Author's Note: This chapter is longer than all previous ones...yay! Big thank yous to zeusfluff and aggie for reviewing chapter 3!

I'm no longer going to guarantee Monday updates. I've got a lot going on right now and am having a rough time. I may be moving soon.

Updates will still be coming! I just don't want to promise them on certain days and not be able to deliver.

Please cheer me up by reading and reviewing!

Also I recently went back and read some of my previous fics...I can't believe the number of typos I missed! I will work on that!

Disclaimer: Lost is not mine.

Code Silver

Chapter 4

Another two weeks past and James was done with his training. He was now ready to work without spending his time as someone else's shadow. James' first solo shift was an early one. He went in at 6am to relieve the overnight guys. The hospital was quiet this early. The officers weren't open yet and the general population of Miami had yet to wake up and decide they need to go to the Emergency Room.

James sat at the desk in the office and sipped a cup of coffee. He checked his email and deleted the voicemail Cassidy left for him the night before. He didn't listen to it. When would she get the hint that he didn't want to talk to her? He was scanning the cameras and idly wondering if he should get a new cell number when the office phone rang. He jumped, somehow managing not to spill his drink, before answering. "Security." He said into the receiver. "This is Jim." After initial introductions with everyone he'd requested to go by the nickname and even had it printed on his hospital ID.

"Hi. Um, I've locked myself out of my office." A female voice said over the phone. "Can you let me in?"

"Sure thing." James replied. "Where ya at?"

"Second floor. Admin hall."

"Be right there." James hung up, locked up the office, and headed upstairs. His first official duty as Miami Memorial Security. Sure, it was simply unlocking a door which was nothing compared to the things he'd seen and done in LA, but as security he still felt important and needed. Last week he and Miles had restrained a man in the ER after he took a swing at a nurse and they helped EMS get a dying woman inside as quickly as possible. The work was different, quieter than the murder and mayhem of LA, especially as most days the biggest emergency they faced was a locked door. But it was still fulfilling and necessary. Plus James was already finding himself less stressed.

He bounded up the stairs to the second floor. Admin hall. That was a left out of the stairwell and then a right at the crossways. Each floor had its own section of offices, some big and some small. Although the ground floor was the only one to truly hold administration offices like the CEO and such, James had learned that parts of other floors that held pretty much any kind of office, be it a doctor's, nurse manager's, or even the head of housekeeping, it was still referred to as the administration wing of that floor. James was still trying to get everything straight and though it was a small hospital it was still easy to get turned around and momentarily lost.

James turned the corner into the second floor administration hallway. Halfway down on the right stood a woman. She was standing in front of a closed office door. She was blonde and wore a gray suit made up of a knee length skirt and jacket over a baby blue blouse. Her heels were black and tall and James wondered how she could walk in them without breaking an ankle. One shoulder held her purse, the other a laptop in its case. One arm contained a heap of files and folders. She looked up from her cell phone at the sound of James' footsteps.

James nearly stopped in his tracks. The baby nurse. Although apparently she was much higher up and more important than he'd originally thought when he saw her in the OB unit two weeks ago. Baby doctor perhaps? He held up his key ring and jingled it. "Need in?" He asked, head cocked to the side indicating the door she'd been waiting by. He gave her his best dimpled grin.

Juliet gave a small, almost shy smile in return. Dimples like those should be illegal. Although she normally was not a fan of the scruffy long hair look she had to admit his dimples more than made up for it. "Please." She replied to his question. "I can't find my keys. I think I left them on my desk." She stepped back giving him access to the door as he chose a key from the ring.

James was thrilled when the key slid in and turned on the first try. He was unsure as to which key was the right one and had gone with his best guess. He took the key out and let the door swing open.

"Thank you." Juliet said with a real smile.

"No problem." James replied.

They stood in the doorway staring at each other for what could only have been an extra second or two, but it felt like a lifetime. Juliet was captivated by the unique color of his eyes – a blue green with a hint of gray that reminded her of the ocean during a storm. James' eyes bounced around between her azure eyes, full lips, and pink tinged cheeks. They were interrupted by the sudden chirping of Juliet's cell phone. She immediately looked down and found she had a text message from Rachel. James ran a hand through his hair.

