Title: Reputation
Rating: PG-13
Summery: Set after directly after The Whole Truth; This had been Sawyer’s plan from the beginning. She was the obvious choice, the smallest, the most defenseless. Or that was how she seemed. She knew all too well about appearances, about how she was seen in the eyes of others. And so did Sawyer.
Disclaimer: I do not own Lost. At all. I wish but alas...
Author's Note: This is just about as close to Smutville as I have ever come and it's still pretty far away. But hey, my comfort zone just expanded, so...someday maybe I'll move in to Smutville. ;) This was written for psych_30, prompt #9: sociopath (I think this is about as close to the prompt as I'll ever be able to get).



She worked in her garden for another hour after Jin left. A row of seeds had been cast into shadow by overgrown branches and she had needed to move them into the sun. It took longer then it should have, but she wanted to be thorough, making sure she wouldn’t have to move them again.

The sun was setting over the horizon as she picked herself up to her feet, absently brushing the dirt from her hands onto her pants. She watched the ocean glisten and change colors as she returned to camp.

But instead of heading up the beach to her tent, she followed the line of trees that lead toward the ocean. She stopped in front of a tent as familiar to her as her own. The flap was closed but she could see a dim glow penetrating the thin blue tarp, so she pulled it aside and entered.

Sawyer was laying on his back with a book in one hand and a flashlight in the other. The light illuminated the page that he was no longer paying attention to as well as his already bright smile.

“Well hello there Sunshine,” he said, and she wondered if there would ever come a day when he didn’t say anything. She suspected not because she knew him and she knew he couldn’t help himself.

“Hello Sawyer,” she replied. She would never know how much that tone annoyed him. She spoke to him as if they were on the beach, in broad daylight, surrounded by a crowd. She talked to him like she didn’t know what the inside of his tent looked like, what brand of cigarette he smoked, how his skin felt. He knew he didn’t treat her any better, barely acknowledging her unless she made the first move, but he’d never met a woman that didn’t start acting hung up on him in the first five minutes. He had to admit, it unnerved him, how much he thought about her and how little she seemed to think about him. Either Sun had walls bigger and stronger then his, or this was a mighty fine mess he had gotten himself into.

“How’s your head?” he asked, trailing his fingers across her face, over her forehead. When his finger tips brushed over the cut, she didn’t flinch and he had his answer. Of course, that hadn’t been why he’d asked the question. He’d wanted to put his mind on something else and he’d definitely wanted to get a better look into hers.

But the walls stayed up. “Alright,” she replied as his hand left her face. The truth was, she did get headaches from time to time but she was, and had been, fine for the most part.

“Damn junkie wasn’t supposed to hurt you,” he growled lowly. She shot him and incredulous look and he should have known better then to think Sun was the kind of woman that would buy his typical bullshit. As he had discovered, nothing about Sun was typical. She was like no woman he had ever met before, as evidence by her ability to get under his skin and stay there, and that was both what attracted him to her and what terrified him about her.

“Alright,” he conceded. “But you didn’t have to let him drag you into the jungle. You could’ve scratched him, kicked him in the balls, somethin’.”

Sun had to laugh. This had been Sawyer’s plan from the beginning. She was the obvious choice, the smallest, the most defenseless. Or that was how she seemed. She knew all too well about appearances, about how she was seen in the eyes of others. And so did Sawyer. But they both knew the truth, that she had a spine made of steel and a hell of a fighting spirit. All that others saw when they looked at her was a meek, dutiful wide, but Sawyer was not like other people. And so she pulled that one wall down for him, so that he could see her, the real her.

That was when he had told her about his plan and she had agreed to be a part of it.

“I could not act as though I had anticipated it. It would have been too obvious to him if I had,” she told him. “It was better to let him pull me along for a while. Truth be told, it did not last that long.”

Sawyer snorted in contempt. “I wouldn’t give that has-been the credit to put two and two together. He’d probably get five.”

“If you have such a low opinion of Charlie, why did you trust him to help you?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Convenience.”

She nodded slowly, inching closer to him, coming to rest on her knees by his bed and fixing him with an intense stare, powerful enough to rival one of his own. He did his best to match it.

“And what about me?” Sawyer was almost sure she hadn’t meant that to come out sultry, but damned if it hadn’t just.

Sawyer didn’t answer right away. He cursed himself for hesitating, for not being able to think of a plausible lie quick enough. Sun’s sudden close proximity was obviously having adverse effects on his brain.

His attempts to think were further disrupted as she pulled the book and flashlight from his now limp hands, setting them to rest in the sand. She raised her body up and gently sat herself down across his stomach, her eyes once again pinning him down with that stare.

“Am I a convenience, Sawyer?” she asked, hell, demanded. Sun had a way of crushing you under the weight of her constant, unwavering gaze, holding you tight until you cried uncle and gave her what she wanted. Yet another one of the things he loved and hated about her.

“Hell no,” he managed to say with conviction, though his breath did hitch a little.

She nodded, her hands resting at her sides and god he wished she’d touch him. He hated how needy, and really just downright girly, that sounded, but right now, with her weight resting on top of him, he couldn’t be motivated to put that much effort into caring.

“I gotta tell you though Sunshine,” he said, trying to take at least a little bit of the power back. Even though Sun was patient and quiet and never said a word, he knew exactly how much his constant talking annoyed her. She never came out and said, ‘God, just shut up already’ but often times he could see it written all over her face. But not now. So he tried harder. “I was pretty surprised at first. Wasn’t sure you’d go along with it.”

“That’s why I did it,” she replied and the light from the discarded flashlight reflected the darkness behind her eyes, the kind of darkness that Sawyer knew all too well. He was suddenly overcome by the feel of her, her body surrounding him, hot and heavy, and was acutely aware that she still wasn’t touching him.

“So,” she prompted and finally, oh god finally, ran her hands up his sides and down his chest and god damned if he didn’t just shiver when she did it too. He felt goosebumps rise on his skin and under that an intense heat. She leaned down slowly, deliberately, her hands resting on either side of his head and her hair falling across his chest, his cheek. She whispered, “Did you get what you wanted?”

He could almost feel the cold of the guns beneath him and he could definitely feel the heat of Sun above him. All he could managed to say was, “God, yes.”