Missing In Action (PG)

[littletonpace]

Title: Missing In Action
Rating: Pg-13
Summary: Sawyer had a wife? Yes, he did. Amelia "Mia" Rowan. And she, too, was a passenger on Flight 815. She has secrets of her own that she's desperate to keep from everybody; most of all her estranged husband. If they seem to hate each other so much; why were they on the plane together?
Status of Fic: WIP
Author's Notes: This is original character centric set in season 1. It won't go episode by episode; but it will follow the seasons with notes in the title where in the show each chapter is set.
Disclaimer: The character of Amelia Rowan is my own creation, but (unfortunately) I do not own the other characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Lost.” JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof created them and they belong to them, Touchstone, and ABC.

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Chapter 1: In My Place

(1x01-1x03)

Amelia Rowan zipped up her light gray hoodie and made her way to one of the larger fires that had been set up on the beach. Her watch had shattered in the crash the day before so she estimated the time to be around seven or eight o’clock. Eating time. She was surprised everyone was still pretty much normal considered what they’d heard in the jungle the night before; that horrendous whooping clicking noise that sounded like it was crushing through trees. No one seemed to want to talk about what it could be; Amelia was definitely trying to put it out of her mind.

The heavy-set, wiry haired young man, Hurley, was passing out airplane food to the survivors. He caught Amelia on her way to the fire and handed her what looked like a chicken dish.

“Here you go, dude,” He said. “It’s kinda cold but it’s food, right?”

“Thanks.” Amelia smiled made her way to the young, blonde pregnant girl and sat beside her on the piece of plane wreckage by the crackling fire.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Amelia asked as she peeled back the wrapping of her meal.

“Oh, I’m fine.” Claire smiled and poked her plastic fork around at her food. “This could be a little more appetizing, though...”

Amelia forked a piece of pale chicken and smelled it. “Yeh, well I guess Oceanic had to cut corners somewhere.” Her stomach growled so she hesitantly starting eating.

The pregnant blonde giggled. “I’m Claire.” She offered her hand to Amelia.

“Oh, Amelia.” She replied. “Mia.” She shook her hand. “Good to meet you.”

“You, too.” Claire grinned and went back to her food. “So us Australians are pretty scarce, huh? Seems like everyone I meet is American.”

Mia nodded and swallowed down some chicken; it actually wasn’t that bad. “That’s what we get for flying back to L.A., I guess.”

“So, what was that fight about before?” Claire asked a moment later. “The one you broke up with that Southern guy?”

That Southern guy...Mia thought...that’s all he is. “Oh, just...idiots being idiots.” She replied vaguely. Claire seemed to get that Mia didn’t want to talk about it; because she didn’t ask any more questions.

After Mia left Claire to get some rest, she took a wander through the camp. Two days they’d been shipwrecked; surely someone would have come for them if they were going to. Mia had mainly kept to herself. Other than helping Hurley gather food the day of the crash and her dinner with Claire; she hadn’t really talked to any other survivors. From listening; she knew the doctor was Jack, the brunette who was often with him was Kate, the bald guy was Locke, the beauty queen Shannon and her cute brother, Boone, and the Arab guy was Sayid; the one she’d separated from fighting with Sawyer.

As she thought of his name; she caught him in her peripheral. Smoking; again. Didn’t seem to matter what she’d say to him; he was never able to give it up. With almost everyone asleep, Mia thought now was as good a time as any to talk to him. Maybe no one would see them. The most they’d said to each other was her yelling at him to back off when he was fighting with Sayid. Sawyer had pretty much made himself known as the resident jackass; so no one was approaching him.

Mia didn’t want anyone to know they had history; not if her wish came true and they were rescued tomorrow. She’d rather people didn’t think she would associate herself with someone like that. That’s why, only in the dead of the night, she dared talk to him.

“Are you trying to be hated everywhere you go?” Mia said, folding her arms and standing a good few feet from him.

“Nice to see you too, sweetheart.” Sawyer took a long draw from his cigarette and let out the puff of air slowly through his nostrils.

“Sawyer, it looks like we’ll be here awhile,” She started.

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you’ve changed your tune.” He said bitterly. “Hanging with the pregnant chick, making some new friends...you got it all figured out, huh?”

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to get on everyone’s bad side right off the bat.” Mia replied matter-of-factly.

“Come on, baby,” Sawyer took another drag. “You’ve known me long enough to know that ain’t gonna happen.”

Mia scoffed. “Yeah...I have.” She unfolded her arms and started to walk away.

“But you married me anyway.” Sawyer called after her.

When she turned around; he was smirking. That know-it-all smirk she’d used to think was charming; now it made her feel nauseous.

“Yeah, I did.” She spat over her shoulder. “Past tense, Sawyer.”

xxx

The next day, Mia got herself better acquainted with Claire by helping her gather up paperwork and passports. Really, as nice as Claire was, that was just a ruse. She wanted to find her shoulder bag. It had been in the overhead compartment above her on the plane but she’d woken up in the sand. She’d managed to find her plane seat half buried in the dirt just off the beach but hadn’t found the time to go trolling through the fuselage looking for it. Her memory of the crash was foggy. The plane had separated in the air so there was a chance her luggage was floating around in the ocean. But, considering her seat had made it safely to the beach she was hoping her bag had, too. Not only did it have some essential items like clothes, toiletries and her cell phone; it had something priceless. Something that was the reason she’d gotten on the plane in the first place.

After helping Claire for about an hour, Mia offered to go into the fuselage to retrieve more bags. Considering that that part of the plane was basically upside down and there was a handful of dead bodies in there; Claire didn’t even pretend not to be thrilled she wasn’t going back in.

Inside the fuselage, it was dark and it stank of death and decay. Mia clicked on the flashlight Claire had found in one of the bags and started searching. She breathed through her nose and tried not to look at the contorted bodies littering the aisles and slumped over in seats. Because of the angle, Mia had to climb up by stepping on the arm rests of the chairs. It was like climbing a very wide, very awkward ladder. It was tough to climb and hold the torch so she moved slowly, but the inevitable happened and she slipped. To stop herself falling, Mia dropped the torch and grabbed onto the headrest of the one of chairs. The torch bounced off her shoulder and landed in the window pane, shining its light right into the face of dead man. Mia gasped; she recognized him

Not by name or anything, but he’d been complaining about his headphones not working midflight; he’d been two seats in front of her; Mia had had a window seat, too. Slowly, taking the time to find her footing, Mia climbed into the empty chair beside the dead man and retrieved her torch. She shone the light over the chair and saw the row of missing chairs two seats back. And right above that; jackpot. The overhead compartment was still there; undamaged.

With a jolt of adrenaline, Mia clambered over to the row of chairs just behind the dead man; they creaked a little but seemed pretty solid. She reached up and opened the compartment and almost bounced up and down in happiness; her shoulder bag was there. It was upside down and smushed against the back along with a briefcase, a pillow and a laptop bag; but it was there. Her lucky bag with the torn shoulder strap and coffee stain that gave it a tie dyed effect. She’d had it for years.

A rummaging noise from behind Mia made her gasp and turn the torch around. She was sure she’d heard something or someone. But a quick, slow scan of the fuselage didn’t show her anything but more bodies and debris. She was starting to get the creeps so she thought it best to get back out onto the beach. Slinging the bag over her shoulder, Mia also nabbed the briefcase and laptop bag and started to make her way back out of the fuselage. She was climbing down the last couple of steps when she lost her footing and fell heavily to the floor.

“Ow!” She cried as she hit the ground.

“Whoa, careful! You alright?”

Mia looked up to see the doctor, Jack, reaching down to help her up. “Yeh, I’m fine.” And she was; it was just a heavy fall but she’d landed on her feet.

“What were you doing in there?” He asked, nodding his head into the fuselage.

“Oh, looking for my bag.” She proudly patted her shoulder bag. “Found it.” She felt a familiar lump in the front pocket and almost gasped. “Oh, my God, my wallet’s still in here.” She pulled out the leather wallet and opened it up; half expecting all her identification to be missing or something.

Jack smiled. “Lucky you.”

She could tell he was eying her driver’s license; as if subtlety trying to prove if she was who she was. Poor guy; he was suspicious of everyone. “Are you heading in there?” She jabbed her thumb to the fuselage.

“Yeh, the guy with shrapnel in his leg needs medication.” Jack rubbed the back off his head. “Thought I might see what some people have on them.”

“Claire, the pregnant girl, and I are searching bags.” Mia said. “We’ve found some pills. Just anti-depressants and Advil so far but you’re welcome to it.” She smiled.

“Thanks.” Jack smiled and started to head into the plane wreck.

“Oh, take this.” She handed him the torch. “You’ll need it.” She smiled at the handsome doctor one more time and then lugged the bags towards Claire. She handed her new friend the laptop bag and flopped to the sand next to her.

“Find anything good?” Claire asked.

“My bag.” She held up her lucky pack. “With all my identification still in it.”

“Score.” Claire winked.

Mia opened her bag and unzipped the main section where she expected to see what she was looking for. It wasn’t there. She knew she’d left the large yellow envelope on top of her clothes; it had been there when they’d taken off. She’d made herself double check. Now it was gone. “Dammit.” She muttered under her breath as she yanked out most of her clothes; knowing it wouldn't be in there.

“Everything ok?” Claire inquired.

“Yeh, yeh,” Mia stuffed her clothes back in her bag and sat it beside her. “Fine.” She gave Claire as genuine a smile as she could muster. “Everything’s fine.”

Mia forced herself to work with Claire for the rest of the day and just put the yellow envelope out of her mind. She spotted Jack leaving the fuselage about twenty minutes later and grabbed the medicines she’d discovered to give to him.

“Oh, thanks.” He said when she handed them to him.

“Did you find anything useful?” She cast her eyes over the still smoking fuselage.

“Not sure yet.” Jack gave her a shaky smile. “We’ll see. Hopefully Sawyer didn’t steal anything.”

“Sawyer?” Mia repeated.

“Yeh, that Southern guy. He was in there, too.” Jack shook his head in disbelief. “Looting from the dead, can you believe that?” He smiled his thanks at her again and headed off back up the beach.

“Yeah, I can.” She muttered under her breath.

By nightfall, it was hard to ignore the sounds of wailing agony coming from the makeshift tent Mia discovered Jack was keeping the man with the shrapnel. He was getting worse; and everyone on the beach knew it. Mia suddenly remembered she'd found some painkillers that afternoon while searching bags with Claire. She grabbed them from beside her lucky pack and went to find him.

Mia spotted Jack talking with Hurley about a hundred feet from the shrapnel guy’s tent. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but something Hurley said made Jack’s face contort in fear. He turned and started running towards the tent, from which Kate was exiting.

“Kate?!” Jack called.

