Tracker, Chapter 9
Title: Tracker, Chapter 9
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Skate, Jana, others
Disclaimer: I don't own LOST
Summary: Set during S2, immediately post-WKD, Kate, Sawyer and several other characters go off into the jungle after Michael, learning secrets of the Island along the way.
Spoilers: Season 2
A/N: Tracker is an extremely lengthy, multi-chapter fanfic that I wrote during Season Two. I plan on posting a couple of chapters a day if I can, so please check back! By the way, blame kirvash if you get hooked on it. Thanks for reading!
Chapter 9
The sun was barely up and already Ana was dripping with perspiration; she pushed a sweaty strand of hair from her eyes and glanced around. Locke was ahead of her, examining some footprints and Jack was a few yards behind, watching Locke; he had been quiet so far, not really saying much to her and completely ignoring John.
Locke intrigued her. He talked like a lunatic, but Ana knew crazy...and John wasn't crazy. A little spooky, maybe.
He was crouching down, touching his fingertips to slight indentations in the soil and he didn't look up as she approached. "Something is different about these tracks," he said, frowning to himself. "They've shifted the way they are walking, their posture is different." He scratched his head, then glanced up at Ana.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
Locke eyed her steadily for a moment, then pointed at one of the clearer indentations. "This is Jin's print. It's larger than Michael's, and deeper, because he's heavier." He looked up at Ana, who was watching with interest. He smiled, and pointed to the deepest part of the depression. "Usually the heel is the deepest part of a human track, because so much force comes down on it. But this is the ball of his foot. Something is weighing them down, in the front, like they are carrying weights."
"Any idea of what it could be?"
"Nope." he said, and stood, taking out his water bottle. He took a drink, watching her from the corner of his eye; he'd noticed that Jack was watching them suspiciously. He'd shaken Jack last night, he knew, with his comments about patience and Jack's downfall.
Ana nodded at the ground. "Where did you learn all that stuff?"
He smiled, and took another drink. He recapped his bottle before he answered her. "Here and there." He chuckled. "Mostly here."
"Mmm." she nodded. "Is that why you were in Australia? Were you going on walkabout or something?"
Locke flinched; that was closer to home than she knew, he thought. What was her game? He rubbed his forehead in an irritated gesture and kind of squinted at Ana. "Something like that." He paused. "Is there something in particular you want to know, Ana?"
She smiled at the direct question. Her last statement had definitely touched a nerve. "What did you mean last night, when you told Jack he was lost?"
John considered the question, watching Jack pace and stare a few feet away and he wondered briefly if Ana had been sent to interrogate him but quickly dismissed the idea; Jack wasn't that subtle. "Jack doesn't have faith. In the island, in himself." He dropped his voice to a near whisper, forcing Ana to move closer in order to hear him. "You've seen how he drives himself, haven't you? You saw it yesterday. Jack has demons...and they hound his steps. We all have demons," he added, looking at her intently. "But they are nipping at Jack's heels, now, he can feel their breath on his skin. So he drives harder. And harder. And he will never get what he is after." Ana was captivated by Locke's voice, because he was describing her, how she felt every day. "The island could...help Jack, but he refuses to let it. Because he refuses to have faith. It brought us all here, Ana, for a reason. It found us. But until Jack accepts that, he will be lost." He smiled at her.
Her stomach was rolling. She looked at Locke, hard, and asked him, evenly, "Why do you believe in it, John? How did it help you?"
He looked away, smiling; if only you knew, he thought. "It gave me something back," he said, starting up the trail. "Something I lost." He disappeared into the brush.
Ana stared after him for a moment, until Jack caught up to her.
She could tell he was bursting to ask her; since last night his animosity towards Locke had increased to the point that Ana feared she was eventually going to be breaking up a fistfight, if not worse. He was calmer today, but just as hostile. "What was that all about?" he asked, sounding a little jealous, she noted.
"He was telling me about tracking," she said. "The tracks have changed, he said it looked like they were carrying weights." They fell into step following Locke, who they could just make out through the brush. "He's not that bad of a guy."
Jack glared at her. "Well, you don't know him as well as I do."
Ana gave Jack a sharp look. "I know him better than you think, Jack. You might want to do yourself a favor and have a little faith in him." She threw the words out, fishing for a reaction.
Jack felt like she hit him; when he asked her to drug Sawyer she had done it without hesitation and in that instant, in his mind, she shifted into Kate's spot as his right hand. It just felt right; and now her words felt like betrayal. She glanced at him, and he looked back sadly. "I don't have faith in anyone," he said, and he sped up, leaving her staring after him.
