james "sawyer" ford needs glasses (acomplexguy) wrote in brightlightlogs, @ 2010-05-31 01:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | james "sawyer" ford, kate austen |
Who: James "Sawyer" Ford and Kate Austen
Where: The roof
When: Right after this.
What: Scoping out the roof for the inevitable Ethan fight, and seeing each other for the first time in person.
Rating: Swearing.
Status: Complete
This whole damn thing was his fault, and Sawyer knew it. No matter how much he tried to change or how he succeeded to in some ways, there would always be that voice in his head spurring him on to cause trouble. Self-destructive was one description for James "Sawyer" Ford, and it was usually the most fitting. When Ethan put up that message and taunted the memory of Charlie, he couldn't help but try and get the guy back. Now other people would have to suffer for it. Wasn't that just the way?
He was dressed in jeans and a dark blue button-up shirt, the sleeves folded up to the elbows, and Sawyer looked no different than the last time she'd seen him on the Island. Three years didn't change much about him. The same too-long blond hair, the same cocky stance, and the permanent five o'clock shadow that he never seemed able to fully keep off, even now. Luckily they had actual holsters in this place so his pistol didn't need to be tucked into the jeans, squinting at the sky line.
The best part of Vegas was that even in the dead of night, it was easy to see. The lights of the city were blinding, and there were tall lamps on the roof, added there by the occupants who liked to come up in the late hours. Sawyer had a cigarette in hand, smoke curling out from the end, wondering if there was any real way out of this. He'd picked up the habit when they got back on the mainland but kept it to a minimum since Juliet wasn't fond of smoke. Ethan was a handful before, and now he was on a rampage. Nice going, jackass. And he most definitely did not mean the doctor this time.
Kate had never been fond of people telling her what to do, and least of all Jack telling her what she could or couldn't do. Her mind turned over the trouble with the Others, when she'd followed Locke, Sawyer, and Jack. She didn't understand then why he yelled at her that she couldn't come along, and now that she was thinking about that, she was irritated all over again about the incident.
She'd done what she'd always do in this situation: go for a walk. If they'd been stuck on the island, she would have plopped herself down well away from the group and stared out at the crashing waves, but they were a long way from the Island, and there was nary a wave in sight. The walk through the hallways and the ride up the elevator would have to do.
Kate was still fuming when she arrived, but when she caught sight of Sawyer up ahead in the distance, she had to stop. It had been two years since she'd seen him, and the last time he'd jumped out of the damn helicopter. It had taken some time to get over it, and Aaron had filled that hole. As much as Kate believed that Aaron needed her - with Claire's disappearance - she knew that she'd needed Aaron much more. "Hey."
Sawyer almost laughed when he saw Jack's reaction. There were times when talking to the good doctor that he really thought it was another guy. The years this Jack was missing changed him. Moments like that though brought it all back, and he remembered it was the Jack they knew. Just an earlier model. Sawyer was never the guy to underestimate women; he knew more than enough of them to prove they could hold their own no matter what. Sure he got protective over Kate and Juliet on more than one occasion, but he wasn't about to tell them to keep back. They were formidable, and it'd just piss them off anyway.
It hadn't been long since he saw Kate, a version of her had been there not too long ago, but it was still an experience each time. He turned at her voice and flicked ashes from his cigarette, feeling that familiar extra thump in his heart when he looked at her. That wasn't something that seemed like it would end, and Sawyer'd long assumed it never would. He'd been in love twice, and he couldn't shake either woman no matter how he tried, so he just stopped trying. His lips curved in a familiar lopsided grin, one dimple flaring to life, and he dropped the cigarette to the floor, stomping it out.
"Hey." This was the Kate he'd gotten the most answers from, maybe because in her present she was engaged and didn't mind telling him things that the other one had. It'd given him a sense of closure and reassurance, and he was grateful for it. "You need something to kick? Now I ain't offering myself, mind you, but there's chairs up here no one would mind being dented."
However Sawyer managed it, Kate smiled tentatively, then closed her eyes and laughed under her breath. This was not the reunion she would have sought with him, and now - with the respect she had for Juliet - she wouldn't get that reunion. Once or twice, when she talked to Cassidy, she imagined that somehow he'd get off that island. That he'd come looking for her.
Then Jack happened unexpectedly. Kate never thought he'd be able to handle Aaron, and that was the stipulation she'd laid down in front of him. He had to acknowledge him, because like it or not, he was blood. Kate was his mother now. Had been. Aaron was in that other world now, and Claire was here - still pregnant.
"I'm not gonna kick you, James." She walked toward him, tucking her hair behind her ear. "At least not now. I'm sure you'll say something or do something that'll make me want to at some point, but not now."
She wasn't the only one with thoughts like that. Sawyer remembered seeing the smoke from the freighter and the brief time he thought she was dead. That was when his connection to Juliet started, when he had no one else and he was mourning, abandoned, alone. She changed that for him, but before they started he had dreams about finding a way off. How? It was impossible. He was thirty years in the past, but it didn't stop him from thinking about it. Wondering. Would it have mattered? If Jack had jumped out of the copter instead of him, would he have made the same mistakes with Kate? He didn't know.
"You just love saying my real name, don't you?" He chuckle and wiped his hands together just in case there was ash upon his skin. He remembered the first time she called him that, and that the Sawyer nickname came less and less frequently. "Pretty sure I deserve a kicking for all the trouble I caused, Kate." That was one thing that changed about him. Stubborn as he was, he admitted his mistakes a little easier.
