Disclaimer: This idea goes to a reviewer of my last story, Only Human. Thanks for the idea, GencoOliveOil. The characters don't belong to me.

Second Best:

Three years, Sawyer had been sitting playing head of security with the Dharma. He sat behind one of the security monitors, looking at Juliet under one of the Dharma vans. There was something to be said about him spending three years of a lie, in 1977 with a woman who he once got zapped by with a shocker. He chuckled and shook his head. It was ironic if anything. Here they were, conning a large group of people for survival, and he was playing house with someone who used to be his enemy.

He watched as she rolled herself out from under the car and sat up, looking up at the camera and simply giving a little finger wave before walking out of camera view. He smiled and tried not to laugh. How'd she always know when he was looking and when she wasn't?

"You wanna take a break, Jim?"

Sawyer glanced over at Phil. "For what?"

Phil grinned. "Come on," he said. "Go take a quick break, say hi to your woman."

Sawyer couldn't help but find it odd for Juliet to be called 'his' woman. There was something cliche about it, that he just couldn't place at the moment. But he shrugged and smirked at Phil. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

Phil nodded and took his bosses seat. "See you in a bit then."

"You got it," Sawyer said before stepping out of the security room. The fact that Juliet was 'his girl' seemed even more odd then the fact that Jack, Hurley and Kate had just floated off a crashing plane into 1977. He rolled his eyes and headed over to the motor pool.

Juliet glanced over as Sawyer headed towards her. "Hey," she said, putting down the clipboard with her checklist on it.

Sawyer grinned, letting his dimples show. "Got a question for ya."

"Shoot," Juliet replied, folding her arms and leaning against a cart.

"How the hell do ya always know when I'm lookin?" Sawyer asked her. It was one question that, in three years, he'd never actually asked her before.

Juliet smirked. "Oh that's easy. Every ten minutes or so I just give a little finger wave to the camera."

Sawyer stared at her in shock.

"I'm kidding."

Sawyer had to laugh. "Was gonna say, that's a little OCD."

Juliet grinned this time. "Does this mean I get to ask a question now?"

Sawyer eyed her in curiosity. "Alright, shoot," he stated, just like she had.

"Over three years," she told him. "Three years and you've never given me a nickname."

Sawyer got the feeling he knew where this was heading.

"How come?"

Sawyer wasn't sure if the answer he had for that, was really something he wanted to fess up to.

Juliet tilted her head to the side slightly in curiosity as she pulled the bandanna from her hair, letting it cascade down her shoulders. "Is it because you still don't like me?" she finalled questioned.

Sawyer seemed a little surprised if anything, by the accusation. "Its not cause I don't like ya," he said, holding back the roll of his eyes.

"Then why?" she asked, her curiosity peaked even more then before. She stepped up in front of him, clearly attempting to invade his personal space and make him uncomfortable until he answered her.

Sawyer just smiled a little. "You'll just laugh at me."

Juliet narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Alright, alright," he said, holding his hands out as a peace offering. "Honestly, can't seem to find the right one for ya'."

Juliet had the same look of confusion on her face as she always did when he said something cryptic. "Well, that doesn't make much sense," she told him. "I mean, Hugo is Hurley, Jack you call Doc, Kate, freckles." She sighed and shook her head. "You called that one girl, Blondie, when we were experiencing all those flashes. The mad scientist, ghost buster.."

"Ok," Sawyer said, waving his hands. "I get the picture," he noted. "Look, the reason I ain't got a nickname for ya is cause I have enough respect for ya that I don't think its necessary."

Juliet looked somewhat shocked at the confession.

Sawyer just smiled. "I been trustin' ya for three years to watch my back, Juliet," he told her.

"Trust isn't the same thing as respect, James."

Sawyer nodded. "Yeah, I know that," he explained. "But it sure as hell makes me respect you," he told her. "Not just cause you watch my back," he admitted. "I respect that even before all of.. this," he said, motioning his hands around the Dharma camp. "Before this, you were always just you," he told her. "You weren't tryin' to be nobody else."

Juliet frowned. "You're wrong."

Sawyer was the one with the confused face now.

Juliet sighed and shook her head, taking a seat on a nearby bench and watching as Sawyer followed her over, taking a seat next to her. "I've been pretending since I came to this island, James," she told him. "Honestly, before I came to this island I was a completely different person."

Sawyer watched her. He could tell from the look on her face, she wasn't sure which side of her she hated more, the pre-island Juliet, or the post-island Juliet.

"I was a complete and total disaster before I was recruited," she admitted. "I had no guts to stand up for myself, basically I hid in everyone's shadows."

Sawyer thought about it for a moment. "How'd you change from that, to zappin' me with that zapper, and holding guns to people's heads?" he questioned.

Juliet glanced at him. "Survival," she explained. "You have to adapt, be somebody you're not, to survive here."

"Like we're doing now?" he asked.

Juliet nodded. "It doesn't seem to matter where I am on this island, I'm always pretending," she admitted, closing her eyes.

"The long con," he muttered, leaning back and folding his arms.

Juliet smiled a little. "Yeah.. about 6 years worth of conning on my part."

Sawyer had to smile some as well. Even he'd never done a con this long before. But she's been doing it even longer then him. Only now they were conning together. "My respect ain't for what you're pretendin' to be, Juliet," he explained to her. "My respect is for the fact, you can hold your own when you have to, and anything you done, is only cause you had to do it."

Juliet frowned.

