So, after, what, nearly 2 weeks, Chapter 8 is finished! Can I get a WHOO WHOO?

Disclaimer: Yeah, I totally own Big Time Rush. Along with a yacht, a house in the Bahamas, and a ferrari...NOT! I do not own Big Time Rush, just for those of you who don't understand sarcasm.

PopcornLover: Oh wow, did you really reread the story four times? That's insane! Thank you so much! I'll think about your request...;) Thank you again, and thank you for reviewing! :)

Jatie 4 ever: Everyone makes fun of Kendall's eyebrows, but I hadn't yet, so I thought I'd better so that I could jump on the bandwagon. ;) Awww, thank you! I'm so glad you like Carlos's character! Very true, if it wasn't for The Replacement, Katie wouldn't have freaked out over kissing James. Anyway, thank you so much, and thank you for reviewing! :)

And THANK YOU to everyone who has alerted or favorited this story! That means so much!

I'm so sorry it took so long for me to get this up, but...I think you guys might forgive me...well, either that, or you will hate me and chase me around with torches and pitchforks. Either way...

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 8 – Hidden Scars and Hidden Secrets

James's POV

May 3rd, Saturday, 8:50 AM

I have a deep resolution against waking up before 12:00 PM on Saturdays. However, that didn't stop me from waking up at eight the next morning. I laid there in bed for nearly an hour, just thinking. Katie lay beside me, burrowed deep under the covers. By the time she had returned to bed it had been nearly one in the morning. She hadn't said anything, she'd just slipped under the covers and kept to her side as far as she could.

I didn't dare touch her, even though I wanted to more than anything. But I didn't know how she would react. After last night, it seemed like any direct contact between us would be a horrible idea.

But that didn't keep me from propping myself up on one elbow to watch her sleep. She looked so beautiful and peaceful.

I don't know long I laid there, staring at her, but finally her eyes fluttered open. She rubbed at her eyes sleepily. "Mmmmm…James…What time is it?"

"About nine," I answered, glancing quickly at the digital clock on the nightstand.

She nodded and pushed her hair out of her face. "We should go down to breakfast then."

"Yeah. Katie…about last night…"

She crawled out of bed, but glanced over her shoulder at me. "Let's just pretend it never happened."

That hit me like a bullet right in the heart. I nearly doubled over with pain, but instead I just nodded, purposefully keeping my face blank.

"If that's what you want."

"It is."

And with those two words that practically knocked the wind out of me, she locked herself in the bathroom so she could take a shower.

I slowly got dressed in jeans and a button-up shirt, taking my time, trying not to imagine what Katie was doing in the shower. It was pretty bad when, three years after our relationship had ended, I still couldn't control my thoughts with her.

I ran my comb through my hair, making sure that it lay perfectly, and sprit-zed a tiny bit of Cuda manspray on.

The bathroom door opened and Katie stepped out of the steaming room, wrapped in just a towel. She didn't say anything, she just made a straight beeline for her duffel bag, searching for some clothes to

wear.

She finally extracted a pair of jeans, a cami, and a cropped cargo jacket, before going back into the bathroom to slip into her clothes.

"Ready?" she said as she pulled her hair back into a high ponytail.

"Yeah," I agreed.

We left the room and headed down to the dining hall where breakfast was being served. A buffet table was set up against one wall, where Logan, Griffin, Kendall, and Mrs. Knight were lined up. Gustavo and Kelly were already sitting at the table in the middle of the room.

Carlos and Stephanie weren't there yet, and neither were Camille and Jo, but no wonder. I had a feeling that after what had happened right after dinner, no one had gotten much sleep.

We joined the line, and soon ended up with plates filled with pancakes and eggs and bacon and toast. We sat down at the table in our designated spots.

Mrs. Knight took a sip of coffee, sighing as the liquid hit her lips. "By the end of these two weeks, The Replacement won't need to kill me – I'll be dead from exhaustion."

