Part 182: Exposed

The afternoon was leaning on. The sun had reached it’s zenith, covering the beach in it’s typical heat. The survivors were growing worried over who might have poisoned Micheal. Some were fearing it was under “strange” circumstances and as a result, it might be the mysterious people who live on the island. They had no where to turn for anything to help them. They just had to make assumptions.

Micheal rested under the tree where he stayed most of the afternoon. Jin was taking a break, watching over him. McKay was finishing the touches on the right side of the raft. Yolanda, Seth, Charlie and a few others were hanging out, making sure nothing else happened. It wasn’t just Micheal who wanted to get the raft launched; it was everybody. He was their one chance of being rescued. Micheal then lurched when he saw a bottle of Pepto-Bismal wind up his lap. Sawyer walked past him, waving at him. “Thought you might need that, boss.” He chuckled,” Wouldn't want our pilot out of commission before take-off.”

“What?” Micheal grunted, “You feeling guilty?”

“What?” the redneck blinked.

“You’re off the raft.” The black man grunted.

“Come again?”

“You’re off the raft!” Micheal stood up.

McKay paused when he heard the commotion. Kate slowly walked by Seth, placing her bag on the raft. Sawyer pointed his finger at Micheal. “We had a deal.” He hissed.

“Yeah, well, the deal ended the minute you decided to poison me.”

“What now?” the redneck gasped.

“I'm done with you.” Micheal turned around.

Sawyer yanked him to face him, “You ain't done with me by a damn sight. You said you needed Five.”

“Yeah? Well, I got FIVE!” the black man told him, “You've been stealing stuff off of dead bodies, keeping it for yourself, using it to buy favors. You're a liar and a criminal, and I'm not letting you near my boy.”

“Is this true, Sawyer?” McKay asked.

“Stay outta this, Outback!” the redneck shot back at him,” Oh, I'm a criminal, huh? I poisoned you because I'm a criminal.”

Jin didn’t like how abrupt the redneck was getting in Micheal’s face. He quickly shoved him back from his black friend. The redneck glared at him. “Don’t touch me again, boy,” he hissed.

Sawyer then turned around and saw Kate. The brunette looked at him with concern. He then started to walk toward her in an angry swagger. “Hey, sweet cheeks!” he grunted, “I had no idea how bad you wanted off this rock. Time to set things straight.”

Sawyer grabbed her by the arm and then started to drag her back toward Micheal. “HEY!” Seth grunted.

“Let go of me!” Kate fought against Sawyer.

“No, look who the criminal is.” He said, holding onto her.

“Let go of her, man!” Charlie screamed back.

Sawyer shoved Kate in front of Micheal. The black man looked confused. “TELL HIM!!” Sawyer screamed.

Kate said nothing. Seth had to made a fast decision ; the redneck was about to expose her as a fugitive. The young man then quickly ran up and punched Sawyer for not letting her go. The southern man grunted and shoved the young man back into the sand. Before he could advance any further, McKay came back and grabbed him by the arms, holding him back. Sawyer nearly foamed at the mouth, feeling so mad. “Stop it, Sawyer!” the Australian ordered, “You and me don’t want to do this dance again.”

Sawyer thrust his arms off of him. He then grabbed Kate’s backpack, from around her shoulders. “Give that back!” she screamed.

Seth looked up, realizing it was too late. The redneck dumped the contents of the pack into the sand. “Leave her alone.” Micheal ordered.

“Leave her alone?” Sawyer then saw it. The passport in the sand.

Kate quickly tried to grab it but the redneck was faster. He snatched from her, inches within her reach. “Mmmm-Hmm!” he said, “Lookey what we got here!”

“Sawyer, please,” Kate stood up.

“You all remember Joanna, don’t you?” he said, handing the passport to Micheal, “The woman who drowned? Now what's Kate doing with poor Joanna's ID? Could it be she'd do just about anything to get on that raft? So she could get herself rescued, run off with a new identity before half the reporters in the world descend on this damn island? She might even poison the captain himself.”

“Shut up.” The brunette said, tears starting to form in her eyes.

“She don't care about nothin' or nobody but herself.” Sawyer hissed.

“You want to tell us why you need to run so bad? You want to tell us the truth?”

Everybody stared at Kate. Charlie and Claire didn’t know what to say. Seth rubbed his forehead, as he finally got up to his feet. McKay looked to Kate, wondering what was happening. She was almost trembling, but it was too late. Sawyer had forced her to say something. “Yes. I was on the plane with the Marshal.” She muttered, “Yes, I was wanted and caught and being transported back. No matter what I say about what happened . . . about what I supposedly did . . . I'm going to jail. But I didn't poison you.”

Micheal backed off from her. He then handed the passport back to Sawyer, who glared at her. He kept the document with him and walked away. Everybody else was in shock and said nothing. They just slowly parted away. Kate then collapsed on her knees, staring at the toy plane in the sand. It was her only reminder of Tom; her child hood boyfriend. She slowly put it back in the pack, collecting the rest of her things. Then she saw a set of blue jean legs standing next to her. She looked up to see the sympathetic face of Seth. The young man held out his hand to her. “C’mon,” he whispered.

Kate took his hand as he helped her up. They began to walk away, as Seth was holding onto her. “Seth!” McKay grunted.

The bookstore worker paused, then looked to the brunette. “Go on, I’ll catch up.” He told her.

Kate gently rubbed his arm and began to walk away. The young man then turned and faced his older friend. The Australian stared at him with a confused anger. “You were quick to defend her,” McKay pointed out, “You knew?”

“Yeah, I knew.” Seth whispered.

“And you didn’t tell the rest of us?”

“Wasn’t my place.” He said simply.

