Cpt 3.

"A confidence man knows he's lying, that limits his scope. But a successful shaman believes what he says-and belief is contagious, there is no limit to his scope."

Stranger In A Strange Land

-Robert A. Henlein-

Juliet's palm went across the taut stomach of her husband. Her fingers spread wide before gently curling into the mass of curls that lay just below his stomach, covering his pubic area. His cock jumped slightly, a subconscious reaction to his wife's intimate touch, even in sleep. She watched it move, the bed sheets rising slightly and a sly smile crossed her lips. She lifted the covers and took a peek, he was hardening and his breath came deep and strong as her fingers inched ever lower.

"You going to tease me while I lay helpless in bed?" he said groggily, startling her and making her jump back.

"I thought you were asleep?" she said smiling gently at him.

"And what were you planning on doing if I was?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said demurely.

"Uh huh, you know this is the second time I've caught you checking me out in my sleep," he said.

"I wasn't checking you out," she giggled but a streak of red was streaming across her cheeks.

Jack rolled over, pinning her down onto the bed, his hand holding her wrists together above her head.

"You were checking me out," he whispered.

Juliet raised her eyebrow but said nothing. They stared at each other until finally Jack's hand began to slide up her long, lean thigh sending shivers up her spine. She immediately opened her legs for him but he stopped midway through.

"Jack," she whimpered.

Jack leaned his face into hers but only grazed her open mouth with his lips and breath, instead he pressed his lips to her beautiful polished shoulders. Juliet's eyes fixed on the ceiling as she threw her head back, trembling as he renewed his caress of her inner thigh. She clutched at his hair, sinking her fingers into the short crop as his tongue ran the length of her collar bone. Finally his burning lips joined with hers, kissing her long and deeply.

Juliet arched up but Jack was careful not to let his hips touch hers, or let her feel his throbbing cock against her wet hole. He wanted to take his time with her. He pushed up on his forearms and slid his chest against hers, the tips of her hardened breasts sent jolts of electricity through his body down to his aching penis. His hand slid down her torso, barely scraping over her clit before he found the space between them and took hold of his own member. He caressed his rod gently at first before running its length with a firmer grip, squeezing the precum out and running it over his head with his thumb.

"God, please Jack," Juliet cried her thighs sticky and wet from the pool spilling from her pussy. He gazed at her beauty, his eyes swimming in lust as they fell over her swollen breasts and traveled over the soft curves of her hips.

Juliet's arms stretched out to him and he fell into them, letting her engulf him in her embrace as she showered hot, wet kisses over his neck and shoulders. His cock lay across her belly in anticipation of taking her as he rolled her nipples across his tongue and between his teeth. When he felt Juliet's nails dig into the flesh of his back he knew she had waited long enough and placing one leg over hers pushed into her, teasingly moving back a little but she wrapped her legs around him and pressed the small of his back, pushing him in till he was buried deep inside her.

Jack groaned and began thrusting faster and harder now as she clung to his biceps, the sweat running down his tattoos, following the pattern of his protruding veins.

"God yes," Juliet cried clutching his even tighter as her orgasm hit her and then she felt the familiar rush of warm liquid fill her as Jack released inside her. He lay in her arms till their breathing stilled.

"Now its home," she said stroking his brow tenderly.

"What?" he asked with a chuckle.

"We've officially christened the house," she explained.

"Well," he said slyly, "The bedroom at least."

"You have another room in mind?" she inquired.

"Many," he said but the digital clock caught his attention, "Shit! I'm going to be late; the damn alarm didn't go off."

Jack ran to take a shower and dressed for work. He stumbled downstairs grabbed a slice of toast Claire was buttering for herself and took off out the door.

"I was going to eat that," she cried to the back of his head.

Juliet laughed and put a couple of new slices into the toaster.

"So what are you up to today?"

"I was thinking of going into town and look around for a job," Claire said fishing for the strawberry jam in the cupboard, "That is if you don't mind watching Aaron for awhile."

"No, not at all. I have a ton of reading if I'm going to catch up on the latest fertility treatments, so I have nowhere to be," Juliet said as she poured them some coffee.