"You and me both," Kelly said tiredly, staring at her pancakes.

Logan yawned. "Has anyone checked on the Captain's body yet?"

Everyone glanced at each other. "I haven't," Kelly said.

"I definitely haven't," Gustavo added with a disgusted look.

"Well, I just got up, and so did James, so we haven't," Katie put in.

Kendall nodded. "I haven't even thought of it," he admitted.

"Okay then. When we've finished eating, we need to figure out what to do with his body," Logan said.

Well, that happy announcement pretty much ruined my appetite. Nevertheless, I did manage to finish eating. However, when I glanced over at Katie, I noticed she was picking at her food, eyes downcast.

I nudged her. "What's wrong?"

She glanced up at me, eyes wide. "Nothing. Nothing at all."

Mmm hmmm. Sure. It's not like I've known her for pretty much her entire life or anything. It's not like I ever dated her either.

"Come on, I know something's wrong," I prodded her.

"I'm fine," she snapped quietly. "Stop asking me."

I leaned back, hands raised in the don't-shoot position. "Okay, okay, I promise not to be concerned about you anymore!"

She glared at me. "It shouldn't be that much of a change – after all, you weren't concerned about me for three years!"

Ouch. That hurt. But I knew where she was coming from. I hadn't contacted her for three years, and there were always pictures cropping up of me with some random girl.

"Katie, that's not true," I said softly. "I never stopped being in love with you."

"Really? Did you get amnesia? Because you sure seemed to have loved a lot of girls."

"Katie," I said quietly, leaning in so my lips were just barely brushing her ear, "those girls meant nothing to me, not like you do."

She glared, eyes filling with tears. "You slept with them, didn't you?" she hissed back. "Just like you slept with me. I'm not seeing much of a difference."

I recoiled. "Katie – " I gasped out, but before I could say anything else, she had leapt up from her seat and run out of the dining hall.

I threw my napkin down on my plate and rushed out after her. "Katie!"

I found her huddled in a side corridor, on the ground, knees drawn to her chest, crying.

"Katie…"

"Go away James!"

"Katie, talk to me, please. We need to talk this out."

"NO! I don't want to ever see you again!"

"That's kind of hard, seeing as how we're trapped on the – "

"I KNOW! BUT CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?"

"Not when you're so upset."

"I wouldn't be SO UPSET if it wasn't for YOU, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

"I know I hurt you – "

"NO! No more pretty lies, no more stories, no more alibis! I'm done with this! You're dead to me, Diamond! DEAD!"

I stumbled back into the opposite wall. "Katie…" I gasped out. "I'm not – I've never lied to you!"

"OH YEAH?" she screamed, jumping to her feet. "YOU SAID YOU WOULD STAY WITH ME FOREVER! I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! MY LOVE, MY VIRGINITY!"

"I DIDN'T LIE TO YOU!" I yelled back. "I MEANT IT!"

"WHICH IS WHY FOUR MONTHS AFTER WE SLEPT TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME, YOU HIGHTAILED IT OUTTA THERE!"

"IF I REMEMBER RIGHT, YOU AND YOUR MOM WERE THE ONES WHO LEFT!"

"AND YOU NEVER TRIED TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ME!" she screamed back. She paused, and then laughed bitterly. "Of course," she continued on in a more quiet voice, "that was the reason we ended up together anyway. It's not like we dated before we ended up in bed together."

I crossed my arms. "I never heard you complaining before."

"Well, it's always bothered me," she replied, mirroring my movement. "And I finally came to the conclusion that you only wanted me for sex, nothing else. It's not like we ever really went out and did anything together."

"Because I could've been arrested for sleeping with a minor!"

"The only way people would have known was if an internet popped up of us, or if you decided to wear a sign that says 'I'm sleeping with an underage girl'!"

"We agreed that it wasn't worth the risk!"

"Oh puh-leeze! That was just a lame excuse for never taking me out."