* * * * *
The alarm was ringing and Kate reached out from under the covers to shut it off, hit the snooze, something; her head felt stuffy and the alarm was making it throb. Her hands met empty air and she raised her head, sleepily. "Oh, sh*t. The button!" she jumped down from the bed, barely registering the fact that she was in the top bunk. I can't believe I was asleep, she cursed herself. She felt herself blush a little. Well, maybe I can.
She dashed to the computer, sleepily punching in the numbers and just as she hit execute Hurley came lumbering around the corner, puffing. He had some fruit and a bottle of water in his hand and he stopped dead, dropping the water when he saw Kate; he stared at her. "Dude."
She suddenly realized she was wearing just her panties and a tank top; thank God she had the presence of mind last night to put some clothes on, even over Sawyer's objections. She felt her face redden again as she thought of him.
Hurley apparently thoght she was blushing over her semi-nudeness and he turned away to pick up his water. "I was sleeping," Kate offered lamely, realizing that Sawyer would be in plain view behind her should Hurley look that way. And he didn't have any clothes on. She moved slightly to try and block Hurley's view.
"RRRRRight." said Hurley, obviously not buying her story and she kicked herself for not thinking things through completely. "Anyways, Sawyer told me not to wake you up, 'cause you were really tired from taking care of him?" Kate didn't miss the gleam in his eyes. "So, I just let you sleep, cause it's my shift anyway."
Kate was a little confused. "Oh, okay." She glanced back at the bunk; Sawyer was gone. Her heart sank a little. "Do you know where he went?"
"The beach, I think." Hurley cast his eyes everywhere but Kate, trying not to look at her. Sawyer scared him a little, and he didn't think Sawyer would appreciate him seeing Kate in her underwear; he had a brief vision of himself being roasted on a spit and he swallowed hard. Dude, would you please go put on your clothes! he thought desperately.
Kate noticed his discomfort and grinned. She patted him on the back. "Thanks, Hurley."
He nodded, still avoiding her. "No problem."
She went back to the bunks and slipped into her jeans. She wasn't really surprised that he was gone, but she was disappointed and she started making up the bed, smoothing the rumpled sheets and blanket; that made her face redden again. There had been two Sawyers in the bunk with her last night; one sweet and tender, the other rough and demanding and they co-existed in harmony, the light and the dark, and she had never felt anything like it before. How could he be tender and hard at the same time? She shivered, remembering his body beneath her; his fingers gripping her hair, pulling her down to him...
She shook her head, clearing it and she noticed Sawyer's pills on the shelf behind the bunk and she picked them up, laughing. He was such a baby. How did he survive in the real world? Her eyes fell on something else; a bottle with a note stuck under it. She picked up the bottle, it was the one Sawyer had given her last night, after they...she read the note, and her eyes narrowed. For an instant she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Damn him. She reread the note, smiling in spite of the knot of dread that was growing in the pit of her stomach. "Payback's a b*itch, Freckles. Recognize the bottle?"
She did. It was the one Ana had given Sawyer yesterday. He drugged me, she thought incredulously as a slow, reluctant smile played around her lips. "Okay, sport," she muttered to herself, "You wanna play..." Grabbing her pack and the bottle she went out to where Hurley sat in front of the computer, reading Watership Down. He looked up and seemed immensely relieved to see that she was dressed. "Good book?"
Hurley nodded. "It's about rabbits." She nodded, laughing to herself. She knew all about the bunnies.
"How long ago did Sawyer leave?" Hurley glanced up at the counter, it was on 54:00. "It was right after I came on, sooo, about two and a half executes ago."
Kate laughed. "That's cute, Hurley." She did the calculation. "So about four and a half hours. Not too big a lead." She was getting excited; sure, she was worried about Sawyer, but he was going to do this craziness no matter what she said...so she was going to enjoy it. She swung her pack onto her back and left the hatch, grinning.
* * * * * * *
Michael woke to Jin bending over him, looking worried. He blinked- daylight. He sighed, thankful that the blindfold was gone. "Hey, man," he said to Jin, his voice thick and dry. "You okay?"
Jin looked haggard. They were both thirsty, they hadn't had water in hours and the walk through the jungle was like a dream...dark and hazy and timeless. He nodded to Michael. "Okay." He smiled.
