"You ready Freckles?" Sawyer asks coming up to Kate who is still sitting on the shore.

She turns her head slowly to look at him. "Are you kidding me? Did you really have to ask me that?"

"I suppose not, eh hell, just common." He lowers his hand down to meet hers. He pulls her up towards him. They are merely inches apart. He leans in and places a gentle kiss on her chapped lips.

"Now what in your right mind made you think that was the right thing to do just now?" Kate questions somewhat angrily after pushing him away.

"Just testin'." He smirks.

She gives him an annoyed smile. "Common Rico Suave lets go." She says with some firmness in her voice. Desperate to see Jack she starts to hobble across the sand at a fast pace to meet up with the band of adventurers.

"Geez Freckles, with you crutchin' that fast it's almost like we're gonna go see the Doc or somethin'." He leers.

She just wants to turn around and punch him. Now is not the right time to pick on her and he needs to know that. But she eventually decides against it knowing that will not get them their any faster. She just wishes she could get to the hatch without any of his almost constant sarcasm.

There is a silence as they continue walking towards the rest of the small group going to the hatch. It's sort of awkward in a sense. At least until Sawyer finds this the right time to make things even more awkward. "I know you don't love me like you love him but do you think it was a mistake?"

Kate stops, hanging her head so her chin is almost resting against her chest. To his surprise she is somewhat quick to answer. "I'm sorry Sawyer."

He shrugs his shoulders. "Eh no biggie. Not like I can't get it elsewhere."

Kate looks at him harshly. "You never change, do you Sawyer?"

"Hell nah." He says as Kate glares at him. But she can tell he is covering up the hurt that he is really feeling deep within him.

"Let's go." Locke calls out over everyone's voices. He raises his arm in the air and signals for them to follow him.

The group consisting of Sawyer, Kate, Charlie, Hurley, Sayid and Locke head into the jungle back towards the hatch they had just been in merely days ago when Eko had died. "This time no one stays outside." Sayid announces to the group.

"Yeah, we don't want another random death like Mr. Eko happening." Charlie states.

"What?" Kate and Sawyer shout in unison.

"Didn't anyone tell you, Eko just up and bloody died, we heard the monster and assume it was it who caused his gruesome death." Charlie explains as the two just stare at him with awe.

"Common, we best get going if we want to make it back before nightfall, it's a ways off and who knows how long we will be staying." Locke says as he starts to walk towards the direction of the hatch.

Unfortunately it was a very long hike with lots of obstacles. Especially for Kate since she couldn't place her right leg on the ground, she ended up having to maneuver three legs instead of the usual two. And two of the three were made of wood and not attached to her actual self.

After countless times being caught in someone's arms, saving her from falling, and too many trips to count, they finally make it towards the small hole in the ground. Kate goes towards the edge and lays her crutches in the grass. She starts to attempt to lower herself into the small circle.

"Wait…shouldn't someone else go down first just incase she um…" Hurley starts

"Just incase I what?" Kate asks somewhat on edge.

"Incase you fall do, you haven't exactly been any means of graceful on the way over her."

"That's an excellent idea Hugo." Locke states. "I'll go first." He smiles as he descends into the hatch. Sawyer helps Kate lower herself as soon as Locke hits the bottom. Luckily Hurley had suggested someone else go down first, because Kate in fact did fall as soon as her right leg made contact with the cold steel of the ladder. Locke had stayed underneath just in case and he had caught her. He set her in one of the two soft leather chairs and let her relax as everyone came down to join the duo.

Pretty soon Sayid and Locke were by the wires talking and putting different ones together, to attempt to get any sort of signal. Charlie was by the switches, flicking some on and off, hoping it would do something…anything. Hurley was sitting in the chair opposite to Kate; he joined her in staring at the screens, waiting for a bit of life to come to anyone. And Sawyer was smoking a cigar since he had found a case of them in the corner of the room, filling up the small space with its alluring smell and thick smoke.

"Anything?" Sayid asks eagerly.

"No, not yet." Answers an almost equally eager Hurley.

Charlie tries more switches.

"WAIT!" Hurley exclaims as everyone flips their heads towards one of the televisions. Sawyer and Kate instantly recognize what is on the small screen.

"That's the cages where those sons of bitches kept us." He announces loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Oh so that's where you two got it on."

Kate's head snaps towards Charlie. Complete dismay written across her worn features.

Sawyer, on the other hand is being the ass that he is and smirking giving a slight nod as well. Kate notices this then gives him the same look.

"GUYS!" Hurley calls towards the three that are too busy receiving death glares from Kate to pay attention to what's on the screen. They all look towards him, but he is too busy looking towards the screen to pay attention to any of them. "It's him."

As the words leave his mouth Kate swears her heart stopped beating. She didn't know if she wanted to look, but seeing everyone else's reaction upon seeing him she decides it's probably not that bad. And it wasn't. When she turned she saw him curled up in the corner sleeping. She got up, and despite the pain in her ankle she walked towards the television.