"It was not! Are you accusing me of being cheap?"

"You're cheap on everything except your hair and clothes!"

"I took you to the movies! And I bought you chocolate!"

"Oh sure, to the movies, where it's dark and where we can't talk! All we did was make out in the back of the theater, where no one could see!"

"Once again, you never complained!"

"I should've seen it before!" she continued on, now pacing up and down the hall. "You were nineteen, you were horny, and I was available!"

I rolled my eyes. "That wasn't it at all. There were tons of girls that I could've slept with."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Oh really? So how many of them were you fucking while we were 'together'?" She raised her fingers in quotation marks.

"None of them!" I roared back.

"Hah! Like I believe that!"

"Yeah, why would you want to believe me? It's not like you've known me pretty much your entire life!"

"I thought I did! But the person who I thought I knew would have never treated me like I never existed for THREE FUCKING YEARS!"

"Yeah? Well the girl I used to know would have agreed to hear me out."

"I'm sick and tired of making excuses for you. You're a man whore, and that's all you'll ever be!"

Logan's POV

The entire room watched as Katie dashed out of the room, James hot on her heels. There was silence, and then Kendall spoke up: "What the hell happened with them?"

Mrs. Knight dropped her head into her hands. "Who knows? I swear, sometimes I think they dated and broke up what with the way Katie acts when it comes to him."

I nearly choked as I took a sip of coffee. Funny she should mention that…

Yeah, I knew a little more than what I ever wanted to. The Replacement, freak that he was, sent me pictures of them in 'the act'. So yes, I knew that they had had a 'relationship' three years ago. I knew they had had sex multiple times, and I was betting that he had taken her virginity when she was only sixteen. I couldn't understand, much less comprehend, what he had been thinking! Katie was as good as our little sister, we basically shared her as our adopted sister, and to realize that one of us had actually done the unthinkable, had actually had sex with her…I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

Kendall glared at his mother. "That's not funny," he snapped harshly. "Don't ever joke about that again."

Mrs. Knight met her son's eyes evenly, but I saw her bottom lip tremble.

"Kendall, stop it," I spoke up. "She was merely making an observation, she wasn't serious."

"I know that, Doctor Mitchell," he retorted. "And it's not something that anyone should ever joke about."

He had a point, but…

Carlos and Stephanie stepped into the room, arms wrapped tightly around each other, both looking exhausted, but happy, both smiling like a couple of idiots. He said something to her, and she laughed, and sighed dreamily, resting her head on his shoulder briefly before they both realized that the room was already mostly full.

Kelly smiled at them. "Well, you two look happy."

Carlos beamed. "It's a beautiful day."

Kendall and I exchanged a smirk. If James hadn't run out of Katie, he would have started shouting "YOU TWO TOTALLY GOT IT ON!" but since, he had chased after Katie…Wow, this was weird. Kendall and I had just acted like we were still friends, and I had just wished that James was here. Okay. This was bizarre. It was a major case of déjà vu.

Carlos and Stephanie headed over to the bar to get their food, and I watched them, laughing quietly to myself at how comfortable Carlos looked with her, when I remembered him as being the most awkward guy in the world.

Stephanie turned around and her eyes zoned into me, filled with something that definitely could pass for hatred.

I knew she thought I had drugged her and raped her but…the thing is…I don't remember doing it. I don't even know where I would have gotten the drugs.

I remember being with Camille that night, but I don't remember much else. I mean, I wasn't with Camille like that. I was only sixteen, and I don't believe in having sex before you're at least eighteen. And I still don't believe that I had sex with Stephanie. Okay, I mean, so we were both naked, but there wasn't a used condom around anywhere, no semen, and as far as I know, she was never pregnant. Plus…you can usually tell if you had sex with someone, and I simply don't think I did.

