{LOST} And These Our Scattered Pieces
Title: And These Our Scattered Pieces
Rating: teen
Characters: Kate, Sawyer, mentions of others
Warnings: Spoilers up through 5.08 La Fleur
Word Count: 2365
Summary: Kate/Sawyer, 50 prompts, 50 sentences, written for set Gamma at 1sentence .
Author's Note: Many many commas and several semi-colons were potentially abused in the writing of these sentences, but it was with good intent, and they didn't seem to mind too much.
And These Our Scattered Pieces
1. Ring
He tries to imagine the third finger of her left hand circled by a diamond ring, but all he can see are bars and he thinks it's incredible she ever let herself be caged like that.
2. Hero
He jokes that she seems to like men in power, like the Doc; she tells him she likes good men who don't always know they're good, and he has to look away so he won't see "Like you," written in her smile.
3. Memory
Juliet tells him his hair needs to be cut, and offers to do it herself, but he tells her he likes it as it is; he doesn't tell her that he remembers hearing those same words in another voice, another woman's fingers at the base of his skull, the click-click of scissors and the way her laugh seemed to slide across his skin.
4. Box
She's spent two whole days trying to part him from the case by any means necessary: she's crept into his tent, thrown him to the ground, followed him around, and for all that, she still won't tell him why it means so damn much since it can't even be opened; it's the first time he realises that she's just as complicated as he is.
5. Run
He asks her once how long she would have kept running if the marshal hadn't put her in chains, and she tells him she probably never would have stopped; he asks her why she isn't running now that she's free, and she tells him chains aren't always made of metal.
6. Hurricane
She's never been afraid of thunder or lightning, and she loves standing outside in the downpour, especially when he's standing with his arms around her pressing her to his chest, hair soaked and dripping around her shoulders and she can hear his heartbeat rolling like the thunder.
7. Wings
He watches her closely whenever things get too bad, watching for the look she gets when the old impulse to run run run takes hold, watches her panic when she remembers there's nowhere to run; he hates this Island for having cut her wings.
8. Cold
She tells him she can't sleep unless she's in her own tent, old habits and all that; in truth it's because she's gotten used to sleeping alone and she doesn't know what to do with him lying next to her, her back against his chest; she isn't used to waking up warm.
9. Red
He's unconscious and shaking and still covered in blood, and Kate knows Jack needs to her help but she can't stop staring, can't seem to make herself move; she's never been so scared in her life.
10. Drink
He finds her sitting on Claire's porch that evening and offers her a beer, saying, "I never sat moping by myself all night 'cos I was too afraid to ask for some company," and smiles when she laughs and lets him sit beside her.
11. Midnight
He's been gone for three years, though this is actually the fourth New Year's she's spent without him, but she tries to smile when the clock strikes twelve and raises her glass and tells his ghost, "I wish you were here."
12. Temptation
He asks her to play house, and the offer is so odd and so sincere that for a moment she wonders what it might be like to settle down with him; he'd make her life hell sometimes, but he'd spend more time making it up to her again, and that's almost enough to convince her that it'd be worthwhile.
13. View
She goes hiking one day out of restlessness; he tags along, complaining all the while, but by the time they reach the top of the mountain, both of them are glad they've got someone to share it with.
14. Music
She hears him sometimes when he's on the beach alone, singing to himself, and sometimes she catches him staring at the case of Charlie's guitar, and she wonders if he plays; somehow it seems like the sort of things he'd be good at.
15. Silk
The dress they give her is high-hemmed and flowery, the sort of thing a girl might wear on the beach if she'd actually intended to be there in the first place; it's nice, he thinks, and it suits her, but he's already missing the sight of her dirty, torn cargoes and the plain t-shirts she always manages to find.
16. Cover
She times her walk just right so that she's passing his tent when it begins to pour, knowing he'll pull her inside to keep her dry.
17. Promise
She remembers him telling her to find his daughter, remembers later wondering where she'd even start, remembers that she's never been good at keeping promises, but now, standing on Cassidy's porch, she has to wonder if she'd have kept it if anyone but him had asked her to.
18. Dream
It's not the first time he's woken up shaking, his breathing coming hard and heavy, hands curled into fists and tears welling in his eyes, but it is the first time someone's been there to ask him if he's alright; the concern in her eyes is unnerving.
