Chp 10
It was quiet and still as they made their way through the foliage, the heat of the sun beating down on their unprotected heads. Jack wiped the sweat from his brow before thankfully accepting the water bottle from Penny. They plowed on with all the speed their weary bodies could muster. So quiet, not a sound could be heard as if the world stood still and only they moved.
Jack's soul lay heavy; he knew what the silence meant. He closed his eyes and wished for noise, any noise as the heavens opened and rain fell upon them.
"Penny?" the Scottish brogue cut through the air as the two of them made their way into the clearing that opened out onto Otherville.
"Oh my God! Penny is that you?"
"Des? Desmond!" Penny cried pushing her way through the rain to meet him.
He was wearing a yellow raincoat, running from one house to the other when he saw two figures rustling the bushes. Something in him instinctively told him not to draw his gun.
"Penny," he said pushing her wet hair from her face to look into her blue eyes. Three and a half years since he starred into those glorious eyes of hers.
"Don't just stand there you fool," Penny laughed, "Kiss me."
Desmond laughed and brought his lips to hers, sweet bliss coursed through them both as the sun burst through the clouds once more.
"What's all the commotion about out here?" Sawyer inquired, gun in hand as he stepped off his porch and onto the grass. Jack's eyes locked onto his, freezing Sawyer to the spot where he stood. A hushed silence fell around them as everyone was afraid to breathe.
"Juliet?" Jack finally asked after letting out the air trapped tightly in his lungs.
Sawyer's gaze fell along with his head, limply to the wet grass. He couldn't face him, couldn't look at Jack and tell him. But he didn't have to, Jack already knew in his heart, in his soul. He couldn't feel her presence anymore.
Jack's knees buckled and he came crashing to the ground, a desperate cry from deep within escaping his lips. Shattered was his soul. Penny looked at Desmond who simply shook his head sadly.
"Oh no, we're too late," she whispered but she needn't of. Jack was oblivious to anyone or any sound around him. He was breaking, falling into the black void of grief as his shoulders shook with his audible sobs. Sawyer was afraid to touch him, his hand hovering in front, shaking with regret and fear. He didn't know how to comfort Jack.
"We tried," he said, taking a small tentative step closer to Jack, "But there was so much blood, so much…" Sawyer's voice drifted as the memory of Juliet struggling to give birth flashed before him.
"Come on Juliet," Bernard cried, "You're crowning, you need to push."
"I can't," she whimpered, "I'm so tired, so tired," she said drifting, her eyes fluttering to a close.
Daniel had already hooked Charlotte up with a transfusion tube. Her eyes were wide with fear ever since she realized she had the same blood type as Juliet. But the feisty red head had stepped up and volunteered the information after seeing all the blood; she wanted to do her part to save Juliet.
"Juliet, Juliet!" Sawyer called squeezing her hands tightly.
"What?" she asked softly.
"Juliet, the head is blue, you need to push, you need to get the baby out," Bernard emphasized his urgency.
"Come on Blondie," Sawyer encouraged, "I know you can do it."
Juliet dug deep inside to find the last ounce of strength and pushed with all her might. The baby's cry brought a sigh of relief to everyone in the room. Juliet fell back against Sawyer's chest.
"James," she said quietly.
"Yeah Goldilocks?" he asked trying to keep his tears in check.
"Tell Jack I love him."
Sawyer swallowed his emotion.
"Jack?" he asked not sure if any of this was getting through to him.
Jack starred out into open space, quiet now, drained of all feeling.
"Jack," Penny said but he didn't respond, still crumpled on the muddy ground, his chin fallen onto his chest. A small cry was heard from behind him as soft footsteps approached.
"Jack," the familiar Australian voice called as a baby cried louder now in her arms.
Jack struggled to his feet and blinked away the blurriness his tears had caused. He watched as Claire approached him, the little pink bundle wailing in her arms.
"Her name is Norah," she said holding his daughter out for him to hold.
Jack blinked again, somewhat stunned at the baby before him. He never expected his child to have survived.
"Norah?" he repeated taking the tiny life into his strong arms and cradling her head in the nook of his elbow.
She starred up at him with big blue eyes, a tuft of blonde hair already upon her head. Her cries stopped as if she knew she was in her father's arms and safe.
"Norah Shephard," Claire said, "Juliet thought it had a nice ring to it. She picked out names with me. Andrew for a boy, Norah for a girl," Claire told him with a small, sad smile as she recalled all those nights the two women bonded over babies. It had made Claire feel somewhat closer to Aaron somehow.
"I have something," Sawyer said, clearing his throat afraid to break the moment but remembering his promise, "Something Juliet wanted you to have."
….
