Oh my God, I'm psychic! If anyone watched last night's episode SOS you all saw the exchange between Kate and James in which there is an allusion to a conversation or interaction of some sort between the two of them before she goes off into the jungle with Jack and proceeds to find Michael. Anyhoo, onwards and upwards! I have to admit that I didn't really want to cross-refer to any actual episodes after Dave but whatever, it still falls in with my story. I will not be cross-referring the rest of this story to any future episodes in season 2 because I plan to have finished this before next Wednesday. Please note that the operative word is PLAN so don't kill me if it doesn't work out that way.

Chapter 11

Ana-Lucia approached James warily, although they had spoken again briefly after the fireside revelations, she was going to be alone with him now and she really didn't want to make him angry again.

He was standing at the water's edge staring off into nothing, "What do you want, Hotlips?" He asked the question without ire and he didn't take his eyes off whatever he was looking at.

"I wanted to talk to you. See what you thought about the man we've got in the hatch… See what you think is up with the Others."

"And why would a girl like you care 'bout what I think about any of that?"

"Maybe because a 'girl like me' knows who you really are, and knows that you're a lot smarter than people give you credit for."

James laughed to himself softly at this. "Well if you know all that then I guess you're aware that I can see right through that sentence."

"Yeah, I guess."

"I think that none of us have any idea how clever and just how much our presence here means to Them. And I don't think anyone is askin' the right questions. Anythin' else?"

"No, but if it's all the same to you, I'd like to stay here with you for a little longer. Feel like I am going crazy in the hatch."

James didn't respond to that, he just continued to look out at the water. "I made her a promise, Hotlips. A promise I am not keepin' every day I'm stuck on this Island."

"So let's do something about getting off this Island then." Finally, he turned to look at her, acknowledging her proposal.

"What are you planning, Cocinero?" She asked with genuine interest and curiousity, 'Pity Freckles doesn't give a damn what I think.' He thought to himself.

"I have been havin' the same dream for days now. I think someone up there is tryin' to tell me somethin'."

Ana-Lucia nodded in understanding, "And what happens in this dream?"

James gave her his patented smirk, "Now that would be tellin'… suffice it to say maybe that man ya heard so much about ain't as dead as you may have thought he was."

Understanding he wasn't going to tell her anymore, Ana-Lucia smiled at him, "Glad to hear that."

That said, she watched him walk away from her heading towards his tent. Inwardly she sighed in frustration. The man was an enigma! 'He's going to do something, all I have to do is watch him long enough and I will find out what it is.'

James waited until it 2 a.m. before he crept out of his tent, walking into the jungle he took his shoes off when he got to the CommieCaves. It wouldn't do for him to leave tracks, using skills he had learned long ago he proceeded the trek into the heart of darkness, barefoot. After an hour of walking, he stopped and closing his eyes, turned his sight inwards into himself in a bid to concentrate. 'Cat, show me the way. I promised, now give me a chance to keep that promise.' A few minutes later he opened his eyes, gasping sharply, he saw the way he'd run in his vision like a well lit path in the humid darkness. Using the stealth techniques he'd learned from a Cree tracker he melted into the jungle, covering his tracks as he went.

He knew how to cover his tracks and he knew how to move like a shadow in the night. It had made the difference between life and death in the tropical gloom that was the Amazon years after he'd been taught the skill and he knew it would serve him well now.

He slept in the hollow of a tree during the day and continued on his quest in the gathering dusk. Traveling stealthily and soundlessly he arrived at the hidden entrance in the mountain wall, 16 hours after he had set out. Now the sun had set completely and he entered into the valley that looked exactly as it had done in his vision. Covertly, he climbed up into a hidden crevice on the mountain face. Relieved that he had not been discovered, he surveyed the valley with a critical eye. 'Thank you Cat, I won't let you down again, I promise.' Focusing on his breathing, he let himself fall into a deep state of meditation as he rallied himself in preparation for the assault ahead.

Kate felt a wild panic clutch at her heart, they'd found Michael only to lose Sawyer. When her and Jack had returned to the beach with an exhausted and slightly crazy Michael, she hadn't realized anything was amiss until around midday. When Kate had asked about Sawyer's whereabouts nobody had seemed to know where he was. Shrugging off the niggling feeling that something wasn't right Kate hadn't thought much of it until an hour ago. No one knew where he was and when she went into his tent it had a stillness and air of being untouched that scared her.

Instinctively she knew that if anyone would know about his whereabouts it would be Lady Sneeralot. She marched off to the hatch in a determined attempt to keep a lid on her fears. Kate was five minutes away from the hatch when she sighted the former cop.

"Where is he?" She demanded rudely.

"Where is who? Jack? He's-"

"Not Jack, Ana-Lucia, Sawyer. Where is he?"

Ana-Lucia raised her eye-brows and sneered in understanding, "You get tired of acting like Little Miss Perfect, Katherine?"

"What?"

