It was growing dark and Juliet had walked to the fence to take the van back. It should have been a quick and simple task. It was all she could do to try and cover up the kidnapping. Kate and Sawyer had just used the van to take a young injured Ben to the "hostiles" in hopes that they could save him from the bullet wound that Saiyd had inflicted just hours earlier. The back of the van was still open and the keys were still in it. She closed the hatch and moved to the fence to reactivate the sensor. She punched in the code and that's when she heard the snap of a slide locking into the chamber of a handgun.
"Put your hands up, turn around and face me… slowly."
Juliet did exactly that. She turned with her hands defensively raised, at her shoulders.
Phil. His nostrils were flaring and he was beginning to sweat.- but he kept the gun trained on her and stepped closer.
"Juliet? What's going? That was the new girl, Kate, and LeFleur right? Why are they taking Ben? Where are they…"
She remained silent but kept eye contact. There was nothing she could explain that could possibly be believed about the situation at hand.
Phil pulled a set of cuffs from his belt
"Phil…" Juliet began
"Hands on the van, I do not want to have to shoot you"
Juliet nodded once. She moved slowly to the van and placed her palms on the hood. She glanced up in the direction of the camera where she was certain Miles would be watching and held her gaze as she listened to Phil.
Phil stepped up to her side and holstered his weapon. He placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in closer. She could feel his breath on her neck as he tucked her hair back behind her ear. At that moment she felt strangely trapped like with Edmund. His words held her and her breath became shallow. Juliet's face was stoic- unnerved- but in her head she was cursing herself for having been so stupid and coming out to the fence.
His voice was steady but his hands were not Juliet could tell he was on the edge "Something is very wrong here .You need to tell me what's going on Juliet- so I can help you. Maybe we can work this out, without getting everyone involved. I've always had a soft spot for you. Why are you protecting them?"
Juliet swallowed hard but no words came out.
Phil took her right arm and tugged it behind her as his control –he then grasped her left arm, and as he twisted it behind her to meet his cuffs – the back of her hand inadvertently pushed her shirt up. Her breath caught in her throat as his eyes darted to her exposed skin - pulling her shirt further away from the small of her back he fully revealed the mark just slightly to left, a mark that he knew well because it was used by the hostiles to mark their territory.
Juliet felt a sense of panic begin to rise in her chest.
"Phil, please…This is not what you think…"
He wrenched her arm back tightly and she let out a pained gasp.
...
Miles had gotten a radio call from Sawyer telling him to get rid of the security tape from camera 3 at the fence. He hurried in to the security building not sure what to expect. When he rewound the tape he nearly fell out of his chair. He saw Kate and Sawyer carrying Ben through the fence and just as he was about to eject the tape, Jin walked in – "what is happening? Sawyer said he was going on a scouting mission and… " Jin glanced at the monitor "Juliet?" Miles spun back around "no no no, o hell, this is bad." They watched in horror as Phil took Juliet into custody – They saw him cuff her and put her into the van that she had gone to retrieve. "Damnitt". Miles grabbed his radio switching it back to the unused channel they used for emergencies . "LeFleur! We have a problem here. A BIG PROBLEM."
...
Sawyer and Kate had just started back after handing Ben over to none-other than Richard Alpert himself when he heard the radio crackle. Kate looked up at him then turned her attention back to Ben as Richard disappeared with him into the jungle.
"Kinda busy here Kimchi what's the problem?" Sawyer spat into the walkie while stepping away from Kate.
sighing at the Korean reference Miles shook his head and said "They have Juliet."
"What? I thought I told you to erase the tape!? How?
"It was Phil, he must have followed her- she went to the fence after you left- to get the van I'm guessing."
"Sunofabitch" Sawyer 's brow furrowed and he ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm on my way!"
"Jin is trying to find out where he took her now. You and Kate are not safe to return, over."
His head began to spin. How could he expect her to not get the van- she was always watching his back. "Goddammit."
Kate turned back to Sawyer and closed the gap between them "What? What's happened?"
"They got Juliet- it aint safe for you to go back now, Phil saw us cross the fence"
Kate looked at him- understanding the fear that he was feeling for Juliet- he really did love her. Kate envied Juliet and worse than that Kate found that she really liked her too. "If it's not safe for me it's definitely not safe for you!"
"I'm going back for her and you are gunna go to the beach and wait for everyone. Life in Dharmaville is over freckles." Kate couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.
...
