Chp 13

"Here," Sawyer said and pushed a plate full of vegetables in front of her as he took his seat in the crowded cafeteria.

Juliet wiped her red, swollen eyes before sniffling once. She looked at her plate then back at Sawyer.

"What's this?" she asked him.

"It's lunch, what's it look like?" he answered.

"I wanted a peanut butter sandwich and a bag of chips," she told him pouting.

"Ya well, you got to eat healthy now," Sawyer said, "Drink the milk too or the Doc will kill me for not taking care of you."

"Jack," Juliet breathed in frustration and sadness, "He doesn't even think I'm pregnant James." Juliet began to sob again as she pushed the broccoli around with her plastic fork.

"Gees, don't start the water works again, people liable to think I'm beating you or something," he said scowling at the folks staring over at them, "Besides you know that ain't true, Jack just flew off the handle. He does that a lot, he didn't mean it."

Juliet looked at Sawyer and gave him a half hearted smile, "You really think so?"

"Yeah I do. Now eat."

"He thinks I knew about Claire being his sister and didn't tell him," she said.

"Did you?" Sawyer asked.

"Of course not!" Juliet cried in despair.

"Okay Blondie, don't get your knickers in a knot, I was just checking."

Juliet scowled at him, her blue eyes penetrating his.

"Look," Sawyer said, "Jack's been through hell and back, you can't blame him for being suspicious."

"We all have, me too you know? I only knew what was in the file that Ben gave me, that wasn't in the file," she told him.

"Why'd you think they left it out? Or do you think Ben didn't know?" Sawyer asked.

Juliet tilted her head, "Ben knows everything."

"So why not let you know?"

Juliet shrugged, "I haven't a clue."

"All this stuff, this DNA stuff, it makes no sense to me," Sawyer sighed.

"It's crazy I know," Juliet agreed.

"No, I mean I don't get it," he said.

"Oh," Juliet answered, "Well here," she said and fished through her bag. She pulled out a piece of paper.

"It's genetic traits. One female, one male, with the same personality trait. See I charted them," Juliet explained.

Sawyer's eyes scanned the names and their corresponding traits.

#4 Jack/AnaLeadership

#8 Sawyer/ShannonManipulation

#15 Hurley/LibbyInsanity

#16 Claire/BooneAddiction

#23 UnknownSecrecy

#42 Sayid/KateCommunication

Sawyer grimaced before looking up at Juliet, "As if the Falafel King and Freckles were ever going to get it on."

"James please," Juliet said in no mood for his nicknames.

"What? It's true. Mind you I can't say I wouldn't have minded a dip in Sticks' pool but all in all Shannon was a little too high maintenance for me."

"James Ford, be serious for once," Juliet said in exasperation.

"Fine, so tell me what's this group's, Infinity, what's their master plan?"

"I think they wanted to study the offspring of those couples. I think I was brought to the island to ensure the safe delivery of the babies so they could study if the trait would be inherited."

"That's just sick," Sawyer said.

Juliet nodded, "We're missing a couple though. Number 23, we don't know either the male or female with that trait."

Sawyer laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?" Juliet asked her forehead wrinkled with confusion.

"Don't you remember what trait that is? Number 23 is the trait for secretiveness. It's kind of ironic that's the one unknown."

"Are you kidding me? You think this is a joke James?"

"Don't get all pissy Juliet," he said leaning back on the plastic chair, "What exactly do you want from me? Why make me come back to L.A.?"

"I want you to help me."

"Help you with what exactly?"

"Prove to Jack that I didn't know about his sister. Prove to him that it's his mother behind all this and not me," Juliet stated.

"And how am I supposed to do that? What, you want me to kidnap mommy dearest and torture her into a confession? Cause if that's the case you can forget it, go find Sayid to do that, I'm done with that sort of thing."

"I know you are James," Juliet said, softening her voice considerably, "And no, that's not what I want you to do."

"Then what?"

"There has to be proof back there. I want you to go back with me, go back to the island," Juliet explained.

"Are you out of your mind? There is no way in hell I'm going back there," Sawyer said.

"Please James; I'm too scared to go myself in my condition."

"You should be. What the hell would Jack say?"