Confused, Mia started to walk up behind him but jumped a mile when a loud gunshot fired through the silent night air. Startled, Mia dropped the handful of meds and covered her mouth as Sawyer came walking out of the tent with a gun dangling from his hand.

Jack stormed up to Sawyer with murder in his eyes. “What did you do?!”

“What you couldn’t!” Sawyer said back. “Look, I get where you're coming from being a doctor and all, but he wanted it. Hell, he asked me. So, I don't like it any more than you do, but something had to be done.”

A horribly, guttural groan of pain alerted both Jack and Sawyer that the shrapnel guy wasn’t through yet. Jack sped into the tent with Sawyer right after him. Mia, still stunned, took off after Kate.

“Kate!” Mia jogged in front of her and blocked her path. “What the hell happened in there?” She could see tears in the woman’s eyes. “Where’d the gun come from?”

“He’s a Marshall. He was after me.” Kate whispered. “He arrested me and was taking me back to LA in handcuffs.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter...” She gulped. “He was dying.” She wiped her eyes and pushed past Mia.

Mia was rooted to the spot, trying to process all of this information. Kate was a fugitive and had convinced Sawyer to kill someone. What the hell was this island doing to everybody?

Sawyer suddenly exited the tent looking extremely troubled. He whipped his cigarettes and lighter out of his pocket and tried to light one, but the lighter wouldn’t ignite. Frustration overcame him and he tossed the cigarette away cursing under his breath. “Dammit!”

“It’s a bad habit anyway.” Mia said as she came up to him. “But look on the bright side. In a few days you’ll be out of them and you’ll have to quit.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“There something you want?” He didn’t turn around to face her; he just spat his response over his shoulder.

“Where is it?”

“Where’s what?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I know you went looting through the fuselage and I know you have it.” She could feel her heart racing in anger. “I found my bag, zipped up but the envelope’s missing. You’re no fool; you wanted me to know it was gone.”

This time; he did turn to her. Whatever troubled look he’d had before was replaced by smug antagonism. “Not gonna do you any good now is it?” He drawled.

Mia could practically feel her blood boiling. “You promised me-”

“When we got to L.A.” He cut in. “That was the deal. Look around, M, we’re not in L.A. We’re not in Australia.” He let out his dry, Southern laugh. “Hell, we don’t know where we are.

“You promised me.” She growled through gritted teeth.

He squared his jaw and started towards her, staring her down. He stopped just by her shoulder and hissed - “Deal with it” - into her ear before storming off down the beach.

Mia was frozen in her anger. Of course, he hadn’t planned the crash, but he was even using this disaster to play her. It didn’t matter where they were; he would never change. Mia suddenly became aware of the silence in the air and then saw Jack looking forlorn as he exited the tent. He saw Mia and they shared a look; a look that told her the Marshall was definitely dead now. Then he left; walking off into the darkness alone.

Turning back to the camp, Mia noticed a handful of people moving around, most likely having been woken up by the gunshot, but Sawyer had already disappeared. Not sure where to go or what to do, Mia sat herself right there on the sand and rested her head against her knees. She listened to the sound of the waves; the peacefulness of them perturbed her. The ocean was so calm; yet on the island they were losing control. Sawyer had a gun, Kate was a criminal, people were dying, food was running out, water was drying up and rescue was nowhere to be seen. If this wasn't Hell; the Devil had a lot to live up to.

---

[Selah]

oOoOo is it cash in the envelope?! from a "score" they both did?! i wanna know!! i like this MIA. *short for missing in action, like you, my dear friend?*

i don't however like that she's playing Claire...tsk tsk.

chapter 2?!

[littletonpace]

Lol thanks I knew you'd like the MIA reference Chapter 2 went up on ff.net yesterday, but here it is for you now

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Chapter 2: Priceless

(1x04-1x05)

The morning after the Marshall’s death was a lot like the morning after they first heard those weird noises in the jungle in that no one seemed to want to talk about it. Mia and Claire went back to sorting paperwork; Mia hoping that maybe she’d find the yellow envelope and Sawyer was just messing with her. Heck; it wouldn’t be the first time. And if nothing else; she was at least working on her tan.

Sifting through another stack of what appeared to be pages from some sort of business file; Mia sighed quite audibly and reached for a damp briefcase of yellow folders. She sorted through them one by one but didn’t find her envelope.

“Looking for something?” Claire asked her.

“Hm?” Mia looked up at her.

“You mumble when you read.” Claire explained. “And you’ve sorted through like double what I have...”

“Yeah, just something I lost.” Mia smiled; trying to play off that it was no big deal. “Must have fallen out of my bag.” She grabbed for another stack of papers on top of which was a white envelope with Sayid written on it. “Hey,” She handed the envelope to Claire. “That guy’s name is Sayid, right?” She nodded her head at the Arab man sitting a few feet from them who was fiddling with something electronic.

Claire got Sayid’s attention and gave him his envelope; he was very grateful to get it back and abandoned his electronic project. Mia couldn’t help but feel a little jealous; she’d feel the same way if she found her envelope.

“Hey,” Sawyer’s drawl filtered into Mia’s ears and caught her a little off guard.

“What?” Mia snapped; unable to hide her annoyance.

“I, uh, found these...” He was holding a stack of wallets and passports. “I found ‘em when I was, ah...”

“Ransacking dead bodies?”

“Just take ‘em.” Sawyer pushed the items into her hands and walked away.

Claire noticed the icy interchange, it was hard not to. “So...you two are friends, huh?” She smiled but Mia didn’t look impressed. “I saw you two on the plane. You looked about as happy as you did then.”

Mia had blacked out at some point during the crash, but she did remember pieces of boarding Flight 815. She’d actually knocked into the man sitting in front of Claire on her way to her seat. She remembered being annoyed that Oceanic seated she and Sawyer together and hoping that once they got in the air she could change seats. “I was doing him a favour by flying with him.” She eventually admitted to Claire.

“He couldn’t go on his own?” Claire raised her eyebrows.

“Something like that.” Mia smiled; hoping she wouldn’t inquire any further. Thankfully, she didn’t.

It wasn’t that Mia didn’t trust Claire; she was the closest thing to a friend Mia had on this island; but surely that trust and burgeoning friendship between them would be severed if Claire found out that Mia had actually married Sawyer. Someone like her shouldn’t have fallen in love with someone like him. The fact that she hadn’t seen him in almost two years before the crash was proof that they weren’t right for each other.

Claire, genius that she was, came up with the idea to hold a memorial for the people in the fuselage. Jack was planning on setting it on fire that night to stop disease from spreading. And to hopefully signal any sort of rescue plane or vessel passing by. Boone and the Englishman, Charlie, were helping her out so Mia went in search of Kate who she found cleaning her shirt in the ocean further up the beach.

“Hey.” Mia called as she approached her.

“Oh, hey,” Kate emerged from the water and started wringing her shirt dry.

“Oh,” Mia’s eyes fell on a scratch across Kate’s cheek. “What happened?” She knew Kate, Locke and a guy named Michael had gone tromping off into the jungle earlier that day; but she didn’t know why. She had just seen them filing into the dense overgrowth.

“Just a scratch, no big deal. Jack gave me the all clear.” She smiled.

Mia couldn’t help but notice Kate looked a hell of a lot more at ease than she had the night before. “You look better.” She said sitting herself on the sand.

“Yeah...” Kate sat down beside her and they both looked out into the ocean. “Can I tell you something?”

“Okay...” Mia said carefully.

Kate drew in a deep breath. “Out in the jungle. That thing...whatever it was that made that weird noise? It...sort of attacked Locke.”

“Thing?” Mia repeated. “What do you mean, an animal or something?”

“I dunno.” Kate shook her head. “I didn’t see it exactly, but it was crushing through the trees.” She looked back over her shoulder into the jungle. “There’s something out there.”

“So...why are you telling me?” Mia asked. “I mean, shouldn’t everyone know-”

“No!” Kate said quickly. “No, it would just freak them out even more. I don’t think people can handle anymore weirdness.”

“So you want me to keep it a secret.”

“If you wouldn’t mind.” Kate gave her a wobbly smile. “And, ah, what I told you last night?”

“About being in cuffs?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t worry.” Mia smiled. “I won’t tell anyone.” She wanted to ask Kate what she had done that had put her in those cuffs, but she sensed it wasn’t anything good. Mia considered herself a good judge of character; and Kate, though coy, seemed genuine. And she was trusting Mia with some secrets... “I’m married to Sawyer.” She found herself admitting.

Kate’s head snapped to the side. “What?” She almost laughed.

Mia did laugh. “Yeah.”

“Wow...” Kate chuckled. “I’d never have guessed.”

“Please don’t tell anybody.” Mia pleaded. “It’s not the kind of thing I want broadcast to everybody. I mean, would you want to own up to marrying someone like that?”

Kate chewed her bottom lip and nodded. “I guess I see your point.”

“Hopefully we’ll get rescued soon and I won’t have to deal with it.” Mia said a little too exuberantly.

“Yeah...” Kate cast her eyes out to sea. “Rescued.”

And that was that. The pair of them sat there until the sunset and made their way to the memorial. Claire took charge reading off names while Boone and Hurley stood beside her with torches. Mia stood nearby the Korean couple who didn’t seem to be able to speak English and scanned the survivors, noting that Jack wasn’t there. After the memorial, Mia met up with Claire again and the two headed back to the little makeshift shelter they’d built themselves. Basically it was just a chunk of plane with a tarp pulled over it; but it kept them dry and that was the main thing. As Mia drifted off to sleep; she tried to slow her brain down. It kept ticking over with everything that had happened today. Not only had she broken the first promise she’d made to herself since they crashed and admitted to Kate that she was Sawyer’s wife, there was some sort of ‘thing’ in the jungle and, if this burning fuselage didn’t work, there was still no chance of rescue. Well, dammit, Mia thought as she felt sleep finally creep up on her. And I thought this would be just like Gilligan’s Island...

xxx

By lunchtime the next day, it seemed things were going from bad to worse. For starters; someone else had died. Joanna. Mia didn’t remember her at all; but she had drowned out in the ocean whilst going for a swim. Boone had almost drowned himself when he took off to save her. Though, unlike the previous shocking events of the past few days, this one seemed to have more of an effect. Maybe because this was the first person to die because of being on the island. She didn’t have any injuries from the crash; she’d just been swimming. Jack in particular was taking it very hard; he’d heard her screams and went to save her but came across Boone instead. He hadn’t been able to get back out to Joanna in time.

Mia was sitting with Claire slowly getting her new friend to drink some water. The heat combined with Claire’s pregnancy and their dire situation had caused the young woman to collapse earlier that day. Kate and Mia had been able to rouse her; but she was dehydrated and they were running low on water. Mia was sharing the last of what she had with Claire. They’d rounded up the last of the water bottles from the plane, but some genius had stolen them. And Mia had an idea of who it was.