"I mean you've been with Jack for what, a day and a half? Pressure get too much? Is that why you're suddenly interested in his whereabouts? So you can take out some of your passive aggressive frustrations on him?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course you don't. Well I've got news for you, Kate, as long as I am around I will be watching you. And I will do everything in my power to keep you away from him. You're no good for him, you're no good for Jack either, as far as I am concerned you're nothing but a criminal. And you should have been locked up a long time ago with all the other lowlifes."

Kate and Ana-Lucia were eyeing each other aggressively now, both of them sizing each other up. "I'm not a man that's swayed by your good looks, and I have taken on men twice your size." Ana-Lucia said in a not-so-veiled threat.

Kate glared at Ana-Lucia with impotent rage, she so badly wanted to thrash the Latina but it wasn't going to help her find Sawyer. And with each minute she wasted standing here with Ana-Lucia she felt a little more fear growing inside her.

'What if the Others had given them back Michael because they had taken Sawyer? What if he was dead somewhere because he'd mouthed off a little too much?'

Kate was the first to back down, "Ana-Lucia, I know you don't like me but I also know that you treated him pretty badly when you guys found them on the beach. So forgive my confusion as to why you're all of a sudden playing watchdog for him. It doesn't make any sense." She tried to keep the dislike and attitude out her voice as she spoke.

Ana-Lucia paused at this change in tack, "What's your point?"

"My point is, all I want is to find him. In case you haven't noticed this isn't a normal island. I just can't help but think it's a little weird that Jack and I find Michael and when we get back here, no one has seen or heard from Sawyer since pretty much not long after we left."

Ana-Lucia hesitated, she knew James had gone off somewhere but to her un-ending frustration she hadn't seen him leave his tent. Nor had Eko been able to pick up a trail after the abandoned caves. She didn't want to tell Locke or Jack because, well, that went without saying. Sayid had disappeared somewhere and she herself was about to enlist Eko's help in going into the jungle to find him since she was getting nowhere with Henry Gale. Making a decision she said to Kate, "Maybe he just wanted to be left alone, I don't know where he is, I've been in the hatch most of the time." Well some of it was true, so it wasn't hard for her to look sincere.

Accepting this, Kate turned back round to head back to the beach, maybe he was back from wherever he had gone now. She tried to quash the voice inside that told her that it was a false hope.

Kate looked at her watch as she sat in James' tent, she had been sitting here for over 2 hours, it was 9 o'clock and still no sign of him. She realized that she was sitting in pretty much the same place they'd had sex 2 nights ago. Looking back it felt like an eternity had passed. And rather disconcertingly was the smalltiny shiverof remembered feeling that skated down her spine as she remembered their encounter.

In contrast, the chemistry that she'd felt with Jack in the net, was like child's play. As ineffectual as a candle in the wind. 'Oh my God, Kate, you're an idiot.' She chided herself. But if she was going to be honest with herself, it was true. 'Whatever is between Sawyer and I is all-consuming, insane, it will burn me alive and leave nothing behind. What I have with Jack is good, controllable, a slow burn that can still burn brightly.' That was the difference and she knew it, the difference between sanity and madness. She could retain a sense of herself with Jack whereas with James it was like being possessed, obliterating everything else. Kate had always been in control and not having it scared her, almost as much as the thought of ending up in jail, 'Or him dying.' She couldn't help but add.

She looked up sharply as she heard someone approach the tent, 'Sawyer!' Kate couldn't hide her disappointment when she saw it was just Jack. Shining his torch on her troubled and disappointed face, Jack asked, "What are you doing here in the dark, Kate?"

"Waiting for Sawyer. No one has seen or heard from him since before we got back with Michael." Jack couldn't hide his annoyance at her, "He's probably gone to keep a closer look on the guns Kate, I don't think he was very happy about Charlie giving me a gun. My guess is he's gone to the hide them somewhere else, Charlie says they aren't where they were before."

Kate's eyes widened in alarm, "You don't think he's gone after the Others or something do you?" Jack was silent, "Jack!"

"No Kate, I don't think he's gone after the Others. Why would he? Besides even if he had decided to care about someone else other than himself, he would have left a trail."

"You don't know that, Jack. You don't know what he's capable of."

"And you do? If I remember correctly he had you fooled too when he stole the guns."

Kate was incensed, 'How dare he!'

"Be that as it may, I know him better than you do. And this doesn't make any sense… Jack-"

"I know, you have a connection… We'll wait until morning, if he's not back by then we can go look for him."

Kate looked at Jack with barely concealed resentment, "Morning might be too late."

"It will have to do. There is no point in launching a search party at night when we don't know where we're going, for Sawyer!"

Kate seemed to accept this, smiling sadly she said, "You're right of course. We'll wait until morning."

"You coming?" He asked her impatiently. Shaking her head she replied, "I think I'll wait a little longer." Shrugging as if to say, 'suit yourself' Jack left her there.

As soon as Jack left, Kate started to search through James' things, she was looking for the letter he always carried with him. Twenty minutes later, she raced out of the tent, towards Ana-Lucia's tent.

