Miles in the Sky
Summary: Miles is given a chance to test Faraday's theory. Juliet zealously spreads the Christmas Spirit...against all odds.....
Dharmaville
December 1975
"Jin, I don't care about the Korean rules of MauMau. We're in Dharmaville now where red 7 means you have to draw five penalty cards, get it?" Sawyer was getting irritated at Jin's stubborn refusal to accept the local rules of MauMau, which he himself came up with by the way...
"I don't like this game anymore" Jin pouted
"I can't believe you two!" Juliet exclaimed, stepping out of the kitchen to see Jin and Sawyer preoccupied with playing card games. "In case you were wondering what kept me busy THE WHOLE DAY, I was preparing our Christmas dinner! Could you at least set the table?" Her tone was so stern, refusal was not an option.
"Alright Blondie, don't get too...." Sawyer didn't even manage to finish the sentence as he was frozen by Juliet's icy glare.
"Come on Jin, Juliet's polite request for help cannot be ignored...obviously"
"And where is Miles?" she asked, still annoyed, her authoritarian tone sending shivers down Jin and Sawyer's spines.
"At work" James replied
"Today? Why? Was it so hard for you to give him the day off?" Juliet spat
"Hey Blondie, not my fault. He volunteered for the night shift today.. and tomorrow. And frankly, I don't blame him"
Juliet gave Sawyer the "last warning" glare.
"Why would he do that?" she asked, somewhat disappointed that Miles would rather spend the night alone in the surveillance room than having dinner with them.
"I think he doesn't like Christmas" Jin explained.
"Who does?" James said and shrugged.
"I do!" Juliet bellowed, clearly losing her patience. "We ALL are going to spend this evening TOGETHER, and we are going to have a great time! Whether you guys like it or not!"
DHARMA Surveillance room
Miles was content to take the night shift and avoid all that Yule-Hallelujah nonsense. He really did hate Christmas and he even put on a black t-shirt with the Grinch overprint that he bought specially for the occasion. In fact, the Grinch was in Miles' top 5 favorite villains – before he turned all goody-good anyway....
Miles was perfectly happy alone, staring at the monitors, contemplating the sweet, undisturbed silence, when suddenly Juliet, Jin and Sawyer entered the room causing a great commotion.
"Marry Christmas Miles!" Juliet sang cheerfully and began removing all the clutter from his desk to put plates and silverware on it.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Miles exclaimed, obviously unhappy about the unexpected visit.
"Celebrating Christmas" Sawyer replied, feigning excitement. Jin just stood there, no trace of enthusiasm on his ever-emotionless face.
Juliet ignored their anti-holiday attitude as she was fully engaged in a frantic attempt to turn the gloomy security room into a veritable Christmas shrine, hanging mistletoes and candy all over the place.
Before Miles recovered from the festive-shock that Juliet inflicted, he found himself sitting at the "Christmas Desk," wearing a ridiculously big Santa hat, and listening to some infuriatingly joyful carols about jingle bells, reindeers, sleighs and all that kind of crap.
"Listen guys, I'm really not in the mood for...." he finally managed to say but was cut off by Sawyer
"Don't even try it Bruce. You'll only piss her off. And trust me, we don't want that to happen"
Miles rolled his eyes, admitting defeat.
"Cheer up Miles, or you won't get your present" Juliet teased
"You...you got me a present?"
"Of course I did. Even a Grinch like you deserves one" she replied, looking at his t-shirt.
"Hey, what about my present? Am I getting one too?" Sawyer asked
"You'll get your present later" Juliet replied and gave him a lascivious smile.
"Oh I can't wait for that one" Sawyer said, his eyes flickered with lust
"Oh, get a room you two" Miles snarled
"Here, I suppose you can have yours today, if it makes you less whiny" Juliet said, and gave Miles a quite large, but thin, square object wrapped in red Christmas paper.
"I'm guessing it's a record?" Miles asked and proceeded to unwrap the gift. "Miles in The Sky by Miles Davis...." he read the title and then feel silent, looking at the record intensively
"The cover got a bit crumpled on the sub, and the courier wrote my initials on it, but I'm sure the record works fine... anyway, I hope you like it" Juliet said, not sure how to interpret Miles' reaction.
Miles was still silent which made Juliet uneasy.
"Miles, what's wrong? If you don't like jazz...."
"I know this record" Miles replied, his eyes still fixed on the cover.
"Well I'm sorry, but I'm not a mind reader. How was I supposed to know which records you've already heard?" Juliet asked, irritated at Miles' lack of gratitude.
"No, that's not what I meant. I saw this record before – my mother had it"
"So? She probably liked Davies. If she liked Coleman, she'd probably name you Ornette" Sawyer said
"I mean THIS record, the one in my hands! I recognize the cover, the initials... mom listened to it all the time..." Miles replied, both excitement and sadness audible in his voice.
"Wait a minute! So this means...." Sawyer started
"You GAVE it to her!" Juliet and Sawyer finished the sentence simultaneously.
