Okay, I had this chapter all planned out, but the rough draft was split up in about five different places of my life, so I had to collect them and blah blah blah, you don't care, I know. I don't even care; it's a lame excuse. But I do think I'm doing a fair job of updating, so there. (grins) Okay, enough of this mindless babble: on to the chapter!

It had been one week since Lisa had been interrogated by Kate and Sayid. Since then, Jack had consented to letting her walk around the hatch wherever she wanted as long as someone was in there with her. This worked well, for people were often in the hatch. For some reason there was an alarm that went off every 108 minutes, and someone had to put in a code to make it stop. She was also allowed to sleep on the bunk bed without a restraint, which she was very thankful for. Lisa had asked different people about the alarm, but received various answers that were always vague.

Over the course of the week, Lisa had met a few other people who came into the bunker. There was an older man that everyone called Locke, who seemed to be the one who spent most of the time looking over the alarm. Sayid had come back at different times, but Lisa avoided him like the plague. Jack promised her that he would never touch her again unprovoked, but Lisa felt that she didn't want to take the chance. Sawyer had also made various appearances, usually making smart remarks and never really helping anyone out.

Kate appeared every once in a while, and Lisa could see that both Jack and Sawyer liked her a lot. Unfortunately, she couldn't say the same about Kate. Every time Kate laid eyes on her, Lisa felt like she was guilty of something, though she didn't know what. Lisa decided that if Kate didn't like her, that was her problem, because as far as she knew, Lisa hadn't done anything to her.

A few other people came in and out of the hatch, looking at her curiously, but not making any attempt to speak to her. There was a scruffy-looking man named Charlie, who looked something like a member in one of her friend Cynthia's favorite bands, and a Korean woman named Sun, who made visits to bring different fruits into the kitchen.

One of the few rules Jack had set for her was to never touch the old computer in one of the rooms. Lisa contemplated defying him and using it to contact someone at home, but she quickly vetoed that idea, rationalizing that if they were on a remote island as Jack had said, (and he had no reason to lie, as far as Lisa saw) there wouldn't be any internet access anyway.

Lisa's environment was very comfortable, but she refused to slip into any kind of false sense of security. She still kept herself alert, and looked for any signs of suspicious behavior from everyone around her.

She was beginning to grow restless after reading four thick books from the collection on one of the shelves, and she decided to see if she could go outside. Afraid that Jack would deny her access, she looked for an exit so she could go outside by herself. Finding a thick door, she pushed it opened and walked down the hallway that she hoped would lead to her "freedom."

Sure enough, she emerged into a world of green and brown, sending a variety of emotions through her. Her first was excitement for finally being outside, but a quick glance around confirmed that she was indeed on an island, which meant that Jack was right and she was stuck there for God knew how long.

She cautiously took a step forward, then another, and another. Soon she was carefully exploring the edges of the jungle. She went in bit by bit, and a few minutes after she was fully surrounded by trees, she heard a twig snap behind her. Whirling around, she saw Kate standing behind her, hand posed over her belt, where the handle of a gun was sticking out. Lisa fished for an explanation, but remained silent, knowing that Kate didn't trust her anyway, and that no matter what she said, Kate would think she was lying.

"What are you doing out here?"

Lisa kept her eyes on the gun in Kate's belt, thinking quickly of ways to get out of this situation without getting shot.

"Where's Jack?" Kate tried another question.

"I don't know. He's not in the hatch."

"Who said you could leave the hatch?"

Annoyance crept up on Lisa quickly. She had listened to Jack for over a week and gotten almost nothing out of it. Why should she listen to anyone here, just because they had weapons? She had beaten an assassin before, was a girl with a gun and most likely no experience with weapons going to tell her what to do? Lisa had had enough of this shit.

"Nobody told me I could come out here, I get sick of being stuck in the same place for days at a time," Lisa replied.

"Oh, so you're just going to do whatever you want now, are you?" Kate asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Is there any reason I shouldn't? Why don't you trust me anyway? What have I done to make you suspicious of me?" Lisa finally asked the question that she had been asking herself for days.

"What reason have you given to make me trust you?" Kate shot back.

"When have you given me a chance to?"

Kate didn't have an answer to that, but instead locked her eyes onto Lisa's and engaged them both in a battle of wills.

"Is it because Jack's been spending more time in the hatch helping me? Isn't jealousy a little juvenile?"

