Chapter 120
They didn't stay long in the Space room; they dressed quickly when they were done, afraid, now that the initial need was spent, that Locke and Hanso would walk in on them. Jack took her hand, smiling, and led her out into the courtyard, their eyes watering a little as they adjusted to the bright midday sun; he said, "You're beautiful."

Ana wasn't good at handling such frank compliments; they unnerved her a little and she looked away, as she replied, "Thanks."

Jack could tell she was embarrassed and he smiled to himself, pulling her into his arms as he said, "You are, Ana." he brushed his fingers along her cheek and she met his eyes, almost shyly. "I wish I would have come back to you. On the plane. I wish every day that I was with you when we crashed." He kissed her, softly. "I'm sorry I waited too long."

She smiled, brushing her knuckles against his stubbly cheek. "It worked out okay, Jack. We're here now, right?" He put his forehead to hers, grinning as Hanso and Locke came out, rolling their eyes at them.

"Hey, Jack," Hanso said, coming up to the two of them, "Why don't you show Ana around?" He handed him a swipe card, grinning. "We'll see you at dusk."

Locke cast jack a smug look before following Hanso across the courtyard into the Math room. As the door shut behind them Jack took Ana's hand and said, "Wanna tour? It's actually pretty interesting stuff."

She nodded; she wanted nothing more than to learn what the hell this place was, and as Jack led her towards the Magnets he explained everything Hanso had filled him in on, how the magnets controlled the tesseract and how they used it to go to other worlds, the armies, the drug and its effects, everything. Her head was spinning as she digested it all and after a few hours and a complete tour she was ready to sit quietly and think. Jack led her to one of the benches and sat next to her, putting his arm around her shoulder and drawing her close to him; she didn't resist, though she was still a little angry with him things had worked out well enough that she could forgive him for what he did. And she loved him. She still didn't know why, what it was that attracted her to him so strongly, made her so weak in the knees when he touched her, but it was there and she couldn't fight it. She didn't want to fight it.

Then there was the angel thing; she felt guilty keeping it from him, especially since he had just opened up to her about everything going on here, but the truth was she wasn't sure if it was real or not; if it was just something she had hallucinated before Sawyer healed her, maybe. She knew, though, deep down, that is was true, and it scared the sht out of her so she pushed it aside, choosing instead to concentrate on Jack, his arm around her, his chest beneath her cheek; Maybe I am an angel, she thought, as she caressed him idly, dragging her fingers up and down his arm, making goosebumps pop up, maybe this is heaven right now.

The middle door, the door to the Tesseration Chamber opened and Locke and Hanso came out, grinning broadly as Alvar barred the door and they ame down the stone steps, laughing and chatting animatedly. Ana rolled her eyes. Guess not.

Locke spotted Jack and made a beeline for him as Ana sighed and lifted her head from its comfortable position, glaring slightly at John as he said, "Hello, Casanova. Had a busy day?" He leered at Ana and Jack stiffened, glaring at John warningly; Locke stepped back as his eyes met Ana's, holding them and he smiled at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he looked up at the just barely darkening sky and he said, "You almost ready Jack? Dusk." He waved his hand at the sky and Jack nodded.

"Just a few more minutes." In just a few minutes he was going to be a different person and he wanted to have just a little bit longer with Ana as he was now; there was no telling what the injection would do to him emotionally, and he wanted to love her now, while he knew he could.

Hanso nodded, seeing Jack's hand slide possessively over Ana's. "Okay. We'll be waiting." He motioned to the medical ward and with a last smile he and Locke headed that way.

Ana didn't want to ask him outright; it had hit her like a stone what he was planning and it scared her a little, though she had to admit, after what he told her about the powers of the serum she wasn't sure if it was so bad after all. "What are you doing, Jack?"

He didn't answer for a second; he wasn't thrilled about it, about what he was doing but he didn't have a choice, really, if he wanted Ana, to keep her, he had to do what was necessary. The Island owned him, it had given him what he wanted all along and hadn't known it. He thought he wanted to not be like his father and that was something that he wanted, but deep in his heart he'd really wanted this; love, and happiness. "I'm...I'm doing what I have to, for us."

"And what is that, Jack?" It was frightening her and so she turned it to anger, snapping at him, "Why are you trying to hide it, do you think I'm an idiot?"

He tensed and looked sad as she drew away, standing and crossing her arms as she glared at him. "No, Ana," he said, softly, "I didn't want you to worry."

"Bullshit, Jack, you didn't want me to stop you." She froze suddenly, her heart dropping as she realized something, something that had been nagging at her all afternoon. "You're still going to kill her, aren't you? Kate?"

Jack looked away, grimacing. Kate, always Kate. With sudden insight he realized exactly why his infatuation with her had pissed Ana off so much; it was damn annoying. "Yes, Ana."

She closed her eyes, feeling sick. "You know how I feel about that." She opened her eyes and looked into Jack's, holding them sadly. "You know how I'll feel about you."

He stood, grabbing her by the shoulders as he said, "Ana, please, I don't want to, okay? But I want you more and it's something I have to do." He paused, trying to read her face. "I love you, and I know you don't want me to say it but I'm doing it for you. For us." His voice was pleading and her resolve and determination to hate him crumbled at the soft supplication in his eyes and she didn't stop him when his arms enfolded her, drawing her in as he said, "I promise, Ana I will do everything I can not to hurt her, okay? I promise that for you." His lips found hers, sealing the promise with a kiss.

They stood together for a minute, holding each other close as the sun began sinking slowly and long shadows began creeping across the coutrtyard and by the time Jack pulled away and headed for the ward the shadow had swallowed them both.

