AN: Dark days for Jack, here guys. Sawyer and Kate get it on. Enjoy it while it lasts, cause even though this is going to end out Skate, there are going to be some dark days for our fave pair.

Chapter 8

Alex didn't sleep at all that night. She snuck back into camp and lay awake for the rest of the night in her tent, just thinking.

All her life she had been around members of the Dharma Initiative, though technically now defunct. They had been working to accomplish what they had originally set out to do- change the core values of the Valenzetti equation- 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. These values predicted the date and time of Armageddon using a very complex mathematical algorithm. As best as Alex understood, numerous failures and few results caused the Hanso Foundation to stop funding Dharma. However, Henry had several important contacts outside of the Hanso Foundation and was using their resources to continue the project and get back into the good graces of Alvar Hanso.

Alex had never been off the island. The closest she knew of the rest of the world was what she had been taught in books and seen in pictures. Occasionally someone would sail to the island to bring equipment or other necessities, and the occasional gift, but that was it.

Alex frowned. According to the atlases she had seen there were hundreds of countries and billions more people on the world. She had never really cared before, but suddenly she felt cheated. If this was an ordinary island, and she and her "mother" had really shipwrecked here, and they were rescued, wouldn't she be leading a completely different life?

Alex opened the flap of her tent, suddenly feeling claustrophobic.

Someone was sitting near the tree line about a hundred feet away. Alex leaned forwards, squinting, and trying to see if it was someone she knew. None of her people had a profile like that… seemingly very tall and thin. For the second time that night, Alex snuck out of her tent and towards the figure. It was a woman, a few years older than Alex.

She approached silently, wanting to investigate without alerting the woman to her presence. It had to be one of the people who were on the plane. As far as she knew there was no one else on the island except for them and… Danielle. What on earth was one of them doing here?

Alex winced as a twig snapped under her foot. She stopped dead in her tracks, hoping the woman hadn't heard. She did. She turned her head slowly, seemingly not surprised at all. They stared at each other for a few long moments before the other woman beckoned to Alex to come closer.

Alex gulped and took a tentative step forward. She had no idea what she was doing, but this felt… right somehow. She took another step, and then another, slightly horrified, but her legs seemed to be disconnected from the part of her brain that reasoned.

Coming closer, she took in more details about the woman. She had blonde hair to her shoulders and was wearing a shirt that was covered in blood. Her face was turned into the moonlight and her hands were resting on her impossibly long legs. She was quite beautiful, even dirty and covered in blood.

"Hi," the woman said, smiling a little bit.

"Hi," Alex uttered, coming to a stop directly in front of the blonde.

"Sit down," she said, patting the ground beside her.

"Ok," Alex whispered, slowly sinking to the ground beside her, rational part of her brain screaming not to. "Were you on the plane?"

"Yeah," the blonde woman said, looking almost wistful. "Yeah, I was. You weren't though."

"No," Alex said. "What are you doing here?"

The woman shrugged. "Just looking around." She shifted so that her knees no longer blocked the view of her stomach. Alex gasped. There was what looked like a bullet hole- with blood still seeping from it.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Alex pointed, aghast.

The blonde woman looked down as if she had forgotten that it was there. "Oh. No, not anymore."

"Oh," Alex said, not knowing what to say.

"I have to go," the woman said suddenly, looking around.

"Why?" Alex asked.

"Sayid," she replied distractedly. "He's going that way."

"Sayid," Alex repeated, "the man with… with…"

"Your mother," the woman said, getting up.

"Wait!" Alex called as she started to walk. The tall blonde turned. "What's your name?"

The woman didn't reply for a moment, as if she had to think about her answer.

"Shannon." She said finally- and then she was gone, as though she had vanished into thin air.

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After Kate finished showering, she had found Jack playing caregiver again and making some DI mac n' cheese on their small cooking range. The food was delicious after two weeks of nothing but fruit and the occasional fish, but nobody said a word during the entire meal. Kate ate a few bites voraciously and then put down her fork, feeling sick. Jack stared at his plate for the entire time; seemingly oblivious to the bashful sidelong glances Sawyer and Kate were giving each other.