"Looks like I left my keys at home. My sister found them." She awkwardly held up her phone as proof.

"Good to hear." He replied. His hand went back through his hair, a nervous habit. "So I guess I'll see ya around then Blondie?"

"Uh, yeah." They both smiled. She then turned into her office as James headed back down the hallway.

Juliet's mind was in a haze as she put her things down and took a seat at her desk. Did he just call me Blondie? And did I just let him get away with it? She'd once shoved Jacob Turner into the dirt during recess for calling her that. So why didn't it bother her this time?

She sighed and boot up her computer. Get a grip, Jules. She told herself. It had been a long time, a very long time, since she felt butterflies in her stomach, but she had just now as soon as Mr. Security whatever-his-name-is smiled at her. Maybe Rachel was right. Maybe it was time she tried dating again. She shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind. Nope. Not happening. In her experience love was never very kind and she always seemed to get hurt in the end whether it was her parent's divorce, the boyfriend who dumped her as soon as he got what he wanted during freshman year of college, or Edmund. No, she was better off single. Rachel and Julian were all she needed. She went to work, pushing any and all thoughts of those dimples and gorgeous blue eyes out of her thoughts.

James spent the next hour berating himself for not thinking to look if his mystery woman wore a ring or not. The color of her eyes and the curve of her lips were ingrained in his head, but her hands? Hell, he couldn't say for certain if she'd had all ten fingers let alone whether or not she wore a ring.

For a short while he'd wondered what had gotten into him. He'd never really been the type to moon over a girl, but this one, this woman, refused to leave his mind. He'd thought about her off and on since he'd first seen her hustling through the OB unit. It had been just sis months since he broke up with Cass. Was that enough time to get over someone you thought you loved?

James wasn't sure, but he was going to go with a 'yes' on that one. He rarely thought of Cassidy anymore, only when her incessant phone calls drove him mad. He still hadn't answered and had no intention of doing so. She hadn't seemed all that brokenhearted the day he'd told her they were through so he couldn't imagine why she'd keep calling. But he also found he didn't really care.

Miles entered the office with a box of donuts no less than ten minutes after his shift was to start.

James smirked. "Working with you never changes does it, Enos?"

"What-?" The Asian's mouth was full of a glazed sugary confection.

"Are you ever on time for anything?" James took a donut for himself once Miles set the box down.

The Asian swallowed his breakfast. "I do believe I was thirty minutes early two months ago when I picked you up from the airport." He stated.

"That's because my plane was forty minutes late."

Miles shrugged. "I was still early." James shook his head. "Quiet morning so far?" Miles asked.

James nodded. "Do you know the blonde with an office on second floor? I saw her in OB once, too."

Miles looked at him, eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"She locked herself out of her office this mornin'. I thought she was a nurse, but they don't get their own offices do they?" James knew he couldn't let Miles know the real reason he cared. If the younger man knew James harbored what some might call a 'crush' on the blonde upstairs he'd never hear the end of it.

Miles surveyed the donut box and chose one with sprinkles this time. "I think you're talking about Dr. Burke." He said as he spun the sprinkled circle around looking for the best place for his first bite.

James almost sighed in relief. Miles saw no ulterior motive in his question and would be distracted for a few moments longer. "So what's this Dr. Burke do?" He asked casually.

Miles chewed slowly before answering. "Baby doctor." He said. "Supposed to be one of the best around."

Blondie was upgraded to Dr. Blondie and James wondered how she'd look in one of the long white coats.

Miles continued. "Her husband runs that company that got a male mouse pregnant a couple years ago."

James' heart dropped. "Husband?"

Miles narrowed his eyes at his friend again and smirked.

"Just curious." James clarified.

Miles studied him a moment longer. "They might be divorced. I'm not sure." He finished off his donut. "But I do know at least half the hospital has tried to take her out and she's turned them all down…men and women!"

James nodded and gave a face that said 'this is only mildly interesting'. Miles moved on to talking about the latest policy change in the ER.

James' fact finding mission had returned some unfavorable results, but like Miles said: he could be wrong. James hoped he was. He couldn't recall a time being this attracted to a woman he barely knew. He would definitely work on learning more about Dr. Blondie Burke.