A/N Again, huge thanks to i_will_sing_no_requiem for beta reading

The eventful day took its toll, and in the end, Kate fell into a shallow, fitful sleep. She woke up to a knock on the door. A glance at the digital clock next to the bed told her that it hadn't been that long, so her first thought was that Jack was back. She was tempted to ignore the sound, but although the knocking was gentler than the previous time, she knew that Jack wouldn't give up easily. She sighed, slipped out of bed, tightened the still-damp robe around her, and ran her fingers through her hair. It didn't help much, as she hadn't combed it earlier after the bath. She must have looked like an absolute mess. Well, it didn't matter, did it, now? She shouldn't care about whether Jack would find her attractive, not anymore.

Feeling a sudden rush of irritation, she marched towards the door and opened it with more force than necessary, determined to be done with Jack once and for all. But to her surprise, the man on the other side wasn't Jack; it was Sayid. Kate swallowed whatever bitter words she already had at the tip of her tongue, and took a step back.

"Come in."

Sayid visibly hesitated. Kate didn't know if it was because of the expression that still lingered on her face or because of her state of undress.

"Sorry, my clothes needed washing," she muttered by way of an explanation. "All two sets of them," she added with a crooked smile.

"You have been sleeping," Sayid remarked.

Kate wasn't sure if he was asking or simply stating the obvious. Either way, there was no use lying to him, and she had no energy to even try.

"I took a nap. It wasn't planned, I just dozed off. I'm glad you woke me up. Come in," she repeated the invitation, and this time, Sayid finally stepped inside. "You don't have to tiptoe; Aaron is fast asleep." She knew she didn't have to remind her soft-spoken friend not to raise his voice. "You've been shopping?" She noticed a big paper bag in his hand.

Sayid glanced down at it as if he had forgotten it was there. Then, he smiled sheepishly.

"I thought that with Aaron, it might be hard for you to go out and buy food. And then I realized I didn't know what food you like, so..." he trailed off, walked past her and started unloading the contents of the bag on the bed, as the only little table in the room was already cluttered by baby stuff.

Eyes open wide, Kate stared with fascination at the hot dog, french fries, a bottle of Coke, cookies, marshmallows, chocolate, potato chips, gummy worms and all the other candy that she hadn't had in her mouth for what felt like an eternity. Sayid really went all out. Kate grabbed the hot dog and, with a blissful grunt, sunk her teeth into it. Although it was not great, at this moment, it tasted like heaven to her, and she felt a rush of incredible gratitude towards Sayid.

"And where's yours?" She was already halfway through her hot dog when she realized that her friend had been just staring at her with a slightly amused expression.

"I am not very fond of hot dogs," he explained.

"You don't eat hot dogs?!" Kate glanced at him in shock, then immediately took another bite, thinking that he should have bought two anyway; she'd have gladly eaten them both.

Meanwhile, Sayid finally reached for the French fries, of which he had actually brought two portions. Kate admired his self-control as he slowly opened the ketchup, dipped one single fry in it and then elegantly placed it in his mouth. She was about to grab a handful of hers and stuff it in together with the half-chewed bite of the hot dog. Looking at Sayid, she somehow managed to refrain herself, though.

"I do sometimes. When I can be sure the sausage does not contain pork." After chewing for a moment in silence, Sayid finally decided to answer.

Kate frowned at the hesitation in his voice. Was he afraid that she, of all people, would judge him?

"Oh, okay," she simply said and reached for another fry.

She wondered if she had ever seen Sayid eat boar meat back on the island. A boar was a kind of pig too, after all, wasn't it? She couldn't remember, and she soon decided that it wasn't her business.

"You've got to try our beef burgers then. Australian weren't even half as good." She smiled at the sole memory of the taste, and Sayid, who seemed to have finally started to relax, smiled back.

Once they were done with the 'dinner', they both slid down to the floor and started laying out the various pieces of dessert directly on the carpet. Just a couple of months ago, Kate would have thought it unsanitary, borderline gross. But, after weeks of sleeping on the ground, she no longer cared.

