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"Lauren!" Joseph's voice called throughout the house, Lauren groaned before she realized that her father was home from his latest expedition. "Dad!" Eleven-year-old Lauren shouted as she ran down the stairs straight into her father's arms. "You're home!" Lauren cheerfully spoke as Joseph held his daughter tight in his arms. "Where you good for your aunt?" Joseph asked as he pulled back enough to look his daughter in the eyes. "I always am!" Lauren replied with a toothy grin on her face. "Well, how 'bout we get some ice cream and listen to some music?" Joseph offered his daughter who agreed immediately. The two danced all night until they crashed from the sugar, Lauren was the happiest she had ever been.

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"What happened with the war? Did we win?" Marlow's voice pulled Lauren from her memories, she looked over to the opening in the side of the Wanderer. "Which one?" Slivko replied making Lauren frown. "Uh-huh. That makes sense," Marlow replied before locking eyes with Lauren, smiling at her before bowing his head. "This is all hallowed ground to them. So if you like your hands, don't touch anything," Marlow warned them causing Lauren to blink about the deja vu she felt hearing those same words, she knew he was about to tell them the same thing he had told her but the story was bound to change since her involvement.

"The way they tell it, for thousands of years, the people on this island lived in fear," Marlow began telling them as they approached the drawings. "As Lauren once said, that's a hell of a long time to be scared," Marlow continued as he looked towards Lauren who stood near James, the Tracker looking at the drawing on the Skull Crawlers surrounding the Iwi's. "And then, one day, the damnedest thing happened. Some of the things they were afraid of started protecting them against the things that were eating them," Marlow added as Lauren spotted Brooks looking at the drawing of Kong being worshipped by the Iwi's.

Lauren walked up to stand next to Mason, the photographer was looking at the drawing of Kong bowing down the bones of his parents which made Lauren frown; She would've loved to see them as one. "And this is where they honor the last of their saviors," Marlow told them as James stepped up to the largest painting in the room; Kong standing above the Iwi's with his arms out. But what caught their attention was the drawing of the woman in the middle in the same motion as Kong; her arms out, a crown floating above her head with fire in her palms. "And where they honor the woman who can communicate with Kong," Marlow finished as everyone looked at Lauren, the woman looked up at them.

"Kong is the King of Skull Island," Lauren told them as she stood straight from her slouched position against the rocks. "He's God to these people. Kong's a pretty good king, especially with his little warrior by his side," Marlow continued with a cheeky wink at Lauren who huffed and rolled her eyes playfully. "Keeps to himself mostly. This is his home. We're just guests here," Marlow told them as he walked around the group of survivors who were still looking at the drawing of Kong, their minds conflicted between Marlow's words and being victims of Kong's attack to defend his home.

Marlow looked straight at James as he spoke his next words, "But you don't go into someone's house and start dropping bombs unless you're picking a fight." Lauren agreed with Marlow's words, he was right whether they knew of Kong's existence or not; they shouldn't have disturbed an ecosystem they knew very little about. "Wasn't Kong the one who killed your friend?" Mason asked softly making Lauren shake her head. "No. One of them did," Marlow pointed at the drawing of a Skull Crawler. "Kong's God on the Island, and the devils live below us," Marlow said as they all turned to the drawing.

"And what are they called?" James asked as he stared at the drawing of the vicious beast that didn't care for anything but its own games. "The Iwis won't speak their name. But I call them Skull Crawlers," Marlow answered him in a whispered tone. "Why?" James questioned him. "'Cause it sounds neat," Marlow defended while Lauren sighed. "Look, I made the name up. I'm trying to scare you," Marlow continued in his defense while Lauren stepped forward. "Skull Crawlers make sense... Their heads are a literal bone, its skull on the outside or you can call them by their scientific term, Cranium Reptant," Lauren jumped in as she crossed her arms, "Either way, they're nasty bastards and almost impossible to kill."

Marlow cleared his throat, "They come from the vents below us. That's why Kong got so mad. Those bombs woke up a bunch of them." Lauren nodded in agreement with Marlow's words as she stood near Mason, she knew that Kong would be out dealing with whatever Skull Crawlers he could find to protect the wildlife of Skull Island; she just hoped that he wasn't being overwhelmed by them. "I tell you what. You're lucky he's out there too or you wouldn't have made it this far. They're crafty bastards. Mean as hell. Lauren here knows all about that," Marlow warned them while Mason looked at Lauren who was dazed in her own memories.

