Chapter 18

He found Ana-Lucia in the hatch, smiling at her he said, "You really need to get out more Ana-Lulu you're startin' to look real pale."

"Hey, what are you doing here?" She asked an answering smile on his face.

"Came to get some answers from Zeke… and take a shower."

Ana-Lucia nodded, "You're gonna have to take a number Cucinero, Kate's in the shower at the moment."

James' nostrils flared slightly at this, "What's that now? What the hell was she doin' walkin' over here on her own at night?"

"I don't know, Miho, but she's in the shower now. Funny how both of you came here to take a shower."

"Yeah, I'm bustin' a gut here."

Ana-Lucia laughed out loud at the wry expression on his face when he said that. Smiling slightly he sat down next to her on the couch.

"Why are you always in here?"

"The prisoner we shall call Henry Gale. I'm working on him, and I don't trust anyone else with the responsibility. 'Sides it gives me something to do."

"I thought you might be hidin'."

"That too."

James sat next to her in silence, Ana-Lucia shifted so that she was facing him, "The other prisoner, the one you call Zeke, he's been pretty quiet. Hasn't given me lip or anything."

"You disappointed?"

"Just a little bit." Ana-Lucia admitted.

"Well, soon as I take a shower, I'm gonna go an' ask him a couple questions, somethin' tells me he won't stay quiet for long by the time I'm done with him."

"It's good to have you back James. Finally someone has done something about Them. What do you think their camp is like now?"

"Like I said before all hell's probably broken loose over there."

"It's about time if you ask me, they've terrorized us survivors for so long."

"Someone said, 'You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.' Wise someone."

"You're really somethin' you know that? I didn't let myself hope you'd be able to pull it off and you did."

Looking at Ana-Lucia seriously James lowered his voice, "I didn't do it alone. She was there with me, I don't know how but she was. The success of this entire venture is because of her."

"What are you guys talking about?" Kate interrupted with false cheer.

Getting up quickly, James ignored her, "Looks like the shower's free." He walked past Kate, nodding briefly at her as he passed.

Kate watched him leave then turned back to Ana-Lucia who had a faint sneer on her face. "Guess he didn't wanna share."

Kate looked at the former cop with mild distaste, "I'm surprised Hotlips, thought you'd be over sneering at everything and everyone by now. I guess it was too much to hope for a little change in you."

"That's exactly what I was thinking about you."

"Throwing my criminal past in my face is getting a little old don't you think?"

"Not at all, it still gets a reaction out of you." Ana-Lucia sneered whole-heartedly.

Kate rolled her eyes in feigned boredom, sitting at the computer she studied Ana-Lucia.

"I can see right through you, even if he can't, that's why you don't like me."

"He doesn't need your misguided protection Kate, James is a grown man, he can take care of himself and he actually has a past to be proud of."

"What exactly is that past?"

"It's not my story to tell… sorry." Ana-Lucia did not sound apologetic in the slightest, rising from her seat she went into the kitchen.

"Want some coffee?"

"Yeah sure." Kate replied brightly, deep down she was simmering with anger at the Latina's comment. 'What did he do in his past to warrant her never ending respect? And who the hell was Catalina?'

Before she could stop herself, she asked, "Who is Catalina?"

Ana-Lucia walked back into the kitchen with two mugs of coffee, "My cousin."

"Is she back in LA?"

"No. She's in Antigua, Guatemala."

"She lives there?"

"No."

Kate sighed, "What's your problem?"

"You are." With that Ana-Lucia left Kate alone in the room to go and check on Gale then Zeke.

James sauntered in the room, smelling fresh and looking good, he was topless.

"You drive her away?"

Kate didn't dignify the question with a response, "Who's Catalina?" She asked for the second time that night.

James looked like he'd hit her, "None of your business." He ground out, spearing her with his angry gaze he walked out of the room.

Kate wanted to scream, 'Who is this woman? What is the big secret?' Instead she picked up the discarded copy of Moll Flanders and decided to read.