Michael sat up, licking his lips but his mouth was too dry. He looked around. They were in a fence, like a pen; the walls were eight feet high and the top was open. He stood and stretched his sore muscles, then went to the closest wall and began inspecting it; it was solid, that he could see, whoever built it knew what they were doing. They were three poles thick and embedded into the ground. He sighed and began checking the walls for weaknesses, not really expecting to find any and finally he gave up and sat wearily on the ground. Jin was looking at him sadly and he said something in Korean.
Michael nodded. "Yeah, they're pretty solid. Betcha wish you'd gone back when you had the chance." He glanced sadly and regretfully at him.
Jin didn't get all of the words, but he caught the sentiment. "No," he said, solemnly. "I stay."
They sat quietly, defeated.
* * * * *
Sawyer was beginning to hate that alarm. He was wrapped up in Kate's arms, her hair spread all over and he was playing idly with it, twisting it in his fingers as Kate was tracing delicious circles on his stomach, her head resting on his chest. They had not slept and neither of them felt remotely tired; he felt charged, like he'd been struck by lightning and he could feel his skin thrumming beneath hers. Then that damn alarm! Kate rolled out of the bed and hurried into the hatch, typing in the numbers.
Sawyer rolled up too, and reached for his pack, for some water. He lifted out the bottle' there was a little bit still sloshing around in the bottom and he eyed it carefully, then a slow, wicked smile spread across his face and he went to the kitchen, taking the bottle with him. He added a little water to it, recapped it, then shook it hard. He cupped his hand under the faucet and drank a little himself, splashing his face a little too. The cool water felt nice. He went back to the bunks.
For a brief second he reconsidered what he was about to do. He could stay, curl up into a ball with her under the covers, and never come out; they could spend the rest of their lives on this island in that bunk, and he would be happy. But he needed to do this- he needed to save Walt, to be able to forgive himself. Kate's words from the night before had scared him; he was suddenly afraid that he didn't deserve any of this, any of her because she was wrong, she was good enough. He had to do this to be worthy of her.
She was putting on her shirt. "Where'd you go?" she asked, glancing up at him. He wavered, but his demons got the best of him and he handed her the water bottle; the instant it left his fingers he itched to take it back but it was too late. Kate took the bottle, smiled sweetly at him, then reached up and kissed him gently, pressing herself against him.
"Damn, Freckles," he said, groaning slightly, "I'm gonna have to get your water more often."
She released him, grinning. "Which was my plan all along." She took a long drink of water.
He was watching her, feeling like a dog. Damn her. "Why you puttin' clothes back on?" he asked.
"Someone is sure to be here soon, Sawyer. I don't really want random people seeing me in the buff." She glanced down at him, pointedly. "And it might be a good idea for you to cover up a bit." He glared at her.
"I don't give a damn who sees me, sweetcheeks. I ain't got nothin' to be ashamed of."
"Well, that's true. You got me there." She snickered. "But I think Charlie's shift is next, so..." she cocked her head innocently at him.
"Well, then I guess ol' Chuckie will just have another reason to be jealous of me." He climbed into the bunk without putting anything on but Kate noticed he did pull the covers up high. She smiled and took another sip of water.
Sawyer gazed at her, watching while she drank again. Oh, well, he thought, it's done now. He saw her coming toward him and he lifted the covers, inviting her in but she stepped over him and climbed into the top bunk. "What the hell are you doin', Freckles?"
"I'm tired, Sawyer. I didn't get to sleep as much as you today." There was an edge of sarcasm, and Sawyer's guilt over drugging her disappeared in a flash.
"I'll bet you are tired, sweetheart," he purred, and she fought the urge to climb back down. But she was tired...it had been a long day, and very stressful. She could hear Sawyer breathing below her...she was sleepy...
Sawyer waited until she was out, then he quickly wrote the note and left it sitting by his pill bottle; he stood by her side for a minute, watching her sleep as a strand of hair hung in front of her mouth, fluttering with every breath. He brushed it away, tenderly, then kissed her gently. "See you in the morning."
Hurley was coming in, yawning and stretching and he looked up in surprise at Sawyer and grinned. "Hey dude," he said, looking at Sawyer's shoulder. "Glad to see you're doing good."
Sawyer stopped in surprise. "Th-thanks," he said. "Hey, listen, I'm goin' back to the beach. Kate is sleeping, she was tired, you know, taking care of my shoulder...so, do me a favor and don't wake her, huh?"
Hurley glanced at the top bunk, where Kate was snoring softly. Taking care of his shoulder, right. He smiled. "Yeah, sure man, no problem."
Sawyer took one last wistful look at her sleeping body and went out into the humid morning air.
