Missing Dimples-Part 5

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all of the positive reviews I got for this thing, either from or Lost-Forum. I appreciate every single review, and it gives me lots of incentive to hurry up and write the next chapter. Since this story is so popular, and I know from experience that if you leave it alone for too long, you'll lose all of your regular reviewers. So, to avoid history repeating itself, I'm going to try and keep up with putting new chapters up so I don't lose you guys. I don't think I can actually do a schedule, like wonderful Leah Kate, because I don't do well under time restrictions. But, I will try to work really hard on trudging through this while there are reviewers! I love you all, you know that, right?!

Oh, and I know y'all want Skate, but there are going to be lots of Sana bumps on the Skate road.

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This side of the beach was deserted in the late afternoon. Everyone was boarded up inside of their tents, trying to avoid the afternoon sun's heat. Jack had gone to check up on a crying Aaron, at the insistence of a nervously hovering Claire. Michael was walking half way down the beach, with Vincent bounding into the ocean, trying to show off his new tricks to one of his returned masters. Other than that, the beach looked deserted.

Only Kate stood there, biting her lip. She shifted onto her other foot, staring at the tarp that served as the door to the Med tent. Ana had just ducked into it, and every fiber in Kate's body urged her to sneak a peek inside. The need to run was overpowering, although this time it was the need to run to, instead of the need to run away.

She chewed on her fingernail, silently having a moral battle with herself. To eavesdrop, or not to eavesdrop...that was the question. The goodness in her that wanted to take over, the part that needed Jack to redeem her, said to walk away and mind her own business. The other part of her, the rebel that answered to no one, told her something important could be going on inside. She smiled faintly as her over-active mind linked her choice right now to the choice of picking one of the two guys.

When she was with Jack, it was always on the way to do something important for the camp. Even their inside jokes were made on the way to do something productive for the survivors, like getting water from the caves. It was always a chore that Jack had to do, and Kate happened to be along. It was also the need inside of herself to be redeemed for her past crimes. She thought that if someone saintly heroic like Jack could love her, then all her sins would be forgotten and forgiven. Butt it was the exact opposite, really. He wanted her to be better, and sometimes he just wanted to forget she wasn't perfect. And that drove her crazy.

With Sawyer, it was totally different. They would have inside jokes, too, but the jokes came out of times where they had nothing important or pressing to do. They went swimming in the middle of the day when they found their waterfall. And for those few preciously short minutes, Kate felt free. She didn't have to worry about responsibilities or dangers. She could forget about where she was and who she was, and she could have fun. And seeing Sawyer without a shirt was a bonus. And they could go hunting for a boar in the middle of the day and into the next day, without thinking about getting back to camp or if the other survivors were okay. They could sit at a fire and drink and play a game. Even when Sawyer found out she had killed a man, she expected the response. The disgust, the disappointment, the confusion, the pity, the emotions that she hated seeing on peoples' faces. But he hadn't looked down on her. He had understood, and not blamed her or condemned her. He had taken her like she was, and hadn't tried to change her into something she was not.

Kate snapped out of her trance as she heard someone laugh. She looked longingly at the tent, as the wind picked up around her, and flapped the tarp up slightly. Like a little secret opening that nature was giving her. Tired of not making decisions, she made her choice, and ducked into the tent.

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Kate stuck to the shadows of the fairly large tent as soon as she entered, and was glad that neither occupant noticed her. She scooted over, so she was right next to the door in case she had to make a quick get-away.

Ana was standing by the airplane seat that Sawyer was propped up on. Her arms were crossed, and her chocolate brown hair was down over her shoulders. She had a small smile on her face as Sawyer stirred from his sleep. A moment later, his eyes blinked open. He looked confused for a second, until his eyes landed on Ana.

"Well hey there, Chica." He drawled, sitting up a bit more in his chair. He had that dimpled smile on, which added the perfect flirting effect.

"Hey yourself. Jack said you asked to see me, but when I came in here, you had passed out again."

Sawyer chuckled, looking up at Ana at a crooked angle. "You know, it takes a lot of energy to be this good looking and charming."

Ana smiled, then crouched down in front of him so they were at eye level. "How do you have any energy left at all?!" Ana asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes good naturedly.

"Hey, I wouldn't be laying here hurt if SOMEONE hadn't stepped on my wounded shoulder and infected it with dirt!" He answered back, glaring at her.

"I wouldn't had to have made a point if someone would have kept their mouth shut and dropped the rock."

"I wouldn't have picked up the rock for a weapon of revenge if someone hadn't thrown me in a pit!"

They broke off their war-stares at the same time, smiling at each other good naturedly. Kate almost gagged. She had always seen Sawyer flirt with other girls on the island, but he had never been serious like he was with Kate. And now she had to stand there and listen to this.

