So it seems this is neither significantly shorter nor quicker in coming. I can but apologise and hope that everyone hasn't forgotten all about it by now.

Chapter 21

"Excuse me?" was Jack's stunned response. Juliet grimaced slightly; of course it was never going to be that easy. There was no way she could do this without running the risk of coming off crazy if he didn't remember. May as well just rip off the band-aid. She straightened in her seat and forged ahead.

"Returning your father's body, how was the flight? Anything strange or out of the ordinary happen?" Jack's brow furrowed as he struggled to recall anything, she had to give him credit for seriously considering her bizarre request.

"Nothing that I can think of, it was pretty uneventful. I'm sorry, but what the hell does that have to do with anything?" The confusion was evident on his features. It was now or never.

"What if I told you that flight was never meant to arrive safely; that in actual fact you crashed on an island in the Pacific? That we met on that island and eventually we ended up in the past and detonated a hydrogen bomb to alter the sequence of events that led to your plane falling out of the sky. We altered time Jack, and now here you are, drowning your sorrows and avoiding the world because this time around your plane made it to LA."

Jack let out a whoosh of air that he'd been holding as he incredulously listened to her speech. He took a gulp of whiskey to soothe his suddenly parched throat. He eyed her with suspicion for a beat before answering.

"Well… I'd look around for hidden cameras and ask you who put you up to this. Failing that I would have to call you crazy."

"I appreciate that crazy wasn't your first thought." Juliet gave a wry smile.

"Well, you don't look insane, or drunk. Though there is a bit of a trend of scientific geniuses having a screw or two loose."

"I'm not a genius and unfortunately I'm not crazy. It's the truth, I swear to you and I need you to remember Jack. We need your help – Kate needs your help." Juliet could have sworn she saw him visibly start at that name. She leaned towards him earnestly and placed a hand on his arm.

"Kate Austen. Does that name mean anything to you?" Jack shook his head in confusion. The truth was the name did strike a chord with him, but he wasn't about to admit it aloud.

"Never heard of her." He answered evenly, ignoring a slight tingling sensation under the weight of her hand on his forearm. Willing himself not to look down at it, he looked her over with a perplexed gaze, but her face gave nothing away. "Ok, I'll bite. So you were also on this supposed plane crash?" She sighed slightly and removed her hand once more, leaning back into her seat. He felt both relieved and oddly bereft at the distance created.

"No, I was already there. Three years previous I had been tricked into taking a job offer and unable to leave. I was with a group of natives you and your people called Others." This time she noticed an involuntary twitch and slight furrow to his brow and she pushed on, convinced that she was getting somewhere, however small.

"We met when my boss kidnapped you and some of your friends and coerced you into removing a tumour from his spine. His name was Benjamin Linus. We helped each other, and you kinda helped me escape from them."

"…and just how did that lead to hydrogen bombs?" Jack asked sceptically, his unease growing. She had just mentioned yet another name that despite him being positive he shouldn't know, for some inconceivable reason sent a shiver of recognition up his spine. Surely, none of this was actually possible?

"It's complicated. Very complicated and to be honest I had hoped you would remember before I had to try to explain it." She winced slightly at how lame that sounded. His memories were in there somewhere, she was sure of it, but fantastic stories weren't going to do it. She needed a trigger of some kind – maybe she should just kiss him after all, she thought in exasperation.

"Well my life's just about as complicated as I can handle right now." He picked up his glass, downed the last of his drink and flashed her a distrustful, nervous look before sliding off his stool. "As fascinating as all this sounds, I've reached my quota of crazy for the year. It was an honour to meet you Dr Burke, but I have hands to shake." He swayed slightly before turning to leave.

"Wait!" In desperation she reached out and grabbed his left forearm roughly. "Right here, on your arm, you have a tattoo. Well several actually. On your inside bicep there's a set of blue and red stars, but here…" she slid her hand round as he looked on in stunned silence, "Underneath the number 5 surrounded by pointed rays, there are four characters in Mandarin. You forced a woman that you met in Phuket, Achara to tattoo them and as a consequence her brother and his friends beat you and told you to leave. He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us." She released her hold on him and tentatively stepped back as he looked questioningly at her, down to his arm, then back up to meet her pleading gaze. She gave a small shrug.

