In Shallow Seas We Sail
Author's Note: I outlined this chapter in my Shakespeare class on Monday, and I discovered it's a lot easier to work from a bit of an outline, at least on this story. So maybe I'll be able to use my class time for that…haha! Thank you so much for all the reviews; they were great!
Enjoy,
Sara
*
If you're measuring with time
In seconds or in lifetimes
There's no difference
It's constantly just passing by
In A Win, Win Situation
[15]
"So we have to go get Kate," Jack said decisively.
"All of us?" Hurley asked.
"Hell," Sawyer interrupted, "I'll pay your damn plane tickets, but let's get a move on." He was aware that Hurley could probably buy them a plane, if he so desired, but Sawyer was going to do anything to get moving.
Jack went into the other room to make flight arrangements. A jet-lagged Jin leaned back in his seat, taking a deep breath. Sawyer could see Sun squeeze his hand lightly, and Jin turned to smile at her. Sawyer looked away.
Moments later, Jack re-entered the room. "The earliest flight to Albuquerque is tomorrow morning at 9," he said, eyeing Sawyer, but Sawyer held his tongue – what did he expect to do, car pool? Charter a jet? Maybe Hurley could buy that plane. "It's a short distance," Jack explained, "So there's no redeye. We could drive, but I think everyone needs some time to rest."
Nods of assent and murmurs filled the room. Sawyer leaned against the wall and wished he was the only one on that damn list. He remained, statue-like, as Jack showed everyone around his apartment, motioning that they could sleep here or here. Only Sayid, Jin, and Sun had luggage, so Jack attempted to find some other clothes for Locke and Sawyer. Hurley opted to run back to his own apartment to get clothes. Locke got the guest bedroom; Sun took the couch and Jin took the floor beside her, though Jack offered his bed; Hurley took the recliner; Sayid and Sawyer took opposite corners in the living room. Jack passed out blankets.
As he lay down, not to sleep, but to wait, Sawyer could hear both showers running, and Jin's accented voice speaking softly in Korean. After a moment, Sun answered in slow, labored words. Sawyer assumed she was crying, and he felt something jump inside his chest.
He thought of Juliet. He could think of nothing else.
Hurley slowly made his way through the room, half-tripping over Sawyer in the process. "Oh! Sorry, Dude," he whispered.
Sawyer grunted in response, but Hurley was not dissuaded.
"You're worried about her," he stated.
Sawyer didn't answer.
"She's okay," Hurley said.
After a moment, Sawyer felt compelled to speak, "How do you know?" He felt childish asking.
"Because she's Juliet," Hurley laughed slightly, "She can make it through anything. She saved us all, even if…if we gotta do this again…if one person is going to make it out of all this, it's her."
While Hurley's words were thoughtful and sincere, they had no power on Sawyer because he knew…if one person wasn't going to make it out of this, it was Juliet, because she would give herself up for any of them.
*
Jack lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. He didn't expect to sleep tonight, nor did he expect any of the others to sleep either, but they did need some sort of down time. This thought was soon dispelled as he heard Hurley's snores resounding from the living room. Well, no one in that room would be getting any sleep, but Jack knew they all had too much on their minds to worry about sleep.
He thought of Kate, no matter how hard he tried not to. Kate had hurt him in a way that he could never completely recover from. She'd run; she always ran. But he loved her in a way that seemed almost inevitable. He loved her even when she didn't love him, and that knowledge was enough to choke him.
And he was doing this for her, for him, for them all. He was doing this to make up for the mistake he'd made (or maybe it wasn't a mistake) – but how did he know this wasn't an even bigger mistake?
It didn't matter. What he did now would change nothing for him. Maybe it would stop him from spiraling back to the state he'd been in before going back. If anything, it gave him purpose. It would not give him Kate, because Kate could not be given. Kate would always be running.
*
Juliet watched as Richard slipped out of the back door of her house. He didn't look back at her; she watched until she could no longer see him.
A chill ran over her spine. She relived his words: "Your friends, they're coming back."As much as she longed to be with James again, this wasn't the way. This island was death, and she couldn't bear to put him in any more danger – she'd done enough of that. After all, if she'd never set off the bomb, this wouldn't be happening.