Her hand gently slid up from her side and caressed the screen. She does it as if he was really there, putting so much care and emotion in one touch. It was just a piece of glass, something that always seems to separate them but she had hoped he could feel it, even though she knew it wasn't possible.

But something then happens that startles all of the castaways who are down in the Swan. He springs awake.

"Jack." Kate says breathlessly. Knowing he is alright.

But there had been a reason he had sprung awake. And she was walking right towards him. "Is there volume?" Kate looks towards Charlie.

"Lemme check." He says as he starts to play with switches. Suddenly they can hear her walk across the floor as the door slams shut. She makes her way over towards Jack and squats next to him, holding onto his caved in shoulders for support. She starts to lean towards his ear.

"I'm sorry." She breathes out as she brings her face back to confront Jacks. He is looking at her questioningly and suddenly her lips crash onto his. And he doesn't protest as their lips begin to dance.

Everyone in that room, in that exact moment swears they heard Kate's heart fall out of her chest land on the ground, and shatter into a million tiny pieces.

His hands start to travel up her sides towards her neck. Kate cannot tear her gaze away, knowing it is just punishment for what he saw. But what he saw was worse, and it was with Sawyer, even just seeing a kiss felt bad she can't imagine what seeing him sleeping with someone else would feel like. But then, before it can go any further he slowly backs away. Kate lets out an audible sigh. Pure relief completely consuming her.

"What was that for?" He asks. Kate cringes after hearing the pure fear and exhaustion that lies within his voice.

She looks at him with sad eyes and backs away slowly. Her eyes trained on his figure.

The door then creaks open again, allowing Ben and two other men to saunter in. Ben stays towards the wall as the two men come towards him.

"Glad to see you awake." Jack says sarcastically.

"I cannot thank you enough Jack for what you have done for me." He starts. "It still hurts but I am healing extremely fast thanks to the powers that lie on this island, the healing powers." He raises his arms in the air.

"But…" Jack starts as he allows the two men to drag him towards the wall, push him on his knees, and tie his wrists to two pipes in the room with thick black leather straps, back facing Ben. He doesn't struggle which causes Kate to become terrified for what is about to happen to him.

Ben slowly makes his way towards Jack, pain evident in each step. He tries his best not to wince as he leans down towards Jack ear. "But you did a bad thing, which eventually lead to another bad thing." Ben states, allowing his gaze to land on Juliet for no longer than a second before returning to its previous position.

Kate watches fearfully as one of the men come up behind Jack, hovering right above him. And with a simple nod from Ben the man pulls out a whip from his belt and starts to lash on Jack.

Kate's eyes go wide like a deer caught in headlights as soon as the first hit happens. She claws at the television hoping somehow she could get to him. "JACK! NO!" She cries at the top of her lungs.

Locke immediately flips his entire being to Sawyer. "GET HER THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" He tries to shout over the loud wailing of Kate and the painful screams of Jack on the other end. Hurley had already hastened up the ladder, not able to see one of his best friends being tortured so inhumanely. What was he talking about, all torture was inhumane.

"WE HAVE TO GET HIM BACK!" Kate screams at the men who were intently watching the screen, cringing at ever snap of the whip. Kate is struggling in Sawyers grasp, trying to get out and be the closest to him she could possible get at this point, hoping he could sense her presence.

Hurley sits up top on an uneven stump, biting his nails down to almost the cuticles as he watches Sawyer literally drag an extremely emotional Kate out of the hatch. She flies to the ground out of his arms and is a complete wreck. Hurley and Sawyer stare at her for a few moments before Hurley jumps up going to her. He sits next to her, waiting for her next move. She shakily brings herself up on her hands, so her arms are straight, head bowed down facing the ground, half on her knees, and just sobs. Her entire self is quaking. Her whole body heaves a few time until Hurley decides the best thing for her in that moment, he grabs her and holds her like a small infant in his big arms. She clenches tightly onto his shirt, soaking it with her constant tears. He gently starts to rock her, wondering where this ability to nurture cam from. He didn't expect it, but he was so caught up in the moment that tears started to fall from his eyes, landing on Kate's tangled chocolate hair.

Sawyer, seeing Kate was being taken care of, headed back down towards the room. He noticed the men had turned off the sound and now were discussing ways to get him the hell out of there, which Sawyer honestly couldn't wait to do.

Juliet just seemed to look on, with absolutely no emotion. After seeing that kiss he would have thought she'd have felt something that entire time, hell even Ben flinched each time the cracking sound of the whip echoed through that empty room.

Sawyer decides not to look anymore; his stomach just can't take it. He goes towards the men.

"How are we even going to find where he is located, all Kate or Sawyer saw was the cages."

Sawyer cuts in. "That's not true; they took her to see him."

All the men's heads crank towards the distressed southerner.

"Think she has any clue how far she walked?" Locke asks as some optimism creeps its way into his eyes.