Kate raised an eyebrow and didn't reply, making Lisa feel slightly juvenile herself. When was the last time she had gotten into a catfight? It must have been back in high school. After a moment of silence, Kate turned and walked further into the jungle without another word. Lisa rolled her eyes and walked back along the edge of the trees, taking in her surroundings. It was so quiet and peaceful, the leaves sounded like whispers. Wait a minute, she thought. Those are whispers! Lisa's eyes darted around, looking for the source of the sounds, but couldn't see anyone. Feeling uneasy, she walked back to the hatch and let herself in.

Jack was there, looking around. Suddenly, she felt extremely guilty for leaving without his permission. She walked up behind him and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. He whirled around and visibly relaxed when he saw it was Lisa.

"There you are, where did you go?" he asked.

"Um, I went outside to get some air," Lisa felt extremely uncomfortable under Jack's intense gaze. He seemed to have eyes that penetrated her defenses, reminding her of Jackson's eyes, but a different color. Of course, everything these days reminded Lisa of Jackson. Upon closer inspection, though, Jack's eyes held warmth and caring, the exact opposite of those cold, unfeeling, piercing blue eyes that haunted her dreams.

Jack shifted his weight from one leg to another, at a cross-roads as to what he should do, as he seemed to be a lot lately with Lisa.

"I think you've been here long enough to go outside, but I want you to let someone know where you are going to be at all times; no exceptions."

Normally, Lisa would have been insulted by needing to be kept track of, but at the moment, she didn't care. She had gotten what she needed.

"Yeah, sure, of course I will." Thinking of the whispers she heard, Lisa added, "But right now I really need to rest."

She walked over to her bed and watched as jack turned to leave. Suddenly she called out his name.

"Jack, wait."

"Yeah?"

Lisa saw him turn back to her, nothing but kindness and concern written on his face. She had planned to tell him about the voices she had heard in the jungle. Maybe he had heard them before, as well? But if he hadn't heard them, he would think that she was insane, and that meant risking her new-found freedom.

"Um, never mind. It's nothing."

"Alright."

Lisa spent the next few days roaming the edge of the jungle, enjoying the peace and fresh air. At one point, she was meditating (something she had learned in stress-management classes) and realized that she needed Jack to change the bandages on her back. The cuts on her arms were healing slowly, and she no linger needed to cover them up. She prayed to God that they wouldn't scar. The last thing she needed was more scars.

As she got to the camp, she realized quickly that Jack wasn't there. Spotting Sawyer lying at the mouth of his tent, she proceeded to walk over to him and ask if he knew where the doctor was. His tent was set up at the edge of the camp, distanced visibly from the others'. As she neared him, he stood up without noticing her and strolled into the jungle. She sped up and caught up with him a few feet into the mass of trees.

"Sawyer, wait," she called out.

He turned around with his trademark shit-eating grin.

"Well, well, if it isn't little Firecracker. What can I do for you?"

His tone implied that he had a few things in mind himself. Lisa suppressed a shudder and stepped closer to him.

"Have you seen Jack?" she inquired.

Sawyer reached out and grasped her forearm, causing Lisa to freeze up and her body to stiffen involuntarily.

"Let go of me, Sawyer. I'm looking for Jack, and all I want to know is if you've seen him," She whispered firmly, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Aw, that hurts, Red! Do you really want to spend time with Jack over me?" Sawyer clutched his heart with mock disappointment. Lisa finally jerked her arm free of his grasp, but the smirk was back, and he grabbed both of her arms quickly, before she could put any distance between them.

Pushing her against a near-by tree, Sawyer brought his lips to brush against her ear as he spoke. The wounds on Lisa back from Sayid burned against the bark of the tree, so Lisa remained as motionless as a statue.

"Doc may be a nice guy and all, but let me assure you, sweetheart, I'm much more fun."

At these words, the dam in Lisa's mind broke, and dozens of images rushed through her mind, all fighting to be showed first. Lisa's knee jerked up and met Sawyer's groin with an unpleasant sound.

"Son of a bitch!" he yelled, doubling over.

Taking full advantage of Sawyer's uncomfortable situation, Lisa bolted further into the jungle as quickly as her legs would carry her, trying to outrun the painful memories threatening to overcome her.

I was not super-pleased with the catfight between Lisa and Kate and how it came out, but it made it's point, and was slightly necessary to the plot, so whatever. Let me know what you think, as always. Much thanks to my regular reviewers, as always!