YAY for me, I'm on a roll! Here's the next chapter (after the disclaimer), enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Lost. But boy would I be rich if I did. Oh, and I used some of Joan Jett's I Hate Myself For Loving You, which I also don't own, between some paragraphs.
HERE IS A CLEAR-UP IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SECOND SEASON AND WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON WITH KATE: In the middle of the second season, Rousseau (the French chick) showed Sayid a trap with a man inside it who said his name was Henry Gale. They thought he might be an Other and captured him and brought him back to the hatch. They found out he was an imposter and an Other, but near the end, Michael freed him to get his son Walt back. In the season 2 finale, we found out that that imposter guy is probably the Others' leader. Hope that helps.
Chapter Six: Brawl
The Hatch
Three days.
Three long, hectic, eventful days had passed since the Expedition had crashed, and still there was no rescue.
Additionally, it had been one long and suspenseful night since Kate left—which, for Sawyer, was one night too many. He couldn't stop beating himself up about it. Contrary to what he'd told Jack the day before, he knew it was all his fault. He had finally had her. He'd had the girl of his dreams, and a second later, he blew it.
No, he reminded himself, that wasn't true. She'd said in the letter that it didn't change anything between them. That meant they were still together. She'd written that she just needed "time to cool off." Why was it that girls always needed time to cool off? Couldn't they just stay hot?
"Sawyer."
Sawyer didn't bother to look up—he could recognize Jack's voice anytime, anywhere by now. Their relationship had had some major setbacks, but they'd spent a lot of time together since the crash. Sawyer could still remember a few days after the Ana Lucia/Libby incident. He'd told Jack about everything.
"Why are you telling me this?" Jack had asked him.
Sawyer's response had stunned both of them: "You're the closest thing I've got to a friend on this island."
Boy, were those days over, Sawyer mused. He had spent more time with Kate since then, and Jack had become the competition. The day Sawyer became Kate's "boyfriend," he had to tell Jack. He didn't win much in life, and rubbing it in Jack's face would be like a gold medal.
"Hey," Sawyer finally replied to Jack, too exhausted to call him Doc again.
"She's not back yet," Jack growled, referring to Kate, making it completely obvious that he thought it was Sawyer's fault.
"Believe me, I noticed," Sawyer replied grimly. He started pacing back and forth, looking at the records. He wasn't really a music-loving man, maybe a little Nirvana here and there, but he'd do anything that would distract him from thinking about Kate.
"Why do you spend so much time in the hatch?" Jack asked, changing the subject. "I don't see you as a record-player guy or a computer guy."
Sawyer rolled his eyes. "You wanna buy this place?" he asked. "'Cause if it's yours, then I'll consider leaving."
"It was just a question," Jack said exasperatedly.
Sawyer's electric blue eyes were clouded over with sadness. "I spend so much time here because Kate does."
The Expedition Survivors' Shelter
Midnight gettin' uptight, where are you?
You said you'd meet me, now it's quarter to two
I know I'm hangin' but I'm still wantin' you
Ellie was lying flat on her back, staring up at the top of their large tent, soaking in Joan Jett's rich lyrics. She'd always thought she had a lot in common with her role model, besides the fact that Joan had an amazing voice and Ellie didn't. Still, especially in her current situation, she felt just like Joan Jett. Whoever the rock star was singing about was a whole lot like Jake. Joan kept going back to him, kept loving him, even though she hated it.
Why had she stuck up for Jake after everything he'd done? Sure, he'd been under whatever weird spell Ellie cast on him (metaphorically, of course), but that didn't mean he hadn't been an awful person. He could've pulled out of it. He never should've cheated.
Hey Jack, it's a fact, they're talkin' in town
I turn my back and you're messin' around
I'm not really jealous, don't like lookin' like a clown
Story of her pathetic life. Even the name, Jack, was pretty similar to Jake. And she let herself have fun for one second—she played one song on her guitar with Charlie—and he had to start kissing Claire. She didn't like being jealous, because people thought badly of her already, but she knew that deep down she was.
