A/N: Thank you to those that reviewed last chapter. I was glad it went well and most of you were very open to me sticking to the story line so far. That WILL change believe me in Season 2. A lot I'm hoping to make things a bit more interesting esp now that The First has taken an interest in our favorite slayer. The lines are still open to those suggestions so keep them coming. Several of you have mentioned great things and I will be including some of them just for you.

Lost is new Wednesday so make sure you check it out. I leave early Friday morning for my trip out of town and updates will NOT happen during the time I'm gone. What does that mean? It means I need REVIEWS FOR THIS CHAPTER so I'm motivated to post the remaining two chapters! Trust me, you won't want to miss them but if reviews are few, well, I'll just have to keep you waiting until after break then won't I? (teases)

Enjoy and please review.

Chapter Twenty – The Greater Good

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It had been by her own choice that she missed the funeral procession. She had waited until everyone had drifted away, waited until all the words were spoken and the fight between Locke and Jack had been interrupted before moving away from the trees and into the line of sight. The good doctor was still furious, even to the point at screaming at the older man and blaming him in front of everyone for Boone's death. At this point, she didn't know what to think. She didn't know who was truly to blame.

Faith turned away from the fresh dirt of the grave and paused at the sight of Shannon sitting on the beach by herself.

"She refuses to talk about it." Sayid stepped forward to watch Shannon as well. "Not that I blame her."

"I'm sure she probably does, blames someone I mean."

"Shannon doesn't blame you Faith. She knows you tried."

"Did I?" She swung her gaze over to his. "I knew that Boone was in over his head, and I knew that if he followed Locke there'd be trouble, but when it came down it, I didn't have what it took to stop him."

"He was a full-grown man Faith. You weren't responsible for his decisions."

Faith nodded. "You're right, but that doesn't mean I blame myself any less." She straightened and winced at the sharp pain that nipped at her side. "I have to keep reminding myself I'm not at full strength yet."

"It's only been a few days Faith. You should still be resting."

"Tell me something I don't know." She shot him a small smile. "I'm tired but a part of me feels better than I've ever felt before. I can't explain it." Faith shook her head. "Don't worry about me Sayid; couple more days and I'll be good as new."

"Well until then, take care of yourself."

"That's my goal." Faith looked back towards Shannon. "Among other things on my list."

&&&&&&&&

"Do you mind if I sit down?"

Shannon didn't look up and merely shrugged as she continued to stare out at the ocean.

Faith slowly sat down beside her, wincing while she adjusted her bandages and weight, and she propped her arms on her bent knees, clasping her hands together tightly. They sat there in silence, both simply watching the incoming waves, and for a minute, Faith was content with that.

"I told you to stay away from him."

She didn't turn her head to see whether or not Shannon was looking at her.

"But you didn't."

"Shannon, I-"

"I'm glad you didn't."

Faith slowly looked over to find Shannon gazing at her, a distant look on her face.

"Jack told me that you tried to save Boone's life, that you would have given up yours to save him if that had been an option." Shannon turned to look at the ocean again. "If you hadn't been there, Jack said Boone might not have even made it back to the caves. At least he… at least he died bravely surrounded by people who cared about him."

"He wouldn't have wanted you to see him like that Shannon."

She nodded and sniffling, wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "I know. I just wish I could have said goodbye, that's all."

They fell silent again and it was then a figure stepped in front of them, Boone's backpack lowering down onto the sand in front of Shannon.

"I thought you might want this." Locke cleared his throat. "And for what it's worth I hope you can forgive me. I'm sorry." He shot a look at Faith, nodding, and left without another word, unaware the whole time that Shannon's cold gaze followed after him.

"You blame him don't you?"

Shannon's eyes flickered to Faith's. "Yes. Don't you?"

"I don't know."

She reached out to grab Boone's bag and pull it towards her. "He murdered my brother." She clutched the bag to her chest, her gaze locked on it. "He led him out into the jungle, told him what he wanted to hear, and then left him to die." Shannon looked back at Faith. "Just like he left you."

"Is that what you think?"

"Don't you?"

Faith glanced over her shoulder in the direction Locke had disappeared. "I don't know exactly what to think anymore."

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The water in the fountain was tinged pink as the blood ran clear from the shirt and Locke rang the fabric between his hands, watching as the blood coated his hands as well. He looked up to notice Walt watching him but when he waved, the boy turned away.

"He doesn't trust you anymore."

Locke pulled his shirt from the water and nodded. "It's safe to say he's not alone."

Faith crossed her arms as she leaned against the cave wall. "You need to tell me what happened."