"Jack isn't here, he left me, that's the point," Juliet spat.

"No Doll face, you left him."

"Semantics! He doesn't trust me. I need to show him I'm who I say I am."

"You'll start to show soon, he'll know then," Sawyer told her.

"I'm talking about the whole picture. I love him, I want him to love and trust me back. James, please."

"No Juliet. If something were to happen to you, I don't how I'd tell him. The Doc will come around just wait."

"James, don't you want answers?" Juliet asked.

"I want to forget," he told her.

"Well you can't. You won't. Didn't you learn you can't run away from your demons?" Juliet asked, "Didn't that piece of paper I gave you, that address, didn't it tell you, you have to face your demons. Didn't it free you?"

Sawyer shifted uncomfortably in his seat, he looked to the floor not wanting to meet her piercing stare, "Yeah."

"Well Jack needs his piece of paper too. Jack needs his freedom and so do I."

Sawyer looked up at her, "I can't take you back to the island, I can't."

"James," Juliet's voice grew quiet, her bottom lip trembling, "When I got off the island I was so happy. I had Jack and a baby on the way and I was going to see my sister. My beloved sister whom I hadn't seen or heard from in three years. Then I got to Miami and Rachael was dead. Everyone I knew had moved or disappeared somehow. And now Jack and I had this huge fight."

She stopped and grabbed some napkins, furiously wiping at the fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

"James, you're the only friend I have in the whole world. You're all I have. Please James, please."

Sawyer swallowed hard, choking on his emotion. He knew how it felt to be alone. Looking at Juliet, he remembered the little boy cowering under his bed, his dead father above him, his dead mother out in the hall.

"Okay now James," the woman from the Children's Aid Society told him as her hands went to his tiny shoulders, urging him forward, "This will be your new home until we can find you a foster family."

James looked at the large room, single beds lined both sides of the walls. Dirty grey blankets were neatly tucked into their corners, a single pillow on each of them. There were no toys, no teddy bears or trucks to play with, just the bare necessities.

"Your bed is the third one from the end, right side. I'll let you get settled in," the woman said before leaving him alone in the empty, cold room.

James sat down on the cot, it squeaked beneath him. He opened his knapsack, all his possessions inside and took out his neatly folded pajamas. He placed them under his pillow before lying down, hugging a book to his chest, the last book his mother was reading to him before she died. He never felt more alone than now.

Sawyer knew what being alone felt like alright.

"Okay Juliet, I'll take you back to the island. Let me just go make a few calls, get us a plane, tell Kate I won't be back in Switzerland for awhile."

Juliet smiled in relief through her wet lashes, "Thank you James."

….

"Hold your horses," Kate bellowed from the top of the stairs before running down them and towards the front door, "What's your problem pounding away, oh its you," she cried in surprise.

"Where is she?" Jack asked.

"Where's who?" Kate asked before Jack pushed his way into the hall.

"Kate, I know she's here, where's Juliet?"

Kate let out an exasperated breath.

"She's not here Jack."

"I know she'd come here, I know she'd go to Sawyer," he said taking a look in the living room before starting up the stairs.

"Jack stop it," Kate yelled following him up, "She did turn to Sawyer but she called him. He went to her, not the other way around."

"You mean Sawyer's in L.A.?" Jack asked.

Kate looked at her feet, "Not exactly."

"What do you mean not exactly?" Where are they?" Jack demanded to know.

"They went back," she said.

"Back?" Jack asked confused.

"To the island," Kate told him.

….

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Sawyer said as the Cessna touched down just on the beach he crashed on a few months ago. Juliet gave his arm an appreciative squeeze before they disembarked the plane and said their goodbyes to the pilot.

"I'll pick you up in seven days from this exact spot," he told them as Sawyer nodded and shook his hand.

The sun beat down hard as Juliet looked around the island. Some of the tarp they had used for tents was still lying there, torn now by the wind and rain.

"The feds didn't even clean up, they just left everything here," Sawyer said picking up an Oceanic issued blanket from the ground, "Like some sort of sick museum."

Juliet shook her head as she scanned their old camp. Blankets were strewn all over the place, so were some airplane pillows, their tiny squares bunched in between trees.

"Looks like a tornado hit this place or something," Juliet said.

