Chp 5

"Maybe I shouldn't go," Juliet said as her sister helped her pull the suitcase from the top of her closet shelf.

"Don't be ridiculous, it's a wonderful opportunity," Rachael said placing the dusty case on the bed and opening it.

"But you're pregnant and," Juliet said looking at the floor sadly.

"I'm feeling much better really," her sister said placing a hand on Juliet's arm.

"It's just they said I might be too busy to come visit you at first and I don't know if I should be leaving you in your condition," she said.

"Juliet, it's only six months, you'll be back before he's born," Rachael told her, patting her belly.

"He?" Juliet inquired, "You think it's a boy?"

"I'm sure of it. Don't worry. Auntie Juliet will be on time to meet little Aristotle."

"Aristotle?" Juliet asked laughing.

"What you prefer Plato?" she asked her.

"Oh Rachael, you can't be serious."

"Earth to Juliet," Jack said waving his hand in front of her face.

"Hey," she said shaking her memories away.

"You were a million miles away, everything alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah, sorry, just thinking," she said as she went back to helping him set up the operating area.

"Thinking about what?" Jack asked as he set up a make shift curtain to protect Sun's privacy.

"Aristotle and Plato," Juliet said with a smile.

"You were thinking of philosophers, now?"

Juliet smiled at Jack. "I think we're ready, should I go get Sun?"

Jack took a deep breath and nodded at her.

"You sure about this Jack?" she asked him once again.

"Yeah I'm sure," Jack said.

….

"Jin, you'll have to wait back here," Juliet said.

"He can't go with me?" Sun asked.

"We have to keep the caves as sterile as possible. We would have done it in the Staff but Jack didn't want to risk the Others coming back," Juliet explained.

"But Jin's her husband," Kate said squeezing Sun's hand in reassurance, "Surly he can at least,"

"You don't know what you're talking about Kate," Juliet blurted out harshly, before closing her eyes and regaining her composure.

Sawyer looked at her from the corner of his eye; Juliet could feel him piercing through her.

"Let's go Sun, it's getting late," she said.

Sun said her goodbye's to a worried Jin before heading off into the jungle with Juliet. Jack smiled at her, "It's going to be okay Sun. I'll be doing the procedure but Juliet will assist and she'll be able to monitor the baby the whole time."

"I trust you Jack," Sun said lying down on the makeshift cot they were using as an operating table. Memories of Boone ran through her head but she pushed them aside, "I trust you," she said once again as Jack swallowed guiltily before injecting her with anesthesia.

"Okay Jack?" Juliet asked through her surgical mask.

Jack nodded, "Let's do this," he said and she handed him a number 10 scalpel.

Jack made the transverse incision just above Sun's pelvic bone as Juliet kept the blood away.

"Deaver," Jack said and Juliet handed the retractor calmly to him even though her heart and his were beating frantically.

The procedure went fairly routine as Jack stretched open Sun's uterus, grasping the fetus by the legs, Jack pulled out Sun's baby.

"Oh my god," Jack said before holding the baby boy out to Juliet's waiting arms. Juliet looked at the baby wide eyed before looking back at Jack, "Oh," she said slightly surprised before wrapping the child up in blankets.

Jack shook his head. "Okay Juliet, time to go," he told her, "As soon as you're out of ear shot, clear his nose and mouth, you might have to perform CPR if he doesn't start breathing but he looks healthy enough."

Juliet was already pulling the curtain back, "I know Jack, I am a doctor too."

"Right," Jack said with a half smile, "Be careful and don't let anyone see you. I'll tell Jin the baby was stillborn."

"Right," Juliet said with regret.

"And don't let Ben hurt you or take advantage of you," he said before turning his attention back to Sun.

"He won't, he'll have what he wants," she said and took off running into the jungle.

….

"I'm sorry Jin," Jack said sadly and a part of him truly meant it.

"I want to see him, I want to see my son," Jin said in his broken voice and broken English, "I want to see my family."

"It's me," Jack said sadly through the telephone receiver.

"Did you find your father Jack?" Margo asked coldly.

"I'm sorry Mom but Dad's," Jack said and began to cry, "Dad's dead."

Jack explained the circumstances of his father's death to his mother.

"So you failed just like he said you always would," his mother told him.

"What?" Jack asked his voice cracking.

"You never could do anything right and now you failed, failed to protect and take care of your family."

Jack put his arm out to stop Jin from running to the caves.

"You can't Jin," he said.

"Why the hell not?" Sawyer asked on Jin's behalf.

Jack shot him a look before turning to Jin again, "The baby was severely deformed Jin. You wouldn't want to see it and I didn't think it would be good for Sun so Juliet is taking care of it."

"Burying the baby?" Jin asked.

"Yes," Jack nodded before catching another look from Sawyer just as the Southerner left.

"Come now, I'll take you to Sun," Jack said.

….

Juliet ran the huddled bundle close to her chest till she was deep in the jungle. She kneeled and taking a few deep breaths uncovered the baby at her feet. Carefully she cleared the blood and fluid from his nose and mouth. She sighed in relief when the baby cried, the wail of life ringing out around her.

