Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait! Thank you to Marla's Lost for reviewing the last chapter!

I hope you enjoy and please read and review!

Disclaimer: Lost is not mine.

Code Silver

Chapter 15

James balanced two cups of coffee and a muffin on a large stack of papers as he badged into the hospital's employee entrance near the security office. He took the back halls and hit the button for the elevator with an elbow.

It had been a little over a week since his head met with a fire extinguisher and the stitches were already gone. He had a small scar, but mostly he was just left with his shorter hairstyle to show for the incident. His days back at work had been calm and routine so far and he expected today to be more of the same. Juliet, however, was busier than ever and he hoped things would slow down before she ran herself ragged.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to the second floor. He glanced down the obstetrics hallway, but saw no Juliet. He made his way for her office. When he'd called an hour ago she'd been a mess.

"Hello?" She'd answered distractedly.

"Hey there, Sunshine." He drawled.

"Hey." She said in acknowledgment, still distracted.

He could hear her moving around. "Everything ok?" He asked.

She took a deep breath. "No." She replied and dropped into her office chair. Her desk was a mess, littered with papers and folders. Drawers stood half open, their contents strewn about the floor around her. "I got up late. Julian hid my car keys. I have that meeting today with the hospital board and I can't find my presentation notes anywhere!" James eyed the stack of papers on his kitchen table and opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off talking a mile a minute. "I looked everywhere and Rachel swears she hasn't seen them. I know I took them home over the weekend, but I decided to look here anyway and I still can't find them."

"You mean the papers you brought over here the other night?" He asked.

"You have them?!" She was on the edge of her seat, suddenly remembering taking them from her office, to the house she shared with Rachel, to James' apartment.

He flipped through a couple pages. "Well I can tell ya nothin' with diagrams of reproductive organs on it around here is mine."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "When do you come in? Can you bring them with you?"

"Yeah, I go in at ten."

"Shit." Juliet said. "The meeting's at nine." She glanced at the time. Eight o'clock. She'd already wasted an hour tearing through her office. "Maybe I have time to reprint it."

"Gimme half an hour."

"You sure?"

"Yep. Thirty minutes."

She'd just gotten her desk cleaned up when he walked in. She smiled. "You're a life saver."

He set the stack down next to her keyboard. "Must be a long ass presentation." He commented.

She laughed. "There's handouts in there too so everyone can follow along."

He held up a coffee and the muffin.

"Are those for me?" She asked.

"Didn't sound like ya had time for breakfast."

Instead of taking the items from him she stood and wrapped her arms around his neck before bringing her lips to his. James' arms went awkwardly around her waist, still holding the cup of coffee and muffin. "I love you." She said with a smile.

"I love you too."

They talked as she ate quickly. She had a busy day ahead of her and couldn't guarantee she'd see him for lunch, and that was if everything went according to plan. Shortly before nine they parted ways as Juliet headed for her meeting and James went to the cafeteria to kill time before his shift.

As soon as James got to the security office he was sent to the emergency room. A psychiatric patient was being transferred to another hospital and her ride had just arrived. There was a car service that specialized in transporting patients that didn't require the use of an ambulance. James followed the driver, a short, large man with nearly no neck, into the ER. While he headed to the nurse's station for paperwork James went to the woman's room.

The woman was in her fifties and was about as wide as the bed she was lying in, her eyes glued to the television in the corner of the room.

"Yer ride's here. You ready to go?" James tried to sound cheerful.

She sat up a little and narrowed her eyes at him. "Where am I going?" She asked.

James had no idea, but luckily the driver chose that moment to enter the room. He gave her the name of the hospital.

"I'm not going." The woman said calmly and settled back into her bed.

James and the driver looked at each other. "The car's all ready and waitin' for ya. Let's get your stuff together." James chose to ignore her comment.

She glared at him. "I won't go to that place! I told them I wanted to go to Miami General!"

"They couldn't get you in there. They're full." James took a wild guess, but he knew at times it was difficult for doctors and nurses to find somewhere with the room for a new patient.

"Then I'll stay right here until a room opens up." She said, crossing her arms.

James could feel a headache coming on.

The woman's nurse entered the room with the necessary transfer paperwork. "Why don't you have your shoes on? I've got your paperwork. You're good to go."

"I'm not going!" She screamed.