19. Candle
He doesn't know the day his daughter was born, but he knows when Aaron was, remembers lurking in the jungle, watching her help Claire, remembers wanting so much to reach out to her, to wrap her in a hug and tell her he's never been more proud; the next year, he sticks a candle in a cupcake and hopes that, wherever they are, she is still taking care of the kid.
20. Talent
He doesn't like to acknowledge how much it stings that Kate always comes to him when Jack wants something particularly badly, but they both know she's their weak spot, and Sawyer is willing to let her play him because it's as close as she'll ever come to admitting that whatever they have between them is something special.
21. Silence
He's long since grown used to the crash of waves and the whisper of palm trees and the sounds of conversation all around, but these days he's gone deaf to all of it, straining his ears for the one voice that matters, letting him know she's made it back alive.
22. Journey
She remembers asking him why he needed so much to be hated, and she remembers him so much later, running after Jack so he wouldn't get himself killed; she doubts she'll ever tell him how proud she is of him, but she thinks he can probably see it in her face anyway.
23. Fire
It's not the first time he's thought about destroying the letter, though it's the first time he's nearly done so, but even if she thinks she can find a good man somewhere in him, it's not enough to convince him that he deserves to let it go, so he flicks the lighter closed again, folds up the paper, and tells himself that he's waiting for her to prove him wrong.
24. Strength
They've all seen him with his shirt off enough times to know that he's certainly not weak, but she still catches that look in his eyes sometimes, like he's still the little boy hiding under the bed, and she wonders how he's managed to make it this long without breaking.
25. Mask
He never tells her where he was or what happened, but something in his face is different and she realises suddenly that Sawyer is gone; he's just James now.
26. Ice
Jack tells her the antibiotics will take care of the fever, but she hates feeling so useless, waiting for him recover, so she smooths an ice cube across his burning forehead and chapped lips and tries not to wake him; he stirs once, lips brushing the inside of her wrist like the hint of a kiss and she's thankful for once that his eyes are closed so he can't see the shiver that runs through her body.
27. Fall
He jumps to save her so that she can go on living; she returns to find he's already saved himself with someone else.
28. Forgotten
He tells Horace that he can barely remember her face; the next day he stands in a valley staring at the impossible and wonders how he ever managed it.
29. Dance
He lets her baby him about going to see the Doc because it's worth it to see the look in her eyes when she goes to help him up and finds herself nearly pressed against him, her hand still grasping his and her breath catching in her throat before she smiles, wide and happy and all for him.
30. Body
It's not that he means to spy on her, really; it's just that it's been a long time since he felt anything for anyone, and he finds her curves to be something rather wonderful.
31. Sacred
She has always been afraid of cages, but his rough hands hold her tight and secure despite the bars pressing at her back; there's something like amazement in the way he's touching her so softly, and she wonders if he's seeing her like she's seeing him, sunlight reflecting golden off his blond hair and his eyes more gentle than she's ever seen them before.
32. Farewells
She goes with Jack because she can't bear to see him leave, the thought lumping in her throat like the sort of permanence she's always tried to avoid; goodbyes have always been too final, and she's not ready to lose him just yet.
33. World
He wishes he could say he at least knows how far away she is, but he's not sure where the Island is and he's not actually sure it's part of the world, and not knowing how far he'd have to go to find her scares him more than knowing she'll never come back.
34. Formal
He calls her Kate and it sounds odd on his voice, like talking to a stranger, and she wonders when she started thinking of herself as Freckles.
35. Fever
He hears her say she feels something for him and it's enough to make him open his eyes to see her tearful smile; later she'll tell him his fever made him delirious, and he'll let her get away with it even though it's clear she's lying, but he can't quite keep the stupid smile off his face.
36. Laugh
His eyes are warmer when he laughs and she finds fragments of a good man in his smile even (especially) when he's making fun of her.
37. Lies
"I only said it so he'd stop hitting you," she says, and he wonders which of them she's trying to convince.
38. Forever
"I never been married," he says, and tries to ignore the feeling like cold, heavy rocks settling in his stomach when she takes a tiny sip; marriage means commitment and forever and that doesn't seem her style.
