Author's Note: Sorry about the wait again. I've been catching up on watching Flashforward. And sleeping notoriously due to all my medications. I think I slept more in the passed few days then I have the last month.
This one is for AdulterousWhore!!!
Fate's a Fickle Foe:
The curse of the mind,
Is that it never forgets.
-Fragma
"It has been a few hours, Jack.." Sayid stated, a little after Jack, Kate and Charlie returned with the radio. "We have not seen Sawyer or Juliet," he admitted. "Miles and I searched a bit for them, all we found was a half-eaten body."
Jack was silent for a moment as he took in Sayid's words. "Was it.. one of them?"
Sayid shook his head. "It.. did not appear to be, but.. it would be hard to determine who it was."
Jack frowned slightly in response. He was about to speak when he saw Sawyer emerge from the jungle with Juliet passed out in his arms.
"Doc, need you to take a look at somethin'," Sawyer muttered, walking over to him and Sayid.
"Is she alright?" Jack questioned, taking in their appearance. Both of them had wet hair and Juliet was wearing Sawyer's wet shirt.
Sawyer shrugged. "Think so," he answered. After a moment he shook her awake. "Upsy daisy, sleepin' beauty," he stated.
Juliet opened her eyes and frowned up at Sawyer. "..another nickname?" she questioned hoarsely.
"The doc here needs to lookit' that side of yers'," he explained, setting her on her feet.
Juliet gave him a look of uncertainty before she lifted up Sawyer's shirt slightly and allowed him to untie her own shirt from her stomach.
Jack squatted down to take a look at the wound that appeared to have only just recently stopped bleeding. "We've got a sewing kit.." he told her, glancing up at her. "It hurts like a bitch, but.. it's the best we can do."
Juliet nodded slightly.
"How did this happen?" Jack questioned, pulling the sewing kit from his back pocket.
Juliet glanced at her side as well. "I.. sort of had a piece of shrapnel lodged in my side.."
Jack arched an eyebrow up at her as her words hit him. "When did you take it out?"
"I took it out.. about an hour ago," Sawyer explained. "Right before we nearly got eaten by a polar bear for the second time."
"I see-- wait.. a what?!" Jack asked in shock.
Juliet raised an eyebrow up as Jack froze while threading the needle. "You heard him correctly.." she assured him. "There's a polar bear out there."
"Does that explain why you guys are soaked head to toe?" Sayid asked.
Juliet nodded slightly.
"Kinda sorta' had to jump off a little cliff into a lake to get away," Sawyer explained. "Least til smoky found his way down to the bottom for dinner."
Jack frowned slightly. "You're sure it was a polar bear?" he asked them, finishing threading the needle. "Black okay?" he questioned Juliet.
Juliet chuckled slightly. "Yes.. we're sure, and I would have preferred purple, but since you already threaded the needle.." she joked. "Might as well just give me the black." She locked eyes momentarily with Edmund down the beach who was eying her suspiciously and with a look of disdain.
"Ignore him," Sawyer told her, placing a hand on her shoulder supportively. "He screws with ya' and I'll kick his scrawny little ass."
There was silence between all of them as Jack sewed up her side.
Juliet gave herself props for barely flinching as the needle was threaded in and out, though she supposed the mini-alcohol bottle she'd drank earlier had done the trick for her. She wasn't much of a drinker. Though the idea of picking up a few more bottles was becoming pretty appealing. There would be nothing like becoming a drunk on a deserted island, right?
Apparently she'd managed to drift off into no man's land. Because before she knew it Sayid, Miles and Jack had all walked away and she was left standing side-by-side with Sawyer.
"So, how about that question you've professionally managed to avoid these passed couple days," Sawyer suggested, breaking the silence. Secretly he was in awe at how well she handled Jack threading a needle through her skin, but he realized quickly she'd been completely zoned out throughout the entire procedure. She didn't even seem to realize it was over.
Juliet glanced at him and arched both eyebrows up in response. "What question?"
