Chapter 12: Memories, Making out, and of course I Never

He missed her. He hated to admit it, but he missed her. That's why he kept reminding himself she didn't want him, that she had the has been already. But it didn't work. He thought about her a lot; he couldn't forget her. He was always thinking about her, about her eyes, her smile, the way they kissed… Always about her, always!

So when a boar was in his tent at night, it finally caused him a good distraction. He had to chase that boar, he thought. It would keep him away from her, from camp for a while. It would give him some time to think. He needed that.

He got his stuff ready, all the things he thought you should need when tracking boar. The hell would he know, he never did anything like it before.

She woke up, from the weirdest dream she ever had. It was about skinny dipping, a striptease and a man tied to a tree. It didn't fit together at all. Was she delusional? Was she in shock? Maybe she just had to ask someone. Cause it wasn't just the dream. She dreamed about guys in swimsuit. One guy more then the rest, but that didn't matter for now. There were songs stuck in her head, it was all very weird. She didn't knew what to do.

Claire couldn't just ask Jack. He'd try to drug her again. Wait a minute, where did that came from? Jack tried to drug her? This meant her memory was coming back, and she didn't knew if she liked that. The memories about someone tied to a tree, and Jack trying to drug her weren't exactly things that she wanted to remember.

And about that striptease and the skinny dipping. She didn't remember the face of the person, just the body. What a body… She couldn't exactly ask around for the guys to strip trying to match it to her memories. Would be fun to watch though. At least, from some guys… That Sawyer guy would definitely be hot naked. She shouldn't think that, she had to do something about her dreams. She had to find out what was wrong with her.

He couldn't find the stupid bear. And that caused his mind to slip to Claire. Sawyer didn't want that; he had to forget her. She had Charlie; she didn't need him. Then why couldn't he just forget about her? He couldn't get her out of his head. But he had to. So when Kate joined his hunt, he thought he'd flirt with her a bit. But every single time he tried something, it felt like he betrayed Claire. He couldn't do it no more. Sawyer had to go back to tell her everything.

Then Kate found tracks of a bear. Sawyer had to decide what was most important: getting that bear back, or getting Claire back. That decision was easily made: Claire was always first. So he ran back, back to camp. He left Kate in the jungle, staring at him.

In the meantime, Claire finally got everyone together on the beach. She was about to do the stupidest thing she had ever done. Claire just wanted to know if anyone remembered anything about the skinny-dipping. So she decided to get everyone together, so she didn't have to go searching for everyone. She sighed one last time, then cleared her throat.

"Can I have your attention," she said. "For starters, I'd like to say how sorry I am that I don't remember anyone of you. I'm sorry if that hurt anyone. Then second, I've been having these weird dreams, with memories in them. So I was wondering, does anybody know anything about skinny-dipping?"

Every single person looked at her like she was crazy. Claire blushed. She felt really stupid. She saw Jack motioning for her. Claire didn't knew what he was trying to say, so she waited until someone said something.

Sawyer arrived at the beach just in time to hear her question about the skinny-dipping. He knew Claire was making a fool of herself, but he was glad she remembered the skinny-dipping. He had to solve this situation without everyone knowing about it.

"I can't believe you actually did it," Sawyer said to Claire. "I thought you wouldn't dare… I'm sorry everyone. That second question was a bet between Blondie and myself. I'm sorry if it offended anyone… Come on Blondie, you'll get your reward." He lifted Claire and walked to a private spot with her.

Claire was confused. What was Sawyer/James talking about? She didn't knew anything about a bet. But maybe he knew something about her dreams.

"I was the one you were skinny-dipping with," he said. "If you want proof, just say so." He smiled at her. She touched his dimples and smiled back at him.

"I remember your dimples," Claire said. "I remember your smile. I remember your kiss." She kissed him, trying to refresh her memory. Someone cleared his or her throat. They stopped kissing, and looked around.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," Jack said, smiling at how happy the couple looked.

"I was trying to get some booty Jackass," Sawyer responded.

Claire's jaw dropped. Then she smiled. Typical Sawyer to make such a comment, she thought. But how would she know that? It meant her memory was coming back. At least, the parts about Sawyer were coming back to her.

"I just wanted to say that was a good save Cowboy," Jack said, and turned around. Sawyer chuckled, then turned to Claire again.

"Now where were we," he said. Sawyer winked at Claire. But just when he leaned in to kiss her once more, there was someone there. Again…

"Hello James, Claire," Locke said. "I'm glad you two are okay. I wanted to ask you something James, but let's not do that now." And he left again.

"I hate interruptions," Claire said. "Let's go to some spot more private." She grabbed Sawyer's hand, and together they went to Sawyer's tent.

When they arrived there, Sawyer pulled Claire in his arms and hugged her. That felt so good, he thought. He really missed her. He should tell her that.

"I really missed you," he said, almost whispering. "I'm so glad back." He smiled at her, and she smiled back at him.

"I'm glad to be back too," Claire said. Sawyer hugged her once more. Then he thought of something, something he wanted to do.

"Let's play a game," he said. "I never. You know it?" He wanted to get to know her better. They wouldn't use alcohol, cause Claire was pregnant.

"I know it," she said. "You'll drink the alcohol, I'll drink the water." She sat down, while Sawyer got the drinks. They smiled at each other.

"I'll start," Sawyer said. "I've never been pregnant." Claire laughed, and so did Sawyer. Claire took a sip of water, almost choking in it because she was laughing so hard. After she coughed, everything seemed to be alright.

"Really? I didn't expect that, she said teasingly. "I never left my home country before." Sawyer looked at her, and drank his alcohol. He was going to get a bit drunk. But her 'I never' was really stupid. He had much better things to say.

"You suck at this," he said, with a wink. "I never kissed a man." She smiled, and drank.

"Really," she asked. "I never wore pink."

Okay, so she was good at this. She probably just decided to do a stupid one first. And now he had to admit it. There it goes, he thought, and drank. Claire's jaw dropped.

"The 80ies," he said. "Would have thought you'd wear pink though… I never wore a thong." He waited, then chuckled as she drank. Good, that was interesting.

"Pervert," she responded. "I never had a one night stand."

She never had a one night stand? He had a lot of them. Tons of them. So he started to drink, and not just one sip. He drank a lot, and saw Claire's jaw drop.

"Gotta drink for each one," Sawyer said.

"You're a pig," Claire said with a wink.

She already thought that of him, and Sawyer knew it, so he smiled. They both knew Claire didn't mean that. Just fooling around…

"I never been in love before I got here." Claire looked at him in amazement, then drank.

"You're kidding," she said, then continued. "I never loved someone as much as now."

She loved him? More than she loved anyone else? A miracle happened to Sawyer. This beautiful women, who he honestly didn't deserved, fell in love with him. And he fell in love with her too. He realized it just before this game, when she was gone.

Sawyer and Claire looked at one another. Sawyer forgot about the game and kissed Claire. He was finally happy again. She completed him. He was in love with Claire.