Yay! Chapter 4 is up. I actually wrote this earlier in the day today (in the afternoon), but I waited until now since I like to make readers have lots of anticipation. Bwahahaha. Anyway hope you enjoy and please R&R!
"Hey Sawyer," Charlie shouted, waving down Sawyer from about ten feet away. Sawyer turned around, about to say something mean, but realized who it was and didn't.
"Hey Checkers, ya back for more already," the southerner commented, smiling stupidly at the other.
"Yeah, I came up with a plan, I think if we-," he started, but abruptly stopped as Sawyer began to make a cutting motion to his own throat. Raising an eyebrow, he began to say something, but didn't, his eyes landing on Jack a few feet away.
"Oh."
"Come on Checkers- let's go play some poker in my tent," Sawyer said, eyeing the doctor suspiciously. He nodded and started heading towards his tent, waiting for Charlie to follow. Charlie quickly headed after him, doing a double take of Jack's position before sighing. Boy that was a close one.
Sawyer approached his tent and opened the flap, gesturing for Charlie to enter.
"Come on into Sawyer's Hotel-rama. It'll be $400 a night son," Sawyer joked, chuckling to himself.
Smirking, Charlie didn't say anything and stepped inside. The inside of the other's tent looked fairly clean for a "beach front" bachelor pad, resembling the inside of a tent in one of those Sear's catalogs. He glanced around, seeing books lined against the tent walls, surprised to find so many. He knew Sawyer had salvaged quite a collection, but he didn't know his collection consisted of over twenty books.
Next to the books, bags and bags of stolen goods (courtesy of the survivors) lay opened. The bags had everything from clothes to CD players in them, and Charlie grinned. If Sawyer had so much stuff, he wouldn't mind if he took a few things, would he? Leaning over to pick up a shiny necklace, he began to put it on.
"Hey hey, put away those sticky fingers. You ain't takin' nothin'," Sawyer belt out, now inside the tent. He narrowed his eyes at the blond, giving him a nonverbal warning. Charlie sighed, putting the necklace back and sat down on a blanket. It really stunk how Sawyer didn't and wouldn't share.
"You like the place," Sawyer asked, flipping through his recent book to find the page he was at.
"Yeah, it's alright man. You have so much bloody stuff. Why the hell do you still have all this," Charlie replied as he curled his legs up to his chin.
"Cause I found em'. You know my policy- finders keepers, losers weepers." Now with his eyes glued to his book, Sawyer began to read, as if Charlie wasn't even there.
Charlie watched Sawyer read his eyes back to wandering the place. Touching the nail marks he had made with in a bout of anger in the jungle, he wondered if the other had any of his stuff, but didn't get up to look. He hadn't come here for luggage anyway.
"Alright man… hey, you listenin'," he began, seeing that Sawyer was still reading.
"Of course I'm listenin' Chuckles. Doncha know that I'm the best multitasker in the world," Sawyer said in response, leaning over to grab a pair of reading glasses he had taken as well. He had several pairs of reading glasses, but this pair had leopard print.
"Okay... I think I know what we're going to do. You know how there's a locked room in the hatch," he asked, still staring at the baggage in Sawyer's tent.
"Yeah... hold onto that thought Checkers, I'm gettin' to the good part," Sawyer interrupted, raising the book closer to his face. He smiled with not so secret glee as he read over a couple of paragraphs, finally turning the page.
"Look, if you're not going to take me seriously, I'm out of here," Charlie growled, already annoyed that Sawyer paid more attention to the book than him. He should have known Sawyer would act as though his plan wasn't important.
"Don't get your panties in a bunch Checkers, can't a man read his book for a second," Sawyer said back, his eyes gleaming with amusement. Understanding that Charlie's threat to leave seemed real enough, he folded down the corner of his current page and closed the book.
"Alrighty then, what's this about the holy hatch," the southerner asked, cocking his eyebrow as he put the book into a green backpack.