* * * * *
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Skate, Jana, others
Disclaimer: I don't own LOST
Summary: Set during S2, immediately post-WKD, Kate, Sawyer and several other characters go off into the jungle after Michael, learning secrets of the Island along the way.
Spoilers: Season 2
A/N: Tracker is an extremely lengthy, multi-chapter fanfic that I wrote during Season Two. I plan on posting a couple of chapters a day if I can, so please check back! By the way, blame kirvash if you get hooked on it. Thanks for reading!
Chapter 9
The sun was barely up and already Ana was dripping with perspiration; she pushed a sweaty strand of hair from her eyes and glanced around. Locke was ahead of her, examining some footprints and Jack was a few yards behind, watching Locke; he had been quiet so far, not really saying much to her and completely ignoring John.
Locke intrigued her. He talked like a lunatic, but Ana knew crazy...and John wasn't crazy. A little spooky, maybe.
He was crouching down, touching his fingertips to slight indentations in the soil and he didn't look up as she approached. "Something is different about these tracks," he said, frowning to himself. "They've shifted the way they are walking, their posture is different." He scratched his head, then glanced up at Ana.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
Locke eyed her steadily for a moment, then pointed at one of the clearer indentations. "This is Jin's print. It's larger than Michael's, and deeper, because he's heavier." He looked up at Ana, who was watching with interest. He smiled, and pointed to the deepest part of the depression. "Usually the heel is the deepest part of a human track, because so much force comes down on it. But this is the ball of his foot. Something is weighing them down, in the front, like they are carrying weights."
"Any idea of what it could be?"
"Nope." he said, and stood, taking out his water bottle. He took a drink, watching her from the corner of his eye; he'd noticed that Jack was watching them suspiciously. He'd shaken Jack last night, he knew, with his comments about patience and Jack's downfall.
Ana nodded at the ground. "Where did you learn all that stuff?"
He smiled, and took another drink. He recapped his bottle before he answered her. "Here and there." He chuckled. "Mostly here."
"Mmm." she nodded. "Is that why you were in Australia? Were you going on walkabout or something?"
Locke flinched; that was closer to home than she knew, he thought. What was her game? He rubbed his forehead in an irritated gesture and kind of squinted at Ana. "Something like that." He paused. "Is there something in particular you want to know, Ana?"
She smiled at the direct question. Her last statement had definitely touched a nerve. "What did you mean last night, when you told Jack he was lost?"
John considered the question, watching Jack pace and stare a few feet away and he wondered briefly if Ana had been sent to interrogate him but quickly dismissed the idea; Jack wasn't that subtle. "Jack doesn't have faith. In the island, in himself." He dropped his voice to a near whisper, forcing Ana to move closer in order to hear him. "You've seen how he drives himself, haven't you? You saw it yesterday. Jack has demons...and they hound his steps. We all have demons," he added, looking at her intently. "But they are nipping at Jack's heels, now, he can feel their breath on his skin. So he drives harder. And harder. And he will never get what he is after." Ana was captivated by Locke's voice, because he was describing her, how she felt every day. "The island could...help Jack, but he refuses to let it. Because he refuses to have faith. It brought us all here, Ana, for a reason. It found us. But until Jack accepts that, he will be lost." He smiled at her.
Her stomach was rolling. She looked at Locke, hard, and asked him, evenly, "Why do you believe in it, John? How did it help you?"
He looked away, smiling; if only you knew, he thought. "It gave me something back," he said, starting up the trail. "Something I lost." He disappeared into the brush.
Ana stared after him for a moment, until Jack caught up to her.
She could tell he was bursting to ask her; since last night his animosity towards Locke had increased to the point that Ana feared she was eventually going to be breaking up a fistfight, if not worse. He was calmer today, but just as hostile. "What was that all about?" he asked, sounding a little jealous, she noted.
"He was telling me about tracking," she said. "The tracks have changed, he said it looked like they were carrying weights." They fell into step following Locke, who they could just make out through the brush. "He's not that bad of a guy."
Jack glared at her. "Well, you don't know him as well as I do."
Ana gave Jack a sharp look. "I know him better than you think, Jack. You might want to do yourself a favor and have a little faith in him." She threw the words out, fishing for a reaction.
Jack felt like she hit him; when he asked her to drug Sawyer she had done it without hesitation and in that instant, in his mind, she shifted into Kate's spot as his right hand. It just felt right; and now her words felt like betrayal. She glanced at him, and he looked back sadly. "I don't have faith in anyone," he said, and he sped up, leaving her staring after him.
