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Summary: Juliet Burke spent six years trying to get off the island and now's she's trying to find a way back.
"Home is not where you live, but where they understand you" – Christian Morgenstern
Home is Where the Heart is
Chapter 3
Eloise stands outside the door and sighs. She walks into the room and prepares herself for their comments. "Calm down Mrs. Hume, I'm not here for me" Penny was sitting on one chair while Charlie was sitting on another drawing. Desmond pushed himself to sitting a position when she entered.
"Who are you here for then?" Penny asks standing up.
"The woman I brought in here she says she knows you and would like to speak with you." She says to Desmond "Her name is Juliet Burke"
Desmond's eyes go wide. "Juliet is here…with you…she got off the island?"
"You know her…this woman?" Penny asks her husband as she rises and goes to his bedside.
"Yes" He tells her. "If she's here, I'd like to see her"
Eloise nods. It was easier than she expected. "I don't think she's stable enough to move right now, so you will have to come to us"
Desmond was confused now. "What happened to her?" he asks.
"You'll see she is in room 815" Eloise tells them and walks out of the room.
She remembered seeing Desmond's smile when she brought him to see the helicopter, the whole trek there he didn't believe her. She and Desmond had a lot in common they had both spent three years on the island and they both had loved ones they were desperately trying to get back too. Of course she knew about him a lot longer then he knew her. She watched him once from the Flame station going about his daily routine of waking up, showering, eating and exercising all the while leaving time to push the buttons every hundred and eight minutes. She wanted to tell him to stop but Ben had told her the importance of pushing the buttons and its better he was down there doing it then one of them.
Eloise walked into the room and nodded at her. She smiled weakly knowing that Desmond was not going to like what she had to say, but she needed to she promised him.
Penny pushes Desmond into the room and smiles when he sees her. She sees a young blonde boy holding to the arm of the wheel chair.
"This is Charlie" Desmond tells her.
Juliet smiles "That's a good name" she tells him. She didn't know Charlie well but she knew if it wasn't for his sacrifice none of them would've made it off the island.
"You got off the island too" He says looking at her bandaged up body. "How?" he asks concerned.
"I fell" she replies.
Penny and Desmond both look at her. "You fell off the island?" Penny asks skeptically Desmond smiles knowing well enough that Juliet responds to everything with sarcasm.
"Yes" She heard Eloise's small laugh from behind her. "I'm sorry; I'm just trying to lighten the mood. In reality I teleported"
Penny tilts her head, each way Juliet tells them sounded more and more outlandish. She didn't know what to think, she didn't know this woman. But she could see that Desmond did because he was smiling. So she'd just have to trust that Desmond trusted this woman.
"I can't believe you're here" Desmond says to her
"I didn't think you'd be happy to see me" she says to him.
Desmond looks at her; they really didn't know each other that well. The only time they really talked was on trek to the helicopter. "I know you wanted to get off the island…I'm…I'm sorry you were left behind"
Juliet nods "Turns out it was one of the best things that happened to me" she tells him with a smile and he looks at her confused. "That's for another day, that's not why I wanted to see you"
"Why did you want to see him?" Penny asks her not sure if they should trust her. Her demeanor reminded her of Eloise who was calmly watching everything in the chair in the corner.
She takes a deep breath. "Well you're not going to like me when I ask you this"
"Why?" he asks.
She's unsure how to ask him this, like her he wanted nothing more to do with the island. But she needed to go back to see what she did, she needed to go back for James and he needed to go back. She wasn't sure why but she knew he needed too. "Because…I need you to come back to the island with me"
"What?" Penny and Desmond say in unison and Eloise perks her head up from where she was sitting.
"The island is not done with us and I got off so I can bring you back"
Eloise stares at Juliet and smiles; they both had the same mission to get Desmond back to the island.
"I don't know how we will get back, which is where I hope you can help us" She says turning to look at Eloise. "You helped Jack and the rest get back"
"I did, it's not that easy we have to wait for the right time" Eloise replies.
"I figured" Juliet replies. "Which I hope gives me enough time to see my sister" she says feeling the tears welling up in her eyes." But I have no way of getting to Miami, it's not like I can get on a plane when I supposed to be dead."
Penny looks at the woman who says she's here to bring Desmond back to that awful place that made them miss three years of each other's lives. She seems like a good person and she could see that she missed her sister. "How long were you on the island?" Penny asks.
"Six years" Juliet replies.
"You haven't seen your sister in six years?"
Juliet nods her head sadly. Thinking about Rachel was making the pain worse. "It seems you will have time to think about it Desmond. But I hope you will consider coming back with me"
"Why do you want to go back?" He asks.
"Because I did something and I need to know what happened. I need do know that everyone's ok " Desmond looks at her concerned. "In the three years you've been gone, so much has changed and we wanted to change it even more… so I need to know what we did and I never thought I'd say this once I succeed in getting back to the real world. I need to get back to the island to do that and you need to come with me."
"Why?"
"Because I feel it as though… I only can if you are with me…and I know that's putting you in a tough spot but as I said the island is not done with us."
"I swore I'd never go back to that place, Juliet" Desmond tells her.
Juliet closes her eyes in understanding. "I wouldn't ask you to if it wasn't important" she looks Desmond in the eyes hoping he'd see that she didn't want to talk about it front of Eloise.
Desmond sighs. "I'm sorry…I can't" he says turning his wheel chair around and leaves her room with Penny following him.
She really hoped he got her message otherwise there was nothing more she could do.
"That went about as well as I when I asked him" Eloise says to her and she just nods.
