So, since the last chapter took so long I thought I'd give you guys a little extra for the wait. Here's to two chapters in one week. I hope you enjoy. :)

Trigger warning: Mentions of suicidal thoughts and depression, sexual content

Despite getting a long night's sleep, I wake up exhausted the next morning. The emotional turmoil of yesterday still weighs on me, and I want to take Sawyer and shake him. Sawyer's not even facing me when I look at him. He's facing away throwing rocks at the button of his puzzle. The robotic warning repeats with every throw.

"Good morning," I greet him, sitting up.

He looks over his shoulder at me but doesn't respond.

"What are you doing?"

"Throwing rocks," he replies drily.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," I shoot back. "Why are you throwing rocks?"

"Because there's nothing else to do in here."

"Well, could you stop, or get a fish biscuit if you want something to do."

"What, you trying to keep me productive?" Sawyer remarks, and he continues throwing the rocks.

"No, but if I'm going to be stuck here with you, I'd like to have some peace in the morning before we have to work."

"Well, if I'm so annoying, why don't you leave?"

"I'd love to, if you are ready to come with me. Then maybe you won't be so bored."

Sawyer stops throwing the rocks and moves to lie on the concrete slab in his cage. "Fine, we can have some quiet before work. Happy?"

"Elated," I reply sarcastically, leaning my head back while we wait for the others to come for us.

Flashback *Trigger Warning: Mentions of suicidal thoughts*

A few days after Patrick's death I am wandering through the jungle, looking for somewhere to be alone. I push through some branches and in front of me is a cliff. I walk to the edge of it and look down. The drop is far and almost entirely straight down. Jagged rocks like the bottom and a shallow creek runs along the path. I sit on the edge of it, dangling my legs over the side. Starting down at the bottom, I fantasize about someone coming from behind me and pushing me. Just one shove and I would meet the same fate as Patrick. No one would even be here to take me to Jack for him to try to save me.

I hate that the thought enters my mind, but once it is there, I can't stop it. It swirls around tantalizingly. And I know Patrick would hate me for it, for even thinking about it, but I miss him so much. I start to cry, and I press my hands to my eyes.

I hear rustling in the trees behind me. My breath snags as I turn around, bracing my hands to the ground as I do. Sawyer comes out of the trees. "Whatcha doing so far from camp, grey eyes?"

I wipe my tears away angrily. "Why do you keep following me?!" I demand. "I just want to be alone."

Sawyer ignores my complaint and walks over to sit down next to me. "It's not safe out here. Besides, you like my company."

I cross my arms and glare at him. There are a thousand mean things I want to spew at him right now, but I hold back in appreciation for the fact that he hasn't pointed out that I've been crying.

Sawyer looks down at the bottom of the cliffs and lets out a low whistle. "Geeze, you might think about backing up a little. It's real far down."

"I don't want to. If you don't like it, you can leave." Sawyer's presence has erased my momentary need to jump, but I am not ready to leave the comfort of that option.

Sawyer turns towards me, swings his legs to rest over mine, and lies down to look up at the sky. "If you insist, I don't mind being here."

I sigh and lean back, lying down on the ground. The weight of his legs is soothing.

I don't have to tell him that I don't want to talk, so I just watch the clouds drift by above me.

"Don't fall asleep," I tell him when I feel myself start to drift off. "You'll roll right off the edge."

Sawyer mumbles his agreement, and I close my eyes.

Present Day

"Come on, time for work," Pickett says as he swings the door of my cage, breaking the flow of my thoughts. I stand and look over to Sawyer's cage. No one is there to get him and he is lying shirtless on his back.

"What about him?" I ask, gesturing at Sawyer.

Pickett shrugs. "He's got the day off."

I shake my head. "I'm not working without him."

"Oh, you're not, huh?" Pickett asks in a tone that I know means trouble. But I don't care. No matter how mad I am at Sawyer right now or how angry he is with me, I'm not separating from him. Not here.

