Chp 6

Jack could smell the herbal sweetness of Juliet's shampoo as she bent her head down, her hair falling across his face.
"Juliet," he murmured before her lips hushed his, her fingers soothing his brow. Jack opened his mouth, ready to receive her kiss when he woke, his back flat on the cold steel table. He groaned as he sat up. He was hard as he looked down on himself. Jack's hand went over his face, shaking the sleep from himself, shaking the dream. Too bad it wasn't as easy to shake her off.

He stood up and paced the floor. Why should she consume his waking and sleeping thoughts? She held him captive, kept answers from him, kept everything from him, including herself. He wanted to hate her. Sometimes he did. Moments like these, where he had nothing but time to rationalize his feelings away. If she didn't know that kiss was real than why should he try? Why should he care if Ben wanted to play puppeteer and pull her strings? He had to take care of himself. Figure a way out of this. It was every man for himself. To hell with Juliet, Jack thought. If only he could get the taste of her out of his mouth.
….

"Juliet," Amelia called out, knocking softly on Juliet's bedroom door, "May I come in dear?"
Juliet hugged her pillow and turned to face the wall.
"Ben tells me you're not feeling well this morning," the older woman walked in, sitting softly on the bed.
"It's nothing," Juliet said.
"Nothing medical you mean," Amelia said and stared at the huddled figure beneath the blankets.
Juliet looked over her shoulder at the woman before sitting up in bed.
"I'm fine Amelia," she said, "Really."
"Of course you are dear," she said, "But you could tell me if you weren't, you know that."
"It's just," Juliet started but struggled to find the words.
"He's a handsome man. Brave too from what I hear," the older woman said. Juliet blushed slightly.
"I don't know what to do," Juliet cried.
"Yes you do," Amelia stated firmly, "I always admired your tenacity. Secretly loved watching you fight to hold onto your individuality."
Juliet shook her head, "Well I wasn't very good at it, not unless you were around giving me courage."
"Nonsense," Amelia stated then gave Juliet a stern look. She took her hands in hers and held them tight, making sure she had Juliet's full attention.
"Juliet. You must learn to stand up for yourself because I can't always be around."
"I'm scared," Juliet admitted.
"Of Jack?" Amelia asked.
"Of myself. Of being wrong about him."
"Every step that you take could lead to the biggest mistake of your life. Or your greatest happiness," Amelia told her.
"But if I choose him. If I do what my heart tells me to and it's wrong. If Ben's right," Juliet cried, "And I throw all this away."
"That's the risk that you take Juliet."
"What if it's too high a risk?"
"Only you can decide that," Amelia said and stood up. She paused as she got to the door and turned to look at Juliet still lying in bed.
"Now get up and get dressed Juliet. You've been everybody else's girl, it's time you were your own."
….

"Hello Jack," Ben said from the other side of the glass wall.
Jack stood his shoulders up against the far wall, a blank expression on his face.
"Tell me, how did you sleep? Did you have any nice dreams?" Ben asked. Jack's eyes closed into slits.
"What do you want?" he asked for the hundredth time.
"You saw those x-rays," Ben said and Jack stood up straight, his interest peaked, waiting for more.
"Tell me your professional opinion."
"Are they yours?" Jack asked.
"Over here, anyone's pain is everyone's pain," Ben said.
Jack rolled his eyes and let out a breath of frustration.
"My professional opinion?" Jack said.
"Yes Jack," Ben answered.
"If you don't give me what I want, you and your camp will be feeling a lot more community pain."
"Is that so Jack?"
"Yeah, you see you need me. I get that now. And judging by those x-rays, you need me pretty damn bad. So who has all the power now Benjamin?"
"I could always use her to get to you. Why do you think she's here anyway?" Ben asked.
"Sawyer would never let you touch Kate," Jack growled back.
"I wasn't talking about Kate, Jack," Ben said.
Jack laughed, "I don't care about her, isn't that what you told her?"
Ben smiled at Jack, a self appreciating smile, and walked away.
….

Juliet walked into the Hydra, her heart beat so loudly she could almost hear it echoing in the stillness of the room. Jack sat in the corner watching her, trying to remain aloof. She put the plate of food down on the table and turned, quietly away from him. He wanted to let her go, knew it was best. Knew she was a liability, knew she was a risk.

"Juliet wait," he heard the words leave his mouth before he could stop them.
She stood frozen at the door. Hr back remained to him as Jack got to his feet and walked towards her.
"Don't turn around," she told herself. As long as she didn't look into his eyes she could fight her feelings for him. Jack put his hands on her shoulders.
"Look at me," he whispered but she starred hard at the space in front of her.
"Look at me," Jack said more forcefully as he spun her around.
She reached out to steady herself and her hands fell against his chest. Her palm covered his heart and she could feel it beating hard and fast. Juliet raised her eyes slowly to his face. Jack stared at her before his fingers softly touched her lips. Suddenly she felt the nakedness of her mouth, bare of the kiss he put there before.
"Jack," she said her lips moving against the tips of his fingers. He bent his head down and kissed her forehead tenderly before moving to her cheek, his breath falling softly over her.
"Jack please," she said.
"Shh," he whispered, "There's still a little bit of your face I haven't kissed yet."