39. Overwhelmed
He's been carrying the same piece of paper in his pocket for nearly twenty years without showing it to anyone; she's the first one to read it and the first one to discover the truth about it, and the fact that she hasn't run away yet is enough to leave him speechless.
40. Whisper
He tells her to find his daughter, just before he jumps, and even through her shock at losing him, there's a voice in the back of her head saying, "We could have had one, too."
41. Wait
He tells Juliet he'll wait as long as it takes for Locke to bring their people back so they can fix things, and she nods like she believes him, but they both know he's only waiting for her.
42. Talk
She tells him to shut up because he's far too good at figuring her out and she cannot afford to let him ask questions; she knows he thinks it's about Jack, but he still stays silent, and it's just as well because, broken as she is, she can't find words to thank him for still caring.
43. Search
He's only known her for a little over a week, and even if he's joking when he tells her they have a connection, he can't deny that something about her feels familiar, like something he'd misplaced long ago that he's suddenly found again by accident.
44. Hope
It's been three years, and even though she's got Aaron and she's sworn she's never leaving, part of her wants Jack to be right, because she's never really been able to let him go.
45. Eclipse
He sits outside his tent and stares across the water at the pillar of smoke from the freighter and drinks until the emptiness that's shaped like her is dark enough to blot out the sun.
46. Gravity
She's spent her entire life running and never looking back, but these days she finds herself going in circles, always coming back to him somehow.
47. Highway
He has a hazy memory of having seen her before, eyes dancing behind the window of the car next to him as she dares him to race her.
48. Unknown
Jack tells him, "You said you loved her," and while he acts indignant and protests it and says he was delirious and doesn't remember anyway, it never occurs to him to question whether he meant it or not; they both know it's true.
49. Lock
When he goes back three years later, the lock that she broke to get him out is still lying on the ground; it makes him smile.
50. Breathe
He's been strangely happy for more than two years when he comes across the toy airplane tucked away amongst the things he brought back from the beach, and suddenly he tastes salt on his tongue, feels water in his lungs, and hears the throb of the props on the air; he takes to carrying the airplane in his pocket beside the empty space where the letter used to be and never quite manages to remember what it's like to breathe without pain.
Rating: teen
Characters: Kate, Sawyer, mentions of others
Warnings: Spoilers up through 5.08 La Fleur
Word Count: 2365
Summary: Kate/Sawyer, 50 prompts, 50 sentences, written for set Gamma at 1sentence .
Author's Note: Many many commas and several semi-colons were potentially abused in the writing of these sentences, but it was with good intent, and they didn't seem to mind too much.
And These Our Scattered Pieces
1. Ring
He tries to imagine the third finger of her left hand circled by a diamond ring, but all he can see are bars and he thinks it's incredible she ever let herself be caged like that.
2. Hero
He jokes that she seems to like men in power, like the Doc; she tells him she likes good men who don't always know they're good, and he has to look away so he won't see "Like you," written in her smile.
3. Memory
Juliet tells him his hair needs to be cut, and offers to do it herself, but he tells her he likes it as it is; he doesn't tell her that he remembers hearing those same words in another voice, another woman's fingers at the base of his skull, the click-click of scissors and the way her laugh seemed to slide across his skin.
4. Box
She's spent two whole days trying to part him from the case by any means necessary: she's crept into his tent, thrown him to the ground, followed him around, and for all that, she still won't tell him why it means so damn much since it can't even be opened; it's the first time he realises that she's just as complicated as he is.
5. Run
He asks her once how long she would have kept running if the marshal hadn't put her in chains, and she tells him she probably never would have stopped; he asks her why she isn't running now that she's free, and she tells him chains aren't always made of metal.
6. Hurricane
She's never been afraid of thunder or lightning, and she loves standing outside in the downpour, especially when he's standing with his arms around her pressing her to his chest, hair soaked and dripping around her shoulders and she can hear his heartbeat rolling like the thunder.
7. Wings
He watches her closely whenever things get too bad, watching for the look she gets when the old impulse to run run run takes hold, watches her panic when she remembers there's nowhere to run; he hates this Island for having cut her wings.
8. Cold
She tells him she can't sleep unless she's in her own tent, old habits and all that; in truth it's because she's gotten used to sleeping alone and she doesn't know what to do with him lying next to her, her back against his chest; she isn't used to waking up warm.