Sawyer sits up. "Just go, grey eyes. Man wants to give me the day off. Let him give me the day off." He starts putting his shirt on, only buttoning it halfway up.

"No, we're a team. You break the rocks, I haul them. You think I can do that all on my own?"

I can tell Pickett is ticked off, but he relents. "Alright, fine." Pickett crosses to Sawyers's cage to unlock it and another man leads me out by my arm. "Lord knows I wouldn't want to break up the team."

Sawyer glares at me as we are led to the quarry, but I don't care. He kept me alive after Patrick died. I'll keep him alive through this.

Working at the quarry is much easier now that I'm not sick. It's not a walk in the park by any stretch, but it's very doable and it makes me realize how bad I must have been to struggle as much as I had. Sawyer and I don't talk, partly because he is still in a mood, but partly because I know they would yell at us if we did. The day passes quickly with something to occupy us and before I know it it's the afternoon.

I am throwing some debris in the bonfire they started to get rid of the extra wood when a speaker sounds from somewhere in their compound. "Compound breach," a robotic voice sounds. "Compound breach." It keeps repeating. I look at Sawyer, but before we can do anything the others are shouting at us to get on the ground.

I don't have time to think about resisting before they throw me on the ground.

"Did the doctor get out again?" Pickett asks into his radio. Again, did Jack try to escape? "Are you sure?"

I can't hear the other end of Pickett's radio but whatever they are telling him, it upsets him. "Does he know? How the hell did she get over here?!"

The young woman who I saw at the quarry a few days ago comes running through. She shoots one of the others with a slingshot and shouts at us. "Come on, come on, get up, go!"

I start to push myself up, but before I can stand, Pickett is pointing a gun at the young woman. "Alex, what the hell do you think you are doing?"

Alex, the name rings a bell, but I can't place it. "What, are you going to shoot me?" she demands.

"You know you are not supposed to be here, so let's just-" Pickett tells her, and I can tell her is barely keeping his cool.

Alex cuts him off, "What did you do to him, Danny?" she shouts. Huh, Danny I note her familiarity with Pickett. How long has she been here? Her slingshot is pulled back, but her hand is shaking. "Where is he? I want to talk to Ben."

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea, so why don't we just lower our little sling-"

"Where is he? Tell me?!" Alex interrupts again, and she sounds like she is on the verge of tears. I'm so focused on the interaction that I don't see that man who comes up behind Alex and puts her in a body lock, dragging her away. Alex writhes against him, but she has no success in getting away.

"Get her out of here," Pickett orders.

As she is dragged away, Alex looks at me. "Listen, whatever they say, don't believe them. They are going to kill your boyfriend. Just like they killed mine."

I look at Sawyer, panicked, but he doesn't seem to care. He meets my gaze steadily back, emotionless.

"Alright, you two, get up and get back to work," Pickett orders.

I push myself up and start filling the wheelbarrow with rocks. As I work Alex's words echo in my head. Tonight, we have to get out. Whatever I have to do, I'll figure out a way to get Sawyer to leave. I have to.

A few more hours pass before anything eventful happens. Juliet comes to the quarry and after talking to Pickett for a few moments, she walks over to me.

"I would like for you to put this on and come with me please," she says calmly, holding out a brown sack.

"And why would I do that?"

"Because, Samantha, the man standing behind me, the one who is burning a hole in my back." I glance at Pickett, who is glaring at Juliet and me. "That man is going to kill Sawyer." Her confirmation of what Alex said, what I've suspected, stops my heart for a second, or at least that is what it feels like. I press my hand to my pulse discreetly, to ground myself. "But if you put this on, and you come with me, there is something you can do for us that will save his life."

I look at Sawyer one last time before I take the sack from Juliet and pull it over my head. I am still hesitant to leave him, but this seems worth it. Even if there is only a slim chance it will save him.