----

Kate and Sawyer stayed in the little glade until the sun started to go down; Kate felt a little guilty about leaving Sara alone for so long but she trusted that she would understand, and she couldn't bear to leave, to go back to ugly reality with its death and sorrow; here in the glade they were happy, living a fantasy life where there were no problems, no troubles, they were just Kate and James, the happy couple expecting their first child, and for those few hours Kate had a taste of what her life would have been like had she not killed Wayne, if she had just gone on to live a regular life, a quiet, sedate life, and it was nice, it was so easy. She wondered if she would ever really have it, if she would ever find this kind of peace and tranquility again.

She found some fruit and they picnicked on the rock, sitting crosslegged across from each other, knees touching, and the meager lunch spread out on the warm stone; Sawyer fed her pieces of mango while she tried to guess what they tasted like as he changed them; they washed their sticky hands in the stream and horsed around in the shallows, splashing each other before he tackled her, sending them both spluttering into the deeper channel before he remembered and paled. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to-"

"James," she laughed, pushing her sopping hair from her face, "I'm not made of glass. I can still take a little bit of danger."

He grinned, his hair dripping into his face and kissed her, sweetly, before sweeping her legs out from under her and dunking her in the channel again.

They made love again after their frolic in the creek, softer and easier, and as they lay on the rock, their sweat drying in the bare breeze Sawyer rested his hand on her belly, staring at it with awe, then at her; she flushed a little under his gaze and he grinned. "What's the matter, Freckles?"

"Nothing." She tried to look angry but a smile kept sneaking up on her. "You're staring."

He eyed her cockily. "Well, Sweetheart, you're naked. Where else would I be lookin'?"

She rolled her eyes and chuckled as he nuzzled her neck; the sun was getting low in the sky and the shadows were creeping longer and longer and Kate sighed, finally, and rose from the rock, reluctantly pulling on her clothes. Sawyer watched her, the ease and simplicity of her movements bewitched him as she bent to tie her shoes, her hair falling in a curtain around her face, the muscles in her bare arms flexing as she moved them, the taut muscles of her stomach as she stood and her tank top rode up a little; he stood quickly and drew on his own clothes before things got out of hand.

Kate noticed and smiled to herself. "Afraid I might see something, Bunny?"

His fingers were busy buttoning his jeans as he retorted, "I believe you've seen it already, Freckles. A real good look, if I remember correctly."

She rolled her eyes, laughing. "You're a pig, Sawyer."

He clutched his heart, looking hurt. "Surely I didn't deserve that." His smile faded just a little as he said, "I killed him, Kate."

She stopped in the middle of pulling her hair up into a knot, her hands still twisted in it as she said, "What?"

He pulled his shirt on over his head and folded down the collar. "He was the one who shot Vincent. They set us up, knowing I'd leave you with Sara to go after him." He grinned, a little embarrassed as he said, "I was leaving, Kate, I swear, I was turned around, going back and he called you a whore." He averted his eyes, and finished, "I...uh...you know." He wiggled his fingers, smiling apologetically.

She was staring at him, nodding and smiling herself, though it was a shock at first; she realized that it hadn't mattered because he had let Frank go already, his power over him was gone. "So," she said, "Sawyer no more. I guess I'll have to come up with a new name for you when you're a disgusting pig." She finished with her hair and reached for her water bottle, taking a drink.

He lifted his eyebrows and said with glee, "You could call me Jack." She choked on the swallow of water she had taken and he frowned as the words left his mouth. "I don't believe I just said that."

Her eyes were watering and she was gasping for air as she snorted, "Do you think I'm crazy?" She finally caught her breath and she stood straight, her eyes red and puffy.

"Right, right, " Sawyer said, nodding sagely."Jack would be for when I'm a sanctimonious asshole."

Kate snorted again, making her eyes water and she wiped her hand across them, and he couldn't resist her; he took her in his arms and kissed her wet eyes, as she giggled slightly. "Well, so it stays Sawyer for now. Until I can come up with a better one." She shook her head at him. "Somehow I don't think I will. It's weird, I call you James, and it's natural, I don't even think about it anymore, but when I think about you, when my mind is mulling you over you're always Sawyer." She sighed against his shirt, her giggles gone. "I guess you will always be him, a little."

He squeezed her, grinning as his chin rested on top of her head. "You love the Sawyer, baby. All the women do. Like I said, bad boys." He pulled back, looking into her eyes. "I'll always be Sawyer, Kate, he just won't own me. Besides, you'd be bored silly with just James in a day."

Kate turned her lips to his chest, her warm breath burning him through the cloth as she slid her hands beneath it, pulling it up so she could kiss the downy hairs that trailed down from his navel; he groaned as she reached the button of his jeans, her breath scorching him, and she glanced up, beaming wickedly before dropping his shirt and saying, "Two days, tops."

She grinned and stepped away as he struggled to regain himself, growling, "Tease."

The sun was almost down completely and they still didn't want to leave; he pulled her to him, kissing her tenderly, lovingly, without haste or lust; as darkness fell she sighed, pulling away reluctantly. "We have to go back, James," she teased lightly, "Sara is alone."

He didn't bother to point out that she was friggin' angel; he was kind of touched by Kate's concern for Sara, though it struck him that she may have wanted it more for her own safety than Sara's. "I ain't protection enough for you, Kate?"

He sounded hurt and she looked at him, tenderly. "James, you're all I need, baby." Her eyes met his and he smiled, relieved and...fulfilled. "But an angel doesn't hurt."

He rolled his head and lunged at her, fingers curled into claws to tickle her but he froze as Ana came out of the jungle, gun drawn and pointed at Kate's back.