But Stephanie was convinced that I had drugged and raped her, and now…I had insisted, pleaded, griped, the morning after the party that she had been roofied at, but she had refused to listen to me. A couple of days later, she had moved back to New York city, and I hadn't seen her since. Carlos had been heartbroken, although he had bounced back before long, focusing his romantic/sexual energy on The Jennifers.

"So, what are we talking about?" Carlos said mildly as he and Stephanie sat down at the other side of the table.

"It's not important," Kendall grumbled.

I cleared my throat. "Anyway, we have more important business to discuss."

"Such as?" Griffin said, a little bit snippily. Oooh, attitude. Not smart Griffin, when I can spill your secret at any moment.

"Such as the Captain's body. What're we going to do with it?"

Mrs. Knight bit her lip. "Well, what can we do with it? No matter what we do with it, it's going to start rotting and smelling and can't disease spread from that?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it can."

Griffin stood up. "Our answer is obvious then. We dump his body into the ocean."

"And then what?" I demanded, also standing up to face him. "He had nothing to do with this! Do you really think he deserves to be just thrown into the ocean?"

"Are you really worrying about honor and morals and all that shit? We're trying to survive!" Griffin roared.

Kendall stood up to, facing Griffin off. "If we're going to die in two weeks, I'd much rather have my honor and morals and all that shit than the knowledge that I was a complete bastard! Dumping the Captain's body into the ocean isn't going to bring The Replacement down! So just shut your snozzle and let the responsible, hardworking, decent people make the decisions."

Stephanie snorted. "Decent people? Does that include you and Logan?"

Jo gaped at her. "Stephanie!"

"What? I'm just saying. They've both been pretty cold towards you and Cami."

"But that doesn't mean they're not good people," Camille protested.

My eyes met Stephanie's. I knew what she was thinking, but I couldn't try to convince her that she was wrong, not in front of all these people.

Kendall cleared his throat. "Why don't we just put his body in the kitchen freezer? We can refrigerate everything else that was in the freezer."

Griffin made a face. "That'll mean we'll need to tell the cook what happened."

"Well, that's the only thing that I can come up with that's actually accessible."

I nodded. "Yeah, that'll work. I mean, it's not like we have any other choice, right?"

"Right," Mrs. Knight agreed.

"I'll go find James and Katie," Jo volunteered, getting to her feet. "Anyone want to come with me?" She glanced pointedly at Kendall, but he determinedly avoided her eyes.

"I will," Carlos said with a shrug. "You don't mind, do you Stephanie?"

She shook her head and kissed his cheek. "Go ahead. Love you baby."

"Love you too."

"We'll meet you guys outside the Captain's office," I suggested.

Those two headed off and we made our way towards the Captain's office.

Camille immediately caught up with me. "So…ummm…how've things been?"

"What things?" I asked.

"You know, just…life…in general."

"Good," I replied. "Being a doctor's is very fulfilling. How's your life?"

She laughed. "Apart from the possibly being-killed-in-two-weeks thing, it's been good. Lots of movie rolls, and I'm up for an Academy Award for Best Actress."

I paused. "Oh yeah, I heard that. Congratulations."

"Thanks." She smiled softly at me, and for a split second we were sixteen again and I had just asked her to be my girlfriend.

And then we reached the cabin door and everything came crashing back. Especially when we noticed that the door was open a couple of inches.

Katie's POV

I watched as James crumpled to the ground in front of me as my words hit him.

"Katie…" he gasped out, staring up at me with huge, watery hazel eyes. He looked as if he was fighting back tears.

"Don't even start," I retorted coldly. "You're a heartless bastard, and you always will be."

"Katie…please…"

"Just shut the fuck up! I don't want to hear you begging. All you want is to sleep with me. That's all you'll ever want from me."

"That's not true!"

"Oh just – "

"What's going on here?"

We both turned to find Jo and Carlos coming towards us.

"We heard…yelling…" Carlos mumbled.

"Whatever," I hissed. "What do you guys need?"

