Chapter 2

It was barely sunrise when Ana woke to island birds squawking and Jack rustling around the hut. She propped her head up on her elbow and just watched and studied him with his toned tanned physique and large, graceful hands cutting up mangos. Her stomach went into a wild swirl while she thought about last night. How could she keep herself from wanting him everyday now. This was an island hell she admitted, but there was never a perfect time for intimacy. You just had to take it as it came.

"Hey," she rasped rubbing her eyes awake. He crawled over to sit next to her and spread his long legs out before him.

"Morning. Thought you might be thirsty, and hungry," he said handing her a bottle of water and some cut up mango. She noticed that he had bandaged his knuckles and a small cut on his upper cheekbone. His brow had gone back to being furrowed and she could see his tension re-building itself. It was back to reality.

"Thanks I am starving," she said giving him a warm smile.

Returning the smile, he leaned down to kiss her forehead. He hesitated to give her a proper kiss. Not being able to resist the temptation though, he pulled her closer and pressed his mouth against hers, and she opened with a mouth full of mango.

He abruptly pulled back. She laughed and mumbled sorry while trying to keep the fruit from falling out.

"Thanks I have my own."

"You gave me no warning." She took a swig of water as he laughed. She loved to see his entire face light up when he laughed, making the dimples appear from his five o'clock shadow. He had this rugged look about him with the stubble and tattoos, and he was intensely serious most of the time, but that smile just opened so many windows to his complex soul.

"Okay all clear now."

He held her face in his palm and kissed her slowly, his tongue exploring her plump, mango-tinged lips. They kissed for awhile, stopping before it became too heated. They sat silent with their hands intertwined listening to the wind brush against the palms above both wondering what was next and how long they could indulge themselves in this amazing new intimacy.

"So did anyone see you this morning?" she asked knowing he was concerned about that. She could have sworn she heard Libby at her hut entrance whispering for her then saying 'oops, sorry, I'll come back' at some point during the middle of the night. Privacy was a luxury here and she already learned to get used to it. If she and Jack wanted to run around naked like the Blue Lagoon, oh well, what were you going to do?

"A few people."

"Any one we care about?"

""Well depends I suppose. Sun, Jin, Bernard, a few others. They all greeted me with great, um… hesitation," he admitted regretfully.

"So you intimidate now," good.

"Good? I just fully realized how hard it was for you to pull me away from Sawyer. "

"Me and about five other people." She felt him tense-up at that reveal. "Jack, he had it comin' for all the crap he's pulled. And if it's any consolation, I punched him twice and just about pistol-whipped him when we were trekking here from the other side of the island,' she took a swig of water and talked as if she were in bar with a beer, bragging to her male colleagues. "You know, he could have bled to death from that bullet wound and still all he wanted to do was cause trouble. So I had to keep him in line. It has to be done." She took another swig and paused, realizing she was making him wince. "Sorry. I know, no strange after sex talk," she said waving her hands for emphasis.

He laughed heartily at her. "Don't worry. I am just about use to it," he admitted while stroking the back of her hair.

"Seriously Jack, why is this bothering you so much."

He paused and sighed. "Because it's rare when I get like that."

"Like what?"

"In this zone, like a red haze where I am not really aware of what I'm doing, nor do I really remember it. When I was a kid, it would happen when I got in fights. I could end-up with stitches and not fully recall what happened in between." Jack paused on the memory. His Dad once told him that he was not cut out to be an aggressor, charging-in to save people. Because, he clearly didn't have the psyche or restraint to be a hero.

"And just maybe it's not so great to have the only doctor on the island go into fits of violent rage."

"Jack, desperate times. . . We are on a fucking island where people disappear without a trace just about every week. There is no time for playing nice with people who make it their business to stir up more trouble or to go looking for it either."

Jack nodded, agreeing with every word. The venom in her voice told him that her experience here had affected her more than she had let on. She cared about the fate of their fellow castaways as much as he did. She had been through hell and came out just as strong. He was glad to have Ana on his side.

"We line-up the people who want to help form a defense,' she said sounding like a football coach. "Team players, because there is no time for power struggles. We stick together or we die, it's that simple. "

"For us it is, others not so sure," he said shaking his head incredulously. "People are not just going to fall in-line, especially not now. And frankly I never wanted this, to be looked at as the person to solve everyone's problems.

"And yet you can't help yourself. After the plane crashed people didn't know what to do, where to turn. Now things are sort of calm, all basic living and medical needs taken care of. So now everyone wants to know who put you in charge, who made you boss. Suddenly you are just a doctor with control issues. They want to undermine and second-guess, and say who the hell are you to set rules. But people don't seem to realize that it is not about being in charge, it's taking charge. "

Jack just listened, nodding and absorbing. "You're pretty sharp there Ana-Lucia, which is probably why I put up with you."

"Vice versa because you are an uptight pain in the ass too, don't deny it. You just happen to be so damn sexy so I can't resist."

He burst into a mocking laugh. He wasn't going to touch that one.

"But I am going to have to start, resisting. We both have to," she declared.

He lowered a brow not sure what she meant.

"So you have to leave this tent right now and we have to start hating each other. From here out we are enemies."