The sun lowered slowly in the sky, nearing the water, dying the horizon brilliantly red. Hours had passed, but it already felt like days. Isabelle had spent the majority of the day helping Jack take care of the injured survivors, but they had finally managed to attend to the simplest wounds and now all that was left was an unconscious man that Jack was faithfully attending to. From the snippets of conversation that she had heard throughout the day, Isabelle had learned that the flight had taken off from Australia and was headed to Los Angeles—Oceanic 815—but beyond that she didn't know much.
"Hey there."
Isabelle looked up at the person speaking to her. It was one of the young men she had met earlier—his name was Charlie. "Hi again."
He plopped down on the sand beside her and he also stared out at the horizon. "You've been busy today, haven't you?"
She nodded. "I was just trying to help as much as possible."
"That's good."
"I noticed you helping out with the signal fire," Isabelle commented casually. She wasn't exactly in the mood for conversation, but she couldn't neglect her assignment and as Charlie was a man, she knew that he was someone she needed to befriend.
"Yea," he nodded. "Sayid asked."
"Sayid?" Isabelle realized that she hadn't met him yet. She looked around the beach within her view, wondering which one he was. She spotted an Arab man still adding wood to the large fire they had started in the middle of the beach. "Is that him?"
Charlie followed her gaze and nodded. "Yea, that's him."
Isabelle analyzed the man carefully and had to admit to herself that, based strictly on sex-appeal, he was one man she wouldn't mind getting to know better. Her eyes continued to drift and she started taking inventory of the survivors strewn about the beach. Some were huddled together for warmth, some were still crying, and some seemed to be completely alone. Even though Ben had only told her to get close to the men, Isabelle couldn't help her desire to help make the survivors as comfortable as possible. She couldn't imagine how afraid they must be in this strange and foreign place—her home.
"I think I'm going to take a walk…" Isabelle stood and shook the sand out of her dress.
"Oh," Charlie looked up at her now. "Want me to join you?"
"Thanks, but I'm really not going far. I just wanted to see if anyone needed anything."
Charlie shrugged. "Okay, sure, yea, see you 'round then."
She smiled at him once more before heading away from him. She hadn't gotten far when Sawyer came striding through the sand to catch up to her.
"Hey Princess, haven't see you around much," he stopped in front of her and she stopped walking.
"I've been busy."
"I noticed."
"How've you been doing?" She asked with genuine interest.
"Not half bad," he smiled and pulled a fistful of protein bars out from behind his back. "Look what I scored!"
"You mean stole?" She smiled.
"I don't think stole would be right word exactly," he grinned and held out four bars. "There was this bag just lying open and no one was claiming it or nothing. I got them for you."
"For me?"
"Yea, I figured you might be hungry."
"I am hungry," she confessed. "But I don't think that I could eat four protein bars."
"Save them," he told her. "Who knows how long we'll be stuck here."
"Thanks Sawyer," she accepted the protein bars from him. "I'll see you later, okay?"
"Yea, sure Princess." He watched her walk off again.
Isabelle wandered through the survivors, not paying particular attention to anyone specific, but just waiting for the right person to catch her attention. She spotted a young blonde sitting alone and painting her toenails near to the roaring fire that had been started by Sayid and Charlie, and she headed in her direction. Before Isabelle arrived though, a young man sat down beside her and held out a candy bar. Isabelle was close enough to hear their conversation.
"As if I'm going to start eating chocolate," the girl said to him.
"Shannon, we may be here for a while," he replied calmly.
"The plane had a black box, idiot," she retorted. "They know exactly where we are. They're coming. I'll eat on the rescue boat."
He sighed and still tried to offer her the candy.
"I'll eat on the rescue boat," she repeated more loudly.
He shrugged, ripped open the packaging, and took a large bite of the candy bar. Shannon glared at him and continued with her pedicure. Isabelle approached them and took a seat in the sand near the girl.
"Hi," she smiled. "I don't think we've met yet."
The guy looked at her and smiled, but the blonde ignored her.
"I'm Isabelle."
"I'm Boone," the guy told her. "This is my sister Shannon."
"Nice to meet you both," Isabelle was still trying to get Shannon to look up at her. "Are you hungry?" She asked finally. "I know it's not much, but if you're interested…" Isabelle handed Shannon one of the protein bars.
Shannon finally looked up at her; she even smiled slightly. "Thank you." She opened the package and took an eager bite. "What did you say your name was?"
"Isabelle."
Shannon nodded and continued to eat.
"I like that color," Isabelle told her, pointing to her toes.
"You can borrow it, if you want," Shannon offered.
"I think I might take you up on that, but maybe tomorrow." Isabelle stood. "Have a good night."
Boone smiled at her appreciatively, while his sister still continued devouring the protein bar.
