chapter 2

Things seemed to change when Kate returned from her fact finding mission. Juliet could see the acceptance in the other woman's face. She was relieved that she didn't have to worry about being left behind again, but she worried about the quiet resignation she saw in the brunette's demeanor. It was as if this was her fate and she was recognizing it for what it was...nothing she could do about it.
She tried to bring the other woman out of her silent reverie at every given oppurtunity. It seemed as soon as Juliet had gotten a grip on her own self Kate had withdrawn a little. Two days later, when Kate still seemed so withdrawn , she decided they needed to talk.

"What are you thinking about Kate?" the blond asked from her end of the garden they had decided needed their tending. "Kate?" she repeated seeing the blank expression the younger woman met her own with. "What?" Kate seemed to come back to herself as if from somewhere far away.
"I asked you what you were thinking about." Juliet clarified. "Uhmmm..." Kate seemed to go into deep thought. "Fresh baked coiussants."
Juliet laughed. "Really?"
"Think about it we will never experience hot fresh baked pastries again." She said sadly.

It was a week later that Kate woke up to the smell of burning food. She left her bed rushing to the kitchen in concern that there was a fire. She stopped just shy of the entryway staring at Juliet with smudges of flour on her face and smoke surrounding her. "What the-?"
Juliet seemed to look at the other woman then around at her surroundings and began to laugh.
"What the hell is so funny?" Kate asked walking around the room to open all the windows and air out the smoke.
"You were right it appears." Juliet breathed between giggles. "There will never be fresh coissants again."
Kate froze staring at the other for a moment as if she had gone mad while they slept. Then she realized what the older woman had been trying to do. She was trying to make Kate fresh pastry. The surprisingly sweet gesture made her chest constrict. That Juliet had taken her offhand statement so clearly to heart. When she looked down at the flat shell shaped brown spots on the cookie sheet she too began laughing. "Yup, just as I suspected...we will never again taste real food that doesn't come wrapped with a Dharma Initiative label." It was then that they both doubled over laughing at that tiny aspect of their current circumstance. After that things began to relax between them and they often found themselves in the kitchen argueing over the proper way to cook something. Kate had searched the compound for some kind of cookbook to no avail so now it was just them to decide how to prepare any given dish. Kate and Juliet had little in common. However their lack of cooking skills seemed to match up perfectly.

It wasn't long after that when she heard Kate crying in the night. It broke her heart as she was drawn almost instinctively to the small sobs coming from the door to the room next to hers. Knocking lightly she slowly opened the door, "Kate, are you ok?"
Kate sniffled quietly, "Yeah fine"
"I can hear your not." Juliet said simply slowly approaching the bed. "Tell me what's wrong Kate."
Kate seemed to struggle with her voice as she said in a high pitched tone, "I had a bad dream."
Juliet didn't even think about it before she slipped under the covers with the brunette, who layed on her side with her back to the door. "I't's alright now," she whispered.
Kate stiffened when she felt Juliets arm wrap around her waist. "I won't hurt you."
Kate seemed to ponder those words for a moment before she relaxed into the other womans soft embrace. "I know." she finally uttered in a hoarse whisper. "Go back to sleep now." Juliet said matter or factly but didn't loosen her hold on the younger woman. "Thank you Juliet." Kate breathed.
"For what?" she asked yawning and leaning in further to Kate's back. "For staying with me." she sounded incredibly vulnerable even to herself then. "Hey," Juliet kissed the back of her head in reassurance, "we're in this together right?"

After that Kate began watching the blond again. This time there was no suspicion. No looking for some evidence that Juliet wanted to hurt her. Now she watched with cautious curiosity. She replayed that night in her head over and over again and was sure Juliet had acted out of actual concern for Kate. Her worry was no longer the motives of Juliet's kindnesses but the flutter they seemed to cause in her chest.
She saw the determined look on her face when they fought the seemingly unending weeds in the garden or repairs on the dwelling they had seemed to silently agree to co-exist in. She sometimes wondered what these lazy Dharma-ites would have done if they had to grow their own food or fix their own roofs without the assistance of the caffeteria or maintanence .
She laughed out loud when she pictured Ben weeding his garden or even worse on a ladder trying to patch a hole in the roof.

Juliet paused in mid fold when she looked up at Kate self-consciously, who had walked in on her doing the laundry. "Something funny?" she asked in a gaurded tone. "Nope." She giggled.
"Then why are you laughing?" she asked.
"Just trying to picture Ben gap-folding his laundry."
"Gap-folding?" Juliet asked confused.
Kate walked over to the other woman and sat down beside her, an affectionate smile on her face as she pointed to the pile of shirts piled on the coffee table. It's how you find them folded in the retailers." "So?" Juliet furrowed her brow in confusion. Kate laughed again at how adorably ignorant the blond was. "Juliet," she began smirking, "Did you ever go to a thrift store or a free clothing bank to get a shirt?"
"No-why would I-" she narrowed her eyes in mock annoyance. "Is this another one of those fun conversations where we discuss how I'm a spoiled doctor, and you in your breif time on this planet have truly lived on the edge?"
"Yup. It's one of those conversations." she smiled proudly as she grabbed up one of Juliet's t-shirts between them and carelessly folded it in half as if to explain how it was done in the real world.
Juliet stared at the shirt Kate had put next to her pile of neatly folded clothes, on the surface of the table, and seemed deep in thought for a minute. The brunette was right she had never worn a shirt that she didn't buy new. She furrowed her brow again, "So if I were to fold our clothes in a messy manor it would improve relations?" She asked sincerley.
"Absolutely." Kate answered with a great deal of certainty. Juliet immediately grabbed up one of Kate's shirts and folded it in half and then again before putting it on the pile she had started. Kate smiled over at her with something akin to admiration, "Very cool." she grinned, as if no one before Juliet had given anything she had to say a second thought. "I could totally be cool," Juliet mumbled as she went back to gap-folding the shirts and placing them carefully in her pile. "Ya know if I had any such desire."
Kate nearly fell off the couch as she burst into hysterics. "Of course you could be." she barely managed between giggles. "Juliet Burke-rebellious laundry folder."
Then they were both laughing hard.