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"You an' me are gonna have ourselves a real nice conversation, Frank." James spoke in a controlled voice. He was in the room they were keeping the injured man in; alone. Ana-Lucia had wished him luck and was waiting outside the door.

Frank looked at James with ill-disguised loathing, "I don't feel like talkin'."

"We'll see about that won't we?" James crushed his bare foot onto the bullet wound in the man's upper right leg.

"Okay! What do you want to know?" Jame was a little disappointed at the easy capitulation, this man had nearly got him killed on the raft.

"What's your last name, Frank?"

"Mandelsson!"

"How did you know my name?"

"Same way I know everyone else's names."

"How's that?"

"Flight manifest and seating plan, we got those before y'all even crashed!"

Releasing the pressure on the sweating man's leg, James crouched down to Frank's level.

"Go on."

"That's all. I've never seen you before y'all landed here."

"You're lyin', I can see it in your eyes."

"I'm not."

"Yes you are. Hear this 'cause I'll only say it once, if you don't cooperate with me, I'll break somethin' until ya do. Understood?"

The look of barely contained violence convinced Frank that this wasn't a bluff. Yet something made him hold back.

Sighing in annoyance, James grabbed the man's right arm and broke a finger, "Talk to me Frank."

Frank screamed over and over againin pain, bringing Kate and Ana-Lucia running, they burst into the room and froze at the tableau in front of them. James was about to break another finger, "Stop! Please! I'll talk." The other man sobbed, hunching over as he weaklytried to protect his wounded leg and finger at the same time.

James didn't release the man's hand, so hurriedly Frank started to talk, "I didn't recognize you as you are now but I know you from a long time ago. Last time I saw you, you were about eight…. I was courtin' your Momma, to get your Daddy's money."

James released the man's hand and sat back in shock. "No." He breathed in a horrified and broken voice.

The words were tumbling out of Frank's mouth like an avalanche building steam as it rolled down a mountain.

"I didn't know your Daddy would react the way he did! It wasn't part of the plan…. You can understand ma surprise when I saw your name on the flight manifest and heard everyone else callin' you Sawyer. When I took a real good look at ya, I realized you had your Momma's eyes and her smile, that's when I knew that you were that little boy."

James was frozen on the floor, Kate and Ana-Lucia stood in the doorway transfixed.

"I did my best to make sure you wouldn't get hurt, figure'd it would be a way to atone."

"You took ma parents away from me you sonofabitch! Nothin' you could possibly do on this damn Island can atone for that!" James railed in a blind rage, he lunged for the man and Kate jumped to stop him.

She pulled at his shoulders ineffectually as he strangled Frank with the intent to kill.

"Tex no! Please, let him go! You don't want to do this!" James shrugged her off and shoved her into the wall angrily. Kate hit her head on the wall, hard, slightly dazed she watched in helpless distress as Frank's face started to turn blue while he gasped for air.

Ana-Lucia knelt next to James, stroking his hair she spoke to him in a gentle yet forceful voice, "Venido en querido, déjelo van. Ésta no es la manera, lo dejó va. Necesitamos saber qué más él sabe, nuestra misma supervivencia dependemos de ella. Déjelo ir, por favor." (Translation: Come on darling, let him go. This is not the way, let him go. We need to know what else he knows, our very survival depends on it. Let him go, please.)

Kate watched in mesmerized fascination as James suddenly released Frank, aghast he turned into Ana-Lucia's arms in defeat. Frank lay on the floor gasping for air, tears streaming down his face. Ana-Lucia gently soothed James in Spanish, stroking his hair and rocking him slightly as he held on to her tightly.

Kate felt like killing the woman, there was no two ways she wanted the Latina dead. 'Get your hands off my man!' She thought furiously.

James pulled away from Ana-Lucia and looked at her with despairing eyes, "Él arruinó mi vida. No puedo dejarlo vivir. Déjelo vivir va contra todo que soy, todo he estado siempre. Él arruinó mi vida. ¡Él mató a mis padres!" (Translation: "I can't let him live. To let him live goes against everything that I am, everything that I have ever been. He ruined my life, he killed my parents!")

