Disclaimer:
I own nothing but the premise. Everything else belongs to their respected owners, and god help me I wish I worked at ABC, but I don't. If anyone wants to sue me go ahead, you'll only receive a bucket of lard.

Summary:
Sawyer learns the hard way the reason to play fair. Karma bites back. Ana-Lucia/Sawyer One-shot.

A/N:

I did it again. Another Sana one-shot. I couldn't help myself, needed to do it as soon as it popped into my head. Hope ya like.

A growl of a huff escaped Ana's mouth as she sat the cards down on the table, or rather what they considered a table. It was one of the stewardess's carts they used and something they all recovered at one point or another. All the same, they were using it, standing it between two rocks while the two players were sitting on either side facing one another.

Merely raising a brow when Sawyer didn't put his down like hers after a long moment, she shifted some in her seat "Well?" she asked him, trying to keep the sound of annoyance from lacing her words, though failing. He was such a snail sometimes.

So far they'd been playing for nearly an hour now. It was really the only thing they could do. It was too hot move around much, so trekking through the great wild unknown was out of the question, and neither was a good idea to do anything really else that wasted much energy. It was a lazy day. A lazy day where you didn't want to do much of anything really at all.

In fact, if Sawyer hadn't suggested it, she would have been sitting around doing nothing else like everyone else on the beach. All the more reason to do so, otherwise she was sure boredom would encompass the entire camp.

"Better hand back over your boots Luce, daddy's got a four of a kind," Sawyer told her, the shit eating grin ever so present on his face as he slapped down his own cards. Indeed were the four of a kind, in aces. Why was she getting the ever so present feeling that something wasn't right here? Hadn't she seen that hand before? Down right to the fact that there was a five of spades, just like the last time she'd seen him with such a hand.

"You cheated."

At her suggestive comment Sawyer half-heartedly looked like he was taken aback, and shocked. But with all facades asides she knew better, even when he brushed it off. "Now Darlin', do you take me for the cheating kind? Just because you're a sore loser and cannot stand to lose to the likes of me ain't meanin' I'm a cheating on ya."

"You cheated," she stated again, flatly, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly.

"I didn't cheat! I played just like you did. Now hand them over," he told her, appearing unfazed by her look. Though, if he allowed himself too, he would have shifted back away from her a little bit. The damn woman was shooting hard daggers at him and it was nothing too comforting. Especially considering he was going to be sleeping in the same tent as her later on that night…

"Whatever… Though if I see a four aces in your hand one more time I'm done," she warned. Picking her boots up off the sand at her feet and putting them on the table top, she resist the urge to hurl them at him. Sawyer, on the other hand, just took them off adding to the accumulating pile on his side, still looking ever smug.

It had been back and forth between who won. Some games she won, some he won. But more then not he seemed to win. And just that very moment he was in the lead with the winnings. He had most of her things, holding on to her pants, socks, boots, hair scrunchy, and her leather vest. As for his clothes, he still had his flannel shirt on and jeans, while Ana managed to wrestle him out of his own socks and shoes, and pants. Which pretty much left them to their own.

He was wrapped in his shirt with his boxers, while she was in the same predicament. Luckily they were aways from everyone else, far enough that their slight state of undress would go pretty much unnoticed by prying eyes. Not that either of them cared either way, embarrassment one would say, wasn't part of their vocabulary, or modesty really. Instead, they just continued to play.

"Ain't promising nothing'."

And so began another round of cards. Ana shuffled while Sawyer watched her intently, and if he could he would have undressed her further with his eyes as she shuffled. She close to ignore it though, the leering glances, fixing her narrowed eyes on the cards before slapping down five cards in front of each of them, setting the rest of the deck in the middle.

Each of them pull the cards up, fanning them out in their hands, peeking over at each other over the top, as if to study them. Did the other have a good hand or bad hand? Would they be able to tell if they did? They each had a poker face, a passive one, but sometimes they were able to tell, because sometimes the eyes gave it away.

Ana was the first to set down two cards and pick two more up, adding them back to her hand. He followed, setting three down and pulling up another three, moving around in his hand to put them in a certain order.

"Ready?" he asked, letting his head peek over at her, though unfortunately unable to see any sign of what she had. There were really no distinguishing marks on the cards, aside from out of the usual, but even then he didn't have a good enough memory to remember the tears or slight ridges of folds in his head, they were similar like fingerprints, but you really had to look closer at them, and he couldn't do that at the moment without perking her suspisions again.

