Title: The long way to you is still tied to me
Pairing: Sawyer/Juliet
Rating: PG
Spoilers: "LA X" (6.01/02), just to be safe
Summary: We could get coffee sometime.
**
Miami in July is hotter than hell.
Why James chose this godforsaken state as the place to go straight, he still don't know. Probably some misguided attempt at penance, punish himself for his previous misdeeds or some shit.
Whatever the reason, here he is, workin' nights doing security at a damn research lab, of all places. It's the first steady job he's held since he was sixteen, and, truth be told, it ain't too bad. The lab is pretty dead at night, sometimes there's one or two dedicated geeks who come in early or stay really late, but they pretty much never bother him.
All in all, things could be a hell of lot worse.
He looks at the bank of security monitors showing a bunch of empty labs, leans back in his chair, and kicks his feet up on the control area. The phone rings almost immediately.
"Son of a bitch," he mutters under his breath and reaches for the receiver.
**
The phone call was from some woman up on the fifth floor, said she heard some suspicious noises in one of the offices down the hall. He checks everything out on the monitors, doesn't see anything, then picks up his flashlight and trudges across the lobby.
When he steps off the elevator, the hallway is dark and silent, most of the offices shut up tight for the night. He walks slowly down the hall, shines his flashlight around all the corners and into the offices. Doesn't see anything.
He's pretty sure it's a false alarm, but he still figures he better talk to her and make sure everything's okay.
There's light shining out from underneath one of the doors at the end of the hall. Dr. Juliet Burke, it says on the little plastic tag outside the door and he guesses she's probably the one who called.
He taps lightly with the butt of his flashlight, calls, "Security," and feels like a damn moron.
He stands there for a few seconds before a woman opens the door. Blonde hair, blue eyes, legs up to here. Not the typical geek scientist he sees around here.
"Hi," she says, and looks at him expectantly.
"Hey," he says and stares at her. There's something familiar about her, something he can't quite place. For one horrible second he thinks she might have been a mark, back in his other life, but the thought quickly passes. He would definitely have remembered that. Still, though, something about her makes him feel a little uneasy and he stands there staring at her for a few more seconds before he realizes he should probably say something else. "Uh," he says, "you call security?"
"Yeah," she says and makes a vague gesture in the direction of some offices a few doors down. "I thought I heard something in the hallway."
"Well, I just looked," he says and shrugs. "Ain't nothin' there."
"You're sure?" she asks and he resists the urge to roll his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm sure," he answers a little gruffly. He may not be a doctor, but he can sure as hell look down a hallway. "Nothin' on the monitors, nothin' on the walk through. All clear."
"Oh," she says and nods. "Well, thanks…." she trails off, and her eyes move to the name tag on his chest.
"James," he supplies, and he's surprised he doesn't stutter when he says it. He hasn't introduced himself to a woman as anything other than Sawyer in fifteen years and it feels really fuckin' weird.
She must not notice though, because she just holds out her hand and says, "Juliet."
He shakes her hand, and damn, he knows he knows her from somewhere. "Juliet," he repeats and narrows his eyes a little. "We ever met before?"
"I don't think so," she says. "Why?"
He shrugs. "No reason, I guess."
She holds his gaze for a few seconds and the déjà vu feeling gets stronger. When he finally breaks eye contact and looks down, he realizes they're still holding hands.
**
Two nights later, he sees her in the parking lot on his way into work.
"Not workin' late tonight?" he asks.
"No," she says and shakes her head. "I've got other plans."
"Hot date?" he teases and she laughs. It's a nice sound, lighter somehow than he expected.
"Oh yeah," she says and rolls her eyes. "Dinner with my sister."
He laughs, and she smiles back at him. "Well," she says, and tucks a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Good night, James."
She moves out towards the rows of cars and, before he can stop himself, he reaches out and puts his hand lightly around her forearm.
"You sure we ain't never met before?" he asks and stares at her like he can will himself to remember.
"I really don't think so," she says, and shrugs like it don't matter to her either way. But she doesn't move her arm out of his grasp and she keeps looking at him, long and hard, and he knows that it does matter somehow, even if he ain't quite sure why.
**
They manage to run into each other every night after that. Five times in the parking lot. Twice in the elevator. On the nights she works late, he stops by her office on his nightly walk-throughs, makes sure she ain't hearing any more phantom noises in the hallway.
She always looks vaguely happy to see him, the corners of her mouth curling up into a half-smile when he says her name, and he knows he's gettin' a lot closer to figuring out where they met before.
**
He gets fired two weeks later.
Apparently his sittin' and starin' skills ain't quite up to standard. It sucks, but he can't bring himself to get too worked up about it. Playin' rent-a-cop for minimum wage ain't exactly his dream job, anyway. Still, though, having to leave strikes him as strangely unfair and it only takes him a couple of minutes to figure out it's because of Juliet.
He stops by her office on his way out and when he tells her, she looks way more upset than he thought she would. It makes him feel better than he wants to admit.
**
He's almost to the elevator when she calls his name. He turns around, and watches as she walks down the hall towards him.
She's got this look on her face like she wants to tell him something, and he hopes like hell it's gonna be something about where she knows him from. He's not sure why he's so fixated on this damn idea, but he just can't shake this feeling. Like when he finds out, something really big is going to fall into place, which he knows is ridiculous but, well, there you go.
She gets to where he's standing and just looks at him for a few beats. "Maybe we could get coffee sometime," she finally says and it's definitely not what he was expecting, but he feels himself smiling all the same.
"Well," he says, "seein' as how I just got fired and all, I ain't sure I can afford that."
She laughs a little and he has to clench his fist to keep from reaching out and touching her. "I never said you had to buy."
"Well, Blondie, what do you suggest?" he asks.
"We can go Dutch," she says and she's smiling at him and her eyes are blue and clear and he's pretty sure he's figured out where he knows her from.
****
end