She stared in fascination as Sayid expertly twisted an Oreo open and started to lick off the cream. Gone was the reservation with which he had consumed the French fries. Now, his face was a mixture of concentration and bliss. She knew it shouldn't surprise her, she simply hadn't had the chance to see this side of him, but still, that display of almost boyish enthusiasm for a cookie seemed so unlike the Sayid she had known that she felt a sudden urge to laugh. Not in a mean way, of course—in fact, he looked kind of cute, so focused on the Oreo that he seemed to completely forget about her presence, or anything else, for that matter.

How crazy it was, Kate thought, that they had long known each other's darkest secrets but at the same time knew so little when it came to the everyday stuff.

"Chocolate or potato chips?"

Sayid glanced at her, then at both said products lying already open and half-eaten on the carpet between them, and frowned.

"You know, imagine you had to choose one snack to eat for the rest of your life," Kate clarified. "Would you choose something sweet or something salty?"

Sayid hesitated only for a moment. Then he ostentatiously reached for another Oreo.

"Sweet, definitely."

Kate chuckled quietly.

"Same. I'd probably pick ice cream."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't thought..."

For a split second, Sayid looked like a guilty puppy, and Kate, without thinking, reached forward to reassuringly pat his thigh.

"No worries. It leaves me a chance to pay you back."

It was only then that she noticed his slightly shocked expression and quickly withdrew her hand. She realized that Sayid came from a culture where such direct gestures from the opposite sex weren't as common as in her world. Still, it couldn't have been altogether new to him, he had lived in Australia for some time before the crash, hadn't he? Besides, he had never seemed an overly traditional type… Then another possibility dawned on her, and Kate blinked several times, thinking that maybe it wasn't about cultural differences at all. Maybe it was just because the last woman who had so casually touched his thigh had been Shannon.

She straightened and leaned back against the bed as her thoughts involuntarily flew back to the island and those who had stayed there. To drown them out, she got up and turned on the TV. She put it on mute, not wanting to wake Aaron up with a sound that was still totally unfamiliar to him. She needed something to divert her attention. Otherwise, she would start to torment herself with yet another barrage of unwanted thoughts that would probably keep her awake til morning.

For a while, they sat in silence, leaning against the bed, disturbed only by the occasional rustle of packages and the sound of crunching when Sayid, contrary to his previous declarations, left the last two Oreos for Kate, and moved on to the pack of paprika-flavored Lay's. He must have been hungrier than her, considering he hadn't even had the hot dog. Still, Kate almost immediately reached over his hand to grab some potato chips for herself. This time, however, she was careful not to touch him more than necessary. She didn't want her friend to feel uncomfortable or, even worse, be tormented by memories. Especially now that his calm and reassuring presence was already making her feel a bit better.

Not all memories from the island were sad or painful, she realized. Her and Sayid's friendship was one of the things that remained untainted, and Kate hoped it would stay this way. She used to rely only on herself, but things had changed. She was a mother now, while at the same time she was probably about to be tried for murder. She needed at least one constant in the mess of her current life, and at present, Sayid was the only one she felt she could trust and rely on in moments of need. In her wildest dreams, she wouldn't have imagined that her rock would be an Iraqi ex-torturer, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She stole a quick glance at Sayid, slightly amused with the thought of what he'd say if he knew that, in her mind, she had just compared him to a horse, and that it was supposed to be a compliment.

"Jack was here," she blurted out. It seemed to have come out of nowhere, but she had just realized that she really needed to get it off her chest, and she knew that soon, she probably would no longer have both the guts and the opportunity to do it.

"I know," Sayid answered, to her surprise. "I saw him leave."

Kate frowned and started to count in her head. She knew how long she had been sleeping and thus, how much time had passed between Jack's departure and Sayid's appearance at her door. If Sayid had seen Jack leave the hotel, the only logical explanation was that he had returned from wherever he had been, then changed his mind upon seeing the doctor and decided to find a store and get her some comfort food. Which also meant he had guessed she would need to be comforted. It sounded crazy, but the more she thought about it, the more she was sure that it was the only thing that made sense timing-wise. Had Sayid talked to Jack? Did he already know about their breakup? Or was it again that unbelievable sixth sense he seemed to possess when it came to reading people's minds?

