Kali had gone to the caves to fill up her numerous bottles of water when she saw the state that Boone was in and rushed over.
"What the hell happened?" Kali questioned, seeing the cuts and bruises all over his face.
"Sawyer happened" Jack informed her, as she crouched down in front of Boone to survey his wounds.
"This cut is deep. You might need-" She started, but Jack cut her off.
"Did you not here what I said? Your buddy just did this to him" Jack exclaimed, getting angry.
"Oh, I'm sorry Jack, I thought I might check Boone's injuries first seeing as in my clinical judgement they're the more pressing issue" Kali retorted, giving him a dirty look.
"I think we're all lucky you two didn't work at the same hospital" Boone chuckled, as Jack handed him a cloth with some peroxide on it.
"Why did he do it?" Kali asked, as she began to dab the liquid against his brow.
"It's Shannon. She has asthma and Sawyer has my backup inhalers" Boone replied, flinching as she dabbed his face.
"Why do you have the backup inhalers?" Kali frowned.
"Apparently breathing isn't cool" Boone rolled his eyes.
"So, you have to look out for her if she won't, huh? You've got to be the most caring brother I've met" Kali joked.
"Step-brother" Boone clarified, as Kali nodded.
"So, let me guess, you went to ask Sawyer for the inhalers and it ended up with your face getting mushed" Kali went on.
"Pretty much" Boone sighed.
"He's not safe to be around, Kali" Jack warned her.
"There's a lot more dangerous things on this island than him, Jack" Kali replied.
"He's right though. I barely provoked him and look what he did" Boone insisted.
"I can handle Sawyer. In fact, I'm going to go ask him for the inhalers" Kali told them.
"What? No way!" Jack insisted.
"Adult here, remember?" Kali rolled her eyes.
"Wait! I don't want you to get hurt just trying to help my sister" Boone stated.
"Well I'm not doing it for her" Kali explained, patting him on the shoulder.
"Thanks, Kali!" Boone called after her, a bright smile on his face, as she nodded.
"Your really not as smart as you think, you know" Kali announced, as she approached Sawyer, who was chopping up wood on the beach.
"And how'd you figure that out, blue eyes?" Sawyer questioned, not bothering to turn around.
"Because I played you" Kali informed him, which certainly got his attention.
"Excuse me?" Sawyer frowned.
"On the beach this morning. I conned you, and you didn't even realise" Kali went on.
"Really? Because if I remember rightly it was me making you blush, not the other way around" Sawyer smirked.
"You're right about that…but it was more of a nervous tick than anything" Kali stated.
"Oh, so I make you nervous, huh?" Sawyer grinned, walking towards her.
"Nope. I was just nervous that you had spotted me pulling your letter out of the trousers left on the beach" She shrugged.
Sawyer's eyes widened as he began rummaging in his jeans for the letter and came up with nothing. He was instantly storming up to her and came to a halt only a few inches from her face.
"Where is it?" Sawyer questioned, an angry expression on his face.
"I don't have it on me if that's what your thinking" Kali replied, as Sawyer clenched his fists.
"I'm going to give you one chance to give it back to me" Sawyer warned her.
"Or what? You going to beat me up too?" Kali retorted.
"The hell's gotten into you?" Sawyer inquired.
"I only took the letter as a little payback from when you looked through my stuff. I was never going to read it. Then I find out that you've been hoarding Shannon's inhalers and beat the crap out of Boone…so I thought, screw that" Kali explained.
"You read it?!" Sawyer bellowed, angrily.
"Yeah, I did. And you know the one thing that doesn't make sense?" Kali queried.
"What's that?" Sawyer replied.
"It says the kid that wrote it only knew the name Sawyer. So…how did you get it?" Kali went on.
"Guess he must have found me" Sawyer stated.
"Right? And you just kept it, huh?" Kali asked, as he nodded.
"So, either you have an extreme case of self-loathing or…you're not Mr. Sawyer-" Kali started, but he cut her off.
"You don't know anything!" Sawyer shouted.
"Maybe not. But I don't think that you're this bad guy that you pretend to be" Kali suggested.
"Jesus, you must have met some pretty nasty men if you think I'm one of the good guys" Sawyer pointed out, as she didn't reply.