9. Red
He's unconscious and shaking and still covered in blood, and Kate knows Jack needs to her help but she can't stop staring, can't seem to make herself move; she's never been so scared in her life.
10. Drink
He finds her sitting on Claire's porch that evening and offers her a beer, saying, "I never sat moping by myself all night 'cos I was too afraid to ask for some company," and smiles when she laughs and lets him sit beside her.
11. Midnight
He's been gone for three years, though this is actually the fourth New Year's she's spent without him, but she tries to smile when the clock strikes twelve and raises her glass and tells his ghost, "I wish you were here."
12. Temptation
He asks her to play house, and the offer is so odd and so sincere that for a moment she wonders what it might be like to settle down with him; he'd make her life hell sometimes, but he'd spend more time making it up to her again, and that's almost enough to convince her that it'd be worthwhile.
13. View
She goes hiking one day out of restlessness; he tags along, complaining all the while, but by the time they reach the top of the mountain, both of them are glad they've got someone to share it with.
14. Music
She hears him sometimes when he's on the beach alone, singing to himself, and sometimes she catches him staring at the case of Charlie's guitar, and she wonders if he plays; somehow it seems like the sort of things he'd be good at.
15. Silk
The dress they give her is high-hemmed and flowery, the sort of thing a girl might wear on the beach if she'd actually intended to be there in the first place; it's nice, he thinks, and it suits her, but he's already missing the sight of her dirty, torn cargoes and the plain t-shirts she always manages to find.
16. Cover
She times her walk just right so that she's passing his tent when it begins to pour, knowing he'll pull her inside to keep her dry.
17. Promise
She remembers him telling her to find his daughter, remembers later wondering where she'd even start, remembers that she's never been good at keeping promises, but now, standing on Cassidy's porch, she has to wonder if she'd have kept it if anyone but him had asked her to.
18. Dream
It's not the first time he's woken up shaking, his breathing coming hard and heavy, hands curled into fists and tears welling in his eyes, but it is the first time someone's been there to ask him if he's alright; the concern in her eyes is unnerving.
19. Candle
He doesn't know the day his daughter was born, but he knows when Aaron was, remembers lurking in the jungle, watching her help Claire, remembers wanting so much to reach out to her, to wrap her in a hug and tell her he's never been more proud; the next year, he sticks a candle in a cupcake and hopes that, wherever they are, she is still taking care of the kid.
20. Talent
He doesn't like to acknowledge how much it stings that Kate always comes to him when Jack wants something particularly badly, but they both know she's their weak spot, and Sawyer is willing to let her play him because it's as close as she'll ever come to admitting that whatever they have between them is something special.
21. Silence
He's long since grown used to the crash of waves and the whisper of palm trees and the sounds of conversation all around, but these days he's gone deaf to all of it, straining his ears for the one voice that matters, letting him know she's made it back alive.
22. Journey
She remembers asking him why he needed so much to be hated, and she remembers him so much later, running after Jack so he wouldn't get himself killed; she doubts she'll ever tell him how proud she is of him, but she thinks he can probably see it in her face anyway.
23. Fire
It's not the first time he's thought about destroying the letter, though it's the first time he's nearly done so, but even if she thinks she can find a good man somewhere in him, it's not enough to convince him that he deserves to let it go, so he flicks the lighter closed again, folds up the paper, and tells himself that he's waiting for her to prove him wrong.
24. Strength
They've all seen him with his shirt off enough times to know that he's certainly not weak, but she still catches that look in his eyes sometimes, like he's still the little boy hiding under the bed, and she wonders how he's managed to make it this long without breaking.
25. Mask
He never tells her where he was or what happened, but something in his face is different and she realises suddenly that Sawyer is gone; he's just James now.
26. Ice
Jack tells her the antibiotics will take care of the fever, but she hates feeling so useless, waiting for him recover, so she smooths an ice cube across his burning forehead and chapped lips and tries not to wake him; he stirs once, lips brushing the inside of her wrist like the hint of a kiss and she's thankful for once that his eyes are closed so he can't see the shiver that runs through her body.
27. Fall
He jumps to save her so that she can go on living; she returns to find he's already saved himself with someone else.