"With what?" Locke looked up. "With the plane? With Boone? I thought that was obvious."

"You couldn't walk Locke, you could barely stand, and now you're expecting me to believe you carried both Boone and me back to the caves by yourself?"

"I managed." He stood up and slid the wet shirt on over his head. "You floated in and out of unconsciousness, talked mostly to people that weren't there. Sometimes you managed to carry some weight but for the most part, yes, I brought you both back on my own."

"Why'd you leave?" Faith stepped close to him, eyes flashing. "No one could find you, you up and disappeared. Boone died and you just left him."

Locke studied her silently. "I can't take that back but I'm sorry. I made a mistake."

"It's a little too late for that."

"Are you drawing a line here Faith?" The look in Locke's eyes was somber, something kin to sadness floated just below the surface. "Is your trust in me gone as well?"

"My trust in you has been shaky for a long time John. I think it's time we started telling people the truth."

"I couldn't agree more."

She didn't move as Sayid came up behind her, both of them peering at Locke expectantly. He shifted as he looked between them but nodded.

"Okay."

"Good." Sayid clasped Faith on the shoulder. "Let's start with the plane."

&&&&&&&&

"Have you seen my bag?"

"Well hello to you too darlin'. Why yes, I did miss you. I'm fine too, thanks for asking." Sawyer glanced up at her from his perch beside his tent and paused to adjust the large framed glasses on the bridge of his nose. "What makes you think I have it?" He looked back down and flipped another page of his book over.

"Come on man, don't play games; where is it?"

He nudged his head towards his tent and continued to sit there as she ducked inside and came back with her bag in one hand. Faith unzipped it and shuffled through the contents, nodding in satisfaction at the sight of the Jackal resting comfortably amongst her things.

"You looked worried there for a second Fire Cracker."

Faith's eyes swung back to his. "Thank you Sawyer."

He nodded. "You're welcome."

Faith was slow as she slung the bag onto her back and adjusted the straps. "Hang on to the crossbow for me will ya?"

"You sure you want to do that?" Sawyer smirked. "I might make you trade for it later or something."

"Eh, I'm pretty confident I can get it back from you when I need it. Just hang on to it." She turned to head up towards the path.

"If Jack finds out you're frolicking off into the jungle this soon after fixing ya, he's gonna blow a gasket."

"Then I guess we'll just have to keep this between us won't we?"

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She was aware of the fact Sayid had been sneaking glances at her for the past twenty minutes. Faith rolled her eyes and stopped, waiting until he and Locke paused as well and turned to face her.

"Maybe you should go back."

"Maybe you should worry about more important matters."

"I am Faith." Sayid nodded. "Less than four days ago you almost died. You sustained massive injuries and I'm not sure you're ready to be coming back out here so soon."

"I'm touched, really, but I suggest you stick to worrying about why we're out here." She shoved past them but moved at a slow pace. "Let's go, it's not that far."

Grudgingly, they followed after her and she blocked out the intense questions Sayid threw Locke's direction. Much to Locke's credit, he remained calm and answered them.

"Back in Iraq, you were an interrogator. You haven't lost your touch."

Faith threw Locke a look from over her shoulder. "Cut the small talk." She pointed towards the plane from where it rested upside down at the base of the cliff. "We're here." Faith remained standing where she was; her eyes following Locke and Sayid as they walked past her and began to survey the wreckage.

Their conversation was lost once again as her eyes slowly trailed over the side of the plane and the flash of memory was so hot and sudden, she bit her tongue and the taste of blood flooded her mouth.

"I think I can salvage some of the radio." Sayid climbed back out of the plane, the radio in his hands. "Maybe there's something here we can use." He looked up. "Faith? Are you okay?"

Blinking quickly, she nodded and shifted the bag on her back. "Yeah, five by five. Let's hurry up, storm's coming."

Locke glanced around. "The sky's clear."

"Storm's coming." Faith spat. "Now let's finish getting what we came for and head back."

Sayid looked as if he was about to say something but shut his mouth and turned to slide the radio into his bag. His eyes flickered to Locke's waist and he straightened immediately. "For a man who dislikes to lie, would you like to explain why you have a concealed weapon?"

Locke's gaze flickered to Faith's and he pulled the gun from his belt, handing it without protest to Sayid. "We found it along with some other things on a decomposed body a click West from here."

"And you failed to mention this to anyone?"

"He's been dead for a while." Faith cleared her throat. "There's not much more to mention than that. Whoever he was…" She nudged her head towards the plane and the broken statues littering the ground around it, "He was definitely mixed up with the wrong crowd."