Sawyer led Jack to Juliet's old bedroom and put the bundle of letters into his hands. With trembling fingers Jack pulled the purple ribbon, letting the envelopes cascade across the bed he sat upon.
"She wanted you to have them," Sawyer said before heading to the door.
"Sawyer," Jack said stopping the Southerner.
"Yeah Doc?" Sawyer asked.
"Thank you," Jack told him as Sawyer's eyes filled with tears. He quickly brushed them away.
"I didn't do anything," he answered his voice full of sorrow, "Nothing that changed what happened."
Jack nodded, "Neither did I."
The two men shared a moment of quiet guilt and regret. Both of them failing to keep their promises. It would be a sad life long bond between them.
"You haven't asked me about her yet," Jack said holding the first letter in his hand, prolonging the moment before he read Juliet's final words to him.
"Who Kate?" Sawyer inquired as Jack nodded yes, "That's a closed book."
"Yeah," Jack agreed.
"One more thing," Jack said just as Sawyer stepped out into the hall, "Can you tell Claire to come up in a little while. I have something important to tell her."
"About Aaron?" Sawyer asked.
"Among other things," Jack said.
"Sure thing Jack," Sawyer said and closed the door.
Jack's daughter, Juliet's final gift to him, lay sleeping snuggled between pillows beside him as he read. Tears ran down his face as he picked up the last letter. He pulled the scented sheet of paper out and brought it to his lips, kissing it before reading its words, her words to him.
Dearest Jack,
If you are reading this now then I am gone. Our love torn by death. Where ever I am now, know that I ache to be near you, that I grieve this parting and that I tried to stay. But alas, life and death have been cruel and our time cut too short. But one day soon, my darling, you'll be coming home to me and we will be together forever.
Until then I do not want you to live in pain. Do not be bitter about the choices you've made. No regrets. We both thought we were doing the right thing and we did. Because of our choices many were saved and that is what's important. That Ben did not win, and he didn't, for look at the glorious life we have brought into this world.
I wish sometimes that we would have done what we hoped. That night we lay looking up at the stars, the others asleep in their tents. You held out two stones, on e white and one black. You gave me the black one, saying it represented you and you kept the white, saying its light was like the beacon of hope I brought into your life. I clutch the stone now, in its velvet pouch, recalling our dream that night.
You said you felt like leaving it all behind. Taking my hand and running to the caves, making a home there, just you and I. Our own little Eden I called it. We laughed knowing you would never abandon your sense of duty to the others. I loved you for that. And as I place my hand on my stomach, your child kicking inside me, I'm grateful for I know you'll do right by our baby.
I cheated one day, and found out it was a girl. I just needed to know, I wanted to imagine in my mind's eye just once, you me and our little girl, together.
Love her Jack, as you have loved me, unconditionally. Do not fear being a father, you will be wonderful; I just know it in my heart.
I am sorry I had to leave the two of you alone. And already I miss the hours we three will not share. The nights you and I would have had once she had fallen safely to sleep. The kisses you would have placed on my lips, the touches your hands would have given me.
But soon our love will once again be joined and free. Until then, until our souls meet again, know that I loved you, I always will and I didn't regret a moment. So please my beautiful, precious love, don't look back in anger.
Yours now and forever,
Juliet.
The End.
Epilogue
(Dedicated to Lu)
18 years later
The plane was coming in for a landing on the white sandy beach.
"Thank you Aaron," the pretty blonde said looking over at her cousin, "Thanks for coming with me and doing this."
"Anything for you Norah, and Uncle Jack of course," he said.
"But are you sure this is what they really wanted?" he asked her.
Norah looked back at the simple coffins and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
"Yes," she said, "Daddy often spoke of the caves. He always said it would have been their perfect place, their Eden."
"Then they'll be happy there," Aaron said squeezing his cousin's hand.
"I just hope Aunt Claire understands. I know she didn't want us to come back to the island," Norah said as the plane came to a rolling stop.
"Don't worry about Mom; Dad's taking her to Paris for a romantic second honeymoon. He say's it's guaranteed to get her mind off of her brother's death and this," Aaron said.
Norah smiled and laughed a little, "James always has a solution for everything doesn't he?"
"That's Dad alright," Aaron said as they watched the men lift the two coffins out.
"Which way Mr. Littleton?" they asked.
"We follow the lady," he said and Norah stepped into the jungle, her father's map in hand.
They laid them side by side in one of the caves. Juliet miraculously in tact beside her lover Jack.
"Ready to go?" Aaron asked as the sun set in the horizon.
"One last thing," Norah said pulling out a velvet pouch. She fondled the two stones one last time before placing it on her father.
"This belongs to you," she said before kissing her father goodbye, "I love you Daddy and Mommy. May you rest in peace."