"Okay, so there's a safe in it right. I know that only Jack and Locke know the combination, so how about you find out what it is? Then, after you find out what it is- you can make up a lie about Locke and tell it to Jack, and then leave the changed combination where Jack would only find it. Then, because of the horrible lie you told him about Locke, Jack wouldn't trust him anymore and not let Locke into it," Charlie finished, waving his hands about in excitement. If they could make this work, then Locke would really feel left out and powerless.
"Why the hell should I give the combination to ol' Jack-o? He don't deserve to think that he's a king or somethin', with being the only one with the numbers," Sawyer retorted back, a flash of anger and resentment flickering across his face when he mentioned Jack's nickname.
"Well, because then Locke wouldn't be able to get into the locked room because Jack wouldn't trust him," Charlie repeated, thinking that Sawyer didn't understand.
"Checkers, even if I did that, what would I get out of it? I don't even think the Doc would trust what I'd tell him about Locke anyway." He shook his head, not liking the plan.
"Oh yeah...," Charlie said in a disappointed voice, forgetting how Sawyer wanted something out of it. He needed to figure out what to give him in the first place for helping him... but what?
"I got a better idea Checkers, how bout I find out the combination, not change it- but take somethin' out of it," Sawyer suggested, lighting a cigarette as he smoke.
"Yeah, but what? I don't know what Locke values that is in there..," he mumbled, the hopeless feeling once again washing over him. What if all of this had been for nothing?
"Wait a tick, Mr. Clean and The Good Saint put the guns in the room. I could go in there and take em'. Then neither one of them would have em'," Sawyer said with a satisfied look on his face, envisioning the look on Jack's face when neither one of them could find the guns.
"Yeah! Good idea mate," Charlie almost shouted with a grin, having to contain his excitement. He certainly didn't want anyone to hear him in there. Then people would begin to talk...
"And I know just what you can give me in return for my services. The guns," Sawyer said, knowing that Charlie would probably agree to let him keep them. Besides, it wasn't like he wanted to have them
for any other reason other than the simple fact of adding them to his stash of goods.
"The guns? Why the hell-," he started, but decided to just agree, needing Sawyer to help him on his. "Fine, just don't be stupid with them," he finished, not wanting to know that he was the reason Sawyer went out in the jungle trying to kill every single boar just for the hell of it. He remembered the whole boar incident, what with Kate telling him one time, and didn't want something worse than that to happen.
"Stupid? Oh Checkers, don't be mean. That's my job. I'll be the best keeper of the guns on this hunk of rock you've ever seen," Sawyer said, stretching out his back by twisting his torso back and forth.
"Right. Anyway, how are you going to do that? Isn't someone always on hatch duty every bloody hour of the day," he asked, not seeing how the other would pull this off.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head. Sawyer's got it all under control," the southerner said quietly, winking at Charlie before reaching back into his backpack for his book.
"Yeah? How," Charlie asked, signs of anticipation written all over his body language.
"Shh. I got an adventure to get back to," he said, tapping the book with his finger, "but I'll tell ya after I finish." Going back to his reading, he put his reading glasses back on, a cheeky smile on his face as he read.
"Finish? When will that be? Oh nevermind, I'll just come back at sundown. Will ya be finished then?"
"Sure. I'll even bring some flowers for ya too," Sawyer joked, finding it funny that Charlie wanted to find out so soon. "Meet me in front of your little sandy home. I'll be there," he finished, cueing Charlie to exit with a wave of his hand.
Nodding, Charlie exited the tent, his mind trying to come up with the answer to his question. Would Sawyer distract his hatch duty partner and do it then? Would he drug both Locke and Jack while they were on hatch duty and sneak in?
About to reach his sand hill, Charlie came up with even more possibilities, his mind racing like crazy. He began to go up it, catching site of Locke once again. Grinning mischievously to himself, he let the rage course through him once again, feeling pleasure from the rush.
Locke would pay big time.