I've been on a writing roll the past few days. . Hope you enjoy. Remember to review ;). Let's see if I can get to 200 with this chapter! We are making small leaps towards the finish line. What will Ben do??? What's happening to Juliet???? Is John good or bad???? ;)... So geographically things may be a little 'off' on the island. . I created my own geography to make this chapter work ;)...

Chapter 35

"If I had to choose between loving you, and breathing,

I would use my last breath to say I love you"

Unknown

Ben follows Richard out of the control room.

"Widmore is sending the freighter just like before? How can that be" he asks "things are different now?"

Richard shrugs his shoulders. "It's happening again Ben, just like it did before. Not everything is different"

"How? Why?" he starts and then stops. Alex's pleading face flashes through his memories, the gun to his daughters' head, her dead body lying on the ground.

"This is the war? This isn't the way it was supposed to be" he asks the question but didn't really care about the answer.

Richard watches as Ben finally seems to realize the implications of the current situation.

"Jacob wanted you warned. He says you'd know what to do"

Ben eyes Richard suspiciously.

"How do I know you aren't lying to me?" he asks. "Just to get me to stop looking for Juliet"

Richard shakes his head. "Ben, you are so focused on finding Juliet that you are missing the big picture. There is a war coming, if you haven't forgotten, it is a war which could ultimately destroy the island. It's all going to happen again if you don't start focusing on the bigger picture. You've already lost her Ben."

Ben glares at Richard.

"You know what you need to do Ben", Richard says turning and walking away from him.

As Ben watches Richard walk away he thinks to himself, "If I move the island, I lose Juliet and the island, except I might get another chance if I can get back again. If I don't move the island I could have Juliet. . ", his thoughts trail off.

"Danny, Tom" he yells to his men.

The two men approach him. "We've got new issues", Ben says to the men. "For now the hunt for Juliet is over"

The two men eye him suspiciously.

"We need to get back to the barracks. There are other's approaching the island. We need to secure the barracks. . For now he had come up with an alternative plan to see if he could avoid reliving the past again.

***

Three weeks later.....

The group had made camp on the beach and fallen into a daily routine of island life. Each night in small groups they would take turns staying awake to protect their camp.

During the days they explored the areas around their new camp.

They'd visited the base of the statue, finding it for the time being, quiet and deserted. Despite Sun's knowledge of the entrance to the base of the statue, they'd been unable as of yet to get inside.

Sayid and Goodwin had approached the outer edges of the barracks everything seemed strangely calm there as well.

They continued to remain ready for anything to happen, they were all aware that at any time things could change. . .

Just after dawn James rolls over, expecting to find Juliet lying beside him as he had become accustomed too. When he's met with just sand, he opens his eyes and glances around for her.

He doesn't see her, but he does see Rachael off in the distance. He gets up, heads out of their shelter and heads over to Rachael.

"Rach, have you seen Jules this morning?" he asks.

Rachael glances around the beach, "She was here a few minutes ago. Maybe she went to get more wood for the fire?" she says shrugging her shoulders.

James glances sceptically to the edge of the jungle. Surely she wouldn't have wandered off on her own. He shakes his head, this was Juliet he was talking about. . of course she might have wandered into the jungle alone.

"Freckles" he calls out to Kate, "Did you see where Juliet went?" he asks.

He sees both Kate and Jack shake her heads. Hugo, Claire, Jin and Sun all each shake their heads too.

"Damn Jules" he thinks to himself. "Where did you go?"

He wanders over to the edge of the tree line "Juliet" he calls out her name.

***

Miles, Charlotte and Daniel's escape to the island had been prevented by the weather.

This time, while the storms were not impacting the island directly, they were impacting the water's surrounding the island.

Widmore and the rest of the crew grew more and more frustrated by each passing day. The freighter had been forced a few miles further out from the island in order to avoid being destroyed. He had started to wonder whether there was a larger force at work preventing his return to the island.

Glaring out the small window in his room Widmore curses the wind and rain. Soon the freighter would run out of supplies, they have to make a decision to risk moving closer to the island or turn away and go back to Tahiti to reload with supplies. He begins to wonder if all of this crazy weather was the island's way of preventing his return.

***

Juliet had gotten up early. She wasn't feeling like herself this morning. James looked like he was sleeping peacefully beside her and she didn't want to disturb him. She had gotten up and headed out of their tent, after a short conversation with her sister she had headed off into the jungle on her own.

Feeling restless, she had headed away from the camp for a short walk. Waiting wasn't one of her strong qualities, and waiting for whatever was going to happen was driving her crazy. She knew she should have told someone where she was headed but figured she'd only be gone for a short time and would be back before James woke up.

She was just about to turn around and head back towards camp when she had stumbled upon a large crater in the ground. It didn't take her long to realize just what the hole was. Vivid memories of those last moments flashed thorough her mind. The memory was so strong that she places her hands on her waist, almost expecting to feel the chains around her again.

"Where do you think your going Blondie? Hold on, hold on"

"I love you"

"No, don't you let go", the look of desperation in his eyes.

"I can't, I can't get it off."

"I've got you, hold on I've got you"

"I love you James, I love you so much"

"No"

"It's okay"

"Don't you leave me"

She hears someone approaching from behind her and quickly wipes away the tears from the corner of her eyes. She pulls out the gun she'd brought with her and turns toward the noise.