"Well that don't sound like any stillborn baby I know," came a voice from behind her.

Juliet's eyes widened in the dark as she gathered Sun's infant in her arms and turned around slowly.

"James," she said.

"What the hell are you up to?" he asked her flashing the light of his torch in her face.

"James it's not what you think," she said.

"Oh really? How about you just tell me exactly what you're doing kidnapping Sun's baby."

Juliet bit her lip in defeat; she knew now why Jack told her to stay away from Sawyer. He wasn't to be trusted, but what choice did she have now?

"It's Ben," she said.

"The bunny killer," Sawyer stated.

"The what?" she asked rocking the baby trying to hush its cries.

"Never mind, go on," Sawyer said.

"He promised us, Jack and I, that if we gave him the newborn he'd let us go."

"Let you go where?" Sawyer asked impatient for answers.

"Home," she said, "Please James, he's waiting at the line, you have to let me go."

"I ain't gotta let you anything," he said sharply.

"Please," Juliet cried.

"I don't believe you," Sawyer stated firmly, "There is no way in hell the Doc would do something like this. Steal a baby just to get off the island? No way, not Jack."

"You don't understand James," she said, "Please.

"What are you so frantic for? What's really at stake here?" Sawyer asked stepping closer to her.

"James I'm begging you, can't you see? This is my down on my knees begging you to let me go."

"No. Not until you tell me the truth," Sawyer said.

"Have you failed to notice?" Juliet spat out, "My heart has been bleeding in front of you. I have told you the god damn truth!" Juliet turned around and started heading to the imaginary border that separated the survivors from the Others.

"Not so fast Blondie," Sawyer said and cocked a gun, the sound stopping her in her tracks. She turned to face him again.

"You tell me what would make Jack go against his very nature and steal a baby from its mother?"

"The same thing that made you con your fellow inmate out of millions," Juliet said.

"I got the paper work," Cassidy said the minute Sawyer sat across from her in the booth at the local diner.

"Whatcha talking about?" he said and shifted in his seat as the waitress poured him a cup of coffee.

"From the bank," Cassidy said.

Sawyer stared blankly at her as he stirred the sugar in.

"Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about," she said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"Damn you're a good liar Sawyer," Cassidy said and crossed her arms over her chest in frustration.

"Yeah," he spat, "So?"

"But you're not that good," Cassidy said and placed her hand over his as he reached for his cup.

"I know you're the one that set up the account for Clementine," she told him starring into his eyes, "I won't ask you how you got the money, I know you'd do anything to take care of your own."

"What are you talking about?" Sawyer asked angrily.

"James," Juliet said stifling a cry, "I'm pregnant and Ben he can't find out, I have to get off this island."

Sawyer dropped his head to the ground and took a deep breath before meeting her eyes again.

"Alright Juliet," he said.

"Alright? You won't say anything?"

"We outsiders got to stick together right?" he said.

Juliet smiled at him and nodded.

"Which means you and Jack are going to take me and Kate with you when you leave this place," he said.

"James I can't," she said.

"That's the deal or me and Jin are going to have a heart to heart."

Juliet's face turned to stone, her eyes cold, "I understand James."

"Good," he said, "Then you best get going before Ben turns suspicious. I'll go dig a makeshift grave for the supposed dead baby. Then I'll meet you back here."

….

Jack paced the inside of his tent until Juliet finally returned.

"Thank god," he said pulling her into his arms, "You took so long I was just about to come looking for you."

"I ran into some trouble," she said hugging him tightly before pulling away.

"Is it the baby?" he asked.

"No, the baby's fine," she said and looked into his worried face, "Both Sun's and ours."

Jack breathed a sigh of relief, "Did Ben renege on our deal? Because if he did,"

"No Jack, the plane is fuelled and ready to go at first light," she said placing her hand on his arm calming his nerves.

"Then what trouble," he said in confusion.

"James, he caught me in the jungle with the baby," she told him, "He knows everything now, I had to tell him."

"Juliet!" Jack yelled turning his back on her and running his hand over his hair, "I told you to stay away from him."

"I know Jack, I'm sorry," she said softly.

Jack wanted to ring her neck, he was so angry, but he knew nothing could change things now.

"What did he say?"

"He'll keep quiet about Sun and my pregnancy and,"

"He knows you're pregnant?" Jack asked hissing out an angry breath.

"I had to explain why Jack."

"You couldn't lie? You're damn good at it."

She flinched at his words but her own anger was taking over, "I did the best I could Jack! You can't con a con man."

Jack licked his lips, "And what does the con man want in return for his silence?"

"That we take him with us, him and Kate," she said.

Jack let out a frustrated laugh.

"He said he wouldn't tell her. He said he won't tell Kate what you did to get off the island. He's going to make something up, some sort of lie," she told him hoping that would make thing better. Jack just nodded and grew quiet.

"You should get some sleep," he finally said, "We'll be going in a few hours."

"Right," Juliet said softly and laid down on the blankets, turning from Jack she let a single tear escape and run down her cheek.