Kate changed her position to face Sayid instead of the TV, and carefully studied his face. He seemed tired… not just tired, but utterly exhausted. Which shouldn't be surprising considering what they had gone through in the past few days, but Kate sensed there was more. He was somehow different from when he had left a couple of hours earlier, although she couldn't really pinpoint why.

"What about you?" She decided to be direct. "Did you accomplish whatever it was you needed to do?"

"Yes," Sayid answered after a short moment of hesitation.

Kate looked at him expectantly until she finally remembered who she was dealing with. When she had completely lost hope of learning anything from him, her friend suddenly spoke up:

"I saw Nadia."

Kate needed a moment to recall the battered photograph Sayid used to stare at when he thought no one was paying attention to him. He showed it to her once but never explained who the woman in black robes was, and all Kate could now remember were her piercing eyes.

"The woman from your photo?" She wanted to be sure.

Sayid looked as if he had forgotten that she wasn't familiar with the story. Finally, he nodded curtly, and Kate thought he might have already regretted saying anything at all.

"Was she the reason you were flying to LA?"

Sayid was good at evading unwanted questions, and Kate didn't hope for much. However, apparently she was not the only one that night with some masochistic need for confessions.

"Yes. I have been looking for her for eight years. The last time we saw each other… the circumstances were rather dramatic."

Kate waited for him to continue, and when it seemed that he got lost in his thoughts again, she gently urged him on:

"And?"

The question was pretty general, as, although she was curious, she didn't want Sayid to feel as if he was being interrogated. It was his decision whether he wanted to confide in her and how much. For someone so secretive, he had already shown her a lot of trust, and if that was it, she would still be grateful because it meant a lot.

"And I have found her."

"How did she react?" Kate asked quietly, relieved that Sayid didn't really seem to mind her questions.

She couldn't tell from Sayid's face whether the meeting had gone well, but considering he was here, in her hotel room, eating Oreos alternated with potato chips, she was pretty sure it had not.

Sayid shrugged.

"She saw us on TV. She was happy that I was alive and well. And so was her husband."

"Her husband?" Kate repeated, raising her eyebrows.

"It has been eight years," Sayid answered with a crooked half-smile. "Almost nine. I had no right to expect anything from her. We did not make any promises to each other. In fact, we did not talk much, unless you count me trying to interrogate her, and her trying to remind me that I still had a soul," he explained bitterly and reached for the last Oreo.

Kate mechanically pushed the package toward him.

"Did you torture her?" she asked quietly.

"No." Sayid shook his head. "But it does not matter." His voice was so hollow now it was barely audible. "I tortured many others before."

Kate nodded slowly, unsure how to respond but hoping Sayid would somehow understand that there was no judgment coming from her; there never would be.

"It did help, you know?" Sayid spoke up, finally glancing at Kate. "Seeing Nadia, I mean. I know now that she managed to safely escape Iraq, and that she found her happiness here. That is more I could have asked for."

He turned his gaze again, and Kate thought he could have asked, or at least wished, for much more. She said nothing, though, just waited patiently for her friend to go on.

"All those years," Sayid picked up, "I kept telling myself that when I find her, I take care of her and keep her safe, maybe it would mean that I am finally forgiven, and everything would finally be alright. Now I know it does not work like that. And it was not her forgiveness I needed, not really; I already had it a long time ago..."

"It was your own," Kate finished for him.

Sayid sent her a slightly surprised look, then nodded and closed his eyes. Kate understood what the expression meant. Sayid had finally realized that it was time for him to move on, but at the same time, he had no idea where to even start. She thought she could understand him even more than he knew.

Suddenly, she felt an urge to tell him everything. About Wayne, about her mother, about Tom. Sayid would have understood. Not because he was more compassionate than Jack, but because he knew all too well what it was like to keep on living, day after day, with baggage that seemed too heavy to ever get rid of or even put down for a moment to rest. And she would tell him, she decided, but not tonight, not yet.

Sayid regarded her inquisitively for a few long moments, and Kate once again felt as if he was reading her mind. She didn't feel threatened, though. She let him look and draw conclusions, and meanwhile, she opened a pack of M&Ms and, in one swift movement, put half of them into her mouth. She almost choked, and this finally prompted Sayid to move his gaze off of her and go pour her some Coke.