Sayid agreed with her when he saw the Korean couple drinking from two full bottles of water. The husband pointed out Sawyer when Sayid had asked for that third time where he’d gotten it from. When Mia had moved towards her husband, Sayid had pulled her pack stating that he couldn’t see the water and ‘a rat will always lead you to its hole’.

Watching Sawyer without him noticing had always been difficult; but Mia managed to sneak peeks at him as she tended to Claire. He hung around the beach mostly just smoking his cigarettes and pilfering whatever he could find that might be worth something. But then, when no one was watching, he slipped into the jungle just off the shoreline. If Mia hadn’t have been paying attention she would have missed him. Leaving Claire in Charlie’s capable hands, Mia followed him.

She spotted her estranged husband squatting over a partially covered hole in the ground. In that moment she was so angry at him; she just bolted towards him and tackled him to the ground.

“Finally.” He smirked as he gripped her wrists. “Been waitin’ for you to jump me ever since we crashed on this rock.”

“Where’s the water?” Mia pressed herself heavily on him; but he seemed to like that. Sawyer crooked his leg around her ankle so her grip faltered and he managed to roll over on top of her.

“That’s better.” He purred quietly.

“Get off me, you son of a bitch.” Mia snarled through gritted teeth as she struggled underneath him.

Then, all of a sudden, he was being ripped off her body by a blur of Sayid. Mia scrambled to her knees and went straight for Sawyer’s stash. She found toiletries, magazines (including porn) and various cell phones. But no water bottles. No yellow envelope, either.

“You really think I stole your damn water?” Sawyer shoved Sayid.

“We know you gave two bottles to the Koreans.” Sayid replied.

“I don’t give nothin’ to nobody.” Sawyer snapped.

“It’s not here.” Mia said dejectedly to Sayid as she rose to her feet.

“I traded Mr. Myagi the last of my water for a fish he caught.” Sawyer explained with a smirk at Mia. “We worked it out caveman style.”

Mia sighed deeply. “You gave him the last of what you had?”

“Water has no value, M.” Sawyer said. “It’s gonna rain sooner or later and, Hell, I’m an optimist.”

Mia was in no mood to argue with him again. She was tired of that; tired of his whole persona. So she just gave him a disgusted look and followed Sayid back to the beach.

“Don’t let him get to you.” Sayid commented when they were out of Sawyer’s earshot. “The man is a parasite.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Mia replied. “But I can take care of myself.”

“I’m sure you can.” Sayid said. “I saw your tattoo.”

Mia gulped. She’d been trying to hide it; but it was on her lower back just above her butt. It didn’t matter how far she pulled down her singlet; the scripting was still visible.

“Nemo me impune lacessit.” Sayid recited with a smile. “Latin for ‘no one can harm me unpunished’.”

“Yeah.” Mia forced a smile and pulled her singlet down again.

“It’s a strong motto.” Sayid continued. “If you don’t mind me asking; why did you choose it?”

Mia laughed. “Teenage rebellion.” She answered with a wry grin. “We’d just read about the Scottish Regiments in the British Army at school. This motto stuck out to me.”

“Funny how a decision made when you were a child is still so fitting now.” Sayid smiled.

He was sweet, Mia decided. Very kind and very sure of himself. Perhaps she had a new ally in Sayid. Along with Claire and Kate, she was actually making sort of friends on the island. She wondered how many she would have to have to make up for the mistake of marrying Sawyer.

As she and Sayid parted ways; a thought struck Mia. Sawyer had kept their marriage a secret...why? He was definitely not trying to befriend her in anyway. If anything; he was making her suffer just as much as everyone else; so why not use the one thing that would tarnish her image to everyone? Was he just waiting until she was liked by more survivors until he spilled the beans? The thought of it made Mia so anxious her heart began to race. She’d have to beat him to the punch; tell her new friends about them before he got the chance to. She shuddered to think what the fallout would be if she waited for Sawyer to divulge her great mistake.

xxx

[Selah]

oh, i love it. now that i have a "face" to the character i could def. see it all play out.

where'd you get that quote from? something you heard, read? it fits her...

reminds me of jack's tatts...how it revealed something about him that only the 'others' knew...

i bet sawyer 'spills the beans' before mia. i'd bet the envelope on it.

ps- are the contents of the envelope Spoiler: their marriage license...they got married sort of like a green card type of arrangement...get him back into the states...

[littletonpace]

Thanks Glad you liked Milla as Mia I do too been watching Resident Evil lately and she's such a good fit

yeh, the quote is just from research. I wanted her to have a tattoo that showed her character and then found that one there's a little more to it; as in who gave her the tat that comes out later More questions about their past come out soon tho when I hit 1x08 Confidence Man

lol, your thoughts on sawyer may be right. As for what's in the envelope, close but no cigar

[littletonpace]

Chapter 3: Divided

(1x05-1x06)

The water situation didn’t get better and by nightfall, people were frantic. Mia only had one bottle of water left and a can of diet soda. She shared her drinks with Claire but there were already survivors who were out of water and getting worried. When Mia had fed Claire the last of her water; she went to Kate hoping that someone else might have something to nourish the ailing pregnant girl.

“She needs to be hydrated.” Mia said to Kate.

“Are you a doctor or something?” Charlie asked as he joined their trio.

“It’s common sense.” Mia snapped. “Pregnant women need water. Hell; people need water.”

“I’m all out.” Kate shrugged uselessly. “I don’t know where the stash is or how we can find it.” She looked as worried as Mia felt.

“Where’s Jack?” Mia asked, her eyes scanning the beach as she realized she hadn’t seen him since before sunset.

“He went off into the jungle after something.” Kate mumbled as she concerned brown eyes flickered across the tree line.

“Locke said he’d find Claire water,” Charlie spoke up. “And he’s not back yet, either.” He glanced furtively at Claire sleeping at her shelter. “I’ll go check on her.”

Mia watched Charlie depart and shared an anxious look with Kate. They both knew the consequences if Claire didn’t get water. Well, all of them needed it, but Claire would be the first casualty, something in Mia’s heart told her that for sure.

“Maybe we can ask everyone again.” Kate offered. “Maybe someone’s storing some water or something; if we tell them Claire’s in bad shape they might help.”

Mia nodded in agreement. “We shouldn’t have to lie to people to get them to help a sick girl.” She grumbled.

Kate was about to say something when they were both alerted to some male scuffling coming from inside Claire’s tent. Mia took off towards it and almost collided with Charlie as he came bursting out of the shelter pushing Boone to the ground.

“Here’s your thief!” Charlie hollered as he crushed Boone’s face into the sand.

“What? Where’d he hide the water?” Mia asked as she stared down at Boone.

“I don't know. This wanker had three bottles of it.” He looked ready to murder Boone. “Why'd you do it pretty boy, eh?” He snarled into his face.

“It was just sitting in the tent,” Boone got shakily to his feet. “And Jack just took off.”

“Claire could've died!” Charlie growled.

“I tried to give her some soda, but it just got out of hand.” Boone looked nervously at everyone’s judgemental eyes. “No one would have understood.”

“What is going on?” Kate arrived at Mia’s side.

“He took the water.” Mia said out of the corner of her mouth.

“Someone had to take responsibility for it.” Boone told the gathering crowd defensively. “It would have never lasted.”

“So you’re solution was hiding it from all of us while Claire dehydrates?”

“It wasn’t like that!” Boone yelled in exasperation.

“Leave him alone!”

Jack came ambling into the centre of the crowd looking like death. He was panting as though he’d run a marathon and his kind eyes were bloodshot and piercing. “It's been 6 days and we're all still waiting. Waiting for someone to come. But what if they don't? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning just going for a swim and he tried to save her,” He pointed at Boone. “And now you're about to crucify him? We can't do this. Every man for himself is not going to work.”

Mia glanced at Sawyer; he wouldn’t like to hear that. Every man for himself was how he lived.

“It's time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we're going to survive here. Now, I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley.” The crowd seemed to twitter in excitement, or maybe it was relief. “I'll take a group in at first light. If you don't want to go come then find another way to contribute.” Jack took a long look around all the survivors. “Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now. And god knows how long we're going to be here. But if we can't live together, we're going to die alone.”

Jack’s speech affected all of them. Mia offered to go with Jack and Kate the next morning to haul water back, Charlie and Boone offered to start building shelters with some of the other willing survivors. A group of people Mia didn’t know set themselves the task of getting all the suitcases and bags off the beach in case the tide came in, and Sayid openly asked for anything electrical to be brought to him; he was hoping to get a signal on the satellite phone Jack and Kate had brought back from the cockpit the first day of the crash. Everyone seemed to find themselves a job; everyone but Sawyer. He just retreated to the beach nearby his stash and smoked. Every man for himself, all right.

xxx

Mia had always considered herself a fit person. She wasn’t a gym junkie anymore, but she had been an avid volleyball player throughout high school and then into university. And with her former career, she had to be in top shape. She had what people would call a sportspersons body; a body that was tested on the slog through the jungle to get to the fresh water. Charlie and Locke came along with Jack, Kate and Mia as they went into the forest. Mia felt like she’d been walking for hours, but by Kate’s watch it was barely an hour.

They walked in a scattered line. Jack in the lead since he’d found this water, then Mia and Kate with Charlie and Locke bringing up the rear.

“Can I ask you something?” Kate asked quietly, double checking the guys were far enough away that they couldn’t hear.

“Sure.” Mia agreed breathlessly as she caught herself before tripping on a hidden tree root.

“Why are you still married to Sawyer?”

“What?”

“I’ve barely seen you say two words to each other since we crashed,” She paused while she climbed up a slight incline and then helped Mia follow. “So, why stay married?”

“Well...” Mia began as she made sure Jack was still in sight. “Call it a geographical mishap. I was in Australia; he was in America.”

“But he came back to Australia,” Kate pointed out.

“Yeah,” Mia fell into step beside Kate as she noticed Jack had stopped and was waiting for them up ahead. “But he didn’t come back for me.” She gave her a meaningful smile and walked on.

They waited for Charlie and Locke to catch up and then Jack lead them into a damp expanse of caves. It was cool and shaded with no sand in sight. In one corner there was a well with fresh water flowing freely into it from above. It sounded as beautiful as it looked.

“Nice find, Jack.” Mia praised him as she slung the backpack of empty water bottles off her shoulder and knelt before the well.

“How’d you find it?” Kate asked, mirroring Mia’s awe as she, too, crouched before the water.

“Luck.” Jack smiled coyly.

“It’s amazing.” Locke commented. He was definitely more in awe of the caves than anyone else.