Next Isabelle ventured over to the pregnant girl she had met earlier in the day, during her rounds with Jack. The girl's name was Claire, and she was just barely twenty-two. Currently, Claire was sitting on a broken piece of the airplane, and she looked up as Isabelle approached.
"Hey you," Isabelle greeted her as she sat down next to her.
"Hi," Claire smiled.
"How are you feeling?"
Claire shrugged, but didn't seem all right.
"Is something wrong?"
"I still haven't felt the baby since the crash," she told her. "I was having strange pains right after the crash—the doctor said it was contractions, but I haven't felt anything since then. It's not normal for it to be so still."
Isabelle thought it wasn't normal for a girl who was eight-months pregnant to be flying at all, but she kept that to herself. "Don't worry until there's absolutely reason to."
Claire nodded. "I know, Jack said I shouldn't worry. He says that my body's probably just in shock or something."
"I'm sure he's right," Isabelle assured her.
The girls both looked up as someone else joined them. It was Hurley, another person whom Isabelle had met earlier in the day. He was a rather large man in his mid-twenties and he had taken it as a personal duty to keep an eye on Claire.
"Hungry?" He held out what seemed to be a sandwich from the airplane supply to Claire.
"Yea, thanks," she smiled and took it from him.
Looking to Isabelle he dropped his head. "Sorry, I only have one."
"It's fine, I've already eaten." It was a lie. She had the protein bars from Sawyer of course, but she hadn't actually eaten since breakfast that morning, which Ethan had cooked for her in the comfort on her own home—it felt so long ago now but she tried not to dwell on it.
"Good," Hurley looked at Claire again. "Anymore, you know, baby stuff?"
"No, I'm okay." She smiled at his concern.
"Well, hang in there."
"Yea, you too."
"Bye Hurley."
The girls both waved to him as he shuffled away.
"Is there anything I can get for you?" Isabelle asked Claire before she decided to move on to her next target.
"I think I'm good," Claire told her. "Thanks though."
"If you need anything at all, let me know, okay?" Isabelle stood and rested her hand briefly on the top of Claire's head.
"Thanks," Claire smiled at her as she left.
Next, Isabelle moved on to two others she hadn't had a chance to meet yet. As far as she could tell, they were father and son. The boy was young, probably no older than ten or eleven, but he seemed strangely content to be on the beach.
"Hi," she smiled as she neared the dad and son who were huddled close to the fire. The dad was covering the boy's shoulders with an airplane blanket.
"Hey," the dad returned her smile.
"I'm Isabelle," she introduced herself.
"I'm Michael," he replied. "And this is my boy Walt."
"Good to meet you," she stayed standing, not wanting to impose on them if they weren't interested. "How're you doing?"
"We're okay," Michael told her. "We're holding together at least."
Isabelle looked at Walt, who was staring down into the sand. "Is he okay?"
Michael sighed, but nodded. "His dog was on the plane."
"Oh," Isabelle understood. "I'm so sorry." She kept her eyes on the boy and held up one of the protein bars. "Are you hungry?"
Walt glanced up at her and nodded. He looked to his dad as though asking permission and Michael nodded as well, so Walt took it from Isabelle and started to eat it immediately as Shannon had.
"Thank you," Michael smiled.
"My pleasure," she held another one out to him.
"No, it's okay," Michael refused it. "You keep it. I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yea," he nodded. "If you're really desperate to get rid of it, I'm sure there's someone here who needs it more than I do."
"Okay then," Isabelle smiled at them both again and then left.
"Bye Isabelle," Walt called after her as she walked away. She turned and waved to acknowledge that she had heard him.
Isabelle kept the last two protein bars to herself and made a beeline up the beach to the edge of the tree line where her last target was sitting alone on a tree stump. He saw her coming at once and welcomed her with a large smile. The sand became thicker the nearer she got to the jungle and she had to step more carefully to keep the heels of her shoes from sinking into the sand.
"Hey you," he stood when she was near enough to hear him.
"Hi."
"I saw you making the rounds, checking up on everyone. I wondered when it would be my turn."
"Did you think I had forgotten you?" She moved closer to him and glanced around the beach to see if anyone was watching them before pushing him back into the cloak of the trees. "I have been counting the minutes all day until I got a moment to see you, Rom. You know you're all I think about."
He put his arms around her and kissed her.
"Careful," she reminded him, breaking the kiss for a moment.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm still a little sore from where the doctor stitched me up."
"Let me see," Ethan knelt beside her so he could be eye level to her wound. "I want to see how good that so-called doctor is." He grasped the hem of her dress and lifted it up far enough to uncover the stitches.
She sucked in her breath when his hand brushed against the simplistic stitching.
"Did I hurt you?" He pulled his hand away, but kept her dress rolled up. "I'll be more careful."
"It's not you," she told him. "It's just sore in general."
