Chapter 87

Sawyer sat on the edge of the stone pool, eyeing the door with an intense stare; Kate had insisted on going to get them some food since Sawyer didn't seem to be able to produce it like water. "Some special one you are, Tex," she teased. "Can't even conjure up some bread and butter."

"All you're gonna conjure up is some more fruit, Freckles, so don't act like such a hero." He grinned at the nasty look she threw him, and said, "Be careful. Go with her, Vincent." They left together, stepping out into the bright afternoon sun; after sleeping for a few hours, wrapped up together in peace they were renewed, their batteries charged and ready to run.

He was glad they were gone, kind of, though he missed her physical presence; his head was swimming and Kate was too much of a distraction for him to contemplate clearly and put his thoughts in order. He perched on the stone ledge around the pool and dropped his head in his hands, running them through his hair. Locke would come for Kate again, he was sure, or someone would; they probably already knew she wasn't dead so he didn't want to count on that.

Eko had said to use all of his abilities; he tried to sort out what he meant by that. There was the telekinesis, of course, he knew how that worked, then there was the lightning, and he was pretty sure he had a good grasp on that too. The healing he had down; he'd been getting enough practice at it lately. The water he wasn't sure of; maybe they weren't supposed to drink the water here or something; he made a mental note to ask Vincent about it later. Which led to the other power, talking to animals. He could talk to all of them, but some wouldn't respond; mostly the little creatures came to him, chittering and chirping. He supposed he could ask them to keep watch and spy on the others, and he added that to his list of things to talk to Vincent about.

There was something else he wanted to talk to the dog about but he pushed that aside; he didn't want to think about it now, not when he felt so alive and complete.

Kotori came fluttering in, lighting on Sawyer's shoulder and chittering madly; Kate and Vincent came in behind him, breathless and glowing. Kate went to Sawyer and kissed him, hard; physical excercise always got her libido flowing a little. She pulled some fruit out of her bag and handed it to him, and he sighed, though not too heavily; since realizing the animals could talk he had been a little reluctant to actually eat any of them.

Eyeing the fruit with dismay he said, "I love you, Freckles, but if someone came up right now and offered me a hamburger for you, I believe I'd take the cow."

She glared at him, mockingly, and said through tight lips, "I hope for your sake you were talking about the burger."

He chuckled and said, "Yep, baby, I'd turn you over for a quarter pound of beef."

"That's all I'm worth to you? A hamburger?" She crossed her arms, grinning at him.

He shook his head and said softly, "Of course not, Freckles." He looked deep into her eyes, taking her hand. "I'd make 'em put cheese on it."

She burst out laughing and jerked her hand out of his, shoving him away. "You're such an ass."

He grinned and said, "I can't deny it; I am indeed." He narrowed his eyes and said gleefully, "Now why don't you kiss me?"

Kate snorted with laughter and he leaned forward, his eyes closed and lips puckered comically; she splayed her hand across his face and shoved him away, giggling. "Eat your fruit, Mule, and lets decide what we're going to do now."

He sighed and cut off a piece of mango, listlessly; holding it in his fingers he wished it was a steak, wished with all of his might and he opened his eyes to see Kate looking at him, quizzically, as he held a squished piece of mango in his fingers. "Just tryin' something," he mumbled, and she grinned and snorted again. He popped the mango into his mouth, and grimaced. He hated mangoes, now and forever.

Vincent was lying quietly on the floor, watching them as they both plopped down on the stone basin, eating their fruit in silence. He woofed at Sawyer, who said, "Kotori said they were heading to the Eagle hatch."He glanced at the little owl, perched on Kate's shoulder, and he smiled. "Apparently we have an unlikely ally."

Kate glanced at him, questioningly. "Really? Who?"

Sawyer smiled lazily, stretching out the moment to get back at her for not kissing him. "The Doc's ex. She's been listening in on their conversations and she told Hootie everything they said."

Kate looked a little dubious. "Are you sure we can trust her? I mean she is Jack's ex, there's a connection there-"

Sawyer cut her off. "The key word there is 'ex'. The woman obviously has some intelligence and she's been spending time with Jack, Ana, and Locke. We probably seem heavenly to her."

Kate couldn't disagree with that; Sara was probably losing her mind with them. She turned to Kotori, suddenly. "How was she? Did she seem okay?" He chirped and whistled and Kate looked to Sawyer for translation.