As soon as I put the hood on, Juliet takes my arm and gently guides me away from the quarry. I don't know if there are any guards following us, or if they trust that Sawyer is enough leverage to control me. Either way, I am sure Juliet has a gun. As we walk, Juliet explains what she wants from me. "I know we asked you to speak to Jack about the surgery before, but whatever you said, he wasn't convinced. Maybe now, the added incentive will change your mind and you will be able to be a little more convincing."

We walk outside, first on dirt then on concrete before we pause and I hear Juliet open a door before we continue on. The light and air change enough to confirm that we are inside a building. We don't walk much further before Juliet pauses to open another door. There is a small step over this entry that Juliet warns me about and then after a few more steps, she removes the hood over my head.

In front of me, behind a large panel of glass, are Jack and Kate. There is a panel of glass separating them, but otherwise, their cells are right next to each other. Both of them are standing, staring at me. Despite the reason I am here, relief washes over me at seeing the two of them, especially Kate. Hearing from Jack that she was okay had only calmed me down so much.

I walk up to the glass of Jack's cell, unsure how to start, especially with Juliet standing behind us. "I'll give you three some privacy," Juliet says, before exiting the room.

"Are you still okay?" Jack asks.

I shake my head, then nod. "They haven't hurt me. Are you two alright?" I ask.

The two exchange a glance and I can tell something has shifted between them. The way they look at each other is different. Gentler, more caring.

"What's wrong?" Kate asks me.

I open my mouth to tell her, tell Jack what I need to say and I start crying. I hate how emotional I am, and I angrily wipe the tears away.

"Hey, Sam, it's okay. It's going to be alright," Jack tells me. I can tell he is panicked, and I don't know if I've ever cried in front of him. Or Kate, who looks equally panicked. Maybe after Patrick died, but the weeks after his death are all a blur to me.

"Jack, I know what I told you before but this surgery they want you to do, you have to do it."

Jack takes a step away and looks up at the ceiling. "I don't know how you can guarantee that they will let us go afterward, but you have to figure out a way."

"What did they do to you?"! Jack demands.

"They didn't do anything to me but-"

"How did they get you to ask me?!" Jack shouts.

"They are going to kill Sawyer," I shout back, matching his temper. "How long have you been telling me that I love him? And I've been denying it, but do you want to hear that I love him, fine I do. And do you think they will stop there?! They won't. They will tell you they killed him, and they will tell you it's your fault, and then they will probably kill me. And if you don't care, then they will threaten Kate, and that will probably get you to do it. But by then, the two of us will already be dead. If it was just me I wouldn't ask, but- Jack I just can't lose him."

Jack is pacing as I talk, and Kate just looks pale. "And you believe that they will let you go if I do this. They are lying!" Jack yells.

"Jack," Kate says gently.

"No, think about that, Sam."

"You think about it," I tell him. "You're a surgeon. You don't get through med school and residency without being smart. Figure out a way to make them keep their word, please. I can't lose him, I never ask you for anything Jack. If I could do this myself, I would, but I can't."

Jack shakes his head. "We're done here."

"Jack, please," Kate pleads.

Jack looks at the corner of his cell and I notice a camera there. "Hey, we're done here."

"I'm sorry," Kate tells me. I don't reply. Juliet comes in after a minute and pulls me out of the room, shoving the bag over my head. I don't keep track of where we are going as we walk. It doesn't matter. If Jack won't help, then I'll have to get us out tonight. I think I will be able to drag Sawyer if I knock him out, so I will have to find a way to convince him to leave.

Flashback *Trigger warning: Mentions of suicidal thoughts*

I lean against the mouth of a cave and twist the bottle of sleeping pills from Jack around in my hand. I've been taking them for the past few nights, but my sleep has barely improved. They make it easier to get to sleep, but impossible to wake up, trapping me with the nightmares. I debate if I should try uping to dose, or just skip them tonight and stay up. I think about taking all of the pills now, to see what that does. At the thought, I shove the pill bottle in my pocket to physically stop myself from opening the bottle and swallowing all the pills inside.

