Portraits
For Jaclyn Parker
Author's Note: Jaclyn Parker won her very own one-shot over at my WIP, In Shallow Seas We Sail, and thus, this fic was born. It turned out to be a blast to write! I hope that it turned out like she wanted, and I hope everyone will enjoy it. :) The prompt is down at the bottom. I didn't want to give anything away by putting it up here.
Just a little time-line details: This is set in the missing three years in Dharmaville. Probably about a year and a half in. James and Juliet are already together.
Enjoy,
Sara
*
"What are you doing?" he asked, sneaking up behind her.
She snatched the paper up to her chest and whipped her head around to face him.
"Awfully protective, ain't ya, Blondie? You drawin' nudey pictures of me or something?"
She laughed, but he thought he noticed a blush creeping up to her cheeks. "Hardly. Don't flatter yourself."
"You've seen it all before, you could just ask me, you don't have to draw it to remember," he quipped and reached over her to grab the dog-eared notebook, "Lemme see."
She stood, pulling the papers from his hands just in time. He was surprised to see how serious she looked, eyes narrowed and arms folded protectively over her chest. "No," she said simply.
"Now why not? Ya got somethin' to hide?"
"Maybe I do," she responded
"Hey, what are you doing?" Miles asked, entering through the front door with a sandwich in one hand.
Juliet's shoulders fell, and Sawyer nearly caught a glimpse of her artwork, but she pulled her arms up behind her. "Seriously? Is there no privacy here?"
"The door was unlocked!" Miles protested. A piece of turkey fell from his mouth when he spoke. "Oops," he said, pushing it under the couch with his foot.
"Pick that up!" Juliet snapped. Miles look back dumbly. "I'm going to bed," she said.
"Why, I think I'll join you," Sawyer added seductively, following her down the hallway, still trying to snatch her drawings from behind her back.
She turned to face him, and as if the look in her eyes was not enough, she had to add, "James," in that cool, warning tone of hers.
Immediately, he lost all interest in what was on her papers, and when she turned to their room, he didn't follow. Instead, he tucked his tail between his legs and drug his feet back into the living room, where Miles was busy getting crumbs all over the couch.
"Trouble in paradise?"
"You gonna clean up after yourself, Rosie?" he growled.
"Probably not," Miles said and pushed the last bite of sandwich into his mouth.
"Get out."
"Hey, man, I'm just kidding. I'll clean it up. Here, see," he pushed the crumbs off the couch and into his cupped hand, "it's cool. All clean." Miles clutched the crumbs in his hand and looked around for a place to dispose them.
Sawyer sighed and took a seat beside him.
"Got any beer?" Miles asked.
"Get it yourself, an' throw those crumbs away while you're at it."
-
"Oh, man, what happened?"
It was Miles' voice, dangerously close to his ear. He jerked back and realized his head had been resting on Miles' shoulder. He blinked.
"I am so glad we had the day off today."
"What time is it?" Sawyer grumbled. He stretched, but his joints were stiff. His head throbbed.
"How am I supposed to know?" Miles asked, stretching just the same. When he stood from the couch, his knees and back cracked. "It's morning. Sun's out." He squinted his eyes toward the window.
Sawyer took a moment to survey the damage. Beer cans were spread around the living room, easily his whole stash, plus some that he thought he remembered Miles retrieving from his house. Playing cards were dealt on the table.
"You think Juliet saw this?"
Sawyer groaned, resting his hand on the flat of his hand. "Prob-ly. She had to work today."
"Well, I guess I should be getting home," Miles said quickly, making for the door a little more slowly than he hoped.
Sawyer shook his head. "Just a minute, Speedy Gonzales, you're gonna help me clean this up."
"Am I?"
"You wanna work janitorial duty? 'Cause I can make that happen."
Miles grumbled something under his breath, but grudgingly, he trooped back into the living room. "Where do we start?"
"This room first, then the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedr – "
Miles threw up his hands. "Wait, wait, wait, hold up. I only helped trash this room."
"You know, you'll haveta get another jumpsuit, one with big pockets for all those keys you'll haveta keep."
Sawyer smiled as Miles' hands dropped. "Where's the broom?"
-
The bedroom was the last stop in their world-cleaning tour, and if Sawyer didn't fear retribution for fact that he and Miles had obviously passed out at some point in the early morning, he would have already given up. Surprisingly, however, cleaning was wonderful therapy for his nagging hangover. The headache and nausea had left him sometime while mopping the kitchen floor. At least for that, he could be thankful.
Juliet had made the bed, as she did every morning, and the room looked relatively clean already.
"C'mon, we're done," Miles complained from the doorway, "It looks great in here – fantastic. Doesn't need a thing."
Sawyer turned to him. "I believe you've seen Juliet angry before," he said.
"Yeah, but I don't have to live with her. I can stay cozy in my house across the way for a week or so without even seeing her." Miles smiled. "I'm done, I'm throwing in the towel on this one. We've been at it for hours."
"She'll be home soon. Go get the laundry."
"Are you serious?"
Sawyer's gaze seemed to imply that yes, he was serious. Miles stalked away, and Sawyer could hear his heavy footsteps down the hall. Moments later, he returned, arms full of clothes and towels. Sawyer settled himself down on the floor.
"Now what?"
"We fold. Close your eyes there if you see any of the lady's unmentionables."
Miles sat cross-legged in front of the pile with a sigh that seemed to be ripped out of him. "You owe me," Miles grumbled.
Sawyer felt that Juliet could still fold and put away all the laundry in half the time it was taking Miles and him. Still, soon, all the laundry was separated, and Sawyer was busy moving from drawer to drawer to put things away.
