulder.

He let her rest a moment before asking the question that had been tormenting him all night. "Why did you take the bullet for Ethan?"

Alex inwardly groaned. She knew there was no way to get out of answering. "It's a long story."

"It's a story I would like to hear." He said gently but firmly.

"That's a story everyone would like to hear, actually." Jack's voice rang out from the mouth of the cave. Alex looked over at the group that had come with Jack. Charlie, Claire, Locke, Kate, Sawyer and Michael were all staring at her, waiting for her to begin. She sighed, and started to talk, keeping her eyes on Sayid's hand, which was holding hers.

"When I was with the others, a villain named Will was in charge. After I had been their captive for two years, it was clear that I wasn't going to tell them anything of great importance. Will wanted to kill me for the fun of it. They would do that a lot." She said, her face disgusted "Whenever they got bored of a prisoner castaway, they would put them in a pit with a hungry polar bear and make all the other captives watch. It isn't pretty."

Alex glanced at the faces around her. Claire looked like she was going to be sick and Sawyer was as white as a sheet.

"Please go on." Jack urged.

Alex took a deep breath and continued "Ethan was the one who kidnapped me, so the others saw it as his fault that I didn't know anything. They said he brought back the wrong person. So to save face, Ethan proposed that they spare my life and wait for me to get older."

"What for?" interrupted Michael, looking confused "Why would being older make any difference?"

Alex cast her eyes down, squeezing Sayid's hand for comfort.

"Ethan suggested they keep me for breeding." She spat out the word like it was sour. The caves were dead quiet.

"The other's numbers were dwindling. There were only two women left in the community at the time, and Will was worried that the others would become extinct. That's probably why Ethan so desperately wanted Claire. She had a baby that the others could've raised as their own."

Claire blanched and Charlie put an arm around her.

"Will decided it was a good idea to spare me. So he gave me five years to grow up. I didn't wait around that long. The next year, I saw a chance to escape and took it. It's thanks to Ethan that I'm alive today. He saved my life. I couldn't just stand by and watch him be killed after that. I repaid the debt. He spared my life, I saved his. We're even."

Her story over, Alex rested her head on Sayid's shoulder once more. He draped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. Jack motioned for the castaways to follow him out of the caves, giving the two some privacy.

After the others had left, Sayid planted a warm kiss on Alex's forehead. She sighed and snuggled into his arms.

"Sayid? Do you think I should have let Charlie kill Ethan?"

Sayid cupped a hand under her chin and tilted her head so he could look into her eyes. "No, I think you did the right thing, sparing Ethan's life. I'm proud of you, even though it scared the hell out of me when the bullet hit you!"

Alex giggled and kissed him softly on the lips. "Sorry about that! How can I ever make it up to you?"

Sayid smiled devilishly "I think a kiss ought to do it!" he laughed, and then locked his lips over hers.

When the two broke apart, Alex traced Sayid's lips with her finger. After a few moments, she whispered "Sayid, can I go see Ethan?"

Sayid stood and helped her up. "Of course. Come on, I'll take you to the cave he's tied up in."

Sayid lead Alex out of the cave and into the bright sunlight.

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed my story! I'm currently writing Chapter Eleven, but in the mean time you can read my story "Hand in Hand". Another Sayid fiction, surprise, surprise:)