Request: Juliet and Sawyer and the rest of the 70's Losties Christmas. This is for Ed Westiwicker. I hope you and everyone else enjoys this, and please review! Merry Christmas everyone!
"Hey everybody, the grinch is back." Miles announced with a smirk as Sawyer stomped through the door, clumsily leaving a trail of snow behind him.
"You have fun out there, James?" I asked with a smile, glancing over my shoulder to get a look at him as he plopped down on the couch. He grumbled something unintelligible in response, followed by, "Why's there snow out here anyways? What kinda damn tropical island is this?"
"Oh come on LaFleur, you know you love it here." Miles commented and off James' scowl, Jin added, "It is the holidays-you should try to enjoy it."
"Enjoy it?" He echoed, "I ain't never had a merry Christmas, why try an' start this year?"
"Because, Scrooge,we're on an island in the seventies." I rationed with a shrug, "Now's as good a time as any for a new start-a clean slate. Who knows, you might actually have a good time."
James paused, as if taking in all of what I had just said, before mumbling, "Alrighty Bob Crattchit, I'll try my best, but I ain't makin' any promises."
"You know what the best part about this time of year is, LaFluer?" Miles chimed in, glancing back and fourth between James and myself.
"Yeah, what's that?"
"The hot chocolate." He answered simply, motioning to the kitchen, "Juliet's over there making some as we speak."
"Not voluntarily." I explained with a roll of the eyes, "It was the only way to shut up Miles' consistent whining."
"Hey." He griped, "I never whine."
"Yeah, an' I never make witty, sarcastic remarks." James retorted, pulling Miles up by his collar and shoving him towards the kitchen, "Now go help the lady."
"This one?" Jin asked, pointing towards the household sized pine-tree next to him.
Horace had a large shipment of the trees sent over a few days earlier, to which James quipped, "Why the hell did H buy loads a' trees when we got a whole damn forest full of 'em?". However, Miles and Jin jumped at the idea and we began our christmas tree search as soon as we could; which just so happened to be today.
"Nah, it's not full enough." Miles explained to Jin whilst slowly pacing around the plant. He directed his gloved hands towards a particular section and explained, "Look, it's missing a ton of bristles."
"He's right." I commented, "Too bad though, that one would've been perfect."
"Can ya hurry it up, already?" James suddenly groaned from his place on a fallen tree stump nearby, "Ya actin' like it's a life or death situation. It's just a damn tree."
"I see somebody's in the holiday spirit." I stated sardonically, wondering how Miles of all people could be so cheerful as of lately, yet James couldn't bare to put on a smile for merely a day.
"Yeah, well, excuse me for not findin' two hours in the benumbin' snow, lookin' for a plant, excitin'."
"You know, James, maybe if you'd actually spend your time helping instead of making snide remarks we'd be home by now." I retorted, keeping my eyes focused on the rows upon rows of small trees.
He didn't reply at first, but after a few seconds I heard him get up, saunter towards one tree in particular and say sarcastically, "Alrighty, what 'bout this one?"
"It doesn't work like that, you can't just decide on a dime. It takes time, patienc-"
"Huh, good job LaFleur." Miles spoke over me, now examining the tree closely, "Can't believe I missed this one-it looks good."
"Yes. It does." Jin agreed with a smile, causing me to rush over near them in disbelief.
"Ya hear that, blondie? I accomplished in a little less than a second what larry, you, and curly couldn't do in two goddamn hours." James stated with a smirk before turning to me with a sly smile and adding, "Say hello to the first LaFleur family Christmas tree."
"Come on." I ordered playfully, grabbing James by the arm and pulling him off of the couch. I grabbed his coat and hat from the rack next to the door and shoved the items against his chest, "Put these on, we're going outside."
"Jules, you crazy?" He exclaimed, "It's freezin' out there!"
"You're a big boy, you can handle it." I chuckled, draping on my scarf before wrenching open the door and dragging James outside along with me.
I then bent down and scooped up a ball of snow, packing it together tightly before throwing it directly at the back of James' head while he was faced the other way.
