Disclaimer: I don't own Lost

On the last chapter, Kate found out and met little Ben. Will any other losties be so lucky?

Chapter 04

By the time evening rolled around, James was drained, but not so drained that he couldn't take to reading in the armchair. On the floor not too far away from him was Ben, playing with blocks. His bunny Al was propped up against the sofa next to him. Juliet was in the kitchen washing dishes. They had gone through their first day with the arrival of their old friends, and already there was an issue. James hadn't gone into detail with Juliet. All he had told her was that Sayid was mistaken for a hostile. It was the type of conversation that had to be discussed privately since the wrong words could be consumed by Ben. James figured if Juliet was going out of her way to keep him on a righteous path, he needed to do his part by never mentioning the hostiles around the boy.

"Daddy"

It was rare that the kid ever called him, and James was happy for it. He was closer to Juliet for obvious reasons. Still Ben recognized him as his father, thanks to his mommy, which angered him the few times he heard it.

"What," he grumbled in annoyance. He didn't bother to look away from his book. When the kid didn't answer, he sighed and peeked down at him. Ben was watching him longingly. "What?"

Ben seemed to be studying him carefully before responding.

"Play with me."

James stared. It wasn't the first time the kid had asked it. In fact the last couple of times the boy dared to, James had scared him off with a harsh response. Afterwards the kid would either shrink up or go running to Juliet. But after years of reprimands from the woman, James had to take a softer approach.

"Play with yourself. I'm busy." He turned to his book, leaving Ben looking disappointed and lost.

"James!"

He cringed as Juliet came walking into the room. Being that the kitchen was not far from the living room, meant that she could hear everything.

"Don't start in on me Jules, I am busy," he argued before she could start.

"You're reading a book."

"Yeah, I'm reading a book, and I'm also trying to think up a way to get Sayid out of the trouble he's in."

"Who's Sayeed?" Ben suddenly questioned.

"Nobody," James said, a little more harsh than he intended. He stared the kid down until he looked away and went back to stacking his blocks. He didn't know if it was possible to trigger old memories in the boy, even though he hadn't experienced them yet, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"James, a little down time with him's not going to hurt you."

"No, it might kill me," he answered with a slight smirk. Juliet shook her head and was about to argue another point when there was a knock at the door. "Get the kid out of here."

"What? Why?"

"Cause with our friends roaming around, I don't want them to know who we're taking care of." Upon her quirked brow, he elaborated. "I gotta feeling one of them just paid us a visit, now go."

Juliet tensed slightly. She had not told him that she had already told Kate. Instead she walked over and picked up Ben.

"Come on Sweetheart, let's play in your room."

Juliet headed out of the room with Ben while James answered the door.

"Evening doc."

"Sawyer," he greeted.

"It's LaFleur," he corrected.

"Right."

James stepped aside, allowing him to enter. For a moment, James simply watched Jack who seemed a bit confused, for good reasons.

"Take a load off. You want a beer?"

"No. No I'm fine." He continued to stand on the spot as James took a seat in his chair again.

"What can I do for you Jack?"

"I don't even know where to start. How about with Sayid?"

"I had no choice. He was running around in the jungle, got caught by my people. Seeing as how he can't tell the truth about how he got here, I had to improvise."

"Improvise?" Jack questioned, incredulously.

"Ah-huh. For now Sayid is safe. Which is all that matters."

"So where do we go from here?"

"I'm working on it."

"Reallly, because it looked to me like you were reading a book."

James smiled and looked away. Memories of the headstrong doctor surfaced. Jack was a take charge guy. He reacted, which oftened ended up costing a lot of lives. He looked back at the man, determined to keep calm as he established his dominant role. He didn't get the chance to retaliate as Juliet walked back into the room.

"Hey Jack," she greeted.

"Juliet." He was immediately caught off guard by her precense. Still, he accepted her embrace. "I saw you earlier today. You were helping Kate, and I wanted to say something to you then."

"We're not suppose to know each other," she stated. Jack took a moment to process the fact that they were obviously together. Once the moment settled, Juliet began to feel a tension between the men. "Everything alright?"

"Great," said James as he got to his feet. "I was just telling Jack-o how I like to run things. I think, I don't react. So I'm going to go back to reading my book, and I'm gonna think, cause that's how I saved your ass today, and that's how I'm gonna save Sayid's tomorrow."

Jack gave a reluctant nod. Then his eyes shifted to the floor of toys.

"What's that?" Both James and Juliet glanced down. "You two have kids now?"

"Babysitting," Juliet answered.

"Don't worry about it," said James seriously. Jack took it as a hint to leave, so he made towards the door with James following. "All you gotta do is go home and get a good night's rest. Let me do what I do. Now ain't that a relief?"

"Yeah," Jack agreed, but James was sure they would soon butt heads again. He watched him leave, while wondering if the doctor was going to be a problem as well.

He leaned against the post on the porch, then glanced at the house next door. Kate had been pacing back and forth across her porch. She paused and watched him with a look that read sadness and loss. All he could offer was a slight wave. She had not only been the woman he once loved, but a symbol of a past that was more freeing than his current role as head of security. Aside from that, he didn't have a kid with her.

Uh-oh! Jack almost found out about little Ben. Or did he? I know this chapter was short, but it's simply setting up the issue of Sayid. Next chapter though, we'll see how James settles that problem.

Til then, keep reading!