When she opened her eyes, Sawyer was no longer next to her. It was dark, but a lamp was on in a separate room, and a shaft of light fell across the couch she was on. Her body wasn't on fire anymore and her thoughts were clear.

Was she actually at Sawyer's home? Sitting up gingerly, she realized that he was there on the floor, leaning against the wall. She would have thought he was asleep, but he moved, and his eyes glittered in the half-dark resting on her. His hair was slightly shorter than it had been on the island but it still fell across his face.

"Sawyer?"

"Yeah?"

"I broke some ribs. I don't remember how many."

"You talking crazy again, or are you lucid?" he drawled, humor in his voice with a twinge of apprehension.

"Lucid." She said. "Sorry."

"Sorry you broke your ribs or sorry you almost died on me?"

"Where are we?"

"My house."

Kate gave an excruciating laugh. "You have a house?"

"Yep."

"Did you steal it?"

"No." He said slightly defensively.

"Then how'd you get it?"

He paused, and she knew he had stolen it somehow. "Where's Jack?" he asked pointedly.

She bit her lip. She thought about telling him everything. She thought the guy who had saved her life deserved to know. Then she realized he probably didn't want to. She remained silent.

"All righty then." He affirmed, businesslike. There was a long moment of silence between them. Finally Sawyer asked, "You tired?"

"No." Her mind was buzzing and she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep at all.

He moved out of the shaft of light and Kate couldn't see what he was doing. Suddenly, the room was filled with a greenish light as a t.v. that had been sitting on the carpet was flipped on. He sat back, looking at her, asking her silently if she was okay. She knew he'd never gather the courage to ask it out loud.

She smiled at him, and Sawyer actually grinned.

"All right, Sibyl." Sawyer said softly. He tossed her the remote, which she caught rather clumsily. "You can choose, but no shitty soap operas."

Jack stayed outside until his watch read one a.m. His breath coming out in puffs that he could see in the lamplight, he stiffly crawled back through the window. He walked into the kitchen, his back and neck hurting from the tension of shivering for so long. He sat down at the counter, exhaustion in every bone of his body. He reached for the phone and held it in his hand for a while before dialing 911. He knew she would hate him for it, if she was actually found. If she was ever stopped by the police, harassed, taken to the station, all for just doing what she wanted. But he had to do something.

It had been twenty-four hours since she'd left. He could report a missing person.

Kate actually did fall asleep after several hours of some dumb dating reality show, the only thing they could agree on after much bickering. When she woke up, sunlight was streaming through the window of the small living room. It was the only window, and it was somewhat small. The only things in the room were the beat-up couch she lay on, and the t.v. on the floor, which had been switched off. For a split second, the room reminded her of her prison cell, stuffy and empty. A prick of panic flared through her, and she sat up too quickly. She held her breath as she got up and hobbled as briskly as she could out of the room that reminded her of the hell on earth she'd been in for over a year.

The kitchen was empty apart from a rickety table, one chair and what looked like a hundred-year-old fridge in the corner. She leaned over the note that was placed on the edge of the table.

I had to finish a job. Be back later. was all it said, and Kate smiled. There was no apology and no explanation, and she didn't mind at all. How very Sawyer. Although once she thought about it, he did seem changed. He was as sarcastic and easily annoyed as ever, but he was quieter than he had been on the island; not so quick to retort or get the last word. And she had seen concern on his face, then relief when he saw she was okay.

She was okay, right, she asked herself. Maybe. She didn't really want to think about it right now. She didn't know what her next plan of action was or how she was going to survive never thinking about Jack, but… not now, she told herself.

To occupy herself, she explored the house. It was a small ranch, and with every room she visited, it was more and more clear that Sawyer hadn't been here for very long, and probably didn't plan on staying. One room was completely empty, the bathroom didn't have a light, and the bedroom contained a ratty suitcase and a lumpy looking twin bed. Kate considered snooping through the suitcase, but decided against it. She pulled on a denim jacket that was lying on the floor and ventured outside.

