A/N: Its senior graduation time everybody! And even though I'm still a junior- yeah I'm young, I've still got a bunch of graduation parties to attend so please excuse my writing because I have a perma-hangover from all the Bailey's that my friends seem to serve at their parties.

But, all that aside, here's the next chapter- enjoy and review please!

Chapter 4: Digging a Grave

The group straggled back to the beach, silent as the grave, weighed under the new knowledge that had just been bestowed on them. Jack met them on the shore, a weary expression on his face and a pair of handcuffs in his hand. Kate blanched at the sight if him and Sawyer tried to hide his gun from Jack's questioning eyes. Ryan walked up to the older man.

"There's nothing I can do for him" Jack said, answering Ryan's silent question. The girl nodded, knowing that it must be hard for Jack to admit that he didn't have the power to save the man.

"What does he want you to do?" Ryan asked. Jack's face went dark and he scowled.

"He wants me to kill him" Jack answered. Sawyer immediately looked up and held his gun out.

"I'll be glad to help" he said and Jack's expression turned even darker. Ryan sensed a fight brewing up between the two and decided to take the role as a good girl intervener.

"Now, Jack" she said, trying to keep her voice level and reasonable. "Maybe you should let Sawyer do this. It's what the man wants, and even you said there was nothing you could do to save him" Ryan said. Jack still had a scowl on his face but he nodded. The girl's reasoning made sense and as much as he hated it, he knew that it was what needed to be done.

Taking Jack's nod as all the approval her needed, Sawyer walked over to the man, followed by the doctor and the small girl. He found the man lying on the beach, Hurley next to him.

"Get out of the way" Sawyer said, aiming his gun at the body below him.

"Where did you get that gun?" Hurley asked Sawyer.

"From him" Sawyer answered, pointing to the bloody body before shooting him square in the chest, away from any vital organs. That shot wouldn't kill the man, but it would put him in even more pain. Jack let out an irritable sigh but Ryan was a bit more…vocal with her feelings.

"You dense idiot! Can't you even kill a person correctly!" she cried out, her British accent coming out even stronger with her anger.

"Calm down Brit" Sawyer said "I was just a bit off"

"A bit!" Ryan said with a short, hysterical laugh "If you were any more off you would have shot yourself- which would have been a far more useful thing for you to have done!" she said. Sawyer gaped at her and Jack decided it was time for him play the diplomat.

"Listen- Sawyer give me the gun- I'll kill the man. Ryan you go dig a grave where e can bury him once I'm done. Hurley- go find me some cloth to wrap him up in" Jack said tensely, ripping the gun from Sawyer's hand and shooting stern looks at Ryan and Hurley. Ryan felt that Jack reminded her of her dad- the strict doctor who liked to give orders and maintain tidiness. She nodded morosely at Jack and headed towards a stretch of the beach that was shaded by trees. It was a nice place, cool and calm with wildflowers growing all around- a perfect place for a grave. She found a large branch on the ground which she knew would make a very crude, but workable shovel, and started to dig. A cool sea breeze flew over Ryan's small frame and a slight smile touched her lips. Even though she was stranded on a godforsaken island, digging a grave for a man who was now probably dying of a gunshot wound, Ryan felt vaguely elated. Beached did that to her, she loved them and couldn't help but feel at home on the golden sands.

"Do you need help?"

Ryan looked up to find Locke and Boone, with braches like hers in their hands. Ryan smiled at them.

"Sure" she said, looking down at the progress she had made- which wasn't very impressive. Boone and Locke started to dig next to her.

"So what are we digging?" Locke asked.

"We're digging a grave" Ryan answered, chuckling at the bemused expressions of Boone and Locke's faces.

"A grave?" Boone asked, confused. Ryan nodded and the three continued their work in silence, not really sure what to say next.

"So I hear your aunt's on the island" Locke said, trying to break the silence.

"That's what it seems like" Ryan said, concentrating on her digging, "I don't really know her that well, though, she was on my dad's side of the family" she added.

"You aren't very close to your dad's family?" Locke asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

"My dad died a month before I was born- so I never even saw him. The only family he had was aunt Danielle and her husband, and they left when I was two" Ryan said, not really knowing why she was telling these two people all of this. "Mother remarried to a British doctor when I turned three" she added.

