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Chapter Five: Free

Outside Claire's Tent

Their kiss lasted only a few seconds before Claire broke it off.

"Not now," Claire said in a strangled voice. Ellie glanced down at the dirt, feeling guilty. Jake was hers, and she didn't appreciate what she had. Claire obviously wanted him in a way that made Ellie want to puke. "Not yet," Claire added.

"You mean Ellie?" Jake asked, his hand flicking affectionately at Claire's light hair.

She nodded, looking nervous.

"Okay," Jake said softly, and got up.

Ellie darted behind the tent, her sharp green eyes focusing on him. She felt unexplainable anger toward him, but she also felt something she'd always missed before: fondness. Was that possible? He'd treated her so badly, and mostly all she'd ever wanted was to be free of him. So how could she possibly be fond of him? So much about Ellie was unusual, and even she couldn't explain herself.

She decided not to let herself think about it any more. Instead she got up and crept after him, noticing with a hint of panic that he was heading to the Expedition survivors' shelter, where she was guessing he would start interrogating Charlie.

"Charlie," Jake said when he reached the tent. His voice didn't sound cold—mostly ashamed—but also expectant. "Have you seen Ellie?"

Ellie peered through the entrance, counting on Jake not turning around.

Charlie narrowed his eyebrows at Jake. "Why should you care?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for this," he said. "Could you just tell me where she is?"

Charlie shook his head. He looked like he wanted to say something hurtful, but he decided against it. Ellie was glad—the last thing she needed was a fight. "I haven't seen her since we played," Charlie said honestly. "She was headed to Claire's tent, or maybe the hatch?"

Jake nodded. "Thanks," he said without much feeling. "I'll check." He turned, and Ellie immediately jumped to the side. Luckily Jake didn't see her.

She rose and jumped back inside the tent. Charlie stared at her in surprise.

"Where were you?" he asked. "Jake was just looking for you."

Ellie nodded, lifting her unwashed red hair off her neck. She felt it, and sure enough, her neck felt like it was on fire. "Yeah, I know," she said with a shrug. "He wants to break up with me."

Charlie raised his eyebrows. "Oh," he said, looking expectant. Ellie said nothing. "Well, do you… I mean, you know… want to break up with him?"

Ellie shrugged. "I probably should, considering he kissed Claire, and all." She had no idea why she was telling him all of this. After all, she hardly knew him. Why should he care about what her boyfriend did with other girls? Then again, Ellie wasn't about to tell someone she knew well about this. That was how she was. When something big happened, she'd rather share it with a stranger than a friend.

Charlie looked completely taken aback. He wasn't sure which was more surprising—the fact that Jake would cheat on someone as amazing as Ellie, or the fact that Claire would kiss someone as pathetic as Jake. "Are you sure?" he asked finally.

Ellie laughed. That was an interesting reaction. "Yeah," she said, "I am. I mean, I was there."

"He kissed her in front of you?" Charlie demanded.

Ellie shrugged. "Well, it's not like he knew I was there."

Charlie finally realized that she probably felt terrible, and he should stop processing and start helping. "God, Ellie," he said, looking at her sympathetically, "I'm really sorry."

They were cliché words, and at first they made her want to laugh, but they had feelings in them that made her truly appreciate it. "Thanks," she said softly.

"Maybe it's for the best," Charlie offered. "I mean, I know you liked him a lot, but from what I saw of your relationship, he didn't treat you the way you deserve to be treated. Maybe you'll be happier now that he's not holding you back."

Ellie wanted to believe him, but she didn't think she could. Every time she lost someone, people told her that. Her parents hadn't ever abused her, but they always seemed to be drunk and fighting, and sometimes they said really hurtful things to Ellie. When they died in a drunk driving accident, everyone had been sympathetic, but they'd told her that maybe it was for the best. They said the same thing when her dog got rabies—"Sure, he was sweet, but he was just going to hurt you, anyway." And now that she lost—or was going to lose—Jake, they were still telling her it was for the best.

"I just…" Ellie looked back down at the dirt, noticing that her eyes spent the majority of their time there. "I just wish there was more, you know?"

Charlie nodded but said nothing, probing her to keep talking.

"I know it sounds selfish, but life keeps taking and taking, you know? And every time you think it'll give back, it turns out to take some more. And I know it seems like this could be a good thing, but it'll probably just end badly."

Charlie glanced down at his fingers, which were surrounded in the tape that spelled out the word FATE. "Look," he said, holding up his hand.

