So, she kept away. She told herself he suffered more for it than she did, but then he was all about suffering wasn't he? He was the biggest masochist she'd ever seen. Not only that, he was borderline suicidal as well. The raft. The idea filled her with hope, just as it did the others, but she worried about the people on board.

She worried about Walt a lot, he was just a boy, and had already been through so much. Even if they…when they found a ship, it would be a harrowing experience for the kid. Hadn't he had enough of those? She wanted to tell Michael, that if he left Walt behind, she would take care of him, but she knew he would refuse. She understood why, and respected it. Which is why she didn't ask, but that didn't make her feel any better about the situation. She worried about Jin, for Sun.

She worried about Sawyer, because she did it often anyway, and he didn't even know how to sail! The man was so determined to put himself in harm's way, he might just jump off the boat to catch a shark or something.

Lina did a lot of worrying. She worried about Locke. She didn't think the Others had burned the raft. She wasn't sure who did, but she felt that he was hiding something. He was always hiding something. From the first day on the island she'd known he was hiding something. What he was hiding, that was still a mystery to her.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Hurely ran off into the jungle after the crazy French woman who tortured Sayid. She'd wanted to go along to find him, but Charlie asked her to stay and keep an eye on Claire. Of course, then Claire had gone off with Locke, and she'd ended up alone, sitting in the sand, burying her feet and worrying.

Everyone returned home, safe and sound. She'd listened to Hurley's story about his 157 million dollars, and the hexed numbers that landed him on the island.

"Wow… that sucks," was all she could come up with. He nodded.

"Yup."

"I would have bought my mom a house, too."

"Yeah, I think most people decide to buy their mom a house."

"Moms need houses."

The absurdity of the statement struck them both, and it was a good while before they'd regained their composer. She felt better after that talk with Hurley, somehow.

---

"Better, or worse?"

An annoyed sigh. "Worse."

"We've been through all of them twice, Sawyer, I guess you're just going to have to read less," Jack said, defeated. Sawyer pulled the glasses, which looked like something that had once belonged to an 80 year old grandma, and tossed them in the box.

"Gee, thanks, Doc. Sure saved me a lot of trouble."

"Sawyer," Kate began, in a motherly tone. Both men looked at her with exasperated expressions, and she didn't finish the statement.

On the other side of the cave, Walt was attempting to teach Lina to play backgammon. It wasn't successful thus far. She watched as Sawyer reached into the box of glasses and pulled out another pair. Giant, black, and cartoony, Lina couldn't help but laugh.

"I like those," she told Walt, who looked over, and laughed, too.

"Better or worse?" Jack asked again.

"Jeezus, man! At this point I'm having trouble remembering," Sawyer exclaimed.

"Why can't he see with any of them?" Walt asked. Lina shrugged.

"He probably can, but only with one eye. See, one eye can be weaker than the other, so you need lenses with different prescriptions. If not, the bad eye, makes the good eye seem blurry, too."

"So, why doesn't Jack check his eyes one at a time?"

Lina winked conspiratorially. "Because, sometimes people don't see what's right in front of them… Like Sawyer."

Walt giggled. "Why don't you go ask him?" she nudged.

"Grown-ups get mad when I ask a lot of questions," the boy replied. Lina smiled, reassuringly.

"Trust me, they won't get mad this time. Go on."

So, the boy hopped up, and jogged over to the group of adults. When he asked, Jack chuckled in a self-depreciating manner, patting the boy on the shoulder. Kate beamed at him, and asked how he'd gotten so smart. Sawyer, on the other hand, looked over at Lina. His expression was a mixture of question and accusation. It only lasted a moment, lest he draw the attention of the others. Lina felt a bit of loss when he looked away. Like she'd forgotten that she missed his eyes until that moment reminded her.

Eh, that was fluffy nonsense. She shook it off, almost fully successfully. When Jack charged Walt with the task of taking the two pairs of glasses that were needed to make Sawyer's one pair to Sayid on the beach, she followed him out of the cave. The boy was thrilled. Ah, to be ten, and so easily boosted. If he had been fifteen, he would have been annoyed at the idea that he had to do some work, even if it was only walking from point A to point B.