"Ow, what the hell was that?" He growled out, whipping his head around to see me chuckling frantically. He looked genuinely angry for a moment but soon looked down at the snow, back up at me, and stated slyly, "Oh, this means war, sweetheart."
He then swiftly bent down and in one fluid motion, grabbed a handful of snow and began chucking it at me, causing me to bolt away in the other direction. He immediately jolted after me, trying to catch up until we neared the dock, where he grabbed me by the waist and tackled me into the deep blanket of snow.
"J-James." I giggled as he lay close by my side, a strand of hair blowing freely in front of my face, "You're not suppossed to wrestle down your oppenent during a snowball fight."
"I don't play by the rules, sunshine-you should know that by now." He quipped, his hot breath warming my now rosy cheeks. I just stared at him for a moment, admiring his stunning, bright eyes and unmistakable dimpled smile. Although he looked completely out of character with his bulky coat and earflap hat, he somehow still managed to look astonishingly gorgeous.
"Lets go." I stated, snapping myself out of my gaze and rising to my feet. James looked at me questionably as I made my way over to the side of the dock, but nevertheless got up and followed suit.
I looked down at the frozen water and took a step unto it lightly, causing James to grab my arm and warn, "Juliet. That ain't safe."
"Come on-live a little." I said with a smile, narrowing my eyes as I challanged, "Never thought the brawny, bold head of security would be scared of a little ice."
"I ain't scared." He snorted as he let go of the grasp on my arm, eyeing me suspiciously as I attempted to skate away.
"What?" I asked curiously when I noticed his eyes fixated on me as he clumsily skated past me on the ice.
"It's just-I ain't never seen ya like this-all childlike and carefree and whatnot." He explained with a short laugh, "Think I like it."
"Well..." I said with a blush, "It's the one time of year you have given right to act like a child-might as well take advantage of it." I paused, then added softly, "Everything's going so well lately-for the first time in my life, everything feels...right, you know? It's just as if everything's falling into plac-"
I abruptly stopped as I noticed a small section of the ice beginning to crack, and James commented, "Ya well, we better get off this ice or you'll literally be fallin'."
"Calm down, Mr. Saftey, I'll be fine."
James held my shivering arm as we walked through the front door, his arid coat draped over my soaked one.
"What the hell happened?" Miles asked with a half-laugh as Jin simultaneously asked, "You okay?"
I nodded my head in answer to the latter question, then mumbled the answer to the former unintelligibly. Both Miles and Jin leaned forward as if to say they couldn't hear, causing me to grudgingly say a bit louder, "I fell through the ice."
"Yep, Juliet here don't listen to reason-An' ya'll say I'm the stubborn one." James chimed in, although his comment was smothered by Miles' fit of boisterous laughter.
"Man, I always miss the good stuff." He stated once he stopped chuckling, wiping tears of joy from his eyes.
"Sh-shut up." I ordered, still shivering as I storming towards my room in order to find warm, dry clothes. When I finished dressing, I decided to head over to the fireplace to warm up further but stopped as I reached James by the doorway after hearing Miles and Jin burst into laughter.
"Alright, I know, it's funny. Juliet fell through the ice, ha-ha-you've all had your laugh, can you give it up now?" I pleaded with a sigh, already fed up with the constant jeers I knew I'd have to put up with from now on.
"Not what we're laughing at." Miles stated seriously, causing James, who was apparently just as out of the loop as I, to ask, "Then what are ya-"
He stopped midsentence as Miles pointed above the two of us, compelling us both to slowly glance upwards to see a single piece of mistletoe dangling down.
"Were you standing here on purpose, James?" I asked accusingly, "You knew I was in the other room, and you knew I'd eventually be coming back in through this very door-"
"Don't flatter yerself, sweetheart, I didn't know that was up there." He countered, motioning to the plant, "An' I bet you're the one that put it up there, ain't ya?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then ya must've wanted to kiss one of us in this here house-why else would'a ya put it up in the first place?" He drawled out, "Jin's a married man an' there's no way a gal like you would want Miles, so..."
