Chapter 6
Sawyer was in still complete shock as to what he just heard. Valerie could not have been the daughter of the man he killed for Hibbs. She just couldn't. Then he looked at her again and saw that it was true. Her eyes said it all. He couldn't believe he didn't see it before. Valerie's eyes were the exact same as the man he had killed. He recognized the glow in them even while Frank was dying. He was so caught up in thought he didn't realize Valerie had finished setting his wound.
"There you go," she said leaning back up. "It still may hurt from time to time, but those flowers will disinfect it in no time. Just to be safe, I gathered some extra in case we needed it along the way."
"Thank you," was all Sawyer could say. Though he said it as a mere whisper, Valerie clearly heard him and smiled.
"Your welcome." Then she rolled her eyes. "I suppose you want that kiss."
"Uh, what?"
"Oh, don't play games," she replied moving closer to him. Sawyer could not be sure if she was doing this for fun or because he asked her to. "I promised you and I always keep my promises."
Sawyer felt his breath slow every second Valerie got closer. All he wanted to do was kiss her, the way he kissed Kate, only longer and with more passion. He's wanted to do that the moment he first saw her. But he couldn't. When Valerie's lips were literally hovering over his he opened his mouth and Valerie did not expect him to speak.
"I can't," he whispered.
Valerie had a curious expression and leaned back. She stared at Sawyer like she had no idea who he was. "You what?"
"I can't," he said again and pushed himself farther against the wall. "Thanks for the spider flower. I think I should rest."
Valerie crossed her arms. This was not the Sawyer she had known for the last two days. This man was sincere and apologetic, even though he never clearly said, I'm sorry. Feeling teased, Valerie stood up and turned to leave, but not without kicking some dirt onto Sawyer. When he didn't even flinch she stormed out of the cave and leaned back against the rock outside.
She could not believe she had almost kissed him. He was a player and would never be the kind of man she needed. But Valerie could not explain why she was so freely willing to give Sawyer that kiss. Something inside her was not feeling right and she hoped it would pass overnight; otherwise she would be in big trouble.
The next day was bright and cool and reflected no one's mood in the small group of survivors. They were all exhausted and needed a good meal. Especially Sawyer. Without the proper vitamins in him, the wound would not heal correctly and Valerie knew that only decided to keep that information to herself. She hadn't even told anyone that it was her who fixed his arm. They all believed Sawyer had done it himself.
It was about an hour into their walk when Sawyer and Jin slowly walked away from the line. Ana Lucia had stopped the Nigerian and pointed to them. Sawyer and Jin's faces were quiet and still, as though they had seen the most beautiful thing in the world. Everyone else knew why the instant they looked past them.
Peeking out through the jungle trees was their camp. An array of tents and areas set up like little shelters. Large piles of firewood awaited the night to arrive so they could be lit up so its fire could provide the survivors with warmth and light. Sawyer and Jin were never so happy to be back here and at times they feared they would have never seen it again.
Without looking back at the others, Sawyer and Jin pushed past the low branches and rocks towards camp. The Nigerian held his line back, saying it was not time yet. Ana Lucia knew exactly what he meant, but Valerie, Libby, Roger, and Gibb did not. So instead, they watched Sawyer and Jin touch the sand that belonged to their crash sight.
The two survivors looked around and saw that nothing had changed. The tents were still set up and they only imagined that they belonged to the same people. Sawyer looked to where his spot was and noticed it looked completely untouched. But there was one thing that was different. None of the survivors were around. True, they hadn't expected them all waiting at the shore line for their return with a rescue boat, but they didn't expect to find the island deserted.
Then, from the jungle, appeared Charlie, followed by Claire and little Aaron in her arms. Coming from the jungle in pairs of three or more were the survivors. Sawyer and Jin could not even imagine where they had been and didn't want to. They stood there, quiet, wondering if this was a dream or reality. Their question was answered when Charlie glanced up and saw two very familiar faces.
"Oh, my, God!" he shouted, his British accent catching everyone's attention. "Look, Sawyer and Jin have returned!"
The eyes of everyone, including Aaron upon hearing Sawyer's name, all looked at them. At first, they all thought they were dreaming, but when Sawyer and Jin took a few steps forward and waved, they knew they weren't. The entire crowd ran over to them, nearly knocking them over. Each of them was throwing millions of questions at them. Most were the same, like, "Have you brought a rescue team? You won't believe what happened. Are we saved?" And the saddest of them all, "Where is Michael and Walt?"
From the jungle, the Nigerian began to slowly walk towards the camp and the others followed. They did not want to startle the others by jumping out at them. Instead, they thought a calm approach would be best.
