SassyLostie; Thankyou! I thought it was a bit much to have both arguments and Wayne happen at once, but i guess its ok :P Sivan8; Angst, angst :P I don't think he knew how to react about her reading it, and just reacted how he usually did by lashing out (woah i sound like a shrink or somethin' :P ) xAsherlayx; Hehe, its fine :P And thanks :) I'm all about Skate angst :P FrostPaw; I know :( Poor Kate, its such a cute nickname too! Lost-Inuyasha; Thanks for the idea :) I twisted it round a bit, but thankyou :D

Fallen

Kate put a hand to her head and stared. Please god let the bottle she had just downed be affecting her hearing…

"What?" She choked. "Stop it…"

"Katie…" Her mother began. "Its not like that, ok, that's not how it is…"

"Mom?" She whimpered, her head spinning dangerously. "No, no…"

"So, Katie… what did ya do at school today?" Wayne spat, shoving Kate towards Diane with such force she was sent backwards.

"Katie, I'm sorry…" Diane began, "Its not… I'm sorry." Kate shook her head. This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening. Oh god… she could feel the blood in her veins getting thicker, as dirt coursed through them. Her dad… Sam?

"No… no, no, no, please… mom…" She gasped. "Don't do this to me…"

"Katherine…"

"DON'T!" She screamed. Wayne moved forward again and wrapped his arm round Kate's shoulder.

"Come here, darlin'… see Di? What made you think she'd be better with that bastard?" She could feel her stomach churning, and her head spinning as she tried in vain to digest what had just be given. He pressed his hand to Kate's face and continued to taunt Diane, as neither adults seemed to be aware Kate was falling apart. No, no… this couldn't be happening. This wasn't her life… She didn't want to be anything to do with him, she didn't want HIM! She wanted to throw up. She felt disgusting… the urge to retch was overpowered as he yelled some form of abuse, and she moaned as his knee came in sharp contact with her stomach. Diane's fist seemed to have connected with Wayne's face too though.

"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed. "HOW COULD YOU TELL HER?" Kate wasn't aware of what was going on elsewhere, but she pulled herself over to the wall, and smacked the back of her head against it. She felt physically sick. Violated… like… like nothing was safe or right or real. She grasped her head in her hands and dug her nails in. This wasn't happening… this wasn't… Her mother wrapped an arm round her shoulders, and tried to pull her to her feet. "Look what you've done to her!" She yelled, pulling Kate over to her, even thought she tried in vain to push her mother off. Wayne said something else, but she didn't want to hear and buried her head in her hands.

"There's nothing wrong with her, she practically downed a bottle of vodka, stupid kid…" Wayne laughed cruelly, pushing Kate's shoulder.

"Leave her alone!" Diane snapped, pushing him away and going back to tend to her daughter, who was looking like she might be sick. "Now, Katie you've got to understand what happened, Sam was away and -."

"Get off." She choked, pushing her mother back to hard she fell backwards. Kate pulled herself to her feet and backed off against the door.

"Oh for godsake stop overreacting!" Wayne hissed. "I'm the one that should be pissed, your mommy didn't tell either of us." Her head span dangerously again and she fumbled towards the exit. Despite Diane's tugging and Wayne's shouting, she managed to unlock it, and collapsed onto the street. She vaguely remembered Shannon's party, but the need to sob into someone's shoulder overruled her common sense, as she ignored the shouts of protest from the house and staggered down the street, for once in her lifetime unable to stop the sobs that shook her body. She felt dirty. She felt everything good turn bad, as she tried forcefully to thin clearly. No one followed her, Diane and Wayne were busy screaming at each other, and she was grateful for that, for once not caring what he did to her mother. The music was thumping form inside Shannon's house as she stumbled up the snowy driveway, collapsing against the door and banging repeatedly on it, not one hundred percent aware that the cries she was emitting carried straight through the house. Whoever was on the other side of the door, shouted some kind of abuse before yanking it open, and making a yelping noise.

"Kate?" Whoever was there was nearly knocked backwards as she threw her arms round their neck. "What- whats… SAWYER!" She tried in vain to stop sobbing, but it was impossible now, even though was painfully aware she was crying in front of her friends as a steady crowd formed round them. "SAWYER!" Shannon was holding onto Kate for dear life, petrified to see her friend in such a state.