"Now, he can handle them as long as he gets to them when they're still small. You don't wanna wake up the big one," Marlow told James directly, Lauren snapping from her daze. "How big is it?" San asked him. "Bigger," Lauren answered bringing James' blue eyes to her, "Bigger than Kong. It wiped out his whole family. And Kong's the last of his kind, but he's still growing." Marlow nodded with Lauren's words, he looked at Mason before stepping back. Lauren's gaze was locked with James', "He isn't a monster. He didn't attack unprovoked, he was threatened. Protecting his own... Wouldn't you have done the same?"

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Lauren joined Marlow in leading James, Slivko, and Nieves toward the boat/plane hybrid vehicle that Marlow had been working on for years while Mason, San, and Brooks stayed with the Iwis. "We were this close to getting it working. Me and Gunpei were gonna take off for the open sea, try to get home. That's when one of them things got him," Marlow explained to the others while Lauren kept pace with Slivko. "There she is," Marlow stopped as he looked at his creation, the others looking at it too with disbelief while Lauren shrugged. "Well, that's lovely," James commented making Lauren laugh. "Have some faith," Lauren told him, James looking at her as she winked and walked towards the boat.

"Does this thing even float?" Slivko asked once they were all on the boat, Lauren sitting in her usual place on a counter she had added after letting Marlow raid her ship for supplies. "Me and Gunpei spent six years of our lives building this thing. Lauren helping from the moment we met. She's called the Grey Fox. And she floats," Marlow answered Slivko. "I pulled the engine parts from my old P-51 and his old Zero. Found a B-29 on the beach one day. That was something," Marlow explained to them. "Then he raided the ship I lived in," Lauren commented with a teasing smirk that made Marlow grin to himself.

"You gotta be kidding me. That thing looks like it's made out of pure tetanus," Nieves commented making Lauren scowl, the whole time she had known the man, all he did was complain and whine about everything, and quite frankly, she was growing tired of it. "I know she ain't pretty to look at, but it's nothing a couple of extra hands can't fix," Marlow expressed as he looked at James and Slivko. "And if you have a problem with it, we can always use you as bait," Lauren told Nieves with a sweet smile that made him gulp. "No need, ma'am," Nieves replied as he physically stepped back from her, James smirked at Lauren who simply shrugged.

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"Seven years is quite a long time," Slivko suddenly said to Lauren as they two worked on the engine, Marlow had gone to collect what they needed for the boat while Nieves was fixing up a different section of the boat wanting to avoid Lauren leaving James to sit near the two working on the engine. "It is... I was only nineteen when our ship crashed onto the beach on the west side of the island," Lauren told him as she tightened some bolts. "How many?" Nieves asked from his section, Lauren looked at him before sighing. "It was me, my father, two of his scientist crew, and a doctor who is the reason I'm alive today," Lauren told him.

"What happened to them?" Nieves pushed as Marlow stepped onto the boat picking up on what they were talking about. "She doesn't have to answer that," Slivko defended noticing the uncomfortable expression on Lauren's face. "It's fine," Lauren muttered before she leaned back against the wall of the boat. "Jackson McNee died first, he had been thrown into the air by the crash of our ship and died on impact onto a rock," Lauren began, "He's buried near the crash site of that ship, the bow is still stuck in the beach from the storm; pretty safe spot for anyone on the west side of the island.

"Sherry Torres was the next to die," Lauren spoke with a slight sniffle, "She was consumed in one go by a Skull Crawler on our way to the ship that was supposed to rescue us." She sighed as she looked out at the water, "Then my father and Alexei Jones sacrificed themselves on the ship to the Skull Crawlers that killed the crew." Everyone was silent as they processed the information, Lauren wiped a stray tear away before turning to look at the men. "I got my revenge, killed the bastard that took my father from me and I've killed every single one I've encountered," Lauren added as she resumed working on the engine; the silence that took over with one filled with empathy and mourning for those they had lost.

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Rosemary Speaks <3

Honestly, I know there haven't been many scenes between James and Lauren but respect is building and I really like the idea of not focusing only on the romance side of this plot.

See you in the next chapter!