She felt a poke on her leg, and she hit the PAUSE button. She yanked off her headphones and sat up to see Jenny, her cute, stringy brown hair in pigtails. She looked sixteen, not twenty-four, but Ellie didn't mind. Jenny was probably the most positive creature in her life right now.
"Hey, Ellie," Jenny said cheerfully.
"Hey," Ellie replied. She was annoyed that Jenny had interrupted her time with her music, but she was grateful that she had something to do that didn't involve wallowing in self-pity or whatever it was that was making her miserable.
"Listen, I know the last couple days have sucked for all of us, especially you," Jenny said kindly, "but Jake wanted to talk to you. I can tell him to go away, if you want."
I think of you ev'ry night and day
You took my heart, then you took my pride away
"No, it's okay," Ellie said tiredly. She couldn't escape him, so she figured she should just deal with him. He couldn't make her any worse now, could he?
She got up, brushed the sand and dirt off her legs and her hair, and left the tent. Jake was waiting outside the zipper-up entrance. He looked happy to see her, which pained her even more. He was never happy to see her when they were together. What was he doing to her?
"Listen, I don't want to make things harder for you," Jake said civilly.
Ellie snorted, but said nothing.
"I just came to thank you," he explained. "I don't know why you smoothed things over with Claire, but it really helped. You're a really good person to do something like that."
Ellie stared coldly at him. "Claire deserves to be happy," she said flatly.
"Elle, don't be like that," he said in an almost flirtatious voice.
She slowly shook her head. "You don't be like that," she ordered in a firm voice. He started to say something, but she interrupted him. "You're welcome, okay?" she asked, and left. She knew that if she talked to him much longer, she'd probably do something she'd seriously regret. Why was being free so hard?
I hate myself for loving you
Can't break free from the things that you do
I wanna walk, but I run back to you—that's why
I hate myself for loving you
Deep in the Jungle
Kate's heart was pounding a million miles per hour inside her chest. She knew it was immature for her to leave like that, and she knew she should've stayed and sorted things about. But she really did need time away from anyone else, and she decided she could do that best while helping them from afar.
She was heading back to the place Michael had described, but she wasn't really sure where she was going. She just hoped she'd get somewhere, and soon, because she didn't have enough food for more than a few days. And if anything happened to her, she didn't want to be too far away from the 815ers and the college students. She'd have to tell them whatever she learned, no matter what happened to her. They needed to know what was keeping them on the island.
She darted from tree to tree until finally she found a camp. It wasn't an amazing camp, but it was still better than they were doing back on the beach and in the caves. She scanned it for anyone who looked understanding, even a little bit, but the only people she saw outside were guards with hard, robotic faces. She didn't want to talk to them.
What about Alex? Rousseau, the "French Chick," had told Kate about her daughter, and Claire had insisted that there was a girl Alex's age and status that had helped free her from the lab she was in. If there was anyone in this place that Kate could count on, it was someone who helped Claire.
Kate glanced around her feet. Luckily it was dirt and not leaves, so she doubted anyone would be able to hear her. She slowly crept behind their buildings, being sure not to be seen, wondering what she was going to do. She had hope in Alex, but with all the buildings and no one outside, how could she?
But it turned out she didn't have to find Alex, because Alex found her.
The Beach
"Where do you get off?" Charlie asked as soon as Jake left Ellie's tent. Charlie was still hurt by the ruined kiss he had shared with Ellie—if there was one good thing Jake had done for Ellie, Charlie had noticed, it was that he had made her a really good kisser—but he was still furious at Jake. How could he keep going back to Ellie, ruining her progress in getting over him? It was maddening.
"Uh, this island, hopefully," Jake said with a teasing grin.
"Would you stop with the sodding jokes?" Charlie demanded. "This is a normal girl you're torturing, I'll have you know."
Jake rolled his eyes. "I'm getting really sick of your butting into my business," he said. "You don't know me, Ellie, or anyone else from the Expedition, so why do you keep prying?"
"I care about a girl whose feelings are constantly being yanked around by her ex-boyfriend, who claims to like someone else!" he spat.