"I already told you Miami General is full. You cannot go there." She set the paperwork down and pulled the woman's shoes from her bag of belongings.

"Then I'm not going anywhere!" She proceeded to tell them how Miami General has books she likes and better food. Also she'd been to the other place before and everyone there was evil. Meanwhile, the nurse got the woman's shoes on her without her noticing.

Their next attempt at coaxing her out of bed was met with more screaming and a declaration of "I know my rights!". Her doctor showed up and tried to explain things to her – she was being involuntarily admitted so she didn't have much choice. They found a place with an empty bed and that's where she was going.

It did no use. She was still adamant about waiting for a room in the other hospital to open up.

Even the driver tried to talk her into it. It had been a while since she'd been in the 'evil' hospital. He told her about how nice it was the last time he took someone there. She screamed at him and hunkered down in the bed, grabbing onto the railings as if her life depended on it. "I. Won't. Go." She said with finality.

Everyone was tired of arguing with her. Finally the doctor shrugged. "We'll just wheel her out there." He said and unlocked the wheels to the bed the woman was in.

James couldn't believe it. He spent half his time at work trying to get patients to stay in the hospital and this one wouldn't leave. He took hold of the bed railing along with the driver, nurse, and doctor. Then they pushed the whole bed through the ER and out into the ambulance bay, only stopping once they got to the car.

The woman spent the whole ride trying to talk her way out of it and was still going as the nurse helped her off the bed and into the car. The driver took her belongings and the necessary paperwork. Then they were off.

James pushed the bed back into the building still in disbelief at what had just happened. Luckily the rest of his shift was much more mundane.

He got a text from Juliet around lunch time. She wouldn't have time to meet him in the cafeteria. He was disappointed, but understood. He ate with Dan instead. When his shift ended at six he had two messages, one from Juliet regretfully informing him that one of her high risk patients had unexpectedly gone into labor and she'd have to be there until after the baby came. The other was from Miles asking if he was free.

James and Miles met at their favorite bar. They ate and drank and watched the football game on TV. Two beers in Miles leaned over the table conspiratorially. "Two girls. Two tables over. Checking us out."

James shrugged. "You can have 'em."

Miles eyes went wide. "You're not even gonna look?!" He asked incredulously.

"Nope." James replied and took a sip of his beer.

"You know how this works." Miles said animatedly. "You've got that bad boy whatever that attracts them from across the room. They come over with their friend to talk to us and at some point at least one of them realizes I'm the real catch and everyone's happy. It's been this way since the academy and I've come to rely on this method."

James almost laughed. "That ain't how you got Brooke and you know it. You do just fine on yer own, Enos."

"That's not the point." Miles said. "The point is I tell you we've got two good looking women whose eyes can't seem to leave our table and you don't even care to look?"

"Don't need to." James said, his thoughts on Juliet.

"You're serious?" Miles asked. James nodded. The Asian raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Juliet's got you trained well." He said.

James scowled. "You know it ain't like that." He said, inadvertently taking the bait his friend set out.

"And how is it?" Miles asked curiously. He'd never seen his friend like this before. Even when James was with Cassidy he saw no harm in checking out other women or flirting a little when he was out with the guys and at the time he'd claimed she was the one.

James was silent for a few moments. He and Miles were best friends and they shared a lot with each other, but feelings had never been at the top of the list of things to talk about. "I'm thinkin' of askin' Juliet to move in with me." He admitted. It was a big step and he wasn't entirely sure how she'd react. He just knew he was tired of not being able to hold her in his arms each and every night as he drifted off to sleep. He knew Miles liked Juliet, but he wasn't sure how the other man would react to his thoughts. He hoped Miles wouldn't think he was making a mistake.

Miles grinned. "That's great, Man. You guys are good together. I'm happy for you."

James smiled. "Thanks."

They ordered another round in celebration. It had been a while since they'd had a guys night. They talked for hours about anything and everything until James' cell phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and was surprised first by how late it was and then that it was work calling. He showed Miles the number and gave him a questioning glance. Miles shrugged.

"Hello?" James answered.

"James." He was surprised to hear Juliet's voice. She sounded exhausted. "Can you come pick me up?" She asked.

"I'll be right there." He hung up and headed back to the hospital.

He found Juliet in the security office with John. She wore scrubs and sat awkwardly in one of the rolling chairs, her purse and laptop bag on the floor beside her. Her hair was pulled back haphazardly and the look on her face gave him no indication as to what was going on. She gave a small smile when she saw him and moved to pick up her things.

