OK, so I was watching a movie when this idea struck me. What if I wrote a story about how Kate and Sawyer grew up together?? This has probably already been done before, but I'll make it special in my own way . Enjoi!

Prologue

Narrated by Kate

The day I was born was the day I met my best friend, James Sawyer Ford. We grew up together in a small town in Iowa. The population was only 213 people or so. Though he was two years older than I was, we never did anything without the other. We had so many adventures together. Our favorite game to play was Robin Hood, where James would be Robin Hood and I would be the poor damsel in distress. He always rescued me from the clutches of the evil prince and the story would end happily until the next dilemma. Those were the good ol' days. Our carefree days spent running through the corn fields on the farm or chasing some wild animals into the woods or exploring in the woods and capturing small creatures to be our pets. It wasn't always fun and games though. The day my father left was the day I knew James would always be there for me. Ever since that day, he has been the best friend a person could have. He'd been there for me for absolutely everything, and I owe him my life.

Chapter 1

"Katie! Katie where are you? It's time for dinner!" Katie's mother was shouting out the back door, hoping her daughter hadn't wandered too far away. "Katie, get in here now or you can't play with James tomorrow!" She heard the bushes to her left rustling as her daughter and James quickly got out of hiding.

"Aw but Mommy-"

"No buts! Now get inside and wash up. Are you staying for dinner tonight James?" He shrugged. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." He grinned at her, showing off his recent gap in his teeth from losing a tooth. She smiled back at him as he rushed inside to find Katie. As they were getting ready to eat, they heard the front door open and close, and then footsteps. Katie's father walked into the room. Her mother stood up.

"Hello, Sam." He nodded at her.

"Katie, James… take your food up to Katie's room and close the door. They silently did as they were told. When they got upstairs, Katie abandoned her food and rushed to the door to listen to her parents. She couldn't hear very well, so she quietly stepped out and tip-toed to the top of the stairs. She arrived their just in time to hear her father speak.

"I'm leaving you. I can't stand the thought of you being with that man. I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry. Tell Katie I love her." He opened the door to walk out, but a pair of small arms wrapped around his left leg stopped him. He looked down to see his four year old daughter crying and hugging his leg.

"Don't go Daddy, please! I don't want you to leave again." She sobbed and looked up at him. He stared back at her sadly. He bent down and picked her up.

"I have to Katie. I'm so sorry. You know I'll always love you right?" She sniffled and nodded, hugging his neck.

"Take me with you. I don't want to be here without you." He sighed as he set her down.

"I can't Katherine… I have to go now. I love you sweetie." He turned around and started to walk out.

"No Daddy! Please don't go!" It broke his heart to hear his daughter crying for him, but he couldn't take her with him. She tried to run after him, but her mom grabbed her and held her back, gently stroking her hair. She turned around and glared at her mother, then ran back upstairs to her room and slammed the door. James watched her jump onto her bed and sob. He stood up and walked over to the bed, crawling in next to her.

"It's ok, Katie. It's ok." He put his small hand on her even smaller one. After a while she began to quiet down and fell asleep. He fell asleep soon after that. Eventually her mother came in and covered her and James up with a blanket. She smiled to herself, thinking how sweet they looked. She left the room, quietly closing the door and grabbed her coat as she headed over to Wayne's to tell him the news.

Two weeks after James' eighth birthday, his father found out that his mother had been cheating on him. He filed for a divorce and left them. James never did see his father again.

"Our moms both cheated on our dads… Our moms are pretty messed up." James stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked at the ground. Katie nodded in agreement.

"Wanna go play Robin Hood?" She asked hopefully. He shook his head.

"Nah… Let's go exploring." She grinned at him excitedly.

"Race ya to the woods." He started running toward the woods near his house.

"Hey! No fair! You got a head start! James! Wait for me!" She chased after him as quickly as her little legs would carry her. He turned around to see that she was catching up to him. When he looked back forward, his long blonde hair blew into his face and he couldn't see where he was going. He stopped suddenly, and Katie came crashing into him, knocking them both down a hill into the creek. They both started laughing.

The day James started middle school was one of the saddest days of Katie's life. She and James had been going to the same school since… forever. He was a grade ahead of her though (he had to repeat preschool because he refused to take nap time; otherwise he would have been two grades ahead). When he got home on his first day, he told her all about the teachers and other students and how much cooler it was than elementary school. She couldn't wait until next year when they got to go to school together again AND she got to be at the cool school. Though he was a teenager now, and she merely 11, they still hung out together and talked about everything. One time she even got him to play dolls with her and dress up. One day, she saw a moving van parked in her driveway. Her heart sank. She hoped they weren't moving. She and James rushed into her house to find her mom talking to her revolting boyfriend, Wayne. Katie despised him, but she never told him that because she was also scared to death of him. She hated how he treated her mother when he came over.

"Momma, what's going on? Are we moving??" Katie asked her mother anxiously. Her mother turned around, her eye black. Katie pretended not to notice.

"Actually, sweetheart… Wayne's the one who's moving…" Her spirited soared as she thought of a life without Wayne. "He's moving in with us."

"What?! No! He can't! He just can't!" Tears came to her eyes and she bolted out the door to go to her special spot that nobody, but James, of course, knew about. He followed her slowly, giving her time to calm down a little bit. He walked over to an enormous old oak tree. He jumped up to grab the lowest branch and walked up the trunk. He swung his legs over the branch, then kept climbing until he saw Katie. She was sitting in a huge indent in the tree, big enough for her to lie down in, but not big enough to cause the tree to break at that point and crush who ever may be sitting there. He reached the branch in front of her and sat down. She had her back to him but knew he was there.

"Hey…" He said tentatively, not wanting to surprise or upset her.

"Hey…" She sniffled and turned to face him. She was holding something in her hand.

"What's that?" He reached out to take it from her and saw that it was the birthday present he'd made for her for her fifth birthday. He'd taken a large piece of cardboard and covered it with colorful paper. Then he'd put glue in the shape of her name on it and sprinkled rocks and dirt on it. For the dot on the letter 'i', he'd used a pearl that they had found one day when they were exploring in the creek. It was her most treasured object and she kept it with her in the tree when she was upset. He'd worked really hard on it, but had accidentally made the 'k' backwards. He couldn't believe she'd kept it all these years.

"You still have this?" She nodded, slightly embarrassed. He smiled and handed it back to her. "You're a piece of work, Katherine Elizabeth Austen." She scowled at him. She hated when people said her full name.

"Whatever, James Sawyer Ford." He rolled his eyes.

"Maybe I should just go by Sawyer… It's kinda cool." She shrugged.

"Well maybe I should just go by Elizabeth." He wrinkled his nose.

"You don't look like an Elizabeth. You look like a Katie."

"And you look like a James. So there." They laughed. Feeling better, she decided to get down. That night, she ate dinner at his house, wanting to avoid Wayne as much as possible.

End of Chapter

So… How was it?? I posted this on a different site about a week ago, but decided to let you all enjoy it too P.

I just loved the idea when it struck me of showing how they grew up together and stuff. I was thinking of another kind of fic I could do about them growing up, but there are major differences. I don't know. Anyway please review! Oh and I'm going to post the next chapter a little later. Oh and the end thing just means end of chapter. Review or I won't update P