I run my hands through my hair and pound my head against the wall of the cage. I hate thinking these things. Patrick would hate it. Me dying won't bring him back, but I can't stop imagining it. It makes me want to scream.

I nearly jump out of my skin when I feel a hand on my back. "Hey, grey eyes," Sawyer greets calmly. "Stand up, we're going on a walk."

I stare at him, unsure how to process his presence. "What?"

"Come on," he urges. "I need to show you something."

"It's nighttime," I say numbly.

"What, you scared of the dark? I'll hold your hand the whole way, I promise," Sawyer mocks lightly.

"How about you just lead the way?"

Sawyer shrugs. "If you change your mind, let me know."

He leads me down the path to the beach camp, but when we are almost there, he turns and walks down the treeline before we come to another break in the trees that leads to a more secluded path of the beach.

"How is this different from the beach camp?" I ask skeptically.

"Just sit down for a minute."

I raise my eyebrows but comply with his request and sit on the beach's edge. After a few minutes, I noticed something I didn't see when I was first here. The air is alive, fireflies buzz around, lighting up the night. I watch them, mesmerized. Nature has always been calming to me, although somewhat less tranquil after living on this island for so long, I still feel the horrid thought leave me, at least for now.

"How'd you notice this?" I ask Sawyer.

"Just because I need glasses doesn't mean I'm blind. It's hard to miss, and it's not far from camp."

I lean against him, my back to his side. "You don't have to keep checking on me if you don't want to."

"Who says I'm checking on you?"

I sigh. "Well, thanks for showing me this."

"Anytime, grey eyes."

Present Day

When Juliet takes the hood off I am back in my cage. She shuts the door before I can process the fact that Sawyer is not there.

"Sawyer, you really love him, don't you?" she asks.

"Where is he?"

"I'm sorry you weren't able to help us, Samantha."

I hear voices from the jungle path near us and I turn to see Pickett shoving Sawyer along the path. "Move it, Ford."

Pickett shoves Sawyer every few steps as he walks to his cage. "Danny," Juliet cautions. Pickett hits Sawyer with a baton and he falls into his cage. "Danny," Juliet scolds as Sawyer curses.

"Right, sorry Jules," Pickett counters before turning to Sawyer. "You've got anything you want to say to your girl. You best say it tonight."

They walk off and Sawyer stands up, shaking himself off to a confident stance. "And how was your day, honey?" he asks me with a cocky grin. He sits down on the concrete slab, leaning against the concrete wall in his cage.

"No, you don't get to do this," I say angrily. "You don't get to act like everything is fine. Do you know where I went today?"

Sawyer throws his hands up. "Where?"

"They took me to see Jack and Kate. But they mostly wanted me to talk to Jack. To convince him to do the surgery I told you about."

Sawyer laughs. "At least the doc ain't dumb enough to do it."

"I told him to do it!"

"Why the hell would you do something so stupid?!" Sawyer shouts, standing up.

"To save your life!" I shout back.

"My life don't need saving."

"The hell it doesn't" I climb to the top of my cage.

"Dammit, you need to stay put. We've been through this," Sawyer says.

I get to the top of the cage and I pull myself through the bars. "Get down, please," he pleads with me.

"If you want me to fight, you need to fight too," I pick up a rock and start hitting his lock.

"Stop it, dammit Sam," Sawyer curses. "Why do you always have to think about me, protect me? Let me protect you for once."

The lock on his cage comes open and I pull the padlock off and swing the door to his cage open. "Let's go," I tell him, tugging on his arm.

"You run," he tells me desperately.

"I won't leave without you."

"If they kill me tomorrow, you'll be on your own anyway. Just go now."

"Do you honestly think they will stop with you? That by sacrificing yourself, they won't kill me next."

"You can run away. After they kill me, you won't have anything holding you back."

I shake my head. "How can you say that? 'After they kill you'. How can you think I will possibly be fine after that?"

"Because you will be!" Sawyer shouts.

