Here you go, lovely fans! Um, I just realized I haven't put any disclaimers on anything so far. That's because I am J.J. Abrams! Ahahahaha! You knew it, didn't you. (for the record, I take that back)
But really, I don't think disclaimers are all-important. You guys know I'm not the real deal. Anyhoo, here I go, caving in and disclaiming for the whole story.
*disclaimdisclaim disclaimdisclaimdisclaimdisclaimdisclaimdisclaimdisclaimdisclaimdisclaim*
Thar we go.
I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS. JUST PUTTIN' THAT OUT THERE.
Enjoy!
***
The morning was, in a way, less awkward than the evening had been. My emotions had been calmed by a good night's sleep, and my fears were suppressed by the sun and the breathtaking view as I stepped out of the tent. On the other hand, I felt humiliated when I remembered last night's silly dramatic moments. I decided to pretend nothing had happened, least of all that disastrous kiss. It was a hard thing to even pretend to forget; the mere thought had my blood quickening.
"Morning." Sawyer said to me, with a friendly nod. He was sitting outside, reading as usual. I dug sleep-gunk out of my eyes and sand out of my hair, yawning. Then I heard frantic footsteps, thumping closer to us in the sand. I looked up. Jack. Crap.
"Cammy?"
"That's me." I said dryly, not quite comprehending the situation from Jack's eyes.
"Thank God." He said, leaning over, resting his hands on his knees, and breathing heavily. "Where have you been? We got back to the caves last night after finding Charlie, and I didn't realize that your weren't there until this morning, when everyone said they hadn't seen you at all since early last night. Of course I thought, I mean, after what happened to Claire . . . "
"OH. No, no, I was fine. It started raining, and I was far from the caves, and I didn't want to go back there anyway –you know people have taken to calling them the rape-caves, now, right?—and so I just stayed here."
He just stared at me a moment, his gaze briefly flitting to Sawyer and back.
"Uh, sorry for calling them that, I know you're really proud of finding those caves. And they're nice and all, I just don't feel safe there. Which is why I'm going to move back to the beach, at least until we know what happened with Claire, and Ethan isn't out and about anymore."
"Let me get this straight. You stayed here last night, and you're planning to move in, here."
"Well, essentially, yeah. I don't see the-" I stopped at the look forming on Jack's face.
"Cool it, Doc." Sawyer said.
"Sawyer, can I talk to you for a minute?" Jack replied, through gritted teeth.
"Good idea, I think we need to get some things cleared up, here." Sawyer stood up and followed Jack over to the treeline. Far enough that I couldn't hear most of what Jack was yelling, but I watched, anyway. My brain was still half-asleep, and I just couldn't figure out why . . . oh. It clicked in my mind, right as I saw Jack's fist fly up and hit Sawyer's face, hard. Sawyer stumbled, straightened up, and put a hand to his jaw. I couldn't hear, but I knew his words at that moment. Son of a bitch. And then I ran, screw decency, I ran, and screamed. "Jack! What the fuck, Jack! Why would you-"
"Cammy, be quiet." Jack was seething.
"You idiot! You presumptuous, controlling idiot!" I raged, turning to Sawyer briefly. When I saw that he was just fine, I swung back towards Jack. "Let me be very clear, Jack. I am not your responsibility. I am not some kid that you can order around, 'for my own good'. I will live where I want. I will sleep where I want. And I will keep whatever company I want to. And before you make assumptions, maybe you should check your facts. It was dark by the time it stopped raining, last night. I was freaked out, people were out searching for the abductees, for Christ's sake, and the caves were the last place I wanted to be. So, yeah, I slept here. Now, Sawyer here was nice enough not to kick me out into the night all alone, where Ethan could come along and grab me if he felt like it. Thank you, Sawyer, for your hospitality." I put emphasis on the last word. I took a step closer to Jack, and as I walked past him, I said in a vehement whisper, "We didn't fuck, Jack. Back off."
I didn't get very far before someone stepped out of the trees, heading towards Sawyer's tent, not watching where she was going. I nearly walked into her.
"Oh, hi Cammy." She smiled. As always, with her smiles, I felt that something was missing. She moved all the right muscles in her eyes, in her mouth, but she didn't seem happy, didn't seem to want to be here. I don't think she ever wanted to be anywhere, she wasn't happy unless she was getting away from something, from everything.
The not-quite-right smile slid right off as she picked up on the atmosphere. I turned and saw what she'd seen. Jack looking angry and dumbstruck, Sawyer just looking dumbstruck. Everything very tense, including me. I was already starting to regret my outburst, but when Jack had hit him . . . I don't know what came over me. Well, yes, yes I do know. A shameful, ridiculous, primal protectiveness. A territorial anger that felt the same as when jealousy pumped through my veins. I think Kate saw the traces of most of these things, but I thanked the Lord that she couldn't tell exactly how it'd all just played out.
"What's going on, here?"
None of us answered, like children caught doing something wrong and waiting for one among them to come forward and spill the beans. It was Jack who spoke first, though he didn't give her the truth. Not even close.
"Nothing, nothing at all."
I took that as a cue that I could leave, and I did, spinning around once to smile apologetically at Sawyer behind the others' backs. No wonder he wasn't nice more often, if it turned out to give him a sore jaw and suspicious glares. I selfishly hoped that Kate would be mad at him when he refused to tell her what she walked in on.
But I hoped she wouldn't hit him. Fucking Jack. Sawyer took far more beating on a regular basis than I was comfortable with. Especially when it was kinda sorta my fault.
***
Thanks for reading. Now, revewww? You can review anonymously, you can just say 'yay' or 'nay' or 'sausages!', it's soooo easy.
Yeah, I'll stop with the whiny writer bit. For a while. Really, love you guys.