"What?" He barked, staggering slightly once he caught sight of the two girls. His instant reaction was to roll his eyes. Kate had never seemed to emotional sort, but he guessed their little tiff earlier had pushed her to it. "Oh for godsake we only-."

"She's drunk." Ana noted, appearing from behind Sawyer and going forward to pry Kate off Shannon.

"What happened?" Jack squeaked, pushing past Sawyer with force and putting an arm round her shoulders. Expecting Kate to point an accusing finger at him, he folded his arms defiantly, but the name she sobbed sent him crashing back down to earth with a shattering impact .

"Wayne…" His stomach fell, and he felt slightly winded for a moment. The fact that she had dissolved into sobs, which he had never seen before was scary enough, but the fact that the words she was crying was Wayne… he automatically thought the worst, as everyone else seemed to, as they stared in horror and Ana went forward to help Shannon pull Kate into the living room.

"What?" He choked. "Whats he done, Kate…" She was inconsolable, sobbing hard against Shannon's chest, as her arms were wrapped round her.

"Its ok, Kate… come on, just tell us what happened." She breathed, her voice trembling.

"Kate." Sawyer hissed, pulling her roughly from Shannon's grasp, much to Jack's annoyance.

"Let go…"

"What did he do." He hissed, his grip too tight on her arm, which caused her to sob louder. "No, don't, come on, please, Kate tell me what happened."

"He- he- he's not…"

"Kate!" Sawyer barked, shaking himself now. "What. Did. He. Do."

"He's my dad…" She sobbed. He froze and scowled, his arm still resting on her shoulder.

"What?" Jack breathed, who seemed to have clicked sooner than the others.

"My mom lied!" She yelped, her nails digging into her face. "She- she lied!"

"What do you mean?" He pressed. "How?"

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU THINK?" She screamed, stunning Jack as he jumped slightly.

"Jesus…" Sawyer muttered, as realisation hit. "C'mon." He breathed, making towards Kate, but Shannon pushed him away,

"Leave her!" She hissed.

"No, you leave her. Get up." He breathed, softening his tone and pulling the limp girl out of Shannon's arms. "Come on…"

"Let go…" She choked, trying to pull away as he dragged her out of the room, leaving the gaggle of friends staring after them.

"Come on…" He sighed, pulling her upwards and through the guest bedroom door. "Stop it." He looked down, annoyance being replaced with guilt. He pulled her over to the bed, on which she collapsed, and put his arms round her, still feeling pissed about earlier. "What you been drinking to end up like this?" He soothed, as she sobbed more into his chest. "Shh…" He noticed her hands were clutching at her wrists, but didn't think twice about it, instead pulling her to him and trying to calm her down. "Kate, come on… come on, just try and calm down a bit, we can talk about this, darlin'… we can get through it-."

"No- no I can't." She choked.

"Yeah you can, it don't mean anythin'." She nodded against him, and her elbow knocked at his arm. "Wha-… STOP IT!" He yelped, looking down in horror to see her nails dragging up her arm. She pulled back immediately, and seemed to have genuinely not realised she was doing it, as her eyes filled with tears once again. "What the hell are you playing at- stop … don't cry, Kate please…" He said slightly desperately. "Katie don't-."

"Don't call me Katie." She as good as shrieked, as she choked slightly. He looked down softly, and pulled her head to his chest firmly, stroking her hair as she continued to sob. He knew she was trying to stop, because her arms were constantly wiping tears away and she's be completely still for a moment, before a loud sob broke it, as she found herself unable to control them. "Don't fight it…" He soothed, "Jus' cry." Despite his reassurances she still tried to stop herself in vain, as she clung onto him, their fight forgotten. "I'm not gonna think any less of ya…" He breathed, traces her cheek with his thumb.

"I will though!" She choked, her fingernails digging into his shirt.

"Ok, ok…" He soothed, putting his face down to touch hers. He could tell she'd been drinking something pretty strong from the way she wasn't quite focused on him. "What you been drinking?" He asked softly, reaching across to the bedside table and picking up an empty glass.

"I only had a bit…" She choked, as the music began thumping downstairs.

"You only had a bit." He echoed sarcastically. "What did you only have a bit of?"

