They'd separated again. Sawyer was clearly disappointed when she said she'd stick around to help Ben with whatever he was doing. None the less, they were all heading for the same building. The building Ben had held Karl prisoner in once. The building with room number 23.

Sawyer walked in one room with Drake, and Kate followed Ben into a different room. But then again, what did he expect of her. Like Bernard had said, what kind of wife would she be if she didn't make him suffer. He wondered if Ben still got some sick pleasure out of torturing the both of them like this. He had no idea Kate was going to be here today. Ben had obviously forgotten to mention that little tidbit when he'd asked him to help out on Hydra Island today.

It was obvious that Kate hadn't known either. She'd been conned into this just like him. That was clear when he'd seen that look on her face earlier at the dock.

So they spend hours like this, going through things, packing up boxes, taping them shut, and stacking them in the hallway. Everywhere were empty boxes piled up, ready to be filled. They'd been brought here a while back, ... this had apparently been planned a while ago, from the looks of it.

All of them pretty much worked in silence. Sawyer and Drake not talking and neither were Ben and Kate in the room across the hall.

She started to feel light headed again, so she sat down. Ben glanced over at her, "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I just ... I didn't eat breakfast, and I guess I should have."

Ben stopped what he was doing. "We can take a break, go outside and eat something."

She looked up at him from her sitting position on the floor and just nodded. Ben reached out, she took his hand and he helped her up to a standing position.

Right in that moment Sawyer had looked across the hallway and saw Ben help her up.

He shook his head and mumbled under his breath, "Now there's something you don't see every day. Captain Bunny Killer and Freckles all chummy."

Drake looked over at him, "What did you say?"

He just shook his head, "Nothin'."

Then he saw Ben poke his head around the corner. "We're taking a break and having lunch. If you wanna join us tag along?"

Drake looked at Sawyer, Sawyer looked at him, and both nodded.

Kate was already outside, sitting on the staircase that lead up to the entrance of the building.

She didn't look happy when she saw Sawyer following Ben out of the door.

Ben noticed it too, then said, "How about we walk over to the beach?

Nobody disagreed with him, and they all just followed along.

They settled down in the sand, it was nice and warm and the sun was high. The ocean breeze was so familiar, she closed her eyes for a moment to cherish the familiarity of it all, but Ben brought her out of the moment.

"You're okay Kate? Still dizzy?" he said.

Sawyer casted a worried look over at Kate. She notices his eyes on her but avoided them at all cost.

Kate replied, "Who said I was dizzy?"

Ben acted surprised, "Oh, well, I just thought you were. It looked like you were dizzy up in the building. Isn't that why you sat down to take a break?"

She shook her head lightly, "No Ben, it wasn't. I took a break because I was exhausted, hungry and thirsty ... not dizzy." She looked up at Ben with a faint smile on her face.

She dug in her back pack and got something out to eat. Ben did the same. Sawyer and Drake had apparently also brought something to eat too. Everyone just sat in silence, ate and drank.

She noticed Sawyer didn't have a drink. She had an extra bottle of water in her bag. Should she offer it to him? She looked down at herself, ... she was wearing the clothes he'd found and washed for her. Without giving it any more thought she rifled through her back pack and pulled the water bottle out.

She looked over at him and said, "Hey."

He turned his head towards her just in time to catch the water bottle coming at him. He smiled at her, "Thanks" and took a drink.

She shyly smiled back at him, "Don't mention it." And with that the moment had passed, she focused again on the eating, while she stared out onto the ocean. It calmed her, always had.

Ben startled her by asking a question, "Funny, ain't it Kate?"

Kate looked at him, "What's that?"

"I was just thinking about the last time you and me where on this island eating together at the beach. Do you remember that?"

She stared at him, couldn't believe he'd bring that up now, here. She frowned, "Of course I remember that, how could I forget? You forced me to wear one of your daughters dresses and made me wear handcuffs the entire time."

"Yes, but then again. I knew already what you were capable of then, so you can see why I felt the need to have you in handcuffs that morning."

Drake looked around the group, he obviously had no idea about the history that had taken part on this island. Sawyer on the other hand looked like he wanted to strangle Ben for even bringing it up.

