-Chapter 1:
Erin - Skin crawling weird has to be the best compliment ever. ^-^
Temporarilymisplaced - I can't wait to see the producers' ideas for S6...as long as they're Jate-y!
P - Glad you like it! Strange is what I aim for.
Sara - Glad you think it's amazing. =]

Chapter 2:
Philadelphia - I'll continue as long as I have a good amount of reviews.
Boo2ubam - I wouldn't say she can change anything. Some things are just meant to happen. She'll have to make some decisions between what's necessary and what isn't. And some Skate seems kind of inevitable. As much as I hate it, there is something between them, even if it is simply lust. I don't think she'd be able to give up what she had with Sawyer so easily in the position that she's in now. And I dunno about the Aaron thing...a Jaby might be able to fill in that empty space. -hint- -hint-
Phoebe and Cole 4ever - Glad you think it's a cool idea!
Northern Wolf - It's going to take awhile for some major changes...but if things go as planned, some stuff is going to be quite different.
Wanda1988 - Glad you're liking it!

"Do you think it'll work?" I asked, taking the transceiver from Jack and looking it over. I knew it wouldn't work. It would be months before we had a chance for rescue and that would lead to more harm than good.

"There might be someone back at the beach who can fix it. Would you slow down?" Jack was speed walking to keep up with me and Charlie was beginning to fall behind.

"Sorry. I just really want to get back." I walked through the trees and onto the sand, glancing around the beach for a moment before I found what I was looking for. Sawyer was marching over toward Sayid, looking less than happy. I sprinted over to Sayid. "We found the transceiver!"

I glanced back at Sawyer. He stared at me for a moment then huffed and walked back in the opposite direction. I sighed silently in relief and turned back to Sayid with a grin. "You've been back here at the beach. Did you meet anyone you think could help?"

Sayid took the device from my hands and studied it. "Yes," he replied. "I might be able to. It's a dual-band military spec. Chances are the battery is good, but the radio is dead."

"Can you fix it?" I inquired. All of this seemed incredibly pointless and time wasting, but I had to play along. People might have become suspicious of me if I acted like I knew something important, despite that I did know something important.

"I need some time," Sayid answered.

The lady Jack said he had talked to on the plane approached him and it caught my attention. "Doctor," Rose addressed him. "The man with the shrapnel…I think you should take a look at him.'

I swallowed and nodded at Sayid then focused my attention on Jack and Rose. I thought about following Jack, but I knew it was pointless. I turned and headed toward the ocean, needing to wash the sweat and dirt from the hike off of myself. I walked until I was out of sight from the others then stripped to my bra and underwear and ventured out into the water. It was freezing.

As I washed myself off, I noticed Sun coming toward me. I smiled to myself, knowing she was going to cut my bath short by trying to motion that I was needed elsewhere. My smile faded as she glanced at my then turned and walked away again. I hesitated then rinsed myself off with another handful of water.

"Ya saw me walkin' over to him, didn't you?"

I quickly looked up in the direction opposite of where Sun was, a bit shocked to see Sawyer standing there. "I did," I admitted. "You looked angry."

He glared at me. "How 'bout next time you mind your own business and stay outta my way, Freckles."

I rolled my eyes. "Look," I said, walking out of the water. I grabbed my shirt and slid it over my head, noticing his eyes wandering across my body. "We're all stuck here and you don't know for how long. The last thing we need is everyone being mad at each other." I grabbed my pants and put those on too. "Whatever you were mad about was probably something that wasn't even important. So how about you tune down the drama and grow up?"

Smirking, he walked toward me and grabbed my wrist. "Well, now…"

"Don't even. I have things to do." I easily broke free of his grip and strode back across the beach. I expected him to follow me, but he must have had things to do too. Probably continue collecting things that didn't belong to him. I felt guilty, because I still loved him. It wasn't the same love I felt for Jack, but I couldn't deny that I also loved Sawyer. Grabbing my hair, I twisted it to ring it out. Water soaked through the shoulders of my shirt and also ran down my back. I ran my fingers through my curls and worked through a few tangles as I continued to walk.

"It seems to be working," Sayid called out to me as I passed him. He went silent again until I turned and looked at him. "We're not picking up a signal though."

"We're not getting any reception," I confirmed as I took a few steps toward him.

"Exactly," Sayid replied. He ran a hand through his hair, brushing it out of his face. "We could broadcast blind. Hope that a ship somewhere picks up our distress call."

"That would waste our battery," I commented.

"You're very right," he agreed. "We could try getting a signal from high ground."

The two of us turned and looked up at the mountain together. I had to remind myself that no one here knew what I did and because of that, they needed to repeat things in order to learn what I already knew. "I'll tell Jack we're heading up into the mountain then. We should keep our group small. We don't need a bunch of people coming with us." I hoped by that, we could prevent Sawyer from following and I wouldn't have to face any feelings I had for him.

