"Okay...," Kate began. "So...uh, what is it?" She smiled slyly and said, " You said you were going to say it. Now shoot."

"Okay...," Jack said uncertainly, looking around. He heard a grunt come from behind him. Startled, he spun around quickly, almost falling to the ground.

"Can't ya just say the damn three words- !" Sawyer began.

"Sawyer!" Jack and Kate cried. Kate was angry, her arms crossed, and Jack looked shocked, his eyebrows raised.

"Well, it ain't the Easter Bunny, if that's what you're at," Sawyer grumbled, rolling his eyes. "Jeez, you know, I'm growing really impatient here, so why don't I just, ya know, butt in this little conversation here and say what you two are trying to dare each other to say? Huh? Does that sound fair or not?"

"Sawyer-" Jack began.

"No lectures, Doc," Sawyer said, frowning. He smiled slyly and said aloud to no one in particular, "This is a little treat for me, huh? Alrighty then, and it's confession-time for you two." He pointed to Kate and Jack.

"What are you talking about?" Kate asked, sighing.

"You," Sawyer said, pointing at Jack, "have the hots for her." He pointed at Kate, then looked back at Jack and said, "Don'tcha?" Jack stared at Sawyer, his emotion unreadable. He looked down, frowned, and kicked a rock, speechless. Sawyer's face brightened into a grin.

"HA!" Sawyer cried. He laughed out loud, bending back a little with a hand on his stomach. Kate's eyes widened, realizing what had just happened. Then Sawyer turned to Kate, pointed at her, and said between laughter, "Y-You...s-same t-thing...!"

"WHAT? W-W-Wha...?" she began, her eyebrows raised.

"This is GREAT!" Sawyer said, laughing harder. Then finally, he began to calm down, his face still red from laughing. He shook his head, chuckling, as he looked down. "No, well... Yeah, it pretty much is."

"Were you going to tell me that?" Kate asked Jack, still shocked.

"C'mon, you knew all this time, Freckles," Sawyer said, chuckling. "Why are ya acting so surprised?"

"Really?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows.

"And you knew all along, too!" Sawyer said.

"What?" Kate asked, sighing exasperatedly.

"God, just shut up!" Sawyer cried. "You two can annoy someone without even realizing it! What's the point of lying? Ask Hurley, o-or Charlie, or even the goddamn baby and they'll all say that you two really had a 'thing' going on!" Then he gestured for them to go back to the beach as he said, "C'mon...!"

"Why, for what?" Kate asked, sighing.

"Because I want to prove something to you, and if I don't, I can assure you that I'll be going nuts in the next twenty-four hours," Sawyer said, scoffing.

"Fine," Jack muttered under his breath. "But when we get rescued, I'm signing for a restraining order, ya hear?"

"Ha, you wish..." Sawyer smiled slyly.

-----------------------------

"Hey, Charlie!" Sawyer cried, as they made their way out of the trees. Kate sighed, rolling her eyes. This is ridiculous, she thought. What if Sawyer is just joking? She looked over at Jack, then he glanced at her, then quickly looked away. Then she thought uncertainly, Well, maybe not...

"What's up, mates?" Charlie said, grinning.

"I just wanted to ask you a little question...," Sawyer started to say. Charlie raised an eyebrow and looked uncertainly at him, then at Jack and Kate. He shrugged.

"Okay, what is it?" Charlie asked, grinning lop-sidedly. Jack tugged on Kate's sleeve, and stepped back a bit. She nodded, and stepped back as well unnoticedly. Sawyer seemed to be in a deep chat with Charlie, and Jack smiled. He glanced at the trees behind them and Kate nodded again, and they both ran and made their way as deep into it as they could.

"I'm glad I'm away from him," Jack muttered under his breath. He bent down to tie his shoelace.

"Yeah," Kate said, bending down to tie her shoelace as well, "I think my head would've exploded if I were there any longer." As Jack looked down, still tying his shoelace, Kate looked at him with wondering eyes. He looked up, as if noticing, and raised an eyebrow.

"What...?" he said slowly, confused.

"Oh...no, it's...nothing," Kate said awkwardly, standing up. Jack looked at her shoes and noticed that she hadn't even tied them yet. He looked up at her and stood up, concerned.

"You know what," Kate began, "I'm gonna go check out the garden with Sun." She saw the disappointment on Jack's face and asked, "That's okay, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Jack said. "W-Wha... Why wouldn't it be?"

"Okay, thanks," Kate said, smiling. She turned around and hurriedly made her way. Jack frowned. Had she just asked for his permission? So many questions bombarded into his head. What was Kate avoiding?

What was going on between them two?

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Author's Note: Heh, I think this story will be longer than I expected... I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far!