Another chapter ready. Someone cut my internet connection (literally) so I wasn't able to upload it sooner. I wanted to put Kate, Sawyer, Jack and Juliet all together for a change :)

Jack had been the last one to volunteer for their first 'grid search', as Sawyer called it. He still wasn't convinced about the whole idea to locate Richard, but Kate seemed eager to go. He knew she probably had ulterior motives to join this hike and he felt the need to protect her. Besides: maybe, just maybe, they would find an opportunity to talk. To really talk, without the island or her Claire mission or his own impulses getting in the way.

They left Miles, Jin, Sun and Hurley at their camp after agreeing that they would be back in three days at the most. If anything happened at the beach before that (if rescue would come), the 'beach crew' would just hold tight and wait for them to return. Jack did not miss the talk Miles and Sawyer had. Even though he couldn't hear their exact words, he could tell Sawyer wanted his friend to come along instead of Jack. But Miles declined the invite. Sawyer grumbled in his old Sawyer-like fashion.

So they left: Jack, Kate, Juliet and Sawyer. The first hour of hiking was spent with Sawyer sharing all his encounters with Richard back in Dharma days, including the one where he and Kate had brought young Ben to him. He explained Richard's position or role, the way he usually dealt with conflict, and the best ways for them to get information out of him. Whenever he was unsure of specific details he asked Juliet to help him out. ("Remember that time I came home after the incident with Jerry? What was it that we offered Richard that time? Help me out here Blondie."). The basic line of all his stories was simple though: Richard was firm, but not unfair. And he was a man of his word, most of the time. The best way to deal with him was 'give and take', negotiating. He was immune to emotions. He needed to be dealt with rationally.

Jack was impressed by Sawyer's knowledge. It was obvious that he had not landed the Head of Security job because of smooth talking. He seemed very professional and sure of his actions. Jack felt a weird streak of jealousy when it suddenly hit him that Sawyer had actually made something of his life in the past three years, whereas he himself – apart from his relationship with Kate – had only gone downhill.

They covered the distance to where they would start their search in two hours (the part closest to their camp had already been 'searched' on various other occasions). And from then on, their job was to keep eyes and ears open at all times. They couldn't afford to miss any weird sounds, tracks, broken branches, cut grass, or anything else that might indicate human life.

Sawyer put up his La Fleur Head of Security act at the beginning of their hike. He felt responsible for their plan and for the hike, but he also felt a lot more confident acting as La Fleur. And he needed that confidence because – if he was honest – he felt totally uncomfortable being out here with only Juliet, Jack and Kate. The four of them together was just too weird.

He tried to focus on Juliet and stayed right behind her those first few hours. She glanced back at him a few times and he tried to smile as relaxed as possible each of those times. At one point it got on her nerves though. They were walking a few meters behind Jack and Kate. She slowed down a bit and when they were out of hearing range, she stopped and turned, resulting in him almost bumping into her.

"What?"

She shook her head lightly. "Don't try so hard."

"What do ya mean?"

"I mean you. This. Tied to me like a … We're not Siamese twins James. You can actually be more than three feet away from me."

He looked at her, mouth half open.

"Well… I just… I don't know…. I'm not trying to… you know…." he paused, noticing his own mumbling. She smiled at that, turned around and continued walking.

He followed her and said in a half whispering voice. "Well don't you find this just a bit weird? Awkward?"

"What exactly? Us four in the jungle?"

"Well… yes!" he answered, relieved that she could figure out what he meant without him having to name it.

She stopped and faced him. "How is this different than us four on the beach?" she asked, slightly challenging him.

"Miles is there for one. And Jin and Sun. And Hurley's a good distraction! We just… We got other people to talk to at the beach."

"Well, maybe this is good then. We can get the awkwardness out of the way."

"Ha! So you do admit that this is awkward!" He smiled in triumph.

"You mean we all loved 'the other' person?" she asked, not buying into his 'you know I'm right' grin.

"What?! Now let's not exaggerate Blondie. We didn't all love the Other person back then." He grinned at his own joke, but she didn't seem amused. He continued: "You sayin' you loved Jack then?"

"We've been over this before James. No."

"But you thought he was hot?"

"Seriously. Why are we having this conversation?"

"Because this is awkward. At least I think it is. Why don't you?"

She looked at him calmly and put all the facts out there. "You slept with Kate, I kissed Jack. They were engaged, we're together. And we're stuck on an island, so none of us can escape each other. I'd say that's better than any soap opera."

"So you are admitting this is awkward?" He repeated and tilted his head, not wanting to be the only one feeling like this. Admit it, just admit it.

"OK, fine. Yes. It's slightly awkward. Happy?"

He was and flashed his dimpled smile. She smiled back. "Now give me some room, ok?"

They searched Sawyer's first grid that day and did find some signs of life after a few hours: a fire pit and a few dead patches of grass, like something heavy had been placed there for a long time. But the spots were old, probably several weeks or even months. There was a clear stream nearby. Sawyer called it a day and suggested they'd make camp here for the night.

Juliet was sitting by the creek. She had taken off her shoes and had her feet in the water. After a day of hiking it felt like a blessing to just be able to rest like this. A blister had formed on one side of her left foot and the coolness of the water eased the burning sensation a bit. She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Jack standing there.

"Mind if I join you?"

She pointed at the empty spot next to her as an OK. Jack lowered himself and followed her example: he took of his shoes and place his feet in the creek.

"You think that old fire pit belonged to Richard and his people?" he asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure who else is here." She placed her hands behind her and leaned back a bit, taking in a deep breath of fresh air.

Jack leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "I want to apologize to you." he turned his head to her.

"What for this time?" She looked back at him, remembering their conversation at the beach a few weeks back.

