SOMETHING NEW

She never thought she'd find love after what happened to Tom. She especially never thought she would fall for someone she had never met on an unknown island. That was of course, until she met Sawyer…

"Hey Freckles, what are you doing all the way out here?"

She didn't enjoy being called Freckles, but she put up with it.

"Picking fruit just like last time you asked me. What are you doing? Protecting me?"

"Oh I dunno, thought I'd go for a walk, see if there were any new monsters roaming around on this here damn island we've got and landed ourselves on."

Kate smirked. One of the things she liked most about Sawyer was his sarcastic sense of humour and the one-liners he could come out with. She noticed that the side of his shirt looked like it had a blood stain on it.

"Well you get back to me on that," she returned to the tree she was picking from.

"So how's the beach?" Jack would never give up on quizzing Kate about why she wouldn't move to the caves with him. He said he wasn't mad but she knew he was disappointed in her decision to stay on the beach.

"Hi," Jack came and sat next to her as she turned to see who had asked her.

"Hey," Kate always sounded shy when she said hello to him.

"So… Anything new with you?"

"Um…" Kate hesitated. Yes something was new, but it was nothing she wanted to tell Jack.

"So how's your good pal Jack"

"Are you getting at something, Sawyer?" she wasn't really in the mood for any of his games.

"What, I ain't allowed to ask a simple question?"

"You're allowed to ask a simple question but is there a catch?" Kate was still wary of last time she had made a deal with Sawyer. He had said he would tell her where Shannon's medicine was if she kissed him. Unwillingly, Kate leant in for the kiss but when it came she found she didn't want to pull away. In the end Sawyer didn't even have the medicine, h had just manipulated her to get what he wanted, and she didn't want to get caught up into something she may well regret, or even enjoy.

Sawyer stared at Kate intently and she stared right back.

"Fine. Jack, being the doctor and all, is the one with all the medicines and stuff. I know he won't let me near anything obviously but I need something."

"Why? Is there something wrong? Did you hurt yourself?" Kate couldn't hide the concern in her voice.

"Aw, you feeling bad for me?"

"No," Kate looked away defiantly. "Can't I ask a simple question?"

Sawyer smirked. "Alright Freckles. I was wondering if you could get me some bandages and antiseptic or something because uh- well let's just say that my side isn't causing me pleasure right now." Kate wanted to help him but knew she was going to have to think of a reply that would make her seem more demanding.

"You've got the liquor stash right?" Kate asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah."

"I get these medical supplies for you and I get any drink from the stash I want." Sawyer looked at her.

"Deal."

"Oh yeah I just remembered, some of my bandages and antiseptics are missing, do you know of anyone who took some?"

"Um…"

"Ouch! Watch it!" Kate ended up being the one to apply the bandages. How was a mystery to her.

"I'm trying but the gash is pretty big, it's kinda hard to make sure I don't press on the wrong parts."

"Yeah, well, watch what you're doin'."

Kate rolled her eyes. Sawyer tried to be tough but she knew he had a soft, hopeless side.

"So how did you get this anyway?" Sawyer was silent for a minute. It seemed he was trying to figure out whether to tell the truth or not.

"I was out in the jungle trying to catch myself some food. No-one gone out and gotten us any boar so I thought 'hell, why not try it myself,' and I did, and the stupid thing scraped me when I was trying to get up a tree."

Kate tried not to laugh and hide the smile on her face. The last time they had been this close to each other, besides the kiss, was when Sawyer had pulled her around the waist towards him to keep her out of reach of some boars that had raided the camp on the beach in the first week they were stranded. And being this close again was rather intimidating.

"Hey Freckles, you alright? You seem bothered."

She had slowed down in bandaging sawyer while remembering the scenario and had an expression that showed she was thinking really hard on her face. But she snapped out of it when Sawyer spoke to her.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine," she felt embarrassed. "Um, when I finish doing this shouldn't we get back to the beach?"

"Nah. This fire will last us the night and then we'll just find our way back tomorrow."

"Hey where were you last night? I came to see Sayid about something and I didn't see you. Or Sawyer for that matter."