She turned when she heard footsteps coming back towards them. Penny stands in the doorway and sighs. "We have a boat" Juliet raises her eyes to look at her. "We have boat we can take you to your sister."
"You would do that for me even though I'm asking your husband to go back to the place you rescued him from?" She asks.
"I can see you want to see your sister, so yes I will help with that."
Juliet nods "Thank you" Desmond must have got her message so for that she was grateful.
After they leave she turns to Eloise.
"The room you landed in has a pendulum that locates the position of the island, without the Sub it could take days, months or years for it to locate it and for us to find a way to get there. The window of opportunity is very small. You have to be ready to leave as soon as find it" Eloise tells her.
Juliet sighs, she knew the Sub had a built in radar to find the island from Ann Arbor, other than that there was no way to get to the island. No one ever drove the Sub everyone had to be knocked out for the trip it was all automatic so no one knew the exact coordinates of the island at any given time. So she just nods her understanding.
"I'd like to go with you" Eloise says to her. Juliet looks at her surprised. "Do you have any objections to that?"
"No, I'm not in charge of the island you can do whatever you want" Juliet tells her.
"There's a reason I was in the room when you came through, I think it was a sign telling me I have to go back"
She closed her eyes and felt the wind on her face and the slight spray of the salt water. She wished she could stand up because it was slightly annoying looking through the railings to see the ocean. But she had to get used to it she'd be in this chair for awhile. She laid her head against her chair and just relaxed.
"Do you get seasick?" She heard Penny ask her.
She opens her eyes as Penny sits down next to her, "No, I'm just enjoying it, I missed this" She says with a small smile.
"You miss sailing?"
"Yes, my father had boat and we would take it out and spend a weekend at sea. My sister and I loved sailing with him"
Penny smiles at her.
"I wanted to thank you for doing this" She tells the woman.
"Desmond told me I could trust you after all he says he wouldn't have gotten off the island if it wasn't for you. So the least we could do to make up for that is to reunite you with your sister"
"Desmond didn't tell you who I am, did he?" she asks
"What do you mean?" Penny replies.
Juliet looks towards the ground. Desmond approached them. She looks at Penny. "I was on the island because I worked with Ben"
Penny eyes go wide with shock. "What?" she says and looks at Desmond.
"Juliet, you don't…"
"I'm not going hide anymore, I'm tired of that. If she's going to help me she needs to know who I am. I'm an Other, a hostile whatever you called them. Ben was my leader and I did whatever he asked. I helped capture the survivors of Flight 815 and I helped keep you in that station pushing buttons." She sighs and looks back out towards the ocean. "I saw you and I did nothing"
Desmond looks at his wife's worried face. "She betrayed Ben and helped us defend ourselves against them. She brought me to the helicopter that brought me back to you." He looks at Juliet. "And that is was matters, Juliet"
Juliet looks at him and nods.
"I just have one more thing to say" He closes his eyes and takes a breath. "When you told me the island isn't done with me…Eloise told me the same thing"
Juliet looks over at him. "Of course she did she's…an Other"
Desmond looks at Juliet in shock.
"Do you trust her?" Desmond asks.
Juliet looks towards the ground "I don't know, but she's the only chance we have of getting back to the island"
"Why me? Why are you so adamant that I have go back and don't give me the island crap again"
"Because…Daniel Faraday told me I have to bring you back"
*********************
1974
She yawned as she walked back to the barrack that the Dharma Initiative had put them in. They had been there for about a month. Horace was working on getting them houses to live in. She steps back as the doors swing open and James and Miles walk out in a huff.
"It's like the damn adults in the Charlie Brown cartoons" James tells her. "It's all blah, blah and he won't shut up"
"James, the woman he loved died in his arms." She takes a deep breath. She looked over and could see Miles is agitated too. "Why don't you two get some beers and I'll see if I can talk to him"
"Good luck with that" Miles tells her as they walk away.
She sighs and pushes the door open. Daniel was still in the same spot he was when she left that morning. She walks over and kneels besides him. "Daniel" she says to him and he just responds by rocking back and forth.
"I'm not gonna tell her, I'm not gonna tell her" he says over and over again.
"Have you eaten anything?" She asks expecting no reply. She stands up and makes him a sandwich in the small kitchen area; she fills a cup up with water and lays it on the table next to him. He was still repeating that same sentence. She kneels down again to be at his eye level. "Daniel, I need you to eat something, ok" His eye go to the sandwich than back to her. "Can you drink some water for me then?"
He grabs the cup and gulps it down and puts the cup back on the table. "I'm not gonna tell her" he starts up again.
"You're not going to tell who?" She asks she knew who he meant but she wanted to see if he could hear her.
"Charlotte" He answers. "I scared her…I'm the scary man" he continues. "I'm not gonna tell her"
"Ok" she replies. "We won't tell her"
Suddenly his lock on hers and it startles her because he wasn't so much as looking at her but looking through her.
"Desmond needs to be on the island. You need to bring him back to the island" he says. "You have to bring him back, Juliet"
Her heart rate increased and breathing quickened. Desmond? She says to herself. How could she bring him back them to the island?
"You have to promise me, Juliet. Promise me you'll bring him back" He says never taking his eyes from hers. "Juliet you are the only one that can"
She doesn't know what to say. Desmond got off the island and she was still here. How would she even keep that promise?
Daniel grabs both her shoulders and brings her closer to him. "Promise me!"
His eyes look so desperate and lost. She swallows and closes her eyes. "I promise" she tells him when she opens her eyes.
"Ok" he says and his body relaxes and he goes back to swaying.
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Tbc…