A/N: Okay, this fic has kinda been on hold whilst I'm working on 'I Never', but I just had to get this chapter out, it wouldn't leave me alone. Surprisingly, my guess-work paid off...the time-frame I'm using for this fic matches Lost's pretty much exactly, in terms of Kate's age/her flashbacks...anyway, on with the story...
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Four years later
Katie held her breath as footsteps fell beneath her. From where she lay between the sun-dappled leaves of the old oak, she could see the top of his head moving slowly, searching. She smiled to herself, knowing that he would never think to look up.
Tucking a loose curl behind her ear, she slipped back down the gnarled trunk of the tree. The ground was soft under her bare feet as she darted from tree to tree, evading his sight.
Before she could help it, she sneezed, the pollen in the late summer air triggering an attack of hay fever. He spun round, and she heard him walking purposefully towards her. She avoided him, running between the trees, but he was too fast for her, and caught her around the waist in a clumsy tackle. They fell to the ground laughing as Katie pushed him off.
'That's not fair! It's not my fault I get hay fever.'
'Yeah, but I still caught you.'
'Fine, but I want a rematch later,' she shoved him playfully as he rolled his eyes.
'You're so competitive, Katie.'
She stuck her tongue out at him, and ran through the woods back in the direction of their houses.
'Come on Tommy, you're so slow!' She teased as she ran.
'You don't always have to run away, Katie, we could walk together.' He ran to catch her up, the promise of home-baked cookies spurring them on.
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'How about this?' Tom held up a small model plane.
'But you love that plane,' Katie wandered around the room, picking up various objects before replacing them neatly.
'Yeah, but we need to put special things in, or it won't mean anything.'
'Mm…I guess.'
'What's wrong, Katie? You're acting real quiet.'
'It's nothing,' she blinked back tears, not wanting to talk about it.
'C'mon, tell me; I'm your best friend.'
Katie sighed, raising her green eyes to meet his blue ones. She could trust him.
'It's Wayne. He hit mom again today. I'm scared that one day he'll really hurt her, I mean more than just a black eye or a sprained wrist. When he gets like that…' Tears slipped from her eyes, and Tom moved to put an arm around her. They sank to the floor, leaning against the bed, as he held her.
'You don't have to go home tonight. You know my mom will let you stay.'
There was a slight plea in his voice; he hated seeing her hurt. At the age of eleven, he didn't realise it, but he loved her.
'Stay the night, and we can bury the capsule tomorrow, together.'
Katie nodded, already planning to slip out of the window once he was asleep. As though he had read her mind, he looked her dead in the eye.
'Don't leave, Katie. Don't run away again.' And she knew that she couldn't.
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'Katie, I think you can stop now. You're not digging a grave,' he said it jokingly, but neither of them laughed.
'Ready?' Together, hands touching, they lowered the box into the ground.
The capsule, carefully packed that morning with various trinkets, including Tom's precious model plane, also held a tape. Katie had insisted that they record themselves talking. Her reasoning was serious, and in all honesty was not suited to a ten-year-old girl.
'This way, if one of us has to open it alone, we can still hear the other one. And we'll remember. And we'll know we're not really alone.'
On the box was an inscription, written in Katie's neat, looping handwriting:
Thomas Brennan and Katherine Austen
August 15th 1989
Together Forever
As they threw the earth back onto the time capsule, Katie knew that she had been digging a grave. The last decade of her life was buried in that capsule, and as they walked away, hands loosely linked, she vowed never to look back.