"V- V…Vodka." Sawyer nodded an 'of course it is' nod, and continued rocking her gently on his lap. "I only did it cause I… it was g-gross…" He chuckled and ruffled her hair slightly, pulling her closer.

"Why'd ya drink so much then?"

"I didn't… I just drank it all in one go, and then tasted it…"

"You drank the whole bottle?" He sniggered, trying to keep his face calm, but feeling slightly worried all the same. He wasn't about to carry her to hospital to have her stomach pumped at half eleven at night.

"No… there was only a bit… there was only half left." The vodka seemed to be kicking in, as the shock of earlier wore off, and her words became slurred.

"I think you had a bit more than half, sweetcheeks… your not that much of a lightweight." He wanted to get a giggle out of her, but he found nothing. Getting a drunk person to laugh was meant to be easy… "C'mon…" He breathed, pulling his arms round her to try and stifle the sobs that were still being emitted from her lips. She hiccupped and coughed as she tried to force her mouth shut, only to find it more difficult than first thought. "Kate… don't…" He sighed. "Just cry if ya want to."

"I- I don't." She stammered. He rolled his eyes and pulled her backwards onto the bed, but realised this was a mistake when her shoulders jerked. "Ok." He said hurriedly, pulling her back up and leaning forward with her.

"I don't want him to be part of me." She whispered, he could still see the crimson lines on her arm from her nails and shuddered. He didn't want her to go down that path…

"Ok, what did your mom actually say?"

"Sorry… she said she was sorry." Sawyer closed his eyes and rested against her cheek.

"Kate… it doesn't mean anything, ok?"

"Of- of course it d-does!" She stammered. "He's my… did he know?"

"What?"

"My dad… did my dad know?!" She sounded slightly hysterical, as she had ever right to be, but Sawyer grasped her wrists and sat her back down on the bed.

"No, ok, lets not think about that right now, yeah?"

"No!"

"Kate…"

"Why are you calling me Kate? And I'm sorry about the letter, but I want to know if he lied too!…They've all lied…"

"Yeah they have, and you have every damn right to get really mad at them, but lets get mad tomorrow?" Kate scowled across at him, she might be drunk, but she wasn't a little kid and he was treating her like one.

"Don't talk like that… I can do what I would like- what I would- I can do what I like."

"Not when ya can't form proper sentences."

"I can…" He could see how purely angry she was by the way her nails were digging into her palms, and the sobs hadn't yet subsided.

"Shh…" He felt her shudder underneath his arm, and was ready when she gagged. He tried to get her up, but was too late, and she was sick over his lap. "Urgh…" He grimaced. "What is it with you and throwing up on me?"

"I'm sorry…" She groaned, as he stood up and looked down at his jeans.

"Its ok…" He sighed. "Jus' stay there I'm gonna go see if I can borrow some pants off Metro." Kate groaned in response and collapsed sideways onto the bed, trying to block out the destructive thoughts souring through her mind. By the time he had got back, he was wearing new pants, and his shirt was turned inside out.

"Whats up… with your- shh… shirt."

"I've had waaay too much experience with yer bodily fluids fer my liking, and if I need to have more I'm not gettin' my best shirt dirty…" Kate narrowed her eyes at him and hiccupped. "You've not drunk any more have you?"

"No…" She shrugged.

"I think the alcohol's hittin' yer bloodstream on litre at a time…" He chuckled. "You still feel sick?" She nodded solemnly, and rested against the headboard. The tears were still wet on her face, but they had stopped falling, as she blinked with sore eyes. "Ok, that's ok… it don't matter… Shannon tried to come in… but ya don't want her to, do ya?" Kate shook her head slowly and closed her eyes, she groped about on the bed until she found his hands, and took hold.

"I'm sorry… about the l-letter." He stiffened immediately, and she withdrew her hand. "I'm really sorry…"

"Don't." He snapped, moving a couple of inches down the bed.

"Sawyer, please…" She whimpered. There was a paused and she sucked in her breath, wondering whether she should. "That's why you… that's why you use, S-S… that's why you use Sawyer." She said slowly and deliberately, the words rolling off her tongue with difficulty.

"I said don't…" He warned, his fist tightening.

"Sawyer-."

"Kate just-."

"Sawyer-."

"I said-."

"I'm gonna throw up." She whimpered.

(Sighs) Ooh dear ...