Sawyer took off running through the jungle, adrenaline pumping through his ears, branches whipping at him angrily. He welcomed the feel of it. If anything happened to Juliet it would be his fault. The sun had gone down over an hour ago so he would at least have the cover of darkness on his side. When he reached the fence he punched in the code then ducked behind the pylon as he saw a set of headlights approaching. The jeep stopped and 2 shadowed figures got out and began walking towards the fence panning the tree line behind him with a flashlight. As the figures turned back to the Jeep he slid over the invisible line. The pain in his head struck him almost instantly. Sawyer growled out in agony. His muscles contracted and he fell to his knees, realizing all too late that the code had been changed. He dropped to the ground like a rock, convulsing into darkness.
...
Juliet tried to sort through her options, now that he'd seen the mark she wasn't sure she could avoid telling them everything and hoping for the best. She assumed that Phil would be taking her to the holding cell where Saiyd had been. She decided it was in her best interest to try and talk to him before Horace and Stuart got involved.
"Phil, I know what you're thinking, I am not the enemy –Please, Let's talk about this." Juliet said in her calm soft voice.
"I want to believe you Juliet, I do. You are one of the last people I want to see get hurt here, but you have to give me something. Who are you people!?"
"And... I will explain everything Phil - but not like this." She lightly held up her cuffed wrists- paused a moment-then steadily continued "Better yet, I can show you. Can we go to my house before you take me in? Just for a moment. I have something I need you to see to understand."
Phil hesitated watching her unreadable expression in the rear view mirror. She flashed him a shy tight smile and he looked back to the road "Ok" He agreed reluctantly. He knew LaFleur was currently missing beyond the fence and he himself had changed the code to get back in.
He pulled in beside her house and leaned over the seat motioning Juliet to the front… he pulled the keys off of his belt loop and sighed as he un-cuffed her. "Wait here, I'll come around for you." Juliet nodded in cooperation as she slid onto the passenger seat and watched Phil tuck his pistol into the waist of his pants, walk around the front of the van and open her door. "I'm sorry, Juliet that I didn't let you explain before, I just, I've only seen that symbol on dead people or people that were trying to kill us" She looked at him empathetically as he led her to the house with his hand firmly placed at the small of her back and allowed her to opened the door. He stepped in behind her and turned on a light cautiously checking for any signs of LeFleur. When he was convinced they were alone he ushered her into her house and shut the door- locking it behind them.
"Can I get you some tea? Coffee?" Juliet said coolly attempting to stall the situation while she figured out what to do. Where was Miles? He had to have seen her by now. Just then, the phone rang, both of them jumped and Phil un-holstered his weapon pointing it at the telephone but quickly re-training it on Juliet.
"This was a bad idea, I should call Stuart." Phil was beginning to sweat again.
...
James felt like he was drowning. Cold, wet, can't breathe… he opened his eyes to see a panicked Jin throwing water in his face repeatedly. James flew up off the metal table he was lying on as Miles was pacing the monitors reviewing the last 20 minutes of each tape. "Juliet?!" James gasped.
Jin pressed his palms to James's chest "nothing yet, you wait"
"How long was I out?" He grunted, wiping the water off his face onto his shirt.
Miles replied not taking his eyes off the screens "about 30minutes, you're damn lucky we went looking for you and happened to be there when you tried to kill yourself Romeo."
James saw it first. "There! Go back? Where is that? Is that my house? Shit! of course, she took him to our house." Immediately he sighed and smiled. He felt some of the tension release. No one else knows yet. James turned and headed to the door.
Miles watched him with confusion "Uhm, don't you mean he took her?"
"She aint cuffed anymore so I'm guessin she's the one in control Jackie Chan"
"Ha-ha." Miles replied sarcastically
James grabbed a pistol off the table and turned back . "You two wait here, so far you ain't involved- if we don't come out in 30 minutes or you see anything out of the ordinary – head to the beach. I'm gunna see if I can salvage this mess… and for the love of babies and puppies Enos destroy that tape!" The door was halfway closed when James and Miles vocalized at the exact same time,
Miles: "and…you're welcome for saving your ass!"
James: "Thanks for draggin' my ass back here!"
Jin could only smile lightly- sometimes they were a true reflection of each other.
James casually walked the 4 blocks to the house tippin' his head politely to Amy as he passed "evening Amy" She smiled sincerely from her porch and went inside for the night.
As James approached his house he quietly slipped around to the back in the darkness. The light was on in the front of the house but he couldn't hear any noise. As he passed under the window he noticed the phone line and quickly ripped it from the outside of the house. "no phonin' home tonight E.T."
...
