Sorry it took me so long to get an update ready for you. I may go back and change this section later on as I'm not all that happy with it, but here it is anyway. Getting closer to that hatch and 'Momma Ford-Cortez', lol!

Disclaimer: Me no owny.;)

Tell me a Story (part 5).

They walked in silence for the first few minutes. Luana clutching the box of cookies to her chest devoutly, as if it where the Holy Grail itself, and Sawyer with their lunch gathered into a makeshift bag, made from one of his old shirts, in one hand, his daughter's hand firmly secured in his other.

The jungle path was silent save for the odd squawk of a strange, tropical bird or the chirrup of an annoying little tree frog and the padding of their own feet. His heavy in boots, hers light in a pair of sandals that they'd found in the unclaimed luggage pile in the hatch that were only a few sizes too big for her.

Luana scuffed her toes at the hard packed dirt, dragging her feet slightly to make little, earth-red clouds plume about her heels as she did.

"So, Papi…" she mused suddenly, breeching the quiet and sounding more like an interrogating police officer than Ana did. She cocked her head to one side, considering him from the corner of one eye. "What happened to Harry, Barry and Bob with that big giant chasing them?"

Sawyer glanced down at her and snorted, drawing her gaze to meet his fully.

"Oh, now you wanna know?" he clicked his tongue in mock annoyance. "Now when we're traipsin' through the middle of the damn jungle…thought you said it was too scary, huh…? Angel-Face?" he quirked an eyebrow at her but Luana merely shrugged and grinned up at him, revealing her currently gap-toothed smile where her first wobbly baby tooth had fallen out a few days ago. Ana had kept it, unable to part with the tiny bit of bone that was part of her daughter. She now carried it in her pocket and had smacked Sawyer so hard across the back of his head that he'd been nearly blind for the rest of the day when he'd dared to laugh at her and remind her 'she had the whole rest of her daughter right before her….what'd she need a tooth for?'

"I changed my mind…." Luana hummed lightly and nonchalantly, shaking hair strands from her view. "…And you said there was going to be a princess in it. I like princesses."

"And I told you she was a queen already!" Sawyer corrected with an indignant sniff. "It was her island that the boys went an' washed up on and the giant was the one who guarded her, to keep all the bad men in the world from stealin' her away."

Luana scrunched up her nose in confusion, shooting him a wary, sideways glance.

"Why did all the men want to steal her away?" she scoffed and Sawyer couldn't help but chuckle at her.

"See, Darlin', this queen was the most beautiful girl ever to be seen in any of the lands. In all the world, actually. No one even came close to how gorgeous she was and every guy wanted to marry her 'cause they fell in love with her the minute they clapped eyes on her."

"Wow, she must be really pretty…" Luana breathed, eyes focusing on a spot in the jungle distance and taking on a faraway gleam. Perhaps she was imagining what the queen looked like. Perhaps she was likening her to her mother…the way that Sawyer was, and he felt his own mind begin to wander from the subject at hand to what he was actually going to do, with her and to her, when he swaggered into the hatch and found her there…until he suddenly became aware that Luana was still there and she was tugging on his hand with all the might she could muster to regain his attention.

"Sorry, Pumpkin, what was that?" he coughed, masking the heat that had taken up residence on his stubbled cheeks.

"I said…" she growled with a matching glare, drawng out her vowels in annoyance. "Why didn't she have a boyfriend if she was so beautiful?" she queried impatiently, squirming her hand from Sawyer's grasp and stooping to pick up a pebble from the ground that she deemed as 'treasure' and stuffing it into her father's pocket. "All the most beautiful girls have boyfriends." She reasoned.

"Not all of 'em, Mini Me." Sawyer countered, suppressing a smirk as they trouped onwards.

"Momma's beautiful and you're her boyfriend." Luana argued, refusing to waver from her point of view as she leaped to avoid a tree branch in her path and using Sawyer's arm to lever herself over it.

Sawyer, however, stopped mid-stride, causing the little girl to jerk backwards slightly with the suddenness of it.

"Now you hang on one darn minute!" he growled, spinning her around to face him in a whirl of sleek, almost ebony locks, and pointed a finger at her. "I ain't your Momma's damn boyfriend!" he scoffed at the title. Boyfriend indeed! "Who told you that? Jack? Kate?" he raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to answer him, silently demanding it with hands that gripped her little arms tightly.

"Uncle Charlie said you aren't really married, so you can't be her husband." Luana retorted, with an obstinate frown that drew her dark eyebrows down her little forehead. She folded her arms across her chest, putting a barrier between them in the way that Ana usually did when he'd royally annoyed her. Like mother, like daughter.

"Yeah, well 'Uncle Charlie' is talkin' outta his damn ass!" he snarled beneath his breath. Standing straight once more, he turned away to carry on walking, entertaining how he was going to go about strangling 'Uncle Charlie' with his own guitar strings when he returned to the beach, but Luana loosed a startled gasp, drawing his attention back to her. She slapped her hands over her mouth, staring after him with wide, horrified eyes as if he'd just sprouted a second head from his left nostril. "What?" he almost rolled his eyes.

"Daddy, you said a bad word!" she stated breathlessly from behind her palms. "Momma said you aren't allowed to say 'ass' around me anymore or you wouldn't be getting any for a long time." she repeated her mother's words, as oblivious to their true meaning as she had been on the day that Ana had made her irate threat, knowing that such a warning was the only way she was going to get Sawyer to follow her demand. And for a brief second concern blazed within him. Ana-Lucia would hold to her ultimatum too, knowing her the way he did, never one to be swayed or seduced by his southern charm unless she wanted to be in the first place. And he had no doubt that his little 'angel' of a daughter would find immense pleasure in getting her father into deep trouble, even if she didn't know how badly he was likely to suffer because of it.

But then, he reasoned, he'd been purposely left unaware of her hatch duty that morning, hence his trek through the jungle with Luana in tow, so he'd probably already done something to piss her off anyway.

He grinned down at Luana's smug face suddenly, tapping her on the nose and making her blink.

"Alright you little snitch, but you tattle on me an' get me in your Momma's bad books an' I'm gonna go tattle on you, 'cause, Precious, you just said the naughty word too!" and his grin widened to a full dimpled, face wide smile as he watched the realisation dawn upon the five year olds features and she blushed crimson red as she muttered a sulky 'fine' and slipped her hand back into his. Calling a truce it seemed as they finally began walking again, albeit in a stiff silence.

He dared a glance down at Luana's face as they moved and she clasped his hand a little tighter, resting her head against his arm for comfort. It was her way of forgiving him for their little fight and of saying sorry for whatever it was she'd done or said wrong. And the urge to embrace her then, looking so lost and forlorn as she did in that moment, was too powerful for him to ignore. He stooped, hooking his hands beneath her armpits and hefted her into his strong arms, smoothing a palm over her hair and holding her to him as firmly as he could.

"Never mind, huh? Lulu? How 'bout we get back to talkin' 'bout that queen. We got ourselves off of the track of the story here." he soothed and Luana nodded her consent against him, tucking her head beneath his chin.

-oOo-