"No! I won't. Do you remember how I was after Patrick died?"

"That was your brother, you loved him and you don't-"

"Shut up and listen to me," I snap at him. "When we were younger, after our dad died, we moved to Australia for a while, and when we moved back to the U.S. where we were living in this crappy apartment struggling to pay off my dad's debt and rent and food. I told him that he'd be better off without me, he could move into a cheaper apartment and if I died, the debt would go with me,"

"Samantha," James breathed out.

"Let me finish," I tell him, horsley. "I don't know if that is true or not, but at the time, I thought it was. Patrick got so angry though, and he made me promise to stay alive. For him. He told me he needed me more than the money. He made me promise to stay alive for him, so I did. And when he died, and I was free of that promise, I thought about that. Almost every day. More than once a day. You always stopped me from doing anything, and I don't know if you ever realized. You were just there, so I didn't-" I pause, choking on my words.

"Sweetheart-"

"I felt like it was my fault he died and I didn't care. And I never told you, never told anyone because I didn't want to scare them. Then when you left on the raft you told me that I needed to stay alive and I told you that I would stay alive if you did."

"Grey eyes-" James pleads, and I can tell my words are hurting him, but I push on.

"You are so important to me, you have no idea, and you think I'll be okay if you die, but you're wrong. Maybe eventually I will be, or I would be if Patrick was still here, but he's not. But even so, eventually won't be enough if we are still here. I know most of your life you've been on your own. Most of my life I've had one person that I care about more than anything. You think I'll be fine without you because you are fine on your own. I'm telling you that I won't be. If they kill you, I won't be able to fight when they come for me, not soon enough to save myself, at least. So I need you to come with me, to run with me."

"I can't," James says brokenly.

"Why not?!" I demand, holding back tears.

"Cause there ain't no place to go."

"What are you talking about?"

"We ain't on our island. We're on another island, like Alcatraz, a couple of miles offshore."

I run my hands over my braid and shake my head. "No, no, no."

"I'm sorry," James mutters.

I shove him away from me, hard. "When were you planning on telling me this?!"

"Never,"

"Why not? Why wouldn't you?"

James sighs. "Cause I wanted you to believe that we had a damn chance."

I am crying now, and I rest my head against his chest. "There's got to be a way. They must have a boat somewhere here."

"We won't be able to find it, and even if we did, they probably have someone watching it 24/7," James says gently.

I look up at him now, and I want to tell him that I love him. I want him to hear it. I want to say it before he dies, but I'm afraid. Afraid that will make it that much harder to lose him or make my death that much harder on him. I've never been the type to give up, but as I look at him, I realize we are out of options. It terrifies me, so I do the only thing I can think of. I pull his face down to mine and I kiss him. It's a short kiss and afterward, I rest my head on his chest again. I just need to be close to him, to feel the warmth of his body.

James runs a hand over my hair and pulls out the hair tie holding my braid in. His fingers gently comb through the strands of my hair, pulling them out of their braid. "What was that for?" he mumbles, his mouth against my ear.

I love you, I think. Unable to tell him that, I say "I don't know." He pulls my face away from his chest and forces me to look at him. "I don't know," I repeat, shakily.

He kisses me now, and I don't break the kiss. His mouth moves forcefully against mine and I match the tempo. He spins me around and pushes me against the bars of his cage, pinning me underneath him. I tug at the buttons of his shirt and he pulls away, only long enough to tug his shirt off. He runs his hands over my breasts and down my body, till his hands linger at the edge of my shirt. I lift my hands up over my head and allow him to remove it. I reach behind me to undo the clasp of my bra, but he stops me. With one hand, he gently presses my hands to the bar of his cage and with another, he unclasps my bra and removes it. His fingers caress my bare breasts and I arch my back.

"Miss me," he murmurs, pressing his mouth to my ear.

"James," I groan. "If you don't-"

He picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist, grinding against him as he kisses me down along my breasts and down my chest.

