I wanted to watch an episode of Oz tonight, and not letting myself until I got this part done was great motivation for writing. Too bad I only have two episodes of Oz left, including the one I'm watching tonight.

This part isn't NC-17, either, but it'll get there eventually, I promise. I'm thinking this'll be around 5 parts for some reason.

Title: Of Saints and Sinners - Part 2
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Jack/Sawyer
Word Count: 1,798 (11,325 overall)
Warnings: S2 finale spoilers, captivity fic, adult language and situations.
Summary: The Others need cooperation, and Sawyer is giving them anything but, so it's up to Jack to remedy the situation.

Part 1

When Jack came to, it took him a moment to realize where he was, as his hands were back to being bound in the front with some slack in between, but the he was no longer on the bamboo railing encircling the hut. To account for the greater freedom of his hands, however, Jack noticed that his ankles were bound. The ropes weren't tight enough to cut off his circulation, but walking was difficult because of their position over a tendon, which Jack imagined was to keep him from running away since he was no longer bound to the walls. Looking around, Jack noticed that the door had a slot on the bottom about two feet wide and six inches tall - the perfect size to slide in food without actually opening the door.

The other features to this particular hut that made it different from Jack's was the wooden pole opposite the door that ran from underground to almost touching the thatched ceiling and the man tied to it. Sawyer's head was still in the black woven hood, his arms wrapped behind him, presumably bound at the wrists at the back of the pole, and his ankles were also bound together tight. From the way Sawyer was slumped backwards, he could've been asleep, but it was more likely that he had also been knocked unconscious when they threw Jack in the hut. Jack stood, carefully pulling himself to his feet, and watched Sawyer, noting the steady rise and fall of his chest that indicated he was at least alive. There was a backpack and what looked like a tackle box against the wall just behind Sawyer, which Jack presumed contained the medical supplies that Alex said he would need.

Jack knelt down between Sawyer and the supplies, reaching up to check his carotid pulse. It felt strong, which was a good sign, so Jack lowered his hands to check the radial pulse, as well, to make sure the bindings at Sawyer's wrists weren't causing severe damage to his arms. Jack's fingers had barely brushed against Sawyer's forearms when he startled awake, thrashing wildly with his torso and legs as he spat out curses and insults. Sawyer seemed to be trying to yell as loudly as he could, but his voice was raw and some of the words came out choked, like he was about to lose it altogether.

"Hey!" Jack yelled out, wrapping his arms around Sawyer's body and across his chest to try and keep him still. He felt something warm on the front of his shirt, looking down to see blood seeping from Sawyer's bindings. The skin there had been rubbed raw. "Hey! Sawyer!"

The struggling stopped the moment his name escaped Jack's lips, Sawyer's body falling limp in Jack's embrace as he panted for air. "Doc?" he asked, the sound of his voice making Jack's throat hurt, filled with disbelief. "That you, Jack?"

"Yeah..." Jack replied, easing up on his hold to inspect Sawyer's forearms. "It's me."

"How long you been in here?"

"I don't know - they knocked me out. I'm not even sure how long ago it was we left camp."

"I'd guess a week," Sawyer replied, Jack remembering the medical supplies right beside him. He checked the backpack first, finding in it several bottles of water, dried food, and lots of broken off plant stems. He recognized the aloe and eucalyptus leaves immediately.

"Why would you guess that?" Jack asked, grabbing three aloe leaves. He took a bottle of water, realizing all the bottles had been their own, unscrewed the cap, and crunched up the leaves in his hand, dropping them in the water. He screwed the cap back on and started to shake the bottle. "It can't have been that long."

"It's prolly been longer," Sawyer said. "I'm not sure how long I've slept for or been unconscious for, but all the time awake I've spent countin' the seconds. I've counted a lot of fuckin' Mississippis, Doc."

"Shit." It was really all Jack could think to say as he let the reality of passed time wash over him. He wondered what was going on with the rest of the survivors. Hurley would've definitely gotten back to deliver the message by now, but had something happened to Sayid on the sailboat? What was happening to Kate during all this time? What would happen to them after the Others felt like they'd proved their point? And what, exactly, was the point they were trying to prove? "Don't move your hands until I can get the bindings off," Jack said, glad that he had a distraction from those thoughts for the time being. "You've managed to rub the skin raw, and every time you struggle, your arms start to bleed."

"This why they tossed ya in here?" Sawyer asked as Jack got up and moved to kneel in front of Sawyer. Sawyer's gaze followed Jack as he moved, even though he still had the hood on. "You're in here to fix me up?"

