Chapter 127
Sara spent some time exploring the hatch while Kate and Sawyer were...occupied upstairs; curiosity had been eating at her when they were here the first time but she hadn't wanted to explore while Locke and everyone else was around. Now she had everything but the bedroom to herself and she began poring through every cabinet and cubbyhole she could find, seeking out the hideyholes; being a teacher made her almost as good as a cop and finding illicit hiding places.

There wasn't much to find, though, and as her enthusiasm waned after only scaring up a couple of books, Beginner's Guide to Backgammon and The Return of the King. Holding Return of the King in her hand and flipping through it she wonderd idly of the other two parts were floating around somewhere on the Island, since it didn't make much sense to only have the last book of the trilogy; then again, what around here made sense? That thought led her to Ana and Jack and she wondered how they were doing; she was especially concerned for Ana because she was going to fall, she was going to side with the devil and so much more than her soul was in the balance.

She didn't really blame Ana, because her actions weren't the product of a completely rational mind, she loved Jack and that was where her loyalties lay; after all, righteousness was all relative and she knew from experience how easy it had been to rationalize the things Jack said and did when she loved him, how she could always find a way to make an excuse, or wave away his lack of attention, and then when she found attention elsewhere it was just as easy to rationalize her own actions, make excuses for her betrayal, her fall. Love is the most complex of the evils and beauties of man, she thought, and understanding for Ana's position increased her worry because she knew how easy it was, how simple to give up anything for the man she loved, and Ana would. She already had.

Jack would be coming to kill Kate, and by doing so, kill Sawyer and she wasn't going to let it happen; they were good, they were beams of sunlight in a jungle of darkness and Jack was a rainstorm, a violent, ripping, crashing thunderstorm that threatened to block out the sun, to cast everything into the dark void. Like any storm he would pass, leaving devastation in his wake, but the sun would always come out again, eventually; the Son would always come out again, eventually, and cast his light around the jungle. And so the cycle would continue, the same game, the same plays...the only difference was a new line-up, a new roster of players to feed into the destiny machine.

She was giving up on the exploration, about to sit in the recliner and read a little more when she dropped the backgammon book on the floor and it fell open. A large section of the book had been removed from the center and inside of the hole was a small leather pouch; she took it out and shook the contents out into her hand. Two polished, smooth stones slipped out; black and white, and she looked at them curiously for a few seconds, then shrugged and slipped them back into the pouch, putting the pouch back into the book. She carried all three over to the recliner, and opening up Owl Creek Bridge, she started reading again, losing herself in the words as the sun passed overhead and headed back towards the horizon.

-----

Kate slipped out of the bed after Sawyer dozed off again and headed into the bathroom to get their sopping clothes up and wring them out and turn off the shower; she smiled guiltily at the thought of leaving it running for so long. Their clothes were soaked and dripping and she wrung them out, slowly, enjoying the activity because it gave her that domestic, normal feeling, like she and Sawyer were just two regular people, leading regular, uninteresting lives, though she knew that would never really be the case; with her and Sawyer around nothing could ever be ordinary or boring, trouble followed them wherever they went.

She could just glimpse him through the doorway, since she had gotten up he had spread out over the bed and the sheets were all rumpled and twisted around him, and she giggled because it almost looked like he was wearing a toga, like he was Hercule-

The thought stopped her cold and she dropped the pair of jeans she was twisting the water out of back on the floor as she hurried out and pulled the sheets around, rearranging them so that he was completely covered, trying to push his dream out of her head because she was happy, right now, and she didn't want to spoil it by worrying about the future, just for a few minutes. Satisfied with the arrangement, she started to go back to wringing out the clothes when Sawyer's hand closed around hers and he pulled her back to the bed, drawing her down next to him; her fingers went to his smooth, clean cheeks as she smiled into his blue eyes and he shivered at her chilly fingers. "Your hands are cold."

"I was trying to dry out our clothes."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Don't bother, 'cause you ain't puttin' 'em back on." He kissed her, pulling her down so they lay facing each other on the bed; his hand rested lightly on the dip of her waist, feeling her warmth beneath his hand and he turned suddenly serious as he said, "Are you okay, Kate? Really okay? We can stay here tonight, we'll be safe."