28. Forgotten
He tells Horace that he can barely remember her face; the next day he stands in a valley staring at the impossible and wonders how he ever managed it.
29. Dance
He lets her baby him about going to see the Doc because it's worth it to see the look in her eyes when she goes to help him up and finds herself nearly pressed against him, her hand still grasping his and her breath catching in her throat before she smiles, wide and happy and all for him.
30. Body
It's not that he means to spy on her, really; it's just that it's been a long time since he felt anything for anyone, and he finds her curves to be something rather wonderful.
31. Sacred
She has always been afraid of cages, but his rough hands hold her tight and secure despite the bars pressing at her back; there's something like amazement in the way he's touching her so softly, and she wonders if he's seeing her like she's seeing him, sunlight reflecting golden off his blond hair and his eyes more gentle than she's ever seen them before.
32. Farewells
She goes with Jack because she can't bear to see him leave, the thought lumping in her throat like the sort of permanence she's always tried to avoid; goodbyes have always been too final, and she's not ready to lose him just yet.
33. World
He wishes he could say he at least knows how far away she is, but he's not sure where the Island is and he's not actually sure it's part of the world, and not knowing how far he'd have to go to find her scares him more than knowing she'll never come back.
34. Formal
He calls her Kate and it sounds odd on his voice, like talking to a stranger, and she wonders when she started thinking of herself as Freckles.
35. Fever
He hears her say she feels something for him and it's enough to make him open his eyes to see her tearful smile; later she'll tell him his fever made him delirious, and he'll let her get away with it even though it's clear she's lying, but he can't quite keep the stupid smile off his face.
36. Laugh
His eyes are warmer when he laughs and she finds fragments of a good man in his smile even (especially) when he's making fun of her.
37. Lies
"I only said it so he'd stop hitting you," she says, and he wonders which of them she's trying to convince.
38. Forever
"I never been married," he says, and tries to ignore the feeling like cold, heavy rocks settling in his stomach when she takes a tiny sip; marriage means commitment and forever and that doesn't seem her style.
39. Overwhelmed
He's been carrying the same piece of paper in his pocket for nearly twenty years without showing it to anyone; she's the first one to read it and the first one to discover the truth about it, and the fact that she hasn't run away yet is enough to leave him speechless.
40. Whisper
He tells her to find his daughter, just before he jumps, and even through her shock at losing him, there's a voice in the back of her head saying, "We could have had one, too."
41. Wait
He tells Juliet he'll wait as long as it takes for Locke to bring their people back so they can fix things, and she nods like she believes him, but they both know he's only waiting for her.
42. Talk
She tells him to shut up because he's far too good at figuring her out and she cannot afford to let him ask questions; she knows he thinks it's about Jack, but he still stays silent, and it's just as well because, broken as she is, she can't find words to thank him for still caring.
43. Search
He's only known her for a little over a week, and even if he's joking when he tells her they have a connection, he can't deny that something about her feels familiar, like something he'd misplaced long ago that he's suddenly found again by accident.
44. Hope
It's been three years, and even though she's got Aaron and she's sworn she's never leaving, part of her wants Jack to be right, because she's never really been able to let him go.
45. Eclipse
He sits outside his tent and stares across the water at the pillar of smoke from the freighter and drinks until the emptiness that's shaped like her is dark enough to blot out the sun.
46. Gravity
She's spent her entire life running and never looking back, but these days she finds herself going in circles, always coming back to him somehow.
47. Highway
He has a hazy memory of having seen her before, eyes dancing behind the window of the car next to him as she dares him to race her.
48. Unknown
Jack tells him, "You said you loved her," and while he acts indignant and protests it and says he was delirious and doesn't remember anyway, it never occurs to him to question whether he meant it or not; they both know it's true.
49. Lock
When he goes back three years later, the lock that she broke to get him out is still lying on the ground; it makes him smile.
50. Breathe
He's been strangely happy for more than two years when he comes across the toy airplane tucked away amongst the things he brought back from the beach, and suddenly he tastes salt on his tongue, feels water in his lungs, and hears the throb of the props on the air; he takes to carrying the airplane in his pocket beside the empty space where the letter used to be and never quite manages to remember what it's like to breathe without pain.