Everything was going fine until the second night of Kali's new sleeping arrangement. It was nice having shelter and warmth now, but it meant that there was a new problem entirely. Her nightmares. There was a reason she put her sleeping bag further down on the beach, away from everyone else. She didn't get nightmares every night, but when she did, they were bad. The pair had been asleep for a while when Kali started to cry out in her sleep. Sawyer's eyes snapped open, expecting to find someone attacking the young girl, but instead, she was thrashing around on the floor, small whimpers coming from her mouth. Cautiously, he stood up and crouched down beside her, as she now began to talk in her sleep.
"No…no…stop it" She cried; her hands balled into fists.
"Hey, wake up" Sawyer exclaimed, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Please don't…don't" She said, shaking her head to the side.
"Kali, wake up. You're having a nightmare" Sawyer insisted, shaking her shoulder this time.
Kali still would not wake, and by now she was shouting. Sawyer knew that someone would be charging into the tent soon enough, expecting to see him attacking her. He shook her shoulder again when suddenly she sat upright and shot her leg out, hitting him in the stomach as he fell backwards. When he pushed himself back up, he saw Kali looking around the tent, clearly confused as to where she was.
"Hey…you alright?" Sawyer questioned, kneeling beside her.
"Sawyer?" She queried, the darkness of the tent making it hard to see clearly.
"Yeah, it's me" Sawyer answered, placing his hand back on her shoulder.
He could hear her breath a sigh of relief, as she ran her hand through her hair, still shook up by the nightmare.
"Guess that's why they tell you not to wake someone up when they're having a nightmare" Sawyer trailed off, holding his bruised stomach.
Kali huffed out a laugh, as she dropped her head and leaned against his shoulder. Sawyer wasn't sure what to do, he could wrap his arms around her, pull her into a hug but it seemed too intimate. Damnit, he was getting too close to her, he thought to himself.
The following morning, Kali was worried things might have been awkward between her and Sawyer. Seeing someone in the full throws of a nightmare would have been enough to send a lot of people kicking her out. She really thought she might have crossed a line when she leaned against him the night before, in her exhausted state it hadn't seemed like a big deal. However, she felt him tense up quickly and pushed herself away. She thought he would try to avoid her for the rest of the day but instead, he wasn't letting her have a moment to herself. She guessed it was probably after Hurley had accidentally thrown a ball her way, that he was playing with alongside Walt, and she acted like a bomb had been hurled her way. Still, it was irritating her. It seemed like he thought it was his duty to make sure she didn't lose it throughout the day, and she hated that. She didn't need anyone looking out for her. That's why she was happy when she spotted Jack and Charlie talking not far away from her, as she knew that Sawyer would not want to be anywhere near Jack. She grabbed a packet from Sawyer's stash while he was reading a book and made her way over to them.
"Hey, catch" Kali announced, as she threw the packet towards Jack
"What's this for?" Jack asked, seeing it was a packet of aspirin.
"Well I would give it to Charlie, but drug addicts don't tend to have good control with painkillers" Kali mumbled, as both men turned to look at her, surprise written all over their faces.
"Guys, c'mon. I'm a student nurse, I know a drug withdrawal when I see it" Kali stated.
"How long have you known?" Charlie inquired.
"Early on" Kali shrugged.
"You never acted like you knew" Charlie frowned.
"Why would I treat you differently just because you're a drug addict? What's your poison anyways?" Kali inquired.
"Heroin" Charlie answered, as she nodded, knowingly.
"You guys need some help?" Kali questioned, seeing that they were trying to build a fire.
"Yeah…where's your bodyguard?" Jack couldn't help but ask.
"Where's your girlfriend?" Kali retorted, with a smirk.
"I think she was with Sun" Charlie answered for him.
"What…how do you even know who's she's referring to?" Jack exclaimed.
"I may still be affected by the side effects of withdrawal, but I can see a whipped man when I see one" Charlie grinned, as Kali gave him a high five.
"Very funny. Good to see you two bonding over your bad British humour" Jack rolled his eyes.
"The British are the funniest people on earth, mate," Charlie told him, as Kali nodded along.
Kali was standing by the fire she had helped build when she heard a commotion coming from the jungle and was surprised to see a dazed-looking Boone rushing towards her. The man looked worse for wear, covered in bruises and dirt. He seemed to be searching the camp for someone, which Kali expected was Shannon.
