For a few seconds Kate failed to recognise the face revealed to her in the flashlight's beam, scrunched up against the sudden light. But as reason overcame adrenaline, and her eyes focused in the brightness, she almost dropped the flashlight in shock.

"Sawyer!"

Sawyer, pinned beneath her knife helplessly, had evidently not recognised her yet either.

"What the..Kate? Jesus Christ", he muttered.

Kate's fear was rapidly being replaced by rage and indignation. Her heart was still hammering like crazy; he had scared her badly, and that made her furious.

"Just what the HELL do you think you're doing, following me like that? Are you crazy?" she yelled, her face close to his.

Sawyer couldn't see too well from where he was, as the light was shone at him, but he could see her eyes were narrowed in a furious glare, and her tangled hair fell over her face. He could tell she was breathing heavily; good, she had dammed near killed him of shock, jumping him like that.

"I'm crazy? Oh that's a good one Sassafrass. And just who exactly is the one sneakin round in the middle of the night, jumpin on people from trees like a damn…tiger?"

Sawyer scowled, well aware that hadn't sounded quite as fearsome as he had intended. Sawyer's indignation penetrated Kate's rage, and she smiled a little.

"I didn't jump from a tree, I was hid behind it. And tigers don't have knives",

She grinned; then realised that she still had the knife to Sawyer's throat. She pulled it back apologetically, sitting up a little. Sawyer relaxed slightly, and reached up to rub his throat where the knife tip had dug in. Seeing him wince, she felt bad; lowering the flashlight she reached her hand over to his throat and touched the spot gently, concerned; a small smear of blood came away on her fingertips, but no more. She looked up at him, grimacing.

"Sorry. But you scared the shit out of me. I though you were maybe that crazy guy again". She shivered slightly, and Sawyer's expression softened.

"Hey, no worries Freckles, if I have to get stuck with a knife to get you on top of me, so be it", he grinned his trademark dirty smirk, making Kate roll her eyes and smile. She wondered briefly why she let Sawyer get away with such disgusting, sexist remarks all the time, even found them funny sometimes, when with any other guy she'd break their nose. Then she reasoned he had paid for it by being jumped on by a "tiger". All the same, Kate became suddenly aware that she was indeed straddling Sawyer's body, her thighs pressed against his sides. She rolled off him, letting him sit up with a groan. The pair of them sat in silence for a few minutes, each trying to catch their breath and recover; each trying the preserve the illusion that they hadn't scared each other half to death. Sawyer was the first to break the silence,

"So what's a pretty tiger like you doin in a place like this?" he drawled. Kate smiled, playing along.

"Oh, us tigers get pretty hot in this kind of weather". She hesitated for a moment, debating whether to let Sawyer in on her secret. Truth be told, she was still a little unnerved and didn't relish the idea of carrying on alone though the jungle. She looked at him.

"Sawyer, you remember the lake we found, when we went swimming?"

"Ah the lovely Lake o' Corpses, how could I forget sweetcheeks?" He quipped, but a shadow fell over his face, and they both remembered how finding the dead bodies, and the suitcase, had shattered the closeness that had been developing between them. Sawyer forced cheerfulness back,

"So what, tigers are that short of food they gotta go fishin for dead people?"

"Nope, tigers find secret places to go swimming" Kate answered. "I found this place, it's like a secret beach. I was so hot, I thought.."

"So you got a secret beach now? Who are you, Leonardo DiCaprio?" Sawyer scowled, obviously jealous.

"Don't sulk", smiled Kate, "I only found it yesterday. I was gonna tell everyone but…well its no use for fishing really, so I thought.." she tailed off, a little sheepish. "Well, d'you want to come or what?" Sawyer hesitated for a moment, then saw that behind her apparent briskness, there was a shadow of pleading in her eyes. Anyhow, he wasn't too desperate to leave her here on her own, where there might be bigger tigers than her.

"Lead the way, Sassafrass", he drawled.