"You first," Ana told him, but it sounded more like a demand to his ears. None-the-less, more then easily it put them on the table, in front of her.

"I'd like that pretty little top of yours. And don't worry about getting all flustered over it. Ain't nothing I ain't seen before," he told her. Hunching back a little, stretching his arms out, he looked pretty happy himself as he spit out a straight. More like the Cheshire cat then anything else, he was sleek, she was gonna give him that. But on the other hand, there was something that she wasn't going to give him.

Grinning her own grin, she sat down her own cards. "As much as I'd like to hand it over…. I'm all flushed out," she told him, showing off the cards in her hands. A straight flush with diamonds, all carefully lain out in front of him. "Now hand over your shirt.'

Sawyer bit back a small growl at the unfairness. It always seemed that when he got close to seeing what was laying underneath her clothes, a hand of her own cards got in his way. Not that he couldn't have done without, but nothing was more tantalizing then seeing her skin. Which was part of the fact that he wanted to play the damn game so badly. Even if he did see it all the time now, but that didn't stop him from admiring the view.

Unbuttoning it, he tossed it over at her, letting her catch it even if she was such a short distance away. Besides he was exactly worried about what would happen to it. If it slid onto the ground, all there was, was sand… And it would dry anyhow.

Sulkingly taking the cards this time, he put them back into the deck, shuffling them around between his hands before the routine continued once again, the handing out, the exchange of cards until the time honored tradition of showing what they got again came into being.

"Two pair, man," Ana said, going first again, putting her cards down. "Jacks and Queens." It wasn't a good hand, but it wasn't a bad hand. And hopefully he'd get a bad hand again this round.

Sawyer sighed, not looking too pleased. "Lucy, Lucy…" he trailed off, showing off his hand, clicking his tongue at her as it revealed a pair of aces, and a pair of queens. "I think I'll need you know what to hand over now…" His voice was literally purring at her then as he looked to her expectantly.

Rolling her eyes, Ana stood up from the rock and turned her back to him as she reached to the hem of her shirt. He gave her a wolf-whistle as if to get her to turn, yet she didn't.

"Aww, don't be shy now," he told her, wanting her to turn around but she had other things in mind as she pulled it off, tossing it at him as he took in her backside, but that was only until she covered it with his shirt.

Oh, that was cold, really cold. But he deserved it, he really did, he thought watching her button it up and turn to face him again. But this time he didn't hide the slight disappointment at her. Damn tease, he cursed mentally.

But yet again, it continued as soon as she sat down. It was Sawyers game again the next round, claiming the rest of her undergarments, though before he could get the rest, or the shirt she was still wearing, she started winning some things back.

For another half hour it went back and forth between the two. Neither was really winning, but neither was losing. In short it was a standstill as they shared a glance over their cards. And both were pretty much in agreement on ending it.

"Alright muchacha," Sawyer began, tilting his head at her, letting the blond strands fall away from his eyes that were previously shielded beneath them. "I'll make you a deal."

Ana skeptically looked back at him, mimicking his demeanor. "A deal?" she questioned, not seemingly so impressed by what possibly he was up to. She didn't know what exactly, or why. Should she have been really? When it concerned him, it was really never good… usually anyhow. Trouble was Sawyer, and Sawyer was trouble. The two just went in hand.

"Yes, a deal," he repeated, as if she was a small child that didn't understand something. Flipping his cards face down on the cart, he looked to her then once he was sure nothing was seen, before resting his elbows on top as he leaned forward. "Quite frankly as much as I love this game of strip tease, I'm getting kind of tired of sitting on this rock. Doesn't help my ass is fallin' asleep here, and I wouldn't mind seeing your nice little rear elsewhere in more 'private' quarters. So why don't we end this little charade and highten the stakes."

Ignoring the rear comment, for the moment she'd let that slide. Honestly, she was in the same boat too, and it wouldn't be so bad to go someplace that wasn't in the sun. Why they sat there anyhow was a mystery to her. "Terms?"

"Bet everything you got."

"And?" Ana asked prying more out of him. She was sensing something else. He was enjoying this too much, the way his eyes held sparked mischievousness in their blue depths. And there was always something more with him too, her need not forget.

Though as if he question pleased him, he grinned at her the dimpled and sly grin. Had she not been so taken with him, she would have done something to make it anything but that. "Winner walks back with all the clothes. Loser… has to walk all the way back to the tent…. naked as the day they were born."

