Let the games begin... Enjoy!
Chapter 36
They made their way back to camp and he'd taken her to their shelter, settled her and gone off to find Jack. He wasn't budging on his insistence that Jack take a look at her.
During the walk back to camp she'd gone over and over her encounter with John Locke. She had begun to wonder if maybe she really had hit her head and made the whole thing up.
James was only gone a short time before returning to the tent with Jack.
James sits down next to her and Jack settles in front of her.
"What happened Juliet?" he asks. "Sawyer tells me he found you passed out at the Swan site", Jack says while sliding his fingers around her wrist.
"I'm fine Jack", she says pulling her hand stubbornly from his.
"Maybe" he starts in his doctor tone. "But I'm with Sawyer on this, and you know as well as I do that it's not exactly normal to faint for no reason"
James had given Jack a run down on what had happened since he'd found Juliet, while they had walked to the shelter.
"Do you remember what happened before you fainted?" Jack asks.
She relays everything that she thinks happened with John.
"So you turned to call out to Sawyer, got dizzy and fainted?" Jack asks, seeing if he had it all straight.
Juliet nods her head.
"Is this the first time this has happened?" he asks.
"If you mean has it happened before today, then the answer would be no. But it happened twice while I was at the Swan site. The first time was just after I got to the Swan site this morning, before John came out of the jungle... I think", she replies pausing a moment. She puts her hand to her forehead, "Maybe none of it happened, maybe John was never there"
He can see her frustration as she tries to makes sense of what happened. "Juliet, I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for what happened. Have you eaten anything today?"
She shakes her head again. "I wasn't expecting to be gone very long."
"Well I'm sure that's all it was" Jack says eyeing her suspiciously. He wasn't convinced, but she seemed okay now from what he could tell. "Maybe just the lack of eating and being at the Swan site?" he says. "I'm sure stumbling on that site brought back some memories for you"
Again she nods, and puts her hand to her waist. "Everything that happened that day came tumbling back again. I could feel the chains hit me, being dragged into that pit. . ", she shutters at the memory.
James pulls her into his arms. "Hey, you're safe now" he tells her.
"I know" she says leaning back against him, and turning her head to look at him.
Rachael pops her head into their tent. "Kate just told me that you passed out Jules, you okay?" she asks concerned for her sister.
"Not you too", she says rolling her eyes at her sister. "I'm fine Rach" she says trying to reassure her, as well as the two men who were looking at her like she might fall over at any time.
"What are we going to do about John? Assuming I'm not going crazy and he really was there." Juliet asks in an attempt to change the topic. "Are we just going to wait and see what happens? Or do we go looking to see if he really is here?"
Jack looks at James and shrugs his shoulders.
"I guess we wait for him to come to us, if he's really here on the island", James puts forth his opinion.
"So then what do we do in the meantime?" Juliet asks.
"We make sure we are ready for anything, and for now we continue doing what we've been doing, we wait", Jack replies.
****
"What's the news from the Looking Glass Tom?" Ben asks approaching the man.
"The storms out beyond the point are clearing. It looks like the freighter is on the move again."
"Damn it" Ben curses.
"What are you going to do Ben?" Tom asks.
"I don't know" Ben snaps, turning away from Tom.
"We have found their camp", Tom says, throwing in the other new piece of information.
Ben whips around, and glares at Tom. "What do you mean you found their camp?"
"Juliet", he says. "We've found where they are."
"Why is it that this is the first I'm hearing of this?" Ben asks angrily.
Tom shakes his head, "Jerry and Mark only came back from looking this morning Ben. I only heard about it right before I came to talk to you"
"Well", says Ben looking expectantly at Tom.
"Well what?" asks Tom.
Ben's agitation increases. "Where in the hell are they? What did you think I'd want to know?"
"They are a few miles down the beach from the statue. It seems that on a daily basis a couple of them have been keeping an eye on the statue"
"The statue", Ben says aloud. . His mind flashes back to those last moments inside the statue. He can almost feel the knife in his hand, piercing Jacob's chest. He can see John pushing Jacob into the fire. "Jacob", he also says aloud.
Tom again gives him a confused look. "Why do I always feel like I'm missing half the story Ben?"
Ben looks up at Tom, grinning at him. "Because you are Tom" he says without elaborating.
Before Tom can respond, Ben continues. "Go and get Picket and Ethan, and get yourselves ready. We'll leave for the statue in four hours"
"What about the freighter Ben?"
"What about the freighter Tom?" Ben replies. "It's all making sense now we are going to the statue"
Tom turns and shakes his head, "glad it makes sense to someone" he mutters under his breath as he heads off to find Danny and Ethan.