"Where is he, Ana-Lucia?"

"Not this again-"

"His letter is missing, the letter he always carries with him, if it's not here it means he left with a destination in mind. Tell me where he is!" She didn't want to thiink it could also mean he'd been snatched out of his tent without warning. Besides it didn't make sense because some of his things were missing.

"I don't know!"

"Yes you do! If you really do care about him in the slightest you'll tell me where he is! He went out there on his own, anything could happen to him and your dislike of me might sign his death warrant, do you really want that on your head as well?"

"I've already told you, I don't know! Eko tracked him to the caves then he lost the trail completely. It's like he disappeared into thin air." Ana-Lucia realized her slip too late.

Kate gasped in astonishment, "So when I asked you where he was earlier you'd already tried to find him and you didn't think it was worth telling me? Or Anyone? What is wrong with you!" At the last words she was practically screaming. Eko appeared as if out of nowhere, trying to diffuse the situation he approached Kate, his hands out, palms splayed.

Kate was shaking with barely contained violence and distress, "Please, calm down, this is not the way. The Others they watch everything, I'm begging you to keep your voice down and not draw attention." The Nigerian man asked her beseechingly.

Shuddering from the effort of containing her spiraling emotions, Kate gulped in breaths of fortifying air before focusing a no- nonsense stare on Eko. "Do you know something you aren't telling me? Do you know where he is?"

Eko shook his head, "I promise you I do not know where your friend is. What I do know is that he is skilled in hiding his tracks and in not being found."

Kate's eyes widened in surprise at this revelation, "What makes you think he hasn't been taken? Why would you think he is hiding his tracks?"

"I had my suspicions but the look on Ana-Lucia's face tells me she already knew this."

Kate whipped around to glare at Ana-Lucia, "Start talking Ana-Lucia or so help me God I'll-"

"I don't know the exact details, but I know he has experience in this type of thing."

"What do you mean?" Kate and Eko both looked at her curiously.

Ana-Lucia looked over her shoulder before she gestured for the two to follow her to the water's edge. "Let's talk here where the sound of the surf will make it impossible for people to eavesdrop." Kate was startled seeing the logic in this move and wondering why she hadn't thought of it herself.

"The details are sketchy but suffice it to say that between living on a reservation and living in the jungles of Latin America, he has some experience in hiding his tracks." Both Kate and Eko were taken aback by this revelation.

Facing Eko, Ana-Lucia apologized, "I didn't tell you about this earlier because I didn't want to prejudice your search. Just in case he was a little rusty."

"So wait a minute what are you saying? That Sawyer's some stealth expert and he's just kept that vital piece of information to himself all this time?" Kate asked disbelievingly. 'Just because they both speak Spanish it doesn't mean he would tell her something about his past. Does it?' Kate couldn't help but feel a little hurt at the thought that he hadn't wanted to confide in her.

"Yeah." Ana-Lucia answered, bluntly.

"There's a lot about him that you don't know, Princess." Kate felt her anger rising again, 'Good, let's hold on to how much we hate her collagen lipped self.' She told herself latching onto the emotion with the tenacity of a drowning woman.

"So what now? Even if he has gone to find the Others, and he's good at hiding his tracks, what happens when he gets where he's going? There's God knows how many of them and one of him, I don't know about you but I don't think that's a good set of odds."

"What are you suggesting? That we go after him? Where exactly would that be? The trail he left doesn't give any indication of what direction he went in and it rained this afternoon so anything remotely useful would have been washed away." Ana-Lucia argued.

"I don't care, all I know is that I have to do something. I've got the gun he gave me last week and I can take care of myself. I'm going to find him, it's better than sitting here waiting for him to come back."

"I'll come with you." Eko said supportively. Kate looked at him gratefully, "You don't have to, I-"

"If he has found the Others and even if you manage to find him without suffering harm, you will need my help to get away from them. I am coming with you."

Kate turned to look at Ana-Lucia, the former cop seemed surprisingly quiet. "I can't stop you… well I think I could, but I am worried too. All I know is that he said he'd been having dreams and that he had to get off this Island because of a promise he made."

"Dreams about what? A promise to who?" Kate fired the questions rapidly, hungry for any information that would help shed some light on James' actions.

"I don't know, I'm guessing it's tied to Catalina-"

"Come we must prepare to leave before anyone notices, I am going to gather some things." Eko interrupted, before striding off, Kate watched him leave then making ready to follow him she faltered, turning to ask Ana-Lucia "Who's Catalina?"

"The woman he loves."

Kate's heart skipped a beat, 'Oh God, no.' She thought to herself. Then, tucking the scrap of information away into her heart she walked as normally as she could, to her tent to wait for Eko.

She didn't have to wait long because just as she finished packing her backpack he was whispering her name, creeping out, she noticed with relief that Ana-Lucia wasn't with him. In silent understanding she followed Eko into the trees the two of them disappearing without exchanging words to go and find James.