Chapter 4

AN: It looks as if the ranks of Skaters vs. Jaters are starting to even out… I haven't bothered to count again, but I think there are still more Jaters. Not as many as before, though.

One thing I would really like to stress though… as much as I love you guys for reading, I'm writing this for me too, so I really want to follow my heart with the final pairing of this story. I have a scenario for either one… but one is just a lot better plot wise and gives me a really nice, solid ending that includes the other person, while the other pairing is not as strong.

I guess I really just want you guys to keep reading, because I think I can make it so that shippers of all ships can be happy in the end no matter what.

Oh, and there is going to be some Skate (GASP! She's made up her mind! No, not really.) action in this chapter. Jaters… I know it's going to seem grim for the next few chapters- but there is going to be some major Jate happening too! Do not despair; Kate is up for that also. (Shameless Libertine plug)

Oh... and some kissing not related to K/S/J... ooooooooh.

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Jack was better the next morning. He was slightly shivery and feverish, but he was fully conscious and coherent. Kate was sitting with him, plying him with food and water that he was rather reluctantly putting back.

"We mighta had some fish to give you too, Doc, but Freckles put it all away yesterday." Sawyer was making an effort to be nice to Jack.

Jack simply laughed, but Kate looked immediately guilty. "I didn't even think of that yesterday when I ate all that!"

"Kate," Jack said assuringly. "It's ok. Fruit is good. I like fruit."

"I knew it!" Sawyer said, unable to resist the obvious pun.

"Shut up, Sawyer," Jack said mildly. He felt good. Good in that he was with Kate, his muscles were doing what he wanted them to be doing and he didn't feel like the best thing in the world would be to put a shotgun to his temple and pull the trigger.

"Jack," Kate said, worriedly, "what do you think they were trying to do to you?"

Jack shrugged. "I have a few ideas. Henry told me that he was trying to make me a 'better man' and I don't think he meant it in a figurative sense."

"Whoa," Sawyer said, shaking his head. "That's got to be somethin' straight out of a comic book."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, sounds nuts, but it's actually pretty plausible."

"Wait a minute," Kate said, still not grasping what they were talking about. "They're trying to make you into Superman?"

"In a nutshell," Jack said. "I'm guessing they pumped me full of stimulants and steroids, things like that. I don't feel lethargic and just generally drained like I have for the last while. But this sort of things wears off eventually… which means they'll probably give me more."

"That's brutal, man," Sawyer said.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, "yeah, it is."

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Sayid had been in the jungle for at least twelve hours now, trying to find Rousseau's latest hideout. It hadn't been easy work; he'd had to go from where he knew her last hideout was and tracked her from there. It was virtually impossible because her tracks were old and grown over.

But Sayid suspected a few things. Time as a "communications officer" had certainly fine-tuned his perception of the world. He knew she couldn't be too far- she would certainly be staying off "their" side of the island, and that the traps she set would lead him right to her, especially if he got caught in one again.

Another worrying thought came to mind- Rousseau had said that she had never seen the Others. Maybe not, but Sayid suspected she knew more about them and their whereabouts than she let on. Her search for her daughter must have taught her a few things about the goings on on the island.

Now, it wasn't as if Sayid had plannedto get caught in a trap again. But Danielle had been so clever with her trip wires. She had put one directly under a rather badly hidden package of deadwood, suspended high in the canopy. Sayid stepped over it carefully and then knew his mistake. In front of the first wire was a second one placed in exactly the right spot. Sayid heard a snap as the heavy branches fell and then knew no more.

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Three people were seated around a table, each of them with file folders and clipboards in front of them.

"Thank you for coming," Henry Gale said, peering at Alex and Bea Klugh, the older black woman who had monitored Kate during her testing.

"Alex, I'll start with you. How did Mr. Ford do?"

"Sawyer," said Alex, blushing slightly. She had taken a liking to the scruffy ex-con man. "He did better than expected. You were right about him probably having some innate psychic ability. He scored much higher than average, if you consider you have a one in three chance of guessing correctly anyways. I'd recommend letting me have a few more sessions with him, just so that I can do some more difficult tests."

Henry nodded. "He makes a good candidate for the project then."

"Yes," Alex said, "but we only have two candidates, so it's really a toss up."

"Alright. Thank you. Oh, and Alex?" he said, looking sternly at her.

"I want you to address Mr. Ford as such whenever you are working with him. "Do you understand? I don't want there to be any… attachments."

Alex blushed hotly again and looked at her feet. "Yes sir."

"Bea?" Henry asked.

Ms. Klugh looked to her file folders. "Ms. Austen did exceptionally well. She is extraordinarily physically fit and she certainly demonstrates enough sheer mental will to be used for the experiment. I won't be needing anything further from her except for a medical examination to make sure she is healthy and some DNA samples."

"Good," Henry said shortly. "Dr. Shephard adjusted to the drugs in his system remarkably quickly. The injections I gave him would kill most men within a day. A few more treatments similar to the first one and then injections for maintenance should be sufficient."

"Will these drugs… affect his ability to contribute to the project? Would they eliminate him as a candidate?" Ms. Klugh asked.

"I don't know yet. I hope not. Only time will tell, I suppose. I think we're finished here."

There was a scraping of chairs being pushed back and the rustling of files being closed. "Alex, please tell the guards to bring me Jack. The initial treatments have to be in quick succession to be effective. "

"Of course." Alex nodded curtly and hurried off to do Henry's bidding.

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Sayid came about with a groan. His head was throbbing painfully. The last thing he remembered was looking up and seeing Rousseau's packet of logs tumbling towards him.

"Oh, Sayid," said a female voice sadly, "I thought you would know better by now."