Ana-Lucia looked at him compassionately, but her voice was steely, "Sé, pero ésta no es la manera. Las vidas de la gente ahora dependen de usted. No pierda de vista la misión de vista. Los individuos no importan, usted tienen que hacer cuál ahora es en cada uno los mejores intereses." (Translation: "I know, but this is not the way. Other people's lives depend on you now. Don't lose sight of the mission. Individuals don't matter, you have to do what is in everyone's best interests now.)

Nodding dejectedly, James didn't turn as he spoke, "You alright Freckles?" Kate rose to her feet unsteadily, "Yeah, I'm fine."

He turned to look at her, a world of anguish in his eyes, "Come on let's get outta here. Don't think we'll get much more out of him tonight." Rising he took her arm and guided her out of the room. Ana-Lucia stayed behind to make sure Frank was okay, giving him some water before she bound and gagged him. His eyes thanked her silently for her intervention. "Don't thank me just yet. I'd like nothing more than to see him kill you."

James and Kate were in the kitchen, he was looking for any signs of injuries from her collision with the wall. "Stop fidgetin' and let me see Freckles!"

"I'm fine! I'm more worried about you… are you okay?"

Giving up on trying to find any bruising, he avoided her eyes, "Yeah, Freckles I'm fine."

She cupped his face and forced him to look at her, "Hey, this is me you're talking to."

"I know." His hands flexed on her wrists convulsively before he pulled them away from his face.

"I just don't wanna talk 'bout it, you were in the room Freckles, ya heard what the man said, what else is there to talk about? Like Ana-Lulu said, we gotta focus on the big picture here. Information an' gettin' off this Island, neither of those things will necessarily be easier if I kill him now." His voice was flat and the churning emotions in his eyes were the only indication that he even cared about what he was saying.

Ana-Lucia walked in, "Kate can you excuse us a minute?"

Kate raised her eyebrows at the woman's nerve, James looked at her pleadingly. Relenting Kate went to the computer room, angry at the dismissal.

"Wanna tell me about the vision you had of Cat?"

James' nostrils flared at the mention of her name, "Not really."

"I think it's important. It led you to Them and that led you to discovering him, tell me about it."

James glared at her, "There's nothing to tell I saw her in the vision, I chased her through the jungle an' ended up at their camp. She accused me of breaking ma promise to her an' fell down the hatch. That's about it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really!"

"What promise was she talking about James?"

James did not answer he was glaring at Ana-Lucia, madder than ever at her insensitivity.

"What promise James, you almost killed the guy! I need to know what your attack on the man was about!"

"I promised her I would take care of Rita that I would be there for her."

Ana-Lucia's expression softened, "Killing Frank won't help you keep that promise James. You know that right?"

"Yeah, Rambina I know." James answered exasperated.

'Who's Rita?' Kate wondered, she was eavesdropping but she didn't care. The two switched to Spanish and Kate couldn't understand what they were talking about. 'I have to find a way to get him to open up to me!' Kate thought desperately, tiptoeing to the computer so she didn't get caught.

Ana-Lucia and James rejoined her in the computer room in silence. Kate tried to look like it didn't bother her that the two of them had kicked her out of the kitchen to have a private conversation.

James sullenlycrashed on the couch and Ana-Lucia pivoted out of the room, shewent to sleep in the bunker. 'Yeah sure, Ana-Lucia I'll man the button. Thanks for asking.' Kate thought resentfully.

Watching James sleep she pondered on his connection with Ana-Lucia; they seemed to have Catalina in common and now Rita. Seeing as James was having visions of Catalina, Kate suspected the woman was dead. Was Rita her daughter with James? Or maybe it was Catalina's little sister or mother or something.

With the events of the last hour and a half it was hard to believe they had slept together again less than three hours ago!