"Fate," she read, and nodded. "So?"

"I don't know if fate exists. I keep writing this because I like to believe in things. I used to be religious, and that kind of went down the drain with the whole drug thing, but I still believe in some things. And fate might be one of them."

Ellie shrugged. "Then fate must've hated my pre-incarnation, or something, because it keeps biting me in the ass."

Charlie laughed lightly. "Maybe it does have some kind of weird American grudge on you," he teased. The American-British thing was becoming an inside joke to them at this point. "But this island? I think it defies fate, or something." Ellie gave him a look that was clearly disbelieving, but he shrugged and continued. "I'm serious. And maybe you'll cheat fate when you're here."

"You don't think it's fate that brought us here?" Ellie asked.

Charlie shrugged. "Maybe fate made our plane crash, but not here. And once it got here, everything just started spinning its own way."

Ellie looked more convinced, but not completely.

"Ellie," Charlie said, "don't you get it? We have our own choices on the island. Fate has nothing to do with it. What you do is your choice. You have total control over your life now."

She glanced at her nails, which were chipped and broken from all the tuning she'd done without bothering to use a pick. "That is a tempting thought," she admitted, picking a nail distractedly.

Charlie grinned. "I know it is. Listen, do you know John Locke?"

Ellie shrugged. "I saw him on the beach a few times. The old bald dude, right?"

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, that's him. He's a total lunatic, and for some of the things he's done to me, I practically hate him. But you know what? He's smart, and he knows what's going on around him. He told me once that we all get new lives on this island, and I started mine over again. You should, too."

Ellie brought her eyes up again. If that was true, she should start by looking up more often. She was about to say something when there was a knock on the post near the tent.

"Yes?" Charlie called in his thick accent.

"Charlie, I could really use your help," shouted Eko in another thick, but tougher, accent. "Lifting poles."

"I will later," Charlie shouted in an annoyed voice, but Ellie shook her head.

"Charlie, you've already helped me enough," she said with an encouraging smile. "Thank you. But he needs you now."

Charlie smiled. "All right. 'Bye, Ellie."

Ellie smiled back. "'Bye."

The Hatch

"Listen to me, Sun, you've got to be really careful now. Any danger or stress you have is dangerous for the baby, okay?"

Kate, from the table near them, was exhausted. She was sick of Jack, even though she couldn't believe it herself. She wasn't sick of being with him, because she could never be sick of being around Jack. She was sure that she liked being around him. She just wasn't sure that he liked him.

And his obsession with safety and being careful. She knew he was just doing his job as the unofficial leader of the island, but he was pulling it on her, too. He always asked her where she was going and wanted to make sure she didn't go there alone. She knew it was just because he cared about her, but it drove her crazy. She needed time to relax and get a spin on her life again.

Just as she was yearning for a little spice in her life, Sawyer walked in. He always seemed to be the definition of ironic around her.

"Doc's still lecturing her?" he chuckled. "Does it end?"

"Apparently not," Kate agreed, and grinned. "You know he's going to sick one of us with the whole escorting-the-pregnant-lady-to-safety thing, right?"

"Of course," he said with a return grin, but then he stopped smiling and gave her a serious look. "I doubt he'll tell you to go, though."

She turned to face him, confused. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Isn't it obvious? Doc's had a crush on you for months. Haven't you guys kissed and all that jazz already?"

Kate grinned. "And don't forget that time we got caught in a net," she teased, remembering Sawyer's dirty-term mix-up.

His face smiled, but his eyes didn't. They were still serious. "So," he said in a trying-to-be-casual voice, "do you like him?"

Kate was, she had to admit, surprised. "I don't know," she said quickly. "Why should you care?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked simply.

He wasn't being dirty or cocky, and he wasn't being a scoundrel. If Kate's affirmations about him were right, he was actually being romantic.

The Beach

Ellie scanned the beach for Jake, but she decided he was probably already in the forest, looking for her. She sighed and sat down in the sand, her emerald eyes focusing on the waves weaving in and out, coming onto the shore and leaving again for the ocean, never making up their mind. New life or old life? Old times or new? Old cheating boyfriend or new caring pop star? She felt like she mixed in with everything on the island, from the waves to the sand to Charlie and his music.

"Ellie," said an all-too-familiar voice from behind her. She took a deep breath—the time had come. Finally, after all these years, they were going to end it.

