A/N:

One of you awesome guest reviewers said in your review of last chapter that Kate should find Charlie and make out with him, :D

That line had me laughing forever, haha :)

NOTE: This chapter picks up where chapter 20 left off with Sawyer tied up to a tree and with Sayid about to torture him.

Olivia approached them cautiously her eyes glued on Sayid who was holding a sharp bamboo shoot in his hand. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"He's got Shannon's inhaler and refuses to give it up, " Sayid said as way of an explanation, snapping the stick against the palm of his hand.

Olivia had just been with Shannon and yes, she had to agree that the girl was suffering from an acute attack. However, Sun had been able to ease some of her suffering by giving her some herbs which had helped regulate her breathing to a certain extent. Of course, Sayid didn't know this...and of course, she figured it would be best for Shannon to be given the actual asthma medication, nonetheless.

"Who says he's got the inhaler?" Olivia peered at Sawyer who had been watching them intently with a smirk on his face as though he thought the whole thing was amusing.

"Muhammad here is judge and jury. " Sawyer sneered, furrowed brows into a deep scowl. "Didn't y'all see him meditating on Mount Hira...called by God himself to be the supreme executioner of right and wrong."

Sayid's face was brimming anger. Ordinarily, he was pretty even tempered but to have his religion insulted was simply unforgivable.

Olivia step in his path. "So, he's got a big mouth. What? you're gonna kill him for that?"

"No...I will not kill him, " Sayid began, veins in his neck throbbing, clenching the bamboo spike onto the palm of his right hand. "I was a republican guard for 5 years," he stated with a clench yaw, speaking solely for her ears. "Part of my training was to get the enemy to communicate. Just get me 10 minutes...and believe me, " his eyes darkened with determination, "he'll talk... he'll give us the medicine."

"NO! You can't do this, !" Olivia stepped in his way once again as Sayid attempted to get around her. She glanced at Boone who was standing idle. She realized at once that he didn't want to get involved. If she was going to fight against Sayid, she was on her own. "Look, whatever I did to you...you gotta put it behind you," she started, thinking that a distraction was what she needed to buy herself some time. "I'm thinking I met you before...sometime before our meeting in Australia," she hoped that she wasn't grasping at straws here and that her suspicions were indeed correct.

Sawyer and Olivia exchanged a glance. "You gonna let Queen Artemisia* fight your battles for ya, boy?"

"Shut up, Sawyer!" Olivia hissed. She was sick and tired of Sawyer's snide comments, if anything he was certainly making things much worse for himself.

"You need to go, you don't call the shots around here, " Sayid gave Olivia a nasty long look. "Besides, I'm sure there's some other places where you're the most needed..." he sized her up and down as though she was a curious object of interest. "such as tending to babies, for instance?

That was a low blow. Olivia lifted up her chin. Yes, she was a woman. That did not mean that she couldn't do it all: take care of a baby AND call the shots. After all, Fitz had left her in charge of the camp. Perhaps, she needed to remind Sayid of that.

For what seemed like an eternity, Olivia met his antagonistic gaze unwaveringly.

Oh, yes, she could be much better than hot-headed Sayid at making decisions for the greater good of the survivors.

"Stay out of my way!" Sayid roared in a tone that chilled Olivia to the core.

Still, Olivia held her own showing him she was not intimidated even though deep inside she didn't feel nearly as brave.

In a flash, Sayid was pushing the sharp bamboo shoots underneath Sawyer's fingernails more out of making a point rather than prying any information out of his victim.

Sawyer cried out, his face riddled with pain.

Sayid's sudden attack had taken Olivia by surprise as she hadn't expected it to happen right then."This is barbaric!" Olivia called out, outraged, once again looking to Boone to help her intervene. In response, Boone shrugged and looked away.

"Shannon's gonna be okay!" she shouted. "She's better now, I just checked on her!"

Sayid stopped for a second to think. "She still needs the medication," he stated in his typical Middle Eastern staccato tone.

"I know who you are!" Olivia countered. She needed to get through this man somehow. Even though she wasn't sure where she'd met him before, she had figured that most likely he had been the husband of one of her clients. "People get divorced all the time, you don't need to let it ruin your life!" she concluded in a somewhat patronizing tone.

"W-what are you talking about?" He looked at her genuinely confused.

"Okay, Okay...I'll talk," Sawyer spoke suddenly in a perfectly reasonable tone, taking both Olivia and Sayid by surprise, given that he wasn't being tortured at that precise moment.

"You'll talk?" Sayid turned to Sawyer, astonishment written all over his face. This was not how things normally played out in his line of work.

