Tracker, Chapter 15 (Skate, others)

[shennydenny.livejournal.com]

Title: Tracker, Chapter 15
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Skate, Jana, others
Disclaimer: I don't own LOST
Summary: Set during S2, immediately post-WKD, Kate, Sawyer and several other characters go off into the jungle after Michael, learning secrets of the Island along the way.
Spoilers: Season 2

A/N: Tracker is an extremely lengthy, multi-chapter fanfic that I wrote during Season Two. I plan on posting a couple of chapters a day if I can, so please check back! By the way, blame kirvash if you get hooked on it. Thanks for reading!



Chapter 15


Ana stretched and groaned, rubbing her sore back. She hadn't exaggerated; she still hadn't gotten used to sleeping on the ground. The sun was barely up, and she noticed that Locke and Eko were already gone, probably to scout out the trail ahead, except John had been lying; there was no trail. So what were they following? Where was he taking them? She couldn't figure it out. She recognized the general direction, and she had recognized a few landmarks the day before; they were getting close to her old camp and it was discomfiting to be back here so soon, especially after what they had gone through to get to the fuselage survivors in the first place. I could turn back, she thought, I could just turn around and go back. That wasn't really an option anymore, though, now she was in it; she was here come hell or high water. Hell was probably going to be her best bet.

Plus, she thought to herself, Jack is here. She smiled, rolling over on her side to look at him; he was still sleeping, his face peaceful and relaxed, and she fought the urge to reach out and touch him. He had turned; turned his back on Kate, turned the corner in being able to let her go and Ana allowed herself to be a little happy about that. She'd felt it, when Jack shifted his trust from Kate to her, as soon as he handed her the bottle and whispered the plan in her ear. She glanced across the dead fire to Kate, who was disappearing into the brush. I know you, she thought, watching her go. She smirked, remembering how jealously Kate had stared at her hand on Jack's arm and she sensed that the intangible something between the two of them had lessened; changed. They were not the same people they had been only four days ago; they had...drifted.

"Morning." Jack opened his eyes and smiled. "How long have you been up?"

"Just a bit. I was about to get you up."

He yawned a little, stretching against the cool ground. "I've been awake for a while," he said, rolling onto his elbow to face her. "I was thinking about what you said yesterday, about how things would be different if I had been in the back of the plane when it crashed."

"Crazy stuff, huh?" Ana had thought about it a lot. Would Jack have been on the Others' list? She wondered suddenly.

"Yeah, it is." He paused, searching for the right words. "But the fact is, I wasn't in the back of the plane. And nothing will ever change that." She gazed at him, curiously. "What is, is, Ana. But we're here now, and that is what matters."

She couldn't resist; she reached out and touched his lips with her fingertips; he grabbed her hand and kissed her fingers gently, smiling at her. She grinned back, and he winked at her and dropped her hand. He sat up, scanning the camp, Sawyer was leaning back against a rock, going through Kate's backpack; Kate was nowhere to be found. "Locke and Eko gone already?" He asked Ana, and she nodded. "I thought I heard them leave."

He stood, stretching. Sawyer glanced over at him, then stuffed something hastily in his pocket as Jack gave him a wave, smiling; Sawyer sent him back a rather more crude gesture but Jack just laughed and shook his head, even Sawyer couldn't dampen his mood. At least, not yet. The day was young.

It wasn't that he didn't care about Kate anymore, but what he'd just said to Ana was true. What is, is. There was no use worrying about something out of his control, and what there was between Kate and Sawyer was definitely out of his hands. And as for Ana, well, like the man said, "We're here, and that's what matters." He was attracted to her; he had been since the airport bar. Even through his grief and guilt he'd been able to appreciate that while he wasn't the spontaneous type, if given the opportunity he would seriously consider initiating them both into the mile-high club. It had been that thought, in particular, that had kept him buckled in his seat until it was too late.

