Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Kate closed the bathroom door behind her and turned to look at herself in the mirror. By now it was close to midnight and after the early flight from Tunisia, the sightseeing in Paris and the long drive into Germany she felt sheer exhaustion taking over.

She placed her personal hygiene bag onto the bathroom counter, quickly undressed, leaving her clothes in a heap on the tiled floor and began to rifle through her bag, retrieving things she needed to get ready to call it a night.

Meanwhile in the other room, James slumped down onto the queen size bed, stretching his arms up overhead he groaned and sighed, before he yawned wide and audibly. Glancing to the closed bathroom door he shook his head in disbelieve at what had transpired with Kate earlier tonight. Of course the one time he wanted her to run she stayed.

With another loud yawn he began to toe off his shoes, pulled his shirt off and pushed himself off of the bed to undo his jeans. The fabric quickly pooled by his feet and he simply stepped out of them before he reached down and pulled off his socks, one by one, on his way to the taunting closed bathroom door.

His knuckles rapped along the white wooden surface, "Hey, you almost done in there?"

The funny looking door handle moved and the door creaked open just an inch before he heard her answer, "You can come in."

Pulling the door all the way open now, he eyed her standing there in just her bra and panties, and despite the fact that he should've been mad at her, he couldn't help but appreciate the sight in front of him.

She glanced at him for a moment, taking in his state of undress as well. It still amazed her that after all this time they'd been together her heartbeat still quickened at the sight of him in nothing but a pair of boxers, but Kate quickly reminded herself that they had been mad at each other for most of the night and just because he was tall, brawny and deliciously tanned didn't change that one bit.

She had made up her mind on the long and silence filled ride into Germany that she would not – under no circumstances – have sex with him tonight. And with that last thought in mind she turned up her nose and decided it was best to not watch him.

However, that was easier said than done. He went on, flossing his teeth, brushing his teeth … and even thought it might have only been five minutes but to Kate it seemed like a never-ending display of different muscles at work. And against her better judgment she couldn't help but occasionally notice said muscles in his chest and arms and abdomen flex and release and in turn do all kinds of wonderful yet stomach-flipping things to her insides while she was brushing her own teeth.

Kate ignored him then, she wanted to take a quick shower and after she'd already discarded her red haired wig she went on to remove her contacts when she heard him curse.

"Son of a bitch." He exclaimed and began rubbing his eye, and Kate immediately knew what was wrong before he went on to complain and ask, "How the hell do you get those things out?"

She sighed and remained clued to her spot away from him for a long moment, but the way he was rubbing his eye combined with how incredibly low those damn boxer shorts where sitting on his hips she just couldn't bring herself to not help him.

Seconds later she found herself right next to him, reaching for his hands, "Stop rubbing it, you won't get it out like that."

"Hell, that fucker stings like a bitch, I gotta get it out."

She rolled her eyes at his antics, "It's just a contact lens, James." She pulled him deeper into the bathroom, ushering him to take a seat on the closed toilet lid, and in her most soothing motherly tone of voice said, "Let me take a look."

Standing in front of him, in between his knees as he craned his neck to look up she shushed his hands away from his eye time and again before she could finally get a good look at it herself, "It's folded in half." She tried not to giggle, "How did you do that?" A big smile displayed on her face.

"Well, I'm glad you're havin' a good ol' time with this." He scolded sarcastically as he closed his eyes again and began rubbing once more.

"You gotta quit doing that." She scolded him in return as she swatted his hands away and tilted his head up again, "Just keep your hand away and I'll get it out for you."

Without missing a beat both his hands settled on her hips. Goosebumbs formed instantly from the contact and Kate couldn't help but comment, "What do you think you're doing?"

A innocent shrug of his tense shoulders and grin on his lips, "Waitin' for you to get that damn contact out, what do you think I'm doin?"

Kate began prying his eye open with the thumb and index-finger of her left hand and was just about to reach in to retrieve the contact when his hands traveled a bit lower and both his thumbs hooked into the seam of her panties as if he was about to pull them off of her. "Unless you wanna lose an eye, cowboy, I'd stop that."

