Enter Seventy-Seven
December 31, 1976
Sawyer came home to the smell of ham and sweet potatoes cooking. He smiled, thanking whatever was in charge of this island that it was Juliet's turn to cook. Over the past couple of years, Sawyer had about learned how to produce an edible meal, but Juliet was far better at it than he was.
"I'm home!" he called out.
"Did you get the wine?" Juliet answered from the kitchen.
"I got it," Sawyer said, heading into the kitchen, where Juliet stood at the stove. He put the bottle down on the kitchen counter and gave Juliet a hug from behind.
"Hi!" Juliet said, smiling. She glanced at the bottle, and then frowned a bit. "Wish we could get something a little better than Dharma Zinfandel for tonight, but…"
"What's wrong with it?" Sawyer asked. "I kind of like it."
"Yes, my dear, but you know nothing about wine," Juliet said, turning around to kiss him.
"Yeah, I'll admit to that," Sawyer said. "Is everyone coming?"
"I haven't heard from Miles yet, but Daniel and Jin said they'd be here."
"Better go change, then," Sawyer said. "Back in a minute."
In the bedroom, Sawyer pulled off the khaki coveralls that identified him as "LaFleur". He'd been using the name so long now, it felt almost as natural to him as "Sawyer". Of course, that wasn't his real name either. But he'd left "James Ford" behind a long time ago.
He found a pair of blue jeans and a Hawaiian shirt in the closet – that was as dressed up as he ever got, and besides, it was only going to be friends visiting tonight.
He wandered back out to the living room as the doorbell rang. "Come on in!" he called.
Jin opened the door, holding up a white loose-leaf binder. "Hi, James," he said (his English having improved dramatically during the past couple of years.) "I got the plans from the Arrow."
"Great," Sawyer answered. "Just put them on the table, I'll look at them tomorrow."
Daniel Faraday wandered in just behind Jin, and looked around blankly. "Hi Dan!" Sawyer said.
"Oh," Faraday said, looking startled. "Uh, hi, Sawyer."
"Don't call me that," Sawyer snapped, even though he knew it would do no good. Faraday never remembered.
"Sorry," Faraday said. "Oh, hi, Juliet," he added, as Juliet came into the living room.
"Hi guys," she said back. "How's it going?"
"OK," Jin said. "Clutch on van number 4 is running a bit rough, but it can wait until Monday."
"Good, because I am off duty for the weekend," Juliet said. When she spied the binder, she said, "And so are you, James. Don't you dare open that thing until Monday!"
"Okay, okay," Sawyer said, laughing.
Daniel eyed the binder. "Flame Security?" he read.
"Yeah, Horace has the boys at the Arrow designing a new security setup for the Flame," Sawyer said. "These are the scripts for Chang's videos."
"Plan is, we wire up the basement with dynamite," Jin added. "If Hostiles attack, the operators can blow the whole thing up."
"C-4 would be safer," Daniel said. "More stable than dynamite."
"Yeah, I know that, Professor," Sawyer replied testily. "But dynamite is what we have to work with. If Hanso ever ships us some C-4, we'll upgrade."
"They must do it eventually," Juliet said. "By the time Locke blew up the Flame in 2004, it was booby-trapped with C-4."
"Huh," Sawyer said. Then a grin spread across his face. "Makes me tempted to record the videos myself. Imagine what old Baldy would do if he saw my face on the screen, and I said, 'Hey Locke, you dumb son of a bitch, don't blow the place up!'"
"Uh, Sawyer, I don't think that's such a good…" Faraday began.
"Yeah, yeah, I know that," Sawyer snapped back.
"Besides, it's Locke," Juliet added. "If you told him not to do it, he'd probably go right ahead and do it."
Sawyer laughed. "Yeah, that would be just like him, wouldn't it?"
"What would be like who?" Miles Straume asked as he walked in the front door.
"Locke blowing up the Flame," Jin said. "Hi, Miles."
"Oh yeah," Miles said, shaking his head. "He sure liked blowing things up, didn't he?"
"You're late, Miles," Sawyer said.
"Yeah, sorry," Miles answered, not looking very sorry. "I was trying to get Rosie to meet me later."
"Yeah, good luck with that," Sawyer said. "I hear she's got a waiting list."
"You think –" Jin began. "You think, maybe this year, Locke brings back the others?"
"Hell, I don't know," Sawyer said.
"For all we know, they return to the Island in 2005," Daniel added.
"Cheerful thought," Juliet said.
"Well, maybe this will cheer everyone up," Miles said. "Maybe I didn't score with Rosie, but I did manage to snag a bottle of champagne." He held up a large bottle.