"Everyone, please, calm down!" Sawyer found himself shouting, but no one could hear him over their own voices. But then he must have said something right for the entire crowd of castaways grew uncontrollably silent. Sawyer looked to Jin who was also silent as stone. He then realized why. The Nigerian and the others had emerged from the jungle, causing all eyes to fall on them.
It was a silence like no other. The waves crashing against the rocks couldn't even be heard. Sawyer and Jin looked and saw the terrified and curious stare in every single one of the front survivors faces. Sawyer thought it best to break the ice . . . very slowly.
"Charlie?" he said several times before the rocker finally moved his eyes away from the "tailies". "I need Jack. Where is he?"
"Um, I'll go and get him," Charlie replied and started to walk away. Only he was walking backwards as though he did not want to take his eyes off of the "tailies".
Once he was gone, Sawyer continued, "Ok, people, calm down. These are survivors from the back of the plane." The moment he finished talking Sawyer realized that was a bad thing to say. Every single survivor went into an uproar of questions. He saw them start to move closer and realized that if he didn't stop them, they would surround the "tailies" and interrogate them.
Just as Sawyer and Jin were about to push everyone back when Charlie came back with Jack and Kate. The moment they saw Sawyer and Jin their eyes widened. Was it actually them standing there? Kate thought she was never going to see Sawyer again. After not saying goodbye to him the day they set sail, she had always felt a little guilty and ashamed. They had formed a friendship and she knew he would have liked to say goodbye to her.
"How?" Jack said stuttering while he did. "How?"
"Not right now, we need to get them to the caves and keep them away," Sawyer explained pointing to the people behind him. Both Jack and Kate leaned to see around Sawyer and Jin and nearly fell over when they saw six unfamiliar faces.
"Ok, Hurley!" Jack shouted and was relieved when he saw Hurley's friendly face pushing through the crowd.
"Dude, yeah, I'm here!" he cried back. "Excuse me please." The crowd parted and Hurley appeared in the front beside Jack. "What's up?"
"Take those six to the cave near the falls," Jack ordered while he motioned Sawyer and Jin towards him. "Keep the others away from them as best you can. I'm gonna take a look at these two. Kate, come with me."
"Sure," she replied but then stopped herself to ask another question. "Um, where's Michael and Walt?" When she saw the look on Sawyer's face she immediately knew that she would be told the answer to that question later.
"No problem!" Hurley said and clapped his hands together. "Alright, new dudes, let's go, follow me."
The others all looked to the Nigerian. After a hesitant nod from him they began to follow the man named Hurley through the crowd. And all they could feel were eyes watching their every move.
Jack and Kate had Sawyer and Jin in the cave they labeled as the hospital. It was the spot where Jack treated everyone, no matter how slight the injury was. Both Sawyer and Jin were sitting on rocks. Kate was examining Jin, doing exercises Jack had taught her. They had finished explaining the terrible ordeal with Walt and how Michael ran off into the jungle after they had seen the "Others". They had told the entire story about the raft up to the point where they were released from the cell. While Jack examined Sawyer's arm, he started by saying, "Spider flower?"
"What?" Sawyer replied.
"How did you know to put Spider Flower in your wound?"
"Oh, I didn't, Valerie did."
"Is she a doctor?"
"No, but she told me she was studying to be before the crash."
"So there were 23 that survived?" Kate asked from the side. She was checking Jin's arms for any serious cuts.
"That's what they told us," Sawyer replied while Jack began to rewrap the wound. "The rest stayed there while we took these six with us."
"How was it that they survived?" Kate asked more towards Jack than Sawyer.
"Beats me," Jack responded and stood straight up. "The back was ripped off. They would have all had a 12 chance of surviving."
"That's comforting," Sawyer scoffed. "I'm not sure if they even know how they survived."
"Well, then, we'll just have to ask them," Jack stated and threw his bag back over his shoulder. When he did, Sawyer, Jin, and Kate saw a chocolate bar fall to the ground. Sawyer and Jin could not believe their eyes. Was the doc holding out on them? They have not seen chocolate since they crashed.
"Where in the hell did you get that?" Sawyer asked ready to pounce on Jack when he saw him lean down and pick it up. Jack and Kate looked at each other, wondering how they could word this. So they decided to just give them the whole story.
"And so we have to push a button every 180 minutes or else something bad is going to happen and there is a closest with a month's amount of food inside."
"Uh?" Sawyer replied.
Sorry about the slow update. I was very busy last week. I also apologize for the limitations with the reunion between Sawyer, Jin, and their fellow survivors. I am moving those parts along since this is a Sawyer/OC fic and I want to get to those parts and focus more on them. Thanks to those who have reviewed so far and I hope to get some more before I update again. Otherwise, I may not continue.