Looks sheepish All I can do is apologise profusely for leaving this little ficlet for so long. But now, with FWYH done and dusted and out of the way, I'm gonna complete this fic before starting anything new. Fends away rabid plot bunnies with chair and whip

Hope you like. It's a little short this chapter. But we're getting there, slowly. just need to get back in the groove of writing it is all.

Tell me a Story (part 6).

"Never mind, huh? Lulu? How 'bout we get back to talkin' 'bout that queen. We got ourselves off of the track of the story here." he soothed and Luana nodded her consent against him, tucking her head beneath his chin. "So where were we?" he hummed into the muggy air of the jungle and Luana responded with a light noise of uncertainty from the back of her throat. "The queen didn't have a boyfriend 'cause she hadn't met anyone she liked the look of yet," he gazed ahead at the dusty path through the trees and undergrowth that had been worn away over the years by the countless trips to and from the hatch that people had made. "Though o'course with that damn giant protectin' her all the time, she didn't really get a chance to meet any guys and get to know 'em properly-"

Luana lifted her head from his shoulder suddenly, arms curling around Sawyer's neck as her little fingers wound their way into his smooth blonde hair and she leaned back to gain a better view of his face.

"She didn't get to go on any dates?" she queried, shocked by such a notion.

"Nope, not a one!"

"But that's no fun! How did she get presents if no one took her out on a date?"

Sawyer had to stifle a smirk at his daughter's reasoning, but instead he painted a look of devout seriousness upon his features as he replied to her.

"And why does goin' on a date mean you'll get presents? Huh? Isn't your date's company more important than presents?"

Luana wrinkled her nose and shook her head as if scolding Sawyer for his apparently wrong interpretation of what the 'dating game' was all about.

"No, Daddy!" she huffed, shaking her head slowly. "The boy always has to give the girl a present." She lectured, tapping a finger against his shoulder to punctuate each word. "A good present!" she added and rolled her eyes. "Not like the stupid one that Aaron got for me. I told him I don't like coconuts!"

Sawyer chuckled at her for a moment longer until the true meaning of his daughter's words filtered through into his brain, igniting his paternal instincts again and fanning the flames until they roared inside him.

"Aaron, huh?" he growled dangerously, narrowing his eyes and tightening his grip about Luana subconsciously. "Since when d'you like Aaron Littleton?"

Luana had apparently learned well from her mother in avoiding subjects that she didn't want to talk about and feigned nonchalance like a pro, tossing her sleek black hair over her shoulder, turning her vision away from Sawyer's suddenly murderous face. She perused the jungle before them as if she were picking out dress to wear for a party.

She sniffed, batting her long, dark eyelashes slowly.

"I don't any more," she sighed. "Since he gave me a coconut for a present on our second date." She giggled suddenly, pressing her little fingers to her mouth. "I told him Christian gives me better presents."

"Hold up there! Second da-!" Sawyer's words stuck in his throat. "Baby, you're five!"

Luana shot him a scathing glare for stating the obvious.

"Who said you could go out with that boy, huh? I know I certainly didn't! He's two years older than you!" his bewilderment turned instead into a disgruntled frown. "And Christian? I though I told you to stay away from him?" a muscle twitched in his jaw and a pulse ticked in his temple. "And didn't you beat him up today? Thought you said he was stupid too?"

"He is!" Luana responded impatiently and squirming beneath her father's scrutiny. I sure hadn't been as bad when she'd told her Momma that she liked Aaron Littleton. "He gave me a really cute tree frog called Stanley 'cause Momma squished my spider, but Christian wanted me to give him a kiss for a thank you so he could boast to Aaron and I didn't wanna so I punched him." She shrugged, perhaps feigning indifference for the Shephard boy, and then again perhaps her current distaste for him was all real.

Sawyer's teeth ground together at the mere thought of both Aaron and Christian being anywhere even remotely in his only daughter's, only child's, orbit. Sure, they were just kids…but that wouldn't last forever and little Luana Jamie Ford-Cortez was heading towards being as stunning as her Momma was. Besides, he was a guy himself after all, and he knew exactly how guys thought, especially teenage guys, which both Baby Huey and Jack the Lad were eventually going to grow into. Sooner rather than later. He almost stopped mid-stride to go and seek out the two culprits who thought that they had any right whatsoever to even look at his daughter, but Luana spoke, tossing her sleek, long hair away from her face again and saying something that put his mind at rest slightly. That made him instead feel secure enough that his mind turned back to other issues…like the one of his AWOL woman.

"Anyway, I don't like either of them anymore. Can I have a doggy like Vincent instead of a boyfriend?"

Sawyer couldn't help but laugh out loud at her words, though it was more out of relief than anything else that provoked his amusement.

"Babyface," he grinned wide, tweaking her nose and ignoring the frown that such an action and nickname drew down her brow. "Soon as we get off this damn island, you can have as many doggies as you want instead of boyfriends!"

And Luana squealed in excitement, clapping her hands together and chanting the word 'doggy' over and over again until the word began sounding strange to both of their ears and she settled for beaming up at her father instead. Her hero again. He'd obviously said the magic words and unless they were suddenly and miraculously rescued within the next few days, he wasn't that concerned that he'd actually have to keep his side of the bargain.

"So, what was I sayin' before?" he queried around his self satisfied grin and Luana, securing her arms in a loop back around his neck, proceeded to remind him.

"The queen didn't have any boyfriends 'cause the giant wouldn't let her." She summarised. "But what about Harry and Barry and Bob?"

"What about 'em, Poppet?" Sawyer chuckled at her curious ability to speak around her thumb, which she had returned to her mouth, and be entirely understandable in the same instance.

"What happened to them in the pit?"

-oOo-