TITLE: Something Magical
AUTHOR: Nici
CHARACTER/PAIRING: Juliet Burke/James "Sawyer" Ford
FANDOM: Lost
GENRE: Het, Romance, Dharmafic, AU
RATING: PG-13
WORD COUNT: 1,695
SUMMARY: Juliet is crying and James has no idea what's wrong – and the explanation he gets is nothing he'd expected to hear ...
WARNINGS: English still isn't my native language (although I wish) and the story is not beta'd. I think the characters are a bit ooc, but I wanted to do fluff, so it was necessary. I'm ignoring that "Team Life Ruiners " ever made it back to the island, so don't expect too much canon ;)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters. I just borrow them from time to time to have some fun with them.

-o-o-

James found Juliet curled up on the sofa, when he returned from a hard day at work, and from the way she looked up at him, he instantly knew something was awfully wrong.
His heart sank and the good mood he'd been, in ever since he said his good-byes to Miles and Jin vanished instantly. He knew that, instead of a nice quiet evening, more drama (as if he hadn't had this all day at work) was about to follow. But it was okay. He didn't care, not in a way that he got angry or something. No, not for a second, he thought about cursing Juliet or blaming her for his obviously ruined evening. His old self, Sawyer, he might have had this thoughts, he might have blamed Juliet or turned on his heals to run away from any problems she might have had.
But Sawyer was gone, James had left him thirty years in the future (that still sounded odd), and all he felt now, was concern and fear that something had happened he wouldn't be able to fix (and that would put him in a bad mood, his inability to fix something to make Juliet feel better).
Watching her carefully, thousand thoughts run through his head: Was it something he did (or didn't do)? Has he said something wrong? Did something happen at work? Did the others found out about their past (or future)? Was it over; here in Dharmaville or between them? Didn't she love him anymore; had she finally stopped having his back?
He couldn't blame her, should that be the problem. After all, it was him who had asked her to stay; for two more week – not for almost three years. Maybe she had finally woken up and 'playing house' wasn't good enough for her anymore?

But as Juliet looked up, her eyes still filled with tear she must have been crying for a long while now, smiling at him, he knew that his worries had been for nothing – at least the ones about having lost her.
"You're home early," she said, her voice hoarse from too much crying. "I haven't fixed dinner yet. I'm sorry. I …"
"Don't worry," he said gently. Walking over to the sofa, he kneeled down in front of her, still watching her carefully.
"Dinner can wait. What's wrong with you? Did something happen?"
"I wanted to surprise you," Juliet said, ignoring his question. "I had everything planned and … I don't know. Suddenly …" She fell silent and lowered her head. He followed her gaze and noticed her trembling hands she had clasped tightly in her lap. Carefully, he put them into his hands and squeezed them gently.
"What happened?" he asked again. "Are we in trouble? Did we blow our cover?"
Juliet shook her head.
"Everything is fine," she said, trying to give him a reassuring smile, but failed, when new tears filled her eyes.
"Doesn't look like it."
"Well … I guess that depends," she said, quietly, trying to avoid meeting his eyes, but he put his thumb under her chin, forcing her to look at him.
Her emotional state scared him and, slowly, he felt panic rising inside of him.

Juliet hardly ever cried. She was the strongest woman he'd ever met. She was stubborn and a professional when it came to controlling her feelings. She usually was the last one to panic and her poker face had fooled them, him, so many times in the past - more in the beginning, when she was still 'an other' and before he'd fallen in love with her and learned to look behind these walls she'd built up around her. Seeing her now, so vulnerable and weak (he knew that both character traits were part of her real self that she kept hidden from the world), scared the hell out of him, and he realized that his voice was trembling as he spoke again.
"What happened, babe?" he asked, his voice nothing more than a whisper. "Talk to me, Juliet. I want to help you. Are you in pain? Did something happen at work?"
Juliet shook her head again, giving him a crooked smile. She cleared her throat a few times and James gave her all the time she needed, waiting patiently (and scared) for an answer that would explain her mood, and when she finally spoke, it was him whose whole body was suddenly shaking and he felt his knees weaken.
"I'm not in pain," she said with an unsteady voice. "But I don't know, whether we are in trouble or not. I … we … I'm pregnant, James."

