Well, yeehaw! im back! sorry about the delay, i been a little sick and alot stressed. but im working on the next chappy as we speak so that should be up soon, and i think i might toss in one more before the next new eppy of Lost, so keep your fingers crossed, eh? and thank you for all the wonderful feedback :) you know how i love it., heehee. you guys are great. enjoy!

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Lina had never been so happy to see the dawn as she was right now. The Others had not come for them in thie wee hours of the night. Maybe Charlie was right and Danielle was so far off her rocker she may never rock again. She pitied the woman some, though. Atleast she did now that baby Turnip-head (recently Christened, Aaron) was safe and sound. She had wanted to go along with Charlie and Sayid to get the infant back, but Charlie had all but begged her to stay with Claire, and so she had. That didn't stop her from envisioning all manner of ways she might murder the crazy bitch if she hurt one hair on Aaron's vegetable-like head.

Now, however, it was dawn. Aaron was back with his mommy and psuedo-daddy. And the Others had not come. She was shaky with relief at that. Even with the guns, she didn't hold out much hope for their little band of castaways against the Others. Especially, if Ethan was any indication as to what the rest were like. The creepiest part was, she had kind of liked that guy. Before it turned out he was a raving homicidal maniac and kidnapper. Perhaps the crash had injured her upstairs a little bit, leaving her with an impaired sense of perception when it came to other people. That would explain Sawyer.

She felt her stomach fill with ice at the thought. Walt in the jungle, soaking wet. God, the best case scenario of something like that was that he'd fallen off sometime after dark and the others on the raft had not been able to find him, so the current had washed him up on shore. No wonder the kid was running around alone in the trees! That kind of thing would be enough to traumatize anyone. His father was probably a gibbering mess by now, leaving Sawyer and Jin to try to pilot the boat back to shore. That was the very bext case she could come up with. The worst case…. She couldn't even let herself think about.

She, along with most of the rest of the Beachies were groggily toting their things back to the sand. Now that the threat of the Others had passed, they were eager to get back to their make-shift homes and a sense of normalcy. They'd lost a few to the caves; people who no longer felt safe in the wide open space of the shoreline, where the Others could attack from anywhere, including the infinite ocean spread out before them. While Lina had intended to move to the caves herself, last night had put her off the idea. The idea of spending every night in that confined space made her far too claustrophobic. For the time being anyway. Everything she owned was hanging at her side in a small duffle bag, and her GSP (Girl Scout Pack, as named by Sawyer). She had effectively erradicated her tent the night before, taking the whole thing with her to the caves. She'd had by far the most meager existance of all the Beachies; just a tarp she'd snagged, some branches for a frame, a blanket and some clothes.

She wandered along the sandy shanty town, looking for a clear spot to repitch her tent; far enough away from everyone to be comfortable. She just happened to glance up and see Sawyer's pent house up on the hill. There was someone inside. For a split second her heart caught in her throat, before logic came and stamped it down firmly in place. Through the flapping curtain of blue tarp she could make out a figure, and it was not the tall Southerner. She picked up her pace, making a bee-line for the shack, her chest hot with anger.

She reached the hovel and tore the tarp aside. The man inside turned so fast in his surpise that he actually fell on his ass. He looked up at her.

"Christ, you scared me!" he exclaimed. Her eyes narrowed at the mess she saw. Papers and various flotsam and jetsam spread all over the sandy floor of the shanty.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, her voice quiet and icy. The man stood, brushing his pants off. He was slighty taller than her, but not by more than a couple inches. She continued to glare at him.

"Well, Sawyer's on the raft, so its not like he needs this place anymore. I thought I'd just-"

"Well, I guess you thought wrong, didn't you?"

"Look, there's no need to get all upset over it," he assured her. He held out a hand politely. "I'm Steve."

After a moment's hesitation, she took the hand, making her grip as firm as she could without trying to crush his fingers. That could have seemed a desperate attempt to intimidate him. Subtle is much better; less is more and all that.

"Lina," she said, and released him. He shrugged.

"I didn't know you had planned to move in here. If I had, I wouldn't have… you know," he explained. She nodded silently, her eyes not softening a bit.

"Well, now you know. So, if you'll excuse me…" She stepped to the side, holding the tarp back for him, and gestured grandly for him to pass. He left, but she didn't like the way he glanced back over his shoulder when it seemed she wasn't looking. She entered the shack and took stock of her surroundings. What a mess.

As, she cleaned up the debris that littered the ground, she didn't even try to fool herself as to why she had gotten so annoyed at Steve. This was James' tent. Literally, the only thing he had left behind other than a rather tender spot in her chest, and a dimishing ache between her legs. She was actually starting to miss that slight twinge when she moved. How mauldin she had become. Soon, she would start writing bad poetry to his name. Compare thee to a summer's day, and such nonsense. Thanks a lot, Peaches, she sneered in her head.

Once her new lodgings were in order, Lina decided there was no time like the present to see if Shannon had made up her mind. As she made her way back through the beach villiage, she noticed more eyes than normal following her movement. She tried to catch someone's gaze, but whenever she turned, they would look away. The one pair she managed to hold were Sayid's. She headed for where he stood, paused in dragging his big trunk across the sand towards his lean-to.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" she demanded quietly. He half shrugged, letting his burden drop.

"It would seem that Steve has been informing everyone of your confrontation this morning," he told her. "He has made you out to be quite the villian."

"Are you kidding me? All I did was tell him to get lost!" she insisted. A half-smile tugged at the Iraqi man's lips. His eyes were warm and understanding.

"Truth, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, I'm afraid," he told her, soothingly. "Your friendship with Mr. Sawyer has cast a somewhat ambiguous shadow on your person. As he was distrusted, apparently, so shall you be, because of that association."

"That's bullshit."

That flat statement cause a surprised chuckle to escape him. "Indeed. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do about it at this time. With last night's scare still fresh in everyone's minds, they are not likely to be easily swayed."

"I could shove my fist down Steve's throat," she offered. Again came the quiet chuckle.

"I don't quite see how that would help your situation." His eyebrows came together at his confusion in a rather endearing way.

"Oh, it won't, but it'll damn sure make me feel better to have them distrust me for a reason… like I might break my foot off in one of them at any moment."

This caused a full fledge laugh from the dark man. His eyes still twinkling, he reached out and layed a hand on her arm.

"It will pass," he assured her, and in that lilting accent of his, and the honeyed flow of his voice, she actaully believed it. "Just give them time."

Lina nodded, one side of her mouth turned down reluctantly. She sighed, and shook it off. She had more important things to worry about than the high school politics of one pissy guy.

"Do you know where Shannon is?" she asked. One fine, dark eyebrow lifted slightly in curiosity.

"She is at the caves," Sayid said, bending to pick up the end of his steamer trunk. Lina thanked him, and jogged off into the jungle.