“Yeh,” Charlie agreed. “It’s totally you.” He quipped at Locke as he inspected what appeared to be even more plane wreckage.

Mia pulled the lids off two bottles and lowered them into the well to fill up. While they did, she scanned the caves and noticed a handful of suitcases and baggage. It didn’t surprise her. The plane had split in two in the air and they had no idea where the other half had landed. There was probably luggage scattered all over the island.

“Hey guys,” Charlie spoke up. “Don’t you think someone should check through this stuff?” He lifted up a tan suitcase. “Could be something useful in here.”

“He’s got a point.” Locke agreed.

“Yeh,” Jack nodded. “Give us your bottles, and keep an eye out for medical supplies. Drugs especially.”

“Drugs...” Charlie repeated. “Right...”

Mia assumed her backpack would be weighed down when it had full water bottles in it; she just didn’t realize how much. It felt like she was carrying bricks when she slung the pack onto her shoulders. “Man...” She groaned and let the bag fall to her feet. “This is gonna be a bitch to carry back.”

Jack added another bottle to his pack. “You’re right.” He agreed; his brow creasing in thought.

“Hey,” Kate spoke up. “Where are Locke and Charlie?”

The trio had been so busy filling water bottles they hadn’t realized that two of their group had taken off. “Locke?” Jack called out as he got to his feet. “Charlie?!”

Kate and Mia followed Jack as they headed out of the caves where they found Locke; quite animatedly waving at them to stop moving. Mia was about to ask what the hell was going on when she saw Charlie standing on what appeared to be a beehive with the insects slowly fluttering around him. “Oh, no...”

“If he moves, he’ll split the hive.” Locke explained as Jack and Kate carefully circled Charlie so as not to startle the bees.

“I don’t like bees, ok?” Charlie said frantically. “I have an irrational fear of bees; I think I’m allergic to them...”

“Please be quiet.” Locke warned Charlie as he squatted down beside the hive. “We need something to cover it.” He told Jack. “One of the suitcases from the cave.”

“Ok...” Jack slowly retreated back down the path into the caves.

“Seriously, guys, what if one of these things stings me and I die?” Charlie worried.

“Charlie; shut up!” Kate yelped.

“Here.” Jack came back into view with the tan suitcase and carefully approached Charlie. “Ok, man, I’m gonna try and cover it, ok?”

“This is the most crap idea ever.” Charlie’s voice wavered. “It's never going to work.”

“Pull yourself together.” Mia assured him. “It’ll be fine.”

“It wouldn't be an irrational fear of bees if I could just pull myself together, would it?” Charlie’s eyes darted feverishly around the growing number of bees buzzing around his head. One of them took a dive and jabbed him right in the neck just as Jack was ready to cover the hive. The shifting of his weight caused his foot to split the beehive directly in two. A swarm of bees came flowing from the hive.

“Run!” Locke cried as the swarm turned on them.

The whole group bolted. It must have looked quite comical to anyone watching from a distance; five people running for their lives into the caves and waving their arms around their heads.

“Dammit!” Mia cried as she felt at least five different stings on her back. She arched her spine and squirmed as more stings burned up her arms. Cursing herself for wearing just a black singlet; Mia ripped off her shirt and started smacking her skin to get rid of the insects. She accidentally squished one of the bees and wound up with another sting on her palm. “Grr...” Her skin burned as though she’d been splashed with acid. “AH!” She grabbed one of the recently filled water bottles and poured it all over her back.

Making sure none of the bees had found their way into her bra; Mia took another bottle and poured it over her arms. It was soothing; even if just for a minute. She picked the dead bodies of a handful of bees from the inside of her shirt and slipped it back on over her head before she went to find the others. She came across Kate and Jack first; both with their shirts off and inspecting something in what looked like another well; only minus the water.

“You guys ok?” Mia asked. “What’s going on?”

“Skeletons.” Kate said blatantly as she rubbed at some stings on her shoulder.

“What?” Curious, Mia made her way over there and took a look at the decayed skeleton shrouded in remnants of clothing and overgrown vines.

Jack stepped back from the grave/well with a pouch in his hands. He poured the contents into his palm; one white stone and one black stone. He gave Mia and Kate the same puzzled expression

“Hello? Anybody there?” Locke called as he and Charlie joined them in the caves. “Everyone all right?”

Jack nodded. “A few stings aside.”

“You three run away fantastically.” Charlie said as he picked a bee off of his shirt. “Glad my diversion spared you. I was only stung several hundred times.”

“Join the club.” Mia held out her arms; they were a horrid, blotchy shade of red.

Charlie blanched when he caught sight of the skeletons. “Wow...are these the people who were here before us?”

“What are you talking about?” Locke asked him; sounded very interested.

Charlie looked very put off by Locke’s reaction. “Uh, just, you know, the...there could have been people here before us, right?”

Locke looked over at Jack, who averted his eyes, and then back to Charlie. “Clearly. But who are these men?”

“Actually, one of them is female.” Jack corrected him.

Locke managed a small smile. “Our very own Adam and Eve...” He muttered.

After they’d all recovered from the bee invasion, Mia, Kate and Jack went back to filling water bottles while Charlie and Locke went to salvage the wreckage nearby.

“We should move out.” Kate said as she zipped up her overflowing backpack. “People are probably getting thirsty...” She saw Jack’s attention was diverted; he was staring at the spring. “What?”

“46 people need to drink a half gallon a day each.” Jack told them. “Carrying all this water back and forth is going to be real pain in the ass.”

“You're making me regret volunteering.” Mia deadpanned as she took a drink from one of the bottles. The water was so lovely and fresh; pure. It felt like it quenched her thirst immediately.

“These caves make too good a shelter just to be used for burial. Adam and Eve, they must have lived here.” Jack gestured to the caves. “Their plane crashed, or maybe they were ship-wrecked. They probably found this place and knew they could survive here. Unlimited supply of fresh water, tree canopy keeps the temperature down, shields out the sun, the openings are narrow, easier for protection against predators.” He stood and slung his rucksack onto his shoulders. “We don't need to bring the water to the people. We need to bring the people to the water.” He smiled. “I think we could live here.”

If Mia thought the trek to the caves was bad, the walk back was even worse. She felt like she was carrying a tonne on her back. Charlie and Locke stayed behind to keep looking through the wreckage so Jack, Kate and Mia headed back to the beach with the water. Along the way, Jack informed Kate and Mia of how good it would be for everyone if they moved. Mia was unconvinced. She would rather trek to the caves every day then not be at the beach when a plane flew overhead or a boat floated past. Jack maintained people were just clinging to hope now instead of thinking of their own safety, but Mia wasn’t so sure. She didn’t say much on the way back to the beach, but thankfully the decision of whether or not they should ‘dig in’ and stay put weighed so heavily on Mia’s mind, and of course her numerous bee stings, she wasn’t as bothered by the hefty load on her back. She didn’t even realize how close they were to the beach until they came across Sayid chopping wood.

“It’s about time,” He said with relief as Jack tossed him a full water bottle. “I’m dying of thirst.”

Jack took the opportunity to inform Sayid if his ‘digging in’ idea, and Sayid informed the three of them about the action on the beach that they had missed.

“He just attacked Michael, for no reason?” Mia asked when Sayid had told them what happened.

“None at all. Granted; he can’t speak English,” Sayid took another drink. “I think I'll let him sit in the sun a while longer. Then I'll take his wife aside, find some way to communicate. I think she knows why he attacked Michael.”

“If you've got that under control I'm going to start talking to people about the caves.” Jack got to his feet and prepared to get moving. “Might be able to get a few to go with me before nightfall, start setting up camp.”

Sayid looked surprised. “You're serious?” His look of surprise changed to one of irritation. “Is there a reason you didn't consult us when you decided to form your own civilization?”

“I'm only talking about moving into the valley.” Jack replied defensively.

“Well, what happened to live together, die alone?” Sayid pointed out.

“Digging in together is the only way we're going to survive.” Jack countered.

Sayid looked really annoyed. “Our best hope of survival is in being spotted by a plane or a ship, and for that we need to organize everyone to keep that signal fire burning while others scout the island for supplies. Digging in anywhere else is suicide.”

“It is the only source of fresh water we've found, Sayid.” Kate reminded him.

“And staying on the beach, in the sun without water? That's not suicide?” Jack asked.

Sayid stood, picked up the axe and the firewood. “I'm not going to admit defeat.” With that, he headed back to the beach.

Mia watched him leave and could see the beautiful waves crashing against the shore. As she shouldered her load of water bottles again, she couldn’t help but agree with Sayid. There was something about moving to the caves that felt like she was giving up. It had only been a week. That wasn’t really that long. And now they had a source of water.

“I’m staying.” Mia suddenly said, stopping Jack in his tracks.

“What?” He repeated with his eyebrows raised; apparently he had assumed she would be along for the move to the caves.

“Look, I get what you’re doing Jack, I do.” Mia assured him. “And it’s smart. You’re preparing. But...I can’t do that. I can’t accept that we’re stuck here. If a plane or a ship comes by, I wanna be at the beach jumping up and down like an idiot with everyone else to get its attention.”

Jack sighed, searching for a way to change her mind, but her expression was steely. She was staying; that was that. “If you’re sure...” He shrugged.

Mia smiled. “I am.”

xxx

[littletonpace]

Made a trailer for this here fic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDSZEXY8Tlk

[Selah]

awesome update. amazing vid! i'm putting in an official request: Selle. pretty please?

i really want to tell you something about Elle's past...i totally "LOST"-afied it.

i like the part in the video where Jack and Sawyer have that conversation: Nobody wants to have anything to do with you and Sawyer says, "She does" and it shoots to Mia on the beach...excellent shots.

[littletonpace]

Hehe; glad you liked the vid hun i had a blast making it

Chapter 4: Mayday

(1x07-1x08)

“A French woman?” Mia repeated. “There’s a French woman somewhere on the island?”

“It would appear so,” Sayid confirmed. “Otherwise I would think the distress call would have stopped playing.”

Another day, another dose of weirdness. Jack’s plan did in fact divide the survivors. Almost a third went to the caves with him; trusting him with their safety. Among them were Charlie, Hurley and the Korean couple who Mia now knew as Jin and Sun Kwon. As Mia predicted, Kate stayed behind at the beach, but that didn’t stop Jack trying to convince her to go back to the caves with him every time he came back to deliver water. It had been during one of these treks back and Kate had left mid-conversation with Mia to go and talk to him, so she went off to find something else to do with her time and that’s when she had found Sayid constructing some sort of antenna.

Sayid let her in on something he, Kate, Sawyer, Charlie, Shannon and Boone had discovered the second day on the island. They had discovered a distress call in French that had been running for over sixteen years. It was a woman asking for help, saying ‘it killed them, it killed them all’. Sayid didn’t give Mia long to bask in the weirdness of that little fact before he told her that he had a plan to find out the source of the signal. It was still running; which meant there had to be a power source on the island. If they could find it; they could send out their own distress call.