'What is that about anyway? Are we having casual, secret sex? Is he my booty call?' Kate suppressed a giggle at the term, shedidn't know, what she did know was that she wasn't ready to tell anyone about it. Especially when she knew almost nothing about James, she could scratch sex off the list of possible ways to induce him to tell her anything about himself she thought ruefully.

That morning

Jack came in early in the morning, relieving Kate of her button duties. Thanking him, she woke James up and the two of them walked back to the beach. Ana-Lucia also left the hatch at Jack's behest and went to find the children, more than a little irritated with Kate's monopolization of the Southerner.

"Tex, I don't mean to be demanding or anything, but I would like for you to talk to me a little more." Katedecided to followEko's advice and go for the direct approach.

"What do you want me to talk to you about Freckles?" James asked in an amused but tired tone.

They were sitting under the palm tree they had slept under the day before, Kate had a blanket spread and she was lying on her back. James was sitting up, staring out at the ocean. He was glad she was so relaxed in his presence that she could lie down, there was something inherently trusting in the submissive pose.

Using his discarded shirt as a pillow, she studied his profile, "Catalina."

James looked down at her, "What about her?" He couldn't bring himself to say her name, it hurt too much.

"Who is she?"

"Okay Sassafras, I'll answer your questions if ya answer mine."

"Deal."

James searched her face to see if she was being serious, Kate returned his gaze unflinchingly. Sighing he turned to look back out to the water, "She was someone very close to me."

"What happened?"

"She died."

"Did y-"

"Not so fast Freckles, my turn."

"Okay."

"What's the story behind that toy plane of yours?"

Kate exhaled sharply she had known he'd ask but she still wasn't prepared!

"It belonged to my best friend."

"Seein' as I never saw you with it 'til we found that case, somethin' tells me the Marshal was safekeepin' it for your friend. Now how'd he get his hands on it? Unless he was your best friend, somethin' I find hard to believe."

Kate didn't respond for a long time, finally she said, "He died."

James leaned back so that he was resting on his elbows, turning to look at her he opened his mouth to speak. She cut him off before he said a word, "My turn, Tex. Did you love her?"

James stared at Kate for what seemed like an eternity, "Yeah Freckles, I loved her."

He paused to gather his thoughts, and Kate stared at him encouragingly, taking a deep breath he continued.

"She represented everythin' pure an' good an' worthwhile in my life. When she died she took that part of me with her."

Kate felt jealousy stir in her breast at the way he spoke of the woman; with love and reverence. Sitting up on her elbows she unconsciously mimicked his posture.

"I loved Tom too. That was his name. It was my fault he died. He was in the car with me and a police officer was shooting at me to get me to stop. I didn't… when I did stop to get out of the car, I realized that Tom was dead. The plane was in the car, and I left it there, the Marshal found it and kept it."

James' eyes were brimming with compassion, "That's a hard thing to live with Sassafras… I can see why that plane means so much to you."

It was Kate's turn to look out into the ocean, "It's my only link to the person I was before… everything else." Her voice was fraught with emotion.

"Damn you James! You always make me feel stuff I don't want to feel!" She cried in frustration, swiping angrily at the tears that had risen unbidden in her green eyes.

"You started this conversation Freckles!" James protested good-naturedly. 'She called me James!' He felt his spirits rise at that.

"Yeah well, you're easy to talk to!" She was laughing through her tears now, James instinctively wrapped an arm around her shoulder drawing her into a hug.

"No one on this Island has ever accused me of that before." He was laughing softly as he spoke, lowering his head to smell her hair.

Sitting up Kate looked at him, "Will you stay out here with me while I take a nap? Unlike some people I didn't get to sleep in the hatch."

"Yeah Sweetcheeks, I'll stay." James thought he was going to go blind at the brilliance of her smile. Lying back down on her blanket, she laid her head on his lap curling into him slightly.

'She must be mistakin' me for a Saint!' He thought exasperatedly, trying very hard not to let his thoughts stray down a sexual road. Stroking her hair he let her sleep, a pensive smile on his face.