The ranch was in the middle of the woods; it must have been fairly far from the city. Dead leaves littered the dirt road. There was an immense tire swing hanging from a tree a few feet away. With amusement, Kate noted that the outside of the house was painted a pale pink. Feeling better physically than she had felt since the car accident, she chose to remain outside and sat down on the swing, her feet trailing in the crackling frosted leaves.

She only had to wait about ten minutes before Sawyer's truck pulled in.

"What the hell're you doing outside when you almost froze to death yesterday?" he asked gruffly the second he'd opened the driver's door.

Kate smiled. "I'm fine. It's nice out now."

He walked slowly to her, scuffing his shoes against the ground. "Move over." He ordered, and Kate slid to the side of the tire. He sat down, back to back. She noticed he did it slowly so as not to jostle her. He squinted up at the sky for a moment before saying,

"There's cops looking for you in the city."

Her blood froze. She didn't do anything. Well, she took Jack's money. But he wouldn't… Jack wouldn't… it was only a couple hundred... she tried to ask why but it felt like something was lodged in her throat.

"It was on the radio." Sawyer said. "You're a missing person, apparently."

She let out a breath, feeling lightheaded. "That's all?"

"There something else I should know about?"

"No. I just…" she rubbed her forehead with her palms. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the rope that held the swing up. "I don't know. If I ever went back to prison…" she left the sentence open. They both knew that she would crack completely. She didn't really have to say it out loud. She tried to swallow the lump that had suddenly developed in her throat. "Sorry."

He didn't say anything, and when she opened her eyes and craned her neck to look at him, he was leaning forward on the swing, his eyes pointed in front of him, seeing something that wasn't there.

"Whatever the hell we're running from," Sawyer finally said in a low mutter, "is eventually going to bite us both in the ass." Kate could tell that he said it more to himself than to her.

They sat together on the swing, surprised at each other's subtle changes since they'd last seen each other, a year and a half ago on the island. Kate marveled at his seriousness, his grave silence, like he really wondered what was going on but would never ask. She appreciated that he wasn't going to. On the flip side, she could tell that he was startled by her frailty. She was too, she guessed. Ever since the day she was taken into prison, she had been eaten away at until she was just a shell. She knew that he noticed.

She hated being a shell. She hated herself for letting go of everything. She needed to pull herself together, and she couldn't figure out how. Jack… she missed him already, but there was no way she could let him suffer through her pathetic living in the past. She could never get Iowa out of her goddamn head. Every once in a while, that guilt would creep in like a thick fog and her house would loom up in her mind, and so would her mother's face, and the diner, and fire and running. Iowa, where hell began to follow her.

But it didn't have to follow her.

"Can I borrow your truck?" Kate asked suddenly.

"Why?" He jumped a little, her voice penetrating his deep thoughts.

"I have to tell Jack something."

He glared at her. "I ain't driving you to marriage counseling or anything…"

"I have to tell him to leave me alone. Who else would alert the police?" She stood up gingerly and put her hand out for the keys. With the news that she was going to tell off Jack, he suddenly changed his mind and handed them to her grudgingly.

"It would probably be a good idea if I could borrow your cell phone too, if you have one." She told him commandingly. "You know, just in case…"

He allowed himself one more glare at her before digging through his jeans pocket and handing her a cell phone too.

She beamed at him. "Thanks, Sawyer."

He nodded. "Anything for you, Freckles." He said sarcastically.

He remained seated as she climbed into the car, but he gave her a salute and the smallest of smiles as she drove away.

As he watched the car drive off, Sawyer heard his house phone ring, and he rushed in, thinking it might be that damn "client" that wouldn't leave him alone. The phone sat on the cracked counter. He picked it up.

"Yeah?" he asked irritably.

"Sawyer." He recognized Kate's voice instantly, and it was cheerful, almost… he rolled his eyes… jolly.

"What?"

"I lied. I stole your truck. But I really wanted to thank you for taking care of me last night. It was very… saintly of you." Kate cheer made Sawyer grimace in annoyance, but it doubled once he realized a horrible thing – he'd just been conned.

"Where are you taking my goddamn truck?" he hollered into the phone.

"Iowa." Kate just laughed a little at his fury. "I'm taking your goddamn truck to Iowa."