"Hey," she replied finally in a shaky voice. She slowly got up and turned to face him.

He didn't say anything, and for a minute she thought maybe she should just break up with him flat. And she would, but not yet. She wanted him to admit what he'd done, and then they'd figure things out from there.

"What?" she asked finally, hoping he'd just tell her already.

"Uh…" He looked at her, looking pained and stressed beyond how he should feel. After all, he had two girls as of now, didn't he? Shouldn't he be feeling pretty good about himself?

But he obviously didn't want to tell her, because he said in a mechanical voice, "I was just telling you that they need some firewood, if you want to help out for tonight."

"What?" Ellie spat.

"What?" Jake asked innocently.

"That's not why you came here," she said immediately. He could not get off the hook this easily. It was completely unfair that he would cheat, and then he would get to have her break up with him! They both knew that breaking up would be hard, and whoever did it suffered the most. So shouldn't he? She'd gone through enough!

"Oh, yeah?" he asked, his jaw set. "Why did I?"

She shrugged. "You tell me."

"I don't…" He looked like he was honestly trying, but breaking up after five years was a lot harder than expected. "I can't…"

"Be with me?" she finished for him. "C'mon, say it."

"I can't," he explained, and this time she knew he meant he couldn't say it.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't try to sweet talk me now," she said icily. "Not after what I saw you do with the little blondie over there. I must say, I never thought you'd like a blonde." She got out the words easily, and it felt good to say them, but once they were out, she felt like keeling over in pain.

"You—you—saw that?" Jake demanded in a scared voice.

"Obviously," she replied with extreme distaste.

"So," Jake said, looking almost happy, "I'm guessing this means you want to break up with me?"

She slowly shook her head, but it didn't mean "no" in answer to her question. "You can't do this, Jake," she said immediately. "You can't cheat and then make me break up with you."

He shrugged. "I'm not breaking up with you, Elle. I can't. So either you break up with me, or we're staying together."

She took another deep breath. What you do is your choice. You have total control over your life now. We all have new lives on this island. "Okay," she said in a bitter voice. "Jake, I think it's way, way past time we end it."

The Jungle

Kate looked around, almost wishing there was a boar or something that would be fun…maybe, hopefully, as fun as her being with Sawyer. Why was it that Jack was clearly the better catch, but she had so much more fun being with Sawyer? And why was it that at this point, she had pretty much made her mind and heart agree on the Southern blonde?

"You're Canadian, right?"

Kate felt a smile trickle onto her face. At this point, she really should've been expecting him. "You really seem like you're stalking me," she informed him.

"'Cause if you are Canadian, you're giving a bad impression for your people. I'm startin' to think all Canadians sit around and stare off longingly into the distance. 'Cause what other excuse do you have?"

"I don't know, trying to think things out?" she suggested, looking meaningfully at him. She was hoping that his boldness had worn off on her. "Trying to decide between things. You know."

"Yeah, I know." He walked closer to her and kneeled next to her. "Beach or jungle." His sharp blue eyes were boring into hers, and she wondered if this was it. "Night or day. Run or stay." His face was only inches away. "Me or Doc."

A small smile tickled her face again. "Yeah. Things like that," she said softly.

"And what'd you decide?"

Without thinking, without waiting for her heart to yelp and her mind to process, she leaned forward and kissed him.

It was just as passionate and entwined as their first kiss, but the difference was that it was by choice. Kate wrapped her arms around his neck, her hands touching his long, stringy blonde hair, and he gently put his hands on the small of her back—still giving her space, but not being too timid.

Finally they both parted for air, resting their foreheads on each other's. Sawyer said after a moment, in a raspy but thankful voice, "Well, Freckles, that was probably my favorite damned decision you ever made."

She hoped he was right. It felt to her too that it was the best decision she'd ever made.

The Expedition Survivors' Shelter

"How'd it go?" Charlie asked, letting himself into the tent.

Ellie still refused to let herself look down at the sand any more, so her sharp green eyes were fixed on a guitar pick she'd found in her suitcase. Engraved on it were ES+JK, or Ellie Sanders + Jake Keller. It was a birthday present for her that Jake had bought (along with an amp). Now she felt like breaking it into a million pieces, but she couldn't decide. Her fingers were numb from playing without one, and she really needed it.

"Pretty much how you could expect," she said, sticking the pick in her pocket. She'd decide later.

"Did he tell you, or did you tell him you saw?"

