Title: Falling
Author: ficklemuse
Fandom: Lost
Characters: Sawyer/Boone
Prompt: 049. Fall
Word Count: 1181
Rating: PG-13
Author's Notes:Spoilers for Season 1.

Sawyer woke suddenly. It was the middle of the afternoon. To the average observer it might look like he'd been sleeping but Sawyer preferred to think of it as conserving his energy. After all he had plans for later that evening. Plans that involved the waterfall and ... Looking over, Sawyer found that Boone was gone. He'd been next to Sawyer working on putting together a screen door for Sawyer's tent.

Standing up, Sawyer walked out of his tent and stretched his whole body. Twitchy little Charlie was walking by and Sawyer called out to him.

"Hey English. Have you seen Boone?"

"Yeah..." Charlie replied absently. "He and Locke took off a while ago. Haven't seen 'em since."

"With Locke?" Sawyer reached out and grabbed Charlie by the arm. "Where did they go?"

"How am I supposed to know? They probably went wherever the hell it is they've been disappearing to for the last couple of weeks man!" Charlie shook Sawyer off and continued up the path to the caves.

Sawyer tried to relax and read - but was interrupted by another fucking headache.

It didn't really surprise him when the good Doc paid him a visit. The one thing that everyone on the island had in common was a complete inability to keep anything a secret for very long.

At the end of the day he might hate the way his glasses looked, but at least he wouldn't be getting anymore headaches. And if looking like Harry Potter was the price he had to pay, well then he'd just do most of his reading inside.

Once it started to get dark out, Sawyer found it harder and harder to distract himself from Boone's absence. Something was gnawing away at him. Completely unsettled by the feeling in his gut, Sawyer followed the path up to the caves. Information usually got to the caves first, then trickled down to the beach. It wasn't until he'd been in the caves asking around that panic grabbed him by the throat.

"Jack! Jack help!" Locke stumbled into the caves weighed down by Boone's slack body over his shoulders.

"Put him down up here." Jack guided Locke over to the infirmary section of the cave and the long bench style seat. "Come on. Careful. Careful. What happened?"

"There was an accident where we were hunting. Boone fell off a cliff." Locke answered as he eased Boone down on the bench and stood back up revealing his once white t-shirt was covered in Boone's scarlet blood.

Sawyer moved closer, unable to believe that anyone could lose that much blood and still be living. He jumped back as Jack ripped open Boone's t-shirt to reveal wounds so bad they resembled raw hamburger.

"Okay - Kate, I'm going to need water. A lot of water. And shirts and towels. Anything that I can use to staunch the bleeding."

When Kate didn't move, Sawyer gave her a push. "Move your ass Freckles." As Jack turned his attention to Boone, Sawyer caught Locke starting to slither out of the caves unnoticed. "Oh fuck no! Where do you think you're going?" Sawyer shot through the cave and grabbed Locke by the throat, throwing him up against the wall."What happened out there? How does somebody fall off a damned CLIFF?" He gave Locke a violent shake. "Huh? What'd you do to him?"

For once since the plane crashed Locke doesn't have an answer. He's silently pinned to the wall. Sawyer doesn't loosen his grip at all but does turn his head so he can watch as Jack gets his ass in gear and does his best to get everyone else moving too.

"Sun! Switch places with Kate. I need you to put as much pressure as you can on the bandages. We have to stop this bleeding or he's gonna die." Jack looked up from Boone and found Sawyer. "Sawyer let go of John. I need you to cough up all your supplies. I need anything with alcohol. Rubbing alcohol, drinking alcohol. Anything you've got you'd damned well better bring it."

"I'm NOT lettin' him go Doc! This fucker's lyin' about what happened out there." He cast a look at Kate. "Kate. You go. You know where everything is at. Go and take it all. And the medicine under my bed too. Bring all of it." He hurled his backpack across the cave at Kate, grateful when she sprang into action. He wasn't about to leave Boone. Not in the shape he was in.

When Boone starts struggling to breathe, Sawyer shoves Locke further into the caves and points to Hurley. "If he tries to move sit on him." He moved closer to Boone but made sure to stay out of Jack's way. "What's going on? Why isn't he breathing?"

"His lung just collapsed." Jack let out a string of curse words that under normal circumstances might have impressed even Sawyer.

Sawyer's awe of Jack's vocabulary lasted right up until the Doc shoved a metal spike into Boone's chest. Then all he wanted to do was puke.

"Alright. It's okay Boone." Jack pats the side of Boone's neck, which is about the only place he's not hurt. "You're going to be okay. I'm gonna put a tube in that and you'll breathe a whole lot better. Just stay with us."

"What can I do?" Sawyer asked as soon as he could open his mouth without throwing up.

"In a minute I'm gonna need you to hold him down. I have to try and set his leg. It's a closed fracture and I think I can do it." Jack wiped a bloody hand over his forehead. "But it's gonna hurt him like a sonofabitch."

"Yeah. Hold him down. Okay." Sawyer moved closer to the makeshift hospital bed and took up position by Boone's head. Reaching out he rubbed his fingers along the curve of Boone's jaw before bending down and murmuring. "Hey Sweetness. You really screwed the pooch on this one didn't ya?"

"Saw-yer..."

"Shut up. Shut up and let Super Doc do his thing. You know kid, once you're all healed up from this I'm gonna put you on the world's shortest leash." Sawyer looked up and met Jack's gaze without flinching.

"You ready?" Jack asked. "You have to hold him. Hold him down tight or else his leg won't set right. We're only going to get one chance to do it." Jack let out a frustrated breath. "Have you got him?"

Not giving a shit about anyone's reaction, Sawyer pressed his lips to Boone's forehead before taking his shoulders in a steely grip. "Yeah. Yeah I've got him. And I'm not lettin' go."

"Okay. On the count of three. One... Two... Three..."