It was about a week after the great laundry debate when Juliet got bitten by the spider. They had been cleaning out she tiny basement thinking they would use it to store vegetables they had been practicing canning for the rainy season. Kate was upstairs getting another bucket of warm soapy water when she heard Juliet cry out. Dropping the bucket on the kitchen floor she raced back downstairs grabbing a cast iron frying pan on the way to use as a weapon against whatever had made Juliet yell. She found Juliet sitting on the floor holding onto her calf with both hands in an iron grip. She quickly scanned the room for any threat, and finding none knelt down quickly next to her freind. "What happened?" She asked anxiously cupping her face which was a mask of pain. "Something bit me." Juliet grunted between gritted teeth. "Let me see." She reached for Juliets hands only to have the other woman instinctively pull away from her tightening her grip on her wound.
"Come on, don't be a baby." she teased trying to sound nonchallant while inside she was anything but.
Her taunting tone seemed to do the trick and she managed to pry the blond's fingers off her leg. She carefully examined the two tiny puncture wounds in the center of a large circular bruise that seemed to be swelling and growing darker before her very eys.
"Oh shit." Juliet's tone was matter of fact but her face clearly gave away the fact that this was serious. "Kate, give me your knife."
"Huh?" Kate asked confused.
"Your pocket knife! Now!" Juliet's harsh tone brought the younger woman back to reality and she quickly handed it to the other.
"Ok, this is a spider bite, a bad spider." She was almost panting now. "I need to cut into it and suck the poison out." She explained her voice hoarse now,she was close to tears.
"What? Really?" Kate asked astounded.
"No, I just wanted to crack you up." she said taking the knife from the other woman and quickly sliced the now purple wound open with a shallow long straight line. "Ahhh!" she screamed and took a deep breath trying to keep herself together. Her forehead was now covered in light sheen of sweat.
Kate watched amazed as she tried to bend over pulling the wound up to her lips. "Wait," she said, "let me."
"No Kate it's dangerous...if you swallow any of the venom-" her voice broke off.
"So no swallowing. Right," Kate took her leg and put her lips to the cut. She quickly began sucking at the wound and spitting out the bitter tasting blood. Juliet watched the other woman with amazement. It seemed nothing intimidated this fearless young woman. She repeated the action half a dozen times before the doctor put a steadying hand on Kates hand. "It's enough," she said still breathing hard but she could see the purple fading.
"You sure?" Kate met her eyes doubtfully.
"Anything left has already entered my blood stream." She said trying to reasure her that there was nothing else she could do .
Kate's eyes widened nervously, "Your bloodstream? Why doesn't that sound like a good thing?"
"Well it's not ideal," Juliet said weakly, "but you got to it quickly so i'm sure it will be ok."
"Come on, upsy daisy," she said wrapping her arm around Juliet's torso and lifting her to her feet. "Let's get you out of this killer spider ridden basement."
Juliet leaned heavily on Kate as the brunette slowly helped her up the stairs. She fairly collapsed on the sofa Kate brought her to. "Not bad for a scrawny chic." she tried to joke but her voice was filled with pain.
"Who you calling scrawny?" She huffed.
Juliet laughed, a tiny hollow sound to Kate's ears.
"What now?" She asked forcing her voice to remain calm and steady.
"Upstairs. My bag. There's a venom kit." she groaned feeling herself becoming dizzy.
"Got it!" Kate took off at the speed of light, returning with Juliet's back so quickly it made the blond's head spin even more. She watched Kate rifling through her bag desperately until she saw her pull the right rectangular box out of it. "This?"
"Mmm-hmmm," she murmered. "There's a syringe. Fill it with the liquid."
Kate clumsily took the syringe out and jabbed the tip into the small bottle filled with a milky substance. "Like this?" she asked nervously holding up the now full needle.
"Yes-good..." Juliet suddenly began coughing and the raw throaty sound made Kate want to scream for help even though she knew there was no one else to help her.
"Quickly, my shoulder.." The blond maoned.
Kate jabbed the point in without hesitation, using the plunger to push the anti-venom in.
"Hey, pretty good...for an amatuer..." Juliet smiled right before her eyes seemed to roll back in her head and she passed out.
"What? No." she grabbed Juliet by the shoulders. "Hey what now?"
It was no use of course the older woman was now unconscious.