Author's Note: So originally there was a beginning to this chapter that showed Juliet meeting Miles, but it wasn't working. Can we just pretend it happened?

Big thanks to sandyba and Guest for their reviews on the last chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Lost. (Though I wish I did!)

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Code Silver

Chapter 13

Juliet walked towards her office with a large smile and hopes that her face was no longer flushed, her hair did not look mussed, and her blouse was properly tucked into her skirt all the way around. She'd taken the stairs down from her meeting on the 5th floor. James happened to be taking the same stairs up while making his rounds. They stopped in a stairwell to talk and somehow talking turned into kissing and the next thing she knew he had her backed into a corner. His mouth was hot and frantic against hers and one of his hands managed to find its way under her shirt, his palm laid flat against the smooth skin of her lower back, holding her against him.

"The cameras." She said breathlessly as he started a trail down her neck from the place where her jaw met her ear to the hollow at the base of her throat. Her hands pressed against his chest, but she couldn't make them push him away.

"There ain't no cameras in the stairs, Blondie." He nearly growled in against her neck.

Juliet sighed in relief and let herself focus on James and his actions for a moment before reminding him "We're still at work.".

James' mouth found hers again and slowed down. She met him for a couple slower, less frantic kisses before he disentangled himself from her and took a step back.

Juliet took a breath and immediately started laughing when she looked at James.

"What?" He asked defensively.

"You've got lipstick." She said and moved to wipe it off the corner of his mouth with her thumb. "There." She said she when she was done.

He smiled.

"You're insatiable." She pointed out while trying to tuck her shirt back in quickly.

"Not my fault I can't get enough of ya." He said grinning. "And I ain't never heard any complaints."

She gave him a knowing smile in return and smoothed out her hair with her hands. "How's my face?" She asked.

"Beautiful." He replied instantly.

She rolled her eyes. "I meant how badly did you mess up my makeup?"

He studied her for a moment and just when she was beginning to feel uncomfortable under his gaze he spoke. "Ya look fine."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely."

"I gotta get back to the office." She said, though she didn't want to.

"And I got doors to check. See you later?"

She nodded.

He smiled, gave her hand a squeeze and started back up the stairs.

Juliet was amazed. She'd never felt so good in her life. No one had ever made her feel the way James did – happy, intelligent, beautiful, desirable, wanted.

She neared her office and was surprised to find the door open. She didn't always lock it during the day, but she knew she'd closed the door when she left.

She took one step into the room and froze. Her smiled vanished and her eyes widened in disbelief before her face took on a stony expression. "What are you doing here?" She asked icily.

"Long time no see, Jules." Edmund said. He was sitting in her chair, his feet resting on the corner of her desk, a smug smile on his face.

Juliet hadn't seen her ex-husband since the divorce was finalized. She stood and stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded. He had even less hair than he'd had three years ago and the lines of his face had deepened, but it was still him.

Edmund made a show of looking around the room. "Not a bad place you've got here." He said and then added "Not a corner office though."

Juliet was reminded of all the other times he put her down and fought to keep those feelings at bay. "What do you want?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

He took his feet off the desk and sat up straight in her chair. "I wanted to talk."

"You could have called."

"Would you have answered if I had?"

Juliet knew she would've likely asked to have her number changed if he called, but she didn't say anything.

"That's what I thought." He stood and rounded the desk, choosing instead to lean against the wood. "I want you back." He said.

Juliet was sure there was something wrong with her hearing. "You wha-?"

She was interrupted by the overhead PA system of the hospital. A female voice flowed into the office. "Code Gray Surgery. Code Gray Surgery." The announcement vaguely registered in her mind.

Edmund shook his head. "Hospitals." He said and then stepped closer to Juliet. "You know you don't belong here. You belong in research. With me."

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

Ed took it as an open invitation. He reached out and lightly grasped her arm. "I've missed you." He said. "Come back with me." His face stayed neutral and his tone of voice didn't seem to go with the words he said.

Juliet's mind snapped into focus at his touch. She shook him off violently and stepped back. "No." She said forcefully. "Don't you touch me." She saw a flash of anger cross his features, but he stayed calm.

"Alright." He said. "No touching. Just come work for me."

Juliet could've laughed at the absurdity of the idea. "I don't think so." She said in a voice that clearly meant 'no'.