The wind tousled his hair and he reached out to gently touch her arm and drag her closer. This was just to sneak a hug out of her before she skedaddled away. Sometimes he forgot how small she felt when he did this; Kate never seemed frail or small until he towered over her or wrapped her in his long arms. "I won't let him hurt the Doc. Or you."
"It's not like I didn't stir up enough trouble on my own." When she thought about it, she caused a lot of unnecessary trouble. Trouble that could have been avoided if she wasn't so damn secretive. That was the thing with hindsight; all of your mistakes and wrong turns seemed so stupid. There was so much that she would have done differently, if she had the chance. Engulfed in the embrace, Kate felt herself choking on her mistakes. Her fingers clutched the back of his shirt as she held onto him for a few brief moments.
When the moment had passed, she pulled away, making sure to smile again. "I know you won't. No matter how you try to pass yourself off to the world, you know I know better than that."
"You're the good kind of trouble, Freckles. Always have been." He rested his chin on top of her head like he used to, holding her as long as she'd allow. Kate never liked to show weakness, and he understood that more than anyone else. "Now I was talking specifically 'bout this newest mistake, but sure, I deserve it for all the other times too." I think you want people to hate you, she told him once. It was right after he conned them all into getting himself the guns. One of his many troublemaking attempts, and she'd seen right through it. Good thing you don't, Freckles was his reply. And she still didn't, go figure.
Once she pulled away he dropped his hands to his sides and slipped hands into jean pockets comfortably. "That's 'cause we're two of a kind. I got issues with the good doctor, ain't getting around that, but I don't want him dead. And I don't want him becoming like us." He didn't mean it as an insult, because the fact was that he and Kate were murderers. They weren't really good people. They could be ruthless and cruel and violent. They were just lucky people not like them at all found something to love in it.
Except Kate had always had issue with her past. While she didn't necessarily regret killing Wayne - the man was completely and utterly toxic - she had issue with everything she did since then. All the running. Kate was tired of running, and that was the very crux of while she'd wanted off the island so bad. If she really dug deep, she could probably figure out why she tried as hard as she did to save Ray Mullen, knowing that the Marshall would catch up with her.
Kate didn't feel the need to hash over issues they all had. There would - likely - be plenty of time for that later. At some point or another, Jack and Sawyer would clash. It was inevitable. "Neither do I." Except on the island, nearly everyone had killed someone at some point. Or had the intent to. "So where do we get started here? You've been here longer than I have. Any vantage points you know of?"
Sawyer had plenty of issue with his own past, although he'd come to accept it a lot easier after the real Sawyer was finally dead. It didn't give him any joy, but it did give a sense of closure. He had a number of deaths on his hands now. He didn't like the thought of adding Jack to that list, no matter what happened between them. Jack was righteous and dickish at times, but he was a decent sort, and he always tried to do the right thing. Sawyer respected that, even if he didn't like it.
"It's pretty open up here, and shooting range don't have places to hide behind or nothing. It's standard. Honestly I'm thinking numbers'll be what wins this for us, but Ethan's a crazy person. He don't seem daunted by the fact we outnumber him." Or he was just suicidal. Or had a plan of his own. Sawyer tossed the long blond hair back and pointed to the door she just came from. "If we get here before then and get Sayid right by the entrance, he might be able to stop it quick. I'd rather not give Ethan a second's grace, Freckles."
"I'd rather not either," Kate answered heavily. Ethan shouldn't have died, but when it came down to it, she couldn't exactly blame Charlie for killing him. Claire was very dear to them all, to Charlie most of all. It would have been nice, though, to figure out more about the Others before Shannon, Ana Lucia, and Libby had been killed, though. "I'll kill him myself before I let him lay another hand on Jack."
Sawyer thought Ethan's death was necessary and completely deserved, but yeah, it made sense to take the man and get answers out of him first. They had their very own Iraqi torturer, and he knew first hand how not-fun that was. But he also got where Pace was coming from and hadn't been all that surprised. If someone captured a woman he loved, terrorized him, hung him from a damn tree, and then came back for more ... Sawyer would've shot him twice as many times. Just to make a point. "I thought he'd go after you first, which ain't my idea of a better option, but at least you can handle a gun. I took the Doc shooting, and it was tragic. He's no match for Ethan, not the way he is now." Jack on the Island got tougher; it was from necessity.
Kate pulled out one of the chairs. If it was pretty open up here, then there really hadn't been any reason for either of them to come up here to scope it out. Sawyer must have wanted to talk, and truth told, it was nice having something - or someone - to point fingers at. This mess was... pretty damned messy. Straddling the chair, she sat down, crossed her arms over the top of it. "How come he didn't go after me first? Figured I'd be the easier target for him."
Then again, everyone seemed to have known her history, the reason she was running. Maybe Ethan figured she was far more dangerous than a spinal surgeon.
They really didn't. He'd been up there enough times to know what to do, but could be he wanted to talk to Kate. Sawyer hadn't seen this one in person yet, and beyond that, he was feeling guilty about the whole thing. He wanted others to notice he'd changed, and here he was, not changing in the least, making trouble for everyone else again. He took a chair near her, the legs dragging on the cement, and he slumped on it. "Don't rightly know, he's loony tunes. Could be because you're more dangerous, or he could be building up to you." Ethan wouldn't necessarily just end at one. "I told him I didn't care about either of you and to do what he wanted." Sawyer smirked and ran a hand through his hair, squinting up at the sky. "Saw right through that lie. I'm out of practice."