"She's okay, exhausted and freaked out mainly. He said the others were practically ignoring her." Vincent woofed suddenly, and Kotori chittered back at him for a second. "Yeah, they still think she's dead. I don't know how long that will last though." He glanced at Vincent and said, "So, where do we go?"

Kate glanced sharply at him and he smiled back, reassuringly; she knew he was keeping something from her, though she held her tongue for the moment.

Vincent sat up and stared Sawyer in the eyes, his face as serious as a dog's can be. He woofed twice, the growled a little. "Keep your friends close...I know the saying, but what does that mean?" Vincent chuffed and laid down, obviously ending the conversation. "Are you channeling Eko, you cryptic son of a bitch? Why does everything have to be a friggin' riddle?"

Kate said, "It means we go to them." Vincent chuffed in agreement and she shrugged. "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer." She glanced up from Vincent and said, "No offense, Vincent. Why are you asking him, James?"

Sighing, he draped his arms around her and said, "I dreamed about Ed. He said that Vincent would show us the way."

She knew he'd been holding out. "What else did he say?"

"Not to believe everything Vincent says." The dog in question lifted his head and growled softly; Sawyer said, "I think he meant your dream, Kate."

She nodded, relieved a little; she couldn't get the idea of him dying out of her mind; it ran over thousands of ways it could happen, even when she pushed it to the back of her mind it was there, waiting for the right moment to pop out. Vincent was looking at her, eyebrows raised, and she said, "Yes, I dreamed about you, but don't get excited. It was more of a nightmare." He woofed softly and padded over to lick her hand.

Sawyer smiled at him and scratched his ears as Vincent laid his head in Kate's lap, looking up at her with his deep, muddy eyes; he growled, softly, the vibrations from his throat shaking against her legs as Sawyer's other hand slid beneath her shirt, rubbing lazy, soothing circles on her back. "He didn't visit your dreams last night," he said softly, "and you shouldn't worry about it anymore."

Vincent's low rumbling growl and Sawyer's warm fingers were almost hypnotic; she relaxed a little, leaning into his hands, and said, "I won't. I trust you," she was looking at Vincent but her words were aimed at Sawyer, and he nodded, pulling her into a hug.

"I am never gonna leave you, Kate," he murmured, kissing her neck and sliding his hand over her stomach, where he splayed out his fingers, feeling the delicious warmth and life radiating from her. "I will always be here."

-----

"I found it!" Ana's voice cut through Sara's sleep like a knife; she groaned and raised her head, staring around in bewilderment for a second before she remembered the crash and everything else. Her muscles screamed in protest as she tried to sit up; someone had laid her down next to the tree she had dozed off against and put a pack under her head as a pillow, so her neck was okay, but every other muscle in her body was on fire.

Groaning a little, she managed to get upright, but doing so sapped her energy and she rested her chin on her knees, watching Locke and Jack run to help Ana, who had apparently found something. The aching faded a little as she focused on the three as they cleared away some vines and brush from a large pile of boulders where the plateau met the cliff base; as Jack moved aside she could see that there was a cave-like opening in the stone and Locke disappeared into it, followed quickly by Jack and Ana.

"Don't worry about me," she muttered to herself, and taking a deep breath she heaved herself up onto her feet, groaning and shaking a little as she put her hand out and grabbed the scrawny tree to keep her balance. The world wavered a little and she stopped, trying to focus; she took a deep breath and the ground stabilized again, and she let go of the tree, her disgust at Jack growing. She hollered at the cave, "I'm just fine, thanks!" and shook her head angrily. What a bunch of assholes.

She took a tenative step, grunting a little as her legs shook, but she made it and she took another step, and another, and stretching, slowly and painfully, she sighed and followed them into the cave.

It was dark and it took her eyes a minute to adjust to the dim light; she stood a few feet in, her fingers resting lightly on the cool stone walls; she began to walk forward, slowly, keeping her fingers in contact with the rough stone as it grew darker and darker; minutes passed and she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. Keeping one hand on the wall, she held the other out in front of her, waving it blindly and wishing she had a flashlight. She heard a noise and as she stared into the darkness a light flared on, blinding her a little; she stepped back, almost tripping but a hand caught her wrist and pulled her up; Jack smiled at her from the light, and he said, "I was just coming to check on you. Are you okay?"

She nodded, her heart pounding wildly at the fright he'd given her when he opened the door and she pulled her hand gently from his grasp. "Thanks. I'm fine, just a little sore." He hadn't been coming to check on her, she was sure. "Is this the hatch John was looking for?"