"Why do you stay with him?" Sawyer questioned, studying her face for a reaction. He noticed her visibly falter in response to the question and he almost felt bad.
Juliet was silent for a moment as she pondered how to answer the question. She could tell him part of the truth, or she could tell him the entire truth. Either way, now that she thought about it, the truth was stupid. "It's.. a ridiculous reason now that I think about it.." she admitted.
Sawyer shrugged. "Sometimes we all do things for ridiculous reasons," he pointed out.
"True.." Juliet agreed. "Honestly, my goal since I was little was to prove to my parents that two people can be meant to be together," she stated sheepishly. "It's juvenile, I know.." she admitted quickly. "In all honesty, six years ago I told him I was going to leave him," she told him, glancing out into the jungle. "And he slapped me for it, and for whatever reason.. whether my stupid quest for life-time love or fear, I'm not quite sure.. I stayed."
Sawyer remained silent now.
"And.. I tried to leave him a year and a half ago as well," she admitted next. "But he blackmailed me into staying."
Sawyer frowned slightly in response. He wasn't entirely sure what to say to her in response to that. She had stayed with a man who used her as a punching bag because she didn't want to get a divorce? Because she was afraid? Perhaps it had been a mix of both at the time. But then blackmail? How much did the man really need to put his wife through before he let her go?
Then he thought back to his own parents. Perhaps people were never just willing to let each other go. His father had been willing to kill his mother and himself, and suffice to say, probably would have killed his own son as well had he known he was under the bed. He wondered now if she was right in her assumption. That his interest in her was only because of his parents.
Now something else hit him. Something he wasn't quite sure how to explain but the familiarity of the conversation seemed all too real. What he suddenly remembered seemed even more vivid then it should. But that facts were all skewed. His mind must have been playing tricks.
...Flashback(1974)...
"'nother beer?" he questioned, eyeballing the blonde sitting cross-legged on the couch. They'd been in the 70's for a few months now and he still didn't know all that much about her. But he knew one good way to get people to open up. Get someone drunk enough and they tended to tell you everything they never wanted you to know about themselves.
Juliet eyed Sawyer with suspicion. "Sure," she agreed, catching the beer as it flew through the air to her on the couch. They both opened their cans at the same time and she finally spoke again when he sat down beside her. "If there's something you want to know, why don't you just try asking?"
Sawyer chuckled. "Well, is that an invitation for discussion?" he questioned curiously. "I figured it would take at least a whole 6-pack to yer'self before you started opening up."
"Fire at will, captain," Juliet stated with a mock salute. "I'll give you 5 questions, I'll answered them honestly and with detail if you'd like. But no more then five."
Sawyer was quiet for a moment as he studied her face with uncertainty. "What's the catch?"
"No catch," she assured him. "I know everything about you, and it wasn't information you gave willingly, I figure I owe you a few details on me if that's what you're aiming for."
Sawyer nodded his head in response. He was getting over his surprise at how easy it had been. She was only on the second beer and she'd agreed to five questions. "Ever been married?"
Juliet faltered slightly in sipping her beer before she looked over at Sawyer. "Yes," she replied honestly. She had promised to be honest in her answers. Then again, she'd also promised to give details. "Right.. explanation," she muttered. "I'm divorced, would the statement of.. he was a vindictive bastard be insightful enough?"
Sawyer arched an eyebrow up.
"Guess not," she mumbled, taking a rather large swig of the beer now.
"Hey, if ya' really don't wanna talk about him--"
"It's fine," she assured him, shaking her head. "His name was Edmund, I was married to him for three years," she admitted. "We worked together, then he became my boss," she explained. "I suppose the power went to his head, both heads so to speak."
Both of Sawyer's eyebrows raised in response to her statement. The man had cheated on her? That didn't even seem remotely plausible.
"He got his promotion and two months later I caught the new research assistant leaving his office adjusting her clothes, he hadn't quite finished with his own when I walked in," Juliet explained casually. "I told him I was leaving him."
