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Chapter 28

James had woken up early and was sitting at the lookout point watching the early morning action at the barracks.

Relief had flooded him when he'd seen Juliet exit one of the houses just after daylight. He couldn't help but smile when he saw her. It took everything in him to stop himself from running into the camp and pulling her into his arms.

He feels nothing but anger when he sees Ben approach her. He wanted nothing more than to get that man out of their lives once and for all.

He is confused when he hears the alarm and sees Picket run up to Ben and Juliet. He'd wished he could over hear their conversation. Whatever it was, it seemed urgent. He didn't miss the look of loathing in Juliet's eyes when she spoke to both men. At least for now she appeared to be holding her own against them.

Seeing Picket brought back not so pleasant memories of their previous encounters. The man had tried to murder him more than once. When he sees him grab Juliet's arm he almost leaps out from behind the bushes to strangle him.

He watches as Ben heads off in one direction and Picket drags Juliet off in another direction.

He runs back to the rest of the group. "Sayid, Hurley, Jin, you guys follow Linus. Rachael, Jack and Kate will come with me" he says.

They all nod in agreement.

"Be careful Kate", says Jack, touching her hand softly. "No unnecessary chances right?"

She smiles. "I could say the same for you"

"We'll meet back at the raft in a couple hours", says James. "Let's go, we can't lose sight of them"

The seven split up following their targets.
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James, Jack, Kate and Rachael follow Juliet and Picket to the Staff station. Picket stayed outside the staion while Juliet headed in for supplies.

Seeing they were alone, Jack, Kate and James decide it's their chance to make a move.

Keeping Rachael out of harms way, they step out from their hiding place and aim their guns towards Picket.

"Long time no see Snuffy", James says aiming his gun directly for him.

Surprised Danny pulls out a gun, not really sure who he was aiming at.

"Who the hell are you?" he asks studying each of their faces.

James steps forward.

"Not one more step" yells Danny, "I'll fire this gun"

"And so will we", Kate says stepping forward. She had not forgotten what this man had put them through on their previous island journey and had no qualms about pulling the trigger.

"We've got him Sawyer, go in after Juliet" Jack says stepping forward beside Kate.

Keeping his gun aimed at Pickett, James backs into the entrance of the Staff.

"You won't get away with this", Danny yells.

Danny lifts his gun, looking like he was about to fire at Kate. Rachael steps out from the bushes and whacks him across the side of the head with the butt of the rifle she was holding. Pickett falls to the ground unconscious.

"Rachael" says Kate running towards her. "You were suppose to stay back there"

"I know" she says with a smile. "But these people took my child. I'm not about to stand by idly and watch them kill you"

Jack bends down and checks the unconscious man's pulse. "He's still alive and likely going to be mad as hell when he wakes up. We need to find some place to stash him."

"We'll take him into the station, there's got to be something in there we can use to tie him up", replies Kate.

Jack picks up the unconscious mans arms and drags him into the open doors of the Staff station.

Inside James wandered down the dimly lit hallway searching desperately for Juliet.

"Where the hell are you Blondie", he wonders.

He stumbles on the medical room, she is standing with her back to the door throwing medical supplies into a box.

"Juliet"

She drops the Dharma issue bandages that were in her hand. "I'm hearing things"she thinks to herself.

"Blondie" he says again, a little louder this time.

She turns slowly, their eyes meet. "James" she says barely audible.

In takes him about six steps to get across the room and pull her into his arms. She buries her head into the crook of his neck as he tightens his arms around her. Her tears are openly flowing.

"What are you doing here?" she asks, voice cracking, when she finally pulls away enough to look at him.

"You don't think I was really going to let you stay here alone do you?"

"But" she starts

"No buts" he says, stopping her from replying by capturing her lips into a kiss.

When they finally break apart, she looks him in the eyes. "How did you get here? Are you alone? What if Ben finds out you're here?"

"Whoa" he says with a chuckle. "One question at a time Blondie. We came by boat" he starts.

"We?" she asks.

He nods, "The Doc, Kate, Sayid, Hugo, Sun, Jin, Claire and Rachael. . ", he trails off.

"They all came?" she says in awe, they'd all given up their lives to come back to the island for her. It was then that the last name he'd said hit her. "Rachael?" she asks.

"There was no leaving her behind" he says. "Turns out she's as stubborn as her sister" he says with a small chuckle.

She hits him softly on the shoulder.

He then looks at her seriously. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" he asks, trailing his fingers down her cheek, and then taking her hands in his.

She nods, "I'm fine. They haven't hurt either of us. Julian is fine too. . ", she trails off, looking down towards the floor.

He lifts her chin. "What is it?" he asks.

"Julian", she says looking him in the eyes. "I had Alex and Goodwin take him to Hydra Island. I needed to make sure he was safe"

"And Linus was okay with that?" he asks

"He doesn't know. I sent them off last night after dark."

Before he can respond they are interrupted by Jack, Kate and Rachael.

Juliet catches sight of Rachael, and the two sisters run into each others waiting arms. "Rachael I'm sorry" Juliet sobs, clinging to her sister. "I'm sorry you and Julian got dragged into this"

"Shh", Rachael says pulling away from Juliet, wiping away her sister's tears. "Where's Julian Jules?" "Is he okay?"

Juliet nods, "He's perfect Rach he thinks we are on a vacation"

Rachael lets out a small laugh. "That's my boy"

She notes the look in Juliet's eye. "What is it Jules, where is he?"

"I sent him to another Dharma station called Hydra Island. He's with friends of mine, he's safe there"

"Pickett", Juliet says finally remembering he was outside waiting for her.

"Don't have to worry about him", Jack says stepping forward, hugging Juliet.

"Your sister here has a mean swing. She knocked him out cold. We tied him up, he'll be out for awhile and then it will take him awhile to get himself untied. We have a good head start"

Kate steps forward, hugging Juliet as well. "Good to see you again Juliet".

Juliet looks to Rachael, who shrugs her shoulders. "They kidnapped my son Jules, what'd you expect me to do"

It was Juliet's turn to laugh. James walks over to her, sliding his hand in hers. "Let's get going. We need to find Sayid, Hugo and Jin and then get back to the boat"

Juliet looks at them confused.

"I'll explain it all while we walk Blondie", James replies.

"Let's go then", says Jack leading the group from the room.

Three hours later they are on the beach at the raft, waiting for Sayid, Hugo and Jin.

On the walk back to the beach he hadn't let go of her hand. He needed to keep her close. He had filled Juliet in on how they got back to the island and she had filled him in on what had transpired since she'd been brought back.

An hour after arriving at the raft they were joined by the rest of the group.

"You found her", Hurley says pulling Juliet up off the ground in a big bear hug.

"Good to see you too Hurley" she laughs.

"What happened at the Tempest?" James asks, Juliet having filled them in on where Ben had taken off too.

"Some kind of accident", says Sayid. "Couple of guys got burned pretty badly"

"Ben went crazy when you didn't show up Juliet" says Jin. "He sent a group of people to the Staff to find you"

James steps behind and protectively closer to Juliet, pulling her into his arms.

"We better get back to the boat then" he starts. "Juliet had a couple of the Others' take Julian to the Hydra Island. We need to get to him before anyone else does."