Sayid nodded and glanced back at Locke. "It's hard to trust you when you keep things from me."

"You're right so from here on out, you'll get nothing but truth. I'll even start from the beginning."

"The beginning?"

"Yes." Locke cleared his throat and kept his eyes on Sayid's. "When we first landed on the island, you were trying to get a signal on the transceiver but before you could someone knocked you out from behind? Well, that was me."

Faith didn't have time to react before the gun was back in the former soldier's right hand, his fingers around Locke's throat as he pressed him up against the plane.

"Sayid! Stop!"

"Why?" Sayid snarled cocking the gun. "Why would you do that?"

"I was saving us! That signal, wherever it is on the island, it's not worth getting people killed!" Locke argued. "That Frenchwoman has been here for sixteen years with it on Sayid! What makes you think you'll have any better luck?"

"Sayid, that's enough." Faith reached forward to grab his wrist. She kept her hand there without any applied pressure and steadied her gaze on his face. "Please. He's not worth it."

Nodding, Sayid stepped away and without another word, he shoved the gun back into his belt.

Faith dropped her hand to her side, watching as Locke rubbed at the red skin on his neck.

"Since we're being so truthful now," Sayid kept his eyes on Locke. "Boone mentioned a hatch before he died and I want to know what that means."

Faith swung her eyes back to Sayid then watched as Locke straightened, hand still rubbing at his neck.

"Two hatches on a plane, Sayid. Could be forward or aft." He motioned to the plane at his back. "That's my best guess."

"And you Faith? Would that be your best guess as well?"

She removed her eyes from Locke after a few minutes of silence and barely looked at Sayid as she turned away from them. "Storm's coming."

&&&&&&&&

The storm rumbled loudly in the background but it had yet to start raining. Faith checked the zipper on her bag before she threw it down at her feet and lifted her water bottle to her mouth. The cool liquid washed the blood clean from her tongue and she swallowed, the copper taste coated her throat.

The beach was unusually quiet and the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore began to rhythmically sooth her from where she stood.

A small pain in her side brought her back to reality and Faith lowered her hand pressing down on the bandage.

"Maybe I should take a look at that."

"You seem to have your hands full already." Faith shot Kate an amused look as the woman approached her and she took another swig from her bottle. "And exactly when did you become a nurse?"

Kate shrugged and smiled, moving to stand beside Faith and gaze out at the ocean. "Jack's asleep finally." She pulled the tiny plastic bag of pills from her pocket and extended it towards Faith. "It was a good idea. With all the blood he gave Boone, he needed the rest."

Faith glanced down at the bag but didn't take it. "Just give them back to Jack when he wakes up. I won't be needing them anymore."

Kate's hand lowered and she crumbled the bag up into her palm. "If you need to talk…"

"I'm fine. Really." Faith twisted the cap back onto her bottle. "And I wish everyone would stop asking me."

"We're just concerned about you." Kate shrugged. "Jack was… Well, I've never seen a man fall to pieces like that over people he doesn't even really know, but when Boone died and it looked like he was going to lose you too…" She cleared her throat, eyes studying Faith. "It makes me think that maybe there are good people left in this world after all."

"They're certainly out there. I've been lucky enough to actually know a few in the past."

They exchanged knowing smiles as they both looked back out at the ocean.

"My mom, we used to have this dog. I called her Daisy. She was huge and you could just swear by looking at her that she was the most vicious dog on the planet." Kate shoved a chunk of her hair back behind her ear. "But that dog was the sweetest thing I ever owned in my entire life."

Faith grunted. "I wasn't allowed to have pets." She chuckled. "And well, my mother… There wasn't much to her. What you saw was what you got and believe me, it wasn't much."

"My stepfather was like that." Kate fell quiet for a minute. "I can't begin to tell you how much I hated that man."

"I can imagine."

Kate nodded and shot her another smile. "I bet you can."

Faith looked over at her but her eyes zeroed in immediately on the sight of Jack stalking towards them. "Oh, he definitely doesn't look happy to see us."

"What?" Kate looked in the same direction, eyebrows furrowing as Jack finally reached them and swayed slightly on his feet as he came to a stop. "Jack, you should be-"

"Where is it? The key." He motioned to his neck. "The key to the brief case? Where is it?"

"I don't know Jack!" Kate glanced at Faith then back to the doctor. "I didn't touch it!"

"Well it's gone." Jack glared at her and turned to survey the beach. "The key is gone and that could mean the guns are gone too."