Jack nodded, still silhouetted in the light; he stood aside so she could go through the door. "Go on in. John and Ana are there. I'll be back in a minute." He smiled at her, then pulled the door shut behind him as he left.

It was like being in a cave; it was circular and small, the walls were stone and carved out of the mountain; water seeped in in places and it had a cool, dank feel to it. She did some quick calculations and figured they were about a half-mile into the cliffside; the top of the huge mountain was directly above them. The floors were stone and they sloped downward gently from the center; she could see little drains set into the corners; she supposed that was to keep the seeping water from becoming a problem, though there wasn't anything in the room except for a ladder that stretched up into a hole in the ceiling.

Sara went to it, resting her hands on the rungs and gazing up into the dark hole with despair; her legs groaned as she lifted the first one and put it on the rung, heaving herself up; she closed her eyes against the distance she had to go and began climbing steadily.

Her body was screaming and her arms and legs shaking so badly that she was afraid she was going to fall; she glanced down and gripped the ladder as hard as she could, taking a deep breath. Sighing, she glanced up and was surprised to see a gray light shining close to her eyes; she wrapped one arm around the rung and reached with the other, her fingers meeting cool steel; as her eyes adjusted she realized it was a hatch door, cracked open, and she pushed up, grunting with pain and effort

It finally flipped open and clanged to the ground; as she rested from her exertion, panting as she clung to the ladder, John's face appeared over the rim of the hatch and he smiled, offering Sara his hand, "We didn't expect you so soon. Did you have a good nap?"

She took his hand, and had to force herself to stop from recoiling from his touch; her skin tingled unpleasantly where it touched his, and as he helped her out she smiled and pulled her hand away as soon as she could. "Thanks." She noticed a chair next to her and she sat, shakily, her poor battered body still screaming for rest. "How long did I sleep?"

Locke smiled kindly at her; she had to be exhausted and sore. "About twenty minutes," he sounded almost apologetic. "But as I promised, a shower and a bed." He waved his hand and Sara took a good look for the first time; they were inside the mountain, like inside of a volcanic crater; they could see the sky above them, blazing bright blue, and Sara realized that it was glassed in. It was huge, too, about half the size of a football field; one side was taken up with banks of blinking computers and flashing televisions and she noticed that one of the computers was on, with a long line of green charecters scrolling down it as Ana played around with the keyboard. Suddenly she stopped and said, tersely, "Locke."

He ran to her, and Sara rose painfully from the chair and followed him to the computer. Ana was pointing to a line on the computer, she read it, aloud. "Oceanic 815. 9/2004." They all stared at each other for a second, then Ana tapped the execute button.

The screen went blank and Ana gasped; shit, she thought, what did I do? But then it flickered back on, only it was a picture, like a grainy surveillance video. A plane appeared, cruising through the sky; Sara could see the familiar Oceanic logo on the tail; as they stared at the screen three long, smoky tendrils snaked from the bottom of the picture and wrapped themselves aorund the plane. Suddenly the smoke contracted and the plane snapped into three pieces; Ana choked as people and baggage and pieces of plane dropped out and out of the picture. The tendrils broke apart and each one wrapped around the pieces of plane and vanished, leaving a blank screen. After a second it flickered back to the green lettered list, their flight still highlighted.

Ana felt sick; experiencing the flight itself was bad enough, but to see it like that, with the smoke ripping the plane to pieces before it snapped them into the...well, wherever the hell they were, it was shocking. She looked at Locke; he was smiling, and it made her stomach curdle. He was evil, and she didn't trust him, but he was the only way she was going to get what she wanted.

Sara was green; she wobbled and John pulled up a nearby chair, helping her into it. "Ana," he said, motioning towards Sara, "Why don't you help Sara get a shower and get her into bed? She's about to fall over as it is."

Ana cracked a smile. "Sure," she said, "I'll bet you are tired. Sorry, sometimes we just get distracted." Sara smiled weakly, hoping Ana would mistake her disgust for exhaustion; it seemed she did as she helped her to her feet, leading her to a set of stone stairs on the opposite end of the room.

Halfway up the stairs a wailing alarm went off and an automated voice said, "Incoming detected. Scanning." Sara jerked her head up, and stared back down the stairs. "What is that?"

Ana shook her head, pulling Sara gently up to the landing. "You don't want to know." She met Sara's eyes and grinned. "Trust me."