"Maybe that guy whose face was burned out in your cute little family portrait?" Sawyer went on, as he could sense her whole demeanour begin to change.
"What's it going to take to get the inhalers?" Kali questioned, wanting to change the subject, fast.
"…Information" Sawyer replied, a wicked grin growing on his face.
"What information?" Kali frowned.
"On you. If you want that girl's inhalers…I want to know who that guy is in the picture" Sawyer bargained.
"No" Kali replied, not even having to think twice about it.
"You're really going to let her die?" Sawyer asked.
"Are you?" She retorted.
"I can't breathe…I can't" Shannon panted, beginning to hyperventilate.
"Yes, you can. You're panicking. Okay? It's a panic attack" Kali told her.
"No, no. I can't…I can't" Shannon shook her head.
"Can't you do something?" Boone pleaded.
"I don't have any…hold on…" Kali trailed off, as she saw Sun holding a paper bag not far away.
"Hey! Sun…I need that bag!" Kali exclaimed, as she rushed over to her.
Sun held the bag up surprisingly fast, seemingly having known what Kali was talking about straight away. Jin was on his feet as she approached them, giving her a confused look.
"Bag" She stated, pointing to the brown bag as she took it from Sun's hand.
"Thank you" She nodded, as she ran back over to Shannon.
"Hold this over your face, breathe into it" Kali instructed her.
"No…it'll…it'll make it worse" Shannon cried.
"It's going to help. Trust me, okay? I know what I'm talking about" Kali tried to reassure her, as Shannon did as she was told.
It took a while, but after a minute of so of breathing into the bag, Shannon's breathing began to even out.
"Deep breaths, there you go. You're going to be alright" Kali insisted, as Shannon gave her a small smile.
"You did it!" Boone grinned, as he pulled her into a hug.
Boone didn't seem to notice how rigid Kali was as he wrapped his arms around her waist. She couldn't keep the surprise off her face at the gesture, it had been a very long time since someone had hugged her. Not feeling sure about what to do, she simply patted him on the back a few times, awkwardly. It was at that moment that Sawyer walked through the camp, and almost came to a halt when he saw the pair.
"Uh, yeah. You're welcome" He heard Kali mumble, as they pulled away from each other.
Sawyer frowned at how obviously uncomfortable she had been by the hug and couldn't help but wonder why. Shaking his head, he walked over to where the water was and crouched down to fill up his bottle.
"Give me the inhalers. Now" Jack announced, as he came up from behind him.
"Hell, I was wondering when you were going to stop asking nice" Sawyer replied, as he stood up and went to take a drink from his bottle.
Without warning, Jack's hand shot forward and slammed into Sawyer's jaw, hitting the bottle he was holding at the same time. Sawyer fell to the ground from the impact, his face and hair now drenched with water.
"Well, it's about time, cowboy. I've been telling you from day one that we're in the wild. Didn't think you had it in you" Sawyer commented, as he went to stand up, wiping away some blood from his lips.
Suddenly, Jack repeated this action, perhaps even harder than before, which sent Sawyer flying to his side. Deciding enough was enough, Kali surged forward and pushed Jack back roughly by his shoulders.
"Stop it!" She shouted, getting in between the pair.
"That all you got?" Sawyer mocked, from where he was still on his knees.
"Both of you, stop it!" Kali insisted.
Jack looked like he was about to hit him again, as his lips curled back in anger, but Kali made sure to stand directly in front of Sawyer.
"How is this helping anything?" She questioned, as Jack sighed.
"What is it going to take for you to stop defending him?" Jack shook his head, as he stormed off.
"I don't remember asking for your help, lifesaver" Sawyer exclaimed, as he pushed himself up.
"You're lucky I did. Do you like getting beaten up or something? Stop provoking him" Kali warned Sawyer.
"You ain't the boss of me, sweetheart" Sawyer replied, as he began walking away.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I actually really like how this update went, and the next one should be even better. How are you guys liking the story? Please leave a review:)
scripturient3201: Thank you for the review! Aw, I'm so glad you're liking Kali so much, it makes me think I'm writing her well then, haha.