"What?" She looked at him confused.

"I said marry me?" He repeated slowly for her, grinning from ear to ear.

"This ain't funny, Sawyer?" She didn't know if she should be happy or mad about his proposal.

"What? You want me to say it a third time?" He threw his free hand up in defeat. "Hold on." He pulled his arm out from under her and climbed out of bed, pulling his jeans on over his bare backside.

It distracted her for a moment, but then she said, "Sawyer, what are you doing?" She didn't understand.

As he was pulling his zipper up, but not bothering closing his belt, he said again, "Just hold on, freckles, alright?"

He looked at her, and when she saw how serious his look was, she just nodded, sitting up against the headboard, she pulled the light blue sheet up to cover her naked self. She watched him as he was looking for something in his dresser. She assumed a new shirt. She was so taken back by his question, and was still trying to figure out why he would make such a cruel joke, that she wasn't even able to process what he was really doing. Until…

He closed the drawer and turned back around to face her.

"Come over here" he waved her to the edge of the bed, she obliged, scooting over to sit on the bottom edge of the bed. The sheet riding up on her thighs as she scooted, which made his eyes follow the sheet riding up, he smiled cocking his head to the side. She pulled the sheet back down past her knees to cover herself, her feet touching the floor. She felt like her heart was on her sleeve, but then again, there was no sleeve so the sheet would have to do for now.

He stood there, looking down at her, holding out his hand. She looked up at him, gave him one hand, and held the sheet up with the other. She thought he wanted her to get up. But before she could, he kneeled down in front of her.

Oh my god, what is he doing? "Sawyer, what are you doing?" She asked all of a sudden realizing what was about to happen.

He was holding a little box in his other hand, he opened it to reveal a beautiful sparkling diamond ring.

She looked at the ring, then back into his eyes. Still not believing that he was serious about this.

He said, "Freckles, will you marry me?" His eyes looking right into hers. He was serious. She knew that now.

She nodded again, and "Yes, I'll marry you" escaped her lips before she even knew it.

She was truly happy, smiling wide, when tears rolled down her cheeks. And within seconds he'd pushed that ring onto her finger. She noticed his hands were trembling when he did that. But then his chest was swelling with pride, and he also was smiling the happiest smile she'd ever seen on him. She pulled him in for a kiss, letting go of the sheet and it dropped. He picked her naked little body up and wrapped her in his arms. They made love again … and again, eventually falling asleep in each others arms.

Sometime in the middle of the night, she'd woken up. He was lying on his back, she was laying next to him, with her head using his arm as a pillow. She rubbed the ring on her finger, just to make sure she hadn't just dreamed all of this. She looked over to him, his face, so content. He looked happy even in his sleep. His naked chest was rising with every breath he took in, she watched it in amazement.

She'd done this before. She frowned to herself. Twice actually. She'd been proposed to 3 times all together. Kevin, Jack and now Sawyer. Her heart ached just a little for both Kevin and Jack, when she came to the sudden realization that only this time she was completely in it, with all of her heart. Forever. For good. She would get married to Sawyer, and she would never leave him, not a doubt in her heart about their future together anymore. This is it. He's the one she's supposed to be with. He's the one she's going to be with for the rest of her life!

She kissed his chest, cuddling into his side. He started moving a little, and before she knew it he'd rolled over to his side facing her, wrapping his other arm around her waist and pulling her in closer. Not even opening his eyes, he growled a little when he kissed her hair, and went back to sleep. She closed her eyes, and went back to sleep too. His arms around her felt so good, she couldn't describe it. He'd been all she'd ever needed, she'd just taken forever to come to this realization.

The next morning – Claire's house

Sawyer and Kate both stood outside the front door, waiting for someone to answer the door. Claire finally opened the door, and hugged her friend, "Hey, I've missed you so much. Why are you ringing the door bell", Claire asked when she walked back into the house. Sawyer and Kate both followed her in, "Because I officially moved out 3 weeks ago, remember?"

"Yeah, but still, you can just come in. Both of you. You're family."

"Speaking of family," Sawyer chimed in, "Do you think your mom could watch the rug rat tonight, so Miles, you, Kate and I can go out for dinner, my treat?"

Claire looked up at him, noticing Kate smiling from ear to ear, "Sure, she wouldn't mind, what's the occasion?"

"Our engagement!" He said with this casual tone of voice, like it wasn't big news.