"Who's there?" she asks, steadying herself after a wave of dizziness hits her when she'd turned.

From behind a tree steps John Locke.

Juliet steadies herself and watches him with confusion.

He notes the confused look on her face. "Hello Juliet" he says smiling at the woman standing across from him.

"John?"

He nods his head and then gestures to the gun which was pointed at him. "It's okay Juliet", he says. "I'm not here to hurt you, you can put that away"

She doesn't move the gun, and keeps it pointed at him. "How is this possible?" she asks him. "The papers said you died"

"Ah", he says with a nod. "Yes, you are absolutely right, the papers did say that. I had to make it appear that I'd died, so that I could come back"

"I'm afraid that I don't understand John"

"It has taken me some time to figure it all out too, Juliet. You can imagine my surprise when I woke up on Flight 815, paralyzed again and finding out it was 2004. Prior to waking up on Flight 815, the last thing I remembered was being in a hotel room with Ben. I was trying to kill myself. Instead Ben killed me"

"But that still doesn't explain why you are here John, or how"

"I came back because the island is my destiny Juliet, just as it is yours and James, and the rest of your friends. I came back because when I left here the last time I promised I would save you all"

"You did save us John", she trails off. "You stopped the island from moving through time, we were stuck in the Dharma initiative but we had a good life there"

He notices that she had lowered the gun, while it was still in her hands it was no longer pointed at him. He gestures to the hole behind her.

"The Swan station?" he asks.

She nods. . "It would have been"

From a distance she can hear James calling her name.

"I have to go Juliet, I'm not ready for the others to see me yet", he tells her.

"But John" she starts.

"Juliet" he says. "You have to listen to me. There are others coming to the island. The freighter is a few miles off shore. Storms have been hindering Keamy and his men from getting to the island, just as they have allowed you to stay away from Ben. It won't last forever. Before long the war will start. But you have to know that Ben knows that the freighter is coming. He'll do anything to stop it from getting here, including moving the island again. If he is allowed to move the island again everything will happen as it did before... "

"What do we have to do John?" she asks, hearing James voice getting closer them.

"You have to stop Ben. You have to allow Keamy and the rest of them to come to the island. I made the mistake of following Ben before. We have to allow the war to happen this time. You have to win the war"

"But how" she starts to ask him, James voice coming sounding closer by the moment. She turns quickly to yell to James, and is hit again by another wave of dizziness which prevents her from yelling out to him. She turns back in time to see John disappear into the trees. She closes her eyes, willing the dizziness she was feeling to disappear instead she is met by darkness as she sinks to the ground.

James enters into a clearing and notices Juliet lying on the ground next to a large hole, her eyes were closed, and the gun she'd been holding lay next to her hand. He quickly moves to her side, kneeling down next to her, turning her over.

"Juliet", she hears James voice next to her, and feels his hand on her arm and then turning her over.

"Juliet" he says her name again, concern evident in his voice.

She finally fights through the darkness and opens her eyes, the dizziness now thankfully subsided.

"Juliet, what's wrong?" he asks again when her eyes open.

"Nothing James, I'm fine" she lies, avoiding his eyes.

"Hey" he says lifting her chin to look in her eyes. "You aren't fine Blondie. You wandered off from the camp, I find you alone out here, unconscious on the ground. What happened?" he asks.

"Do you know what this place is?" she asks as he helps her to sit up, her eyes shifting to the hole.

He wasn't expecting that question but then it dawns on him, just where they were.

"Ah", he says, "the swan site". This still didn't answer the question of how she'd become unconscious on the ground. He'd avoid that question for a moment.

She nods and he pulls his arms tighter around her. They both fully realized what this site meant to them, and what they could have lost here.

"But why the gun Jules?" he asks. "Why did you have your gun out?"

She glances out into the jungle. "I was standing, looking in the hole and remembering what had happened. I heard a noise coming from the jungle. . "

He nods, wanting her to continue.

"When I turned around, John Locke walked out of the trees"

It was his turn to be confused. "But John Locke is dead", he says.

She shakes her head. "Not only is he alive James, but he came to give us a warning"

"What kind of warning?"

"The freighter is approaching the island, just like before. He said that we need to stop Ben from moving the island. He was wrong the last time, he never should have helped Ben. If we don't, everything will start over again. He said this time we need to let the war happen and this time we need to win"

James again looks at her confused. "Jules" he asks, running his fingers through her hair, surely she must have just fallen and hit her head and dreamed all this while she was unconscious. "None of this explains why I found you unconscious. Are you really sure that John was really here"

She puts her head into her hands, frustrated she continues, "he was here James, I didn't make it up" she says getting annoyed with him. "When we heard your voice calling for me John said it wasn't time for the rest of you to see him yet. I turned to call out to you, I got light headed and dizzy, I must have fainted", she explains.

He stands and offers her a hand, helping her to her feet. "We are going back to see Jack" he says to her.

"James I'm fine, really."

"Juliet, you passed out. Humour me. We are going back to see Jack"

"But what about John? We need to find him, I don't think he told me everything he knows"

"We'll find John" he says. "After Jack assures me that you are fine"

"James" she starts...

"Juliet" he says stopping her. He glances down into the hole. "I almost lost you once, right here at this very location. So please Blondie, just do this for me, and let Jack look at you."

He wraps an arm around her waist as he leads her from the hole, back into the jungle towards their camp.