"That's what they told me." Jack reached out, pulling the hood off of Sawyer's head. It wasn't that bright in the hut, but Sawyer squinted momentarily from the change of light anyway. Jack grabbed the water, unscrewing the cap and holding it up in front of Sawyer's mouth. "Drink this."

Sawyer studied the drink warily. "What's that shit floating in it?"

"Aloe leaves. They'll make your throat feel better."

"You learn that from Sun?" Jack could see that there was some bruising on Sawyer's face that was starting to fade, as well as at the base of his neck that seemed to extend underneath his shirt.

"Yes."

"Did you fuck her?" Sawyer asked, a wry smile spreading across his face. Jack didn't respond, instead holding up the water more insistently. "Is that another yes?"

"No. Why would you think that?"

"I dunno. She and hubby weren't talkin' for a while, and she seemed to be around you a lot."

"Just drink the damn water."

Sawyer did, tilting his head back, and Jack lifted and angled the bottle slightly so he could swallow more easily. Sawyer drank quickly, sputtering a little halfway, but finished the water like it was the first thing he'd had to drink in days. "That felt good, Doc. Real fuckin' good."

"How's your breathing?" Jack asked, returning to the supplies he'd been left.

"Why?"

"You have bruising on your face and neck, which means your chest and stomach are probably also bruised. If breathing hurts, you could have a bruised diaphragm, maybe a fractured rib."

"Breathin' feels fine." Sawyer craned his neck around to watch Jack. "What'd they put in here?"

"Bag has water, food, and the plants in it," he replied as he dug through the box that was also left. "Got in here rolls of gauze, medical tape, a needle, black thread, couple bottles of hydrogen peroxide, scissors that look dull, and a pad of paper with a pen." Jack flipped open the notepad, not quite sure why it was in there. "The first page says, 'If you need anything else, write it down, and I'll see what I can do. Alex.'"

"I don't fuckin' get these people."

Jack took the gauze and one of the peroxide bottles, cutting off of the roll a strip that would wrap around Sawyer's wrists a few times. He poured on some of the peroxide, not caring if he wasted any since he seemed like he could get more as needed. "This is going to sting," was the only warning he gave before putting in on Sawyer's bound arms just above the ropes so the gauze overlapped them and bare skin. Sawyer hissed as Jack wrapped it tightly, trying to utilize gravity to pull the peroxide down out of the gauze and across the raw skin under the ropes. It was the best he could do until Jack figured out how to get the knots undone.

"Do you trust them?" Jack could tell that Sawyer was trying to look at him, but the way he was tied with the pole in the way, he couldn't turn around far enough.

"No."

"Then why are you doin' what they want?"

"Because I think if they wanted us dead they would've done it already. They're giving us food and water, and they brought me in here to help you. You're a prime example on the fact that fighting them doesn't accomplish anything. Do you want to kill yourself?" Jack tore a piece of the medical tape off to adhere the gauze to itself. He then moved so he was sitting where Sawyer could see him, since the other man seemed to need that for some reason. "Why are you fighting them so hard?"

"They creep the fuckin' shit outta me." Jack had to search for it in Sawyer's eyes, but behind the will to survive, the stubbornness, his smug and cocky facade, Jack could see a glimmer of fear. It was faint and well-hidden, but it was still there. "After they put the hoods on, they made us walk over here, taking us in circles and all that. They knocked me out, and when I came to, I was in here, tied to this post just like you first saw me, but the hood was gone. I wasn't alone, though.

"There was this skinny black chick in here with me. She was just standin' there in front of the door, watchin' me. I was hollerin' at her to let me the fuck go, askin' what they did to you 'n Kate, threatenin' her and her people... She stayed silent through it all, just standin' there and watchin', which just pissed me off more, so I kept goin' on and on. Then she gave me this look... I can't describe it, but it was like she knew everything about me, like she understood. She opened the door, but before she left, she looked at me one last time. 'You don't need to keep hidin' under the bed, James,' she said." Jack hadn't the slightest idea what that meant, but he let Sawyer continue. "Who the fuck are these people?"

Jack didn't know what to tell him. He hadn't seen that woman, only Alex, and she had come because they needed his help. Jack couldn't help but wonder if the Others had something to do with the people who put the hatch on the island - if they were involved in the mind game as well, trying to study they would react given this situation. Jack didn't particularly want to think of that, either, so instead he got to work on Sawyer's bindings, trying to at least loosen them enough to slide on his arms and give Jack access to the raw skin underneath.

Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6