"Charlie, Ellie doesn't want to be with you," Jake said cruelly. "How many times has she rejected you yet? And Claire? Yeah, I don't think she really cares about you, either. If you were trying to score big, there's Kate, but she's gone, and before that, she hooked up with Sawyer. So why don't you just stay by your lonesome and get lost?"
Charlie glared at him and turned away. True, Claire had moved on to "bigger and better" things, if that was what she really considered Jake. And Kate had Sawyer, not that Charlie had actually wanted anything serious to happen with her. But Ellie was in a fragile state, and he didn't believe that she really wanted to block him out of her life yet.
He headed to the college students' tent, hoping Ellie would've calmed down a little. He didn't want to pressure her, but he didn't want her to be alone right now.
When the knock sounded on the post, Ellie really wasn't sure if she had the energy to face anyone else. Except possibly Charlie, but she doubted he would want to talk to her at this point. After the way she'd treated him, how could he?
Why did she keep pushing away the few people she cared about? She'd never treated Allison, her sister, with any decency, and before the island, she'd treated Jenny and Andrew pretty terribly, too. Now she was treating Charlie terribly.
The knock sounded again. "Ellie, I just want to talk," said the all-too-familiar British voice.
Ellie sighed. He probably thought she was PMSing on him about every minute of every day. She felt terrible about it, but it was so hard for her to make up her mind about anything at this point.
She got up and opened the flap for him. He smiled gratefully and stepped inside.
"I'm surprised you keep coming back here," Ellie said, sitting down on one of the fold-up chairs. "Aren't you sick of me yet?"
Charlie laughed. "I'm way more sick of everyone else on this island."
Ellie was touched. "But you do realize that every time you come here, I end up kicking you out, right?" she reminded him.
"Not every time," he corrected with a grin. After a pause, he said, "So what's it gonna be this time?"
Ellie shrugged. "I guess we'll see."
The Others' Camp
"What are you doing here?" Alex demanded.
Kate smiled when she saw her. She instantly felt relaxed, almost like there was a familiar face, even though she'd never met Alex before. "I came to find some answers," Kate said.
Alex shook her head. "No. No, Kate, you can't be here."
"If you don't help me," Kate said in a determined voice, "I'll just ask one of the guards. But I was really hoping you'd help me, because they don't look like the nicest people."
Alex sighed. "If they find out…"
Kate shrugged. "So take me to them. The nice ones, anyway. Look, I'm not that scared. I'll turn in my guns, and what's the worst that could happen? They don't need me as a hostage, and I don't think they care if I'm dead or alive."
Alex considered this and nodded. "I'll take you to our leader," she said, "but be careful."
She led her slowly out into the open. The guards immediately raised their guns, but because Alex was with Kate, they didn't fire.
A few minutes later, Kate was stunned to see the imposter Henry Gale sitting in the chair.
(A/N: Sorry to interrupt, but the timing of this story isn't very clear. It's pretty much at the end of the second season, but before the season finale mess.)
"You?" she asked in disbelief.
"That's a great way to suck up to me, really," he said with a small smile.
Kate felt her face turn red. "Sorry," she mumbled.
"Put down your weapons," he ordered.
"I will," Kate said, "but I'd appreciate it if I could take them back when I leave. In case the monster comes."
"Guns won't help you with a monster," Henry said as a few guards took her guns, "but we'll consider it after you say what it is you want to say."
"Look, we could be totally wrong, but we have a few ideas about why we're here, and we're pretty sure you know more than us," Kate said as boldly as she could. Henry said nothing; she continued. "I know there's no reason that you should answer our questions, but we figured that, as long as we're on your island, we should at least know what's going on."
"What do you think you know?" Henry asked.
Kate shrugged. "We think you had some contact with a psychic in Sydney," she said. "We think that either you or the island wanted the survivors of flight 815 to survive, and you wanted those who didn't survive to die. We also think you didn't want the Expedition to crash, but since it did, you let the college students live for…" She shrugged. "Entertainment? Security? I don't know."
"Why should I help you?" Henry asked.
"Do you want to get off the island?" Kate asked, ignoring his question.