"I know I promised I would get you off the island."

"I think you made that promise to a lot of people Jack." Her voice sounded harsh.

It took Jack a minute to come up with a reply. And before he could say anything she continued "There was only one chopper."

"That's not the point Juliet."

"Then what is?" It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement. Juliet's life had been so characterized by unpredictable craziness that only the bare facts could make some sense to her. If she had to consider everyone's personal motives for their actions, then she had a few others to think over before Jack's: Ben's, John Locke's.

"I should have kept my promise."

"Maybe you should make fewer promises."

Jack stared at her, trying to figure out if she was still blaming him, but her face was blank. He changed the subject. "Remember that hike we went on to stop Daniel Faraday and that woman. What's her name?"

"Charlotte."

"Yes, Charlotte….. You said something about me not wanting to see your file…Do you remember that?"

"Yes I remember. Why do you ask?"

He smiled weakly, obviously trying to connect with her. "I was just thinking. I actually don't know very much about you. I mean, I didn't even know you were from Miami until Sawyer mentioned it the other day."

Juliet – happy that the subject of Jack's broken promise was off the table – replied with a softer voice this time. "What do you want to know?"

"I don't know… How did you even get here?"

"I was offered a job. It turned out to be on the island of doom." She shook her head while saying that but couldn't help smiling. Her coming here was so long ago now that hearing herself talking about it almost felt bizarre. Like she was describing somebody else's life, not her own. She looked at Jack. "It was actually Richard who contacted me. Of course I didn't know who he was back then. He presented it as a fancy research position with incredible financial resources. And it was an opportunity to get away from my husband."

"You were married!?"

She grinned now. "I was. Does that surprise you?"

Jack just shook his head, smiling too now.

"I was actually already divorced. But we were still working together. And well… he wasn't very nice to put it mildly."

Jack nodded, trying to picture her with a husband, trying to picture her in a pre-island life.

"Do you have family?"

"I have a sister."

"Where is she now?"

This was not a happy change of subject. She could talk about Edmund, medical school, Miami, her work right after she came here. But Rachel was still a painful topic. "I don't know Jack. Last time I checked Miami. But we don't exactly talk much." She put her right hand in the creek and then placed a wet hand on her forehead. It felt nice and calming. Her eyes met Jack's. "I'm sorry. My sister is just not a happy topic." She moved her cool hand to the back of her neck. "I haven't spoken to her in six years."

"I'm sorry too. You could have been at home if I had handled things differently. "

"You've got to stop thinking like that. There are other forces at work in this place. Besides, I have a lot of things in my life now that I am very grateful for. I'm happy Jack. I was on my own. And now I'm not."

"You mean Sawyer."

"Yes" she said firmly, as if to add weight to that answer. "I mean James. But Miles and Jin too. I love those guys. We've become like family." She lifted her feet out of the water. "Don't blame yourself for everything Jack." And with that she lifted herself from the ground and grabbed her shoes. "Let's head back and have some diner. What do you say?"

For all of them, it had been a while since they had spent a night outside. For Kate and Sawyer several weeks; for Jack and Juliet even longer than that. The lack of privacy was bothering all four of them. Sawyer and Juliet were so used to their private time together before going to sleep. Now they felt 'watched'. What to do? Sleep the way they always did, holding each other? They would have to skip their 'evaluation of the day' for sure (usually filled with the best recent anecdotes of their bizarre lives). No books, definitely no sex. How about goodnight kisses?

Kate and Jack hadn't slept this close to each other since that night back in Los Angeles, when she told him she had given up on Aaron and was going back with him to the island. That night was in different ways a painful memory for both of them. Kate had lost her child. Jack had lost Kate. He had known that back then already but the fact that they had slept together that night had made it even clearer to him what he'd lost.

So they all ended up putting the 'going to sleep' of as long as possible. Instead they just stared into the fire.

"That's it. I'm going to sleep" Juliet stated after a while. She had been yawning for a good 30 minutes now and felt exhausted. She looked over at Sawyer before lying down.

"Yeah, goodnight guys." Jack, on the opposite end of their fire, also called it a day. They needed rest. Tomorrow would probably be another long day of hiking.

Sawyer looked over at Juliet, who had turned her back towards him. She mostly slept that way, on her left side. Ah, fuck this. If he wanted to shake of this annoying awkward feeling, the best thing t do was to just act as normal as possible. And since they always went to bed together, her call was his call. "Night Kate."

He lowered himself next to Juliet, placed his elbow in the grass and let his head rest in his hand. With his right hand he pushed back her hair from her neck. He lowered his mouth to her ear and whispered "Should I just do what I always do before we go to sleep?"

She shifted to look at him. "And what might that be?" she whispered back.

"Ouch, Blondie."

She giggled, then reached for his cheek with her hand and pulled him in for a quick kiss. "Goodnight James."

"Mmmm…" he put his hand behind her neck, keeping her close. Fuck them. He needed a long, very long goodnight kiss to compensate for this long, very long heavy day. She kissed him back, forgetting for a few seconds that they were not alone. But when a light moan escaped her throat she pulled back, suddenly embarrassed. He grinned. "Goodnight sweetheart."

Kate woke early the next day. Her neck felt stiff and her arm bruised. She sat up and rubbed her eyes with one hand. It wasn't completely light yet but she could make out the shapes of the three people around her. To her left was Jack. He looked peaceful, and she remembered staring at that sleeping face many times. She resisted the urge to touch him. I miss you. She looked over at the other side of their fire pit. There were Sawyer and Juliet. Juliet seemed glued with her back to Sawyer's chest; his arm was firmly placed around her, her hand on top of his. His face was half buried in Juliet's hair. I miss you too. And in that moment she felt totally and completely alone.