"How'd that go over?" Sawyer questioned curiously.
Juliet arched an eyebrow up. "Is that your second question?"
"Guess so."
Juliet was silent for another moment. She was already regretting her decision about this 5 questions thing. "He slapped me."
"What?!" Sawyer questioned, his voice slightly outraged without being able to contain himself.
Juliet shrugged. "I handed him the divorce papers the next day."
Sawyer was quiet for a moment, uncertain if he was even willing to commit to three more questions. If ever there was a reason for a woman to be as cold and calculating as this one was, Juliet most certainly had one of the best ones. He agreed with the quote 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.'
Juliet took a smaller swig of her beer before locking eyes with Sawyer. "You can keep asking," she reminded him. "You've still got four more questions."
"Three," Sawyer reminded him.
Juliet smiled a little. "I figured that last part pretty much still went with your first question," she explained. "Go ahead, you've got four more."
"What are you tryin' so damn hard to go home to?" Sawyer asked, unable to help himself. That was the question that had been nagging him since he'd swam back to shore and saw her drowning herself in rum out of the sorrow of losing her last chance to leave the island.
"What makes you think its not just that I hate this place?" she questioned curiously.
Sawyer chuckled.
"My sister," Juliet answered almost immediately afterward. "She was pregnant when I came to the island, I was only staying for six months so I would be back before she gave birth."
Sawyer's eyes softened slightly in response. "Alright.. question three, if that's true, why didn't you leave after six months was up?"
Juliet felt her eyes glazing over and she quickly looked down at her beer rather then at Sawyer. "She was dying.."
Sawyer was silenced immediately in response.
"Ben made me a deal, if I stayed on the island, he would cure Rachel," she admitted. "So I stayed. He did show me proof she was alive and well," she explained. "Live video feed of her and my nephew.. she named him Julian."
That made Sawyer smile a little. But it also led to his next question. "Alright.. fourth.." he decided. "Why did Ben care so much whether you stayed or didn't stay on the island?"
Juliet didn't answer. Instead she tapped her fingers lightly on the beer can in her hand.
Sawyer opened his mouth to speak when Juliet's sudden words cut him off.
"He thinks that I'm his," was her only reply. Her voice was soft, concerned, not at all like her normal tone.
Sawyer wasn't sure what to say to that. Or what question he could even ask next.
"I changed my mind.." Juliet stated softly, standing up and putting her beer down on the end table on the side of the couch. "I think I'll consider that question 5."
Sawyer said nothing as she walked down towards her bedroom.
...End Flashback...
"James?" Juliet asked softly. "Are you alright?" Forgetting all about Edmund down the beach watching her, she placed her hand gently on Sawyer's arm. "James?"
Sawyer locked eyes with her worried blue ones and and nodded. "I'm fine," he stated. He was lying to her. What he'd just thought about, it seemed like a memory but it wasn't possible. He barely knew this woman. He'd known her for a few days, that was it.
"Are you sure?" she questioned. "You.. don't look so sure."
"I just--" he paused as Claire waddled her way over towards them both.
"Hey, thought you two could use some dry clothes," Claire said with a smile. She pointed Sawyer over towards Jin and Sun. "Jin and Sun, they've been sorting a lot of the clothes. You can find some stuff over there, Sawyer," she told him. She looked at Juliet. "I brought some over for you, I hope you don't mind."
Juliet watched as Sawyer nodded his head in thanks and headed over towards the two Koreans. "Of course not.." she assured Claire. Although she did eye the pair of faded gray jeans and magenta tank top with uncertainty as she took a hold of them, she said nothing of it.
"Follow me, I'll show you a good place to change," Claire stated, grabbing Juliet's free hand and pulling her with her.
()()TBC()()
I wanted to make this longer. But I also wanted to give you guys another chapter this morning rather then tonight. I'm sorry for any errors! My meds make me all loopy.. it's hard for me to catch them all. I'll go back when I'm less doped up later and fix anything I missed now. Until then.. I need a serious nap.