A/N: Basically this doesn't take place after any particular episode, though "whatever the case may be" would be logical as it mentions the waterfall.
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It had been so amazing last time, it was almost asking too much for it to be the same again. As they had climbed the rock, Kate had lost footing. It probably wouldn't have done too much damage for her to fall - she would have landed in the water, maybe suffered a small amount of pain from belly-flopping but not much else.
As it was, Sawyer decided to try his hand at acting the hero. He grabbed onto her - hoping to stop her descent but instead taking the fall too. It wasn't even a simple 'fall down into the water'. It was more of an ungraceful and very undignifying thump against the rock before then falling into the cold water, which only made matters worse.
"Are you all right?" he asked as they both clambered their way out onto the dry land.
Kate held up her arm and grimaced. There was a long scrape going from her hand to the elbow, but it wasn't anything serious. "Yeah, I'm fine." She concluded. "Just a scrape - what about you?"
"I'm fine."
The pain radiating from his torso said otherwise, but she didn't need to know that.
---
Jack dashed over as soon as he saw Kate - unfortunately the Southerner was also with her. He decided not to grab her into a tight embrace whilst whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Little did he know that she would be just as unhappy with it as Sawyer would be.
"Where have you been?" He asked, settling with the 'cool' approach. His gazed locked on her arm and he instinctively reached out. "What happened!"
Sawyer rolled his eyes whilst walking off. "See ya later," he called - taking the risk of leaving his girl with lover-boy for a while.
---
Back at the tent, he gingerly lifted his shirt to assess the damage. From just the pain, it was pretty obvious that there was some serious bruising going on. Though he didn't think there was any broken ribs, Sawyer came to a conclusion that he would be sore for a while. "Damn it!" He hissed whilst trying to get a look.
After being on the island for as long as they had, his stash of Cigarettes had slowly decreased to just three boxes. As though a smoke would cure anything, he pulled one out and headed outside to light it.
---
Outside the tent stood Jack, with Kate close behind. He wasn't greeted in a friendly manner.
"Hey!" Jack yelled, "Why do you keep putting people in unessecary danger!"
Kate looked on whilst biting her lip - Sawyer noticed that her arm had now been bandaged, though it didn't seem to be causing her any pain. "I'm sorry" she mouthed.
"Now wait a goddamn minute," Sawyer retorted, "This wasn't just my fault y'know! I was just trying to help."
Jack sent him a hard glare. "Do you think I care? I can't believe -" Kate cut him off.
"Just leave it, yeah?" She asked, almost in a tone worthy of beginning. "It wasn't his fault, I'm fine, everything's fine so let's just go." She put out a hand to pull Jack back, but he just shrugged it off.
"I'm not done yet," he said firmly before landing a solid punch into the other guy's midsection, causing him to drop to the groud in agony.
---
Jack had long gone, but Kate remained by his side, stroking away strands of hair which fell onto his sweat-beaded forehead.
The punch had sent vibrations to flood through his already bruised and hurting body. "Ugh..." he moaned, "I hate that Jackass."
Kate laughed, "Surely he doesn't hit that hard?"
"Just help me up, will ya?"
Sawyer grunted in pain as he was pulled to his feet and again when her arm snaked around his waist and rested against a sore spot. She guided him back into the tent - cigarette left forgotton on the sand.
---
"Thanks," he mumbled as she moved her arms to guide him down onto the makeshift bed. When he was down, she looked around.
"Nice place you've got here, though I'm having a hard time recalling any hospitality during my last visit."
"Well, Freckles... last time you came uninvited." he responded, realising that he hadn't exactly invited her this time either, though not mentioning anything.
Kate sat down on the ground indian-style, her hands folded neatly on her lap. Sawyer chuckled at the sight, wincing as it set off another flare of pain. "You don't have to sit down there, 'nough space up here for two."
With a shrug, she got up and took a seat on the edge of the plane's seats which he had fashioned into some sort of matress. "Did you hurt yourself earlier?" she asked gently, looking into his eyes.
He quickly shifted his gaze. "Yeah, nothin' serious though. Just a few bruises."
"Let me take a look," she said whilst lifting his shirt up.
"Well, well, Freckles. Anything to see my body." he spoke in his slow Southern drawl, a grin across his face. It soon faded as she located the bruises and began to trace over them. "Stop doing that!" he snapped, pulling away.
"I didn't mean to hurt you," Kate said apologetically. "I could go get Ja-" Sawyer interrupted.
"I don't think so. The only thing he'd do is give me more bruises."
She laughed slightly before standing up once again. "I'm going to go see him for a minute, I'll be right back."
Sawyer opened his mouth to object but she was already gone. And I thought she was going to be with me from now on...
As he lay down, loud voices came to his attention.
---
"Jack!" Kate screamed, "You don't own me! I told you to leave it so you hit him!"
"Kate..." The doctor said calmly, "Sawyer's no good. He hurt you, I wanted him to know what he did was wrong..."
"What exactly did he do, Jack?" She questioned, "I lost footing myself. You're just jealous 'cause we were going to have some hot waterfall sex and you were back here alone."
That quickly silenced him. His voice came in the form of action - he pulled Kate into a kiss.
"Ugh!" She yelled, pulling back.
He began to speak again "I love yo-"
He was silenced again when her foot connected with his precious parts. "No Jack. Just... no"
---
A grin spread across Sawyer's face as he heard the last of the commotion. "That's my girl."