Sayid began to look at the transceiver once more as I turned away from him and made my way over toward where Jack had made shelter for the wounded. He was looking at Edward when I got there. "How is he?" I asked, refusing to look at the marshal.

"If I leave him like this, he'll be dead within a day," Jack commented. It made me feel bad, because I knew he'd be dead no matter what Jack did for him. "If I can take out the shrapnel and can control the bleeding and he doesn't go into sepsis and I can find some antibiotics, he might be okay."

"Sounds like a long shot." He looked stressed, so I placed my hands on his shoulders. He tensed and I ignored his shocked look, waiting for him to relax until I gently began to rub his shoulders.

"Kate, what are you…" He started to ask.

"I'm going on a hike," I cut him off. "Sayid fixed the transceiver, but we need to be on higher ground in order to use it."

"Kate…"

"We need to send out a signal." I took my hands off his shoulders.

"The pilot…"

"I saw what happened to the pilot. But what makes you think we're any safer on the beach than in the jungle? We don't even have anywhere to hide on the beach, Jack." I crossed my arms.

He sighed and rubbed his head. "Wait for me."

"The battery isn't going to last, Jack." I hesitated. "You're obviously not going to be cutting into the guy right now. Send someone to go through bags and looks for those antibiotics. Maybe by the time you get back, someone will have found something useful for you to use."

He slowly got to his feet. "Alright. But if we see or hear anything, we're out of there."

I nodded in agreement then looked around. "Hey!" I called over to Hurley. "Can you give us a bit of help?!"

Hurley looked around for a moment before he wandered over to Jack and I. "With uh…what, Dudes?" he asked, his gaze landing on the chunk of metal sticking out of Edward.

"We need you to go through luggage," I replied quickly to assure him he wouldn't have to stick around the dying man beside us. I nodded toward Jack so he would continue.

Jack took the hint. "I need any kind of prescription medications you can find. Especially things ending in -myacin and -cillin. Those are antibiotics."

Hurley looked relieved and glanced away from Edward. "Sure uh…I can do that. But uh…the southern guy has kinda been taking all the luggage."

I felt like groaning in annoyance. "We'll convince him to come with us." So much for trying to avoid him. "Go through whatever he took."

"What if he comes back?" Hurley asked. "He seems kind of…"

"He won't," I replied. "And if for some reason he does, I'll get to you and warn you."

"Can you do this?" Jack asked.

Hurley nodded his head. He looked at Edward one more time then turned and walked off.

I started to head over to Sayid who I could see was getting ready to leave. After a few steps, I turned to look back at Jack. He was staring down at Edward. "Come on." I nodded toward to Sayid. "We shouldn't be gone that long. He'll be fine, Jack."

"Right." Jack glanced at me then looked down at the sand. He walked to catch up with me and I put my hand on his arm for a moment as we walked over to Sayid.

"You ready?" I asked.

"Id like to come with you," Shannon said, approaching us.

"She's not," Boone interrupted before any one else could say anything. "This is what she does."

"The hell I'm not!" Shannon argued with him. "You don't know what the hell I do."

Boone looked at Jack. "She makes really bad decisions that upset her family, which at the moment, is me."

Shannon glared at Boone. "Shut up and stop trying to be charming." She looked at Sayid and I. "I'm coming with you."

I crossed my arms tightly across my chest. "I don't know if that's such a good idea." I had forgotten how persistent she had been about coming along on the hike.

"What are you two years older than me, please." Shannon glanced at Charlie as he walked over. "You're going, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Charlie grinned at her. "Are you?"

"Yep," Shannon answered him proudly.

"Yeah, I'm definitely going." Charlie turned to face me.

"Look," I stated. I could feel Jack and Sayid staring at me and I wondered what they were thinking about me. "We don't need that many people to come with us. Yes, getting a signal on the transceiver is important, but there's a lot of stuff that needs done around here too." I look at Shannon. "If you could, find the guy looking for antibiotics. I think his name is Hurley." I figured people would be weirded out if I knew all of their names and they didn't know how I knew. "It's very important that you find those." I turned next to Charlie and Boone. "You could start gathering all the luggage and putting it in a pile. Things are scattered all over."

Everyone seemed to be staring dumbfounded at my sudden leadership. I tried to ignore what might have been the slightest look of jealousy on Jack's face. "I'm going to go convince the other guy we're taking with us." I began to walk away.

"You couldn't tell from that, but she's actually really nice," Charlie stated. He must have thought I couldn't hear him again. The comment made me smile.

Sawyer was leaning against part of the plane. He had an unlit cigarette in his mouth and a folded letter in his hand. He looked a bit too distracted for my liking.

"Hey." I smiled and walked up to him. "A few of us are going on a hike."

He looked at me and smirked. "You giving me an invite?" he asked. "Guess you don't think I'm so bad after all, huh, Sweetheart?"