Kate was smiling back rather half-heartedly, debating with herself about when she should tell Jack and Sawyer what Henry said to her. She hoped they would listen, though she could see Jack brushing it off as a scare tactic and going back to ignoring her, and Sawyer going all over-protective and doing something stupid. Better to keep it to herself for now, she reflected.

Sawyer, as per usual these days, seemed to be the only one acting normally, and he knew it. He was the only one that the Others hadn't significantly hurt or done anything to. Jack was being a jealous prat, which probably had something to do with the fact that they had turned him into some sort of messed up Superman. Too much testosterone, or something, but his gigantic ego definitely played a part as well. And he wasn't even sure what they had done to Kate, but it worried him a great deal. How long were they going to be stuck here? Sawyer had seriously underestimated these people.

"I'm going to bed," Kate announced, rubbing her eyes. "I'll take the couch, I guess," she glanced over to it, remembering that there were only two small cots in the bedroom.

"No," Jack said, not wanting to sleep in a room alone with either Kate or Sawyer. "I'm sleeping on the couch," he said getting up and claiming it before Kate could. "And that's final," he said in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Jack, it's ok. You barely fit-"

"If you want to sleep here, Kate, you're going to have to forcibly remove me," he said contemptuously.

"Fine," Kate snapped, giving Jack a very significant look and storming into the bedroom.

"What the hell is wrong with you, man?" Sawyer growled, throwing the dinner plates haphazardly into the sink.

"I'm having a bad day."

"Yeah, we all are!" Sawyer shot back. "The hell did Kate do to you?"

"Nothing." Jack snapped. "I just- I feel-" he faltered slightly.

"You feel like a jealous bastard?" Sawyer supplied exasperatedly, always being one to voice exactly what he thought.

Jack's eyes flashed dangerously. "This has nothing to do with Kate." He said, voice an octave lower than usual.

"Doesn't it?" Sawyer asked angrily.

"Of course it does!" Jack exploded, stopping dead and breathing hard. "I- I-" he stammered, ashamed at his outburst.

"Fuck you Sawyer!" Jack said loudly, snapping his mouth shut as Kate emerged from the bedroom, looking extremely alarmed and white faced. "Stop it," she uttered, on the verge of tears. "Just stop it." Then she rushed back into the bedroom and slammed the door.

Jack lied down on the couch and turned away from Sawyer, bent on ignoring him for the rest of eternity. Sawyer took another look at Jack, scowled and quietly pushed the bedroom door open, expecting Kate to be angry with him, but she was just sitting on her bed, white as a sheet, staring at him intently.

"Freckles..." he murmured, sitting down beside her. Sawyer was slightly alarmed; she looked like she was dead.

"Sawyer," she said seriously, "Henry told me that we only have two or three weeks together."

"What?" Sawyer asked, body freezing up.

"That's what he said. I don't know if he was serious..." she seemed to reconsider, not wanting to lie. "I know he was serious."

"Before what?" Sawyer whispered, intense dread seeping through his body for the second time that day.

"I don't know..." Kate had frozen up, like he had just moments earlier.

"It gonna be ok…" he said, pressing his lips to her cheek, trying to warm up her icy skin. She relaxed the tiniest bit, so he pressed another one to her neck and nuzzled into her, savoring the scent of soap that still lingered on her.

"Sawyer…" she sighed, feeling her defenses drop even though she could see with absolute certainty where this was headed. She exhaled sharply as he nipped at her earlobe, tongue dancing lightly across her face.

Sawyer wasn't sure exactly how far Kate was going to let him go, but an unexplainable sense of urgency had settled on them. They thought they had all the time in the world on this island, but now it seemed there wasn't enough, and it was suffocating. Kate, however, didn't seem to be minding his advances. She bit her bottom lip again, smiled, and then turned into his kisses and catching his lips. They kissed hungrily, Kate's hands threaded into Sawyer's hair, Sawyer's hands around the small of her back, pulling her close.