"Everything ok?" He asked and took the laptop bag from her, throwing the strap over his shoulder.

She sighed. "Someone broke into my car." She said.

James' eyes went wide. "Are you ok? What happened"

She'd been parked in the far lot and didn't know anything was wrong until she was trying to leave for the night. Her window was broken and a tire slashed. She didn't keep much in the car, but her phone charger was gone and combined with her dead cell battery was why she'd called James from the office phone. John had already called the police for her and they'd taken her statement. Unfortunately, the only camera in the area had been broken for several weeks. It didn't look likely that they would find out who did it.

"I just want to go home and deal with it tomorrow." She said after finishing her story.

"Sure." He said and took her hand. He resisted the urge to remind her he always told her not to park so far away. At this time of night her car would be one of only a handful in the large parking lot. He was just thankful she hadn't run into whoever had been out there tonight. They thanked John and left the hospital.

"Must have been a fast delivery." James commented on the way to his car. "I thought you'd be stuck here all night." He smiled, hoping to show he was happy to see her unexpectedly, but she didn't smile back and he caught her pained expression before she could hide it. He squeezed her hand. "What happened?" He asked gently.

"It's a girl." She said. "But I don't know if she'll make it through the night." The pain and heartache was in her eyes, but there were no tears.

James released her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders instead, holding her close as they walked the rest of the way to the car. Once they reached the passenger door he pulled her in for a proper hug. Her arms went easily around him and her head to his chest. He didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure he knew the words to comfort her. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and opted to just hold her instead of trying to come up with something profound to say.

After a few moments Juliet looked up at him. "Take me home?" She asked. He nodded and opened the door for her.

It wasn't until he was halfway in the driver's seat that James realized he wasn't entirely sure where she wanted to go. She'd previously referred to both her place with Rachel and his apartment as 'home' and he couldn't remember if she'd told him during the day where she intended to spend the night. He glanced at her in the passenger seat. She already had her seat belt on and head tilted back against the seat with her eyes closed. She'd had a very long day and he wasn't about to ask for clarification. He wanted to be there for her, to comfort her, and his place was closer. Besides, he knew she'd feel bad if she accidentally woke Rachel or Julian. He pointed the car in the direction of his apartment.

The next morning the shrill ringing of James' phone woke them. Juliet groaned and rolled away from both James and the offending piece of technology.

"'lo?" James answered groggily.

"Is Juliet with you?" It was Rachel. "I can't get a hold of her and I haven't heard from her since yesterday morning and -"

James was too tired to continue listening. "Jules." He said and held the phone out to her. "It's Rachel." He said when she glared at him.

Suddenly Juliet was wide awake. She took the phone wondering what could be wrong and headed into the living room to let James get more sleep when she discovered Rachel was just worried about her.

"I'm sorry, Rach. I should have called. It was a really long, really bad day. I was tired and my phone was dead." James could only hear Juliet's side of the conversation as he padded into the kitchen to start the coffee maker.

"Well what did he say?" Juliet asked. "Yeah, the window's broken and the tire's flat. Yes, James will help me. Text me the number and I'll call him."

James dug her cell phone out of her purse and plugged it in.

"Hi Buddy." She said next and settled into the couch. James smiled. He knew Julian could be long winded, but she always talked to him with such enthusiasm He started breakfast and listened as she "oohh'd" and "aahh'd" at whatever story her nephew was telling her. He was nearly done setting the table by the time she got off the phone.

"Everything alright?" He asked as he handed her a cup of coffee.

She took a sip of the warm liquid and nodded. "A cop stopped by the house this morning. He needed more info about the car. She freaked. I should have called her."

"It was a long day." He said. "I didn't think about calling her either."

"Sometimes I feel like I live with my mother." She chuckled, taking a seat at the table.

He sat next to her and was thinking quietly. He watched as she moved bacon, eggs, and toast to her plate before she looked at him curiously.

"Live here." He finally said. "With me."

She just looked at him.

"Move in with me." He said. He was hopeful and nervous and terrified, but tried not to show it.

"What?" She asked.

Author's Note: I know this isn't the greatest place to end the chapter, but I promise I have a plan! Also, it's looking like this story will end up being about 20 chapters so we're getting there. As always, let me know what you think!