"So you're going to go back to work soon," Claire asked.

Juliet nodded, "As soon as Christian's a little older, there's a great daycare right in Jack's hospital. They'll take Aaron as well."

"Cool," Claire said, "Oh look at the time, I better get going."

She kissed the boys and said goodbye to Juliet and headed out. Juliet turned to the children and sighed before flipping the radio on. Downtown, by Petula Clark came on and Juliet smiled as she cleared the dishes.

….

Claire strolled past flower shops and an array of clothing boutiques and antique stores. Portland's quaint atmosphere along with a blue, sunny sky had her feeling happy and free. With a mocha latte in her hand, she peered into shop windows hoping for a help wanted sign. Finally, she saw one. It was situated in the lower, right hand corner of the window. The little store was only a few blocks from the bus stop she let herself off on, twenty minutes from home. She looked up at the sign and read "Wicked Moon, books and pagan supplies". Claire scrunched her nose but took another look through the window. Shelves were lined with various teas, crystals and books. A cat meowed and caught her attention, bringing it to the window display where he sat. It was laid with a set of outstretched tarot cards and an astrological chart. She perked up at that, astrology was always an interest of hers and she decided to walk in.

She was met with the heady scent of incense but it wasn't unpleasant, instead it left her feeling immediately calm and at ease.

"May I help you?" a middle aged woman with fiery red hair asked her.

"Um, well," Claire hesitated but the woman smiled kindly at her and she continued, "I was wondering about the job you posted in your window."

"Are you interested in working here?" the woman asked.

"Maybe," Claire said.

"Well it basically entails helping out in the shop, doing cash and we also ship items through on online website we have. Do you know computers?"

Claire nodded. "Good," the woman said, "And what about the Path?"

"Um, Path?" Claire asked bewildered.

"Oh, you're not Wiccan then," the woman said, "Do you know anything about Pagan religions?"

"I know astrology. I can do people's charts," Claire offered.

The woman laughed, "Well that's something at least. More than most of the people that has come in. You know, mostly Goth kids thinking it would be cool to work here," she said and held out her hand, "I'm Katharine by the way but most people call me Kat."

"Claire," she said shaking her hand while still holding her coffee with the other.

"I like you Claire; you have a good aura about you. The job's yours if you want it."

"Great, yeah I'd love to work here."

"You can start tomorrow. It doesn't pay great, about $10 an hour to start but you get all the free tea you can drink."

Claire laughed and accepted the offer.

"I'll start by showing you the merchandise and then the web site and explain what everything is for. Let's say 8am?"

"Sounds great Katharine," Claire said.

"Kat," she told her.

"Great, Kat," Claire repeated.

"I'll see you tomorrow then Claire," the woman said and walked her out the door.

Claire smiled brightly as her mind raced with what experiences she might have when she suddenly crashed into a hard body, spilling her coffee all over him.

"God damn it, why don't you watch where you're going?" the man yelled.

"I'm terribly sorr…Sawyer?" Claire asked in amazement.

"Mamacita is that you?" he asked.

"What are you doing in Maine?" he asked her patting his wet chest with a napkin.

"I live here now; didn't you get Juliet's messages?"

"I had to get another cell phone, is Jack and Juliet here too then?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah, Jack's working at the General Hospital now. We needed a fresh start away from L.A. you know. But what are you doing here?" Claire asked in excitement.

Sawyer stuck his hands in his jeans' pockets and rocked back on his heals, "Not much really."

"Oh," Claire said as the silence grew between them. She was disappointed he didn't seem as happy to see her as she was to see him.

"You should come to the house," she finally said, "I know Juliet's been worried about you."

"Maybe later," he said, "What's the address?"

Claire dug into her purse and found a pen and some paper. She handed him the address and he took it. Their fingers touching sent the familiar bolt of electricity she experienced every time they touched and she was sure he felt it too.

"So I'll see you later then?" she asked. He shrugged, "Maybe," before heading off in the opposite direction.

….

