Jill / Isabel
At the end of a long day at Simon's Butcher Shop, Jill and Isabel cuddle on the couch of their Santa Monica condo. On the kitchen wall hangs a new 2008 calendar (free to Simon's customers) turned to January 2008: the fresh start of a new year.
Across their laps stretches a Labradoodle named Gracie: fifty pounds of fur and adoration topped by winsome brown eyes. Since Jill and Isabel are both sitting quietly on the couch at the same time, Gracie's taking advantage of it.
The two women think about Ben Linus's phone call of an hour ago. While Ben's voice hasn't left a sour taste, exactly, both of them are ambivalent and uncertain. Finally Jill asks, "This new man in charge, Reyes. You ever meet him?"
Isabel shakes her head. "Negative. Only read his file, which took all damn evening."
"That bad, huh? So what's on Ben's mind, exactly? Hopefully it doesn't involve stashing any more bodies in the meat locker."
Isabel chuckles."I thought he was going to hang up when I told him that whatever he wanted, I wasn't ever going back. That my 'sheriff days' were over."
Jill lays her head on Isabel's shoulder. "Ben won't recall us, Izzy, not if he needs us here. But what did he mean by, 'When the packages arrive next week, distribute accordingly?' What packages?"
"Standard phrasing for moving people on and off the Island. There's some incoming, looks like."
On their laps, the dog gives a contented sigh.
Isabel goes on, "Of the six incoming, four are headed to Portland and thus outside our jurisdiction. We get Kate Austen and Claire Littleton. Don't suppose you met them, either?"
Jill loves Isabel more than life, but she can be dense sometimes. "I had a shop to run, remember? You were on-Island then, not me."
Isabel cracks a faint smile, then gets serious. "Sounds like they're both a mess. Real walking wounded. The word from the new man himself is that these two are 'priority one,' which means pull out all the stops. Places to live, paperwork, jobs if they want them—"
"Uh, hold on. Not unless they know their way around the meat locker. Our insurance is high enough."
Isabel's expression is as dry as her tone. "Austen field-dressed wild boar in Texas, while Littleton survived three years in the jungle. If Gabriel shows them the ropes, they'll be fast learners."
Well, that seems to settle things, then. Jill ruffles the fur around Gracie's ears and murmurs, "Do you think they like dogs?"
