Chapter 22

IThe tomb beyond remains hidden for reasons that are my own. Enter at your own perile. If you survive this, you can survive anything./I

Jack's eyebrows drew together and he clenched his jaws. "We have to find her." And with that he placed his hand squarely on the metal disk and pushed down. The plate sunk into the stump, but then there was nothing.

Jack looked at the disk in slight surprise, and then at the door. He waited...and waited. Then, a barely audible scraping sound came from the direction of the wall. But to everyone's amazement, not from the doorway they'd found.

Just at the bottom corner and to the left of the door, a piece of jutting rock began to shift. The whole wall seemed to rumble, and small rocks fell from above, but the wall held. Kate, still standing next to Jack clutched his arm in mild alarm and he put his hand on her waist. Her eyes were wide, her breathing sharp and jagged. Standing just a few feet away, Sawyer saw her holding Jack's arm and took a step toward them. Then another, and with a third step he was standing next to Kate, with his arms wrapped behind her back, and her shoulder tucked firmly under his arm, completely ignoring Jack. She had immediately turned to him and placed her hand on his chest.

As the rock moved further out from the wall they could all see an opening beyond. It was just large enough to allow a grown man passage through into what looked like a larger room just inside. Jack glanced at Sawyer, annoyed, but didn't say anything. He moved over to the opening and peered inside.

"Looks like there's more space inside. I'm going in." And without another word he dropped to his hands and knees and crawled through the doorway. Locke clenched his teeth and frowned at where Jack had just been, but then followed.

Within minutes, Jack, Locke, and Boone had all gone inside, one right after another. Sayid was on his way, and Kate and Sawyer still stood outside waiting their turn. Kate looked up at Sawyer, and their eyes met. "Well. Let's get this over with sweetheart, I wanna get back to the tent." Sawyer grinned showing his dimples, and Kate smiled and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. They immediately fell back to where they were but Kate didn't notice bacause Sawyer had leaned down and was now lightly brushing her lips with his.

Kate deepened the kiss, and then pulled away breathless. "Sure you don't wanna go back now?" Sawyer asked with a hopeful lift of one eyebrow.

"No. We have to find her." Kate gave him one last peck on the lips, sighed, and walked to the opening. She glanced back at him, and then crawled through. Sawyer thoroughly enjoyed the view from his end, but too soon she disappeared inside. Sawyer took a deep breath and then followed her.

------------

It seemed to Sawyer that they'd been on their hands and knees crawling in the dark for hours. And just when he didn't think he could take it anymore he heard whispering ahead of him. And then Kate turned her head, "There's an opening. Jack's just reached it."

Another five or so minutes went by and Sawyer sensed that the area he was crwaling through had suddenly become bigger. He got up to his knees, and when he still couldn't feel anything he stood to his full hight. "God! Damn it!" echoed throughout the chamber. And then he heard multiple people hushing him. "Don't hush me! This dmn ceilings too low. Just hit my head!"

Then he felt a soft, gentle hand touch his chest and work it's way up to where his hand was comforting a growing bump on the upper back of his head. Kate moved his fingers out of the way, and then carefully caressed the injury. Without a sound she leaned her body against his and pulled his head down towards hers. "Do you want me to kiss it better?" Kate whispered, giggling a little.

Sawyer growled something about kissing him, but Kate stopped his whining by bringing her lips to his. She gently massaged his tongue with hers. This lasted for some time, and Sawyer was surprised that she didn't hurry it, but was happy to continue. But she pulled away at last and whispered again into his ear, "Better?"

"Kinda." Sawyer replied sulkily and tried to pull her into another kiss, but she only allowed it to last just a second this time.

Grabbing his hand she said, "Let's get going. The other's are waiting."

Sawyer mumbled, "How da' you know?" But Kate ignored it and kept walking.

---------------

It seemed that Sawyer had managed to hit his head on the only spot in the chamber that wasn't tall enough for him. But the way was still narrow, so they didn't get lost in any big open areas.

Soon they rounded what Sawyer thought might be a sort of corner, and suddenly there was light. He shielded his eyes with his arm and cursed under his breath.

"Where've you been?" Jack looked at the two of them.

"Sawyer hit his head," was all Kate said in reply. Jack handed her a torch, his hand linguering in contact with hers. She pulled it out of his hand, and then raised it above her head and looked around the room. All of them were there, but there was something odd on the other side, behind Boone and Sayid, that Kate couldn't quite make out. "What's that?" she asked, nodding her head towards the two.

"It's a door." Locke looked at her meaningfully, but Kate just lifted an eyebrow, puzzeled.

"Then why are we just standing here?" She tried to move towards the door but Jack moved into her way.

"This is where you stop Kate. You're going back."

Kate felt like she'd been slapped. "What?"

"You and Sawyer are going back." And then Jack turned away from her as if to continue on.

But Kate grabbed his arm, stopping him, and he turned back toward her. "No. We're not. We already talked about this. I'm coming."

Jack brought one hand up and rubbed his temples. "Kate. You were right. The trails split. And you were helpful...for a while. But this is solid rock, we're not going to need a tracker in here. And the passages have given no sign that they will branch anytime soon. And even if they do, we have enough people to follow them. So...we don't need you. Go back. You know the risks. Just go." His eyes pleaded for her to go.

Sawyer stood behind Kate, watching all of this. "No." Jack's head jerked up, his eyes focusing on Sawyer. "If it's all the same to you, doc, we'll tag along. She got us this far. Couldn't hurt to have her around a little longer. Anyways, I'm not too keen on the idea of coming all this way just to turn around without any results. So let's go."

Sawyer's blue eyes bored into Jack's. Finally Jack glanced down at Kate, and then turned and made his way to the door.

As soon as the others were through the door Kate whipped around, her gaze finding Sawyers. He could have sworn in that moment he saw lightening flash. The air fairly sizzeled with tension as Kate took a step toward him, jabbing her finger into his chest.

"You made him think. So I'm not going to get too pissed off. But you need to know. I can handle myself. I don't need you or anyone else to Idefend/I me. So next time someone has a problem with me, you stay out of it." Her finger dug into his sternum. "Do you understand? James."

Sawyers face drew instantly into a scowl. Grabbing her hand he pulled it away from him. Then taking a step toward her he brought his face to within inches of hers. "Got it," he growled. And then without another word he jerked the torch from her hand and followed the others.