"Stop what?" He asked trying to sound innocent and Kate was somewhat amazed how anyone can look this smug and sound this smug while his head was angled up in such an awkward position and his eye was being pried open.

"You know what!" she countered and with a quick move of her fingers she managed to retrieve the contact lens for him.

James blinked a few times, "Can you get the other one too while you're at it?"

"Admit it. You need me?" She said in a no joking manner, but before he could reply she added, "What would you have done if I hadn't been here." And with that she triumphantly held the second contact lens out to him as she took a step back and out of his prying hands.

"I would've gotten that bastard out, one way or another." He grumpily replied, not liking that she actually had a valid point.

"Right." She scoffed as she turned to discard the lenses into the trashcan, "Same way you got that bullet out of your shoulder, which ended up getting infected and almost killing you."

"What almost killed me was the fact that I got shot with no damn doctor in sight, it wasn't the way I got the bullet out, Sweetheart." He snapped back sounding angry all over again as he got up from the seat and advanced on her.

Pinning her from behind to the sink, his eyes connected with hers in the mirror, "You're getting on that plane tomorrow!"

Her eyes challenged him, "No, I am not." And with that she pushed her backside into him just hard enough to give herself enough room to turn around and out of his grasp.

Slowly and collected Kate walked over to the shower and turned it on, but before undressing completely she turned towards him, "Do you mind?"

Making clear he had no intentions to leave the bathroom now, he leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms in front of his chest and his trademark sleazy grin spread across face – dimples and all – before he answered, "Actually I don't mind at all, Freckles."

She turned away from him before she rolled her eyes, not even wanting to give him the satisfaction at seeing her annoyance, but then simply reached behind herself to quickly undo her bra and her panties dropped to the floor literally seconds before she stepped into the shower and closed the Plexiglas shower door behind her.

She stepped under the hot water stream, closing her eyes and enjoying the moment of serenity that she knew was not going to last. There was no doubt in her mind that he would try everything to get her to board that plane out of Frankfurt tomorrow. But there was also no doubt in her mind that she wasn't going to board that plane.

No way, she did not come this far to throw the towel in … she was here to help him with his assignment, and she was not going to leave until it was over and done with.

Kate stepped forward just enough that her face was no longer under the constant stream of water. She ran her hands over her face before she opened her eyes and she probably shouldn't have been too surprised that the first thing she saw through the fogged up glass was James dropping his boxers and making his way over to her with that unmistakable swagger of his.

A tad bit annoyed by the nerve of him for wanting to shower with her after scolding her for the last several hours she thought about spraying him with ice cold water up on his entrance. But Kate quickly thought the better of it, and figured that naked, hot and wet was probably her best chance of convincing him to let her stay and tag along.

The shower door opened and a gush of cold air rushed through the small shower cabin up on James' entrance. She eyed him up and down but tried her best Juliette-Impression by not giving anything away. He smiled – of course – enjoying this intrusion way too much as he pushed against her to catch some of the stream himself.

Kate lowered her head, unable to keep up the placid look of Bree-van-de-kamp any longer. Angry with herself now that her body was betraying her as the length of his erection pressed into her side.

However, she didn't budge an inch … but damn him and the hormones that were currently raging through her body!

James reached up and moved the shower head just enough that the water was no longer hitting her, but instead hit his shoulders and Kate immediately protested his actions, "Hey, what are you doing?"

Smug and cocky he intruded on her space some more until her back touched the cold white tile behind her. Bracing his arms on the left and right of her, pinning her as he stared her up and down once more – like a predator eyeing his prey – he spoke with a low sexy growl, "You're getting on that plane tomorrow."

As if the shock of his words had snapped her out of her hormonal-illusions she straightened her spine, rather unintentionally pushing out her bare chest in the process and looked him right in the eye, "No, I'm not, James."

If he was annoyed at all at this point, it definitely didn't show. Instead he lowered his gaze and actually chuckled which only caused Kate's anger to flare, but before she could say anything else his hands flew up and framed her face before he pressed his lips to hers in a hard and unforgiving kiss.