The urge to get to the chapel had lessened considerably and Kate figured she must have been exhausted to the state of paranoia and she nodded, cupping her hand against his sleek chin as she whispered, "Yeah. I am still a little tired." His hand slipped between them and she could feel his rough touch on her stomach and peace flooded through her, making her forget all of their problems, all of their troubles, at this moment, this instant in time it was just the three of them; James, Kate, and Joshua, and she had a vision of how they could be, how she wanted them to be, but she couldn't find a place for them, in all of the whole wide world she couldn't see a place where they fit, where they belonged other than here, in the jungle, in the wild. The image of Sawyer in a leopard-skin toga flashed through her mind, and she giggled as she pictured him swinging through the trees from vine to vine with herself behind him in skins, carrying baby Joshua in a sling over her shoulder and that made her laugh out loud; Sawyer looked at her curiously and she shook her head, laughing as the vision faded, "You don't wanna know, Tarzan."

He laughed too, though he didn't know what was so funny, and he said, "If I'm Tarzan, then I guess you're Jane. So, you a swinger, too baby?"

She burst into laughter and said, "You have no idea, sweetheart." Kissing him on the cheek she rolled out of the bed, pulling her hand from his grasp as he tried to pull her back. "Come on, James, I gotta finish the clothes. You can come help, you know."

He reclined easily on the bed, his arms behind his head and he grinned. "Nope, sweetcheeks, I think I'm just gonna watch." He motioned to the bathroom door and said, "Go on. Holler if you need any help."

"You're such a dick sometimes, you know that?" Her attempt to sound scornful was ruined by the fact that she was laughing as she said it, and he cocked his eyebrow at her again, looking pointedly down at his very much uncovered nether region and she rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she went back into the shower to resume trying to dry their clothes.

He could see her, through the door, and his grin faded as he watched her, bending and twisting a pair of jeans in her hands; she was bewitching and he fell happily under her spell, though she didn't know she was casting it, it was her body, her lithe, graceful, supple, beautiful body that was charming him, entrancing him.

The muscles in her arms rippled as she wrung the jeans out, piece by piece and she had that intense look again, the one of deep concentration where her tongue poked out between her teeth and her nose was wrinkled a a little, and he remembered that day on the beach, when she was cutting his hair and she kissed him, she kissed him on her own, and it was their first real kiss, one that she had given willingly. Suddenly the idea of a haircut didn't seem so bad after all.

She knew he was watching her, she could feel his eyes burning into her skin but she ignored it; let him have his show, he'd earned it. She finished up with the jeans and went to work on his shirt, the tan button-down that was missing the two bottom buttons; she wound it into a ball and twisted it, sending drizzles of water streaking down her arms and it was cold, she shivered, goosebumps popping out on her arms from the chill and she thought with a little embarassment that Sawyer was probably getting a better show than he bargained for.

She glanced over at the bed but he was standing in front of her, leaning casually against the doorframe, smirking as he said, "Aren't you gonna use some soap on those?"

The sodden shirt hit him square in the face and he caught it as it fell, incredulously, as Kate started laughing and trying to get by him he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close, holding her as she laughed and struggled half-heartedly against him. "Let me go," she said, panting with exertion as well as excitement, and he did, but as she passed him, going into the bedroom he snapped the shirt like a towel, catching her on the rump with a sharp snap and she yelped in pain and spun around angrily. "What the hell was that for?"

He put his hands up in self-defense as she punched him hard on the arm. "Sorry, sorry, " he pleaded, trying not to laugh as she smacked him again. "I didn't mean it."

"That hurt." Her hand unconciously rubbed the welt where the shirt had popped her, she glared at him but it faded quickly as he bent down and kissed the welt tenderly, then stood up and grinned at her. "Better?"

She nodded, a wicked smirk on her face. "I always knew I'd get you to kiss my ass one day, James," she said, "But I never thought it would be literally."

-----

The hatch was ridiculously easy to find, even in the twilight as they finally made it to the top of the pass; Jack noticed something glinting in the last rays of sunlight and he moved away from the path to inspect it.

Ana followed him, careful to keep her distance; the tension between them, sexual and otherwise, hadn't lessened at all, in fact, the scene at the bottom of the pass had only served to heighten it and not even the physical exertion of the climb had put any kind of damper on it.

