Chapter
1
"It's almost beautiful isn't it?" Kate said,
looking out at the sun slowly settling on the shining waves. The
sunset made the water sparkle with a brilliant red on the top of each
wave, while underneathe was the deepest green she'd ever seen. Each
crashing wave reverberating through her soul. She was so entranced it
actually seemed that she could feel it like the deep bass when music
is playing that seems to make your insides tremor. It took her breath
away, but she couldn't pull her eyes from the beauty for a while.
"Almost?" Jack asked in a mockingly shocked tone.
"You know what I mean." Kate smiled peacefully and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before. It sort of reminds me of the feeling I used to get when I was little. After dinner and a big piece of the best apple pie for dessert, I'd snuggle up on my dad's lap and fall asleep to the sound of his voice while he read to me. I could feel each breath, each heartbeat. And his voice..." she hesitated for an instant, then looking out at nothing while deep in memory, "his voice made my heart sing. When I was sitting there and he was reading, it was like I became a part of him." She glanced at him again, but cautioningly this time, daring him to make fun of her words.
Now it was Jack's turn to hesitate, like he was trying to decide what to say, where to lead the conversation, "Yeah? What did he read you?"
"Oh. Everything.
Anything from fairy tales to science or philosophy books. My dad
loved to read. And ever since I can remember I've loved it too."
Jack just stayed quiet, relishing just looking at her. She was so
beautiful, sitting there with her knees pulled up to her chin and her
arms wrapped around her legs. Her hair tossing slightly in the
breeze, and the glow of the evening sun on her face made her look
radient, almost glowing. And he just sat there, taking all of her in
while she watched the sun setting.
A little distance away Sawyer saw Kate sitting next to Jack and felt his chest tighten with a pang of jealousy. Why do I even feel jealous? Was it the doctor? Girls always go for the doctor, he thought to himself in a decidedly derisive manner. Nah. Couldn't be that... Sawyer grinned she made it clear who she prefered when the doc was trying to torture information out of me. He frowned slightly in thought. Or did she? ... she didn't reallychooseto do that. Was the jealousy because of the kiss? Because she hadn't spoken to him since then, but she was sitting right there infront of him talking to Jack who was the one who had done the torturing? Snearing, he thought to himself she only did that because I forced her into it. Not because she really wanted to. But no matter how much he berated himself for thinking that he'd felt something in the kiss, the feeling wouldn't go away. And the more he watched her sitting there, the more the feeling grew...and grew, until he couldn't stand it anymore and had to get up and go for a walk to try to get her out of his head - though it probably wouldn't do much good. At least she wasn't right in front of him making it worse.
Without realizing where he was going, Sawyer just walked. He wondered around for what seemed like hours in a daze. Though it couldn't have been that long because the sun was still over halfway visible on the horizon when he finally looked around at where he was. With a shock he realized that he was sitting down, leaning his back against a tree. With even more shock he hurled himself up out of the sitting position when he saw that it was the same tree he'd been tied to when Jack and Sayid had torchered him...the same tree he'd been tied to when they'd kissed.
Staring at the tree in disbelief and wonder he about jumped out of his skin when someone touched his back. Twisting violently, he grabbed the hand of the culprit. "What the hell are you-" he practically shouted before realizing who it was he was holding onto.
The wrist that he held firmly in his right hand had soft, pale skin, and long, delicate fingers. He looked up into the face of the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. A woman who's face made it clear that she was slightly frightened and in pain. Finally understanding that he was the cause of the pain, he immediately loosed his grip on her wrist, and instead began gently massaging it with both hands. He instantly felt sorry for shouting and grabbing her so hard, but being Sawyer he couldn't show it. Finally letting go of her hand his eyes dropped briefly to the ground in embarrasment, then rose once again with defiance in them. "What are you doing here Kate?" he asked in the hardest voice he could muster.
"I guess I could ask the same queestion of you Sawyer." In the matter of seconds it had taken for all of this to transpire, she had seen and recognised everyone of the emotions that had so plainly shown on his face before his mask had come back up. At the moment, Kate wasn't exactly sure what to think. What she had seen - and felt, when he'd rubbed her wrist - had made her emotions surge with a fire that she hadn't felt since the last time she'd been to this spot, not even a week ago. Suppressing the rediculous feeling, she held her stealy gaze on his face.
"I was just..." Sawyer mumbled something incoherently as his sentence trailed off. Running his fingers through his hair he said, "I was just walking. Where you following me?" This last part sounded angry with a tinge of awe.
Blushing slightly (she was so beautiful when she blushed, he'd have to keep that in mind...), Kate looked down, "I noticed when you left the beach you looked upset somehow, and I thought maybe - i dunno - maybe you'd wanna talk...er something."
Grinning, Sawyer looked at her, taking all of her in in one obnoxious sweep, "Well, you found me. Whatda ya wanna talk about?"
"Oh," she seemed a little unsure of herself for a second, "I thought you were the one who'd want to talk." After a pause that confirmed that he wasn't going to she asked, "Why'd you come here? We haven't been here since..." her sentence died on her lips as her eyes met Sawyers and she saw in them a fire that hadn't been there before, it scared her.
In understanding, Sawyer nodded his head slightly and knew right then that she knew. He silently cursed himself for letting it show.