Pregnant? A baby… James suddenly recalled the dream he had last night, in which he watched two little kids (blond and blue-eyed and beautiful as their mother) running through the living room, begging him, their daddy, to take them to the playground.
He remembered how good it had felt, how right and naturally, and it was only then that he realized that the island was messing with him again. It must be.

"Son of a bitch!" he growled, running his hands over his face, but stopped halfway, when he heard Juliet's voice.
"No, I think it's a girl," she said. He looked at her, confused by her words. But when he saw her smile, he shook his head, grinning. That was his Juliet, the woman he had fallen in love with over two years ago and who he'd, ever since, loved a little bit more with every day they had spend together on this island.
Rubbing his face, he brushed a strand of his long hair (it was already too long, but Juliet seemed to like it that way - 'very 70s' as she'd told him the other day) behind his ear, before he sat down next to Juliet. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, he pulled her closer to him, trying to comfort her – and to take some comfort from her closeness.

"What do you want to do now?" he asked, after they'd spend a long moment in silence, enjoying each others company and dealing with the news that would sure change their lives forever.
For him, the next step was clear and the ring he'd bought a few weeks ago suddenly became a whole new meaning and the right moment he'd been waiting for, for a while now, seemed to have come in reach. But this wasn't a decision he had to make – not alone. It was Juliet's body and she was an expert when it came to pregnancies on this island. She had to decide what to do and all he could do was support whatever decision she would make.
That he would stay with her (wherever she wanted to go) wasn't even a question, and he hoped that Juliet knew this. Just to make sure, he pulled her closer again, until she was sitting on his lap, their faces so close, he didn't even need to lean forward to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her, but he also wanted to hear her answer, so he waited and just started to caress her back with slow circling movements.
"Do you want to leave the island?" he asked, when she didn't answer. Juliet had her eyes closed, her quiet moans showing him she was enjoying his massage (he made a mental note to do this more often in the future - especially now that she was pregnant).
"Not yet," Juliet said, her voice soft. "We still have time."

James nodded, although she couldn't see it with her eyes still closed. He liked the way she said 'we' and how her answer implied that she wanted to keep the baby. With him.
Up until today (except for this disturbing dreams the night before) had he never pictured himself as a father. Clementine was out of reach and he had never seen her, and when Kate had been afraid she could be pregnant, three years ago (or 27 years from now), he hadn't taken it serious or strongly considered she really could be pregnant; not that he wouldn't have been there for her, if she were … but now that Kate was gone and out of his life (and his thoughts) it was unimportant, anyway.
He was with Juliet, he loved her and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her - and with that baby … As a family – as the family he had never had. James didn't know, if he would be a good father, but as long as Juliet was with him, they would make it work. They were a great team and as long as they had each others back they would achieve anything. And yet, he was nervous and a bit afraid he could fail. But he tried to keep it to himself and managed to hide his concerns behind a smile.
"We have all the time in the world," he whispered. His hands moved upwards until he reached her neck and shoulders, and with the same small circular movements as before he began to tenderly massage her tense neck and shoulder muscles, again coaxing a gentle groan out of her. He grinned with satisfaction.
"That feels good," she said, her voice nothing more than a whisper. "Don't stop, James."
"Don't worry, blondie. I won't," he replied, leaning forward to finally do what he'd wanted to do ever since he'd left work.
Her lips were soft as always, but he could still taste the salty tears she'd cried earlier, and he promised himself he would do everything to make her happy, to never see her cry again -except maybe happy tears.
"James?" she asked between two kisses, when his mouth started to move to her neck, placing butterfly kisses on the soft spot below her ear, while his hands found their way under her shirt.
"Hmm?" he asked, without interrupting his caress.
"I love you."
He smiled against her skin and then leaned back a little bit to look at her.
"I love you back," he said, still smiling and placing one hand on her still flat stomach, he added "Both of you."

- The End -