He shook his head. "No. We despise the outside world."
That was unexpected. "Oh," she said. "Well, we want to get off. If we do get off, you'll have the island to yourselves."
"No, the island will be found, and they'll start analyzing it and living on it," he corrected.
Kate gulped. "We need to get off," she said in a strained voice. "This isn't the life we were meant to live."
"If there's one thing I can tell you, it's that the island defies fate," Henry told her.
"Okay," she said, "but that doesn't mean we don't want to get back to the real world." Kate shrugged. "I could handle a little fate if it meant off the island."
"We'll answer your questions," Henry said, "because we're sick of you coming after us. But we're not getting you off the island."
Kate nodded. "Okay. Thank you. So why are you here?"
"We came here," he said. "Voluntarily. To get away from the real world. We have a few psychics among us, and we used them to communicate with—" He frowned.
"Keep going," Kate urged.
"I don't have to do this," he said, shaking his head. "I shouldn't. Get out of here, before—"
"If we're not going to get off the island," she interrupted, "then what's the harm? Besides, don't you want to just coexist with us? It'll save you time and energy."
He took a deep breath. "But after the imprisonment…after everything you did to me…"
"I didn't," Kate said quickly. "Look, I apologize on behalf of Jack and Locke, but they were scared, and they wanted anything that meant off the island. You can understand, right?"
"Maybe, but…"
Kate shook her head. "Please. You got us here. You did so much to us. Shouldn't we at least be able to know what's going on?"
Finally he seemed to give in. Kate sensed that something was wrong, but she was too eager to learn the truth to care. "Our psychics communicated with the one in Sydney," he finally said, "and he got the survivors to get on the plane. The rest were random passengers—we didn't care about them. They were going to die. The psychics foresaw the seating and places, where people would die, and set up the seating of the survivors based on that."
"But why did you want us?" Kate asked. "We haven't done anything for you."
Henry looked ashamed. "Some of us were becoming insane," he said softly.
Kate felt a vein on the side of her head pulsing. Didn't that mean she was dangerously mad? She couldn't remember. "So you brought us here to prevent you from delusions, or something?"
"We're not terrible people," Henry said quickly. "We…we needed to survive. We needed to see new hope, new faces, people who weren't insane from just seeing each other for all these years. You were our only way to survive."
"And the college students?" Kate asked. "They were just to make sure you weren't found?"
Henry nodded. "One of our psychics got Desmond to be late pushing the button, which was what caused your plane to crash, and when your boat crashed, we pressed an alternative code that increased the magnetic field only a small bit. But since you were already landing, all it did was bring your land to a crash."
"But the monster, and all the mysteries of the island?"
"The monster isn't as bad as you all think," Henry said. "He's just a blast of wind mixed with flecks of pepper, which materialized it when the psychic focused on something solid. It feeds on fear because it was a feature one of our psychics installed."
"It is bad!" Kate argued. "It killed our pilot!"
Henry shrugged. "He wasn't supposed to live. The security device took care of that."
"But what about Rose's cancer?" Kate asked. "She told me the island cured her."
"The island has sort of a fountain-of-health effect," Henry said. "It's quite unexplainable, actually. It may have to do with the amount of psychic power on the island—your side's little boy Walt has some of it, too, by the way—mixed with your side's good intentions that purifies illnesses, or perhaps it's just a feature of the island. I don't know."
Kate couldn't believe it. All her questions were just…answered. Could it really be that simple?
"But I can't let you go back to your camp now," Henry said with a pitying look. "Coming here was a bad idea, Kate, because we can't let you go back."
Kate's heart started to thump again.
"Sir," Alex said, "I don't think—"
"Guards," Henry interrupted, "stun her. Keep her alive. Take her to our jail."
Claire's Tent
"I don't want things to be awkward between us now," Jake said, walking into Claire's tent.
"Then why don't we just take it slowly?" Claire suggested. "I mean, I've known you three days, and you've already kissed me, broken up with your ex, and then tried to get together with me. I appreciate that you have good intentions, if Ellie's right, but this is really fast."