“There’s a problem,” Sayid held out the transceiver to her. “The battery is dead. Without the transceiver all of this is for nothing. Something from a laptop computer would probably work, but I've not been able to find anything.” He raised his eyebrows at her. “I thought you might know where to look.”

Mia sighed. “Yeah...Sawyer has them.” She remembered seeing at least one laptop when she’d searched Sawyer’s stash for the water when Claire was ill. “But I’m not asking him for any favours.”

Sayid cocked his head to the side. “Why?”

“Because with Sawyer there are consequences.”Mia replied without thinking. Immediately she’d wished she’d shut her blabbering mouth. She hoped Sayid would just leave the comment there; but he didn’t. His eyes rounded in curiosity as he stopped what he was doing and gave her his full attention.

“It sounds like you know him better than the rest of us...”

Mia didn’t like the way he was looking at her; it made her skin crawl. Like he knew she was hiding something, but she wasn’t going to fold that easily. She squared her stance and folded her arms tightly across her chest. “What are you asking me, Sayid?” She asked pointedly.

“I was a soldier in the Republican Guard.” He told her. “Usually it’s quite easy for me to tell when people aren’t being truthful. They avert my eyes, ramble as they speak, grow nervous...but you...” He shook his head from side to side. “You’re lying right to my face.”

A friggin’ solider...figures, Mia thought. And as a member of the Republican Guard, the elite of Iraqi soldiers, Mia knew better than to get on the wrong side of him. However, she wasn’t comfortable letting Sayid in on her life. “What’ll it take for you to drop this?”

He gave her a strange look; she could practically see his brain calculating the pros and cons of trusting her and not pressing the issue. “The laptop.” He said a moment later.

Mia sighed, thankful that Sayid’s desire to get off this island by way of sending out the signal would keep him off her case. At least for awhile. “Give me an hour.”

xxx

“So you rag on me for trading, and now you want something?”

Sawyer was reading a book in his new “digs”, formerly Jack’s shelter, when Mia had found him and asked him flat-out if he had a laptop. The smarmy grin that formed on his face made her roll her eyes.

She tossed three full bottles of water at his feet. “I know you have at least one laptop in your stash; I want it.”

Sawyer ignored the bottles and went back to his book. “Baby, I’ve been to the caves. I can get my own water.”

“Just give it to me.”

He chuckled. “Haven’t heard you say that in awhile.”

She snatched the book out of his hands so fast she wasn’t even sure she’d done it; but it had the desired effect. He glared up at her. “Give me the laptop, Sawyer.”

“Tell me something, M,” He mused in an all too know-it-all voice as he reached into a knapsack at his feet. “Of all the things you could ask me for; food, shampoo...your precious yellow envelope...why did you ask for a laptop?”

Mia folded her arms and took a deep breath that she hoped it would calm her down; but it didn’t. “Sayid needs it to get the transceiver working...if we find the source of the signal we can send out our own distress call.”

“Right...Sayid...” Sawyer kept grinning as he removed a laptop from his bag and detached the battery. “I see right through you, my dear. You want everyone to see you as this sweet, friendly thang who’s just itchin’ to help out. They don’t know who you really are.”

“You’re not going to say anything to anyone.”

“And how do you know that?”

“You would have done it already. Or, you’re saving it until you can really cause me some damage.”

“Wouldn’t be doin’ anymore than what you did to me, Amelia.” Though he smiled; there was no happiness or charm in his eyes. There was pain. A pain that was mirrored in Mia’s eyes. He held out the laptop battery but didn’t let go when she gripped her fingers around it. “This don’t mean a thing, M.” He assured her.

“Glad to hear it.” She tugged the battery out of his hands and walked away. “Enjoy your book.” She spat over her shoulder as she left him to his own misery.

He was so good at that, making her feel guilty. Maybe she did deserve it. A marriage based on a mountain of lies was destined to fail. She’d made mistakes; so had he. The breakup of their relationship was a real team effort; it took both of them screwing up together to ruin it. And they had done a really good job of doing that.

xxx

Mia had been washing one of her two pairs of jeans when Sawyer had trudged his way back to the beach looking thoroughly pissed off. He’d been gone for awhile, not that she had noticed, but she wasn’t sure where he’d wandered off to.

Sayid’s bottle rocket plan had gone off seemingly without a hitch. He had asked Mia for her help; but she’d declined. Her original assessment of Sayid was that he was a nice guy; but since their tense conversation where she’d bartered the laptop battery to he wouldn’t pester her, he made her uncomfortable. The way he looked at her; it’s like her knew all about her life even though she hadn’t told him a thing. Maybe he’d someone found out that Sawyer was her husband...but she trusted Kate enough not to blab. Still...she’d only known her a few days.

Cursing herself for succumbing to a case of ‘island paranoia’, she’d taken to washing her clothes which was when she saw Sawyer return all disgruntled. It was about twenty minutes after the rockets had gone off and he walked—or stormed-- straight passed her; so she engaged him. “Where were you?”

Pausing, he turned to her and smirked. “Took myself a little stroll with Kate,” His eyes were shadowed with something troubling. “Was helping her set off her bottle rocket...nice and cosy.”

“You actually helped Sayid?” Mia ignored his feeble attempt to make her jealous. “You’re growing up. You’ll be helping Jack next.”

“I don’t think anyone’ll be helping Jack.” He muttered as he continued to walk past her.

Something about his tone caught her off guard; gave her that weird tingling feeling she used to get a work when something wasn’t right. She grabbed him by his upper arm and pulled him back. “What did you say?”

“There was a little accident in the caves,” He said. “Jack’s got himself in a bit o’trouble.”

“What?!” Mia dropped her jeans on the sand. “Is he ok?”

“How in the Hell should I know?” He grumbled and kept walking.

If something happened to Jack, they lost their only doctor. Mia’s medical training was higher than most; but nowhere near as good as doctor. She had to make sure he was okay. Tossing her now sandy jeans up onto the makeshift clothesline Claire had set up; she ran for the jungle.

“Where are you goin’?!”

Mia turned. He caught her off guard again; why would he care where she went all of a sudden? “To check on Jack; where do you think?”

“Kate already went flouncin’ off after him,” He said, bitterness flying off his tongue as he swaggered back towards her. “And I’m sure all the cave-folk can handle it; he don’t need you answering his distress call, too.”

“Are you trying to piss me off?” Mia snapped at him. “Seriously; are you jealous that I’d rather go and help Jack instead of staying here and avoiding you? I’m not playing that game with you, Sawyer!”

His eyes were narrowed, contorting his face into an unattractive sneer. “Do what you want, Mayday,” He finally said. “You always do.”

xxx

As it turned out, Jack was fine. The cave had collapsed, but Charlie had managed to wriggle in there and get Jack out. Aside from a sprained wrist, he hadn’t suffered anything more serious than some cuts and scrapes.

Try as she might; Mia was unable to keep herself away from the island drama. Bizarre things continued to happen. Someone attacked Sayid before he could get the transmission signal working; and they destroyed his equipment. And on top of that, Sawyer had beaten up Boone for searching through his stash for his sister’s inhalers.

It seemed like just being stranded wasn’t enough for everyone; they had to butt heads and create extra tension. Mia wasn’t surprised that it was Sawyer who was the cause of this, at least in some part. He had a knack for pissing people off. But a part of her was slightly relieved that he wasn’t just taunting her anymore.

Maybe it was this sense of relief that send Mia up the beach in the direction of Sawyer’s tent, or maybe it was intuition telling her that she was needed up there; either way it was a good thing she did approach Sawyer’s digs because she caught Jack and Sawyer in the midst of a heated discussion.

“What, you think you can just take something out of a suitcase and that makes it yours?” Jack was yelling down at Sawyer who was sitting in a plane chair half buried in the sand.

“Look, I dunno what kinda commie sharing-fest you got going on in cave town,” Sawyer sneered as he rose to his feet. “But down here possession is nine tenths.”

“Hey!” Mia shouted as she stood between them, she could practically feel the testosterone bubbling from both of them. “What’s going on here?”

“He stole Shannon’s inhalers.” Jack pointed an accusing finger at Sawyer.

“I’ve seen his stash.” Mia held her hand to Jack’s chest to keep him back. “I didn’t see inhalers.”

Sawyer gave Jack a smug smile. “Hear that, Doc?”

Jack frowned. “Boone said he just saw him with his book; maybe he just found the bag.”

Mia had to move to keep herself between them. “Or maybe he doesn’t have them.” They didn’t need another fight on the beach; if she could avoid it she would, even if it meant she was kind of siding with Sawyer.

Jack sighed and, though his stance remained fierce, his eyes softened as he shared a lingering look with Mia. “Do you really believe that?” He asked quietly.

“You sure you wanna make this your problem, Doc?” Sawyer arrived at Mia’s side.

Jack took a stride towards him. “Oh yeah, I’m sure.” He growled.

“Jack, drop it.” She turned him around by his shoulder and pushed him a little.

“What’s going on?” Kate spoke up as she popped up behind Jack.

Jack stared down Sawyer, who glared right back, and then finally retreated down the beach in a huff. Kate trailed after him leaving Mia and Sawyer alone.

“Nice to see you on my side of the fence, Mayday.” Sawyer grinned at Mia as Jack and Kate drifted away. “Gets me all nostalgic for the old days.”

Turning, Mia set her eyes in a fierce look. “Did you take them?” She asked him.

Sawyer seemed surprised. “You just convinced Jack that I ain’t got ‘em. What, you tellin’ me that was just a bluff?”

“I didn’t think it was a good idea for you two to have it out right in the middle of camp.” Mia pointed out. “And I know for a fact that your stash isn’t where you hide everything.”

Sawyer’s surprise was replaced with a smirk. “Ah...your envelope. You figure wherever I got that is where I got the inhalers.”

Mia shrugged. “I don’t know.” She said honestly. “I guess I’m hoping that if Shannon has an asthma attack and you do turn out to have her medication; that you might actually help her live instead of watching her die.” With that, she left him.

It was just like him to do this. For all she knew, he did have the inhalers. He had her envelope; she knew that. He probably kept it on him, or maybe he’d burnt it or tossed it in the ocean. Sawyer was right when he’d said possession was nine tenths down here, because knowing he had her envelope was eating her up inside. She could almost hear her sister telling her how ridiculous it was to want that piece of paper even now; but she did. She needed it in her possession. After all; it meant more to her than Sawyer anyway.

xxx

[littletonpace]

*includes the original character of Matt Vaughn created by my friend Bec; I used him with her permission...that sounds dirty... *

Chapter 5: The Edge

(1x08)

Sawyer felt a throbbing ache in his forehead as he was jolted awake by a spray of cold water in his face. He shook his sandy blonde hair from his eyes and looked up to see Sayid and Jack glaring down at him with contempt beaming from their faces. All Sawyer remembered was Sayid hovering over him while he’d been sleeping in his digs at the beach; and now he was in the jungle. His hands were constricted and he realized he was strapped to a tree.