Ethan smiled up at her and gently pressed his lips over the sewn-up wound. "Does that help?"
"Very much," Isabelle smiled and rested her hand on top of his head. She loved running her fingers through his hair. He had perfect cartoon-character hair—lush and beautiful.
He kissed her wound again, dropped her dress back into place, and rested his head against her stomach. "I missed being with you today."
"I know," she agreed.
"I hated seeing you with all those other guys." Ethan stood, keeping his arms circled around her waist.
"Were you jealous?" She teased.
"Yea, I was, and I'm man enough to admit it." He laughed and kissed the tip of her nose. "I hate the assignment that Ben gave you. It doesn't make any sense."
Isabelle kissed his neck, which was as high as she could reach without standing on her tiptoes. "Truthfully, I think he only gave me the assignment to frustrate you. I don't think Ben's very fond of our relationship."
"Yea?" Ethan bent his head down to kiss her lips. "Do you think he's jealous? I bet he is. I bet you that he can't handle the two of us together because he wants you all for himself! I bet seeing you this morning in nothing but your little robe really turned him on…."
"That is disgusting!" Isabelle laughed.
"Yea, but I'm pretty sure it's true."
"Okay," Isabelle let him kiss her again. "We should go back. If we're gone too long, the others might notice."
"I don't see why we have to hide our relationship," Ethan told her. "It could be a part of our cover story. We could have been traveling together…"
Isabelle shook her head. "I've already told most of them that I was traveling alone. Besides, how am I supposed to get the guys 'interested' in me if I'm already dating someone?"
"You're right." Ethan sighed, "I guess I'll just have to settle for sneaking kisses in the jungle."
"It's kind of romantic, you know?" She told him. "Our own little secret rendezvous."
"Well when you put it that way," he grinned and kissed her once more.
"Okay, for real now," Isabelle pulled away. "I'll see you later."
"Don't forget we're supposed to meet Ben at the Pearl at midnight."
"I won't," she assured him. "Oh, I brought you something to eat." She handed him one of the protein bars.
"You always take such good care of me," he took it and slipped it into his pocket.
"Somebody has to," she smiled. "See you later tonight!" She blew him a kiss as she pushed through the trees and back onto the beach.
"Hey Beauty!"
Isabelle spotted Sawyer waving to her from near the fire and so she made her way towards him. "Beauty?" she asked when she was close enough.
"Yea, you know, like Beauty and the Beast?"
"Okay…" she frowned, trying to see the connection.
"Beauty's name is actually Belle, right? Like Isabelle…" Sawyer explained.
Isabelle started to laugh.
"What?"
"I like that you know her real name."
He shrugged. "I know some pretty random shit."
"I bet you do," she smiled.
"Anyway, I didn't know where you had gone, but…"
He was interrupted as an alarming sound erupted from the jungle. At best description it sounded like metal being banged together, with ferocious growling mixed in between. Everyone turned towards the jungle.
"What was that?" Shannon asked loudly.
"That was weird right?" Charlie spoke up, looking around for confirmation.
The boy that Isabelle had met earlier, Walt, took a step forward curiously. "Was that Vincent?"
His dad caught his son's arm and pulled him back. "It's not Vincent."
The trees suddenly started to rustle and shake as the noises persisted.
"Did anybody see that?"
Hurley stepped up beside Charlie. "Yea."
Isabelle noticed something peripherally and turned to look as Boone broke free from his sister and started moving forward.
"Boone!" Shannon screamed at him and he stopped.
"Well, this is bloody terrific." Charlie exclaimed.
Isabelle looked back at the trees and noticed that everyone had started inching toward them, but nobody actually dared a step into the jungle. They waited for another moment, but no more sounds came, and they all moved back again.
"What the hell was that?" Sawyer asked rhetorically.
Isabelle smiled at him. "This day keeps getting better, doesn't it?" She turned her back to the island, giving her full attention to Sawyer. "You were going to say something before…well before."
He nodded. "Yea, well, everyone was starting to make their sleeping arrangements, you know putting out blankets salvaged from the plane or whatnot, and I got you this blanket," he held out a small blue blanket, labeled with 'Oceanic Airlines'.
"Thank you," she took the blanket. "You're so sweet."
Sawyer shrugged.
"So, where's your blanket set up?"
He pointed to a blanket spread out in the sand a few feet back from the circle of blankets that had formed in a ring around the fire.
"Not a big joiner, huh?" she smiled teasingly, but marched directly over to his blanket and spread hers out beside it.
"You should get in the group," he protested. "By the fire. It might get cold."
Isabelle glanced towards the trees. "Nobody should sleep alone."
"Well, all right then." He sat down on his blanket and started to remove his shoes. "You comin' to bed now?" He grinned up at her.
