Sawyer lay in his tent and wondered if was really going to stay or not. 'Because you know what will happen if you aren't here.' Sawyer cringed. The smug sureness in Sayid's tone hadn't made him feel any safer either. Maybe Sayid was tired of waiting and planned to just take him. Maybe Sayid just wanted to beat the crap out him. Maybe Sayid really meant he wanted to talk. Sawyer couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Where were you last night?"

Kate stood in his doorway holding the tarp open. The look on her face showed him how mad she was, in case he missed it in the tone of her voice. Sawyer closed his eyes and turned away from her.

"You're going to tell me where you were Sawyer. What if something had happened to you? Do you have any clue how worried I was? Do you know Charlie slept out here all night, waiting for you to get back?"

"What?" Sawyer whipped his head around to face Kate.

"And did you even bother to let anyone know you were back? No, I had to hear it from Charlie. Where were you?"

"I fell asleep."

"You fell asleep? What kind of answer is that? Where were you Sawyer?"

"Charlie slept here all night?"

"Answer me."

"I went for a walk, I sat down on the beach, I fell asleep. What do you want from me?"

"Why didn't you tell me when you got back? You didn't think I would be worried?"

"I wasn't trying to worry you." Sawyer said quietly.

"Then why not tell me when you got back?"

"Kate, I'm sorry. I should have. I got back and Sayid was at my tent. After I had to deal with that, I just didn't want to deal with anything else.
I didn't mean for you to worry. I just couldn't stand to go out there again. It's been a rough morning, okay? Please don't be mad at me."
Sawyer turned over onto his side, away from Kate.

"Sawyer."

He felt Kate's hand on his shoulder but refused to turn over. He couldn't deal with this. Charlie was so worried he stayed all night waiting. Kate was mad because she thought he might have gotten hurt. Sayid wanted... Whatever it was Sayid wanted. He couldn't take any more right now. Sawyer could feel the tears in his eyes.

"Sawyer. I'm sorry. It'll be okay."

Maybe it was because he'd been so wound up lately. Maybe it was because Charlie had worried enough to wait for him come back. Maybe it was because someone was being nice to him. Maybe it was because Kate was comforting him no matter how mad she was at him. Whatever it was, it was the last straw. Sawyer broke down and cried.

Sayid searched for Charlie. He wanted to thank him for helping this morning. He didn't find Charlie, but he did see Claire. She was lugging a suitcase across the beach. Sayid hoped things would work out well with her and Charlie. Sayid smiled, and walked over to where Claire was.

"Allow me," he said, taking the suitcase.

"Thanks." Claire smiled at him.

Sayid took a good look at her for the first time since they'd met. Claire was actually quite pretty and she had a beautiful smile. From what he knew of her she had a good personality as well. Sayid was happy for Charlie.

"Where would you like this?" he asked her.

"I'm just taking it to my place, just over there." Claire pointed to a place not far away.

"May I ask you a favor Claire?"

"Sure. What do you need?"

"Can you tell Charlie thank you for me?"

"Of course. Um, can I ask you something?"

"What do you wish to ask?"

"Um, what's going on?"

Sayid raised one eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"I dunno. I know something's going on but no one wants to talk to me about it."

Sayid thought about what Claire said. It wasn't specific enough for him to figure out which thing she was talking about. There was a lot going on right now, some of it he couldn't talk about. Some of it he wouldn't talk about.

"Could be more specific?"

"For starters, why would Charlie be sleeping outside Sawyer's tent?"

Sayid tried to find a good answer. "Because I wished to know when Sawyer returned. He was there waiting for Sawyer to get back." Sayid didn't want to lie so he skirted the truth.

"Oh. Okay then." Claire said softly.

From the look on her face he knew she hadn't believed him.

"Truthfully, I did wish to know when Sawyer returned. I had no idea Charlie had stayed the night there until I showed up the next morning. I believe he had a disagreement with Sawyer earlier. I think he wanted to talk to Sawyer about it."

"What's been going on with Sawyer lately?"

"I believe he is dealing with some very personal matters."

Claire pressed her lips together. He knew she wanted more, but there wasn't anything else about Sawyer he could share.

"So what happened the other night in his tent?"

"Did Charlie tell you anything about it?"

"Not really. He just came over angry and wouldn't say much."

"What did he say about it?"

Claire studied him for a minute. "The only thing he said was if he saw you near Sawyer's tent again he'd hurt you."

"I tried to talk to Sawyer about his personal matters and it didn't go very well. Charlie was just trying to do the right thing. He meant well, but he didn't have the full story at the time. We've sorted through our differences since then."

"Why do you want me to tell him thanks?"

"He helped me with something very important this morning. I am very grateful."

"Thank you for talking to me Sayid."

"You're quite welcome Claire."