"Oddly, I respect you for shocking me with that zapper," he told her. "I respect you for being able to hold that gun to Kate's head, I respect the fact you saved me and Kate, that you played double agent and I respect the fact you've been watching my back for three years," he explained. "There ain't nothin' about you I don't respect, even from day one."

Juliet smiled and shook her head. "You respected me when I tasered you?"

"Yep."

Juliet laughed now. "Well, I respected you when you dumped out the canteen of water I threw to you."

Sawyer grinned. "Yeah, that was a little childish though."

Juliet had to grin in return. "Gave me a reason to smile."

They both sat for a moment in silence after that.

"So, is playing house your most annoying con yet?" she asked suddenly.

Sawyer glanced at her. "Who said anything about that bein' part of the con?"

Juliet looked up and stared at him with the most incredulous look.

"What?" he asked her, not lying and saying it was just a joke. "I coulda' told them you were just part of the crew."

"But," she muttered, unsure how to react. "What I mean is.. well," but she just couldn't seem to find the right words. "I don't know.."

Sawyer smiled and shook his head. "Your honesty is always pretty refreshing too."

Juliet smiled and let out a chuckle.

"Hey," he said, taking her hand in his. "If I could pick anyone that was here in this weird little town right now today, to live with," he told her. "I'd keep you," he admitted.

Juliet scrunched up her nose and stared at him. Once again she was waiting for him to tell her he was kidding. Because right now, today, Kate was living among them as well. "That's a lie," she pointed out, leaning back and closing her eyes.

Sawyer only managed to look offended, too bad she'd closed her eyes or she would've seen that. "This about her?" he asked.

"You and I both know, if you had a choice right now, you wouldn't be living with me," Juliet stated. "I'm always second best to everyone," she admitted. Although she had to realize, Sawyer had always been Kate's second best as well. It was ironic to be second best to a girl who had the guy she lived with, as her second best.

Sawyer sighed before nudging her into opening her eyes and looking at him. "I ain't lying to you Juliet," he told her. "Kate's here, but she's not for me anymore," he stated. "And you're never second best here," he admitted. "You've been number one for three years."

Juliet's eyes softened. It was only when she truly looked into his eyes to find the honesty that she found the pain set in them from her words. "I didn't.. I'm sorry.." she said with a sigh.

"My only wonder right now, is that if your concern is cause of Kate, or really if its cause the Doc is here now."

Juliet allowed her eyes to harden once more as she looked away.

"That a yes?"

Juliet found her eyes over on Jack Shepard across the small town. Not too far off that if she wanted, she could have gone over there just to prove Sawyer's accusation true. The problem was, she had thought the same thing at first. But she realized that it wasn't so much that she loved Jack. It was more along the lines that she was offended he'd never come back for her.

Sawyer watched her, and also watched who she watched. What he saw in her eyes and her face, wasn't what he thought he would see as she watched Jack. What she saw was the bitterness left from whatever Jack had done.

"No.." she muttered, looking away from Jack and instead finding her interest in the ground. She couldn't blame Sawyer for his question, she'd just done the same to him after all. "The answer to that would be no.."

Sawyer let the relief flood through him, even though he'd realized what he said was false when he noted her face as she looked at Jack. "What'd he do that made you so angry with him?"

Juliet stared at him. "I thought he was the one person I could truly trust, James," she admitted. "So.. I let myself fall for him, and that was a mistake," she explained. "Because anytime Jack was with me, sitting on the beach, or anything, I know he wanted me to be somebody else. Somebody I can never be."

Sawyer frowned at the way her eyes had started to water.

"I was just his second best," she said with a shrug.

For one of the first times, he noticed that Juliet was truly letting him see through her. Through the ice that she'd built up for so long, and he realized she really did only view herself as second best to everyone she'd ever encountered. And he realized now, why she had put up such a tough facade around everyone. Because in her eyes, she only managed to think of herself as second best.

"And the sad thing is, even though I knew that, the entire time we spent together," she stated next. "I didn't care," she admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. "Because I figured, second best was pretty much better then not getting anything at all."

Sawyer wasn't sure how to react just yet. He didn't think she wanted to be comforted, she tended to hate it whenever he tried.

"I thought he was my way off this island, James," she explained. "And that's the only thing I actually loved about him."

Sawyer looked somewhat shocked from the confession.

Juliet sighed and rested her head down on Sawyer's shoulder. "But I was wrong," she said quietly. "He never got me off this island," she admitted.

"So.. now what?" he asked her, glancing down and putting his arm around her. It wasn't comfort just for her, he figured. It was comfort for the both of them.

Juliet smiled a little. "Now?" she asked. "You mean what do I think now?"

Sawyer nodded.

"I think.." she started. "I think that I had to go through all those false beliefs," she explained. "Because if I didn't, I wouldn't be sitting here and fully trusting that you're the one who can save me."

Sawyer never thought anyone would trust him to be their savior. It was even more odd then anything that had ever happened in these past three years. No one had ever trusted him to save them. "I'm gonna do my best," he told her. "But you and I both know I ain't gonna make a promise I can't be sure I'll be able to keep."

Juliet smiled before placing a small chaste kiss on his lips and then laying her head back down on his shoulders. "And that's why I trust you.." she admitted. "And respect you."

Sawyer just smiled in return and kissed her on the forehead. "You ain't never gonna be second best to me, Juliet," he told her.

"Neither are you, James."

()()()()END()()()()

Once again, thanks for the idea Genco. This went a little more in depth then I meant. And probably a bit more.. touchy? Yeah, I guess touchy would be the right word for it. But Genco made me realize that Sawyer had never given Juliet a nickname, just like Juliet never called him anything except for James.