The next morning a fully dressed Juliet made her way to the kitchen. This time she found James was not alone. Jin was preparing breakfast and smiled politely when he saw her.

"Good morning Juliet. Would you like an omelet?"

His English really was remarkable these days she thought. James looked up at her from his book.

"Yeah, that would be great. Thanks Jin."

She grabbed a cup of coffee and joined him at the table.

"You're up early," he teased.

"I wanted to make sure you remembered what I said before you left today."

"Yes ma'am! Me and Jin here are gonna mind all our P's and Q's. Scout's honor!"

She rolled her eyes at him as Jin set down a delicious breakfast in front of them both. He was definitely the best chef in the house.

"Not only that, but when we get back I'm gonna make us some barbeque to celebrate."

"Celebrate? Celebrate what exactly?"

"On getting the upper-hand over that rat bastard!"

Juliet sighed with apprehension. For some reason she felt nervous and definitely didn't want to talk about celebrating before they had even tried to enter hostile territory. Maybe it was the fact that the man had once nearly had her hand removed or her in-depth knowledge of the Other's ability to undermine their enemy…either way she was not celebrating anything.

"James, please. I'm asking you to use a little caution is all."

He saw she was bothered. "Alright. Fine. I'm still making us barbeque when I get back though."

She shook her head and a smile appeared unwillingly on her face. James grinned back as though he just beat her at a game. Jin smiled at them both. He was used to their flirting and it comforted him to see them happy…since he couldn't be. A longing expression returned to his face as he thought of Sun. The other two didn't notice.

After they finished off their meals she stood in the doorway to see them off. She didn't have to say it again because he said it for her:

"I know Mom! We'll be careful."

She rolled her eyes one last time before shutting the door. She watched them leave and a sinking feeling came over her. The rest of the day it never left. She tried to busy herself with work. When her shift was over she clocked out and practically raced home. She was hoping they'd be back already, but when she returned the house was empty. She was about to head over to the security office when Miles walked in the door.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Fine. Have you seen James?"

"No. Why? What's up?"

"I just thought he and Jin would be back by now."

"Where'd they go?"

She looked at him, surprised he wasn't in the circle of trust. She wasn't supposed to be either. She had promised James not to talk about the Hydra to anyone, but wasn't sure if Miles counted. She decided to play dumb.

"I don't know. He just said they were going out for the day and he'd be back for dinner. I just wondered if I should wait around or make my own."

"Oh please, you better wait. I don't want the house to burn down."

She rolled her eyes at him and exclaimed, "it wasn't that bad!"

"You wanna bet?"

She laughed, knowing he wasn't wrong about the last time she burnt the food…which led to her firing.

"If you're hungry I can make you something."

She wasn't hungry. She wouldn't be able to eat a bite until she saw James was back safely. She was not telling Miles that.

"No you don't have to go to the trouble."

"It's no trouble. I don't know what he was planning to cook, but I'm hungry now myself."

She agreed to let him cook and went to crack the blinds so she could see what was going on outside. She grabbed her book and pretended to read while Miles was cooking. She could hear him banging around and humming to himself.

"What are you making?"

"Spaghetti."

"Sounds good," she lied.

She didn't know how she was going to eat such a heavy meal feeling this way. She got up from the couch and paced a bit, checking out the window every so often. Miles noticed her doing it and yelled from the kitchen.

"I don't know why you're so worried. I'm sure they're fine. I don't know if you've noticed, but they both are pretty good at taking care of themselves."

She scowled where he couldn't see her.

"Mmm, hmm," she agreed, her mind racing with the possibilities of what might have gone wrong to cause their delay.

"You know if you wanted, I could show you how to not burn spaghetti. It's a pretty easy meal to cook actually."

She decided it was something to do to take her mind of worrying and walked into the kitchen.

"Fine."

Miles was surprised she agreed, but quickly guided her through the steps.

"Step one, boil water."

"Miles, I know how to boil water. I'm not an idiot."

He ignored her and continued, "Step two brown the meat. Now this is where you can't go walking away from the stove like you like to do."

She sat down crossing her arms in defense.

"I already chopped up these vegetables. I'm gonna add them to the sauce. Normally I might make my own sauce, but that's too advanced for you. So we're gonna start out simple and just use this delicious Dharma Initiative pre-made sauce and just spruce it up a little."

She ignored his belittling and watched absentmindedly as he fussed over his sauce. Her thoughts once again returning to James…and Jin.

"See this is why you can't cook. You can't even pay attention while I'm doing it."

"I am paying attention!," she protested.

"Okay, then what was the last thing I said?"

She glared at him. "Something about onions."

"Well close enough I guess. I said you can make a better sauce if you cook the garlic and onions first."

"Alright Martha Stewart. Got it."

He turned around trying not laugh at her sulking. He wasn't sure why she was trying to pretend she wasn't freaking out about James, but then again he wasn't sure why she was suddenly so worried about him. They had all been out much longer on security detail before. He'd been so busy going on stupid calls lately he hadn't noticed their absence. He was a bit miffed no one bothered to tell him the two guys had gone out in the first place though.