"I think you're a pretty complex guy." I smirked back. I realized I was flirting, but I wasn't so sure I didn't want to be at the moment. "So you interested in coming with us?"

"I would say no, but since you asked so nicely…"

I swatted his arm and laughed. "Let's go already." I walked back over to Jack and Sayid, glancing back every few seconds to make sure Sawyer was following me. I was satisfied he wasn't going to change his mind and turn back as soon as we began climbing the mountain.

"Okay, wide open space," Sawyer stated before we had even gotten to where we were going. "You should check the radio to see if we're good."

I stopped walking and began to glance around the jungle. Jack stood beside me, giving me what might have been a curious glance.

"We're not going to have any reception here," Sayid replied. He looked at Jack and I then also stopped walking.

"Just try it," Sawyer spat. He walked a few feet more then he too stopped.

"I don't want to waste the batteries." Sayid glanced at the radio then glared at Sawyer.

I watched them in annoyance.

"I'm not asking you to keep it on all day."

"We're still blocked by the mountains."

"Just check the damn…"

"Would the two of you knock it off?" I asked, shooting Sawyer a glare. "We're not checking it here." I looked at Sayid. "Is there really any point in arguing with him? You know he's just going to be smart."

Before either of them could respond, we were all distracted by a loud growling. The bushes began to shake. Sawyer walked over to join the three of us again and Jack grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Something's coming," Sayid stated. He took a few steps back. "I think it's coming toward us."

"Let's go." Jack turned and began to move in the opposite direction, quickly being followed by Sayid. I turned and took a few steps to go with them, but Sawyer wasn't moving. I halted then joined him, staring toward the oncoming polar bear.

"Kate!" Jack called. He and Sayid hurried back to grab me, but I shrugged them away.

"Hold on." I replied, grabbing Jack's arm to keep him from practically carrying me away.

Sawyer pulled a gun from the back of his pants and began shooting. The giant bear fell from the bushes, it's pure white coat slowly becoming stained with blood. It was still breathing, but it obviously wasn't going to get up to eat us any time soon.

"That's a polar bear." I didn't know which of the guys stated the obvious. I was momentarily distracted by Sawyer's gun, because I knew where it had come from.

"Polar bears don't live near this far south," Sayid muttered, breaking me from my thoughts.

"Well this one does," I answered, beginning to get tired of the repeated conversations.

"Did," Sawyer corrected me. "It did."

"Where did that come from?" Jack asked.

"Probably bear village," Sawyer replied sarcastically. "How the hell would I know?!"

"Not the bear," Jack replied, narrowing his eyes. "The gun."

I tuned them out as they began to discuss the origin of the gun. What was even worse than repeated conversations was repeated conversations that had to do with me being a criminal.

"Because he had a clip on badge." Sawyer held up Edward's badge. "I took that too. Thought it was cool."

I was forced to tune in once again.

"I know who you are." Sayid faced him. "You're the prisoner."

"I'm the what?" Sawyer gave an incredulous laugh.

"You found a gun on the…" Sayid began.

"Guys, stop!" I cut them off, turning to look at both of them. "Just stop." I grabbed the badge from Sawyer and tossed it on the ground. When he went to grab the badge, I took the gun from him too. I put it on safety and shoved it in my pocket. "Just knock it off. We still have to make the transceiver work and none of us want to be out here when it starts to get dark."

Jack and Sayid glanced at each other then slowly began to walk again. I began to follow them, but Sawyer grabbed my wrist. "I know your type. I've been with girls like you."

I glanced up at him. I had nothing to say to that. I smiled sadly then pulled away and crossed my arms, hurrying after Jack.

We hadn't even gone a mile before Sayid pulled out the transceiver. Sawyer began arguing with him, but I did my best to just ignore it. Jack began talking with them, but I kept my mouth shut, just thinking. I didn't start listening again until Danielle's broadcast sent everyone into silence.

"What the hell is that?" Sawyer asked, apparently trying to make out what the woman was saying.

"It's French," I explained. "I…I know some French." That was a lie, but I knew the general idea of what the transmission was saying. They argued about the battery as I put together in my mind how I was going to translate the words.

"She's saying she needs help," I said.

"Or she's not," Sawyer spat. "You don't speak French, do you?"

"Shut up," I replied. "Help me. I'm alone on the island. It killed all the others. They're all dead." It was at least the general idea.

"It's been playing over sixteen years," Sayid muttered, counting slightly on his fingers as he apparently did the math in his head. "Sixteen years and five months."

Sawyer and Sayid began arguing again. I didn't have a chance to stop them. I brought my hand to my head, swaying slightly with sudden dizziness.

"Whoa." Jack grabbed my arm and put his free hand on my back to prevent me from fall over. "Are you alright?"

The dizziness faded as suddenly as it had come. I put my hand on his arm. "I'm good," I assured him, nodding.

"Where are we?" Sayid muttered, looking at the three of us before glancing up toward the sky.