“Well, ain't you the brave one,” Sawyer spat water at their feet. “Jumping a guy while he's napping.” Neither of them said a word to him. “Uh-oh, I'm in trouble now, ain't I?”

Jack knelt down to the ground. “Sawyer, I'm giving you the chance to do the right thing.” He said calmly. “Now, all I want is the asthma medicine. Just tell me where the inhalers are and we'll stop.”

“Stop what, Chico?” It was then that Sawyer’s eyes fell on Sayid who was sharpening bamboo shoots into spikes.

“It doesn't have to be this way.” Jack said.

If he was trying to show regret; it was coming through. “Yeah, it does.” Sawyer sneered back at him.

Jack dropped his head and rose back to his feet as Sayid took his place in front of Sawyer. “We do not have bamboo in Iraq,” He said. “Although we do have something similar. Reeds.” Sayid dropped to his haunches. “But their effect is the same when the shoots are inserted underneath the fingernails.” He mimed the technique with his hands in front of Sawyer’s eyes.

“You know what I think, Ali. I think you've never actually tortured anybody in your life.”

Sayid moved around behind the tree. “Unfortunately for us both,” He squatted down and grabbed Sawyer’s bound hands. “You're wrong.”

Sawyer grunted as he felt the bamboo slice into his skin. It was painful; but bearable. “That's it? That's all you got?” He panted. “Splinters? No wonder we kicked your ass in the Gulf-” Sayid dug the bamboo deeply and roughly under Sawyer’s nails causing him to scream. “AGHHH!!!”

“Sayid.” Jack called, his tone warning the soldier to stop. “Sayid!”

Sawyer sucked in deep breaths of air as he felt the pain under his fingers dissipate. “No.” He snarled. “Don't stop now. I think my sinuses are clearing.” He let out a tired cackle.

Jack looked ready to kill him. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He demanded.

Sayid tossed the bamboo to the ground and removed a knife from his waistband. He snatched up Sawyer’s chin and pushed his head back against the tree. “Perhaps losing an eye will loosen your tongue?” He pressed the side of the blade against Sawyer’s cheek just below his eye.

This ain’t worth losing an eye...Sawyer thought to himself. “Okay!” He relented. “Okay!” Sayid removed the knife.

“Where is it?” Jack insisted again.

There was only one person he could think to help him out; even though he knew he’d pay dearly for what he was about to divulge. “Only person I’ll tell is her.

Jack shrugged. “Who?”

He gave him a smug smile. “My wife.”

xxx

“He thinks he can find peanut butter?” Mia smiled as she tossed her damp gray hoodie over the Claire’s makeshift clothesline.

“Yep,” Claire giggled. “If he finds it I said I’d move to the caves.” Mia frowned. “Obviously he’s not gonna find it.” She assured her. “So I’ll be staying put.”

Mia smirked. “Well...it would be kinda awesome if Charlie managed to find peanut butter on this island.”

“Mia!” Kate’s frantic yell punctured through their sweet moment as the brunette came running in from the treeline onto the beach.

“What’s wrong?” Mia scanned Kate up and down; she was panting and beads of sweat were running off her forehead. “Are you okay?”

“I, ah,” She glanced cautiously at Claire. “I need to talk to you.” She raised her eyebrows; indicating she’d rather they were alone. Mia assured Claire she’d be back soon and ducked off with Kate nearby Sawyer’s vacated digs. Kate then began to reveal the reason she looked to frazzled.

“Sayid is torturing Sawyer?” Mia repeated; not sure she’d heard Kate right.

“It’s not like that.” Kate said hurriedly. “Jack and Sayid are sure Sawyer has Shannon’s inhalers; and she’s having an asthma attack in the caves, but he won’t hand them over.”

“Wait; back up, why do they think Sawyer has them?” Mia folded her arms. “I thought Jack-”

“He has them.” Kate replied firmly. “I know it.” She paused and chewed on her lip before she continued. “He showed me his letter.” As she expected; Mia’s eyes rounded at this news. “And then told me that if I kissed him he’d give me the inhalers.”

Mia almost laughed out loud. “Sounds about right.” She muttered. Sawyer and that letter...just like me and my envelope, I guess. Granted, Mia didn’t have the years of emotional baggage attached to hers yet.

“How he’s changed his mind,” Kate pressed on. “Said the only person he’d tell is you.”

“Me?” Mia echoed. A feeling of dread started to spread over her body. That bastard... “Did he tell them?” She asked Kate, her voice sharp and curt. “Jack and Sayid, did he tell them we were married?”

Kate gave her a pitiful smile. “Pretty much.”

“That sonuvabitch.” Mia cussed. Now she’d have that to deal with.

“Will you help?” Kate asked, her eyes bright with concern for Shannon. Also for Jack and what he was doing.

Mia sighed. She didn’t really have a choice; and, damn him, Sawyer knew that.

xxx

“Alright...I’m here.” Mia grumbled; her voice tight and strained, as she slowly approached Sawyer. She tried not to let the image of him on his knees and bound to a tree disturb her. He was sweating profusely and had cuts to his face that had bled down and stained the shoulders of his shirt. “Where are the inhalers?”

“Happy to tell you, honey,” He rested his head back against the tree trunk. “As soon as I get a kiss.”

Mia felt the corners of her mouth curl into a smile. “Because you were rejected by Kate?”

Sawyer laughed. “She told you about that, huh?”

Mia wandered a little closer to him. “Yes, she did.”

“Hell, you know as well as I do how good we were together.” His sentence twanged with that thick accent in a song-like way that made Mia shiver. “Baby, I am tied to a tree in a jungle of mystery. I just got tortured by a damn spinal surgeon and a gen-u-ine I-raqi.” He locked eyes with her, seeing a weakness. “You really going to let that girl suffocate because you can't bring yourself to give me one little kiss, Mayday? Hell, it's only first base. And it ain’t like we haven’t hit a few home runs in our time. Lucky for you I ain't greedy.”

Mia gulped down a lump of anger; he’d hit her weakness. As if she was going to let Shannon die because she wouldn’t kiss him. Then it would be her fault; not his. Even though she’d stood up for him before with Jack; now it was coming back to bite her in the ass.

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

Mia knelt down slowly in front of him; her knees mere inches from his as she leant her face towards his. Inside, she cursed him for making her do this, but she couldn’t deny the way her heart was racing. She hadn’t kissed him in almost two years; and the physical aspect of their relationship was one of the only things that they ever got right. She rested her hands on his thighs for support as she pressed her open lips against his. His mouth sucked gently against hers as his tongue smoothly rubbed against hers. The kiss sent that same wave of electricity pulsating through Mia’s whole body, it made her forget everything and want to pin him down right then and there. But then he moaned against her mouth; and that reminded her where they were, what they were doing and why she was doing it, so Mia pulled her mouth off him at once.

They were both quiet for a few moments, both trying to hide their quickening breath, before Mia looked up to him and raised her eyebrows in expectation.

He gulped. “I don’t have it.”

Mia felt her eyes narrow. “What?”

“The inhalers; I don’t have them.” He rested his head back against the tree looking depressed. “I don’t know where they are.”

Mia shook her head back and forth. “But Kate said...their book. They said you had to have found it in their luggage...”

“The book washed up on shore,” Sawyer muttered. “Went in the drink with the rest of the-”

Mia cut him off with a swift elbow across the face. Not only had it been two years since she’d kissed Sawyer; it had been two years since she’d had to use her training. “Screw you.” Mia spat at her husband as she rose to her feet and stormed away.

Kate, Sayid and Jack were waiting nearby. “He doesn’t have it.” Mia told them bitterly as she walked passed; sure there was steam puffing out of her ears.

“He's lying.” Sayid scoffed. “Can't you see that? He's been lying from the beginning. He doesn't want us to get off this island. That's why he attacked me.”

“Sayid, I said he doesn’t have it!” Mia yelled sharply.

“Hold on a minute.” Jack stood between them with his arms out.

“He destroyed the transceiver.” Sayid growled; his fists balled in fierce anger at his sides

“You don't know that-” Jack started to say, but Sayid had already taken off back towards Sawyer.

Mia and Kate rushed after Jack as he followed, but Sawyer had manage to break free from the bindings on his wrists and tackled Sayid to the ground before he could reach him. The struggled around for a moment before Sawyer let out a pained howl as Sayid stabbed him in the arm with a knife.

“Stop!” Kate cried.

Sayid climbed off Sawyer just as Jack ducked to his knees. He removed the knife causing a spray of blood to spurt from the wound. Kate blanched and turned away whilst Mia, unperturbed by the sight, squatted beside Sawyer across from Jack.

“You hit an artery.” Jack told Sayid, even though he didn’t take his eyes off the wound. “Keep still, dammit!” He snapped at Sawyer. “Mia; hold his shoulders down.” She obliged.

“Sayid, I need my stuff from the caves, my leather backpack. Go." The suddenly silent Iraqi took off for the caves.

Mia helped pin Sawyer down by his shoulders. “Can you make it stop?” She asked Jack.

“Let go." Sawyer at Jack growled through gritted teeth. "I know you want to.”

“Shut up.” Jack tried to pinch the wound closed with his fingers. “And stop moving.”

“You've been waiting for this, haven't you?” Sawyer growled. “Now you get to be the hero again, because that's what you do -- fix everything up all nice. Already got a last kiss from my wife; what else I got to live for?” He coughed and grunted as Jack applied pressure to his wound. “Hey, Jack, there's something you should know -- if the tables were turned, I'd watch you die.” And with that; he blacked out.

“Sawyer?” Mia shook his shoulders to rouse him.

“It’s ok; he just passed out.” Jack assured her. “He’s gonna be fine.” Even he didn’t try to hide the disappointment in his voice. Mia let go of Sawyer’s shoulders and let Jack work on the wound.

When Jack was sure Sawyer would be alright, Mia bolted from the jungle. She’d tried for so long to get away from all of the craziness that would surround her and Sawyer and now for some reason it had followed her to this island. Or he had. Maybe their craziness and Sawyer weren’t mutually exclusive. Without him here; none of this would be happening. Mia ran until she hit the beach and her legs gave out. Panting she rested her hands in the warm sand. She could feel tears in her eyes and she wasn’t sure where they’d come from. Maybe exhaustion, maybe the realization that she was stuck here, or maybe kissing Sawyer had opened a door she’d been trying to jam closed for two years.

