A/N: I have made an attempt on Kate's past/original crime in this chapter. Please do not be scared off by it, if you don't like it. That's not what this fanfic centers on. It's just part of the chapter.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Lost. It belongs to J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and the crew.

Chapter Four- Need

Sawyer watched Kate sleep for a long time, lost in thought and lost in the moment. She looked so oddly innocent when she slept. This, of course, made absolutely no sense to Sawyer. She was a criminal. A killer. He knew that she was anything but innocent. But still, as he watched her sleep, she looked that way to him for some reason that he just could not figure out.

He continually watched her sleep for several more minutes. But as time passed, her look of peace changed to that of disturbance. He watched sadly as she began to shift around restlessly, obviously trapped in the middle of a horrifying nightmare. Sawyer could tell that she was muttering something, but it was too quiet for him to make out the words. But it seemed that as the intensity of her dream increased so did the volume of her voice.

"Stop!" he heard her cry, "Stop it! Get away from me!" she exclaimed as she slept. "Leave me alone." Sawyer could now see tears slipping silently down her face. "Why can't you just leave me alone?" She was near sobbing now, Sawyer could tell, and he couldn't stand to just sit there and watch her relive the horrible thing that she seemed to be experiencing.

He sat up, ignoring the throbbing pain in his shoulder, and reached towards Kate, planning to wake her. He gently tapped her on the shoulder, but she flinched away, obviously still dreaming. "No," he heard her mutter. Sawyer started to shake her. "Kate! Hey, Kate! It's me, Sawyer! It's time for you to wake up now!"

Kate's eyes immediately flew open, and she sat up with a start. She looked around for a moment, nonplussed, taking her several moments to realize where she was and what was going on. But realization dawned on her, and she let out a sigh.

"You okay, Freckles?" Sawyer asked seriously.

Kate let out a shaky breath and turned towards him, nodding. "Yeah…I just…I haven't had that dream in a long time."

"What was the dream about?" Sawyer asked.

"It doesn't matter. It's just something from my past," Kate replied, unable to mask the disturbed look in her eyes.

"What was it?" he pressed on.

Kate paused and took a good look at Sawyer, who looked back at her with understanding eyes. Just by looking into his eyes Kate knew that she needed to tell someone. And she knew that it was okay. He would understand. "It was about my step-dad," she said quietly.

Sawyer's expression darkened. "He hit you, Kate, when you were younger?"

"He did a lot more than just hit me," she commented, shuddering slightly, tears beginning to form in her eyes again.

Sawyer paused, doing his best to keep his anger in check, "He abused you sexually, too, then?"

Kate replied with a tiny nod of confirmation.

"Why didn't you tell someone?" he asked, with sudden desperation.

Kate shook her head. "It wouldn't have made a difference," she muttered. "Even if I had told someone, nothing would have changed. No one would have believed me. Everyone thought highly of him and savored his opinions. And his opinion towards me was obvious. He had everyone we knew wrapped around his finger. He made my entire family hate me...I couldn't stop it if I tried," she stated, tears slowly freely down her face.

All was silent with the exception of Kate's stifled sobs. After several moments, once Kate had controlled her crying, Sawyer asked, "Was he the one you killed, then?"

He heard a sharp intake of breath at this question. She was silent for several moments. "Yeah. He was the first one. First man I killed. I just couldn't take it anymore...I had to make it end." She let out a shaky breath. Her lip was trembling and her entire body was shaking.

It was in that moment that Kate realized she needed him. Needed him now, more than ever. He was the first one that she had told anything like this to in a long, long time. He was one of the very few people who knew how it had all began. And the feeling of relief at his acceptance of it was overwhelming. And Kate had a lingering suspicion that he knew something else about her, now, too. He was far too good at reading her for him not to know.

He knew that she needed him.

And he knew that he needed her.

Kate felt Sawyer brush away the tears that still clung to her face with his thumb and she felt her lips form something that must have resembled a slight smile. She looked him in the eyes then and saw the exact same need, exact same emotion, and exact same acceptance as she was sure he saw in hers. And in that moment, Kate knew that this was alright, too.

With that, the pair closed the already-small gap between each other and their lips brushed up one another's, at first gently, with pure emotion, but then more intensely, as the great need began to take over. Kate stood up, never removing her lips from Sawyer's, and positioned herself comfortably in his lap. After a moment, their tongues met, and the pair completely lost themselves in the moment, knowing that they'd have nothing to regret, no matter what happened.

A/N: Reviews are my muse. Please, please review.