The phone stopped ringing and Juliet raised her hands in front of her. "What I needed to show you is in the bedroom closet."
"Yeh, like I'm really gunna fall for that? You, sit. " Phil nervously gestured at the couch with his gun and she complied. Phil took out his cuffs again and Juliet obediently placed her wrists out in front of herself.
Phil walked up, setting his pistol on the end table and snapped the cuff on her right wrist. Abruptly, Juliet threw her left elbow up into his face, knocking him back. She lunged for the gun but the force sent it sliding across the linoleum near the door. Their eyes met and Juliet could see the rage in Phils face. "Ow, damnitt- you broke my nose!"Juliet tried to scramble over the side of the couch to reach the door but was grabbed from behind. "NO! Phil! Stop!." Juliet's voiced raised a pitch "No!"
James stood briefly outside the back screen door, flipping the safety off of his weapon, when he heard Juliet scream, then a crash and struggle - JULIET. (The last time he'd heard her scream that was when she almost got her hand cut off by the other Others)
Phil easily spun Juliet into a rear bear hug her against his chest. She let out a pained cry as his grip tightened and he thrust her down face first into the coffee table, breaking a leg off it as they both went tumbling to the floor. Juliet rolled to her back pushing her hands against his chest in vain as Phil moved to fully mount her, quickly pinning her arms above her head as her legs kicked helplessly. Juliet's nostrils flared and her chest heaved as she tried to read Phil's face. He held her there breathing hard "What the hell! Juliet. What is going on! I can't say I haven't dreamed about being on top of you but not quite like this" Blood was running down her temple into her hair from a cut above her eye. His blood began to drip rhythmically onto her shirt. Juliet stopped struggling and stared at him, her blue eyes pooling in fear. Phil groaned in frustration "Your move. What's it gunna be?"
...
Simultaneously, James sent his foot into the back door, breaking it's light frame free from it's hinge. leading with his pistol drawn he ran down the hallway towards the sound - his heart beating in his ears so loudly that everything else seemed muffled. "Correction Phil, it's your move. Now get off her!" James shouted as he scanned the disheveled room. A surprised Phil turned to face him, still straddling Juliet. Slowly he raised his hands, Juliet slid out from under him and scooted herself back towards the door stoically retrieving Phil's pistol from the floor and remaining seated. She drew her legs up to her chest and rested the weapon on her knees, hands shaking. taking a deep breath before her eyes met James's.
"Juliet? ya ok?" James moved around to where the bloodied blond was sitting, cuff still swinging from her wrist. He looked down at her and his heart felt like it had been tightened into a vice grip. Juilet nodded. James reached out to her and she grasped his hand, letting herself be lifted to her feet. Wavering a bit she let go of James to hold the wall with her free hand as she placed the pistol in the back waistband of her jeans.
" Jim- it was an accident!- can we talk about this?" Phil whimpered from his kneeling position near the couch.
"Shut up Phil, Gimme yer keys... now!" James barked. Phil unhooked the set from his belt and slid them across the floor as James tossed his own cuffs at Phil "put em on."
Phil began to cry as he cuffed his hands behind his own back and dropped his head in defeat. "Please LeFleur, you gotta believe me, I'd never hurt her, not on purpose man, it happened so fast. "
James picked up the keys and walked back to Juliet- gently un-cuffing her right wrist - letting his thumb linger on the cuts that had formed there. They let the cuffs drop to the floor and James turned walking back to Phil shaking his head disappointedly "I know you never meant for this to happen man" he said lowering his weapon "I'm sorry it all had to go down like this..." Phil looked up at him and let out a sigh of relief as James swiftly brought the butt of the gun down against the side of Phils head- rendering him unconscious. Juliet flinched as she watched Phil slump to the floor unable to take her eyes off of him. She was still in shock.
James moved to Juliet, tucking his own pistol away as well. She let his hands run up and down her- checking for injuries. She could hear him but he sounded like he was in a tunnel and she couldn't make herself respond.
"Juliet? You ok? I'm right here, baby. I got you. Can you hear me?"
Juliet let out a ragged pained breath as her eyes finally met his. She felt her knees become weak, leaning against the wall.. Tears welled in her eyes and she gave James another small nod. "I'm ok." James released a huge sigh.
"Jeezus Juliet what were you thinking?" He said as he pulled her into the warmth of his chest and cradled her - checking the gash near her eye to be sure the bleeding had stopped. He rested his chin against her bloodied blond hair kissing the top of her head.
"I...he... what are we gunna do?"
James blinked hard and shook his head in frustration. "I'll get the rope"