“Well . . .what did she do?”

“Don’t have a clue.” He shrugged his shoulders, “I didn’t ask and she didn’t volunteer the information.”

“I can’t believe you can be this naïve, boy,” McKay pointed out, “If she didn’t tell you, then didn’t it occur to you that it might be something severe, like murder?”

“You can remember Kate the Fugitive if you want, McKay,” Seth rubbed his hair, “I will always remember Kate the Humanitarian. The one person who made sure we had blankets, fruit and were by the fire that night we appeared in THEIR cave, freezing to death. Would a murderer . . . a cold, blood murderer . .. be THAT kind? Do you really believe the crap-kicker that she really care about nobody but herself?”

McKay stopped for a second. The young bookstore worker had a point. Kate had shown them no signs that she was a cold blooded murderer. It would suggest that she was a kind person; why else would she bother to help them retrieve the body of Eddie’s dad? She helped them when no one else would. Seth then patted the old man on the chest. “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” he said, walking away, “I know it’s a quote from the Bible but I don’t know where. Maybe Bernard can tell you.”

McKay watched his younger friend walk off into the distance. All the could do was smirk. Perhaps Seth was smarter and more mature than he realized.


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The night had finally fallen. The people had gone about their business and resumed their daily activities. Most of them had gathered food and water to enjoy their even meals. Others just wished to be alone.

Kate jolted her fire with a large stick. She never felt so alone in her life. Seth came up to her, gently touching her on the shoulder. She sighed, patting his hand as a sign of reassurance that she was okay. The young man then walked a few feet and sat down at the fire. Before he was about to say anything, another shadow invaded their fiery light. Sawyer looked at him, almost a little curious and with a hint of respect. “How is your jaw?” Seth asked.

“Sore as hell,” he muttered with a smirk, “Good punch by the way, surf-boy.”

“Thanks, “ Seth grinned.

Sawyer then looked at Kate. She didn’t look back at him; just continued to poke her fire. “I’m back on the boat.” He whispered.

“I'm glad to hear it.” She replied.

“Michael's going to cowboy up. We set sail tomorrow.”

“Are you here to say you are sorry, Sawyer?” Seth asked.

“Naw . . sorry don’t do me.” He pointed at Kate, “Freckles cornered me. I did what I had to do.”

“Cornered you?” Seth stood up, “How in hell did she corner you?”

“I’d kinda like to know that answer myself, Sawyer,” Kate said, bluntly.

Sawyer looked at her. “You said if you wanted my spot you were going to take it. I guess I believed you.”

Kate said nothing. Seth just looked at her, wondering how that conversation started. The southern man flung up his hands,” Well, that's that. I've got some packing to do.”

“Why is it so damn important for you to be on the raft?” she demanded.

Sawyer stopped and turned his head slightly to face her. “Cuz there ain't anything on this island worth staying for.” He whispered.

Kate blinked, understanding his honesty. “Be safe, Sawyer.” She whispered.

“Yeah,” he sighed, as he disappeared into the darkness.

Seth watched him leave. He then turned to Kate, who smiled at him. The young man then walked to her, standing next to her. Her eyes met his, and he admitted to himself they were beautiful. Seth gently rubbed her arm, imaging her soft skin was his Tanya’s and not Kate’s. “I don’t know what you did, Kate.” He sighed, “And I won’t know until you decide it’s best for me to know.”

“I don’t want to tell you,” she sighed, “I don’t want to destroy what we have.”

“That will never happen.” He assured her, “A woman as kind as you could not be anything horrible enough fore these people to judge. I surely won’t.”

She gazed up again at him with her gorgeous eyes. “You were the only one to defend me on that beach. Not even knowing what I did. I can’t tell you how special that is to me, Seth.”

He smiled, “You’re welcome.”

She then leaned in to kiss him. He quickly froze, then backed off. Kate then grabbed him by the arm, stopping him. “Kissing is not cheating.” She whispered.

Seth felt her breath caress his upper lip and couldn’t resist it. He missed the taste of Tanya’s lips. He was attracted to Kate, he didn’t deny it. He gently took her close and held her to him. Their lips met and Kate breathed into him. Seth tasted her tongue and imagined it was Tanya’s. Kate was doing this in an move to show her friendship to one who never judged her. She respected that Seth would never leave Tanya but she wanted to show her gratitude in a way that he would always remember.

The two friends slowly parted. Seth blushed, and stepped back, fixing his pants. Kate smirked, feeling a good feeling from kissing him. The young bookstore quickly decided to change the subject, before he was going to ask for another kiss. “Have you ever wanted to stop running?” he asked.

“If I stopped running, I would go to jail,” she whispered.

“I wasn’t asking you that. I asked if you ever WANTED to stop running?”

Kate didn’t say anything. She just poked the fire some more. “You can’t run forever, Kate. Eventually you’ll have to stop and reclaim your life,” he said, in a sort of desperate way, “I mean . . don’t you want to have a life? Don’t you have any . .dreams of what to do with yourself?”

“Oh, yeah, I had dreams,” Kate smiled, “but they were . . . .clouds in my coffee.”

“Clouds in your . . . “ the young bookstore worker chuckled, getting the music reference, “Carly Simon, very nice.”

Kate just winked at him. Seth sighed, knowing he wasn’t go to convince her to stop running; at least not tonight anyway. He waved to her, and bid her goodnight. She blew him a kiss as he started to walk away. Seth gently past Sun as he was leaving. He could only assume that she was going to talk to Kate but at the state of his mind, he just wanted to get some sleep. I mean what could they talk about? Maybe Sun was the one who poisoned Micheal because she wanted to poison Jin instead cause he left her.

But that’s just crazy.