Chapter 1 : Aaron

It was his fifth day out of the hatch. He didn't like that place, it made him feel confined. Besides, how could he like any place that made him spend that much time with Dr. Jack? He didn't care if there was plumbing and plates, it just wasn't worth it. If he really tried, he could avoid that place all together. Freckles could bring him his meds, and his shoulder didn't hurt that bad anyway.

He was enjoying the calm breeze and the warm sun when Mamacita's kid started crying not too far from where Sawyer was lounging. He wondered what she had named the kid, but that thought was soon replaced. He was now wondering why no one was shutting the thing up. Claire was young, but she wasn't stupid enough to leave the baby alone.

Sawyer looked around, and the kid was definitely alone. In fact, the whole beach seemed deserted. Everyone that was out of their tent was a good fifty yards away. Not close enough to hear the baby, and too far for Sawyer to go get them. After about five minutes of telling himself he really shouldn't, and Baby Huey's screaming, Sawyer got up and went over to the hand-made crib.

He looked around the young woman's tent, found a magazine, and started reading out loud. The kid must have had something seriously wrong with him, because it didn't shut him up like usual. Sawyer didn't know what to do at this point. He had never really been the paternal type, so he'd obviously never soothed a crying baby. He would have just walked away, but that screaming was going to give him a headache, and he couldn't just leave the kid all alone. Sawyer wasn't sure if babies could tell that they were alone, but he knew what that felt like, and he didn't want anyone else to have to feel it.

Sawyer leaned down and scooped the baby out of the crib, being careful not to strain his shoulder. Once he had the baby cradled safely in his strong arms, he started gently rocking him.

"This ain't so hard," Sawyer mused partly to himself and partly to the baby. The kid had quieted down noticeably, but was still fussing enough for Sawyer to think twice about leaving him. He checked to make sure he didn't just need a diaper change, or anything else Sawyer could easily provide. The thing seemed fine, but it just kept crying. Sawyer made sure there was no one on the beach near them, and no one in the immediately surrounding forest. Once he was sure he was alone, he did something he never wanted anyone else to know that he ever did, and started singing to the baby.

"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
It's not warm when she's away.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
And she's always gone too long
Anytime she goes away.
Wonder this time when she's gone"

Some movement in the trees made him stop short. Who ever was coming sure wanted the people around to know it, and was making way more noise then any normal person walking through the jungle. The racket quickly ended the moment of silence from the baby that Sawyer's singing had created. About 20 seconds later, Charlie came crashing out of the brush.

Sawyer let out a sigh of relief. Now that the one-hit-wonder was here, he could leave the kid and get back to his chair in the sun.

"Thank God you're here, compadre, you can take Tattoo." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he saw the limey runt's eyes. He'd seen eyes like that before. Bloodshot, dilated, nervous. That boy was high. Sawyer quickly changed his mind about leaving the kid with him. Even a con man knew you couldn't leave a druggie in charge of an infant.

"Son of a bitch," Sawyer muttered under his breath as he started walking away with the baby.

"Hey! What do you think you're doin'?" Charlie shouted after him.

"I'm takin' this kid over there, where he's no where near you."

"Claire left Aaron for me to look after. You can't just take him."

"Yea, fine job you done lookin' after him, Chuckie. Where were you when he started cryin', huh? Tellin' Mamacita you'll watch the kid then waitin' 'till he's asleep to go get high don't exactly make you nanny of the year." Sawyer turned and kept walking away. So she named the kid Aaron. Not a bad name, he thought to himself. Thinking of the name made him think of Claire. How was he going to tell her that Charlie was back on drugs? Everyone knew that he had been using before, but they also thought he was clean now. Knowing he was back on the stuff would hurt her. Wait, why did Sawyer care if it hurt her? He barely knew her. He didn't care about her. Then again, he was walking towards his tent with her baby. It sure looked like he cared, even to him.

"Charlie? What's going on?" a sweet Australian voice called down the beach. Sawyer turned back around. Claire was walking towards them, confused and concerned.

"Charlie, why does Sawyer have Aaron? What's going on?" The Brit seemed at a loss for words, and for once in his life, so did Sawyer.

"Charlie?" Charlie started sputtering, like he was trying to come up with a lie, and falling short. Claire started to advance on him.

"I..." Sawyer started. Claire rounded on him, forgetting Charlie.

"I was reading to him and, well, because he was crying and..." Sawyer didn't know what he found so frightening about the petite blonde, but at that moment, she was scaring the hell out of him.

"And... It wasn't working, so, umm, Charlie gave the kid to me, and he was reading to it to see if that would work, and umm, the magazine ended and so... I was going... to... my tent to... find something else to read." Sawyer took too long telling the story, and he knew that Claire knew that he was lying.