They barely talked for the remainder of the evening. They ate all the food, staring at the TV even though neither of them really paid attention to the movie. In some weird way, however, they both seemed to draw solace from each other's presence, so neither was eager to break it off. It was only when Aaron woke up and started fussing that Sayid reluctantly got up and finally excused himself, wishing them both sweet dreams in that charmingly old-fashioned way of his.

Closing the door behind her friend, Kate felt much better than she'd thought possible after all that had happened that day. She changed Aaron's diaper, rocked him back to sleep, and slid back under the covers of her own bed. However, despite feeling both tired and surprisingly calm, she couldn't sleep. As it turned out, eating half a pile of candy and other junk food after a few months of a diet consisting mostly of fruit and fish was not the greatest idea. At least she had time to think and consider her next moves. As a result, when the morning came, she already had a plan.

"You asked me yesterday what I was going to do next," she said in lieu of a greeting as she unceremoniously pushed into Sayid's room.

This time, it was him who was wearing only a hotel robe. He seemed a bit embarrassed about it, but Kate ignored it. She had spent the previous evening with him in a similar state of undress and neither of them had seemed to mind it or even pay any attention to the fact. Why would they, after all? They were just friends, and besides, if her plan worked, they would both have to get used to similar sights.

"I need to find a place to live," she continued, as she carefully placed Aaron in the middle of the bed (she noticed that it was already perfectly made, while hers still looked as if a hurricane had just gone through her room) and surrounded him with pillows. "I can't raise a baby in a hotel, where I need to ask the staff for assistance every time I need to warm up his bottle."

The money they had received from Oceanic was enough to get her started, but she would have to be frugal at best. It could be months, if not years, before they received proper compensation; there was no use deluding herself that the airlines would part with a larger amount so easily. Kate still wasn't really sure how much she would need to spend on diapers, formulas and other stuff Aaron would need, but she already suspected it would be a lot. Maybe she could get some sort of government help until she managed to find both a babysitter and a job (provided that anyone would be willing to hire a murderess), but she really didn't think it wise to invite the authorities to be even more interested in her life.

She couldn't also ignore the fact that she could be put on trial at any moment. She wasn't going to use Aaron to get her sympathy, but if the judge could see that she was capable of being a good, responsible and loving mother, maybe they would be more willing to see something more than the cold-blooded criminal Marshal Mars had made her to be. She couldn't imagine being separated from the boy. Still, at least for the time being, she was free, Aaron was with her, and instead of despairing, she needed to focus on the here and now, which at the moment meant covering their basic needs.

For her whole adult life, Kate Austen had been doing fine on her own, but, as hard as it was for her to admit, she realized that the current situation could be too much for her to deal with alone. She would do her best and persevere, of course. Still, it would be so much nicer to have someone she could rely on if things got really hard.

Yesterday, she had closed a certain stage of her life, and she knew that she hadn't been the only one. This wasn't much to build on, but at least for now, it was the best they both had.

"You'll need a roof over your head, too," she carried on. "You're not planning on going back to Iraq, are you?"

Sayid shook his head.

"There's nothing for me in Iraq."

Usually one of the most perceptive people Kate knew, now he seemed surprisingly lost as to where she was going with her speech.

She finally took pity on him.

"I want us to become roommates. Look." She didn't leave him time to protest. "Neither of us has much money, right? And it's going to take some time before you get a work permit and I find a trustworthy babysitter so that we can both start earning a living. Besides, it'd be nice to have someone to keep an eye on Aaron at least when I'm taking a shower, and you'll need someone who knows the realities of living in the US, for once. Besides..."

"Alright," Sayid interrupted her.

"What?" Kate caught her breath and sent him a questioning look, surprised that he seemed to offer no resistance.

Sayid chuckled under his breath.

"I think it is a good idea."

Kate blinked slowly, realizing that maybe she wasn't the only one who, deep down, feared facing the new reality all alone. She had been running away for so many years that she wasn't sure she knew how to stop. And Sayid had been searching for so long it was probably equally hard for him to even think about moving on without his purpose. Maybe they could both help each other learn how to settle down? ("Or maybe you'll just make each other realize that you can't," remarked a sarcastic voice in her head. She wasn't going to listen to it, though, not when it sounded almost like Jack).

And thus, the decision had been made.