Ben wasn't finished, "And I still remember how surprised I was when you asked about Sawyer first instead of Jack. I guess I should have seen that the two of you had more in common with each other then you and Jack ever did."

Sawyer was surprised about that. He tried not to show it. But he couldn't help but search Kate's face for some sign that what Ben was saying was the truth.

Her eyes were focused on the ocean and she chuckled, "I guess I really know how to pick them, don't I." And with that, she packed up her food and got up of the sand. "I'm going back to work." And she walked off, back into the jungle ... back towards the building they'd been working on.

Sawyer packed his food up too, and casted a look at Ben, "You really know how to charm the ladies Ben, don't ya'?" He got up and hurried after Kate.

He never caught up with her in the jungle. She was already back at work by the time he got there.

He stood in the doorframe, "You okay freckles?"

She looked up from the box she was packing, "Yeah, I'm fine." No trace of any emotion attached to her voice. She'd ran out of feelings it seemed. She felt like just an empty shell of herself, all fresh out of tears!

Sawyer went back to work too.

This was going to be a long day.

It was time to go, all of them standing in front of the building.

Kate asked, "So why aren't we taking any of the boxes back with us today?"

Ben said, "That's a job for a bigger boat and a bigger crew."

Ben handed out last minute orders. "Sawyer and Drake, I need you to make sure the buildings are secure before you head out. But don't worry about the main building, I'll lock the main building up myself, I have to drop by my old office real quick anyways."

Kate looked at him, "What about me?"

"You can go with them and help them." He suggested towards Sawyer, "Or you can come with me to my office. But we need to get moving, 'cause we only have about 2 hours 'til it gets dark."

Without even looking in Sawyers direction she agreed, "I'm with you Ben."

Sawyer frowned, "All righty then, let's get this show on the road before night fall and let's all meet back at the dock."

Drake and Sawyer took off in one direction. Kate followed closely behind Ben. Sawyer looked back one last time when he saw Kate disappear with Ben in the distance.

He moaned in pain, when he reached back to touch his head and felt something sticky and still a little warm on his hand. Slowly he came to realize where he was and what had happened.

Son of a bitch. Drake must have knocked me out cold.

He immediately reached down ... yes, he still had his gun, but his walkie-talkie was missing.

It was already pitch black out, he couldn't even see his hand in front of his eyes. But regardless, he knew that warm sticky stuff was blood. His blood from his head wound, where Drake must have hit him with something. Something really hard apparently.

He slowly got up. Still a little dizzy he came to stand on his feet again.

His back pack? He got back on the ground, not able to see anything he searched blindly around the ground, and was relieved when he finally found it. He opened the front pocket of the pack and got his lighter out. He searched for a big enough stick, took a spare piece of clothes out of his pack that he kept for this very reason. Just in case he'd ever find himself stuck in the jungle at night. He wrapped the cloth around the end of the stick tightly, knotting it at the end and lit it on fire.

Finally he was able to see. There was the building, and he realized that normally there'd be lights on, on the outside of the buildings, but they weren't. Which meant the power was off.

He should have been worried about why Drake had done what he had, but instead his first worry was for Kate. Where was she? Where was Ben?

He started walking towards the dock, trekking through the jungle with a torch just like old times, wondering what the hell is going on all over again. He thought about yelling for her, but then changed his mind cause whoever was behind this, shouldn't be aware of the fact that he was up and walking again. Not that the fire in the midst of jungle darkness didn't give him away already.

He stepped onto the dock, and with the moonlight reflecting of the ocean, he immediately saw that both boats were gone.

Son of a bitch. That's it, he threw caution to the wind and started yelling when he marched back into the jungle.

"KATE? KATE? WHERE ARE YOU?"

He finally made it to the building that Kate and Ben were heading to when the group decided to split. He stuck the big flaming stick into the ground, he couldn't take it inside, ... he'd just end up torching the entire building. He slowly made his way into the dark hallway of the building. Everything was silent. Not a noise. Nothing.

There was a double door to his right, so he slowly pushed it open. He lit up his lighter, trying to see. It looked like an office ... this must have been Ben's office he'd talked about. He looked around the room, walked behind Ben's desk and rifled through his desk drawers, finally finding what he'd been looking for. A flashlight.