Sawyer was digging busily through Kate's pack. "Where the hell are the damn pills?" he muttered, pulling out a shirt and a pair of socks. He tossed them to the side and kept rooting around. "Damn women," said to himself, digging to the bottom of the pack, "Why can't they just carry a wallet?" His fingers closed around something small and hard and he pulled it out curiously. What the hell? he thought, and glanced up to see Jack waving. He hastily stuffed it into his pocket and "waved" back. "Jackass."

He sighed and stuffed her shirt and socks back into her pack, zipping it up. Oh, well, he thought, I'll just have to wait for her. He thought idly about following her into the woods and having his way with her against another tree trunk; his skin tingled at the thought. To hell with fruit, he thought. I got a better use for that tree. At the thought of fruit, though, his stomach growled and he decided against it. One appetite at a time.

He picked lazily at a loose string on the shoulder strap of her pack. The terrifying vision from the day before had faded, but it was still there; a shadow in the back of his mind, pricking at him when he least expected it. Eko had saved his life, last night, because the image of Kate sprawled on the cold ground, eyes open and lifeless while her blood spilled out beneath her playing out over and over had nearly driven him to take his gun out and put it to his temple. He snorted; Shaft and the Doc were about even when it came to Sawyer-life-saving. Maybe he could get them on a group plan.

His eyes fell on Desmond's pack; he hadn't even gone through it. "You're slippin' old man," he muttered, grabbing the pack and unzipping it. He rifled through it; there were some clothes, a book (Sawyer read the title, The Third Policeman) which he stuffed into his own pack, and- what was that? He pulled out some sort of ray-gun thing with a needle on the end and held it, turning it over in his hands.

"What is that?" Jack was standing over him, studying the gun in his hand.

Sawyer glanced up at him, smirking. "I already said good mornin' to you, Doc. What, you here for a kiss too?"

Jack ignored the dig, and reached for the gun. "What is that? Where did you get it?"

Sawyer put it back in the pack, zipping it up. "I found it up a tree. And you know what they say," he smiled at Jack nastily, "Finders keepers."

Jack had the suspicion that Sawyer wasn't just talking about the gun.

"Whatever. Where's Kate? We need to get going." He glanced back at Ana, who was already slinging her pack on. He watched her for a second and she smiled and joined them as Sawyer glanced between the two of them.

"Go on, then, Doc. Surely you don't need Kate to hold your hand." He started to stand, putting a little pressure on his arm. It held, and he pushed up with it, stretching the tight muscles.

Jack chuckled humorlessly. "No, Sawyer, I certainly don't need that." Something in his tone made Sawyer look up. "Fine. You know how to find us. Or, Kate does, anyway." Sawyer opened his mouth to retort.

"Kate does what?" She sauntered easily into the camp, tossing a mango to Sawyer, who caught it one handed and winked at her. She grinned, then tossed one to Jack and Ana. "Kate does what?" she asked again when no one answered. "Did I miss something?" She looked questioningly at Sawyer.

"Nah," Sawyer said, cutting the mango in half and handing one to Kate. "Butch and Sundance," he grinned at Jack, "were just leaving. I told them we'd catch up." He leaned close to Kate and purred in her ear, "After we attend to some pressing business." He leaned against her.

She rolled her eyes at him. At least he was himself again. Whatever it was that had him so upset yesterday had passed, thank God, but as soon as she'd joined him last night he'd been all over her; not in a sexual way, just constantly touching and gazing at her. When they finally fell asleep his hands had been firmly entwined in her hair, her head on his chest; when she woke he still had her hair clenched in his fists. She'd extracted herself with some difficulty and he woke up briefly, holding her hand tightly, mumbling, "Whereyougoin'?"

"Breakfast. Want me to bring you something back?" He mumbled incoherently, but his grip on her hand didn't ease. She'd had to nearly yank it out of his grasp.

She glanced at Jack and Ana. Through some mutual agreement she didn't remember making it appeared that the hostility from yesterday was on hold and the arrogance of it ticked her off a little. She was still pissed at them both, and a little hurt at Jack's indifference, but as Sawyer once said, "Bygones." She'd been a little uncomfortable bedding down with Sawyer right in front of Jack, but once she curled up in his arms she forgot all about Jack anyway. "I'm ready, I guess. Where are our trail guides?"