It had been a long day for Jack but he happily listened to Claire talk about her job in the Occult store over dinner.

"All that voodoo stuff, you sure you want to deal with those people?" he asked her.

"It isn't voodoo, it's mainly Wiccan," Claire said, "And yeah I think it will be fun."

He laughed and let her chatter on as his wife squeezed his knee under the table.

"And Sawyer's in town," Claire said.

Juliet immediately felt Jack tense under her touch. She knew her husband was aware of his sister's increasing crush on the con man and how he hated the thought of them together.

"What's he doing here?" Jack asked.

"He didn't say. I told him to come over but so far he hasn't shown up."

Jack looked at his wife who gave him a telling look not to say anything negative about their son's godfather so he bit his tongue and kept quiet.

Finally the kids were put to bed and Claire and Jack retired to their rooms. Juliet stayed up preparing a lunch for Jack to take with him to work, putting a romantic note for him to read next to his sandwich. She was smiling mischievously at the thought of him reading it when a knock on her back door startled her.

"James?" she said opening the door and letting him in.

"Hey Blondie, long time no see," he said in his usual southern drawl.

"What are you doing lurking in the back of the house?"

"Waiting for everyone to go to bed, except you I mean," he said.

Juliet pulled out a chair for Sawyer and took the one directly across from him.

"Why?' she asked bluntly.

"Just wanted to see how you were without causing a scene, you know with the Doc."

"Jack wouldn't say anything, he likes you deep down."

Sawyer let out a sarcastic chuckle.

"What's wrong James? What are your really doing here in the middle of the night? In Maine?"

"It's where Cassidy moved, after," he said pausing and taking a deep breath, "After Clementine was born."

"Oh," Juliet said sadly.

"I just needed to hear it, to know if it was true," he said.

"And?" Juliet asked and watched as his fingers curled into fists at his knees.

"She's dead then," Juliet said knowing he wouldn't get the words out himself.

"Juliet," he whimpered and began to sob, he collapsed in his seat and she took his head into her lap, bending over him and running her hand over his back as he shook with sobs.

"They killed her, my little girl and for what? Some fucked up DNA experiment?" he said.

"I'm so sorry James," she told him not knowing what else to tell him.

"I'm so tired Juliet. I've seen so much, done so much. So many dirty things, you couldn't even believe."

"I know James, I know about it all," she said reminding him she had read his file.

He looked up, his eyes red and puffy.

"So why do you put up with me? Why did you want me to be your kid's godfather of all things?" he asked her as she handed him a tissue.

"Because James, we've all done horrible things when we had to, seen horrible things, experienced unimaginable heartaches. None of us came away unscathed," she told him.

He smiled at her, "You know you're a lot like Jack."

She looked at him, with her eyebrow raised in question.

"You're too damn good and you don't even know it. The two of you really are perfect for one another."

Juliet grinned at him, "Jack's not all good, in fact he can be very bad when he wants too."

"Ugh, do I need to hear about that tonight?" he grimaced.

Juliet laughed and shook her head no, "There's a spare bedroom, why don't you go up and get some sleep."

"I don't know Juliet," he hesitated.

"It's late, everyone's already asleep. I'll explain things to Jack when he wakes up in the morning."

Sawyer relented and let her lead the way. Once he was settled she shut the door softly and headed for her own bed. She passed the closed door of the playroom and felt a cold wind pass through her. She turned to walk away with a shiver when she heard a soft whisper call her.

"Juliet," it said in a mournful cry stopping her in her tracks. With her heart pounding she followed the voice to the room. Her hand on the cold door knob, she was about to open it.

"Juliet," Jack called from the doorway of their room. She jumped back to look at him.

"You scared me," she said in a whisper, her hand at her heart.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"I thought I heard something, someone, calling me," she explained.

"Yeah, me. I was calling you to come to bed," he said.

"No, I don't think it was," she said but he cut her off and took her hand.

"Its late baby, come to bed."

She let him lead her in but took a look back over her shoulder. She could have sworn she saw a dark shadow pass through the closed door of the mysterious cold room.