Ellie didn't say anything. She liked having a stranger to talk to, but she'd just gone through something painful, and she really didn't feel like talking about it.

"I'm sorry," he said, getting the hint. "It's just that not much goes on in this island." He corrected himself. "I mean, a lot goes on, but I'm never a part of it. I mean, I wasn't a part of this either, but I wanted the 'inside scoop,' I guess you would say. Not that you have to give it to me. I was just—"

Ellie laughed lightly at how much he was rambling. "It's okay, Charlie," she said, silencing him gently. "I told him that I saw, and I broke up with him. Now I'm finally free of him." It should've been a good thing, but there was heaviness in her voice when she said it.

Charlie looked like he wanted to ask more, but instead he changed the subject. "So, what do you think of the whole leadership-clique people?"

Ellie lifted an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Charlie shrugged. "You know. Jack, Kate, Locke, Sayid, Sawyer. All those guys who hang out together and decided the island was theirs. You like them?"

She couldn't believe how nice he was being to her. She just wasn't used to it. He cared enough to help her with her Jake problems—she'd still be with him if not for Charlie—and now he cared enough to not even ask how his help was to her. Instead he started talking about a clique on an island? She'd had guys flirt with her before, but Charlie was different. He actually seemed to care about her.

Which was why, for reasons she couldn't exactly explain, she leaned forward and kissed him. It wasn't insanely passionate or amazing, but it was enough to make her heart flutter and his pulse drum, and in a few seconds, it was enough to snap them both back into reality.

"Uh," Charlie said, "there's an interesting answer."

Ellie broke her hour-or-so-long decision and let her eyes rest once again on the dirt.

"Ellie, listen," Charlie said, and suddenly Ellie seriously wanted to leave. She didn't think she could handle rejection. Sure, she had probably just done it to try to get Jake out of her head, and she knew Jake deserved better. And she hated herself for putting Charlie in the middle of the mess that was her life. But she genuinely liked him, and she didn't want him to reject her.

But she couldn't bring herself to leave, either. So she raised her eyes again and looked into his sweet, pretty blue eyes.

"I like you," Charlie said.

"But," Ellie said, knowing that this was the next word.

Charlie shook his head. "No but. I like you."

Ellie felt a spark of hope. "That's it?"

He shrugged. "I do like you. It would be nice to know that you liked me, though, and that I wasn't your rebound boy."

She would've never seen him as a rebound boy, ever, in her real life or any other life. He was the real deal for a great boyfriend. But she had abused her chances with him, because in the situation her life was in, he was the rebound boy. "I know," she said. "I don't want you to be my rebound boy."

"But am I?" Charlie asked, prying her with his eyes.

She forced herself to keep looking at him, even though it was all she could do not to start crying. Because she knew what she was going to say long before she said it. It was in her nature to do things she shouldn't and to say things she wasn't expected to. So, because of her huge attraction to him, she decided that it wouldn't work. "Probably," she said softly.

He didn't draw back in hurt, but his eyes did. They looked more hollow, more worn, in that single word. "Then I should go," he said sadly, and left.

Why did she have to be this way? Was it Jake? Was it her parents? Was it fate's cruel ways? She had said she would start a new life on this island. So why couldn't she?

Near the Hatch

"So what does this mean, exactly?" Kate asked. Sawyer's arm was around her shoulder, almost protectively, and it made her feel good, but strange. "Because no offense, but you don't really strike me as the commitment type."

"You want me to be your boyfriend, Freckles?" Sawyer asked fondly.

Kate grinned. "Can you be my boyfriend?"

"For you, sure," he said in an actually sweet voice, and he planted a kiss on her forehead. Kate couldn't believe this side of him. If she'd known he would be this great to have, she would've chosen him as her boy weeks ago.

"Uh, I was just wondering," she said slowly, not sure how to pitch her next question.

"Yeah?" he asked, glancing down at her.

"What about…"

"Doc?" Sawyer finished for her. "I know he ain't exactly a soldier on the outside, but he's real tough on the inside," he explained. "I'm sure he'll suck it up."

Kate sighed. "I'll tell him," she insisted.

"You mean I don't get to show off?"

Kate sighed. "Sawyer, he doesn't deserve that, and you know it. You'll rub it in, won't you, like you won some prize?"

Sawyer shrugged. "Me and Jack, it's been a war with us. I can show off a little."

"A war," Kate repeated with a snort. "Sure."

"Well, from where I was standing, it was," he said.