"Yeah," Sawyer said shaking the bad feeling he had away, "So where do you want to start looking?"

….

"Is Sawyer insane?" Jack wanted to know, "He knows she's pregnant."

"According to what Juliet told him, you don't seem to think so," Kate snapped.

Jack looked at her, his expression of anger turning to sadness and guilt. He sat down on one of the stairs and buried his head in his hands.

"I didn't mean it," he said softly.

"Didn't you?" Kate asked.

"Well, I don't know. I was angry and in shock. I mean Claire being my sister," he said running his hand over his hair.

Kate's eyes softened, "I couldn't believe it when Sawyer told me either."

Jack looked at her, "I didn't really mean it."

Kate tentatively placed a hand on his knee and was relieved when he didn't reject her touch.

"Sawyer will take good care of her."

"But why? Why go back there?" he asked.

"To get proof," she said.

"Proof?"

"That Juliet wasn't involved in any of this," Kate explained.

"Oh god," he said getting up and walking back down to the door.

"Wait, where are you going Jack?" Kate asked.

He turned to her, "To go get my wife before something happens to her."

"Then I'm coming with you," Kate said.

….

"It's getting late," Sawyer said as they trekked through the jungle.

"I know but if we keep going we can get to where the Others lived in a few hours," Juliet told him.

Sawyer put his arm out to stop her, "No," he said, "You need to rest, we'll make camp here."

Juliet opened her mouth to protest but Sawyer gave her a stern look.

"Fine," she said.

Sitting around the fire, Juliet and Sawyer ate a modest meal before laying their blankets down for the night.

"You go ahead and sleep. I'll keep watch," Sawyer said.

Juliet tossed and turned thinking of Jack and what he may be doing. She wondered if he was with Claire and if he hated her for lost time. She gave up on sleep and turned to face Sawyer. He was reading the Count of Monte Cristo.

"That's pretty ambitious of you," she said motioning to the thick novel in his hand.

"It's about a guy who gets imprisoned on an island then spends the rest of his days seeking revenge," he told her making her laugh.

"That's not what I'm doing here," she said.

"No," Sawyer answered, "It's not what you're doing but me, I'm another story."

Juliet nodded, "I never took you for a reader."

"Well wonders never cease," he said.

Juliet raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him, "Really James, when did you get into reading?"

"Can I play?" James asked the kids playing catch and laughing in the yard.

One of the older kids stopped and looked at him before smirking.

"You?" he said starring at the young, eager blonde boy.

"Didn't your father shoot your mom and then himself?" the kid asked him.

Tears came to his eyes but he fought them back.

"We don't want you to play with us, you're a freak, an orphan, get out of here," he said as the other kids laughed and chanted "Orphan, orphan."

James walked away sadly and sat down in a corner of the schoolyard. He dug into his knapsack and pulled out a book and began to read.

"I spent a lot of time alone," Sawyer said curtly.

"Oh," Juliet said sensing his pain.

"It's late, you should get some sleep," he said and went back to his book.

The next day they reached the Others' village. Quietly, they walked around, a gun cocked and ready in Sawyer's hand. No one was around, the place deserted completely like an eerie tomb.

"They took everything," Juliet said, "The place is empty."

"How the hell did they clear the place and disappear so quickly?" Sawyer wondered aloud, "And where the hell did Ben and his people go?"

"I don't know," Juliet said as they entered Ben's old house. It too was cleared of all its contents. She sighed, exasperated and disillusioned.

"It doesn't look like you're going to get any answers here," he said.

"Well I'm going to take a quick look upstairs anyway, you never know, there might be some evidence lying around," she told him.

"Fine, Nancy Drew, just hurry up, this place gives me the creeps," Sawyer chimed.

Juliet rummaged through Ben's drawers but found no clue as to where they may have gone or anything to connect Margo Sheppard to the Others. She sighed and ran a frustrated hand through her hair, a trait she picked up from her husband. Her thoughts went to Jack when she heard the floor boards squeak behind her.

"James?" she called, "Is that you?"

Silence greeted her until she heard the sound again, the groan of wood giving in under someone's weight.

"James," she said before her eyes grew large at the sight in front of her her. Before she could scream her world went dark.