No. She couldn't think like that. She could never regret her actions in the bottom of that pit. She bought herself nearly 3 months of happiness.
But was it worth this?
She'd known all along that James would come back for her, and she had only been able to hope that he would be unable to find the island. She knew that wouldn't stop him, and now, as Richard had said, nothing could stop them.
But that wasn't entirely true. She knew something that could stop them.
In a rush of activity, Juliet gathered together everything she thought she'd need for the trip and shoved it into a bag she'd found in the closet. She crossed the house, into the living room and stood near the window. She watched the house that Ben had entered; there was no movement. Hurriedly, she put the bag over one shoulder and let herself out the back.
She stayed low, moving quickly past the row of houses, eyes glued to the house where Ben currently resided. Her muscles twitched with adrenaline, and she pushed quickly past the house.
A soft click stopped her in her tracks. She whipped around, facing the home where Ben now stood, eyes wide and glued to hers. She was unable to speak; her grip tightened on the strap of her bag. She swallowed heavily.
Ben closed the door behind him. His hand fell on his walkie-talkie, fastened at his hip. Juliet tensed to run, but he spoke, "Go."
"What?" she said. Clearly she hadn't heard him correctly.
"Go," he said, louder, "You don't have long."
Juliet didn't ask any questions – have long for what? Did he know what she was doing? Regardless, with one last glance in Ben's direction, she set off in a quick sprint toward the jungle.
*
Clementine snuck through the hallway at 8 in the morning, clutching her stuffed giraffe tightly to her chest. Cassidy heard her soft footsteps and pulled herself out of bed. Although she knew Clementine loved her Saturday morning cartoon time with "Auntie" Kate, she was a bit apprehensive to leave her daughter in Kate's care.
Kate was already awake – she hadn't slept much since the dreams started. "Morning!" she called as Cassidy stopped in the doorway. Clementine had crawled onto the couch with Kate, leaning close to her.
"Morning," Cassidy answered, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
She crossed into the kitchen, the sounds of cartoons filling the room. Clementine's musical laugh sounded, and Cassidy eased into a chair at the kitchen table.
The past few days had gone by in a rush. After Sawyer and Jack had left, she'd had to explain to Clementine that they would be back shortly, and for some reason had to explain why Clementine was not allowed to go on "vacation" with them. She had no idea where that notion of vacation had come from.
She'd been able to have down-time before Kate freaked out over some news story and demanded to call Sawyer. After a while, she had been able to coax the story out of Kate – something about someone who died on the island, then died in real life; someone who went missing on the island and went missing in real life. Cassidy had listened (she couldn't do much else), but she was still skeptical. How was she to know if Kate had known these people, much less known them on an island?
It was Sawyer's devotion to that woman, Juliet, that was, to Cassidy, the biggest mystery. The quick change in his personality was probably the only thing that made Cassidy half-believe their outlandish story.
She stood and went to pour some coffee from the pot. Her hand was steady until a loud thump came from the front entrance. The coffee pot tipped and spilled onto her hand. "Shit!" she yelled, dropping her mug. It shattered around her, and she carefully stepped out of the pieces, cursing under her breath.
The thump sounded again; only then did Cassidy realize it was coming from her front door. Instead of knocking politely on the door, someone was hitting it with the side of their fist. Loudly.
Cassidy rushed toward the living room entrance. Kate was already standing, frozen, facing the doorway.
"Go!" Cassidy whispered sharply.
Kate was shocked into action and moved quickly into the back room. Clementine stared after her with wide eyes.
"Remember, Emmy," Cassidy said quickly, "Auntie Kate isn't here, okay?"
The little girl nodded.
Cassidy rushed toward the door, just as the hollow thump sounded again. Any more delay and she expected the door to burst open. The police would have no problem breaking down her door, especially to get to Kate.
Cassidy's stomach flip-flopped. She opened the door.
"Hello." The woman standing there gave a tight-lipped smile.
"Hello," Cassidy responded automatically.
"Have the others arrived yet?" the woman asked.
"The others?"
"Oh yes," the woman said, "Jack Shephard, James Ford, Kate Austin, Sayid Ja – "
"Hold on. What's your name?" Cassidy asked. She let out the breath she'd been holding.
"I apologize," the woman said, "My name is Ilana."