"Good work," Sawyer said, looking at the label. "Son of a bitch! It's Dom Perignon, not Dharma Initiative!"
"Yeah, took me some work to get it," Miles said.
"Let's save it for after dinner," Juliet said. "Who's hungry?"
Dinner was, by unanimous acclamation, a smashing success. Sawyer's only regret was that they would have no leftovers to eat the following day. Afterwards, they gathered in the living room to talk some more. Miles popped the cork and poured champagne for everyone.
"Here's to Nineteen Seventy-Six," Miles said, raising his glass.
"A good year," Juliet said, smiling at Sawyer.
Sawyer laughed. "Best year of my life," he said, grinning. Then his expression turned serious. "Hell of a lot better than next year's going to be."
"Huh?" Miles said, confused.
"Seventy-seven was the year my parents died," Sawyer said softly.
"I'm sorry," Juliet said, taking his hand.
"It was a long time ago," Sawyer said. "I mean, it's next August, but – oh, hell, you know what I mean."
Faraday nodded. "It gets confusing sometimes," he said. "Past, present, future – hard to be sure what's what."
"You ever think about sending your parents a message?" Miles asked. "Maybe you could stop it."
"Lots of times," Sawyer admitted.
"That wouldn't…" Faraday began.
Sawyer cut him off. "Yeah, I know, it wouldn't have work," he said. "Besides…"
He was silent for a moment, and then said, "There's something Locke said to me once. Didn't make much sense to me at the time, but it does now." He stared at his champagne glass, and said, "Locke said that he needed the pain that he'd been through in order to get to where he was now. If I hadn't gone through everything I've experienced – well, I wouldn't be here now, would I?"
Juliet leaned close to him. "I'm glad you're here now," she said.
Sawyer smiled. "Me too," he whispered.
Juliet looked thoughtful for a moment, and then said, "There have been times when I've tried to think of a message I could leave for myself, some way to warn myself… But I never could figure out a way to send a message that I'd understand and that nobody else would find." She shook her head. "Even if I tried, well, obviously, I never found it."
Faraday nodded, staring off into space, "You can't change the past," he said. "Even when it's in the future."
"Besides," Juliet said, "I'm where I want to be now."
"Well, here's to a new year anyway," Jin said, draining his glass.
"Exit Seventy-six, stage right," Miles quipped. "Enter Seventy-seven."
"I'll drink to that," Sawyer said.
A minute later, he said, "Wait a minute." He grabbed the white binder, picked up a pen, and made a note inside it.
"What's that all about?" Miles asked.
"Changing Dr. Chang's script," Sawyer said. "Sending a message into the future. A message nobody will understand, but still." He grinned. "Call it my own private joke on Locke. The code to destroy the Flame will be '77'."
Everyone laughed, and Sawyer refilled their glasses.
Jin drained his, and then said, "I have to go. I promised Horace I'd help him out with something."
"What's that?" Sawyer said.
"It's a secret," Jin said. "You'll see."
"Okay, then," Sawyer said. "Happy New Year, Jin."
As Jin vanished into the blackness of the tropical night, another figure peeked into the door. "Hey Miles, you in there?" Rosie asked.
Miles' face lit up. "Hey, Rosie," he said. "What happened, Phil stand you up?"
"Nah, he got boring," Rosie said. "Want to come by my place for a bit?"
Miles stood, grinning ear to ear, and said, "See you guys later."
"Want your champagne bottle back?" Sawyer asked, grinning.
"Nah," Miles said, winking. "I have another one."
Sawyer laughed. "Get the hell out of my house, you son of a bitch," he joked.
"I probably should go too," Faraday said. "You two enjoy your New Year."
"Goodnight, Daniel," Juliet said, closing the door behind him.
Sawyer smiled at Juliet. "Hmm, just the two of us," he said.
Juliet smiled back. "Come on out to the porch for a moment," she said.
"But it's almost midnight," Sawyer protested, glancing meaningfully towards the bedroom.
"Just for a few minutes," Juliet said.
On the porch, Juliet put her arms around Sawyer and said, "Did I ever tell you I love you?"
"You might have mentioned it, yeah," Sawyer said, and bent down to kiss her.
Just then the clock on their mantle started striking the hour. "Happy New Year," Sawyer whispered.
Juliet grinned. "Look up in the sky," she said.
"What?" Sawyer asked.
"That surprise Horace and Jin were working on," Juliet said. "You should be able to see it just about…"
There was a loud bang, and a bright flash.
"…now," Juliet finished.
Sawyer looked up at the fireworks in the Island sky, smiling. "Son of a bitch," he said softly. "I always did like those things."
"Happy New Year, James," Juliet said.
They went back into the house.