Kate smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder, their paces one as they walked together.

Claire's Tent

"Claire," Jake said, walking into her tent.

She immediately put Aaron in his cradle and took a step back. "No," she said immediately. "We should really stay away from each other."

"What?" Jake asked in surprise.

"I don't know what I was thinking," Claire mumbled, looking embarrassed. "You're a good guy, Jake. Well, actually, you're not a good guy, but you deserve someone. Just…I don't…"

Jake stared at her. This was unexpected.

Claire shook her head and glared up at him. "You had a girlfriend, Jake." Her Australian accent put all the more emphasis on "girlfriend."

"I know," he said, "and it was a stupid thing for me to do. But I really liked you, and now it's over. I swear. We're not together any more. I did it for you."

"You broke up with her?" Claire asked. Unfortunately for Jake, Charlie was walking by the tent on his way to the caves.

Jake nodded.

"Charlie," Claire called, and he turned around. He poked his head in her tent.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Did Jake break up with Ellie?"

Charlie shrugged. "They broke up, yeah," he said. Jake gave him a warning shake of his head, but Charlie ignored it. This guy deserved hell, from Charlie's point of view. "But Jake couldn't do it. He made Ellie do it."

"But why'd she break up with him?" Claire asked in confusion.

Charlie looked angry. "She saw you two kiss, all right? Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to not take part in this excruciatingly annoying fight. I've got nothing to do with it, anyway."

Claire frowned. "I thought you and Ellie were together."

"We just broke up!" Jake argued.

"That didn't stop you from going after her!" Charlie reminded Jake hotly.

"There's a difference, 'cause Ellie would never go out with a junkie like you!" Jake recoiled.

"Ex-junkie," Charlie corrected, "and I'm bloody tired of having it thrown in my face!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't have used in the first place!"

Claire let out a very loud, high-pitched groan that shut them both out. "Charlie," she said, "thanks for clearing it up. Jake, please kindly get the hell out of my life. And somebody tell those college students to find a damned rescue plane so we can get off this bloody island!"

They were both completely taken aback. Since when did Claire talk like that? She was supposed to be the pure, angelic mother figure!

Charlie realized with a sinking feeling that he was causing almost as much damage to Claire and Ellie as Jake was.

The Hatch

"Afternoon, Doc," Sawyer greeted with a huge smirk.

Jack looked up to see Kate looking quietly down at the ground and Sawyer, looking proud as ever, with his tanned arm draped around her shoulders.

"Hey," Jack said slowly, wondering if what he was seeing meant anything.

"Katie wanted to tell you a few things about our current state of the union," Sawyer said, the smirk not leaving his face.

"Shut up," Kate muttered. She was still thrilled with how her relationship with Sawyer was turning about, but the Jack situation was hard enough without Sawyer rubbing it into his face.

"I was just saying," Sawyer said defensively, his eyes staying proudly on Jack.

"Oh," Jack said faintly. "So you're…" He didn't look like he could get it out.

"Uh, actually, I'd really like to talk to you in private," Kate told him. She couldn't do this with Sawyer here.

"Nah, I'm good," Sawyer said, removing his arm and sitting on a chair nearby.

"That wasn't a question," Jack said.

"Well, mine was an answer," Sawyer said with another killer smirk.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Listen, Jack, things with you are great, and I really don't ever want to stop being your friend…"

"I got it," Jack said. "What's there to be sorry about? Things with us sure weren't working out."

Sawyer grinned. "So the doc talks."

Kate sent him another glare that matched his smirks in attitude and turned back to Jack. "Look, like you said, I'm just not sure about us. And this won't change anything, you know, except eliminating the possibilities of us kissing, of course, but we can still talk to each other…" She found herself rambling. Sawyer stopped her.

"She's gonna try me," he explained, "'cause you weren't too good of a catch."

"Hey, why don't you just let her talk?" Jack demanded.

Kate tried to continue, but her face was on fire, and she felt like she had a migraine headache. She couldn't do this. She needed to talk to him in private, and Sawyer was ruining everything. How could he be so perfect around her and so idiotic around Jack?

"Forget it," she said coldly. "I'm going to go see if Eko needs any help with his church." She turned on her heel and left. She couldn't deal with them any more.

Claire's Tent

Claire was ashamed of herself. She had treated both people on both sides with cruelty. First she had stabbed Ellie in the back by kissing her boyfriend, and then she had screamed her head off at Jake, even though all he'd wanted was to be with her. And now she was stuck by herself, thinking over what she had done.

