Chapter 6
James reclined on the couch in an exhausted state of consciousness, the food Sayid had cooked and given him had been delicious. Reminded him of Cajun cooking with the hint of spiciness; however some Tabasco wouldn't have gone awry as far as he was concerned. He thought back to the events of the day, hard to believe that he'd shared some intimate unguarded moments with her, witnessed a glimpse of what her life must be like beneath the mask when she'd had that nightmare, 'Heck, we even managed to squeeze in an argument in there too before the Doc came and ruined everything.'
He hated the fact that he'd been unable to control himself and had fought back. He respected Jack if for nothing else but how he'd managed to coordinate some form of rescue operation when they had crashed. Then of course the fact that Jack had saved his life a few times didn't lose him any points. Also, he'd met Christian in that bar in Sydney, before the nightmare began. Combined with the things the disgraced ex-Chief of Surgery had said about his son it had left a positive impression on James. ''Sides it's always good to keep on the better side of the man with the ability to save your life.' But this time he just hadn't been able to stop himself nor had he wanted to. His lip was starting to pulsate with a dull aching pain he couldn't bear. As he gently explored his lower lip to try and assess the damage, Kate walked into his line of vision.
"How does it feel?" She asked as she leaned forward to examine the wound herself. When she lifted his chin in order to take a closer look, he recoiled slightly, both of them felt the searing bolt of electricity that passed at the contact. James studied her face to gauge her reaction, but despite the flicker of recognition in her eyes he didn't get anything else from her.
Kate suppressed the chill that traveled down her spine as she felt his eyes searching her face. 'Whatever you do Kate don't you dare let him see that you felt that too.' From his physical reaction to the contact she knew he'd felt something. She had to steel herself from betraying just how naked and exposed she felt under that gaze. "Don't be a baby Sawyer, I just wanna take a look at your lip, can you lower it a little? I don't wanna hurt you, so if you can it will help." James closed his eyes as he forced himself to lower the throbbing lip, a few seconds later she let go of his chin.
"It's alright, but I think you should take some aspirin 'cause it looks pretty painful. Lucky for you, that's the worst of it." She left the rest of what she wanted to say unspoken but he heard her loud and clear. 'Unlike St. Jack, who would get a medal for bravery for standing up to the Resident Evil, and had the glaringly obvious battle scars to show for it.' Although he doubted she'd have called him St. Jack, unless she was going for a world record for surprising him today.
"Think, I walked away lightly do ya Freckles? I got physical evidence that proves otherwise." As he spoke he pulled his shirt up and sat up to show her the various bruises on his golden chest and back. Kate gasped, "Sawyer you've got a broken rib!" and she moved in closer to gingerly examine the rib in question. James winced upon the contact, "Easy, Sass, broken bones tend ta hurt!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to press too hard. I'll be right back am gonna get something to bind you!" She said as she hurriedly ran off to the other room. James winced as he dragged himself into a sitting position.
When she came back in, Ana-Lucia was right behind her, a faint sneer gracing her luscious lips. "Hey, Hotlips, wanna help Florence bind me up nice an' tight?" His voice was loaded with innuendo, and he gave Ana-Lucia a look that dared her to say something right back. "No thanks, three's a crowd." The Latina deadpanned. 'She comes out swingin'!' James observed with amusement. "Somethin' I been tryin' to tell Sheera here for months." He said, teasingly. James heard her breath catch in indignation and flashed Ana-Lucia and Kate his dimples in response.
Kate applied a slight amount of extra pressure on his rib as she rolled the strips of cloth Jack had ripped up into makeshift for this exact kind of situation. James flinched, "Easy Sweetcheeks!" he yelped in a pain roughened voice. "Sorry." She apologized with her head down so as not to give away the laugh she was trying to suppress. James heard the laughter in her voice, "Hmm, sure you are." He observed dryly. He looked up at Ana-Lucia who had moved into the room a little more. "What's cookin' in that hot head of yours, Miha?" James asked, in a light manner. He could tell the wheels in Ana-Lucia's head were turning and something told him she would have something interesting to say.
"Kate, you're binding him too tight, here let me show you." Ana-Lucia virtually yanked the cloth from Kate's hands and proceeded to unravel it, subtly pushing Kate to the side in the process. James saw the resentment and anger flash in Kate's eyes at the action and prepared himself to enjoy the fireworks.
