A/N: Lost is not mine and will never be.
That said, enjoy!
After 21 chapters I've just noticed chapter 1 is repeated so sorry!
This…thing between them had started with a mango. A mango found of gravity at that.
Perhaps it had started before and, if Kate were true to herself, she could say it had started at the Hydra Station. That place where they – Jack, Kate and Sawyer – were being held as prisoners and forced to break their bones breaking stones. That place where The Others experimented with them and with people, their own people, who were suddenly deem unwanted.
Back then, she didn't see much of the Juliet. Apparently, Juliet was a favorite of Jack's and Ben's, and the man had kept her with the doctor. But even then, whenever she saw glimpses of bouncing blonde hair and the face and body that went with it, Kate had found herself inexplicably attracted to her.
Perhaps it was Kate's own curious and risky nature that found her alluring.
She wanted to meet this woman who exuded waves of confidence and indifference.
She wanted to know why Juliet had been the only one to react fast and oh so calmly when Sawyer (James as she had called him) made and escape attempt in the work site.
What made the single woman out of a bunch of men stand out– aside from the obvious – so evidently and so much more captivating and interesting? So much powerful than them; powerful without the need to bragging. To emphasize. To remind them of her position above them. She just stood there calmly taking all in and possibly formulating plans every passing second.
Kate remembered the first contact of skin between them. How the blonde pulled her to her and she had let herself be brought closer without the need of a gun being pointed at her. Because when Juliet did it, she did it without a gun. And Kate thought that she did so because the woman was sure Kate could feel the powerful waves of control and warning coming from her. And Kate did. She felt it. But she felt much more.
Juliet hadn't been rough. In fact, the contact was minimal. Almost feathery. But for that same reason, the woman intrigued the brunette even more. She simply slid a hand through her arm and closed her hand around it taking all the time in the world. As if she were in absolute control of the situation and she was.
The blonde firmly and coldly called his name. A simple passing of air through her mouth and movement of her tongue caused the man to stop and turn around. And a simple movement of her arm and a gun was pointed in Kate's direction. Juliet knew just where to attack and who to hit.
No rocket science there.
Anyway, the blonde managed to capture Kate's attention and uneasiness, which further increased when she helped them escape. Not to mention hundreds of question arising which added to the other few hundred that Kate had when it came to Juliet.
Oh, and that very special time they spent running around the jungle trying to get back to Jack.
Kate had many 'found' memories of her time with Juliet. Before they became intimate.
So back to the mango.
It had been the day after they arrived back to the camp sporting a new 'member' to their exclusive camp.
It is not really necessary to mention how wary people of Juliet were, so the blonde kept to herself and hanged around with Jack because of the doctor's natural caring and nice nature. And he was the one to have the final say whether she was with them or not.
So the day after they arrived, Kate had been up on a mango tree retrieving some of its fruit when a very small one, thankfully, had slipped from her hand and onto an unexpected blonde's head.
"Ow! Hey no need to throw them at me, you know? I have enough with the stares I get." Juliet said rubbing her bruised head before putting on her cold mask.
Kate almost let go of the tree risking being part of one of the things that crushed the blonde and her heart started beating faster.
"Sorry!" She apologized wincing and then composed herself. "It's not my fault gravity exists."
"Or that you have slippery hands I suppose." Juliet said crouching down to retrieve the innocent green mango. "Why did you choose this one? It's still green."
"I didn't choose it. I was merely moving it to the side to get another one."
"So why did you throw it at me?"
Kate gritted her teeth. Juliet was talkative today. Which was a rare occurrence because the blonde was, or at least portrayed herself as, a woman of few words with powerful meanings.
"I didn't-" She stopped and sighed. "Maybe it was because I don't like you. Think of it as payback for making me break rocks all day."
"Well that's certainly quite the steal." The blonde commented. "But I didn't make you break any rocks Kate."
"You didn't? You-"Kate stopped herself yet again. It was too easy to lose her self-control in the blonde's presence.
Is she baiting me?
She thought as she grabbed a few more mangoes and started climbing down.
"Maybe you didn't but you stood there and commanded everyone around you. Including the ones that threaten us to keep on 'working' or they would kill us. So, yeah, you did make me break rocks all day for days." The brunette pointed out once she was on the ground.
"I was merely following a set of orders. And I was there to supervise."
"Why did you help us?" The brunette asked a question that had been bothering her for days. "Why kill one of you to help escape two of us?"
"Is it not obvious?"
"No Juliet it isn't. Otherwise I would not be asking."
"I think you are asking because you need to hear it. You need me to confirm what you suspect. Or better, what you know."
"What are you, a shrink now?" Kate shook her head and laughed. "And what would that be? What is that you think I think of you?"
"That I'm different from them."
"No, blondie. That's where you are wrong. Them does not apply when it is you talking about them. When it comes to you talking about them, you should refer to them as us, cuz that is what you are and will always be. One of them. Never one of us."
"Then why am I still here Kate? You know you wouldn't have allowed Jack to bring me all the way here, to your friends and your people, if I were a threat to all of you. So, why did you let him?"
Kate frowned. "Because they left you behind."
"And you felt sorry for me?"
"You did lie to stay with me, so I wouldn't leave you behind. So yeah, I did-do feel sorry for you."
"What I don't understand Kate is why did you let Jack bring me with you? Why, after I made you break rocks all day? Aren't I, in your eyes, one of them? Don't I deserve to be left behind?"
"Not just in my eyes." The brunette reminded as an answer ignoring the last question. Or rather most of them.
"You still have not answered my question." Juliet spoke ignoring her as well.
"I asked you one first." Yet another mental slap to Kate.
"My answer is the same as yours, Kate, I assure you." The blonde calmly spoke.
Kate narrowed her eyes at her and glared enthusiastically.
Maybe, if I close my eyes, she'll just go away? No? Maybe if a glare some more?
Kate sighed resignedly when none of it worked and the blonde was still there with that annoying calm expression of hers. As if Kate's glare meant nothing. As if it didn't affect her at all.
"Why are you here? And I mean here, as of now, standing in front of me?" Kate clarified.
Juliet stared back at her for a couple of minutes making Kate uncomfortable before answering.
"Jack sent me to get you."
"And you waited all this time to tell me?"
Juliet merely shrugged. "Didn't seem important."
"And he just sent you? You?"
"Do you see somebody else with us?" Juliet motioned around them.
"He sent you. Aha. And you did what he told you too."
"He trusts me. And I thought it would be nice a change of scenery."
"He trusts you." Kate raised her eyebrows.
"We have something in common. A common interest as well."
"And what is that?"
"You." And with that the blonde spun on the heels of her feet and walked back to the beach. "Oh, and he says you should meet him by the church." She threw over her shoulder nonchalantly.
Kate watched her go confused and frowning for all she was worth.
"Me?"
What did she mean by that?
The brunette groaned and picked up the young, unripe mango.
"Did you really have to fall on her? Her, of all people, you couldn't have just chosen another victim could you?" She shook her head and got up.
She really does confuse the hell out of me.
She thought to herself dryly before shouldering her backpack and walking back to the camp immersed in her thoughts.