Jake nodded. "I know it is. It's just that I don't know if we'll be here forever or until tomorrow, and if it's tomorrow, I don't want you to be a spot in the back of my mind for the rest of my life."
Claire gave him a light smile. "I think that's everyone's problem," she said with a shake of her head. "On this island, I mean. We rush everything, because we always hope that today's our last day on this island, when we're really almost certain that it's not."
He sighed. "You're right. We probably have all the time in the world."
"So," Claire said, "we should take it slow. Let's just talk, like normal people."
And it was easy for them, because they were normal people. Ellie and Charlie, on the other hadn't, weren't having such an easy time.
The Expedition Survivors' Shelter
"This is weird, right?" Ellie asked after what felt like hours of talking. "I mean, two days ago we didn't know each other, and now I know you better than I've known anyone else in my entire life."
Charlie looked surprised. "That's…weird. I mean, I feel like I know you a lot better now, too, but not that well. You never had any close friends or a real boyfriend before Jake?"
Ellie shook her head. "Nah. I freak girls out, in case you didn't notice, and I've never been much of a guy-chaser. It was just Jake."
Charlie looked uncomfortable about his next question. "And your parents?" he asked timidly.
She blinked. "Never knew them very well," she finally settled on saying.
"I'm sorry," he said. It was the boring, normal thing to say, but he didn't know what else there was to say. He never felt very eloquent around her.
Ellie shrugged. "Don't be," she said. "I didn't have one of those, you know, depressing foster home lives. My sister raised me, and she's great."
Charlie smiled. "I'm glad," he said honestly. Ellie deserved at least something.
Ellie didn't mention the fact that Allison had spent some of Ellie's childhood and all of her teenage years partying. Allison had actually inspired Ellie to drink, instead of protect her from it. But once Ellie went to college, they needed money, and Allison had really pulled through. She'd become a real estate agent for a steady company, and she'd sobered up and become a great role model.
"So, if we were to be rescued, where would we go from here?" Ellie asked.
"You mean me and you respectively, or everyone on the island?"
"Respectively," Ellie said with a shrug. She wasn't in the mood to be nervous about talking about things like this. "I mean, don't take that the wrong way," she added quickly. "I just meant, are you going back on tour, or anything?"
Charlie shrugged. "I'd expected to, but now that I'm off the drugs, I realized that that life pretty much killed me," he explained. "Maybe I'll start a new band, though, and we'll be clean the whole time."
Ellie laughed. "What'll you do to ensure it, sing all Christian songs and adopt country-lovin'?"
Charlie laughed, too. "Never," he assured her. "But maybe you could join. I bet having a girl in a rock band with a guy singing would be a bonus change."
"It worked for the White Stripes," she agreed with a grin, not fully taking in his suggestion.
"You'd keep me off drugs," Charlie said. "You'd be good to have."
Suddenly it hit her. "Whoa. Are you serious? I thought we were joking around!"
Charlie looked a little panic-stricken. "It was just an idea," he said quickly. "I mean, if you're busy, if you have a life you want to get back to…"
She relaxed, shaking her head. "No. That's not what I meant. Being in a band with you would be awesome. I was just surprised that you were serious. Things really happen fast on this island," she said, exhaling slowly.
He nodded. "Yeah, and sorry if I scared you. I just thought You All Everybody sounded tons better."
"Yeah, well, that's because your loony brother wasn't there to screw you up," she joked, faking a British accent yet again on "loony brother." "No offense," she added, hoping he wouldn't be mad at her stab at Liam.
He laughed. "None taken. But Liam's long since retired from the music industry, anyway."
She suddenly felt like she was practically taking Liam's place in Driveshaft. Was this really possible? She kept waiting for herself to wake up from this long dream. She'd broken up with Jake, she was having long conversations and sensitive kisses with Charlie Pace, she was deserted on a tropical island near Antarctica, and she was going to be in the next generation of Driveshaft when they were rescued? Was this all really possible?