"You know what, I'm too tired to try and figure out what's really happening here, just give me the baby and go home, Sawyer." Sawyer handed Aaron to Claire and left the scene, still feeling very awkward about the whole thing. He could here Charlie and Claire talking in hushed tones as he walked, and wondered what they were talking about. Claire didn't seem to notice Charlie's altered state.

Sawyer knew he would have to tell her what he saw. He just didn't know how. She seemed happy with Charlie. If she was even really 'with' him. He didn't want to ruin that. Which brought him back around to why? Why didn't he want Claire to hurt? Why did it matter to him if he was the source of that hurt? He'd hurt other people plenty of times and it never bothered him. Now he couldn't possibly think of telling that girl something that might cause her some distress. Why did he care?

Chapter 2: Sayid

A few hours after the lonely baby incident, Sawyer still couldn’t get Claire off his mind. He didn’t know her very well, and he didn’t know anything about her situation with Charlie. It seemed to him like the guy was more interested in her than she was in him. It looked more like a pairing of convenience than anything else. He liked her, he was good with the baby, it just made sense. No one really disliked the runt, but no one seemed particularly fond of him either. Claire, and maybe Sayid and Hurley were the only people who harbored anything more than indifference towards the ex-rocker.

Sayid had distanced himself considerably from the group, though. Shannon’s death had taken its toll on him. He sat alone now, down the beach, staring out into the sea. No one seemed willing to talk to the grieving Iraqi, so it was understandable that he was surprised when Sawyer came over and sat down next to him. Neither of the men said anything, and instead continued thinking silently of their personal demons.

The silence was anything but comfortable, though, and Sayid soon ended it.

"Was there something you wanted to ask me, Sawyer?"

Sawyer looked down at his hands, like a child caught in a lie. There was something he wanted to ask him, he just didn’t know how. But if anyone knew about Charlie’s drug use, it would probably be Sayid.

"You and Charlie are friends, right?" Sawyer asked tentatively.

"I suppose so."

"Has he been acting strange lately?" Sawyer didn’t know of any better way to address the habits of the other man, so he fell back on a question that felt like it came out of a pamphlet.

"Why are you asking me about Charlie? It doesn’t seem to me that you two have ever been close." Sayid was uncomfortable talking about him, and was eager to get to the point of the conversation. He had an idea what that might be, but was wary of the topic.

"We’re not, I just…" Sawyer was unsure how to continue. "I jus think…" Sawyer was thankful for Sayid’s continued silence, allowing him to choose his words carefully. "I think he might be using again."

"What makes you think so?" Sayid wanted all the facts before he judged the situation, but knowing what he did, it was difficult not to jump to conclusions.

"Earlier today, he was, sorta, weird, and…" Sawyer trailed off. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell anyone about the situation with Aaron. Without that fact, Charlie’s addiction didn’t seem as harmful, but when Aaron was brought into the situation, it was impossible to ignore.

"And?" Sayid questioned.

"And… he left Aaron alone. I don’t know for how long, or if it was the first time, but…" Sawyer didn’t have to finish the sentence.

Sayid sighed. It was obvious then that Charlie had been impaired in his judgement. "Then I think your conjectures are likely correct."

Sawyer looked over at the Iraqi, and was surprised to see a look of guilt on his face. This was no one’s fault but Charlie’s, why would Sayid feel responsible? He said nothing, and Sayid started talking again.

"It’s my fault that he’s doing this. I showed him the heroin from the plane. I could have prevented this." Now it was Sayid’s turn to look away from the other man.

"No, you couldn’t have. He would’ve found ‘em on his own." Sawyer didn’t know what else to say to him. He knew the whole thing wasn’t Sayid’s fault, but he didn’t know how to prove that. So he lied.

Sayid scoffed and looked back over at Sawyer. He was partly confused, and partly surprised.

"I would not have expected to be comforted by you, of all people. You are one of the last people on this island that I would expect to have this conversation with. Why are you so concerned with Charlie?"

Sayid had asked the question that Sawyer had asked himself countless times since he had walked away from him and Claire earlier that day. Sawyer still didn’t have an answer.

"I don’t know. I just… He can’t just get away with it."

Sayid stared at Sawyer for a bit, then looked back out at the water. Sawyer followed suit, and the two men’s thoughts returned to the problems, now weighing heavier on their shoulders. 

Chapter 3: Locke

Sawyer walked down the beach deep in thought. He had talked a little more with Sayid about Charlie's introduction to the Nigerian plane. He had plenty of opportunities to get the drugs and there hadn't really been any way of stopping him.

Sawyer had spent the previous night sleeping in short spurts, and never very well. He was plagued with thoughts of Claire and Aaron when he was awake, and dreams of their worst possible fates when he was asleep. He finally decided sleeping was a lost cause, and left his tent at dawn.

"You're up early, James."