But for once in her life, Kate had enough and actually pushed him away, much to her own and his surprise.

"What the hell did ya' do that for?" James protested, suddenly taken back by her unusual reaction.

"You can't …" she started but paused as she stepped towards him now in the small confined space, her finger poking at his bare chest, "… you can't just come in here, barking orders at me, laugh at me and then try to seduce me."

"Seduce you?" He asked back, his voice a pitch higher and his eyebrows raised as he reached up to move the shower head once more since it was now spraying in his face. "We've been screwin' none-stop since you came back from hiding out at Cassidy's well over a year ago, Sweetheart, I think we're waaaay past the seducing part."

She reached up now towards the shower head, since he had moved it to spray her as she gave him an evil look, but she honestly didn't quite know what say to that … after all, he had a point.

It took her a moment to gather her thoughts, as she pretended to still find the right angle for the water stream to buy her some time.

She quickly spoke up with the first thing that came to her mind, "You can't just expect to have sex with me whenever you feel like it."

"Since when?" he quipped back with a grin, clearly not impressed by her counter.

Damn him, Kate thought.

But before she could say anything else James showed off his incredible quick yet efficient reflexes when he wrapped one arm around her to pull her closer as the other one equally fast snaked between them, his fingers sliding between her thighs and finding her warm and moist.

Kate's head lowered, her forehead leaned against him with both her hands braced against his chest as if she had meant to fight him off, yet she couldn't help but whimper a moan at his touch.

And the raspy southern drawl in her ear as his fingers moved over her swollen folds didn't help the matter either, "Seems to me you're not that mad any more, Freckles."

She wanted him.

She knew it, and now he knew it too … but he was not going to win this fight with sex.

His fingers still rubbed away, slick and warm and his lips began to kiss and nip at her neck while Kate tried her best to suppress the onslaught of emotions that began rushing through her as she couldn't even bring herself to look up at him.

It wasn't like he'd always been the seducer, she'd done her share of luring him into her arms, but it was true that for the most part James took charge when it came to the sexual aspect of their relationship and she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy to completely surrender to him in those instances.

After all, he had this down to a t, knew just what to do and where to touch as if he'd studied her inside out.

His plan was fairly simple. Get her all hot and bothered, putty in his hands in the most literal sense and make a night of it. And come morning she'd be so blissfully and sexually sated, unable to argue any longer and he'd finally send her on home, where she'd be safe and sound. Home, where her biggest worry would be the harassing paparazzi following her every step.

James smiled as he gently kissed her pulse point in realization that his plan seemed to be working because Kate flinched and wriggled under the touch of his fingers that he'd began to teasingly slowly slip in and out of her.

So it was somewhat of a shock to him, to say the least, what happened next.

Kate's hand grabbed a hold of his wrist and pushed herself out of his grasp in the same instant as her frail sounding voice echoed in the tiled bathroom, "Stop, James."

The first sting of rejection quickly wore off and he couldn't help but smirk when he noticed her flaming cheeks accompanied by the unmistakable fire flaming in her eyes that were now staring back at him.

"Could've sworn you liked what I was up to." He crooned as he deliberately liked the two fingers that only moments earlier had been inside her. "Or should I say, you liked what I was into."

"Pig." She snapped back at him as she gave him a small push in hopes of putting a gap between their two wet bodies.

He tried to advance on her again, still smiling smugly, even after Kate held up both hands to keep him at bay, but the smile faded the instant Kate actually spoke, "I'm not getting on that plane tomorrow, James. And there isn't anything you can do about it."

A gruff sounding growl – almost animal like – escaped his throat and all the playfulness left his face and voice, "Why do you always have to make everything so god-damn complicated?!"

By the tone of his voice she could tell that it wasn't an actual question that required an answer, but more of a statement to show his frustration with her.

But James wasn't the only one frustrated at the moment, and with that Kate quickly countered, "Why do I have to make everything complicated? What about you?"