She remembered something Allison had once told her: "If you think you're in a dream, don't pinch yourself. Kiss the guy you're looking at." Ellie had already kissed him, and she hadn't woken up from any dream, but she couldn't stop herself. It wasn't about rebound, and it wasn't about spiting people. It was about her fondness for Charlie Pace and the fact that she wanted to kiss him.
So, for the second time in two days, she did. But this one was a little more…what was the word she was looking for? It wasn't passionate or intimate, exactly, but it definitely wasn't lifeless or dull. She decided that this kiss was…fun. And it was different for Ellie to voluntarily have fun.
Claire's Tent
It had been about twenty minutes since Claire and Jake had started talking, and the conversation had spun around to talking about Kate, Sawyer, and Jack.
"Wait," Claire said. "So Kate just left?"
Jake nodded. "Jack says she did that a lot in her old life, so he wasn't too surprised. She said she went to talk to the Others, to find answers, and they don't want to follow her, because they're scared they'll get her in trouble."
Claire frowned. "Well, I hope she's safe, but I admit I'm kind of glad she went. Imagine how much better it would be if we knew who the Others were and why we were here."
Jake nodded again. "You're right. She might be back yet. Do you want to get Jack or Sawyer and ask him about it?"
Claire nodded. "They're probably somewhere on the beach. We can look together."
He nodded and started to leave, then stopped. "See?" he asked with a grin before he left. "We can be friends and still have fun."
Claire gave him a small smile. "We can," she agreed, and left.
But Jake's feelings changed when he passed the college students' tent. The flap was just a little open, and having a curious side, he had of course looked in. But when he saw Ellie and Charlie practically on top of each other making out, he felt his fists clench and his body seethe.
The Expedition Survivors' Shelter
They'd been making out for what felt like hours, could have been seconds, and in reality was minutes. They were both breathing heavily, and they both slightly wanted to stop—Charlie because he had a sharp feeling that he was still her rebound guy, and Ellie because she didn't want to wind herself into another complicated relationship with a guy who might just end up hurting her again.
But it just felt so great to them to kiss each other. Charlie hadn't kissed someone who actually likedhim—or, at least, his band—in ages, and Ellie had neverkissed someone who liked her in any way except physically. So while they felt a need so stop, they felt a greater need to keep going. They weren't going to go any further, but they didn't see the harm in some lip lock.
They were both breathing heavily when Jake stormed in. Ellie felt herself pull back—there was still a string, she knew, where she still felt like she couldn't be with Charlie because of what Jake felt. But when she remembered her situation, she let herself go closer to Charlie and further away from Jake.
"What," Jake demanded, "is your problem? Can't you stop bugging me for five seconds?"
Ellie wondered where Claire was. Didn't they spend all their time together? She noticed with a sinking heart that poor Claire was outside, hearing every word. Jake knew that, and he still bugged Charlie. What was wrong with him? Claire didn't deserve this!
"I wasn't bugging you," Charlie said with a shrug. "In fact, I don't think Ellie had anything to do with you any more, and I know you like Claire now. So if you want your ex to be happy, I was helping you."
Ellie felt a tickle of laughter in her throat, but she held it down.
"Yeah, in a perfect world, you're helping me. But here you're not, and I want you off Ellie!"
Ellie snorted. "Uh, Jake? He is."
"I mean," Jake snarled, "permanently."
"Jake," Claire said, coming into the tent, "let's go."
Jake shook his head. "No, Claire, this guy's a terrible influence on Ellie, and he doesn't deserve her, anyway. And he's just doing it to push my buttons…"
"Stop being paranoid," Charlie said. "It has nothing to do with you."
"It doesn't," Claire agreed forcefully. "And he's not a bad influence on Ellie. Charlie will take care of her, okay?" She said it from experience, but not with regret. "Can't we just go?"
But he didn't move.
"Who do you want, Jake?" Charlie demanded. "Claire or Ellie? Because you're making them both pretty bloody pissed off at you right about now."
"Yeah, you're pissing me off, too," Jake snarled, and before anyone could stop him, he rammed into Charlie hard, almost knocking him onto the ground.
Ellie grabbed Charlie at the last second and pushed Jake out of the tent. It wasn't easy—Jake was very, very unwilling to leave—but he was finally on the beach.