It was a door, like a cellar door, inclined slightly from the ground and covered with a scattering of dirt, grass and leaves and as he cleared away some of the debris he saw the Dharma logo painted on it; no swan, no arrow, shark, or eagle, it looked like an eclipse; a white circle covered partly by a black one with a golden ring around them both. Glancing at Ana with a tight smile he grabbed one of the metal handles and gave a tug, almost surprised when it opened easily, though the hinges squealed in protest as they creaked open.

They peered into the hole; there were steps leading down into the darkness and he couldn't see the end of them, not even with his improved vision, and he took out his flashlight, shining it down the stairs and shrugging at Ana, who merely smiled. "It's what we're here for, Jack," she said, and he started down as she followed.

The stairs went on forever, it seemed like, though it was because of the dark, cold silence in the stairwell; her footsteps echoed eerily, and Ana realized that it was only her footsteps, Jack was walking without a sound, not even a single footfall. It was slightly unnerving and she sped up, in a rush to get to the end of this endless, echoing hall.

They finally reached the end of the stairs as they leveled out into a short tunnel and the passage opened out into a large, sunken stone chamber. The walls were lined with stone tiers, like stands in a stadium, and the rough rock walls were hung with tattered banners and graying flags and in the center of the room was a stone dias, with a stool on either side of it.

Stairs led down into the pit and Jack started down them swinging the flashlight in front of them and Ana noticed during one of his arcs there were torches lining the walls and she slipped away from him, digging in her pack for the book of matches she had stashed somewhere along the line; grabbing a torch from it's bracket she lit it then the next one down the line, then the next; Jack grabbed one of the lit torches and circled the opposite way until they met, surrounded by a blazing ring of flames.

They descended the rest of they way into the sunken chamber and Jack went to the stone pedestal, confusion crossing his face as he looked down on it. Ana joined him and she was puzzled too, it was some kind of a game board, chiseled into the rock, and he glanced over at her. "It's a backgammon board." He reached down and scooped up something and she gasped as she held out two smooth, polished stones, one black and one white. "They're game pieces," he said, counting the pieces on the board. "There's supposed to be fifteen of each color, but there's only nine." He pulled his pack off, digging in it until he found the pouch Kate had found in the drains and the box he had found in the Zoo, when he and Ana were trapped in the cave-in, and he shook the four stones out into his hand, aligning them with the others on the board.

Ana started to explore the rest of the sunken pit, as Jack toyed with the stones, rolling them around in his fingers and when Ana called to him, excitedly, he dropped them back on the board, not noticing when they all slid back into position as he went to her.

She was standing over a large bronze disc laid into the floor, twice the size of a manhole cover; stamped into the metal was the Dharma logo he had seen on the door, only the ring around the eclipse wasn't golden; it was a cold slate gray, and he realized that it wasn't an eclipse, it was the backgammon pieces, the dark overlaying the light. He knelt and slipped his fingers around the edges of the disc, and he smiled up at Ana grimly. "We have to find the other pieces."

"What? They could be anywhere!"

He shook his head. "Two are at the caves, back near camp. That leaves three sets. The island will tell us where they are."

"Why do we need them?"

She had the feeling she knew and her fears were confirmed when Jack said, "We have to play the game, to get in."

"Play who?"

"The game doesn't change, Ana, and neither do the plays. It's only the players that are different." His voice was soft and sweet but his eyes were a little mad and she flinched but didn't move as he touched her cheek, sending a charge through her; just as abruptly he dropped his hand, smiling as her heart started beating again. "I don't know."

They both stared at the disc for a few minutes and he sighed, finally, taking her hand and sending a jolt through them both; he nodded back at the stairs and said, "I don't want to stay down here, Ana. Let's go back up, okay?"

She agreed, nodding; the cave was cold and spooky with its rotted banners and cold, echoing emptiness, it was full of ghosts and demons and she suddenly wanted out badly.

The climb back up wasn't as bad, with the torches it wasn't so dark and cold and they didn't take long to reach the surface and the Island was dark, the stars shining brilliantly and they were so high up, so close, and the wind was warm; it was wonderful, beautiful after the stifling chill of the cavern and Ana took a deep breath, lifting her face to the sky as the breeze blew gently over her, washing away the gloom and dank chill still trapped inside.

Jack watched her, glowing in the starlight, a deep, lusty red glow and she was so enchanting, as she let the Island play over her, through her; she was in his arms before he knew it kissing him with a hunger and intensity that matched his own and together they were flammable, so hot with desire and love that they burned with it, leaving a scorched patch of earth where they fell.