"What about me, Sweetcheeks." He countered now.

"You're so insistent for me to get on that plane instead of just leaving things be. Instead of just letting me stay."

He ran a hand over his face, unable to hide his frustration any longer, but still Kate was sure she heard a tad bit of doubt in his voice when he spoke. "It ain't that simply, babe, and you know it."

"No, James, it is that simple." She stepped towards him, closing the gap that had formed between them, "Hurley, Ben, Richard and you came up with this whole plan without even asking me what I wanted to do." She saw he was about to speak so she quickly shushed him, "Let me finish. You didn't even bother to tell me that you had this assignment at all. When we left the island, I was under the impression that we were just taking different ways back. You lied to me."

"I didn't lie." He quickly replied, frowning at her accusation.

"Well, you didn't tell the truth either." She pouted.

James lowered his head and ran another hand down his face in frustration, "Is it really that hard for you to grasp that I want you home, safe and sound?"

"Is it really that hard for you to grasp that I want the same thing for you? I'm a big girl, I can handle myself. I'm not some fragile being."

"I would feel better knowing you're home."

"And I would feel better if you quit treating me like this." Kate protested.

"Treating you like what exactly?"

"Treating me like … like Jack did." The words were out and Kate immediately felt the shame of having said what she did.

A low fake sounding chuckle escaped his throat at the sound of the other man's name, trying his best to feign to be unaffected, but his cruel words gave away what he was feeling, "Ain't that what ya' always wanted, Sweetheart? My body, dick and moves with the doc's morals? This should be like a wet dream come true for you."

A moment of silence passed while she eyed him suspiciously before she spoke, "It won't work, James."

"What won't work?" he asked, somewhat curious what she was getting at now.

"I'm not going to get mad at you and leave. I'm staying. I'm not going anywhere."

Their eyes locked on one another again with an unspoken challenge and a heavy silence suddenly engulfed them both.

"Just hear me out, alright?" James suddenly pleaded, clearly having reached the end of his rope.

James lowered his gaze from hers, his lips pressed together tightly as if he was fighting the words that were about to escape, "I ain't never had anyone ..." He hesitated before he finished his sentence, "… who was truly mine."

Kate looked up and he actually met her gaze this time when he continued, "I've spend my whole childhood trying to fit in, trying to be something to someone and then I spend the rest of my life trying to take things – people even – from anyone who had what I didn't. Not really lettin' anyone close enough to actually hurt me."

"Always lying and pretending. Fake names, fake jobs, faked affection, fake everything. And then there was you. I ain't gonna lie, you weren't exactly my kinda girl, you looked more blue collar then white collar to me, but the way you were running after the doc …" He paused as if to think of his next words, "… but that moron was too damn busy saving people than to get busy with you."

Kate crunched up her nose, unsure of whether she should be disgusted or amused by his words, but she remained quiet and let him talk.

"That kiss …" He continued, "… the one for the inhalers." he added to clarify and Kate nodded, "It was suppose to get you all unraveled and him pissed off. It wasn't supposed to get me hooked on you."

Kate's eyes softened at those last spoken words and James suddenly found himself ready to wrap this speech up, "All I'm sayin' is … I've never had anything real 'till you. Someone who loves me in spite of all the fucked up shit I've done. And now we're hitched and we got a kid on the way and … I don't wanna lose this, now that I know what it's like to really have it."

"You're not going to lose me, James." She wrapped her arms around him, "We can do this together. Get it done quicker if we're working together, and then we can both be on our way home."

He wrapped her in his arms, "If anything happens to you –."

Kate cut him off, "Nothing's going to happen to me. I promise."

"How can you be so sure?" He said as his hand disappeared in her hair and his stubbly chin rested on top of her head.

"Because you won't let it."

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End Note: I'm sorry for the long wait but summer's tough to find time to write with my kids home from school, and also I was lacking inspiration. I just have all these ideas in my head for my third story that will follow this one, and that is somehow hindering my writing flow right now. Please review or rate if you have a minute. Whoever is still reading, I'm always curious what you thought. Xoxo