"You gonna apologize?" Sawyer asked out of the blue.

"What?!"

"You heard me!" Sawyer answered, crossing his arms mockingly.

"You wish, Cowboy." Ana stood back up. "So, is this why you wanted to talk to me? Blame me for you getting shot and an apology?"

"I dunno. What else you got?" His eyebrow went up suggestively, as Ana scoffed.

"I'll take that as a 'no'. Or maybe a rain check?" Ana chuckled, then shaking her head.

Sawyer sighed, turning serious. "When I asked for you, I didn't even know we were back on the beach. I thought we were still in the jungle, and I wanted a break, O Capitaine."

An awkward silence descended upon them, and even Kate felt uncomfortable. "So..." Sawyer started up a conversation. "How is everybody?"

"Okay, I guess. Hell, I dunno anybody."

Sawyer looked up suddenly, something unreadable in his eyes. "Is Kate okay?"

Ana gave him a weird and irritated look. "Yeah, I saw her outside the tent. She looked all worried and stuff." Sawyer tried to hide a smirk quickly, but Ana saw.

"What, she your girlfriend?" Sawyer smiled, a far-away look in his eyes. He didn't answer.

Ana shifted, then glanced at the door, dangerously close to Kate. Kate scooted further into the shadows. "Well, I better go check on the rest of my people. See ya around, Tex."

Sawyer smiled deeper. "I'll make sure of it, Rambina."

Kate quietly disappeared out of the tent, seconds before Ana did.

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Kate hid behind a nearby tree as Ana left, although she told herself she wasn't hiding. She was comparing the bark of the trees near the beach to the ones deep in the jungle. Yeah, that's what she's doing.

Once Ana disappeared from her eye sight, Kate made her way to the tent again. As she entered, she stopped short, crossing her arms with an amused smile on her freckled face.

Sawyer seemed strong enough to be up and about, and he was currently cleaning up his old, abandoned tent. He was sorting his beloved books into piles, while humming to himself. At first, Kate couldn't tell what he was humming, but as he broke into the chorus, she could tell it was a country song she had never heard before.

"Guess who's the new talk of the town? The new SOB? The one everybody loves cuttin' down. Man, it's a sight to see. They all smile right to his face, and hide their jealousy. Me, I'm just working hard to get to that place, where everybody hates me! The one everybody loves to hate. It just comes naturally. Wanna be where everybody hates me!"

He shifted his head to flip some of his hair out of his eyes, when he saw Kate out of the corner of his eye. He stopped embarrassedly, giving her a small, innocent smile. Kate looked at him right there, seeing a small, sweet innocent boy coming out of the shell, and realized she loved him.

"Man, that's your theme song!" Kate joked, trying to break the awkward silence surrounding them like a fog. Something passed in front of his eyes, and the harsh glare of Sawyer returned.

"What do you want, Kate?"

Kate opened her mouth to reply, when the gravity of what he had said hit her. She may have been reading too much into things today, but she couldn't get past this symbol. No 'freckles'. No cute nickname that was meant as a distancing tool, but became a term of endearment. All Kate could see of this was a signal that Sawyer was moving on. That he had gotten over her, and he was moving on with his crush. And that crushed Kate.

"You're back. I wanted to make sure you were okay." Kate replied in a hushed voice, her mouth running on auto-pilot. Her mind was still processing the fact that Sawyer had called her by her real name.

"You didn't think you could get rid of me that easy, did ya?!" Sawyer joked, sitting back down. The joking, flirting atmosphere was back between them, but Kate was beyond reason.

"Hey, Earth to Freckles. Polar Bear got your tongue? I wouldn't mind having that job..." Sawyer winked, waving his hand in front of Kate's unfocused eyes. Kate snapped back to reality, trying to process the contradiction. Maybe she was reading too much into this.

"So, what's new?"

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I hope you like the length. I had a good place to stop it in the middle, but I kept going so you guys would love me. I don't personally like the end of this chapter, but don't worry-this is not the last chapter! I hope you liked it, and you didn't mind be babbling on about the whole Kate/Sawyer/Jack triangle. I had a new thought when I was watching some more episodes (about Jate being productive and Skate being fun), and I just had to put that in. Hope you don't mind me diving deep into the symbols!

Oh, I used some lyrics from Tim McGraw's song, "Everybody Hates Me". The chorus is totally Sawyer, but the rest of the song would have made no sense in a song fic. And even me, Song fic obsessed, couldn't make it into a song fic. So, I put it in this!

Oh, and when Sawyer asked for Ana through Jack, but he didn't know he was back on the beach. I just had in mind that he didn't recognize Jack, and he was just asking generally around him (like to Michael) for Ana to let them take a break.