"Where do your boxers go?" Miles mumbled, holding the stack of boxers away from his body like they were contaminated. Sawyer just shook his head and ignored Miles' question. He could hear Miles opening and closing drawers at random. "Hey, what's this?" Miles asked, pulling something from the bottom of a drawer. "Isn't this Juliet's notebook?"
Sawyer turned on his heels. "Put that back," he said quickly.
"But don't you want to see?" Miles' eyes twinkled as he thumbed the notebook's cover.
Sawyer hesitated and moved closer. "Give it to me."
"Are you going to look at it?"
"Yes, I'm gonna look at it, Sherlock. Give it to me."
With a smile, Miles handed over the notebook and Sawyer flipped it open to the first page. A small boy, mouth gaping in a childish smile, looked back at him. In the corner of the page, Juliet had written, in small, capital letters: JULIAN.
"Her nephew," Sawyer explained, more to himself than to Miles, "Must've imagined this is how he'd look. If we weren't in the '70s, that is."
He flipped the next page and a woman looked back at him, eyes furrowed in mock-scorn, a twinkle evident in her eye. Juliet's caption read, RACHEL.
"She's good, man," Miles said, "She's like Picasso or something."
"Picasso didn't do portraits, dumb ass."
"Whatever. Next."
Sawyer turned the next page, and the grin on Miles' face widened. "Ah, look that that handsome devil!" Sure enough, the portrait was of Miles, laughing eyes and all. "Did you know she drew?"
"I coulda figured it out after last night, but I didn't know before then," Sawyer answered. He hurriedly flipped the next page, but as soon as he did, he wished he hadn't.
"Hey, that looks like – " Miles didn't continue. It was obvious who it was. Juliet's caption glared from the corner of the page, JACK.
Sawyer turned the next page, only to be met with Kate's smiling face, and oddly enough, the most distinguishing characteristics of the sketch were Kate's freckles. He took a moment to look at sketch, testing to see if he felt anything. He didn't feel anything except a nagging in his stomach…where was he?
The next sketch was of Jin, wearing a forlorn and searching expression, one he wore so often lately. Juliet's caption didn't bear his name, but rather, LOST SUN, which sent chills of Sawyer's spine for some odd reason. He turned the page to a less-detailed portrait of a young girl.
"Hey, she kinda looks like you," Miles said, amused.
Sawyer didn't respond. He knew before glancing at the corner of the page what the caption would read. CLEMENTINE. He rushed past this page, and the next several pages included their Dharma home, the beach, and other landscapes. Finally, he reached the last page.
"Oh my God, my eyes," Miles hissed, closing his eyes for effect.
The last drawing, finally, was of Sawyer himself. Shadows marred the portrait where Juliet had erased one too many times around his eyes and dimples, as if she couldn't get them just right. Oddly enough, however, Sawyer was not clothed. She hadn't finished the drawing; he stood, shirtless, the outline of his bare legs had been sketched, but nothing more. Even though it wasn't finished, he felt strange looking at it, especially sharing something that Juliet had drawn with Miles. He felt guilty and slapped the notebook shut.
"Well, that was – "
"What are you two doing?" It was clearly Juliet's voice. Sawyer pulled the notebook behind his back, looking to the doorframe where she stood, arms crossed. "I see you cleaned the house," she said, but her expression clearly revealed that she had seen exactly what they were doing. "Miles, you might need to get home."
Miles nodded exuberantly and cast Sawyer a side-long glance, one that clearly said You're on your own now. Juliet stepped out of the way, and Miles slid past her. Once the front door closed, she entered the room and held out her hand, palm up. "Give it to me," she said.
Slowly, Sawyer pulled the notebook from behind his back and laid it in her open hand.
"Why did you look at it, James?"
It was the way she asked that made him feel like he had no idea why he'd looked at it. It was a dumb idea. Miles had tricked him. Maybe Miles opened it first. Is that what happened?
"Why did you draw Clementine?" he countered, words escaping his mouth before he could stop them.
She looked oddly guilty, dropping her head. "I just imagined. I wanted to see how she would look, on paper, you know?" She shook her head. "No, I guess you don't know."
"Why haven't you ever showed me any of these?"
"Is it your place to see them?" She looked up, blue eyes piercing, "Maybe I would've, someday. It's just something I've always kept to myself."
"Look, I'm sorry I peeked – "
"You more than peeked," she corrected.
"Okay, I'm sorry I looked through them all – "
"All?" Her voice rose in pitch.
"Yes, all," he said gloomily.
She sighed deeply and sat on the edge of the bed, leaving her sketchbook beside her. "Well," she said after a moment, "What did you think?"
"What did I think?" he echoed, confused.
"Yeah, about – about my drawings. Did you like them?" She looked up at him and for a moment, she looked less menacing and more like a child seeking approval.
"Of course, I liked 'em."
She smiled, and he knelt in front of her, pressing a kiss to her forehead and hesitating in front of her lips. He wasn't quite sure if he was forgiven yet. Thankfully, she leaned forward to place a kiss on his lips.
"So you're not mad?" he asked.
"I guess not," she muttered, "I mean, you shouldn't have looked."
"I know," he said, kissing her lips again.
"And you need to learn that there are certain boundaries – "
"I know," he said, giving her another kiss.
"Thank you for cleaning," she whispered.
"You're welcome." He grinned mischievously. "You need your memory jogged so you can finish that last drawing?"
She blushed, but she was quick, as always, with a reply. "I'm not sure. You are Miles looked a little too comfortable this morning."
*
The prompt: I heard rumor somewhere that Elizabeth Mitchell is a pretty good artist. What if Juliet was too and sketched but never told Sawyer. What if a couple of those sketches came to light while she was at work one day and they included him (naked?), Jack, Kate, Rachel, and what she envisions Julian and Clementine to look like. How would Sawyer react to them, especially the ones of Kate and Clementine?
*