Chapter One: Family Ties

They'd believed her to be dead, but when the rescuers finally came, it was discovered she wasn't dead, but in a comatose state—and pregnant, to boot. And then mere hours after that she'd received a call from Captain Cortez—Ana's mother—wanting her to handle the proceedings in a murder case Ana was involved in.

She'd taken the case—it wasn't like she could just refuse to help the woman responsible for single-handedly keeping her out of juvie more times than she cared to remember. The only question was, how was she going to convince Ana Lucia to talk to her?

She stared at the name plate at the head of her desk in the CEO-esque office she'd been given on her appointment to the District Attorney's office—A.D.A Daniela Vargas—also known to her adoptive family As Danielle Ford. She was expecting both Captain Cortez and Ana Lucia within the next forty-five minutes, which was also the same timeframe in which her problematic brother, James—better known as Sawyer—was due to arrive for a lunch date. She heard a hollow thud sound from the hallway, jarring her from her thoughts. Figuring it was her brother starting yet another fight, she went to investigate.

"James, what the hell do you think you're doin'?!" Daniela demanded, pulling her brother off the unfortunate soul who'd provoked her brother's wrath. She looked up and realised it was Ana.

Then it dawned on her. Somewhere along the line, the pair had caught up with one another.

"Sawyer…I had Captain Cortez scheduled before lunch with you, so you can either wait downstairs in the lobby or you can call me later to reschedule." He turned on his heels, threw open the door to the stairwell, and disappeared. "Please excuse my brother." Ana blanched at this, following her mother into Vargas' office.

"Thank you for seeing us this quickly, Danijela." Captain Cortez said, eyeing her daughter in concern.

"'s no problem, ma'am. Honestly, after hearing about the crash, I didn't expect to see Ana here again, let alone in plainclothes." Dani said, smiling slightly at Ana. "So, what can I do for you ladies today?"

"Do you remember Jason McCormack, Ms. Vargas?" She nodded, trying to get an idea where this conversation was headed.

"What about it? They never found who did it, did they?" Vargas asked. She knew the case, it had landed on her desk sometime between when Ana left the country and when Oceanic 815 crashed.

"We—I—did, but they disappeared before we got a chance to prosecute." Captain Cortez replied. Ana stiffened in her seat. Suddenly the pieces all made a little more sense.

"Okay, let me get this straight." Daniela closed the case ledger she'd been working on. "You're trying to tell me that Jason McCormack, a guy we prosecuted for burglary and shooting Miss Trigger-Happy herself, was killed by the cop he failed to kill?"

If she hadn't before, Dani was really wishing she'd gone to lunch with her brother instead of keeping this appointment.

"What does my brother have to do with this, Ana?"

After nearly an hour of arguing with her brother, Dani was finally able to sweet talk Sawyer into taking a rain check for lunch by allowing his sister to pay for dinner. Ana had returned during the course of the seemingly eternal argument with James.

"What's up? I thought your mom covered everything earlier."

"There's one thing my mother doesn't know about." Ana said, obviously stressed over something.

"O…kay. I'm not entirely sure where you're going with this, Ana, but I'm listening, regardless."

"I'm pregnant, Dani."

"You were on that flight, weren't you James; the flight that crashed on the uncharted island? The flight you met both Ana-Lucia Cortez and Kate Austen?" his head shot up to meet my eyes.

"How the hell do you know about them, Danni?" for a split second I considered not telling him how I knew Ana, or even that I was handling Kate's criminal trial. But I couldn't do that to James, no matter how much I disliked my brother.

"Do you remember the time I skipped school and went to Los Angeles instead? And how Mama had to come pick me up after I got busted for truancy?" a smirk played at his mouth at the memory.

"I don't think I've ever seen her quite that mad before."

"The cop that brought me in is now a captain in the LAPD. I'm taking care of some legal problems for her daughter, as well as Miz Austen's federal case."

"So you know Analulu, do ya?"

"Quite well, actually; her mom's the captain of a police precinct here in LA."

"She alright after having that bullet in her for almost six months?" he asked, not bothering to look away from the table.

"She seems to be alright; none too happy about desk duty but she seems to be just fine otherwise." This caught his attention.

"Bout time somebody took that damn gun away from her."

"it wasn't a firearm that got her put behind a desk, James."

"Then what exactly is wrong with her, Danielle?"

"Why don't you ask her for yourself, James?"

"What are you talkin' 'bout, Dani?" She could swear her brother was literally an idiot sometimes.

"I invited her to join us." James choked on his water.

"You WHAT?!"

"She wanted to see you." Daniela would soon see the consequences of her decision.