By Sinking815
August 26, 2006
A/N: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry about the wait. I can't stress that enough, nor can I stress that I promise this is almost over (which may be a bad thing for some people, but look at the bright side: Jate is coming!). Here's what I'm going to try to promise to the best of my ability; I'm going to try and update at least twice a week, probably more on the weekends, but just to give you guys some idea… So without further adieu, (as always) please read and review! (Ha ha that rhymed!)
Chapter 23:Initiation
She was furious. There was no other word for the naked hatred she felt raging through her veins, making the blood pound loudly in her head. The tightness in her muscles would have made her wince when a long needle, held by an assistant she didn't recognize, pierced the skin inside her elbow but she didn't. Her anger wouldn't allow it.
He was staring at her, one arm crossed in front of him, his other resting on it for support, a finger stretched up over his lips. His blue eyes were focused with an intense scrutiny and if she hadn't been so irate she might have squirmed under his unsettling gaze. He looked as if her were sizing her up, but what for Kate had no idea and suddenly she felt the helpless weightlessness of vulnerability suspend her despite the cold metal cuffs around her wrists and ankles. She was trapped and there was no running from whatever he planned to do now.
"What do you want from me?" she snarled. The person who had injected her with some clear colorless liquid turned away and left the room, jotting down notes with deliberate care on a chart of some sort. Kate briefly wondered what they were doing.
"I want to talk," Henry said, ignoring the woman who left the room.
"Then talk," Kate spat, not caring in the least bit that she was letting her anger get the best of her.
Alex had warned her earlier, mumbling something about testing and another phase of some big plan and apologies for what she didn't know. Exasperated with the lack of information, Kate had inquired about everything from the nature of tests to confirmation that the gunshot they had heard yesterday did not involve Jack. Alex had simply chosen not the hear the first line of questions and had been adamant in her answer that Jack was indeed off and probably back at their camp by now.
That had given Kate the assurance that she had nothing to lose. So up went her defensive barriers and her recalcitrant behaviour doubled.
"I find it very interesting," Henry began, letting his hands drop to hold his elbows, slowly pacing in front of her chair. "That in the last twelve hours, your attitude towards us has turned down a completely different road."
"I told you, I don't like to be kept waiting."
"You've become belligerent. You've resisted. You've been uncooperative." He glanced up at her, noting her narrowed eyes and a face that told him she didn't give a damn about his concerns. But Henry knew, that she was listening, and listening intently.
"You don't answer simple questions…"
"You don't answer mine," she interrupted and his mind could not keep out the image of her folding her arms across her chest if she had not been restrained. The defiant posture almost made him smile; instead he looked back down at the tiled floor and resumed his pacing.
"I know this whole process has been frustrating…"
She snorted. He ignored it.
"And I know that we've tested your patience, but I have a reason for my delay."
Henry stopped and his head rose to study his captive. She raised an eyebrow at him, only the least bit intrigued, but intrigued nonetheless.
"You see Kate," he started, acting like he was about to explain something very complex to a child. "We needed to your opinion on a certain matter…"
"You mean you forced me to decide." Her eyes threw him a don't-bullshit-with-me look. Kate was never one to appreciate sugar-coated adult answers.
Henry inclined his head in what seemed to be a deferent acknowledgement of his error, and quipped, "But only to make this next step that much more…" He paused searching for the word, his blue eyes glancing about the room as if he were simply going to read it off of a poster on the barren walls.
"…much more pleasant for you."
Kate turned her head sharply to the side, watching him warily out of the corner of his eye. The smile that spread over his face slowly, like a puddle that expands from a drippy faucet, made her stomach twist uncomfortably.
"Which is why the choice you made the other day baffles me."
Kate didn't answer, unsure as to where he was going with this conversation.
"I would have bet a considerable wager on Shephard," he continued. "You two always seemed so close on the other side of the island." He laughed curtly, the eerieness of its sound making the hair along the back of her neck and arms stand on end. "You should have seen the look in his eyes when he turned back before heading off into the jungle."
For the first time since he had entered the room, Kate couldn't help but let her eyes fall to her lap, her head ducking to protect her betraying lower-lip as she bit it, feeling the iron taste of blood trickling on her tongue.
"Apparently he thought so too, hmmm?"
She could feel the heat rising in her neck and cheeks and hoped against all odds, that he did not see her unease. Her mind fell back into the mantra she had been repeating over and over again to try and console her aching heart. You did the right thing, Kate. You did what was best.
"I know what you were doing Kate," Henry said, unknowingly distracting her from her torture. He nodded, his eyes now fixed intently on her, like he wasn't just seeing her physical being, but as if he were watching her self-penance. Like he could see directly through her exterior. She swallowed, agitated.
"You were trying to protect him," he started. "Weren't you?"
Before Kate could open her mouth to defend herself, to accuse him of reading between lines, to fight down the truth and spit lies until her throat was sore, she felt the familiar twist of panic clutch away the breath in her chest. She knew she had answered his question with her eyes.
"We're watching him Kate. So it would be in his best interest if you started to cooperate."
In all of her life, Sun thought, no she knew, that this was the last thing on the planet that she could have envisioned herself doing. Sneaking stealthily through the jungle in order to find a private place to answer nature's call was not on her list of 100 Things To Do Before I Die. But then again, the real reason she was darting from tree to tree, glancing warily around her, flinching at every unnecessary crack of a twig beneath her feet, was something that would have never made that list either.
Earlier that morning, Sayid had pulled her aside to discuss a game plan. Unfortunately for them both, Locke had made a unannounced and unwelcome appearance and the paranoia in him seemed to increase tenfold. Suddenly, he questioned anything and everything Sayid or herself tried doing. When she had gotten up to find some more wood to fuel the fire, he had cocked his head and asked politely but forcefully to state her intentions. When Sayid got up to check out a suspicious sound in the nearby jungle, Locke volunteered to go with. She briefly wondered if this was some sort of incidental result of his being locked away in the hatch for hours at a time.
But even he couldn't find an excuse to stop her from her "much-needed" bathroom break. As she had stood and left the fire, her eyes had caught Sayid's and the intensity she saw was not just from the heat reflected at her from the glowing fire. If there was ever a time to initiate what they had discussed, now was it.
She paused and dropped to her knees behind a bush when she reached the edge of the jungle. A first glance around let her breathe a sigh of relief that the unnamed fear she had had was not true. Instead of the wide, expansive, and impossible-to-cross-without-being-seen river, a mere stream gurgled not more than ten yards in front of her, the path beyond its opposite bank leading not even twice that to the heart of their camp.
She silently thanked whatever God there was that her task was at least that much easier and she settled to wait, letting the patient personality she was known for take over. As she trained her eyes on the flickering firelight of torches stationed on poles at intervals around their camp, Sun let her mind wander, debating which would happen first. A glimpse or sign of which of the many huts before her held her friends. Or Sayid's presence accompanying her in the wait for information.
Either way, this was bound to be an eventful night.