Jin's eyes widened "How is this possible?"
"Oh, didn't they fill you in on TIME-TRAVEL?" Miles replied sarcastically.
"What if you don't give it to her? What if you destroy the record?" Sawyer asked excitedly.
"You'd change time and debunk Daniel's theory!" Juliet addressed Miles, replying to Sawyer's question.
"You can change time, Miles. Right here, right now"
"So let me get this straight" Miles started, looking at the colorful cover of the fateful record "If I break the record NOW, I'll change the future, right?"
"That's right. Maybe it won't be a big change, but an alternation nevertheless" Juliet replied
"And then Faraday and his 'Whatever-Happened-Happened' hogwash can go and f..." Sawyer said but was cut off by the sound of footsteps coming from upstairs.
It was Dr Chang, who entered the surveillance room, carrying a large folder of files. He was a bit surprised to see Miles, Jin and LaFleurs – as he refried to Juliet and James – all in the security room, having a Christmas feast.
"Dr Chang? What are you doing here?" Miles asked, trying not to sound too harsh, hiding the antipathy towards his old man.
"I just got a message from Ann Arbor about the new security procedures. It's all in here" he said, and placed the heavy folder on the desk.
Sawyer was displeased that he'd have to deal with red tape again, especially since he barely managed to grasp the current procedures.
"Some present they got us" he said sarcastically, mentally cursing the wretched bureaucrats from the mainland.
"I suppose they don't celebrate Christmas in Michigan" Dr Chang said and let out a small chuckle.
"Look who's talking!" Juliet said and smiled at the scientist. "You should be home, with your wife, instead of taking calls from Ann Arbor and dealing with paperwork"
Miles frowned angrily, and if looks could truly kill, he'd commit patricide right there.
"You're right. But to tell you the truth, I'm not too eager to go home" he said, which made Miles bite his upper lip.
Jin placed his hand on Miles shoulder, anticipating a possible outburst of a long-suppressed acrimony.
"And why is that?" Miles asked, hardly curbing anger in his voice
Dr Chang didn't even notice Miles' irritation. "They lost the present I ordered for my wife. My guess is they damaged it on the sub, but you never know with these idiots"
"So you're afraid to go home, because you don't have a present for your wife?" Juliet asked amused.
"I know it sounds ridiculous" Dr Chang replied, and noticed the record in Miles' hand.
"Miles Davis, huh? Did you get that album on the Island? Maybe there is hope for me yet?" he said
"No, they brought it on the sub, thus the wrecked cover" Juliet replied, hoping Miles wouldn't add anything rude.
Dr Chang shook his head, obviously disappointed. "That's too bad. Lara loves Davies, that would have been a nice gift"
"I.... I suppose you could give this one to her" Miles said timidly to everyone's utter amazement.
Juliet and Sawyer looked at him, as if he lost his marbles. They all desperately wanted him to destroy the record to see whether time could be really changed. This record was their last hope to prove Faraday's theory wrong and God, did they prey the mad genius was wrong this time.
"Oh, are you sure?"
"Yeah, take it" Miles said, and gave his father the record.
"But the cover is all messed up. I'm sure we can find something better in here" Sawyer said quickly, looking around the room to find anything, ANYTHING, that would pass off as a suitable present for Lara.
"I'm sure she'll like it" Miles stated, and gave Chang a weak smile. He could swear he felt his own heart grow three times larger.
"Thank you, I really appreciate it" Chang replied and shook Miles' hand.
As soon as Chang left the room, Sawyer slammed his fist on the table.
"Why the hell did you do that? You could have change time! Do you have any idea how important this was?!" he exclaimed
"James, calm down" Juliet tried to pacify Sawyer, although she was a bit irritated herself at Miles' decision to give the album away.
"I'm sorry I just.... I wanted her to have it" Miles said apologetically, avoiding their eyesight.
Sawyer rolled his eyes. "Great. Instead of proving Faraday wrong, you just added the frosting on the cake of his stupid theory"
"It was her favorite record" Miles explained, not so much to justify himself, as to try to understand his own actions "She'd listen to it all the time, especially after she got sick. I don't know... I guess it made her feel better" he added quietly, causing James to compose himself.
Shit, that IS a good reason.
"It's ok Miles, you did the right thing" Juliet said, gently stroking his back. "We overreacted"
"We can try to change time some other way. Maybe we should try harder?" Jin said
"There's nothing we can do Jinbo. Faraday was right, and we have to deal with that"
They all felt silent for a while, letting his words sink in.
"So what do we do now?" Jin finally broke the silence
"I don't know about you, but I'm ready to unwrap my present" Sawyer said and winked at Juliet
"Hey, maybe we could share this gift?" Miles asked and flashed her a broad grin.
Juliet shook her head, and laughed "Not in this life, Miles, not in this life"
Took me a while to update, but better late than never, right? Thank you for the encouragement you gave me guys:* Reviews make me really happy