Disclaimer: Yet another Missing Scene's idea from Genco! Makes a very vague reference to my previous story, Second Best. A bit short, but its pretty much to the point.

Why Her?:

Kate had been wanting to ask Sawyer one question since she'd been told that he and Juliet were 'together'. It was only when he'd told her, I'm doin' it for her.. that she truly realized that Sawyer really was with Juliet. It wasn't an act. They weren't pretending. But somehow she couldn't find the right way to ask. How did you come right up and ask, 'Why her?'

Sawyer glanced over at Kate. They were on their way to seclusion now that Richard had Ben. He could tell from the look on her face she was thinking about something. He just didn't put two and two together and figure out what it was just yet. "What's on your mind Freckles?"

Kate smiled a little as Sawyer sat down on a rock by a stream. "I've been wondering something, since I got here.." she admitted.

Sawyer glanced up at her. He already knew the basics of what bothered her now. "This about me and Juliet?"

"Kind of.." Kate admitted. "Yes."

Sawyer shrugged and skipped a rock across the small stream. "Well, fire away."

Kate glanced down at him. "How?" she asked, even though that really wasn't what she wanted to know.

"How did her and I get together?" he questioned.

Kate nodded.

"Was just a con," he stated with a shrug. "We needed backround stories," he explained. "She refused to say she had any experience as a doctor, so I just told them she was my girl."

Kate frowned. "So you two are just.. pretending?" she questioned. "Playing house?"

Sawyer shook his head. "That was at first. I don't know, Freckles. Somewhere along the line in the passed three years, it just stopped bein' make-believe."

Kate sighed and sat down. "Out of all of the women that you've been with, what makes her so special?" she asked. "What makes her so much better then the rest of us?"

"You ain't been here with her for three years, Kate," Sawyer said looking back at her. "And I never said she was better then nobody," he admitted. "But she changed me."

Kate shook her head and looked down.

"Don't go sulkin' now Kate," Sawyer said with a shrug. "You ain't never put me before the Doc, what's got you changin' your mind all the sudden?" he asked. "Is it cause suddenly someone else is takin' my attention off of you?"

Kate narrowed her eyes. "That's not what I meant, Sawyer."

"Sawyer ain't here no more, Kate," he told her. "Sawyer was the guy who got left behind, and I ain't that guy no more."

Kate shook her head. "All I meant..." she sighed. "Nevermind."

Sawyer glanced over at her. "I know what you meant," he said with a shrug. "You wanna know why I can stay with her, when I couldn't do it with nobody else before."

Kate nodded, remaining silent.

"Instead of being able to stay with you?"

Kate frowned, sitting down next to him.

"Juliet said somethin' to me once," he told her. "About always being second best."

Kate glanced at him.

"She was afraid cause you came back, that now instead of bein' second best to the Doc, she'd be second best to me," he explained. "But I realized, I ain't never been number one either," he stated with a shrug. "Definitely not for you. I was second to the Doc."

Kate looked down at her feet. "I didn't mean to make it like that."

"None of us did," Sawyer admitted. "Its just how it was," he told her. "But you know what, both of us bein' second best to you and the Doc helped us realize we could at least be first to each other, Freckles."

Kate smiled a little. It actually made sense, in a really weird way. "Guess I just didn't see it that way until you said that."

Sawyer grinned at her. "Me and her, we're just two second bests makin' the best of what we got, Kate," he explained. "And honestly, I wouldn't want it no other way."

Kate nodded. "She's lucky then," she admitted.

"It ain't luck Freckles," Sawyer stated. "In the words of the mad scientist, whatever happened, happened, and this is just how it was meant to be."

Kate frowned and looked down. "So.. where does that leave me?"

"Wherever you let it take ya."

()()()END()()()

Well. Someone told me they wanted a bit of a jealousy story. I'm not sure this is entirely what they meant by it. But heck.. if you want a Juliet and Kate cat-fight, I'm not gonna be the one to write it, heh. Just not my style. But I CAN do a Juliet and Kate 'missing piece' type story if you'd like me to.

-Kay