"How could I know all that, if I didn't know you, Jack?" She neglected to add that her knowledge of his Thailand trip was courtesy of Mikhail, it wasn't something her and Jack had ever actually talked about, but she was grasping at straws.

"I… I don't know…" he faltered. He'd never told anyone that story. "I'm sorry, but I don't see how any of what you've said can possibly be true. My plane never crashed. I believe that you believe it, but…" he trailed off, not sure what to say.

"I'm not the only one. James was also on your plane. I'd like to introduce you to him if you'll let me. You went through a lot together on the island; maybe he can trigger your memories." He sighed and hesitated, looking like he wanted nothing more than to get away from her.

"Please. He's just in the bar down the corridor. Hear him out and if you still don't believe us, we'll leave you be. I promise." He ran his hand over his head in agitation and looked away as he considered her request. He didn't know what it was about this woman. The logical part of his brain was telling him that she was obviously insane and he should get the hell away, but looking back at her, he just couldn't bring himself to refuse.

"Ok. I'll meet him."

#####

Sawyer caught himself looking at his watch yet again and scowled as he took a sip of his beer, his knee bouncing in agitation. Not even an hour had gone past since Juliet had left him. He hated that he had no way of knowing how she was getting on and nothing useful to do but sit and wait. Maybe he should have stayed upstairs - at least there he would have a TV to take his frustration out on. He had sat at a corner booth with a full view of the door and snapped to attention anytime someone entered the room - which did nothing but increase his impatience.

To compound his misery, for the last thirty minutes he had been steadfastly trying to avoid meeting the eye of a sultry brunette who had been not too subtly watching him from across the bar. In his peripheral vision, he saw her slide off her stool and slink towards him with a half drunk cosmo in her hand.

"I couldn't help but notice you've been nursing that beer and staring at the door for a while now. It doesn't look like they're coming." She eased into the vacant side of the booth without invitation and smiled at him in anticipation. He took a quick swig of his beer and slowly raised his gaze up to scowl at her, inadvertently resting for a second on her ample cleavage as he did so. His pause didn't escape her notice and her smile widened, not in the least intimidated by his dark look.

"Actually, I'm just waitin' for my girlfriend to finish up with a business meeting. I appreciate the concern, but I ain't interested," he growled.

"Well, why don't I just keep you company until she arrives then?" She purred, obviously not believing him. Sawyer caught sight of a flash of red and was out of his seat in an instant as Juliet came into view.

"No need, sweetcheeks. My company's here." He held out his hand to usher the now surprised interloper out of her seat. As she stood she turned to catch an icy stare from Juliet as she approached. She defiantly held it for a second, before wilting slightly and turned to return to the bar without a second glance, missing Sawyer's annoyed shake of the head and glare. Juliet caught it, however and smirked as she realised that the situation was innocent, on Sawyer's side at least.

"Making friends are we?" She teased, once she was within speaking distance. Sawyer shrugged helplessly then smiled broadly before noticing for the first time the man cautiously trailing a few paces behind her. He shot her a loaded look to which she replied with a slight shake of her head. By this time she had reached him and looked back to smile encouragingly at Jack.

"Jack Shephard, this is James Ford. Or Sawyer, as he also goes by."

"Used to go by." Sawyer amended, earning himself an indulgent smile from Juliet, before they both returned their attention to a suspicious Jack. Repressing the urge to hit the guy, Sawyer instead forced a genial smile and stuck out his hand.

"Doc."

"Sawyer," Jack replied instinctively as they stiffly shook hands.

Sawyer indicated the now empty booth and they all silently slid into it. Sawyer let Juliet enter first before sitting beside her, leaving Jack no choice but to sit opposite them. Sawyer tried to reason with himself it was merely a show of unity that he sat so close to her, but when she placed her hand on his knee and he quickly covered it with his own, he had to admit the move was a blatant show of possession and judging by Jack's uncomfortable look, it hadn't been missed. Good, he thought smugly, regardless of whether Jack remembered or not, Sawyer didn't trust him.

"Drink?" Sawyer asked gruffly. Jack nodded mutely and Sawyer attracted the attention of a passing waitress. "Two beers and a pinot grigio." Judging by Jack's slight sway and haggard appearance, he'd already been hitting the harder stuff. He gave Juliet's hand a reassuring squeeze and took a deep breath.