“Hi...are-are you alright?” A calm, male voice called to Mia.

Sitting herself in the sand Mia nodded. “Yeah...” She could see the remains of the fuselage up the right side of the beach so she’d run a fair way through the jungle. The man was coming out of the jungle with a vine of bananas over his shoulder.

“You’re Mia, right?” He paused beside her.

“I’m sorry?” She was sure she was giving him a weird look. Normally she was pretty spot-on with faces she’d seen before, but this particularly handsome man she didn’t recall.

“Ah, I’m Matt.” He flashed her a grin showing a fabulous set of teeth. “We met the other day?”

“Oh...right.” Mia did remember him. He’d had a bad head injury from the crash that Jack had been very focused on fixing. “Yeh; I do remember you, Matt. Sorry.” She offered him a smile.

Matt grinned back and started to leave, but held back. “Are you sure you’re alright... ‘cos you don’t seem like you are.”

Mia sighed. “It’s nothing.” She replied. “It’s just...have you ever been married, Matt?”

“I’m divorced.”

“Lucky you.” Mia grumbled. “No offence, but you men? You all suck.”

“Yeah...we’re sorry about that.” Matt quipped, smiling as he made Mia giggle.

“Well, you’re divorced, so I guess women aren’t that great either.”

“Actually, I was married to a man.” Matt said easily.

“Oh,” Mia felt her cheeks heat a little, more to the fact she’d thought he was so gorgeous than the fact she hadn’t known he was gay. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He smiled. “Men, women, we’re all assholes at some point in our lives.”

Mia nodded in approval. “I like you.”

Matt chuckled and rearranged the load on his back. “I’ll leave you alone.” With a wave and another handsome smile, he left her.

As she watched Matt head back to camp, Mia let her eyes wander out to sea and her mind wander back. Back to when she and Sawyer were together and everything was good. At least, for a little while. But even when it was good; it had been bad. That was the tragic irony of their relationship.

xxx

2001

Sawyer loosened his tie as he trudged him his front steps. He needed a drink; badly. He’d just walked away from one hell of a deal. Why? Because of Jess’s damn kid. He’d seen himself in that little boy; and his much as he wanted that cash; he couldn’t do to that little boy what the first Sawyer did to him. And so he’d called it off. Now he was regretting it; because Mia would not be happy.

She was waiting for him in the living room nervously biting her nails and jumped straight to her feet when he came blustering in. “Well?” She asked expectantly.

Sawyer walked straight past her and through to the kitchen where he retrieved an ice cold beer from the fridge. “Want one?” he asked over his shoulder.

“No...” Mia folded her arms as she joined him in the kitchen. They’d been together for eight months now; she knew him too well for him to think he could get past her like this. “What the hell happened, Sawyer?”

“You ain’t my wife, I don’t gotta tell you everything I do!” He slammed the fridge shut and snapped the top off his beer.

“You do when you come home looking like that.” Mia retorted.

Sawyer hung his head in exasperation as he slouched into a chair. “Not again with this, Mia.”

Mia leant her hands on the table. “What do you want me to think?”

“I’m fine.” He took a long drink from the beer bottle. “This is what I do - -what we do. Sometimes...sometimes things go wrong...”

“What does that mean?”

Sawyer took another long drink before he answered her. “I walked away.” He mumbled.

Mia wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly; she couldn’t believe it was true. “What?”

“Don’t worry.” Sawyer rose to his feet. “We’ll try it again.”

“What?!” Mia bellowed and grabbed his arm. “You walked away! Why?!

“Let it go, baby.” He took a swig from his beer as he disappeared down the dark hallway.

“James!!!” Mia bellowed, her fists balled in rage at her sides. He didn’t reply. Her frustration lashed out at the closest thing she could get her hands on; the chair Sawyer had been sitting on. She shoved it hard against the wall. “Dammit!” She cried out as she heard Sawyer slam their bedroom door. He didn’t know. He didn’t know how much she needed this; how much she needed a con to go down. He didn’t know what it meant. It wasn’t about the money; she couldn’t care less about it. That wasn’t part of her job.

She needed to know how he did it.

xxx

Mia swung by Sawyer’s tent and saw that he was still asleep. Kate was sitting in a plane chair beside him holding Sawyer’s envelope. Mia gestured to Kate to come over to her, away from Sawyer’s earshot.

“So, you know what this is all about, I guess?” Kate held up the letter.

“Yeh; I know.” Mia was a little too familiar with Sawyer’s past as a conman, and this letter that had apparently started it all. “I’m guessing you figured it out, too.”

“Reckon he’ll talk about it?”

“If you call him on it.” Mia glanced at Sawyer’s dozing, shirtless body watching his tanned chest rise and fall with each deep breath he took. “I’ll, ah, see you later, ok?”

“Sure.” Kate gave her a warm smile and patted her arm as they parted ways.

Whatever Kate wanted to say to Sawyer; Mia was sure she’d get him to say it, but she didn’t want to be around to see the fallout. Instead, Mia went back to check on her clothes and was glad to find they had dried in during the heat of the day. Claire wasn’t nearby, but Charlie had been spending a lot of time with her today so Mia wasn’t concerned. She was folding her gray hoodie and playing that scene in the jungle over and over in her mind when Jack joined her.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Mia?” He asked. He didn’t sound mad; he sounded hurt. “That you and Sawyer were married?”

Mia was a little put off; it wasn’t any of his business. “It wasn’t something I wanted everyone to know.” She replied as she continued to fold clothes.

“Why’d you keep it a secret?”

Mia folded her last pair of jeans and stacked her clothes together. “The same reason you’re not going to tell everyone that you spent the afternoon watching Sayid torturing Sawyer.” She replied pointedly. “You don’t want them to get the wrong impression. You’re ashamed of it... and you don’t want that one act to be what defines you here, on this island.”

Jack nodded his head slowly; in a mutual understanding. He got what she was saying; and he wasn’t going to push it. But he did have one more question. “Was he always like this?”

Mia sighed and smiled. “Pretty much.”

“Why’d you marry him?”

Mia smiled; happy to be able to give an easy and truthful answer. “Because I loved him.” It was as simple as that.

xxx

[littletonpace]

Chapter 6: All But One

(1x08-1x10)

As it turned out, Charlie did find peanut butter. Rather, he found an empty jar and pretended there was peanut butter inside. But that was enough to convince Claire to move to the caves. Mia wasn’t too keen on seeing her go but she wasn’t going to hold her down. And it did make sense for her to be where the doctor was, but Mia couldn’t let her go without telling her the truth about Sawyer. Now that Kate, Jack and Sayid knew, and Sawyer wasn’t holding it in anymore, she felt worse about keeping it from Claire. However, she didn’t get the angry reaction she expected. Instead Claire grinned and said “I would have kept it a secret, too” and then made Mia promise to come to the caves to visit every couple of days.

After Claire left, Mia moved her stuff into Claire’s shelter. It was sturdier than her tent and a little bit bigger. The fact that it was also further away from Sawyer was a bonus. She didn’t think she could be any madder at him, but she was. Conning her into kissing him made her so furious she wanted to punch something – or someone – or maybe it was the fact that she had enjoyed it, even just for a moment, that she was mad. Whatever the reason; she was mad, so she spent the rest of the day holed up in her new tent reading and trying to look invisible so no one would bother her. Thankfully, for their sakes, no one did.

xxx

September 22, 2004 - morning

“Mia; this is ridiculous!” Bree cried at her older sister as she watched her slowly picking out something from her closet to wear. “How can you be considering going to see him?”

“He’s being deported, Bree.” Mia reminded her as she settled on dark gray jeans and a black singlet.

“Yeah, but he only had them call you to mess with you.” Bree challenged, folding her arms across her soft, emerald, terry-cloth bathrobe as her sister got changed.

Mia let out a loud sigh. “Maybe.” She agreed as she buttoned her jeans. “But he’ll never be allowed back in Australia after this.” She went to her dresser and pulled out the faded yellow envelope from her top drawer. “Which means this is the last chance I have to get him to sign these.”

“Aunt Mia!” Lara hollered as she came bounding into the room, severing the conversation. “Mummy says you’re going for a drive; can I come, too?” She threw her arms around her Aunt’s waist and squeezed her.

“Sorry, Monster,” Mia smoothed Lara’s chocolate brown curls over her head. “Not this time; but I won’t be gone long, I promise.” She kissed her nieces crown and untangled herself from her grip.

“Lara, go finish your breakfast, baby.” Bree told her daughter, still shaken by this news that her sister was going to see him. “Then we can get ready and go to the park.”

“Ok, Mummy.” She went skipping out of the room.

“I just...” Bree chewed her lip and shook her head; giving her the concerned expression of someone much older than only twenty-six years of age. “You two worked so hard to stay away from each other. You gave up your job, your home... and now...”

“Bree,” Mia approached her baby sister and rested her comforting hands on her shoulders. “This is the last time. He’ll sign the papers; and that’s it. Then I’ll meet you two at the park.” She beamed a reassuring smile.

Bree let herself smile back. “It’s really that important to you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Mia picked up the envelope again and tucked it into her bag. “I need it to be over. We need to be divorced.”

xxx

Managing to put their bickering aside for a minute or two, Jack was able to change Sawyer’s bandage. But just because he felt the need to change it so it wouldn’t get infected didn’t mean that he had to be gentle.

“Ow, easy, Jackass.” Sawyer grumbled as Jack ripped off the medical tape off the bandage.

“You want it easy, quit moaning.” Jack muttered as he removed a clean bandage from his backpack. “I've got to change these bandages.”

“Well, try not taking my skin off with them.” He let out a long sigh. “How'd I score the house call, Dr. Quinn. Trying to ease your conscience?”

“My conscience is fine, thanks.”

“Of course, what do you have to feel guilty about? I mean, you just let that damn Arab torture me -- stood by and watched. You figure you patch me up -- buy you a ticket into heaven? Only reason you're here-”

“I'm here because no one else wants anything to do with you.”

Sawyer glared at him; but then found himself smirking proudly. “She does.”

“Mia?” Jack grinned. “Yeah; she seemed really interested in you when she ran away from you in the jungle.” The smirk on Sawyer’s face disappeared. “Change your own bandages.”