He places me down on the concrete slab and I pull him down to kiss him, running my hands through his hair and then down his body to his pants. I unzip his jeans and pull them off, then press my hands against his growing erection. He groans and unzips my jeans, yanking them off.

We barely talk, James only speaks to whisper in my ear. Sometimes his words are sweet, sometimes dirty, but he always seems to know exactly what to say to drive me crazy. I curse him for it but pull him closer afterward, savoring every moment our bodies are together. Even now, in the worst circumstances imaginable, sex with him is amazing and the release of endorphins clears all thoughts from my head.

Afterward, I curl against him, unwilling to leave his side. He has his jeans back on so he drapes his shirt over my body and cradles me with his arm. Even though we rarely slept in our tents when we were hooking up back on the beach, this feels different. We've never held onto each other like this before.

"I did miss you," I say, looking up at him. "When we were fighting, I missed talking to you, but I missed this too."

James chuckles. "So she admits it. Just so you know, I'm not opposed to you just using me for my body. For the next time, you're mad at me."

I drop my head to his chest, breaking his gaze. "How about you just don't give me another reason to be mad at you?"

James combs his fingers through my hair, and I shiver against him. "I missed you too."

I smile and let out a sigh of contentment.

"Let me ask you something, grey eyes," he says, his tone more serious now. "The day blockhead was beating on me, and you said 'I love you'. That was just to get him to stop, right?"

"No," I tell him. "I mean, yeah, I only said it to get him to stop. But I meant it, I love you." The words seem so significant and meaningless at the same time. Saying it out loud feels freeing, but the information doesn't feel new. "Can we please not talk about it right now, at least until we get through tomorrow?" I hope he knows what I mean, not that I don't love him, not even that I want to avoid the conversation, but that I don't want to explore what this means between us just to lose him.

"Alright, grey eyes," James agrees. "I'll take you out to dinner when we get home. We can talk about everything then."

I laugh at this and can't help but love him even more.

"I love you too," he tells me. "Just so you know."

I sit up now, and kiss him, long and slow, savoring the moment.

Later that night we get dressed, but I don't go back to my cage. I can't seem to leave him, so I lay in his arms and wait for sleep to take me.

"Can you promise me something, James?" I ask him.

"What is it?"

"Promise me you'll fight tomorrow. Fight with everything you've got. Don't think about me. Don't let them use me to make you stop fighting. Maybe we can make it out if we are fighting together. But I'd rather go down fighting with you than have to live without you."

James tightens his grip on me. "I won't let them hurt you."

"They will, no matter what. If they kill you, you just won't be there to see it. You dying will hurt me worse than anything else they could do to me."

James sighs heavily. "I don't deserve that."

"I don't care what you think you deserve. Fight, promise me. No matter what they do, fight. If you love me, promise me that."

"Only if you make me a promise."

"I can do that."

"If they get me first, if I do die, you have to keep fighting. Don't give up because of me."

"I promise," I say without hesitation. "As long as you keep fighting them if- if it comes to that. I'll keep fighting."

"Alright, then I promise too," James tells me. "Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Goodnight."

The rain wakes me up only moments before I hear Pickett's voice.

"James," I say urgently, shaking him awake. "James, wake up."

"Well, well, well, look who got out of her cage. You two should have run when you had the chance."

I press myself in front of James' body, giving him an extra moment to wake up and gather himself. Pickett cocks his gun. "Come on, James."

"Don't do this, please," I beg, shuffling on my feet. I look for an angle to attack. There are only two men. If we can each just take, one we'd have some guns and two less people to worry about."

"He's coming with me and there is nothing you can do about it. Now step away," Pickett commands.

James puts a hand on my shoulder, and I spring into action. I target the guard with Pickett, putting my hands on his shoulders and bringing my knee up as hard as I can to his crotch. "Bitch!" the guard curses at me. He twists my arm and shoves me against the bar of the cage. I twist against his grip, but I can't get free.