"So, the elephant in the room. I understand you don't remember nothin', yet here you are. Why didn't you hightail it outta there? Pretty sure I would've."

"Your girlfriend was quite persuasive, I'll admit." Jack replied smoothly, causing Sawyer to bristle at the implication. Juliet felt him tense and brought their clasped hands above the table in her own show of unity. Jack glanced down at them fleetingly before back up to steadily hold Sawyer's gaze once more. "I agreed to hear you out. Nothing more. That's not to say I'm buying into this crackpot story."

"Just how much did Jules tell you then?"

"That apparently my flight back from Sydney should have crashed. That you both claim to know me." He replied succinctly and leaned back expectantly. He wasn't about to make this farce easy on them. Sawyer and Juliet exchanged a quick glance, silently agreeing that he should take the reigns.

"Unfortunately, Doc, we know each other very well. I was also on that plane and it did crash. Forty-eight of us survived. Sit back, drink yer beer and I'll tell you the whole goddamn story…"

####

"Kate Austen… seriously not ringing any bells with you? She's been all over the news, man." Sawyer reached into his back pocket and drew out a printed mug-shot and news article, slapping it down on the table. Juliet shot him a surprised look, but he was too caught up in studying Jack's reaction to notice. What the hell was he doing carrying round a photo of Kate? She wondered, mentally filing that detail away for later, dreading the answer.

Jack meanwhile had studied the photo with barely concealed curiosity, though refused to pick it up. Sawyer's narrative of events had really started to unnerve him. It was fantasy – pure fantasy, but why had some of his tale chill him to the core, just like those green eyes that stared hauntingly at him from the print-out.

"It's possible, I guess, but as you just said – she's been all over the news. It proves nothing."

"Well ain't that convenient!" Sawyer leaned over menacingly, "Thing is Doc, she's a big part of the reason you came back to supposedly save us. Why you wrecked our lives and was so gung-ho over that bomb. Well look where she is now! Does she look happy? Are you?" The last was punctuated with a slam of his fist to the table.

"James." Juliet stated, her voice soft but with a warning edge. He sighed in frustration and slumped back into the chair.

"Sorry," he muttered, "I'm just tryin' to get you to remember. We need you to remember. We can't help Kate on our own."

"I have a question. Say I suspend disbelief for a moment – why is it you remember all this when I don't? And you, Juliet, why aren't you still on this island if you weren't on the plane?"

"We don't know," Juliet replied. "We didn't at first either, and the best we can come up with is that something needs to trigger it. We both remembered when we got together. I'm here because this time around I didn't take the job. Something compelled me to turn them down, simple as that. I subsequently met James in a bar, as I told you earlier, a few months later. Only we didn't see each other again until…" she trailed off and looked to Sawyer, who smoothly took the hint and carried on.

"Ever since the flight I felt that something was off and I couldn't place it. My old life disgusted me and I wanted out. A few weeks ago I saw Jules' picture in the paper and I just had to see her again. I went to Miami, tracked her down and… it just all fell into place." He finished with a shrug of his shoulders.

Jack felt sick. He wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or all that these two strangers were bombarding him with. He looked down and again caught sight of Kate's picture. His stomach lurched and something snapped – he had to get out of there.

"So now, on top of all this sci-fi crap, you're feeding me a sappy love story? I don't think so. It's too much! I… I don't know what kind of sick game you're both playing but I've had enough!" He jumped out of his seat, head swimming with the movement.

"Please… just leave me alone." With one last glance at the photo, he turned on his heel and bolted from the room. For a minute they both sat in dejected silence.

"Well, that went well, I feel." Juliet eventually ventured.

"The photo freaked him out. There's something there. I just can't see what we could do to get through to him."

"About that…"

"I ain't walking about with Kate's photo in my pocket if that's what yer thinkin'. I went to the business centre and printed it off whilst you were gone. Thought it might be useful." She hated herself for it, but stole a quick look at the time stamp on the bottom of the sheet. Sure enough it was printed less than two hours ago.

"Fair enough. Well, I don't think he's going to want to see us any time soon. What now?" She leaned her head wearily on his shoulder.

"Tomorrow, we hire a lawyer… and we go see Hugo."