"You think I planned this?" I asked in disbelief, "Then you're sadly mistaken."
"Just kiss already." Miles whined, causing me to fake a sigh and lie, "Fine. But we're not going to enjoy it."
"Speak for yerself." He said with a sly smile before gently moving in for the kiss. The instant his lips brushed mine, my heart felt as if it melted and a hot blush crept across my cheeks. He began to pull away only a few seconds after, and it took all of my willpower not to grab him and pull his lips back to my own.
"Puttin' that mistletoe up-best idea you ever had, sweetheart."
"What are you boys still doing up?" I asked playfully as I opened the front door to see my three roomates huddled around the christmas tree, "You know santa won't come unless you're all sound asleep. And don't forget to put out the cookies-I heard he favors mallomars."
"Jules, it's 'bout time ya got back." James greeted, ignoring my lighthearted comments, "You've been gone almost an hour. Thought ya got run over by a reindeer or somethin'."
"Not quite." I chuckled, making sure to keep my hands full of gifts behind my back and out of everyone's sight, "It took a little longer than expected seeing that Amy couldn't find the wrapping paper. We had to go digging through her closet-needless to say, she's a packrat."
"S'what were ya wrappin' anywho?" James wondered aloud, "Ya buy me that pony I asked for?"
"You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see." I said with a grin as I started towards my bedroom, "Happy Christmas Eve. I'll see you boys in the morning."
"Merry Christmas sleepy head." I said cheerfully as James strolled into the room, taking a seat at the kitchen table, "The rest of us have been up since six. Miles and Jin are already outside-they opened their gifts already."
"Yeah?" He asked dumbly, and when I just stared at him happily, he asked, "What?"
"Don't you want to open your presents?"
"Do I gotta?" He grumbled as I forced a small wrapped gift into his hands. He shook his head at it and pointed to a particular gift under the tree, "Open yours first."
I shrugged, listening to his order and rushed over to pick of the present. I tore open the paper as gracefully as possible, to see a light blue apron with a large picture of a group of sunflowers on it.
"This is perfect, James." I said with a warm, genuine smile before asking softly, "How did you know I love sunflowers?"
"Well ya got a whole garden of 'em-ya even smell like 'em." He explained somewhat shyly, "So it wasn't too hard to figure out ya like 'em."
There was a short pause, the both of us staring at one another with a smile, until he inquired, "My gift beat out Bruce and Jinbo's?"
"Jin got me a pair of socks and Miles got me an excercise video-" I admitted with a laugh, "So yes, your gift is, by far, my favorite."
He grinned a nice, satisfied smile, clearly proud of his gift giving abilities whilst I nudged his present forward and prodded, "Open it."
He looked down at the santa shrouded paper, messily tearing it open and looking down at the small item inside.
"Coal?" James asked in disbelief, contorting his face as he questioned, "Are ya serious?"
I kept a straight face as long as I could before beginning to chuckle, then off James' expression, stated with a grin, "You should've seen your face."
James narrowed his eyes, clearly not finding the joke humerous, and I quickly placed another wrapped parcel in front of him and explained, "Here's your real gift."
With a quick shake of the head, he opened the gift, revealing a board game. He laughed heartily as he read the name of the game aloud, "Aggravation?"
"Figured it was appropriate-you do aggravate me on a daily basis."
He shook his head again at my words, then stated sincerely, "Thanks Jules. Can't wait to whoop ya at this later."
"I'd have to say..." I pondered aloud, pausing a moment before deciding, "Roller skates." I paused again to laugh, then explained, "Loved them for about...five minutes after I got them, but after falling on the pavement and fracturing your arm, your view tends to change a bit."
Jin grinned while Miles let out a fit of laughter, only stopping to stammer, "You...falling-on roller skates...that's something I gotta see."
"What's all the chucklin' about?" James suddenly asked curiously as he made his way into the room.