In the morning, Jack and Juliet met Sawyer and a somewhat confused Kate in the jungle.

"I just don't understand why we can't tell the others we've got a way out," Kate said to them.

Juliet nervously looked at Sawyer.

"Because Shortstop, it's like I said yesterday, Ben don't want it that way."

"And we're just going to do what Ben says," Kate demanded to know, looking at Jack.

"Yes we are," he said before pushing further.

Juliet gave James a slight nod before following her husband farther into the jungle.

Following the directions Ben gave Juliet, they soon came to a wide, green clearing. In the centre a tarred runway stretched out into the horizon, a Cessna laid fueled and ready to fly. Ben walked out to meet them, his eyes widening slightly at the site of Kate and Sawyer.

"They weren't pat of the deal Jack," he said.

Jack looked over his shoulder at his wife and companions before turning back to face Ben. "They are now," he said firmly.

A wide grin spread across Ben's face.

"A part of me can understand wanting to bring her, Kate. But Sawyer? Why save him, out of all of them?"

Jack let out an exasperated breath. "They're two for one these days," he told him, "But then you knew that."

Ben let a slight chuckle escape his lips. "Alright Jack, you kept up your end of the bargain and I'm a man of my word. You're plane's ready. You do remember how to fly don't you?"

"Yeah," Jack said, "I remember."

"Good. She'll take you to Fiji, just follow the coordinates. You'll land on one of our private airports from there, you'll be free."

"Free," Jack said and laughed, "I'll never be free from what you made me do."

"I didn't make you do anything Jack. You always had the choice."

Jack scowled before motioning to the others, "Let's go Juliet, Kate, Sawyer."

Jack helped Juliet climb into the plane, Sawyer following her and holding his hand out for Kate. Before she took it she turned to Jack.

"We're coming back for them right?" she asked him.

"No Kate, we're not."

"How could you?" Kate tearfully asked her mother, "How could you leave Dad to go back to him, to Wayne?"

"You don't understand Katherine," her mother said tying the apron over her diner uniform.

"Then make me mom," Kate said but her mother walked away.

"Dad's is good and honest and Wayne's," she said but couldn't find the words.

Her mother turned around and looked into her daughter's face.

"Nobody's perfect Katherine. One day you'll think you've found him and then suddenly you'll have the blinders ripped off you. And you'll see he isn't the good and honest person you thought and it will hurt like hell. Better to be with someone you know, someone you have no illusions about than have your heart torn out of you later on."

Kate looked at Jack's cold face and didn't recognize him.

"Come on Freckles," she heard Sawyer calling behind him.

She took his hand and let him pull her in beside him.

….

They landed on the Dharma runway exactly when Ben had said they would. Jack had brought them to Fiji safely. The four of them got out slowly and tentatively from the plane but founds no one to bother them. Sawyer took a deep breath of air.

"Free at last, free at last," he said as a soft breeze blew through his hair.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked Juliet softly.

"Yeah I'm fine," she said.

"I'm sorry about what I said last night, didn't mean to hurt you," he told her.

She smiled and lightly padded his chest, "its okay Jack."

He smiled back, "So we did it."

Juliet nodded and looked at Kate, "I'll let you say goodbye then."

Juliet walked down the tarmac towards Sawyer.

"So James, this is it," she said.

"Guess so," he said, "Alice finally made it out of Wonderland."

She smiled at him, she'd miss those nicknames.

"Where you off to then?" she asked.

"Got an address her I need to visit," he said pulling out the piece of paper she had given him that day on the beach. She looked at him knowingly.

"Well then, good bye James," she told him. He nodded unsure of what to say.

"Juliet," he said stopping her before she turned.

"Yes James?"

"You make sure the Doc keeps you safe," he told her, "You and the little one."

Juliet grinned and giggled, "And I thought you were too cool to care."

Sawyer frowned, "I'm serious," he said and dug in his pocket. He pulled out a pen and tore a piece from the paper he held in his hand. He scribbled a number on it and shoved it in her hand.

"In case you're ever in trouble."

…..

"So this is where we part ways," Jack said his hands in his pockets.

"Just like that?" Kate asked, "You won't even discuss going back for the rest of us?"

"I told you Kate we can't. It was part of the deal."

Kate shook her head, "I can't believe you Jack. What happened to you?"

"Nothing happened," he said.

Kate stared at him before giving him a sarcastic grin, "You know it's funny. I always felt I was on the outside looking in on you, never good enough for you."

Jack just stared sadly into her green eyes.

"So I ran from you, hiding my soiled past," she said tearfully, "Guess I mistook you for somebody else, somebody good and honest, somebody who gave a damn."

Jack swallowed the emotion down, choking on his guilt.

"I never said I was perfect," Jack told her, "That was everyone else so I'm sorry if you're disappointed that I didn't live up to the image you built for yourself."

Kate's eyes welled up in her eyes.

"Goodbye Jack," she simply said before turning her back on him.

Juliet walked up to Jack and softly took his hand.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I'm sorry this is costing you so much."

Jack placed his other hand on her stomach, "It's a price worth paying."