"Wait guys, they've stopped." Charlie says as he turns up the volume.

The men look towards the screen. None of them have looked since the lashing had started except for Sawyer who didn't last long, for fear of becoming, they themselves, emotional.

The sight made their stomachs lurch. No one spoke as the just looked on, seeing what was going to happen next.

Jack has blood coating his entire body. The slashes on his back seem to be bottomless and are emitting exceedingly large amounts of his crimson vital fluid. They watch as his appearance becomes more ghostlike than before. It eats at their skin seeing one of their own suffering this way. None so more than Sawyer, who only reason for escaping, was because of that man right there on the screen, lying in a pool of his own blood. No man should ever have to go through that amount of torture, especially one as good hearted as the Doc.

They watch as one of the men takes a large knife and instantaneously slices the straps that have been confining his wrists to any sort of movement for the last ten minutes. He slams down to the ground with a loud crack. His head hit the concrete causing him to lose even more blood than he already was from a gash across his forehead. They watch on as he doesn't get up, all expecting the worst.

They all hear a noise from behind them and they see Hurley lowering from the ladder, quickly followed by Kate.

She is a complete wreck. Her whole body is still trembling, and seems to have been for the last two days. She feels so horrible leaving him, she knows he told her to run but since when does she listen to his orders. She wished she would have listened to herself this time for sure, no matter how mad Jack got at her, she would at least have some of their anger released on her, making him have less on him.

She looks Locke dead in the eye. "What's happening?" She asks solemnly.

"They just stopped and cut him down." He responds.

"Freckles don't you dare look." Sawyer says forcefully, coming in-between her and the TV.

"I…I wasn't planning on it." She gets out between the deep breaths she has been taking to calm herself down.

The men watch as Jack lifts his body up, using just his arms. "What are you gonna do next..." He pauses to catch his breath. "Crucify me?" Kate has never heard his voice so broken, the pain is emitting to her through his voice. She wanted to be there with him, taking the hits for him, not letting him feel anymore pain because of her anymore. She then steps closer to Sawyer, burying her face in his back. He doesn't move, he just lets her hold on.

Ben purses his lips together and simply nods towards the men.

At the first hit Kate hears him howl in pain, she lets out a compressed squeak and buries even further into Sawyers back. It feels as if she's trying to dig out his insides so she can hide herself away in his carcass. He can no longer stand the pain of watching Jack being beat to death and knows Kate shouldn't be hearing this so he quickly flips around and covers her ears tightly. "DON'T LOOK KATE, DON'T YOU DARE LOOK!" He screams at her the instant he sees' her eyes try to dart over towards the screen.

His hands weren't helping. She could still hear the cries of absolute agony coming from the speaker on the wall behind her. She felt a million feelings coursing through her mind at that moment. The most predominant being regret, misery, heartache, anguish, horror, panic, nausea, but mostly helplessness. She needed to save him; she couldn't just listen as his back was completely shredded to a pulp. Not him, not Jack.

Suddenly the guys watch as Jack gets up the little bit of strength he has left and raises his right hand holding it out as if to stop them. And the man with the whip does so. "Is...Is that all you got?" The intensity eminent in his voice, but then again so was the absolute torment.

"Does the man have a death wish?" Charlie asks not thinking before he speaks, which causes Kate to bawl even harder, which no one thought was physically possible. But by this point, every one of them has tears in their eyes.

Three blows of the whip later Jacks idle form closes the small gap he had previously shared with the ground. The men all stare, praying he will show some sign of movement. Locke looks towards Hurley and nods to Kate then to the exit. He gets what he was saying and grabs Kate in his arms. "Common Kate." Hurley starts to drag her away but she fights his grip.

"NO!" She pauses. "Is he….is he alive?"

There is a long silence in the room. She then screams it at the top of her lungs… needing to know the answer. "IS HE ALIVE?"

"We don't know, he's on the ground and not moving. You really should leave now Kate, for your own well-being." Sayid tells her.

"I'm staying, for his well-being." She notifies the men. She pushes past them towards the screen.

"FRECKLES!" Sawyer calls out trying to stop her, the men all try too but it doesn't work. She's too fast. She reaches the television. Her hand flies covering her mouth at the sight of him and stumbles a few steps back bending over at the feeling of puke ready to evacuate from her tightly knotted stomach. She waits for the feeling to pass then stands up straight walking slowly towards the screen. God she wishes the trembling in her bones would just stop so she could get a good look at his chest so she can see if it is rising and falling, so she can see if he has any life left in that courageous being of his and if there is a bit of life left in him she wants to make sure its stays that way. She can't even speak. His back was a massacre. Her mind kicked into doctor mode, he needs medicine, he needs bandages, he needs lots and lots of stitches, he needs disinfectant…. he needs her! Damn it she needs to be there for him, fixing him, telling him it will be okay, that she is there for him, that nothing else is going to happen to him as long as she is there. But the problem was… she wasn't.