Claire's face lit up, and both her hands covered her mouth, she looked back and forth between Kate and him, "Really? He asked you, and you said yes?" She looked over at Kate.

Before Kate could answer, he chimed in, "Of course she said yes, who could resist that awesome rock I picked out for her." As if they'd rehearsed it, Kate held up her hand with the ring on it to show it to Claire.

Kate nodded her head still smiling wide. This was new to her, she'd never been the kind of girl that would act so 'girlish', but she was this time, when it was the right time, the right man!

"Oh it's beautiful." Claire was ecstatic. "I'm so happy for you two." And she pulled both of them into a hug.

When Claire finally let up, she walked over to the phone and called her Mom who'd moved to L.A. shortly after they'd all gotten back from the island. Living just a couple blocks down the road from them.

Sawyer walked over to Kate and wrapped both his arms around her from behind, pushing her curls aside, he kissed her neck and whispering into her ear, "Well, one down, I guess."

"Maybe we should call Cassidy and ask her to go out with us tonight, so we can tell her the news." Kate loosened his grip he had on her and turned around to talk face to face. He frowned.

"I don't know freckles." He said, "I'm still not her favorite person, you know that, so maybe we should hold off on telling her for now. Let's just go out with people that might actually be happy for us. Penny and Desmond said they'll meet us there, and I left a message with Lapidus."

She nodded, then added, "Okay, but you're wrong about Cassidy, she would be happy for us."

"Maybe she will, maybe she won't, doesn't matter freckles. I get that she's your friend now, but it'd just be a little weird for me having her there. So let's stick with our friends that are here. The ones that we know are happy for us, no matter what."

"Okay, but we have to tell her soon." She looked up at him.

"Well, even if we don't, sure she will hear 'bout it on the news. After all, it's not every day that 2 people that survived the same plane crash are getting hitched." He smiled at her.

"We'll tell her before it's all over the tv." She said it out loud, even though she knew he was just teasing.

He was right though, this would be all over the news, she thought. They'd pretty much avoided the press, all of them spending most their time here at Claire's house and backyard. Watching more tv together in the last 6 plus month then she did in her entire life.

He liked it that way though, for now. He liked to be stuck with her, in a house in front of a tv, Claire and her watching some soap opera, while he read a book, sitting next to her. And now, he wouldn't mind at all being stuck in the bedroom with her. No need to go anywhere in his eyes, all he wanted was right here.

Kate on the other hand was counting down the days she was finally done with her probation. Couldn't wait to travel, by car. Not running, no, not this time. Just going places with him by her side, to make some memories other then the island and L.A. together! But she still had a long time to wait for that, she wasn't holding her breath just yet.

-
Just 6 short weeks later – mid April 2008 – Claire's house

When Kate and Sawyer finally walked in, everybody was already there. Claire, Aaron, Carole, Cassidy, Clementine, Miles, Lapidus, Desmond, Penny, little Charlie, Hurley, and even Kate's dad Sam had flown into town again. This was the first time in a long time, that all of them had been together again. Not fighting each other or trying to kill someone together, no this time to celebrate the upcoming wedding of Kate and Sawyer. This was the rehearsal dinner, held at Claire's house.

They were trying really hard to keep this wedding a secret, didn't want a bunch of reporters to camp outside their new home, where the wedding was taking place tomorrow. Over the course of one month, they'd completely fixed the house to their liking. They'd furnished it too, however now, furniture were put into the garage for the moment. While the entire downstairs was already set up for a private little ceremony, just them with their closest friends to witness.

It surely wasn't an elaborate wedding, even though they both could afford it now, but that wasn't the point. They'd even thought about having it at the beach, but that would have been even harder to pull off without the press noticing. Anyways, Sawyer had said, that for once something in their life together shouldn't revolve around a sandy beach somewhere. He had a valid point, Kate thought.

The rehearsal dinner was really nice, they'd hired a caterer, paying them way more than their service was worth, basically paying them to keep their mouth shut, about this dinner and about the wedding. The kids were sitting in front of the tv in the living room, while the adults made themselves comfortable on the back patio. But it was very casual, everyone sitting, with a little fire burning in a fire pit. The island wasn't discussed, everyone knew that Kate's dad had no clue about anything, so they'd agreed to not mention it.

It was a surprising warm night for mid April, Claire had even set up some speakers and music was playing. Kate stood there across the patio, rubbing her arms up and down, as if she was cold anyways. She was talking to Cassidy, and he knew they were talking about him, cause very once and awhile both of them would look his way. He just smiled and raised his beer towards them, which made the two women smile in return. Busted!