"We figured out what to do with the Captain's body," Jo said. "We're all meeting at his cabin."

I nodded and marched right past her and Carlos, leaving James to get up off of the floor.

It was a pretty silent walk to the Captain's captain. No one said anything, although I knew that that was mainly because both Carlos and Jo were mulling over what they had just witnessed between James and me.

As we rounded around the last corner, I caught sight of the others standing outside the Captain's open cabin door, staring blankly in.

"What is it?" Jo called as we reached them.

Kendall wordlessly pointed in. We all stuck our heads in hesitantly, expecting to see the captain where we had left him. All there was, however, was an empty chair. What the – ?

And suddenly, our phones vibrated and buzzed and beeped and chimed all together. Glancing at each other with scared looks on our faces, we one by one pulled our phones out of our pockets and opened the new text message:

Well, well, well, looks like you're one body short! Don't worry, yours truly has the Captain's corpse, and it's hidden somewhere on this ship. Bonus points if you can find it! But until then…Jennifer! I think you have a secret you need to tell your daughter! Won't she be interested to find out that her father is still alive? -The Replacement.

I nearly dropped my phone in horror as I turned to stare at my mother. "MY FATHER'S STILL ALIVE?" I felt the words rip out of my lungs painfully, nearly sending me into the wall.

Mom stepped back, her eyes widening as they filled with tears.

Kendall, on the other hand, took a step forward. "Yes. He's alive. Mom lied to us our entire lives."

I felt my hand go up to my mouth as I stared at my mother. "But – why?"

Mom bowed her head. "It's a long story."

"JUST FUCKING TELL ME!" I shrieked. "JUST TELL ME, DAMN IT! YOU LIED TO ME FOR NINETEEN YEARS, YOU OWE ME THE FUCKING STORY!"

"Fine!" Mom cried back. "The truth is…the truth is…Your father's in jail."

"But…why?"

She took a deep breath. "Your father was dealing drugs. He was my boyfriend. I was sixteen when I met him. We began dating right away. He was the school's bad boy, and I was, well, for lack of a better term, the good girl. I was a straight A honor student, who had never even had a boyfriend before. He introduced me to a whole different world, filled with drugs, alcohol, rock and roll…and sex." She paused, taking a minute to breathe. "Six months after we began dating, I discovered that I was pregnant with his kid. The first time we had slept together, we had been drunk. But after that…" she smiled sadly. "Let's just say it was a good point in my life…until I became pregnant, I mean."

Kendall pressed his lips together, but didn't say anything, waiting for Mom to continue.

"Eight months later, I gave birth to a beautiful blond haired boy," she smiled at Kendall. "We moved into a house of our own…and things were good…for a little while." She paused again, and then said, "I became pregnant after two years of giving birth to you, Kendall. This time we had a beautiful girl, who was feisty as hell."

James coughed, sounding as if he was trying to disguise a laugh. I turned to glare at him, and he flinched slightly.

Mom ignored our exchange: "But little did I know, my boyfriend, since we had never even gotten married, hadn't grown out of his high school ways. He was dealing coke and pot and E on the streets of Minneapolis, when I thought he was working at Pizza Hut. It wasn't until I brought you kids to eat there one day that I discovered he wasn't there. I asked the manager, and they had never heard of him. I confronted him about it at home, and we got into a huge fight." She sighed, raking her hand through her hair. "He slapped me."

Kendall gasped.

"He slapped me, screaming stuff that I won't repeat. I had never seen him like that before, and it scared me. But what terrified me even more was that you two were in your room, Kendall, and you could probably hear the fight. I didn't know what he was going to do. I had just discovered that the guy I had fallen in love with and had had two kids with was dealing drugs. I didn't know what he was capable of. So I grabbed you kids and locked us in the bathroom with a phone, and called 911.

