A/N: I wanted to update this earlier, but I got distracted by my one-shot, and the celebrations following the end of my exams, but here is chapter 4.

If all goes well, the next chapter should follow shortly, I just have to update one of my other WIP, because I have been neglecting it, and people have been harassing me, but I have the broad outline for chapter 5 so it shouldn't take me too long.

As always thanks so much to everyone who reads this story, to those who have it on story alert and especially to those who take the time to review, I read them really carefully and take what you guys say into account.

I'm sorry it's a bit short, and I'm not satisfied with the end of the chapter.

---

He had been wandering up and down the beach, lost in thought for hours.

She should be there with him. It had only been hours since he had last seen, touched, smelt, felt her, but it seemed like years. He hadn't known it was possible to feel a bond this strong, this powerful with another human being, ironically enough, he now understood what she had said to him earlier -it would have been easier not to know her, rather than have to lose her.

But at the same time he was well aware of just how much she had changed him, and this change was for the better, he wondered if without her influence in his life the past three years, he would still be the same arrogant, selfish and detached conman he had been when he first arrived on this island, most probably.

As he gazed into the starlight sky, he wondered if it had really only been a couple of weeks since they had last admired the beauty of the night sky together …

***

"What are you doing out here on your own?" her voice interrupted the still silence of the night.

"Just looking at the stars ..." he let his voice trail off.

"Never took you for the romantic star gazing type, James," she chuckled.

"Ah, that'll teach you that you should never judge a book by its cover -or by his file, Blondie," he said softly as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her down onto his lap.

"Do you see that over there, Juliet?" He asked pointed at a collection of unbelievably bright stars in the distance.

"Uh-huh," she said intrigued. "What is it?"

"No idea," he replied. "But it's damn pretty."

She burst out laughing, "oh, James, you're certainly one of a kind."

"And is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Let's put it this way, I wouldn't want you any other way."

He buried his face in her hair and sighed, "I love you, Juliet."

"I love you too, James," she said simply.

***

When he snapped out of his reverie, he realised that he had walked right up to the tent where Jack was tending to Sayid, since he was here, he thought he might as well get an update on the Iraqi's wellbeing.

"How's Aladdin doing, Doc?" Sawyer asked.

Jack took his focus off of Sayid for a second and turned around to Sawyer, "Good. Unbelievably good, in fact, his wounds are practically healed. He's just a bit drowsy, he'll be back into shape in no time. It's a miracle."

"It's this place," Sawyer muttered. "Juliet said it speeded up the whole healing process thing."

He shrugged and turned away and headed off again into the night, but Jack quickly caught up with him, "Hey, listen, I just wanted to say that I am sorry about Juliet."

"I'm in no mood for pity, especially your pity," Sawyer said. "And if you think I'm going to forgive you and give you the absolution you're seeking, Doc, well you're mistaken."

"It's not pity, I truly am sorry. And about the guilt, that's something I'm going to have to carry with me my whole life. I just thought that … well, she was my friend too," Jack said with hesitation.

"Friend? Friend?" Sawyer repeated incredulously. "How dare you call yourself her friend, every time she put her trust in you, you failed her. You promised her you would get her off this damn island, and you left her behind. You left her behind even though you knew she had feelings for you, you just abandoned her. And then three years later, you appear out of nowhere, and you do it again, promising that if we detonate a nuclear bomb it would change the past. Well I have news for you, Dr Jekyll, it didn't work and it cost Juliet her life. I'm damn glad I ain't your friend."

He stormed off leaving a shocked Jack behind.

"He doesn't mean it you know," a voice came from behind. "He's just grieving."

"Of course he did mean it, and he's right, Kate, if it weren't for me, Juliet would still be alive. I failed, I'm responsible for her death."

"Jack, stop it, don't you even dare. Do you not think I feel guilty about everything? If I hadn't went back to Dharmaville, if I hadn't been put in that sub, Sawyer and Juliet would be back in the real world by now. Juliet was a big girl, she was a strong woman, she knew what she wanted and what she was doing when she commandeered that sub to come back to the island to stop you, she knew what she was doing when she decided to help you detonate the bomb. Don't do it, Jack, don't let the guilt eat you up. I need you."

She put her arms around his waist and held him tight as he rested his face in the crook of her neck.

---

Sawyer walked angrily across the beach, lifting up huge piles of sand with every one of his steps. He couldn't believe Jack would have the audacity to actually say something like that.

He then spotted all the others getting agitated around the camp fire, they were packing in great haste, Sawyer walked up to Jin and asked him what was going on.

"No idea," his friend replied. "One minute they were grouped around Richard and that woman Illana, and the next they were packing."

Sawyer marched over to Illana who was lost in a deep conversation with Richard.

"What'cha all doing? Is the sand on this beach not up to your usual standards, Anna Karenina?" he asked sarcastically.

"We're getting prepared," Illana replied flatly.

"Oh, yeah? Prepared for what?"

"The war," Richard said.

"What war? What the hell are you talking about?"

"You should come with us," Illana stated. "We leave at day break."

Later that night when everyone else was fast asleep, Sawyer, Jin, Miles, Sun, Hurley, Jack and Kate sat around the fire sharing theories about what Illana could have possibly meant when she was talking about a war.

Sun remained quiet for the better part of the conversation, listening to what everyone else had to say, when the conversation fell dead, she finally voiced her opinion, "Do you think t could have anything to do with John Locke?"

"Locke is dead, Sun," Jack pointed out.

"No exactly," Sun argued.

"I saw him in his coffin myself," Jack insisted.

"I saw him too," Sun defended herself. "But I also know that only a couple of hours before we found you, we were following a man across the island, and that man happened to look, sound, and act exactly like John Locke."

"And where is he now?" Hurley asked worried.

"I don't know," Sun confessed.*

"How convenient," Miles commented. "You sure you didn't just imagine him?"

Jin glared at Miles, warning him to watch the way he spoke to his wife.

"He disappeared with Ben," Sun revealed.

"Ben? He came here with you too?" Sawyer asked.

"Yeah," Jack replied. "So he ended up with you, Sun?"

"Yes, and now he has disappeared with John Locke. Do you think he could have anything to do with the war the others are getting prepared for?"

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out," Sawyer said.

"And how are you going to do that?" Kate wondered.

"They invited me along, and I'm going with them. Anyone care to join me?" Sawyer offered.

"With you every step of the way, boss," Miles said immediately.

Jin looked hesitantly at his former boss, Sawyer reassured him, "Jin, you don't have to come. You have only just reunited with Sun after three years, and you deserve to spend some time with her."

Jin nodded gratefully and squeezed Sun's hand.

"I'm coming," Jack volunteered.

"What about Sayid, who's going to take care of him?" Hurley asked.

"Sayid will be fine, he's practically healed, he just needs a bit of rest," Jack said. He then looked over towards Kate, theirs eyes locked, he wanted her to come with them.

"Count me in too," Kate said.

"Fabulous, it'll almost be like the good old times," Sawyer said sarcastically. "Well then people, we'd better get some rest, we've got ourselves a war ahead of us."

TBC.