"We could be great, Juliet." He was getting more animated now. He wasn't used to not getting his way and he'd expected Juliet to come willingly. "No one else can do what you do." He turned and took a picture frame off the desk; it contained the picture of Rachel and Julian at his last birthday. "You made this possible." He held the photo out to her and shook it for emphasis. "No one has been able to replicate your work."

She snatched the picture from his hand and held it against her chest protectively.

"I'll pay you triple what you're getting here. Don't you want to give more people like Rachel the children they so desperately want?"

Juliet steeled her gaze at him. She knew exactly what he was doing. And she was having no part of it. "No." She said confidently.

Edmund looked surprised.

"I played God and it wasn't right. I could have killed my sister or left my nephew motherless when her cancer came back." She'd thought long and hard about this. She loved Julian, but she realized now that she and Rachel had gotten very lucky, so many things could have gone wrong. "You have my research." She told Ed. "Figure it out yourself if you want it so bad." She brushed past him and placed the picture back on her desk. She was done with him.

Edmund worked his jaw before setting it in a hard line. "I have your notes, but I don't have everything." He worked hard to keep from raising his voice. "There are things you didn't write down, things only you know."

Juliet was well aware of that and was about to tell him exactly what she thought he ought to do with those notes when her office phone rang. She looked down. 'Security' shown on the caller ID. "I have to take this." She said knowing it would make him angry and hoping it would make him leave. She sat down behind the desk. "Hello?" She said into the phone, already knowing it would be James, idly wondering what Edmund's face would look like if she asked James to escort him out of the building.

"Juliet?" The male voice said from the other end of the phone. "It's Miles."

"Miles?" She asked. "Is everything ok?"

"James is in the ER. You need to get down here." He sounded distracted, worried, and busy.

Juliet's heart sank. She remembered the announcement earlier. "What? What happened?"

"The code gray. He got hit. He's asking for you. He's in fifteen. You gotta hurry if you wanna get here before..." Miles was cut off by yelling Juliet could hear in the background. "I gotta go." He said and hung up.

She heard the phone click, but still held it to her ear hoping Miles' voice would return and tell her everything was ok. She was near tears.

"Something wrong?" Edmund asked impatiently.

Juliet stood and grabbed her cell phone, purse, and keys. "I have to go." She said, pulling herself together.

"We're not done here." He replied sternly.

Juliet stood face to face with him, pleased to see she was still significantly taller than he was, especially in heels. "I want you out of my office and out of this hospital." She said with more fire and anger than he'd ever heard from her before. "And I never want to see you again."

Ed was oddly calm. "You've changed, Jules." He said. "I'll see you around." He turned and left the room.

Juliet took a shaky breath. James. She left the office quickly and locked the door this time. She stuck her head into Kelly's office next door. "Got an emergency. Don't know when I'll be back." And she was down the hall before the other woman had time to look up from her papers.

Code gray. Which one was that again? Was that the one that mean someone had a gun? "He got hit." That could mean he got shot. "You gotta hurry." Code gray must be the gun one.

Juliet's mind was racing as she went down the stairs as fast as she could. She was overwhelmed with emotions – anger and disgust at seeing Edmund, pride for standing up for herself, and worry, grief and sadness for what she might find in the ER.

She used her badge on the ER doors and silently cursed the length of time it took them to open automatically. It was noisy and loud and busy inside, but it hardly registered. She spotted the sign for room fifteen and ran to it. The sliding glass door was open, but the curtain behind it was closed. She took a deep breath quickly and pulled it open.

"You gotta tell them they can't cut my hair." James was sitting up on the bed, his back resting against the pillow. He looked at her with boyish pleading eyes. Drying blood covered his face and matted in his hair. He still wore the gray and black security uniform and seemed to be in one piece. Most importantly he was alive.

Juliet dropped her things into a nearby chair and stared at him. She'd been so afraid she'd find him close to death if not there already. The flood of emotions she'd been keeping in check finally broke free and tears started to fall. She brought her hands to her face in an attempt to wipe them away.

"Hey." James said softly, brows furrowing. "You ok? I'm fine. Didn't Miles tell you?" He stood up only to immediately fall back onto the bed, cringing at the pain in his head.

Juliet went to him, sitting next to him on the bed. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in the crook of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her in return.