"We're all telling one another our worst Christmas gift we've ever gotten." I explained without thinking.
"What about you, LaFluer?" Miles asked as James took a seat next to me and casually rested his feet on the table in front of him, "What's the worst Christmas gift you've got as a kid?"
"Never got nothin' for christmas-before today." He answered with a shrug, his voice showing no hint of sadness or remorse whatsoever.
"What, your parents didn't love you enough to get you anything?" Miles chuckled, causing me to flinch as I watched a flicker of emotion flash through James' eyes. However, as quickly as the emotion came, it left, and James shrugged as he got up from the couch.
"Kinda hard to shop when you're dead." He stated gruffly, not letting a hint of sadness creep through his voice.
"What do you guys want for dinner?" I asked suddenly, in a desperete attempt to blow right pass the conversation and save James from explaining further.
"Dead?" Jin said with a confused look, ignoring my attempt at changing the flow of conversation, "You have never-"
"Forget I said it-none of ya'll's business." James stated more harshly than he must have intended. The room then fell silent, none of us willing to utter a word as James suddenly decided to stomp out the front door and into the frigid morning air.
As he slammed the door shut, I instantly got up and rushed outside after him, only stopping to drape on my coat and scarf.
"James." I said softly as I slowly came up behind him, "I'm sorry-"
"I don't wanna hear it." He snapped, "I don't want nobody feelin' sorry for me."
I took in a deep breath then sighed heavily, reaching out to touch his shoulder as I began gently, "Listen, I'm-"
"Get ya hands offa me." He grumbled, pushing himself away from me and taking a few steps in the opposite direction.
"James-don't push yourself away like this. You've been enjoying yourself lately-I'm not going to let you suddenly decide to drown yourself in sorrow thinking about the past."
"Easy for you to say." He grumbled, causing me to say rationally, "We all have horrible things that have happened to us before-but now Miles, Jin, you, and I all have each other. We can help you-I can help you."
"I don't want your help." He growled out, storming further out into the three foot deep snow, before grumbling, "I hate this damn holiday."
I sighed again, unable to believe how unreasonably stubborn he could be, when I pointed back towards our front door.
"James-get back inside." I stated sternly, narrowing my eyes as I stared harshly into his back, "You don't get to leave your family on Christmas."
"Family?" He growled out with a disbelieving laugh, spinning back around to face me, "What kinda family's this?"
I took a second, trying to come up with a reasonable answer whilst thousands of thoughts spun through my mind. After a brief moment, I begun slowly and carefully, "I understand that you're upset because you've never had a real Christmas..."
I paused, "Well I've never had a real Christmas before either, James, so don't act like you're the only one." I abruptly snapped, letting out all of my built up anger and frustration in one long breath, "Singing deck the halls with Ben last year, what kind of Christmas is that? And back in the real world, it wasn't much better. You want to know what my last real world Christmas was like? My parents refused to visit because they were both too stubborn to be in the same room with one another, Edmund was out working with his newest research assistant, and my sister was in the hospital on her death bed." I took a step forward, and continued,"So forgive me for enjoying coming home to watch Miles and Jin put up a Christmas tree, or showing you how to string popcorn, or making cookies in the shape of snowflakes and accidently burning them." I paused for a moment, then went on,"And call me crazy for actually liking that I have to clean up after you, and for savoring our game nights, and for treasuring the time spent listening to you and Miles' banter. But fighting and joking and annoying the hell out of each other-that's what a family is James. That's what they do."
Suddenly, before I could even get a grasp on what was happening, James' lips were pressed upon mine and his hands were gently running up and down my thigh.
"What was that for?" I asked breathlessly, tilting my head slightly as I took in his appearence.
"Had to shut ya up somehow." He said with a shrug, feigning casualness as his fingers enclosed against mine. I looked down at our intwined hands for a quick moment, before composing myself enough to say, "Let's get back inside."
James nodded in agreement, only hesitating for a brief second before he admitted, "Juliet?"
"Yes, James?"
"You were right...Christmas ain't so bad after all."