Isabelle rolled her eyes, stepped out of her high heels, and sat down on her own blanket. "Don't flatter yourself. I don't like big crowds either. You're just convenient companionship."
"I'll take what I can get."
"You sure know how to sweet talk a girl," she smiled.
"So, what do you think, King Kong or Godzilla?"
"What?"
"In the trees," he continued. "What monster do you think it is?"
"I don't believe in monsters."
Sawyer analyzed her expression, trying to decide if she was joking or not. When he decided that she wasn't, he continued. "Then what do you believe it is?"
"Aliens," she answered with a very straight face.
"Aliens?" He repeated. "You believe in aliens?"
Isabelle laughed and shook her head. "I'm joking! I don't have a clue what was making those noises."
"So, I heard the Doc talking to that girl, umm, Kate?"
Isabelle nodded for him to continue.
"They said they were heading out tomorrow to try and track down the front of the plane, hoping to find some sort of transmitter."
Isabelle nodded. "That's a good idea. If there's any hope of communication, it would probably be there."
"Yep," he looked out at the ocean to their right, and then to the fire where everyone else was starting to settle down, then he looked back at her.
Isabelle was still watching the people at the fire. She noticed how they started naturally bonding to one another—those that had previously been alone, now found companionship and comfort from strangers. She glanced at Sawyer and realized that she had found comfort from strangers that day too, even though she hadn't realized that she needed it.
"Sweet dreams, Sawyer." She slid down onto her back and tried to make herself comfortable in the sand.
"Yea, sweet dreams Beauty." He rolled onto his side, facing away from her and attempted to make himself comfortable.
She stared at his back for a minute and then looked back over towards the fire; she could see the other survivors silhouetted by the flames of the roaring fire. Everyone seemed restless and unable to sleep.
Glancing up at the dark skies, she judged how much more time she had until she was supposed to meet Ben at the Pearl station. Living on the island for as long as she had, Isabelle had become good friends with her natural surroundings. At her best guess, she had a little under two hours before she was supposed to be there, so that gave her less than an hour before she needed to head into the jungle.
Her eyes scanned the crowd of people, searching for Ethan. It took her a moment to locate him, but she finally spotted him standing at the edge of the group; he was also looking around. Their eyes met, even though they were both squinting in the darkness, but when they saw each other they smiled.
She didn't want to fall asleep, because she didn't know if she'd be able to wake herself up again, but it had been a long day and she wasn't sure if she could stay awake for that long either. In order to keep herself awake, she knew she would need to keep her mind working, so she thought of the only thing that ever occupied her thoughts—home.
Isabelle could see it all so plainly still—her life before the island. All she wanted was to find a way to get back to that life, away from this place and these people who she 'worked' for. There was so much that she missed and so much that they had taken from her. She noticed Ethan smiling at her again and she had to smile back.
Ethan, of course, was the exception on the island. He kept her sane and she hoped that when she one day found a way back home, he would be right beside her, holding her hand still making her life better. They had talked about it before—life off the island. They were going to get married and live in New York, close to Central Park so they could spend afternoons there with the kids they were going to have together…
"You still awake Beauty?"
Her thoughts were cut short as Sawyer rolled back to face her.
"Yea, I'm still awake," she answered him. "I thought you were sleeping." She was lying. She knew he hadn't started to sleep yet because his breathing had never regulated completely.
"Not exactly a Four Seasons, is it?"
Isabelle smiled at him. "Do you stay at Four Seasons often?"
"Nope," he replied. "Never even used a bathroom in one, but you look like you might've tasted their pillow mints once or twice."
She nodded. "I've visited my share."
"Tell me a story," he asked suddenly.
"A story?"
"Supposedly bedtime stories are a good way to go to sleep."
Isabelle laughed. "I'm no good at making stories up."
"Have you ever tried?"
Isabelle was silent for a minute. "I can tell you about Goldilocks."
"Doesn't she get eaten by bears?"
"No!" she laughed again. "She gets away."
"I'm not sure that a bedtime story should involve the phrase 'she gets away' though."
"You're probably right. How about Little Red Riding Hood?"
"Isn't she eaten by a wolf?"
Isabelle laughed again. "No…she gets away too."
"I'm sensing a trend."
"And I'm sensing a serious lack of suitable bedtime stories. What's with the chase scenes?"
"Maybe we should just try counting sheep."
"Fine with me," she agreed. "It saves me from pretending to be a good storyteller."
"Good night again."
"Good night." She watched him roll over once again.
She kept her eyes on his back as his breathing started to slow. She again started reflecting on the life that she so desperately wanted in order to distract herself from sleep. Eventually Sawyer's breathing slowed to a regular pattern that proved he was finally asleep.
Ten more minutes, she told herself. Before a minute had passed though, she spotted Ethan separating from the rest of the group. His shadow slipped into the jungle and disappeared from her sight. That's good enough for me.