He couldn't believe this was really going to happen. He was really going to marry her tomorrow. He took a sip from his beer. Who would have thought, especially after they'd shared that awkward almost kiss in the jungle, shortly after Juliet had died. Nobody knew about that moment they'd shared, not even Claire.

He looked down towards his beer bottle in his hand. Guilty, even after all this time, he still felt guilty about wanting to kiss her that night. He shouldn't have even thought about kissing her like that, when dirt over Juliets grave hadn't even settled yet. And then the guilt of what she must have thought about it all, that didn't feel much better.

He was a terrible person, doesn't know how he'd managed to make someone like Kate fall in love with him in spite of all that. He took another sip from his beer, lost in his thoughts, he hadn't even noticed Kate walking over to him.

"Where did you go?" She said.

He looked up at her, "Nowhere, I'm right here with you." He smiled up, pulling her down to sit in his lap.

She kissed him softly, and he said, "So are you nervous about tomorrow?"

"I can't wait, actually. I hope you'll like my dress. So when are you heading home?"

"Whenever you kick me out, I guess." He smiled up at her, "I don't think you really want me to go home, do you?" His hand sliding ever so slightly up her thigh, under the hem of her dress.

She grabbed it before it went any further, looking around if anyone saw. "Sawyer! My dad's here, don't do that, not here with everyone watching. How much have you had to drink?"

"I dunno." He smiled up at her. "But are we really still doing that?" He looked at her questioning.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you sleeping here tonight, instead of with me. I mean, does it really matter? You can come back to Miles' place tonight, and I'll take you back to our house first thing in the morning, so you can get ready for the big show down." He looked at her with puppy dog eyes. "I won't even see the dress."

"It's just one night." She had to bend down to kiss his neck. Then looked in his eyes again. "You'll be just fine for one night. It will make our wedding night so much more special."

He sighed, "Alright then." He took another sip of the beer, she took it from him and took a sip too. He liked that about her, she wasn't the fancy drink kinda woman, a beer will do just fine.

"I finished my vows today." She looked over at him, wondering if he was done with his.

"I did too." He smiled, then whispered "Gotta tell you, it wasn't easy, considering you're dad's not in the loop of everything."

Some time later, Cassidy and Clem had already taken off, so did Carole with Aaron, he was spending the night at his grandma's house. And the Humes had left already too.

It was getting late, and even though the wedding wasn't set until 4.30 pm the following day, it was time to start heading out, to a hotel for some or home for others. She slit off his lap, and he pulled her hand to follow him inside.

Hurley said, "Hey, are you two leaving?"

"No, I just want a moment alone with my fiancé, Avalanche. That alright with you?" He looked over at the curly headed man, smiling at him despite the familiar and taunting nickname.

"Sure, go ahead dude." Hurley winked at them both, which made Sawyer chuckle as he pulled Kate into the house.

They walked up the stairs to Kate's old room. When the door shut behind them, he pushed her into the door, kissing her softly. They broke the kiss to look at each other.

"So, tomorrow at this time, you and me freckles, we'll be husband and wife."

"Yup, I know." She had her arms wrapped around his neck, snuggling into him. He had one hand on her behind, the other one buried into her curls, pulling her in even closer. They just stood there in silence for a moment.

"Gotta be honest freckles, there was a time when I thought we'd never get here." He pulled her even closer. She didn't say anything for a good 2 or 3 minutes, both of them just standing there again in silence.

"I really love you Sawyer." She said, without looking up at him, still burying her face into the crook of his neck, hugging him tightly.

He let out a sigh of relief, "I don't know why you do, but I'm glad you do, baby, 'cause I really love you too." He pulled away to kiss her again.

"I guess I better head home now." He let her out of the tight hug, but held both hands in his, just looking down at her.

"I see you tomorrow, can't wait to see that dress everyone's been talking about."

"I hope you'll like it."

"Oh, I'm sure I will, but I'll like even more taking it off of you." He cocked his head sideways again, giving her that self assuring grin, with the dimples showing.

She didn't even try to look offended, "I can't wait either."

He laughed, "I knew it."

"Go, get out of here, but let someone else drive, you've had one too many already." She opened the bedroom door for them both to head back downstairs.

"Yes, ma'am. Whatever you say, freckles."

End Note: Please leave a review if you have a minute to spare. Thank you!