Kate shifted so that she was straddling Sawyer's lap and let her hands drag down his neck to unbutton the Dharma shirt he had found after his shower.

Sawyer noted her forwardness and pulled away reluctantly. "Katie," he said, voice husky, "Are you sure about this?" He knew he was being taken advantage of somewhat, and he certainly didn't mind, but he didn't want it the other way around.

Kate smiled a little. This from the man who had been trying to get down her pants for the last two months.

"Sawyer," she said, dead serious, "I love you."

Sawyer didn't say anything for a moment. "Katie- I- I-" he stammered, unsure of how to express that he felt the same way. Kate seemed to understand. "Shhh," she placed a finger to his lips, "I know." She mouthed, and then replaced her finger with her lips, letting him press her down into the thin mattress, abandoning herself to pure sensation.

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"Henry," Alex said, trying to act as nonchalant as possible, "tell me about my mother again."

"Again?" Henry frowned and looked at her sternly over his reading glasses. He was leafing through some boring reports while Alex peeled fruit for a fruit salad.

"I like to hear it," she said, trying to sound agreeable. She had woken up in her tent that morning with a strange memory of speaking to a tall, beautiful blonde woman at the edge of camp. Had it been a dream? A delusion? Or was had that woman… Shannon… actually been there? She had read reports of Dharma scientists, remote viewers, and psychics seeing things on the island that couldn't possible be there. Was it simply a side effect of the strange radiation on the island, or did the radiation itself cause things... the paranormal, physical manifestations of thoughts... did the strange circumstances here cause these things to happen?

Henry sighed. "You know. She couldn't conceive, but desperately wanted a child. So she conceived by invitro, right here on the island and died a week later because of complications from the birth.

Alex almost had to stop herself from scoffing. It all sounded so cold, so clinical. "And her name?" Alex prompted, as she always did at the end of the story.

"You know it Alex, it was Andrea."

Alex nodded, pretending to be placated. She put the bowl of fruit she had chopped in front of Henry. "I'm going for a walk," she announced.

Henry looked up. "Make sure you stay on camp grounds," he warned, as he always did.

Alex rolled her eyes, "Yes, Henry."

As soon as she had left, Henry Gale picked up the phone to his left and dialed. "Hello? Yes, this is Dr. Gale. I have a new assignment for you. Please keep Alex under tabs for a while- yes, discreetly- of course. You will report directly to me. Yes. Thank you." Henry put down the phone and sighed again. He knew Alex too well for anything to get past him. He knew it was a distinct possibility that she would catch on one day, but he had certainly hoped it wouldn't be so soon. Ah, well, he reflected, she has been quite useful. Pity she's digging her own grave, and her mother's.

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Jack pushed his head farther into the couch pillows, trying to ignore the rather obvious sounds coming from the next room. God- he wasn't sure how to feel. Sad? Disappointed? Angry? Disgusted? He felt all of them. And where on earth to start? How about their blatant lack of consideration for him? They could at least keep it down; what he didn't know couldn't hurt him. But to have them going at it like animals in such a terrible situation made him want to throw up.

But underneath his boiling rage there was something else, something far more vulnerable that had been hurt terribly. And it wasn't that Sawyer had... had her first, in a physical sense, but that she chose him and not Jack. God... he thought he was so above all this nonsense after being married and divorced already... but he couldn't help feeling that Kate should be with him. There it was again, that completely irrational, petulant feeling that was so unlike Jack. He sighed into the couch pillows, not caring that he couldn't breathe. He would rather die of asphyxiation than have to listen to Kate and Sawyer having sex.

He knew part of this had to do with whatever they had done to him- pumped him full of steroids, testosterone, stimulants- whatever. He didn't want to worry anybody, but he felt dangerous. Like, if one those bastards out there came in here he would wring their scrawny little necks and feel no guilt afterwards. Just the thought of it got Jack excited, though inwardly he was terribly alarmed. They had turned him into some sort of horrible monster.