Jack was listlessly reading the newspaper. Well, not so much reading as moving his eyes along the black ink of the paper, not at all paying attention. He started at the sudden loud tapping noise coming from his bedroom. He got up to investigate and opened the door cautiously.

Kate was standing on the fire escape, knocking on the window from the outside. She wore a huge denim jacket and the clothes she had been wearing two days ago. In the jacket, she looked smaller than she usually did, like she was shrinking in front of him. But she was fine. She was back and she was fine.

Jack rushed across the room and threw the window.

"Are you all right?" he asked immediately.

"I didn't come back to stay." Kate said flatly.

He felt his heart drop down in his stomach. For a second, he'd hoped… but he knew. She was only back for a final goodbye before she ran off. Before the cops saw her in the streets and interrogated her and frightened her. It was his fault, after all, and he shouldn't hold this against her. Not this, at least.

He looked at her miserably. Her cheeks had an almost feverish pink flush to them and her eyes were sparkling with something he couldn't decipher. The denim jacket nagged at him; it was a man's. Whose? He tried to calm himself. She probably just stole it from someone, she's not like that.

They stared at each other for a moment.

"Will you get inside?" Jack asked weakly, trying to grasp some sort of control over the situation.

She faltered. "I don't want to."

"I'm not going to lock you in."

She hesitated, and then climbed into the bedroom. She wrapped her arms around herself protectively and didn't say anything.

He bit his lip from asking a million questions. Where have you been? What are you going to do? Why did you have to leave me in the middle of the night? He settled with only one.

"How're you feeling?" he asked stiffly. He was aware of their awkwardness. They stood in the middle of the bedroom, a foot apart, looking around and avoiding eye contact.

She tried to smile. "Pretty good. Better."

"Good."

They stood there as if they were on a blind date and all conversation topics had bee exhausted.

Kate looked up at him suddenly. "I'm going to Iowa." She said wildly. "I need to go to Iowa. I don't know for how long and I don't know what the hell I'm going to do when I get there but it's chased me long enough and I can't stand it anymore."

She stared at him and he stared back. He saw the defiance in her expression and he knew that she expected him to protest, to remind her about the consequences of breaking parole, or to tell her it was a stupid idea.

"Okay." He said simply.

"I don't know if I'll come back." She tested.

He nodded seriously.

"Okay. I hope…" but he couldn't figure out how to finish his sentence. I hope it helps. I hope you'll be careful. I hope you're okay. He just left it there, incomplete, like their relationship. Their relationship was a mess of "I hopes". Instead he asked,

"Do you want something to eat before you go?"

"No. I'll get something on the way." She said.

"Do you have enough money? Do you want the rental car?" He couldn't help but try to watch over her, at least a little bit.

"I have a car. As for the money…" she tried to smile again. "I'll just rob a bank or something."

He gaped before she laughed a little and assured him that she was joking.

At the door, she gave him a hesitant hug and was the first to pull away. She averted her glassy eyes by bowing her head and mumbling a soft apology. Jack felt empty.

He collapsed on the couch. He stared at the blank t.v. screen. He tried to conjure up a feeling of anger towards her, for tearing everything apart, for turning everything he knew upside down. Kate had ruined all normalcy, all feelings of safety. On an island where everything was unpredictable, she was the wildest thing there. She was the one that surprised him most. She was the one he sacrificed everything for. Worst of all, she took all the control he ever had; the control that kept him sane, the control he needed ever since he was a kid. But he couldn't get angry with her. He clenched and unclenched his fists over and over again, attempting as hard as he could some feeling of scorn, resentment, anything.

He only felt empty and alone. She was gone.

But as his head dropped into his palms in grief, the front door creaked open. He sat up so quickly it hurt his neck.

Kate stood in the doorway, leaning against the wall. It took him a moment to realize that her face was wet with soundless tears. Her arms were still wrapped around her, head resting lightly on the doorframe.

Jack stood up but didn't move to her or say anything.

Kate swallowed hard and twisted the huge sleeves of her sweatshirt in her hands. Finally, in a soft, wavering voice, she spoke.

"Jack? Do you want to come with me?"

FIN

A/N - Small epilogue soon to follow!