Title: Quiet
author: Cindy Ryan
category: snippet, missing scene
spoilers: episode 11 'all the best cowboys have daddy issues'
Summary: Sayid comforts Kate after they bring Charlie home

As Kate moved away from Jack and Charlie she started to walk from the fire toward the small pond. Just as she reached the edge she felt a hand on her left upper arm.
Turning Kate looked into Sayid's concerned brown eyes.

Wordlessly Sayid opened his arms and folded Kate into them. Kate crumbled against his chest the tears flowing freely.

Sayid tightened his hold as he rested his chin on top of Kate's head. He'd been worried about her since the trio had returned from the jungle. They all had endured much since the crash but Kate had been dealing with more. The reprecussions from her past, the Marshal's death, the tramua from the crash, the unknowns of the island and now finding Charlie near death.

"I thought he was dead," Kate whispered her eyes open and looking back at the fire.

"You saved him," Sayid replied his voice barely audible above the night noises of the jungle.

Kate shook her head. "No, Jack did. I-I told him to give up. I thought there was no chance. Sayid, they strung him up in a tree like a dead animal carcass."

Sayid ran a comforting hand down Kate's back as he looked over at Charlie who still sat by the fire. The younger man's face was a mask his normal expressive eyes were blank.

"Charlie has bounced back from a lot, Kate,"Sayid reassured her. "He'll recover from this too. It'll just take some time."

Kate pulled back and met Sayid's gaze, "I'm not so sure, Sayid. He and Claire were close. He almost gave his life for her and now he has no idea what happened. I just wish we could help him."

"The only thing we can do,"Sayid began as he sat gingerly down on a nearby rock his injured leg starting to bother him. "Is to be there for him once he remembers."

"What if he never remembers?"Kate asked as she sat down next to him.

"That might be a blessing if we don't find her."

Kate turned to face Sayid, "You think we won't?"

Sayid sighed, "I don't know, Kate. Whoever took Claire has been here longer than us. They know these jungles better. They know where to hide. They know how to avoid us."

Kate looked back at Charlie sadly, "We have to find her. For his sake."

end