Sawyer glared after Jack as he stomped away and then cast his eyes up the beach where he saw his estranged wife staring at him. She didn’t look away when she saw him looking; rather just kept staring back. Even though she was a good fifty feet away; he could clearly see her anger almost radiating around her. Okay, so he’s tricked her into kissing him; but he knew that she’d enjoyed it just has much as he had. It was chemical; even after all this time they were still into each other. Granted; she would never come near him again after that, but it was still nice to feel something other than everyone’s hatred for once. Even if the person who had made him feel that way was now one of the people seething at him from afar.

xxx

It wasn’t until that afternoon that Mia learned that Sayid had wandered off into the jungle. Kate told her he’d left the evening before; racked with guilt over what he’d done to Sawyer. She said he told him that torturing someone was an act he’d sworn never to engage in again. Apart from that incident; that day had actually been very pleasant. Hurley had found a set of golf clubs and somehow created a miniature golf course on the nearby mountain tops. It was so bizarre that it felt normal; and everyone got involved. They played a knockout tournament; everyone got a hit until it was down to just Charlie and Jack.

It was a surprisingly a lot of fun. Mia was knocked out pretty early on, golf had never been her favourite sport anyway, but stuck around to watch the end of the game. It got pretty lively towards the finish; people started yelling out bets. Mia bet her sunglasses on Jack to win, Kate bet her dinner on Jack as well, but the shock better was none other than Sawyer.

When Kate had heard about the golf course; she’d mentioned to Sawyer that outcasts should make more of an effort if they wanted to be liked by everyone. She’d relayed this to Mia when she’d arrived at the course; but neither of them expected him to show up. So when he popped in betting two tubes of sunscreen against Jack; it took them both by surprise.

“I’ll take that action.” Kate grinned.

Mia looked to Sawyer and saw him smiling, not smirking, but smiling at her. “Yeah, me too.” She found herself echoing Kate, moreso to keep morale positive than to diminish her anger at her husband.

“You just bet on me.” Jack reminded her.

“Sorry.” Mia shrugged and sent him a wicked little grin, one that she didn't care of Sawyer noticed or not. “Changed my mind.”

The sun set soon after and they had to call it quits for the day. Jack did end up winning so Mia was able to hold onto her sunglasses and Kate, her dinner. They all trailed back to the beach together in one big group; it was the most Mia had felt like they were working together since the day of the crash. She actually felt a shift in personalities and in the way everyone reacted to one another. Unsure if this was a good or bad sign for their hopes of rescue, Mia was able to curl up in her tent that night and sleep quite soundly. She should have known that it was the calm before the storm; she should have felt it. Instead; she let herself dream about happy memories with someone who could never be the man she let her subconscious make him out to be.

xxx

News that Claire had been attacked came swiftly from the caves back to the beach with Jack. He’d been bringing back some water with Charlie when he’d told Mia and Kate that she’d had an nightmare two nights ago, but the night before she’d woken up everyone at the caves screaming that someone was trying to hurt her baby by injecting her belly with something. The scare had spurred Hurley on to start gathering everyone’s names, creating a census, so they could narrow down whom it might be who attacked her. Mia had already given her info to him by the time she joined Kate.

“Did you see anyone leave the beach last night?” Jack asked both Kate and Mia as they huddled with Charlie away from the bulk of the beach camp.

“People come and go,” Kate shrugged. “It’s not like we keep track.”

Mia noticed something flicker in Jack’s eyes; something quizzical. “What is it?” She called him on it.

“I’m not sure anything actually happened to her.” Jack admitted.

Charlie looked insulted by this. “Wait, what?”

“Claire told Michael and I that this attacker tried to inject her with something. But there was no mark on her stomach." Jack shrugged, almost at a loss of what to do. "She wakes up two nights in a row screaming. The first time she was sleep-walking.”

“You think she was making this up?” Charlie snapped defensively. “She was terrified, man!”

“Look, she said that the guy was trying to hurt her baby,” Jack raised his eyebrows “Why would someone do that now with all of us sleeping 20 feet away?”

“So, you think she's lying?” Mia questioned. She hadn’t gone to see Claire yet; but she made a mental note to do so as soon as they were done here.

Jack sighed in frustration. “No. Pregnant women have extremely lucid-”

“Lucid, right.” Charlie cut in sarcastically.

“These are textbook anxiety nightmares.” Jack continued.

“You know everything that's going on with everyone?”

“Hey.” Kate silenced him. “So what do we do?” She asked Jack.

“She's due in a little more than a week, maybe two,” Jack said, his voice clearly expressing his worry about the poor young woman. “But if she stays stressed out like this, or has another panic attack it could trigger an early labor. And out here, with no instruments, no monitors, no anesthetic…” He grimaced. “That would not be good.” He left the statement hanging out there, and it caused all of them to remain silent as they tried to force themselves not to think of the worst possible outcome.

“It's not all in her head.” Charlie finally said; and then he left the three of them alone.

One of the survivors Mia didn’t know very well, Rose, flagged Jack down to inspect a cut on her hand so Mia left Kate and headed back to her tent. Whilst moving into Claire’s former residence she found a book on astrology that the girl had left behind. Since her water bottles were running out anyway, Mia figured this was the perfect chance to get a few things done. She grabbed the book and a couple of her remaining water bottles and headed off for the caves.

Even though Mia knew it would take her a couple of hours to get to the caves at a brisk walk, she didn’t hurry to get there and she wasn’t sure why. Claire was her friend and she was in trouble; surely she’d bolt to be at her side. Instead, she found herself ambling along and feeling almost at peace. Something about being in the crisp, jungle air soothed her. Perhaps it was the fact that the plane wreckage was still on the beach, so it was hard not to remember where they were when she was there. But out here, her mind could wander. She could just be taking a walk on her way home.

Only twice did she wander off the path to the caves; but she managed to find her way back quite easily. She was glad some of her training was coming in handy. She glance to the sky and noticed the sun in the West; she hadn’t realized how long she’d been walking. It was probably closer to four hours now.

As she hit the familiar turf on the way to the caves, her mind clicked back into survival mode and she sped up a little. She was going to find Claire and hopefully her friend would be ok. Mia was threading her way through some thickets when she heard a familiar accent calling her name.

“Charlie?” She called behind her, the source of the yell. A moment later she saw the rock star wild eyed and panicked as he burst onto the path.

“Thank God,” He panted. “You have to help, it’s Claire she’s having the baby!”

Mia’s eyes bulged. “What?!”

“She was heading back to the beach and she started having contractions.” He rambled breathlessly. “Come on, come with me.” He tugged on her arm.

Mia pulled back,. “Wait, we need to get Jack-”

“Ethan’s getting him; come on!” He yanked her harder forwards and they ran further up the path. Charlie led her straight to Claire who was sitting on the ground holding her belly and rocking back and forth. “Are you ok?” He asked her as he fell to his knees beside her.

“It hurts.” Claire groaned.

“It’s ok, take my hand,” He slid his fingers through hers. “Breathe in and out.”

Claire drew in some deep breaths. “Did you get Jack?”

“He’s coming. I brought Mia.”

Mia slid her bag off her shoulder. “Are you ok?” She crouched to the blonde’s side and touched her shoulder. She was very pale and clearly frightened.

“I-I dunno, it’s too soon for this,” She said shakily. “I can’t have the baby now.”

“Jack’ll be here soon,” Mia tried to reassure her. “Look, when my sister had her baby she had, like, three false labours before my niece was finally born three weeks late.” Mia tried to focus on Claire; if she thought about her family too much she was worried she’d just burst into tears. There was no one she missed more than her sister and her niece. She’d managed to keep them out of her mind for the most part, but being with Claire tended to bring out the big sister and Aunt in her.

“How old’s your niece?” Claire asked, eager for the distraction.

“Almost six.” Mia grinned and retrieved one of the water bottles from her bag. “Her name’s Lara.” She offered the drink to Claire. “I have a picture of her back at the beach, I’ll show you when you feel better.” She hoped the thought of something to do later on might ease Claire’s mind a little. Of course, then she remembered where the photo was. In that friggin envelope.

Claire managed to steady her breathing and for the next ten minutes, waiting expectantly for another contraction. But none came. She instead began to feel an immense wave of relief and relaxation.

“Where the Hell is Jack?” Charlie voiced worriedly as his eyes scanned the jungle around them.

Feeling stronger, Claire heaved herself up onto her feet with Mia and Charlie helping her rise. “I think...I think I’m alright.”

“The contractions...?” Mia raised her eyebrows and kept a firm hold on Claire, afraid she’d fall over or collapse or something.

Claire shook her head. “No pain...maybe that was the last one. Please let that be the last one...”

“Hm, birthing emergency averted.” Charlie grinned. “I told you I’d take care of you.”

“Thanks, Charlie.” Claire beamed gratefully. "And Mia." She added, making Mia smile, too.

“You’re quite welcome.”

“Think you can make it back to the caves?” When Claire cast her eyes down, nervous, Charlie tenderly touched her shoulder. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Claire let herself smile again. “Okay.” She agreed.

Finally content, the three of then headed back to the caves. Mia still had bottles to fill up and she would rather help Charlie settle Claire than go back to the beach while the sun set. Claire seemed to regain her strength steadily as they walked. At first she had held onto both Charlie and Mia, but eventually she walked on her own with a hand to her belly. That was until she suddenly grasped Mia’s arm making them all stop immediately.

“What?” Mia almost shouted, she was so worried they wouldn’t get back to Jack before something happened.

“No, nothing,” Claire lifted her head and was smiling. “He just kicked.” She pulled Charlie’s hand across her belly and pressed it against her skin. “Here.”

Charlie’s eyes rounded in amazement and he chuckled as he felt a little foot nudge against his hand. Mia let out a relieved sigh; she was too on edge. Nothing was going to happen to Claire.

“Hello, there.”

Mia jumped as the male voice caught her ears. Up ahead of them she saw Ethan, who admittedly she didn’t know very well, just standing there. Jack was nowhere in sight; and something in Mia’s stomach started to twinge.

“Ethan.” Charlie creased his eyebrows together when he saw the man alone.

“Where’s Jack?” Mia asked warily, eying him up and down. He looked so strange at that moment; his eyes were locked on Claire as though she was the only one there.

All of a sudden, Ethan ran towards them, Mia jumped in front of Charlie and Claire and slugged Ethan across the face with her fist. He wasn’t expecting her attack; but he recovered quickly sending a backhanded slap across her cheek. Mia tried to trip him by hooking her heel behind his ankle but he grabbed her wrist and spun her so her back was pressed against his chest with his arm locked around her neck.

“Charlie, run!” Mia yelled as she clung to Ethan’s wrist to keep it from pressing against her windpipe.

Charlie snatched Claire’s arm and they started to run. Mia felt Ethan’s face pull away from her and from the corner of her, could see him remove something from his pocket. It looked kind of like a taser. He aimed it at Charlie and fired; hitting him in the neck causing him to collapse to the dirt in a painful seizure. Claire screamed and clasped her arms protectively around her belly. Mia tried to yell at her to run but couldn’t. A jabbing pain stung in her neck, she knew it had to be a needle, and a second later she blacked out with Claire’s cries reverberating in her ears as she fell heavily to the ground.

xxx