I turn my head and see James has Pickett pressed against the cage by the throat. The two of them are struggling over the gun. "You let go, or I do her too," Pickett tells James.

James stares at me, and I shake my head. "Don't you let go, don't even think about it. James, you promised."

He lets go, and I am screaming at him. "No, no, James," I don't know if I am even yelling at him or pleading with him anymore.

I struggle furiously against the guard holding me, but my movements have no effect. The guard only has to adjust his grip slightly to control my arms, and he is so close behind me that there is no room between the cage bars and him to kick.

"James, please, you promised me."

"Down on your knees," Pickett orders, pushing James to the ground. He faces away from me, not turning to even glance at my words.

"Please," I turn to Pickett now. "You want to hurt him, let it be me instead. Just leave him alive, I'll do anything," I beg him for the mercy of us trading places. Begging for us both to be spared seems fruitless.

"I want you to watch," Pickett says, breathing heavily.

James turns around now. "Close your eyes."

"Stand up."

"Close your eyes," he shouts. "Don't forget what you promised me." He turns back around now.

"You can't give up," I shout at him.

Pickett cocks his gun, and I start sobbing. "This is for Collen, you son of a bitch," Pickett tells him.

I close my eyes, unable to watch. I wish I could cover my ears too, to block out the sound of the gunshot. The sound never comes. Instead, Pickett's walkie blares to life. "Danny, are you there?" a voice asks on the other end. "Pick it up, pick it up, Danny. Pick it up, dammit."

"I'm here, what!" Pickett yells into his walkie.

"You anywhere near the cages?"

Pickett looks at the two of us. "Yeah, you could say that."

"You got anyone else with you?" the voice on the other end asks.

"Yeah, why."

"Give your walkie to Samantha and take Kate to the cages."

"Why the hell would I do that?!" Pickett's grip on his gun never loosens.

"Because if you don't, the doctor's going to let Ben die."

A wave of sickening relief crashes through me. Jack did it.

"What are you talking about? What's that beeping?"

"Just do what I said, Danny," the guy on the other said orders. "Do it, just do it now."

Slowly, Pickett walks away from James. "Go get Kate," he tells the guard holding me. He complies and leaves without a word. Pickett hands me the walkie.

James stands up but Pickett turns back to him, pointing his gun towards him.

I press the button down on the walkie. "Jack," is all I manage to get out. My hands are shaking and I don't know what to say to him. How to thank him.

"Sam, is Kate there with you yet?" he asks.

I see Kate being led out of the building nearby. "Not yet. She's not far."

"Is Sawyer with you?"

"Yeah, he's here."

The guard arrives with Kate in tow. She looks confused and I figure the guard didn't fill her in much.

"Jack, Kate's here now too."

"Give the walkie to her."

I walk out of the cage and hand the walkie to Kate. I am so close to James right now, just two more steps and I'll be between him and Pickett.

"Kate, you have about an hour head start before they come after you," I hear Jack say. I take a step closer to James.

"Wait, where are you? Where are you?" Kate asks into the radio.

"Do you remember what I told you on the beach the day after the crash? Do you remember what story I told you?"

Kate hesitates, staring at the radio. I stand between her and James and give her an urgent look.

"Do you remember?!"

"Yes, yes, I remember," Kate says.

"When you get safe, you radio me and you tell me that story."

"Jack, please," Kate cries. I sympathize with her because I realize what Jack is asking her, us to do. To leave him here. And I don't want to do it, but we have to leave.

"If I don't get a call from you in the next hour, I am going to know something went wrong, and he dies!"

"I can't leave without you," Kate cries.

"Yes, you are. Go."

"Jack, I can't," Kate is sobbing now.

"Go! Now!"

"I can't," Kate shouts.

"Kate, damn it! Run!"

End of chapter. Wow, what a chapter! I have been waiting to write this chapter for a while and I am so happy to finally get to it. I hope you all enjoyed it and I would love to hear your thoughts. Please review and let me know what you think. - K