He turned it on and looked around the room, ... there was no telling really if Kate and Ben had ever made it this far. His heart grew heavy ... wondering what had happened to her.

God please, after everything we've been through, please let her be alright.

He walked back into the hallway, slowly making his way further down the hall. Checking room after room. But found nobody.

All the way down on the right was another double door, but this one was made out of heavy metal.

He yelled again, "KATE?"

And to his surprise, this time he got an answer, "Sawyer?" Her voice was raspy and not very loud.

He ran towards the sound of her voice, reaching the door. It was looked, he couldn't open it.

"Kate? Are you alright?" He tried to look through one of the tiny glass windows in the door, but it was too dark and the flashlight just reflected right off of it.

Her voice was so quiet, like she could barely speak. "I'm okay. Ben locked me in here and just left. I've been yelling for hours, but he never came back."

He tried to shake the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Hold on, I'll get you out of there."

He traced the outline of the doors with the flashlight, realizing that the hinges were on the inside, meaning the doors opened up towards the room she was in.

"Listen, I'm gonna try to kick the door open, so you need to step back, alright?"

"Okay." Then he heard, "I backed away."

He kicked the door ... one, two, three times ... but the door wouldn't budge. He tried again. Nothing happened.

Son of a bitch.

Frustrated he said, "I'll be right back."

He started walking away, when she said, "Sawyer, please don't leave me, it's so dark in here. Please don't walk away."

He could hear it in her voice, she was about to cry. He sighed and turned back around, talking through the tiny gap between the two heavy metal doors, "I ain't leaving baby, I just have to look for an axe or something to get this door open. I promise I'll be right back."

He could hear her heavy breathing on the other side of that door, ... he knew she was crying.

"Say something freckles?"

Her voice so quiet and low, "I don't want you to go. I've tried for hours to get out of here, but I can't. There are windows, but they are rusted shut, I tried to break the glass ... its freakin' unbreakable or something. I can't get out Sawyer." She sighed and he sighed on the other side of the door. Then she said, "I'm scared."

She's scared? He hadn't expected that ... his freckles didn't get scared, and even if she did ... well she damn sure wasn't just gonna say it out loud. This was new. But truth be told, he was scared too. Not because she was stuck in that room ... no, he'd get her out one way or another ... sooner or later. But he was worried about the boats being gone. Now that was something to be fucking scared about!

"Freckles, ain't no reason to be scared. I'll get you out. Trust me."

Trust him? He could just picture her roll her eyes at him behind that heavy metal door. He knew damn well after everything he'd done to her that he was untrustworthy.

He dug his lighter out of his pocket and crouched down on the floor. There was a gap underneath the door, not big, but big enough to slide his lighter through.

"Hey, I pushed my lighter through, so you have some light in there."

"Got it ... thank you." She said quietly.

"Don't mention it." He said mimicking her after she'd given him the water bottle at the beach.

"Now listen, I'm gonna see if I get the power turned on again, alright? And then I'll try to find something to get you outa there."

She didn't say anything.

"I'll be right back. Stay put."

A very sarcastic "Funny" was all he heard from behind the door. He smiled and pictured her smiling for a moment too.

He roamed the building, wondering where the circuit breaker might be ... but he couldn't find it. Then he searched for anything he could us to get that damn door open, but it was pointless.

It was too dark and this flashlight too small. He thought about using the torch but then changed his mind, cause if he really set the building on fire with her locked up in that room ... hell, he didn't even wanna finish that thought. They'd have no choice but to wait 'til dawn.

He walked back over to where Kate was being held prisoner.

"I'm back." He announced himself. Then sat down on the floor, with his back against the door, his head turned as he talked into the gap where the two doors joined. "Are you alright in there?" He turned the flashlight off, not wanting to waste the battery. He could see the faint light from the lighter through the gap.

He heard her settle down on the other side before she answered, "Yeah, I'm alright now. Thanks for the lighter."

"It's too dark, I can't find anything sugar. Once the sun comes up, I'll figure out a way to get you out of there, I swear."