Sawyer had been so deep in his concerns that he hadn't noticed when he entered camp. He turned towards the voice. Locke must have been returning from the hatch as he was heading out of the jungle towards his shelter. Sightings of the man were rare now that the hatch had been opened.

"Something on your mind?" Locke set his pack down outside the opening of his shack. It was difficult not to notice how distracted and worried Sawyer looked.

"Ain't you got a button to push?" Sawyer had enough on his mind without someone else getting involved.

Locke looked down, and looked back up, smiling in a way that only he could, part amusement, part adoration. "I only ask because you seem distressed. If you don't want to talk, that's fine."

Sawyer started walking away again.

"But if you do want to talk, you know where to find me."

Sawyer looked back over his shoulder, and slowly came to a stop. Maybe it would be good to get some advice from someone else involved in the situation. Before the Doomsday button came into the picture, Locke had looked like a forerunner for Claire's affections. He was also very familiar with Charlie and his habits.

"You know what, I think I'm gonna have to take you up on that." Sawyer walked back over to Locke as the other man gestured him into his shelter. Sawyer nodded his thanks as he entered the makeshift tent. The two sat on the floor across from each other. Locke watched Sawyer as he struggled to find a way to initiate the conversation.

"I..." Sawyer looked up at Locke. An unwonted surge of guilt hit him as he saw the look of patient wisdom in his eyes. He must have given Charlie that look before. If Sawyer told him what was going on, that look would become anger, maybe even hatred towards the man that had once seemed his friend. But he had been given one hell of a second chance with Claire, and already he was wasting it.

"I think Charlie's back on drugs."

Just as Sawyer had guessed, Locke's expression immediately darkened. Sawyer told Locke everything that had happened since the previous morning. Locke listened quietly, staring into space, a look of deep concentration on his face. When Sawyer was finished, Locke stayed silent for a moment, thinking deeply.

"Well…" Locke started, "It looks like there’s only one thing to do here." Sawyer sighed and looked down. He had known what he had to do since he started walking away from Claire’s tent hours ago. He had just been afraid to admit it to himself.

"I know," he muttered to his lap.

"Claire has to know." Locke was staring into space again, his chin on his hand, his elbow on his knee.

"I just… I just don’t wanna hurt her." Sawyer decided to tell Locke what had really been bothering him about the situation. He was fully committed to the conversation at this point, and it would be cathartic to get it off his chest. The fact of the matter was that Claire had been at the front of his mind the past 24 hours, not Charlie. This secret escaping would surely hurt Charlie and his reputation, but that didn’t bother Sawyer. The thought of that woman alone and hurt, was what had kept him silent this long. He barely knew her, but he knew that she was sweet and caring. More than that he knew that every time he looked at her holding Aaron, it killed him. Every time he saw them, he thought of all the times Cassidy had held Clementine like that, and he hadn’t been there. He had to do what was right this time.

Almost as though he was reading his mind, Locke said in a low voice "Sometimes what is right, doesn’t make everything better immediately. Things are sometimes going to get worse before they get better." Locke had an aged wisdom about him that Sawyer was thankful for at that moment.

"I could tell her if you want. I’m sure you would like to end your involvement in this soon." Locke started to stand as he spoke, and it appeared he had already taken on the burden. Sawyer sighed and stood with him.

"No, I have to do this."

Locke smiled and put his hand on Sawyer’s shoulder. "It’s the right thing, James."

Sawyer sighed again and said, "I know." The men ducked out of the tent, and nodded to each other as they turned to go their separate ways.

Sawyer began walking back to his tent, thinking of how he would tell Claire. There would be no easy way to do it. He would just have to come right out and say it.

He decided to tell her and leave, no fuss, no tears, just get it done.

He was almost at his tent when he heard an angry voice behind him.

"Hey! I need to have a little chat with you." Charlie was walking towards him with a fevered step. Sawyer ignored him and kept walking.

"Hey!" Charlie had caught up with him. "Don’t walk away from me!" When Sawyer kept doing exactly that, Charlie shoved him in the back, even though Sawyer was the bigger man, and obviously more capable in a fight. Sawyer stopped and slowly turned towards Charlie. He didn’t want to fight with him, he was going to do him enough damage soon, but he couldn’t just walk away when he was challenged. He was hoping the look on his face would get Charlie to leave him alone, but he stood his ground.

"If you tell Claire anything that happened yesterday-"

"Listen, Tattoo," Sawyer cut him off, "I’ll tell Missy Claire anything I want to tell her, and no one-hit-wonder is gonna-"

Charlie punched him with a weak force, and only surprised the Southerner. Charlie stood with both hands up, as if he were preparing to box. Sawyer still didn’t want to fight him, and Sawyer was turning around to go back to his tent when Charlie grabbed his arm and pulled him back around to face him. Before he could stop him self, Sawyer’s fist slammed into the side of Charlie’s face.