Faith groaned and she lifted her bag to her back just as the sky opened up and loud drops of rain began to fall. "Get Sayid. I think I know who took your key."

"Who?"

"The only person who'd want to use a gun right now Jack!" She stalked past him quickly. "You better hope we find Locke before Shannon does."

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Hope obviously wasn't enough.

Locke was standing perfectly still, his arms open wide when Faith finally found him and his gaze was staring straight in front of him at where Shannon stood with a gun held firmly in her hands.

She was shaking, the rain plastering her blonde hair to her face, but she continued to glare at Locke coldly, finger hovering over the trigger. "What did you do to my brother? What did you do?"

"Shannon, please!"

"No!" She shook her head, ignoring Faith as the woman edged closer to where Locke was standing. "This doesn't involve you Faith, go away. You tried, you tried to save his life but you!" She glared at Locke. "You lied. You murdered him and then you lied!"

"It was an accident Shannon." Locke kept his hands up. "I told you I was sorry. I made a mistake and I'm sorry but it was an accident."

"You're a liar." She shook her head. "How can I trust you? Everyone knows you're a liar."

"Shannon, please put the gun down."

"Do as she says Shannon!" Sayid was slow as he appeared; his eyes on the gun.

Faith's gaze flickered to Jack and Kate as they came out of the bushes behind Shannon but the younger woman paid them no attention.

"Shannon, listen to me." Faith took a step closer, carefully slow so she wouldn't make the girl even more jumpy then she already was. "You don't want to do this. If you shoot him, no matter how bad you want to, you'll never be able to take it back." She stretched out her hand. "If you kill him Shannon, all you'll remember is the blood on your hands for the rest of your life. You have to believe me."

The gun wavered in Shannon's hand and her eyes flickered between Faith and Locke.

"Locke will feel guilty about what happened to Boone for the rest of his life but that's not a burden you need to carry for the rest of yours too."

Shannon took a step back, weapon lowering, and Sayid took the opportunity to tackle her to the ground. The gun went off, Locke falling back with a grunt and Faith twisted to find him lying on his back with his eyes wide open.

The rain continued to fall as Shannon screamed and struggled with Sayid, the man wrestling the gun away and she pushed at his chest, scrambling backwards.

"Get off me! Get away!"

"I'm sorry Shannon."

Sobbing, Shannon stumbled to her feet. She shoved Sayid away again as he went after her and disappeared into the bushes. Kate immediately followed and Sayid turned to see Locke slowly sit up, a wound on his head were the bullet had grazed him. Locke touched the spot, the blood from the wound coating his fingers as the rain pelted down on him.

Faith swallowed not moving from her spot until Sayid had left and she watched as Jack and Locke exchanged glances. Without a single word of any kind, Jack walked away.

Faith watched him go then slid her gaze back to Locke. "The bad news is that you'll have a scar."

Locke stared down at his fingertips for a moment before he lifted his gaze to Faith's and she turned to follow after Jack.

"And the good news?"

"There is no good news Locke. I don't think there ever was any."

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"Beneath the hood, the 4.4-liter power plant features a fully-integrated supercharger made into a 6-speed transmission, with a manual sequential shift feature."

Faith hid the wide smile behind her hand as Sawyer read loudly from the magazine, the tiny baby in Charlie's arms cooing as he continued. Claire watched from her spot beside Charlie and the two smiled at each other every time the baby cried when Sawyer paused but then went silent as soon as he spoke again.

"Looks like Sawyer found out he has a talent for something other than stealing after all."

Faith nodded as Jack appeared beside her and she turned away, the doctor following. "I suppose the old saying that everyone has layers is true then."

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, almost a hundred percent. I told you Jack, I heal fast."

Jack was quiet as he studied her while they continued to walk. "Still, I need to redo your bandages. It'll help you avoid getting any infections."

"You sure that's the reason or is it just cause you want to see me with my shirt off again?" She chuckled at the look that crossed his face and poked him harmlessly on the arm. "I'm teasing Doc, lighten up." Faith walked past him. "Well, come on," She teased, "I don't have all day."

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Sayid watched Shannon in silence as she continued to stare into the fire. She was ignoring everyone around her and it was obvious the best thing to do would be to leave her alone. He sighed, shoulders heaving, and turned away only to almost collide with Faith standing directly behind him.

"Have you thought anymore about that problem I mentioned earlier?"

"I have." Sayid nodded. "And I agree."

"Good." Faith slid her hand around the handle of her knife from where it rested comfortably against her belt. "Then I think it's about time you saw the hatch."