***
Alone again in their tent, James turns to Juliet. "You want to go get some lunch?" he asks.
Her stomach had been doing flip flops since they'd walked back from the Swan site and the last thing she felt like doing was eating. "Sure" she replies, knowing that if she'd said no, James would have been hauling Jack back to their tent.
He stands and holds his hand out to her, helping her to her feet. "What are you in the mood for?" he asks.
"Hmmm" she says faking a smile. "Fish again or fruit again, tough choice. I think I'll go with fruit"
They make their way over to the fire, settling down in the sand. Jin approaches Juliet with a plate of cooked fish. "Here have some of this Juliet. I just caught it this morning" he says holding the plate in front of her.
Her stomach flips, "Umm, no thanks Jin" she says pushing the plate away.
"Here Juliet", Hurley says passing her a bowl of fruit.
"Thanks Hurley", she says accepting the bowl, and setting it down on the sand in front of her.
James left Juliet by the fire, and went to talk with Sayid and Goodwin. From the corner of his eye he could still see Juliet. She had tried to deny it, but there was something that was off with her. He just wasn't able to put his finger on it.
"Auntie Juliet", Julian says running up to her, and flopping down in her lap.
"Hi honey" she says wrapping her arms around the little boy hugging him. "Alex is trying to catch me" he giggles. Just as quickly as the little boy had flopped down in her lap, he'd jumped up and was off and running again. She watches as he runs around and Alex pretends to try to catch him. Today she'd give anything for even a little bit of his energy.
She glances down at the bowl of fruit sitting in front of her and her stomach flip flops again. She stands, picks up the bowl and returns it to the rest of the food. There was no way she was even going to attempt to eat. Rachael and Claire were both hanging around preparing dinner. "If James is looking for me, I'm in the tent" she tells them.
"You okay?" Rachael asks, noting her sisters pale complexion.
"Yup, just tired" she replies. "I didn't sleep very well last night" she says heading back off to her tent.
Sayid, Goodwin and James were joined by Jack and Jin. The men were discussing the implications of what Juliet had revealed about her encounter at the Swan site. Part of what Juliet revealed had made a lot of sense. Had John actually remembered the island, he'd find a way to come back. He had made no secret of the fact he believed the island was his destiny. But at the same time, John had "killed himself" in their previous reality, and like the others that had died, news reports had revealed that John had died on a brain aneurysm in their new reality. Had he really 'faked' his death this time and if so how had he gotten back to the island?
"We need to be ready for anything", Sayid says cryptically. "From here on out anything could happen"
***
Later that night after dark...
The camp had settled down for the night. Jin and Hurley were sitting by the fire keeping watch.
Hearing a noise behind them they both turn to see Juliet coming out of her tent.
Jin gets up and walks towards Juliet. "Feeling better?" he asks.
"A little bit", she replies. "I shouldn't have slept so long though" she says with a half smile. "Now I'm probably going be up for the night. Why doesn't one of you go to bed", she says looking from Jin to Hurley. "I can help keep watch"
The two men look at each other and back at Juliet. Hurley shakes his head. "Nope we're good" he replies. "Sawyer gave us strict instruction not to put you on guard tonight"
She glances back at their tent and shakes her head. She should have known he'd do something like that.
"Fine" she says with no argument, "but I'm up if you get tired"
She leaves the two and heads towards the makeshift kitchen. Her stomach still wasn't back to normal but she finally felt a little bit hungry. She prepares a small plate of fruit and heads towards the edge of the water. She sits down looking out at the dark water.
***
"Are you sure we are going to get away with this Miles?" Daniel asks as him, Charlotte and Miles leave the freighter in the small raft.
Miles nods, "No one saw us leave. As long as we stick to the right co-ordinates we'll get to the island"
"But this isn't what Widmore wanted", Charlotte starts..
"Doesn't matter what Widmore wants and for that matter I haven't even seen him in the past twelve hours anyways", Miles says cryptically. "There are people on the island we need to protect and I mean to make sure they are protected.
Both Charlotte and Daniel look at him confused. He'd been rambling on for days about the people on the island they needed to protect only he wouldn't elaborate beyond that.
When they were a safe distance from the freighter, Miles glances at the freighter. He had some regrets about what was going to happen. He'd made sure that Frank hadn't come this time, same with Naomi. The fate of the rest of the freighter had been sealed by their previous past, or so he believed. It was the belief that their fate was already sealed that made easier what was to come next. He needed to prevent Keamy and his men from getting to the island hurting his friends.
The night sky lights up as the freighter explodes....