* * * * *
The alarm was ringing and Kate reached out from under the covers to shut it off, hit the snooze, something; her head felt stuffy and the alarm was making it throb. Her hands met empty air and she raised her head, sleepily. "Oh, sh*t. The button!" she jumped down from the bed, barely registering the fact that she was in the top bunk. I can't believe I was asleep, she cursed herself. She felt herself blush a little. Well, maybe I can.
She dashed to the computer, sleepily punching in the numbers and just as she hit execute Hurley came lumbering around the corner, puffing. He had some fruit and a bottle of water in his hand and he stopped dead, dropping the water when he saw Kate; he stared at her. "Dude."
She suddenly realized she was wearing just her panties and a tank top; thank God she had the presence of mind last night to put some clothes on, even over Sawyer's objections. She felt her face redden again as she thought of him.
Hurley apparently thoght she was blushing over her semi-nudeness and he turned away to pick up his water. "I was sleeping," Kate offered lamely, realizing that Sawyer would be in plain view behind her should Hurley look that way. And he didn't have any clothes on. She moved slightly to try and block Hurley's view.
"RRRRRight." said Hurley, obviously not buying her story and she kicked herself for not thinking things through completely. "Anyways, Sawyer told me not to wake you up, 'cause you were really tired from taking care of him?" Kate didn't miss the gleam in his eyes. "So, I just let you sleep, cause it's my shift anyway."
Kate was a little confused. "Oh, okay." She glanced back at the bunk; Sawyer was gone. Her heart sank a little. "Do you know where he went?"
"The beach, I think." Hurley cast his eyes everywhere but Kate, trying not to look at her. Sawyer scared him a little, and he didn't think Sawyer would appreciate him seeing Kate in her underwear; he had a brief vision of himself being roasted on a spit and he swallowed hard. Dude, would you please go put on your clothes! he thought desperately.
Kate noticed his discomfort and grinned. She patted him on the back. "Thanks, Hurley."
He nodded, still avoiding her. "No problem."
She went back to the bunks and slipped into her jeans. She wasn't really surprised that he was gone, but she was disappointed and she started making up the bed, smoothing the rumpled sheets and blanket; that made her face redden again. There had been two Sawyers in the bunk with her last night; one sweet and tender, the other rough and demanding and they co-existed in harmony, the light and the dark, and she had never felt anything like it before. How could he be tender and hard at the same time? She shivered, remembering his body beneath her; his fingers gripping her hair, pulling her down to him...
She shook her head, clearing it and she noticed Sawyer's pills on the shelf behind the bunk and she picked them up, laughing. He was such a baby. How did he survive in the real world? Her eyes fell on something else; a bottle with a note stuck under it. She picked up the bottle, it was the one Sawyer had given her last night, after they...she read the note, and her eyes narrowed. For an instant she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Damn him. She reread the note, smiling in spite of the knot of dread that was growing in the pit of her stomach. "Payback's a b*itch, Freckles. Recognize the bottle?"
She did. It was the one Ana had given Sawyer yesterday. He drugged me, she thought incredulously as a slow, reluctant smile played around her lips. "Okay, sport," she muttered to herself, "You wanna play..." Grabbing her pack and the bottle she went out to where Hurley sat in front of the computer, reading Watership Down. He looked up and seemed immensely relieved to see that she was dressed. "Good book?"
Hurley nodded. "It's about rabbits." She nodded, laughing to herself. She knew all about the bunnies.
"How long ago did Sawyer leave?" Hurley glanced up at the counter, it was on 54:00. "It was right after I came on, sooo, about two and a half executes ago."
Kate laughed. "That's cute, Hurley." She did the calculation. "So about four and a half hours. Not too big a lead." She was getting excited; sure, she was worried about Sawyer, but he was going to do this craziness no matter what she said...so she was going to enjoy it. She swung her pack onto her back and left the hatch, grinning.
* * * * * * *
Michael woke to Jin bending over him, looking worried. He blinked- daylight. He sighed, thankful that the blindfold was gone. "Hey, man," he said to Jin, his voice thick and dry. "You okay?"
Jin looked haggard. They were both thirsty, they hadn't had water in hours and the walk through the jungle was like a dream...dark and hazy and timeless. He nodded to Michael. "Okay." He smiled.