"Mmmm…"

"Hey Freckles why don't you come and cuddle up over here with me."

"Goodnight Sawyer."

"What, don't you like having Bedtime Company? I'll bet you had yourself a bear when you were growing up. Just think of me as a really big one."

"Good-night Sawyer."

"Oh come on, get over here."

"Sawyer let go of me-put me down! Put me down!"

She landed with a slight thud on the other side of the fire. So much for trying to get to sleep. As soon as she started to nod off she was bothered by Sawyer.

"Come on, now ain't that better?"

"You can be so irritating sometimes, you know that!"

"Well we've got each other for company now."

Kate took a drink from the alcoholic drink Sawyer had given her as part of their deal.

"You still got some of that?" Kate took another sip and nodded. Sawyer's eyes lit up.

"How abouts you and me have a drinking game."

"Excuse me?"

"A drinking game. With this…" he pulled out a bottle of Bourbon and waved it in front of her.

"Sawyer it's the middle of the night. What are we gonna play? I Never? Didn't you have enough fun last time we played?"

"No no, a different game. A competition, who can drink a bottle of Bourbon the fastest."

"You've got two bottles of that?"

"One of the passengers had 'em. I picked it off a suitcase in the fuselage," Sawyer smiled.

"Alright, pass me my bottle."

"You up for it?"

"Yep."

Sawyer passed her a bottle and got another for himself. "Ok, ready, go."

They both opened their bottle and took a drink. They both knew the drink was strong but they had forgotten its full power. It was going to be a long competition.

"So Kate, what'd you do yesterday night. Like I said, I didn't see you. Were you with Sawyer? Are you gonna give me an answer?"

Kate was silent.

Kate was halfway down her bottle. Sawyer was a little ahead taking a rather large gulp and spluttering after it.

"So Freckles, he slurred, trying to focus on Kate but obviously having some difficulty. "Think you can keep going?"

Kate just nodded for safety.

"So if I win, what's the deal?"

Kate looked up. Of course he was going to do this. Make her realise he wanted something this far into the competition.

"You win," she said. "And you get a replay of the last deal we made." Sawyer looked back at her and realised she was talking about the time he had pretended to have Shannon's inhaler. The Car Blanche wasn't a real deal as she had admitted to only wanting to spend time with him. He smirked. As Kate began to drink, Sawyer took a deep breath and sculled the remains of his bottle. He looked at Kate with an expression between about to faint and triumph. He had won.

"Alrighty. Now for the fun part."

Kate looked over at him with a blank, emotionless expression as she put the lid back onto her bottle. As she crawled around the fire to him, Sawyer's heart beat quickened; little did he know that Kate's was going at exactly the same pace. She stopped next to him and stared into her eyes.

"Have you suddenly become a mute without letting me know? Well of course you wouldn't you'd be a mute. But you're not, Kate. And what is so hard about answering a simple question?" Jack's voice had a note of frustration in it.

Sawyer and Kate's faces drew closer to each other. The first touch of their lips was soft. Not because it was their first (because it wasn't), but because they didn't exactly know where this was headed. As the kissing began to intensify, Kate shifted so she was facing Sawyer head-on. His hands clasped around her waist and it was now that they realised this was going to be a little different from the replay they both expected.

Kate placed her arms around Sawyer's neck, drawing him inwards towards her. She hadn't felt this way for a long time. Sawyer pulled her body towards his, enjoying every minute.

"Well if you're not gonna answer me I guess I'll go," Jack stood up and looked down at Kate. He walked away huffing, knowing that Kate had been up to something, and his guess was she had been with Sawyer at the time.

He left a rather guilty, shamed Kate behind to go over what had happened.

Kate woke and blinked in the bright morning sun. She rubbed her eyes but seemed to wake suddenly when she remembered the deal that had been made the previous night, only to look down and find sawyer's arm around her waist. Her straps were lying off her shoulders but she made an immediate note of the fact that she was fully clothed. This relaxed her slightly. What had happened the night before began to start flooding back into her mind as Sawyer stirred next to her and opened his eyes blearily.

"Well well well, look what we have here."

Kate figured this was something better kept to herself.