Exhaling with a roll of the eyes Ana shook her head. Why wasn't she surprised? Of course, there was something that he wanted out of it. Or at least he hoped to get out of it. Probably thought he had a winning hand, too. Like there wasn't any room for error. Though even if he lost it wasn't like he hadn't done it before. More then vividly she recalled him walking out from his tent and down into the water. The man wasn't afraid of showing off, and of course there wasn't anything he should have been embarrassed about anyway.

Yet, it wasn't like she wanted to show everything off. She wasn't the most modest person on the face of the planet, but she wasn't the kind of show anything off at a drop of a hat either. Despite popular belief she actual had reserve about some things.

But it wasn't like she was about to lose too. She still had a chance to draw new cards. A chance to get a better hand then was given to her, she thought glancing down at the cards in her hand. They weren't too bad…

"Deal," she agreed then, noting the grin, if possible, becoming wider. God help her…

No sooner were the words uttered did she somewhat regret them. But nothing would please her more then for a moment getting something in over his head. It tickled her fancy more then she wanted it to.

As Sawyer picked up his cards then, the game resumed where it left off. They both tossed out the cards they didn't need. One on Sawyer's side, and two on Ana's, and then picked up the fresh new ones and looking at them. For a long few moment there was nothing but the sound of the ocean, and some distant chattering.

Ana bit her lip, a notion that he didn't seem to miss as he studied her again. The first sign of something not going as planned perhaps. Who know, but he figured it a good sign.

"You ready there Lucy, or ya gonna stare at your cards all day?" he asked, pulling her out of the revere that she was in. Oh, yeah didn't have a good hand he knew it when she looked over at him. Uncertainly, oh he liked that look in her eyes.

"As ready as I'll ever be….you go first."

Smiling smugly at her, he placed them down on the cart, for her to see. Straight flush. No waiting. He was going to enjoy this, he thought, looking over her face, her face contemplating. "C'mon Darlin' what's the face for? I promise you'll be able to get me back some other time at poker."

Yet, it was her turn for her face to change. Within an instant the uncertainty in her eyes was gone, replaced with something else. Something more cocky and triumphant, way more triumphant. "I'm just trying to think if this is going to be a Kodak moment for ya," Ana replied, tossing her cards onto the table. "Full house baby… and You might wanna get to it, before everyone's around to see."

Now it was Sawyer's turn to frown, looking down at the cards. "Damn it…." he cursed, his brow deeply wrinkling in bewilderment. She beat his straight flush. That was like, nearly impossible wasn't it? The only explanation in his mind was.. "You cheated," Sawyer then told her, glancing up at her.

"I did not," she told him dryly, seeing the same conversation happening again.

"Sure that's what they all say sister. I know for a fact you were cheatin'" he said, pointing his finger accessorily at her from across the cart. Childish, completely childish. This was all completely childish. But that didn't stop her from adding on.

"I wasn't cheating."

"You cheated," he repeated again. Seriously, some of these repetitions of previous conversations were really getting old. But now it really did seem like a ritual of sorts. Or any argument really.

"Oh yes, because I surely remember sticking some cards into my sleeve so you couldn't see them and pulling them out when you didn't think I was looking," she told him pointedly.

"I didn't cheat." Indignant wasn't he? She'd seen him do it, four times that she let slip just so she would avoid this argument. But it wasn't so avoidable now, wasn't it? So help her…

"You keep arguing with me I'll make sure you'll regret it," she told him, indifferent. Her lips pursed at him, her head tilting as she folded her arms across her chest. On purpose the shirt dipped between her chest a little, showing some skin off. She didn't miss his eyes brief looking over it before looking back to her eyes.

Snorting her off he chuckled at her, as if to mock. "Is that a threat Lucy Lu Lu? What could you do that I should be watch out for?"

A smirk appeared on her lips. One that he didn't like.

"No. Sex."

A string of muttered curses were muttered under breath as he tredded through the sand. His feet were burning a bit, the hot sand feeling like hot coals on his feet as he went about. Ignoring the glances his way, he continued on, trying to be ignorant of their looks.

Manipulative. She was just that. Just had to put the S-card. It was like playing monopoly, getting out of jail skot free, passing go and collecting a hundred dollars.

"Women," he growled.

Not doubt Miss Cortez was behind him, enjoying every moment of this. Managed to beat him out of poker and his clothes. Though, he had to admit, the breeze was rather refreshing on bare skin. But it wasn't something he'd admit out loud, or at the moment.

Still, all the same, he thought, heading up towards the tent, finally seeing it near. He was gonna get her back for it. Soon… hopefully… as long as she didn't pull the same trick on him again. Though, he should have known better by now. There was no winning with her. At all…