Michael sat up, licking his lips but his mouth was too dry. He looked around. They were in a fence, like a pen; the walls were eight feet high and the top was open. He stood and stretched his sore muscles, then went to the closest wall and began inspecting it; it was solid, that he could see, whoever built it knew what they were doing. They were three poles thick and embedded into the ground. He sighed and began checking the walls for weaknesses, not really expecting to find any and finally he gave up and sat wearily on the ground. Jin was looking at him sadly and he said something in Korean.
Michael nodded. "Yeah, they're pretty solid. Betcha wish you'd gone back when you had the chance." He glanced sadly and regretfully at him.
Jin didn't get all of the words, but he caught the sentiment. "No," he said, solemnly. "I stay."
They sat quietly, defeated.
* * * * *
Sawyer was beginning to hate that alarm. He was wrapped up in Kate's arms, her hair spread all over and he was playing idly with it, twisting it in his fingers as Kate was tracing delicious circles on his stomach, her head resting on his chest. They had not slept and neither of them felt remotely tired; he felt charged, like he'd been struck by lightning and he could feel his skin thrumming beneath hers. Then that damn alarm! Kate rolled out of the bed and hurried into the hatch, typing in the numbers.
Sawyer rolled up too, and reached for his pack, for some water. He lifted out the bottle' there was a little bit still sloshing around in the bottom and he eyed it carefully, then a slow, wicked smile spread across his face and he went to the kitchen, taking the bottle with him. He added a little water to it, recapped it, then shook it hard. He cupped his hand under the faucet and drank a little himself, splashing his face a little too. The cool water felt nice. He went back to the bunks.
For a brief second he reconsidered what he was about to do. He could stay, curl up into a ball with her under the covers, and never come out; they could spend the rest of their lives on this island in that bunk, and he would be happy. But he needed to do this- he needed to save Walt, to be able to forgive himself. Kate's words from the night before had scared him; he was suddenly afraid that he didn't deserve any of this, any of her because she was wrong, she was good enough. He had to do this to be worthy of her.
She was putting on her shirt. "Where'd you go?" she asked, glancing up at him. He wavered, but his demons got the best of him and he handed her the water bottle; the instant it left his fingers he itched to take it back but it was too late. Kate took the bottle, smiled sweetly at him, then reached up and kissed him gently, pressing herself against him.
"Damn, Freckles," he said, groaning slightly, "I'm gonna have to get your water more often."
She released him, grinning. "Which was my plan all along." She took a long drink of water.
He was watching her, feeling like a dog. Damn her. "Why you puttin' clothes back on?" he asked.
"Someone is sure to be here soon, Sawyer. I don't really want random people seeing me in the buff." She glanced down at him, pointedly. "And it might be a good idea for you to cover up a bit." He glared at her.
"I don't give a damn who sees me, sweetcheeks. I ain't got nothin' to be ashamed of."
"Well, that's true. You got me there." She snickered. "But I think Charlie's shift is next, so..." she cocked her head innocently at him.
"Well, then I guess ol' Chuckie will just have another reason to be jealous of me." He climbed into the bunk without putting anything on but Kate noticed he did pull the covers up high. She smiled and took another sip of water.
Sawyer gazed at her, watching while she drank again. Oh, well, he thought, it's done now. He saw her coming toward him and he lifted the covers, inviting her in but she stepped over him and climbed into the top bunk. "What the hell are you doin', Freckles?"
"I'm tired, Sawyer. I didn't get to sleep as much as you today." There was an edge of sarcasm, and Sawyer's guilt over drugging her disappeared in a flash.
"I'll bet you are tired, sweetheart," he purred, and she fought the urge to climb back down. But she was tired...it had been a long day, and very stressful. She could hear Sawyer breathing below her...she was sleepy...
Sawyer waited until she was out, then he quickly wrote the note and left it sitting by his pill bottle; he stood by her side for a minute, watching her sleep as a strand of hair hung in front of her mouth, fluttering with every breath. He brushed it away, tenderly, then kissed her gently. "See you in the morning."
Hurley was coming in, yawning and stretching and he looked up in surprise at Sawyer and grinned. "Hey dude," he said, looking at Sawyer's shoulder. "Glad to see you're doing good."
Sawyer stopped in surprise. "Th-thanks," he said. "Hey, listen, I'm goin' back to the beach. Kate is sleeping, she was tired, you know, taking care of my shoulder...so, do me a favor and don't wake her, huh?"
Hurley glanced at the top bunk, where Kate was snoring softly. Taking care of his shoulder, right. He smiled. "Yeah, sure man, no problem."
Sawyer took one last wistful look at her sleeping body and went out into the humid morning air.
* * * * *