Sayid's eyes fluttered open. Rousseau was standing directly over him peering down into his face with a look a mother might use when scolding a child. "My traps are designed to kill. You are lucky that one was not effective."

Sayid took note of his surroundings. He was in a small underground space similar to the one Rousseau had taken him to the first time she caught him. Light filtered through a hole in the ceiling, which was camouflaged with leaves and dirt. He was lying on a cot of soft moss and this time his hands were not bound.

"Danielle," he said, eyes flickering around, "I came to talk to you about Alex."

"Alex?" Rousseau said urgently, suddenly grasping his arm. "Have you found her?"

"I'm sorry, no, but we are looking for her. She may help us find our friends whom were captured by the Others."

Danielle looked away. "I can not help you. If I knew where she was, she would be here with me. Or I would be dead."

"So you do not know where the Others' camp is?" Sayid probed, knowing she was withholding something.

"No."

"Danielle," Sayid pleaded. "My job for years was to forcibly extract information from people. I know when they are lying."

Rousseau blanched. "Sayid, I cannot go there. I cannot."

"Why, why can you not go there?" Sayid said urgently. "Please, I must know. We may be able to save Alex as well."

"They will kill her, Sayid. If they see me in their territory, they will kill her." Rousseau's eyes were wide a fearful.

"You will not be seen. I only need you to tell me how to get there."

"Will you get my Alex back?" Rousseau asked, reaching out to touch Sayid's face gently.

"I don't know. I only with to speak with her for a few minutes, and that may involve kidnapping her from their camp. If I am successful, we may have a man on the inside to help up free our friends. Hopefully, Alex will see reason and come to see you again."

"Thank you, Sayid, thank you," Danielle said, not seeming to hear the part of the plan that entailed Alex only maybe coming back. She pulled Sayid's head towards her and kissed his flush on lips.

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Kate was virtually catatonic for hours after they took Jack for the second time. She didn't eat, drink or say a word. She just curled up into a little ball, knees to chest, and let Sawyer rub her back comfortingly.

Sawyer looked at her sadly. She just seemed so utterly distraught that there couldn't possibly be any space in her heads for thoughts of him. Just Jack. Jack was a lucky bastard, to get a woman like that. And the more he thought about it, the more Sawyer pined for her. Now there was a new word for him; Sawyer had never pined for anyone in his life. Sure, he could basically get any woman, married or not, between the sheets with a sultry look or low growl in a smoky bar. How ironic that the only woman he'd ever truly… cared for, was the one he couldn't have.

Sawyer was right. Kate was thinking about Jack… worrying about him mostly. It was so unbearable to see a man as selfless and kind as Jack and be hurt that badly. Being in a terrible situation like this didn't leave too much room for romance, but Kate couldn't help herself thinking back to her one and only real kiss on the island. Sure, she had kissed Sawyer, and they had definitely been really kissing, but she barely knew Sawyer then, and had been being a real jackass then.

She had always felt so inferior to Jack- not because he was condescending in any way, but just because he was so good and he was so strong for everyone else. But kissing Jack had been amazing… it was like meeting him on a whole different plane… because in that instant she discovered that he was a real person, with real pain and real desires and he desired her, no matter who she was.

And then there was Sawyer, who she knew, though he had never admitted it had always wanted her for her- because he was no better than she was. She wondered what it would be like to kiss Sawyer for real… in real kissing circumstances, not as past of a bargain for stolen goods.

"Sawyer," Kate said, suddenly feeling the need to express her gratitude, "thank you."

Sawyer blinked twice, surprised that she was speaking again. "What for, Freckles?"

She shrugged and let her head fall onto his shoulder. "Just for being here. For touching me when no one else wanted to be near me. And just for being strong here and actually getting along with Jack. You have no idea how much that means to me."

Sawyer smiled, only a little miffed she had mentioned Jack in that nice thank you speech.

"I'll always be here for ya, Freckles. Always," he added quietly.

"Sawyer…" Kate said warningly, lifting her head off his shoulder.

"I know you've got eyes for the good doc, sweet cheeks," Sawyer said, giving her his best, most seductive look. "But I've got eyes for you, and you only. And since Jack-o is busy at the moment…"

Kate looked at Sawyer furiously for suggesting anything while Jack was away being tortured. But some part of her was secretly very pleased at Sawyer's confusing way of expressing his feelings for her.

Kate had always had the worst reactions to situations. She laughed during sad movies and cried during happy ones.

So naturally, furious as she was, Kate kissed Sawyer.

It was like their last kiss in that is was deep, open-mouthed, and passionate. Their mouths were seemingly fused together in a flurry of feeling and sensation. Every single nerve in Kate's body was tingling. She was feeling something for the first time since kissing Jack.

She shivered lightly as Sawyer brought his fingertips to the back of her neck and trailed his hands lightly down her back. They were at a difficult angle; they had been sitting beside each other, against the wall, and had now shifted so that Kate was leaning over his knee.

At last they broke apart for air, bodies still twisted together awkwardly and foreheads touching. "Sawyer..." Kate said breathily, a hint of regret in her voice.

"Shh..." Sawyer said, opening his eyes lazily. "I know you have a thing for Jack. An' I want you to work it out whoever you chose. For now, I'll take what I can get, kay Freckles?"

Kate nodded wordlessly and bit her lip, touched by his understanding. Sawyer took the opportunity and latched onto her lower lip and they were lost to one another again in a haze of passion.

That was, of course, the very moment that a sweaty, trembling Jack stumbled into the room. He took one look at them, mumbled "Oh shit," and then passed out cold in a heap on the floor.

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AN: Crap. I love writing shit like that. Next chapter… Kate gets the cold shoulder from Jack. The Others put their plan into motion, and a certain crazy French woman gets (mostly) rejected.

JATERS HOLD ON-! THERE IS JATE TO COME!