A knock sounded on the post holding up her tent, and she called in an exhausted voice, "Who is it?" Normally her tent would be wide open to enjoy the sun and her friends, but now she wanted shade, and she felt like she didn't has friends to enjoy.

"It's Ellie," Ellie called from the other side.

"Come in," Claire said uncertainly. She felt bad, and she planned on apologizing a thousand times if necessary, but she didn't want to be yelled at right now, if that was what Ellie was planning on doing.

"Hey," Ellie said softly, instantly relaxing the supremely tense Claire. "Look, I just wanted to clear things up."

Claire nodded. "Okay," she said kindly. "Well, just so you know, I feel awful about what happened. I don't know what came over me…if this doesn't freak you out or anything, Jake really reminds me of Aaron's dad. In a good way."

Ellie smiled. "That's great. Look, I really want you to be with him."

"Jake?" Claire asked, stunned. That was a surprise. "You do?"

Ellie nodded. Normal girls wouldn't, but that wasn't her, was it? "Yeah. Look, I don't know what it is about me, and it scares the hell out of me sometimes, but I can do weird things to people. I brought out the really bad side of Jake, but he's not like that. He's a good guy, and he deserves a girl who brings out the good in him. That's you."

"But…he cheated on you. Aren't you mad?"

Ellie shrugged. "I was." She still was, but she decided Claire didn't have to know that. "But I kind of had it coming. Neither of us worked at all at our relationship. It was just kind of there, like a given."

"But then he made you break up with him after cheating on you," Claire reminded her. "That's… well, that's just low."

Ellie laughed. "I know. But after five years, it's hard to break up with someone, and I think after doing what he did, he was too wound up over it to go through breaking up with me, too. It's fine. We're both out of it now, and that's what matters." She had no idea why she was defending Jake. He didn't really deserve Claire, and she wanted him to stay single and lonely forever, but she knew that it really was mostly her doing, anyway, the cheating. Ellie brought out the complete lowest in Jake, and it really wasn't all his fault.

"That really does make me feel loads better," Claire said. "I think I just need time to think all this over. But this is so big of you. You really don't even have any grudges against me? I mean, I knew you were his girlfriend, and I still—"

"Claire, don't worry about it," Ellie said. She did have a slight grudge against Claire now, but she couldn't really blame her. When he tried to be, Jake could be like a drug—you needed him, no matter what your obstacles were. "Anyone would've done it. Jake's like that."

Claire smiled. "Thanks, Ellie. You have no idea how much better you've made this day for me."

Ellie smiled and peered at Aaron in his cradle. "He's adorable," Ellie said before leaving.

Claire was touched. She'd heard so much about how unpredictable and reckless Ellie was, and now she seemed like a complete angel—attitude-wise, of course, not appearance-wise. It just went to show that boys knew pretty much nothing.

The Hatch

Sawyer, Jack, and anyone else this may concern:

I'm not mad. Sawyer, this doesn't change anything between us, and Jack, please don't worry so much about me. I just needed some time to cool off, because as much as I like both of you, you were driving me completely insane.

I got some guns from Sawyer's stash (they weren't hard to find, Sawyer—you should really find someplace better to hide them), and they should keep me safe. And I'll stay hidden, okay? I just needed some answers. We can't keep living on this island without answers. And I have a feeling that if the Others want us here, there won't be any rescue, college survivors or none.

Please don't come after me, okay? That'll probably just increase the chances of my being caught, anyway. I just wanted to be by myself for a while, and I figured, why not help all of us while I was at it? I'll be back in a few days. Don't worry about me.

Kate

END OF CHAPTER FIVE

Reviews anyone? Pressing the little blue button makes me happier, and when I'm happier, I update sooner! Oh yeah, from now on, I'm going to do review responses, so if you review, look for a response here!

astronomylover: I was worried people wouldn't like the Ellie-Charlie match because of Charlie and Claire, but it doesn't seem to bug people that much. And here's Kate's decision, hope you like! By the way, thanks for your reviews—they're really encouraging. Don't stop now!

Jami: All three of those questions will be answered soon…ish. (I feel like a psychic…-twilight zone music-) Thanks!

steam rolled harry potter: Heh, thanks. I'm not sure if I'm going to, but either way, that was sweet.

KISSBANGX3

/press review button/ (I know, I'm desperate.)