"Any siblings?" Locke asked.

"I've got a stepbrother named Daniel- but I've never seen him. Lives up in Switzerland" she said, lying through her teeth. Oh she knew Daniel all right, that sly, conniving little bastard. But she didn't need to let Boone and Locke into her life that much.

"So what were you doing in Australia" Bone asked. Ryan sighed. Did these two men know nothing about privacy?"

"I was working" she said flatly, trying to show she wasn't interested in the topic.

"And what do you do?" Boone asked, causing Ryan to sigh once more. Obviously her tone of voice hadn't worker as well as she hoped it would have.

"I wait" she said plainly.

"Wait? As in a waitress?" Boone asked. Ryan shook her head.

"There are different types of waiting" she said.

"None of which you are going to inform me of" Boone retorted, grinning slightly.

"You are smarter than you look" Ryan retorted back at him. Locke shook his head at the mild bickering between the two youths.

"You seem like you'd be in university" Locke said to Ryan, noting her young appearance.

"I graduated last year. I was home schooled, and dad taught me way too far ahead of normal curriculum. By the time I went to university, I only needed one year to graduate" Ryan said, laughing slightly, though sad feeling crept up her thought. Oh, how she had hated those long grueling hours of work she did with her father looking at her over her shoulders. But now, she would give anything to relive those days, when her whole family was healthy and alive and together.

"What did you major in?" Locke asked.

"What is this- some type of interrogation?" Ryan asked. Seriously, what was up with all these questions?

"No, I was just curious" Locke said. Ryan nodded, a bit embarrassed at her outburst.

"Social science and military tactics" she answered. Locke almost laughed at the thought f the small, frail-looking girl in front of him studying military tactics. How out of place she must have been with the rest of the class. Locke's heart went out to her; he knew how it felt to be that odd one out. He knew oh too well.

"What were you doing in Australia" Ryan asked, turning the tables.

"I was going to go on a walkabout, but it was…cancelled" Locke said. Ryan nodded sympathetically. What a waste! She turned to Boone, and asked the same question.

"I was taking my sister back home to L.A" Boone answered.

"You have a sister!" Ryan said surprised, mentally chastising herself for saying that as soon as it came out of her mouth. If she hadn't seen Boone's sister here then it probably meant she died in the crash. Boone, instead of looking devastated, though, gave a confused look at Ryan.

"Sure I do. Shannon, my step-sister" Boone said, causing Ryan to laugh.

"She's your sister?" she said, shaking her head.

"Ummm….yes" Boone answered, not really knowing where this was going.

"How do you put up with her?" Ryan asked, her large, green-gray eyes dancing.

"A lot of aspirin" Boone answered, causing Ryan to crack a smile. Ah yes, aspirin- it had proved to be her lifesaver on many occasions before.

"You three seem to be almost done"

Ryan, Boone, and Locke all looked up and saw Jack standing in front of them. Ryan looked back down at the grave, which was a fairly reasonable size. She didn't even notice that they had finished it.

Hurley waked towards the grave, holding a body swathed in blue plastic cloth. A group of people walked behind him, curious to see the funeral. It wasn't a big event really. Hurley lowered the body, Boone covered it with soil, and Sun placed a few flowers she had picked on the fresh grave, a sign of her paying respect to the departed men. Then, feeling as though their responsibilities were done with, everybody started to disperse. Ryan decided to go look for her bag in the plane rubble when Jack called her over. She went up to the man who took two pictures out of his pocket.

"The marshal gave these to me before he died" Jack said, giving the pictures out to Ryan. She took them and looked at the first. It was a mug shot. Of Kate. Ryan blinked a few times, not believing what she saw. Kate, a criminal? It didn't seem right. But Ryan was never known for her excellent judge of character. She looked over at the next picture, another mug shot, and immediately paled. Looking back up at her with a smug smile on his face was a handsome, familiar, sadistic face. Underneath the picture written in scribbles were the words:

Daniel Hartsfield.

Ryan dropped it, watching in cold silence as the picture of her step-brother floated to the sandy ground.