Jack hoisted his pack a little higher, and turned away. "They're scouting I suppose. But you can track, so let's go."

She flared at the presumptuous tone. "I can, huh? That's nice, since you just told me last night that we," she pointed to herself and Sawyer, "were a burden on you." Sawyer glanced sharply at Jack, who turned back to them. "You won't wait for us, right?"

Jack looked a little sad. "I didn't mean it like that, Kate."

"Well then just how did you mean it, Doc?" Sawyer snarled at Jack, moving in between him and Kate. "And who said we were tryin' to keep up with you, anyway? Maybe we like our alone time."

Kate and Jack both glared at him. "Whatever, Jack," Kate snapped, "I'll track- this time. But I want you to understand that you don't get to tell me what to do anymore." She glared nastily at Ana. "You never did. What I did for you I did because I wanted to." She glanced at Sawyer, whose face was getting stormy. "But it won't be that way again."

The hurt look on Jack's face stung Ana. She glared at Kate, putting her hand on her club. "Don't talk to him like that."

Kate didn't even look at her. She was watching Sawyer, who had an expression she'd never seen before. He was smiling at her with...relief? "It's none of your business, Ana. This has nothing to do with you."

Ana rose to the bait. "Maybe I'm making it my business, Maggie."

Kate spun on her, aghast, her heart icy with fear. "What did you call me?" Sawyer looked at her strangely.

Ana shrugged. "Sorry, I meant to say Kate. Slip of the tongue." Ana one, Kate zero, she thought.

Kate glared at her warily. "Fine. Let's go." She snatched up her pack and slinging it over her shoulder she stomped off to find Locke's trail, Ana's words ringing in her ears- surely it was just a coincidence?

Scowling, Sawyer watched her go, then turned on Ana. "What the hell was that about, Butch?" Kate's eyes had flashed terror at Ana's slip and he wanted to know why.

Ana smirked at him, and glanced over at Jack; he was looking back at her, a little curious himself. "Nothing, Cowboy. Just a slip of the tongue, like I said." She nodded after Kate, who was slipping into the trees. "We'd better go."

Jack nodded and went after Kate. Sawyer watched him disappear too, then grabbed Ana's arm hard, jerking her back to him. "I don't know what that was all about, Butch," he snarled, "But if you do anything to hurt her I'll kill you."

Ana just gave him a sly half-smile and snatched her arm out of his grasp, his grip leaving red welts. She pushed up against him, hard. "I'll be waiting for you, Cowboy." Smirking at him one last time she followed Jack and Kate into the jungle.

"Bitch."

* * * * *

Locke stopped, staring into the pit below him. He and Eko had been going all morning, though there was no trail to scout, of course, but they both felt that they were close; whatever the Island wanted to show them was near.

"What is this?" Locke asked to the air. Did this belong to the Others? He lifted the ragged cover and peered into the muddy hole.

"Ana built it." Eko was to the side of him; that invisible force still kept them separate. John glanced up, but there was no further explanation.

John squatted down, peering closer into the pit. "Is this where you put Sawyer and the others?" Eko nodded. Rubbing his forehead, John looked around and said, "Keep anyone else in here?"

"Yes."

John laughed a little. "A man of few words." He stood and shut the lid of the pit again. "Can't imagine any of them were too happy."

That made Eko smile. "No. None of them were very happy. But what is done is done."

"Mmm." John cast one last look at the frond covered hole. "So we should be close to your old camp. The other hatch?"

Eko nodded. "Yes. It is-" He stopped, staring into the jungle. Locke followed his gaze, and he could make out a shadow drifitng closer to them through the trees. The world went silent- everything was muffled and hazy.

Eko glanced at Locke, who was staring into the trees. The figure was closer; it looked like it was made of smoke. As it drew up on them the smoke cleared and a girl stepped out into the clearing.

Locke stared at her, frowning. She looked familiar, but he just couldn't place it. Then his eyes widened. "You!"

* * * * *