"Okay." Was all she said.

After a long silence, he said, "Might as well get comfortable in there."

She answered, "I am comfortable right here."

He smiled, ... she's stubborn as always. But moments later he heard her move around in there.

"What's all the commotion about?"

"I got me a pillow and a blanket."

"Son of a bitch. You got pillows and blankets in there?"

"Yup. And beds too."

He smiled, "Hell in that case, maybe I should try a little harder to get this damn door open."

He could hear her laugh, "Yeah, maybe you should."

A big smile formed on his face ... god he missed hearing her laugh. She hadn't laughed once since she'd gotten here ... at least not as far as he could tell. And let's face it, neither had he.

He moved his back pack around, so he could use it as a pillow, and he tried to get comfortable lying down.

"Hey, what are you doing in there?" he asked trying to avoid the uncomfortable silence. He felt the need to take advantage of the fact that she was actually talking to him.

"Nothing. What are you doing?"

"I'm getting comfortable, figured we might as well get some shut eye."

Silence again, until she said, "So, what happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Ben tricked me into this room, told me to help him look for something, and before I knew it he locked the doors from the outside. Told me some crap like this is for my own good, and took off. That's what happened to me. So what happened to you?"

He sighed, "We were walking around the outside of the building, when I got hit in the head with something hard ... next thing I knew, I was waking up on the ground, it's dark out and my walkie-talkie is gone."

"Oh." He heard from the other side.

"Where are you?" He asked, cause her voice sounded so close.

"I'm right here, on the other side of the door."

"There aren't any beds in there after all, huh?"

"Sure there are, a couple actually, why?"

"If there are beds then why are you lying down by the door?"

Silence again, then she said, "How would I be able to talk to you then?"

He smiled again, "You're right, this is much better."

As he was trying to get comfortable on the cold cement floor, he tried to think of how to say it.

"I'm sorry Kate. I really am sorry for everything."

She didn't say anything again. He could hear her almost silent sobs. The urge to wrap her in his arms was almost unbearable. How the hell did they get here?

She surprised him when she started talking again, "I miss you."

Fuck! It hit him like a sledgehammer to the heart. It broke his heart all over again, "I miss you too." He almost whispered it against the door.

Silence again. He closed his eyes, picturing her on the other side of that damn door. She missed him, he missed her. Still that didn't really change anything. He wasn't stupid enough to think that this would mean anything in the morning light. He knew the only reason she'd admitted to it was because there was a big barrier of a door separating them from one another. He knew this wouldn't last come dawn.

Silence again for a while.

"I knew you weren't pregnant."

"What?"

"Four years ago, when you showed up with Sayid to get Charlotte. I knew you weren't pregnant."

He could hear her move around on the other side, "And how would you have known that?"

"You came to my house to ask me to help you bust Ben out, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"I handed you a glass of dharma wine, you took it, and drank it."

Silence again from her side of the door.

He continued, "That's another reason I was so happy when you finally told me you were sure that you weren't pregnant. I thought you were finally opening up to me, finally sharin' something with me that concerned us both, instead of making me worry about it. I thought we were making progress, so I was happy ... not realizing you might have wanted a baby with me."

She said nothing, then he asked "Did you?"

He heard her shift again, before she said "It wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world."

This time he said nothing. He stayed silent, not really knowing what to say. He didn't want to hurt her feelings anymore then he already had ... and truth be told, what would they have done with a baby way back when. Both of them too immature at the time.

She cleared her voice and said, "I didn't sleep with you because I was jealous of Juliet having dinner with Jack."

He shifted now and faced the door. So close that the tip of his nose almost touched the cold metal door in front of him, "I'm listening" was all he said.

"I did like Jack a lot, and I knew he liked me ... but we weren't together or anything like that. I did fall in love with you. And what Ben said earlier ... you know, I did ask about you first. Anyway, I was upset and crying because he had dinner with the same woman that had held a gun on me not too long ago. I was angry and I was tired of pretending I didn't care about you, just to spare Jack another blow to his apparently already shattered ego. So I came to your tent not because I was jealous of her. I came to you because I was mad at Jack and I wanted you ... so that's that."