"When the cops arrived, they found him banging on the door, screaming at me. They found the drugs in a shoebox under our bed. Under our bed! It had been right in front of me all that time, and I had been too stupid to realize it." She pulled at her hair in anguish. "He was taken away. A few years later, he was released, but he immediately went back to his old ways. I think he's in jail for another five years or something. I don't know, I haven't heard from him since he was arrested the second time around – he used his one phone call to call me and ask me to get him out of jail. I refused, but I called his parents to let them know."

I couldn't move. I felt as if I was frozen there. How – how could my father be so messed up? How could I be one of those kids with criminal parents? I mean, you hear about them, but you never think it's going to happen to you…and now…

I finally regained control of my limbs. "I'm sorry…I need some time to…to think this all over. I'll be – I'll be in James's and my room."

As I stumbled off, wobbling slightly, I heard Kendall holler, "WHAT? YOU'RE SHARING A ROOM WITH MY BABY SISTER?"

Gee, three guesses as to who Kendall was yelling at. Unbelievable. He hadn't bothered to find out anything about my life in three years, and all of a sudden, he decided to act like my big brother again! Seriously?

I reached my room and threw myself on my bed, trying to sort through my emotions. I just…I don't know. Nothing made sense. I hated drugs, and my father had dealt them? What the hell?

I leaned back against my pillows, breathing deeply. I had the sudden urge to do something reckless…beyond reckless, actually. I wanted to do something that I would never do if I was in my right state of mind. Something that I knew I would regret, but something that I couldn't give a damn about at that moment.

The door swung open, and James walked in hesitantly. He ran his hand through his hair, looking nervous. "Sorry…I know you didn't want to be bothered…I just thought I'd grab my swim trunks, go for a swim or something…Ummm…I'll be quick."

I sat up, my gaze catching the shape of his butt in his jeans, the way his shirt hugged his broad chest, the way his rolled-up sleeves showed off his forearms, the way his brown hair glinted in the light, the way his big hazel eyes kept flicking towards me, the way his eyelashes curved out, the shape of his nose.

Perfect.

I slowly unbuttoned my jacket, licking my lips. He glanced over at me, eyes widening slightly. I kicked my sneakers off and met his eyes, biting my lip seductively and putting on my best bedroom eyes. He had frozen in his tracks, looking alarmed, like a deer in the headlights.

I sat up even more, pulling my cami up and over my head and tossing it to the side.

"Katie…" James breathed out. "We can't…"

"Yes we can."

I shimmied out of my jeans and socks, until I was just in my teal bra and matching panties, with James still standing there, looking more than a little conflicted.

I shifted to my knees and crawled towards him, swinging my hips slightly, still keeping my eyes on his. I reached the edge of the bed, where he was standing, and straightened up on my knees, and pulled him to me. I kissed along his jaw and neck, my fingers already unbuttoning his shirt and jeans.

He pulled back. "No…this isn't right. You're – you need comfort, but comfort sex…No…I can't…We can't…"

I reached for him again. "You want me. I can see in your eyes that you want me."

"Yes, I do. But not like this. Not when you're a total wreck."

But I wasn't giving in that easily. I kissed him full on the lips, while tugging at his hair, a kink of his. It always turned him on, and this time was no exception.

I grinned. I was good.

"James…" I whined against his lips. "Please…Just this once?"

"No."

I pressed myself against his body, raising my knee slightly into his jeans, just below the zipper of his. He groaned at the contact.

"Please…I need you…" I got his shirt open, and raked my nails down his bare chest.

I could feel him struggling to hold out.

"It would be soooo good," I tried. "Soooo hot…Please? I need you. I love you."

This time, he kissed me back.

So...who saw the thing with Katie's and Kendall's father coming? And how about this new twist with James and Katie? Are you all cheering and screaming, or are you all shaking your fist and shouting insults at James?

Anyway, let me know what you think...plus, you know, the review button's lonely, it needs some companionship ;)

Okay, I'll wrap this up. Review, because I'd love to hear what you think of the chapter! :)