"It's ok." He said. "I'm ok." He could feel the hot tears against his skin and hoped he wasn't getting blood all over her.

After a moment Juliet was able to gain control of her emotions and the tears stopped. She inhaled deeply, relishing in his scent and his arms around her tightly. She pulled back and looked into his eyes, eyes she thought she'd never get to see again. Her hands went to his face, caressing and ignoring the blood there.

James looked at her silently, concerned, his arms still around her.

"I love you, James." Juliet spoke confidently and with passion in her voice.

James smiled. "I love you, too." He pulled her back in and hugged her tight. "I'd kiss you, but I don't think you want my blood all over you." He whispered into her ear.

She laughed and pulled away. After finding a clean spot on his cheek she kissed him.

He brushed stray strands of blonde hair away from her eyes. "You ok?" He asked.

She nodded. "I am now."

"Good! You made it." Miles burst into the small room. "I was hoping you wouldn't be in the middle of havin' a baby." He stood next to Juliet.

James got up before Juliet knew what was happening. He leaned on her for support, reached across her, and smacked Miles upside the head. He then collapsed back onto the bed, eyes shut tight with a hand on his forehead, willing the pain to stop.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Miles rubbed his head.

James leaned back against the pillow and assured Juliet he was fine. "The hell did you tell her?" He asked. "She came in here thinkin' I was dead!"

"Dude was tryin' to fight people again so I didn't get a chance to explain everything!" The smaller man defended himself. "I just said you got hit during the code gray and you were askin' for her. Tried to tell her she needed to hurry if she wanted to get here before they took you for that scan."

"What scan?" Juliet was concerned again.

"They just wanna make sure it didn't crack my skull." James pointed to the side of his head where the most blood was concentrated.

Juliet examined the wound. "Wait." She said after getting a good look at it. "You didn't get shot?"

"Code gray." Miles stressed the second word. "That's the combative person one. Code silver is the one with the weapon. Why can no one remember that?!" He asked exasperatedly.

"Then what happened?" Juliet looked between the two men for an explanation.

Miles started talking. Juliet listened as she began cleaning the blood from James' face.

The psychiatric patient in room eleven had decided to make a run for it, but he took a wrong turn and ended up going deeper into the hospital instead of outside. Security was notified immediately. They followed, along with a couple of male nurses who weren't busy. The guy ended up in the surgery waiting room and grabbed a fire extinguisher as a makeshift weapon in an attempt to keep people from getting too close.

"He was waving it around like mad!" Miles said. "Then Jim came out of a stairwell behind him. He almost had him when the guy noticed him. He whacked him pretty good, but Jim still took him down!"

"He hit you with a fire extinguisher?" Juliet asked James for clarification.

James nodded slightly as Juliet still had a hold of his face, using a wet towel to wipe off the blood. "Maybe he thought I was too hot." He chuckled.

Juliet shook her head. "You're full of yourself." She said. "You're lucky it didn't bash your head in."

"I tried to duck."

"Anyway." Miles continued, still on an adrenaline high from the incident. "We got him back in his room and when I was on the phone with you he started swinging at the nurse's aid. I had to go help.

He's netted up now." Miles said somewhat proudly.

Juliet paused her work and raised an eyebrow at Miles. "Netted up?"

"Yeah, we got a net that goes over the patient and the bed. Holds the arms and legs in place. The head sticks out the top. Keeps them from hurting themselves or others. They'll have us undo it once he calms down."

Juliet could hardly imagine such a thing. Once again she was glad she chose obstetrics over psychiatry. "That sounds horrible." She said.

Miles shrugged. "It's a last resort. We only do it if the doctor tells us to."

Juliet put her towel down and examined James' face. "Much better." She said and examined the wound again. "You definitely need stitches."

James looked at her seriously. "Doc said they'd have to cut my hair, maybe even shave some, to be able to do that. You can't let them."

Juliet laughed and then noticed his expression. She looked at his head again. "They won't be able to do it right if they don't."

He frowned.

"I like your hair the way it is, too. It'll grow back."

He looked at her and smirked. "Will you still love me with short hair?"

"I'd love you even if you had no hair." She smiled.

They were looking into each others eyes with goofy grins and Miles was getting uncomfortable. "Still here guys." He reminded them.