A big smile formed on his face from one ear to the other. It only lasted a couple of seconds before he realized that he had ended up with that same woman. And he wasn't just having dinner ... nooo, he had a whole relationship going on with her. Damn it. The smile was gone!

He knew they were already in too deep, no point in hiding things anymore.

Confession time.

"I slept with Anna Lucia."

"What?" came back faster then he expected.

"You heard me!" No point in repeating it again.

Silence again. She was quiet, didn't even move ... he started to regret having confessed it, but there was no turning back.

"You went on a hike with Jack to find the others. To find out about Michael or whatever. And ... you were gone all night. I was mad, and yes I was jealous. I pictured you with him ... anyway, the next day Anna Lucia jumped me. And I went along, cause hell ... you were with the doc and ... are you getting me?"

Silence again. Then she asked, "That's how she got your gun?"

He was relieved she was still speakin' to him, "Yes. That's how."

"That's why you'd thought me being tangled in a net with Jack meant something else?"

"Yes."

"You're an idiot Sawyer."

"I know." He huffed as if he was exhausted. Exhausted of his own stupidity.

Silence again.

"I slept with Jack."

He knew that but her saying it out loud made it somehow painful all over again. But he wouldn't let that on now. Not after she didn't scream at him after his Anna Lucia confession from moments ago.

"Not in the net though, right? You mean off the island?"

"Yeah, off the island. But I slept with him the night before we came back. The night before the Ajira flight."

He swallowed hard ... but who was he to be jealous. Hadn't he spend that night in Juliet's arms? It took everything he had to keep his cool.

"I thought you were broken up."

"We were."

"Then why did you sleep with him?"

"'Cause I wanted to prove to myself that I didn't love you anymore. That I wasn't going back to the island to find you ... if that makes any sense at all."

He was quiet now. Didn't know what to say.

"Say something please?" She begged from behind the door.

Silence again until he finally said, "I'm sorry I jumped." Both of them quiet again.

He finally spoke up, "Maybe we should try to get some sleep now ... think we've done enough talking for one night."

"Okay" she said quietly.

He heard a noise under the door, when settled on his side, facing the door, his hand slouched down to the floor and touched something.

He opened his eyes, but it was too dark to see. His hands searching and then he realized what it was. Three finger tips poking out on his side of the door.

He smiled and put his hand over her finger tips, closed his eyes again and tried to sleep. Tried also really hard not to read too much into it ... wishful thinking never got him anywhere. It's a waste of time really.

He was already dozing off into dreams of her, when she startled him.

"Sawyer? What about your gun? Do you still have your gun?"

He moved to quickly and bumped his head on the door, he'd forgotten how close he was to it.

"What?" he mumbled.

"Your gun? Do you have it?"

"Yeah, I got it. Why?" Want me to put an end to the sorry excuse of a husband that I am?

"Couldn't you try to shoot the lock to get the door open?"

Son of a bitch. I swear to god this woman has to be 10 times smarter then me.

Not letting his excitement show through his voice or his words, "Guess it's worth a try, sassafras."

He got up quick. Then he held the flashlight over the crack where both doors met.

"Tell me when."

He slowly moved his way down the door.

"Right there." She yelled.

He moved the flashlight up again, "Right here?"

"Yes"

"Alright freckles. Get away from the door and if possible hide behind something sturdy ... preferably metal."

After a just a few seconds, she said, "I'm ready."

Shots were fired ... two to be exact. He kicked the door opened. It worked.

She got out of hiding, and he pulled her in his arms, kissing the top of her head in the darkness. She untangled herself from his arms, grabbed the pillow and blanket back of the floor. He got his pack from outside the door and came back in.

Nobody spoke another word. He looked around the room with his flashlight. There were beds, she'd told the truth. She grabbed his hand and again without saying a thing, both settled in one of the twin size beds together.

Spooning, cuddling, holding her in his arms, holding her hands, smelling her hair. He indulged in the moment, cause he wasn't fool enough to think this would last come morning light. Nothing's changed. He wasn't going to leave the island ... and she was leaving in three weeks on that sub. Should they ever make it off this island in time.

End Note: Reviews are always appreciated! Thank you for reading!