Jack thought about these same things, in big circles for what seemed like ages, until they came out completely different. Kate had been in an extremely vulnerable state... what if Sawyer had taken advantage of her? It would be just like him to do something like that. Jack growled and hit the side of the couch angrily as various moans and shouts assailed his ears. He needed a drink. A strong one, preferably. Plugging his ears, Jack got up and perused the pantry. Sure enough, hidden behind several cans of peas, was a bottle of vodka. Jack grabbed at it and sat down, doing his best to ignore everything.

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Kate sighed peacefully in her post-coital bliss. She could see Sawyer wearing a similar expression to hers in the dim lamplight.

"So Freckles," he said sleepily, "if you'd known it was gonna be that good, you woulda jumped my bones a lot earlier, eh?"

She smacked him lightly and blushed. Sawyer certainly was a considerate lover- and besides the great sex, it had been so amazing- a light in the dark tunnel- not one at the end, but one to carry nonetheless. "You could have kept it down," she murmured into his chest.

He chuckled. "I was the one being loud?"

Kate paled suddenly. "God- Sawyer- what if Jack heard us?"

Sawyer scowled instantly at the mention of Jack. "Jack's probably sleeping like a fuckin' rock, darling."

"I hope so," she replied.

"Katie?"

"Yeah, Sawyer?"

"I gotta pee."

Kate laughed, remembering her previous plight in the cell. It was easy for a guy to just whip it out and go, but being a woman, she had a little bit more of a challenge. She rolled off Sawyer's chest so he could put his pants back on.

Sawyer pushed the door open quietly, intent on tiptoeing past Jack. But Jack wasn't sleeping. He was leaning against the back of the couch with a strained expression on his face. "Uh, hey Doc," Sawyer said awkwardly, trying to slink past.

Kate poked her head out of the room- "Sawyer, can you get me-" just in time to see Jack punch Sawyer hard across the face. "Sawyer!" she yelled, rushing forwards.

"Son of a bitch!" Sawyer roared, spitting blood onto the ground and moving to retaliate, but Kate pushed him back. "Sawyer- don't," she said softly, and he scowled disappointedly. It didn't matter. Kate turned around and slapped Jack across the face, hard, like any self-respecting woman could do. His eyes widened in disbelief and then he reeled backwards.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Kate yelled, rounding on Jack.

"Oh, sorry!" he said vindictively. "I'll just sit back the next time Sawyer seduces and takes advantage of you!"

"How dare you," Kate breathed quietly, one hand still holding Sawyer back as he growled.

Sawyer stopped trying to get to Jack for a moment and regarded him closely. "Are you drunk, Jackass?" Sawyer knew inebriation when he saw it.

"Maybe," Jack snarled wildly. "Doesn't change anything, Katie," he said, making fun of Sawyer's affectionate nickname for her. "You'll always be Sawyer's whore."

Kate closed her eyes sadly, hardly daring to believe that Jack had just said that. Sawyer gave out another roar and lunged again, but Kate put herself in the way. "It's not worth it," she said in a sad whisper. "I'm finished with him. I'm finished with you, Jack!" she called, voice cracking as fresh tears came to her.

"Fine," he said tonelessly. "Fine." without another word, he lay back down on his couch, buried his head in the pillows once more and blocked out the world, to drunk to care that he had just fucked everything up.

Kate just stood there and stared at Jack in shock. "Kate," Sawyer said gently. "Go back to bed. I'll be right there."

"No," she whispered, trying to compose herself, "let me help you get fixed up." Together they went into the bathroom and Kate dabbed at Sawyer's bloodied lip with a wet towel.

"There," she said, when she had finished.

"Thanks," he whispered back miserably. They slunk back to bed and huddled close, feeling too much despair to consider the implications of what Jack had said. Kate cried, feeling worse than she had earlier, and Sawyer held her, a few tears of his own mixing with hers.

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AN: hoooshit. More angst! I hope that was long enough this time. I went a little overboard. And Shannon…eeh! I love Shannon, but never fear, those of you going "omg, Shannon died. How cheesy is this!" Shannon is still, unfortunately, quite dead, and is going to stay that way.

Please, please, please review. You have no idea how much it means to me. Just press the little button.

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