"Boone? Hey, you okay?" Kali frowned, as she approached him.
"Kali…" Boone trailed off, stopping in his tracks.
"If you're looking for Shannon she's back at the-" Kali started, but never had the chance to finish her sentence as Boone brought their lips crashing together.
Kali was too shocked to respond for a moment, as Boone's hands touched her face and brought her closer to him. After a moment, she closed her eyes and started to kiss back, her hands trailing behind his neck. The kiss was a little awkward, as Boone really needed a shower and it took the pair a moment to angle their heads correctly, but it was…nice. The first normal thing that either of them had really done on the island. Kali was the first to pull away, a questioning look on her face.
"Uh…what was that about?" Kali inquired; her hands still wrapped around his shoulders.
"You said to come find you when I sorted my head out" Boone replied.
"That was only a few days ago, Boone" Kali stated.
"The island helped push things along," Boone told her, pulling her in for another kiss.
"Wait, what about Shannon? You can't have just gotten over her like that?" Kali pointed out, pulling away from the kiss after a few seconds.
"You're right, I haven't. I still lo…care about Shannon. But if you're being honest, I think there's someone on this island you'd rather be kissing" Boone exclaimed, as Kali opened her mouth to deny his claims.
"This doesn't have to be anything serious. We're just two people messing around. What's so wrong with that?" Boone argued.
"…You've got me there" Kali admitted a small smile on her face.
"So, let's just see how this goes" Boone shrugged, as he reached out to hold her hands.
"Okay, but first things first. You really need to have a wash" Kali teased, as Boone laughed in response, looking down at his dirty appearance.
"You could be onto something there" Boone chuckled.
Neither of them realised that this interaction had been watched by half the people still living on the beach, including Sawyer. Truthfully, he wasn't sure how to feel. He almost felt a strange sort of pride at seeing Kali act so comfortable around Boone when not so long ago she had flinched when he had tried to hug her. On the other hand, he couldn't help but feel jealous. Kali had been his friend since the moment they stepped foot on the island, and he didn't want that to change. He was brought out of his thoughts, as he watched the pair part ways, realising he must have missed a whole chunk of their conversation.
Meanwhile, Kali watched Boone walk back into the jungle, despite her own protests that it was dangerous to travel alone at night. When she turned around she saw Sawyer looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face, and felt herself blush, thinking back to what Boone had said about only minutes before about wanting to kiss other people. A moment later, she thought she heard someone call out her name and expected to see Boone rushing back over to her for another kiss. Instead, she was met with only darkness and silence. Shaking her head, she assumed she had imagined it when something caught her eye on the ground. A piece of paper was flying towards her, caught on the wind, as she bent down to pick it up. Her heart stopped when she saw what it was. A newspaper clipping with her face on the front page.
'Serial killer's sister moves to a new town – should she really be given a chance?'. Kali instantly scrunched up the paper, destroying the picture of her twelve-year-old face. She remembered the time the paper was published well. She thought she was finally going to get a new start. Then someone recognised her and put two and two together. But how could the paper have been on the island? Did someone know her secret?
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Dun, dun, dun, I wonder what that ending is going to mean? I hope you liked Boone/Kali's growing relationship, but don't worry this story will always firmly be Sawyer/Kali. Please leave a review:)
DrLexieSloan: Aw, thank you! I'm so glad that you like my characterisation of the Lost characters, as it's always a really difficult thing to get right for fanfiction writers. The roommate situation and Jack's overprotectiveness is certainly going to make some fun scenes! I think I definitely do portray Kate as quite arrogant in this story, maybe because there is always going to be a bit of competition between her and Kali?
kz4valentina: Thank you! It's great that you're enjoying Kali's interactions with everyone:) Boone's death was super depressing, only time will tell whether he lives or not in this story. The characters on Lost are some of the best ever created for sure, they're so interesting and layered. Don't worry, I won't forget you guys!
scripturient3201: Thanks for the review:) It was a really fun scene to write, haha.
Guest: Thank you so much, that means a lot! Sorry, this chapter took so long to update, I've got a very busy term at University at the moment, so my writing has had to take a backseat. I hope you continue reading this story:)