"y-yeah," he cleared his throat, "I will only talk to her," giving Olivia an almost imperceptible nod.

Sayid was momentarily speechless.

Olivia bit her lip. She wondered what Sawyer was up to.

"Very well then, " Sayid started as though it was some kind of business transaction. "Go ahead..."

Sawyer pursed his lips with a smirk. "Alone... I wanna talk to her alone."

Sayid motioned to Boone to follow him. "We'll be close by if you need us," he said to Olivia. "You've got only 5 minutes," he snapped at Sawyer who rolled his eyes in response.

Olivia nodded her head as if expressing her agreement even though she couldn't imagine what she would need Sayid for. As far as she was concerned, the man was a loose cannon.

"So you wanted to talk to me?" she murmured once her nerves had settled some, sitting on a log next to Sawyer. The Southerner seemed strangely relaxed given the circumstances... rather amused even. She briefly considered untying him, but then again, she thought he was more likely to reveal the inhaler's location in his current bound- to- a- tree- state. Wasn't he? Something didn't add up though. Why on earth would he rather be tortured than give up the inhaler? It's not like it was a precious commodity or something.

"You're a brave one, Queen Artemisia, I must say I'm impressed," he smirked, with a hint of mock reverence.

"Is this all a big joke to you?" Olivia shook her head in disbelief. "I don't get it...why don't you just give up the inhaler?"

Sawyer took the longest time to respond. In fact, he took so long that Olivia found herself repeating the question.

"I don't have it." he stated suddenly. "I never had it...got no idea where it might be."

A look of pure shock washed over Olivia's face. "I don't believe you! Why didn't you say something sooner then? Why let Sayid do his thing?"

"W-what and prove him wrong?" he raised his brows and tilted his head just so. "Look, princess. Everyone around here thinks they're better than me...but truth be told... it does make you wonder, doesn't it?"

"So...you...rather be tortured to prove a point? Makes perfect sense," she added the last statement with a touch of sarcasm. She shifted her position on the log, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. Her breasts were feeling particularly full and hard and her thoughts drifted to Aaron. It was time for a feeding alright. Plus, Sun had her hands full looking after the baby and Shannon. "Okay...just tell me where it is...promise I won't tell Sayid that you gave it up easily," her lips curved into a small smile.

Sawyer smiled back, his dimples showing. "Well...so you've got a sense of humor after all." But then, his smile faded fast as he considered his options. "I'm telling you the truth, princess."

Olivia shifted again, this time making a motion to stand.

"Wait," Sawyer said. "Can you do me a favor? Can you take a piece of paper out of my pocket and read it?"

Olivia hesitated. Was this some kind of a trick? Still, she did as he requested. She pulled out a folded piece of paper and started reading it out loud. "Dear Mr. Sawyer, you don't know who I am, but I know who you are and what you've done." Olivia furrowed her brow. The handwriting seemed that of a young child. "A kid? A kid wrote you a letter that you carry around in your pocket?"

"That kid...that kid was me. My name is not really Sawyer...I took his name. Sawyer is the name of the man who slept with my mother and con my parents out of their money. " he revealed all in one breath.

Olivia's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"My daddy couldn't take losing all his money. So he shot my mother and then killed himself. I was under the bed hiding when it happened."

"I...am sorry." This was certainly the most heartbreaking story....still, Why was he telling her this now?

"Later when I was 18, I vowed to find this man and make him pay for what he'd done. Turns out, I wound up going down the same path...conning rich ladies out of their money. So I decided to take his name...I was just like him...I became the man I was hunting."

"That must have been hard for you," Olivia replied, still thinking back on his tragic childhood. She couldn't help but feel loads of sympathy for him.

Later, Olivia went to Sayid and Boone who were literally just around the corner.

He doesn't have it," she told Sayid in an icy tone.

"What?" Sayid gave her a piercing stare.

"The medicine. He doesn't have it, he never had it."

"And you...you believed him?" Sayid sneered.

A/N:

This bit of information comes from website ancienthistory about dot com.

*Artemisia, queen of Herodotus' homeland of Halicarnassus, gained renown for her brave, manly actions in the Greco-Persian Wars' Battle of Salamis. Artemisia was a member of the Persian Great King Xerxes' multi-national invading force.

COMMENTARY:

Dear readers: I sincerely hope you're enjoying this story.

Although in this chapter we learned about Sawyer's background, we have yet to learn Sayid's backstory. And of course, we don't know yet what happened to Olivia when she was fifteen.

NOTE (11/13/2014):

Sawyer's comments regarding the Prophet Muhammad were way out of line and disrespectful. I do not in anyway endorse them. Please accept my sincere apologies if Sawyer's comments have offended anyone.