"Knock it off!" Ellie shouted at him, but Charlie had come outside, and that was reason enough for Jake to do it again. He balled up a fist and knocked it onto Charlie's cheek, his high school graduation ring causing Charlie to bleed.
"Jake!" Ellie practically screamed, and she slapped him hard across the cheek. "Snap out of it!"
That didn't stop him. He aimed another fist at Charlie, but Charlie dodged it and ended up kneeing him in the chest. Jake drew back in pain and Charlie put in a punch below the shoulder. This was obviously too much for Jake, who just came in for another punch.
"Sayid!" Ellie shouted, because he was the best person she could think of to stop them. "Don't join the fight unless they're killing each other. They'll just punch you. Try to talk them out of it with me." She turned to Claire, who was pale as a ghost. "Claire, go get Jack. And Sawyer, if he's there. They should both be in the hatch. Hurry!"
Claire nodded and ran out of the dangerous area.
"Jake, Charlie, think about this for a second," Sayid said, dodging one of Charlie's furious punches aimed for Jake. "If rescue comes, which Kate may achieve, you two will both have to serve time, and one of you may file a lawsuit."
No one seemed to care.
Ellie walked up to Charlie, jumped back so she wouldn't be kicked by a kick that ended up just missing Charlie's waist by an inch or so, and returned. "Charlie," she said in a tired voice, "stop it! He's not worth it! You're going to ruin everything if you keep this up!"
"I'm sorry," Charlie said quietly, ducking from a punch, "but if I don't fight back, you know I'm never going to win this." Jake got a bunch in Charlie's chest, and me moaned in pain, but he got him back with a kick strait in Jake's "sensitive area." "And if I don't win this, he'll just keep bugging me—and us—about our relationship."
"That's fine!" Ellie insisted as Sayid began talking to Jake. "I don't care! Talking is better than fighting!"
Jake seemed to be really mad now, and he fought at about twice the speed. Charlie avoided most of his hits, but he talked slower and took more breaths. "This—is the only way—we're ever going to be together," he said shortly.
Ellie wasn't sure how she felt about this, but she was touched. "You want to be with me?" she asked with a smile that was erased when Jake's punch grazed her shoulder.
Charlie didn't say anything for a while, and finally he said, "I don't want there to be—no chance of—us ever being together," he explained, and Ellie had to remind herself that she was supposed to be stopping a fight, not starting a relationship. Well, they'd already started it, but still.
"Doesn't matter," she said, shaking her thoughts away. "You've got to stop it. Now. This isn't impressive. This is maddening."
"Sorry," Charlie said, "but if I stop now, chances are, he'll kill me." He got another kick in, this time above Jake's knee.
Finally Jack and Sawyer strode up to them. Well, Sawyer strode. Jack was running over to them. Sawyer grabbed Charlie and Jack grabbed Jake. Charlie calmed down, but Jake was in no mood to end a fight yet. He rammed his fist into the side of Jack's face and darted back over to Charlie, shoving Sawyer out of the way and aiming a punch for Charlie.
Jack yanked Jake back, but Jake just turned and hit him again. Jack looked angry, but he still didn't fight. Sawyer, on the other hand, sent a powerful punch into Jake's gut, causing him to fall.
"What's the matter with you?" Jack demanded. "You can't fight them!"
"I can fight," Sawyer said with distaste, "whoever the hell I want to." And he punched Jack.
Ellie groaned and walked over to Claire. "How are we supposed to stop this?" she demanded. Claire, who was practically in tears, shrugged, helplessly watching the four of them develop into a four-man brawl.
Finally Ellie couldn't take it anymore. "Sayid, get Jack—he won't hurt you. Claire, get Jake—same—but you'll have to be forceful. I'll get Charlie, and hopefully Sawyer will get the picture."
Ellie went in first, tearing Charlie away from Jake. Jake grabbed Charlie's arm to keep him where he wanted him, but Ellie groaned and punched Jake hard in the elbow, causing it to bend, and Jake was forced to let go. Ellie pulled Charlie far away from the brawl, and she could tell he was permanently free of it.