Kate got up from her kneeling position and let Ana-Lucia unwrap the bandages, she watched in disgust as James perused the other woman in that slow sexy way of his as she leaned over him with her cleavage in his face. "Somethin' they teach ya at the pig farm, Rambina?"
Ana-Lucia smiled at the nickname, "I gotta say I prefer that to Hotlips, and in response to your question no, I learnt this in Girl Scouts." Kate rolled her eyes at this revelation, 'Girl Scouts? Who did this bitch think she was kidding? Sawyer wouldn't swallow that kind of bullshit.'
"Really… I've always wanted to get to know a Girl Scout." James replied, smiling up at her, then as she kneeled down to tie a knot, James transferred his smile to Kate, who he looked at over Ana-Lucia's shoulder. Kate shot him daggers in response, arms crossed with an unimpressed look on her face.
"Come here Kate, this is how you bind broken ribs." Ana-Lucia called over her shoulder authoritatively. Kate bristled, unsuccessfully hiding her irritation, she walked over to the pair. "Last time I checked one broken rib didn't constitute ribs." She snapped. Ana-Lucia smiled at Kate as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, "I didn't peg you as a stickler for grammar. Besides, it's always good to be thorough…just in case." James raised his eyebrows at this, his eyes showing not only his mirth but did Kate also see a touch of admiration for Ana-Lucia?
"Well, I guess you would know all about being thorough, huh?" Kate shot back. It was now Ana-Lucia's turn to bristle. They both knew Kate was referring to Ana-Lucia's mistaken and hasty shooting of Shannon. Ana-Lucia muttered something under her breath in Spanish, James' eyes widened in amused shock. "Ana-Lucia, you surprise me." He teased. She turned around to look at him, "You speak Spanish?" Kate looked down at James in surprise, as he responded, "Yeah I speak Spanish, Querida (translation: sweetheart) why do ya sound so surprised?"
"No reason, I guess you and I will have to talk about how it is exactly that you came to speak fluent Spanish." Ana-Lucia spoke to James like it was only the two of them in the room and to Kate's irritation; he didn't seem to notice her either.
"It's a date, Mamacita." James replied as Ana-Lucia walked out of the room, not even bothering to say anything to Kate.
Kate studied Sawyer, warily, "Do you really speak Spanish? Or did you just take an educated guess as to what she might have said?" James' eyes twinkled with mischief, "Why Sass, you wanna know what she said?" Kate snorted dismissively as she uncrossed her arms and sat down on the couch next to him, "As if I care what she has to say about me! I know you were conning me at the time, but I still think you were onto something when you mentioned her and Jack's army. I don't trust her."
James winced when she brought up the Long con he'd pulled on her last week, but he did turn slightly to look at her as she spoke. "Tell ya what, I don't call her Rambina for nothin' that's for sure." He said in response to her statement.
"Really? I thought you were being ironic, Tex." Kate replied sarcastically, the smile on her face taking the edge off the sarcasm. They stared at each other for a while, and as the intensity of the gaze grew, the smiles on their faces faded away. Kate swallowed before biting her lip nervously in an unconscious act of sensuality, when James' gaze fell onto her lips she realized her mistake. A thrill of excitement flared deep inside her. She was transfixed by the intensity of his gaze on her lips and when his eyes moved back up to her face, she didn't react fast enough to hide that the moment was having a similar effect on her as it was having on him.
James inwardly groaned at the tension growing between them, as they sat and stared at each other. It was frustrating to no end knowing that even if the usual barriers weren't stopping him, the pain in his swollen lip was doing a fine job in their place. His eyes stroked her face with a force that was almost physical, and as his eyes raked down the rest of her body then back up he couldn't help but notice the gooseflesh that she had no way of hiding.
"Good evening!" Locke greeted cheerfully as entered the room, his eyes missing nothing of the situation when he entered the room. Kate tore her eyes away from James gratefully, jumping up like she had been scalded. "Hi John, you back for another shift?" She overcompensated, putting some much needed distance between her and James.
Locke perused James for signs of injury, "Where's Jack? Is he badly hurt?" Locke asked, as he strode towards the bunker, Kate trailed behind him eagerly without giving James a second glance. He had remained seated on the couch, an unbidden wave of disappointment washing over him, sighing; he closed his eyes and lay back on the couch. 'Here we go again.' He thought to himself bitterly.