"I'm sure James is fine Juliet," he said purposely neglecting to mention Jin.

She looked up, ready to protest being worried specifically about him, but she could see there was no point. Miles gave her a knowing look.

"Why don't you come over here and learn how to strain the noodles."

"I know how to…"

She realized he was just trying to help take her mind off things again and smiled.

"Fine."

They finished preparing the spaghetti and sat down to eat it in silence. Every time she heard someone outside talking or laughing she'd glance to the door to see if it was them. Miles watched her, feeling sorry for her. When they finished she grabbed the dishes to start cleaning them. He got up, still not sure what he could say that would make her feel better.

"Look, why don't I head over and see what I can find out?"

Her look told him everything he needed to know.

"Alright, I'll be right back."

He took longer than expected, which only made her more nervous. When he finally reappeared through the door she was back at the blinds waiting impatiently.

"Well?"

"Well, nothing."

"No one knew anything?"

"I asked and that prick Phil told me I didn't have clearance. So I asked a few of my buddies and all they knew was they left this morning and haven't been back. One did say that two officers had been dispatched to the Hydra."

Her face fell, her mind racing further now.

"Do you know more?," he asked.

She couldn't take it anymore and decided Miles didn't count when it came to the big secret. She slumped down on the couch and he copied her finding a chair.

"He was supposed to be transporting Charles Widemore back to the Hostiles."

"I didn't know we had him in the first place. What the hell?"

"Apparently he was getting information from Ralph. They caught them and took him to Room 23."

"Room 23?"

She had forgotten Miles didn't know much about the Hydra and all its secrets. "It's a place they use to brainwash people…and they can make them forget things."

"Well, maybe it's just taking longer than they thought to get him back," Miles offered.

"Or they've been captured and are currently being tortured by the Hostiles…or worse."

"Look, after Jim talked to Richard the last time I doubt they would do anything to him."

She wasn't sure that was true, but it was the first thing Miles had said that brought her any comfort.

"Maybe."

"It's still pretty early. Let's just wait and see. If I have to I'll go back and deal with that asshole Phil. Why don't you read your book and I'll make you some brownies!"

"Brownies?," she said curiously raising an eyebrow at him like he was crazy.

"Yeah, brownies! Whenever I was having a bad day or worried about something my mom would always make me brownies. It helps. I promise."

She smiled imagining him as a worried little kid. She guessed he must have been a cute kid. Her eyes welled up a little as she stopped hiding how upset she was. She decided to give into his gesture to make her feel better.

"Alright. Fine. So long as you don't make me watch."

He got up and headed for the kitchen, "Oh I'd never trust you to make brownies. Don't you worry your pretty little head."

She smiled as she picked up her book, never opening a page and only waiting for the door to open. An hour later it had grown dark and the brownies were finally cooling out of the oven. Finally there was a noise on the porch and in walked the exhausted looking pair. Juliet threw the book down to rush over to them. Jin headed straight for the shower and James sat down to take off his muddy boots. Miles came out of the kitchen.

"What the hell happened with Widemore man?"

James looked at a bewildered Juliet.

"You told him?"

"Yeah, after you went missing!"

"Missing? We're not that late."

"It's 9pm! That might as well be midnight around here!"

"And why the hell does it smell like brownies?"

"We made brownies," Miles said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"So you were so worried about us you made brownies?"

Juliet couldn't take it anymore. "JAMES!"

He looked at her and thought she seemed on the verge of tears. He thought back to her words earlier and realized she must have been worried all day.

"I'm sorry. I…we got sidetracked. When we got there this morning Widemore was gone."

"Gone?," Miles parroted.

"Yeah. Gone as in vanished."

"How," she asked.

"Well apparently some of his buddies made a rescue attempt. We found the guard and a couple of the nerds down."

"Down? As in dead?," Miles asked.

"No, not dead…let's just say they're gonna have a headache for a few days. They're over at the clinic still."

"If that was this morning why are you so late?," she asked more calmly now.

"Horace thought they might still be over there so we spent the whole damn day searching high and low. Nothing! I told him they were long gone, but he didn't care."

He stood up from the chair, groaning a little as he did.

"What's wrong?," she asked with sudden concern.

"Nothing, I just fell and pulled my back out a little."

"James" she scolded while looking at him; her eyes full of concern.

"I'm fine. I'll be fine."

He stopped in front of her for a moment before heading into the kitchen.

"So y'all got any real food? I'm starving."

"Yeah, I taught her to make spaghetti."

"You let her in here? I thought we talked about this."

She rolled her eyes before sighing with relief. A freshly showered Jin walked by her and joined the other guys in the kitchen. She watched them all talking like nothing happened. Her worries were only partially relieved, but she decided for tonight she'd push them from her mind once again. She fortified herself before entering the kitchen, pretending like she hadn't almost lost her best friend. She made her way through the busy room to fill an icepack and handed it to James before sitting across from him. While she quietly watched him eat, she realized for now she was just happy to have him back.