Charlie looked sorry, but the fierceness in his eyes was still obvious. "I'm sorry," he whispered, and she knew it was true. But she was in no mood to deal with it right now, so she just watched the other three and crossed her fingers.
Sayid was strong enough to get Jack away from Sawyer and Jake without being hurt or hurting anyone, and soon Jack was opposite Charlie, practically across the whole beach. Claire grabbed Jake's arm and was obviously talking to him in a forceful voice. Jake's chest was heaving and he looked furious, but she was able to pull him away. Sawyer's chest (his shirt had been torn in the brawl) was also heaving, as well as gleaming with sweat, and he gave the crowd a look that clearly said "come if you want to be killed." But it was over, and despite how much harder things on the island would be over the next few days, everyone was relieved.
The Others' Main Room
Kate had no intentions whatsoever of having all those answered questions go to waste. She was going to get back to her friends and tell them everything. That had been her plan all along, of course, and she wasn't going to let a few guards stop her.
They were in the corners of the room, and they ran to her, but she was faster. She grabbed the knife that was strapped to the bottom of her shoe and ran to the front of the room, where Henry Gale (or the imposter of him) was sitting. The guards were running after her, but they had bulletproof vests of some kind on, and it was harder for them to run than it was for her to. She reached Henry and pointed her knife at his neck.
"Put your guns down," she said in a fierce voice. She was going to fulfill her promise to Sawyer. She was going to come back unharmed.
They started to, but Henry said, "Don't bother. She won't kill me. She wants answers."
Kate snorted. "If I were you," she said to the guards, "I would bother. Because your intelligent leader over here already told me everything I wanted to know." She smirked as they set their guns down. "If anyone tries anything," she said, "the dagger goes straight into his neck. I won't regret it. You'll kill me, sure, but I'm not that valuable to my people, and you'll have lost your most valuable person. Is it worth it?"
The guards stood still. Henry said nothing.
"Okay, give me my guns back," Kate ordered. "And don't you dare aim them at me. They're gonna be facing you."
One of the guards walked slowly up to her, her guns facing him, and she snatched them from him. He walked back to the others shakily.
"Okay, now without picking up any weapons, are there any handcuffs in this room?"
"They're in a different building," Henry tried.
"Doubtful," Kate said, "since this is the room where you'd probably have the most prisoners. Now someone get me some handcuffs, or he dies." One of the guards retrieved a pair of handcuffs.
Keeping one hand on the knife clutched at Henry's throat, Kate carefully worked the handcuffs with the other. She managed to hold the key in her mouth while fastening the metal around his wrists. "Now," she said, "you guys are going to let us both go, and if we keep him hostage, so what? At least your precious leader won't be dead."
This was Kate's wild side. And for the first time since the plane crashed, it had been released.
END OF CHAPTER SIX
Nice, long chapter. It was coming up on 10 pages in size 10 font on my computer. Doesn't that deserve a bunch of nice, pretty reviews from my nice, pretty reviewers? So push the button!
Yes, that one. Down there. You rule if you push it. You'll be, uh, radical! Yeah. Radical. Anyway, here are review responses:
Jami: Thanks! You'll find out soon!
Stroppy-Teenager: Yeah, the Charlie-Claire thing is happening in America, too, and I'm glad, because they're a great couple on the show. But I got really sick of those characters and I wanted to add some new ones, and I thought Charlie could use someone more like him. Claire just seems too…mm, pure, I guess, and with the drugs and grunge band and stuff, Charlie seems the opposite of that. And sure, opposites attract, but they always seem to be fighting. And I get what you're saying, but Ellie and Jake just graduated, so they're 21-22, and that's only a few years away from Charlie & Claire… oh well. And thanks for the support! (phew that was long.)
steam rolled harry potter: That's really weird…(feels confused) I have no idea what I was talking about… oh well, I guess. Thanks for the reviews anyway!
astronomylover: Aw, thank you! And as you can see, Kate's not doing too terribly bad on her own. Your reviews make me very happy. D
-kissbangx3-
Review please!
