To my anonymous reviewer, I can't please everybody here. Your opinion is your opinion, you're welcome to it.
Anywho. Tally-ho people!
Living the Lie: April, 1975. Part 1.
April 1,
1975.
He began his day the silliest way he could possibly think of. He went straight over to Sawyer and Juliet's place next door, taped up a piece of paper to the door, and knocked as loudly as he possibly could. As soon as he heard footsteps heading towards the door, he ran. He poked his head from around the corner of the house and watched as a grumbling Sawyer took in the large note on the door.
He also heard Juliet's voice call out: "Who's at the door?"
Then he heard Sawyer curse as he headed back inside. A moment later he had to assume the Southerner had shown Juliet the note. Because her laughter sparked up and didn't stop for almost a minute. The only thing he'd written on the note was 'April Fools!'.
He waited, as quietly as he could. Until he heard Sawyer announce to the blonde he was taking a shower. That was when Miles took his cue. He waited about three minutes, then opened the door and sauntered in.
Juliet chuckled slightly as she looked at Miles. She held up his note. "Couldn't do any better then that?" she questioned, arching an eyebrow up.
"Oh just wait.." Miles told her. "The fun begins now."
She smirked, leaning back in her seat and sipping her coffee. "I'm almost afraid to know."
"If he asks, I so wasn't here, got it?" Miles questioned.
Juliet blinked, studying him carefully. "Why, what are you going to do?" she asked curiously.
"You'll see.." he told her, and went down the hall.
She was silent, listening. She heard the bathroom door creak open, then creak back closed. She watched in bewilderment as Miles ran out with Sawyer's clothes, all of the towels and even the bathmat, then he left the house.
Ten minutes later she was entering the hallway to head to her room when she saw the door open. She got a full view of his ass and she stood frozen, one eyebrow raised up in response. She had to fight to keep her composure as she went into her own room, where she smothered her face into a pillow and laughed hysterically.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the two. Miles snuck back into the house. He pulled a rubber band off of his wrist and went over to the sink quickly. He tightly coiled it around the button for the spray hose and ran back out of the house.
After breakfast, Juliet conceded to doing the dishes since Sawyer seemed so pissed about the shower incident. As soon as she turned the nozzle for the sink she found the cold water sprayed directly at her and she quickly went to shut it off, sputtering and spitting water into the sink. "Sonuvabitch.." she muttered out, directly quoting her roommate.
Sawyer arched his eyebrow immediately and looked up at her as she turned to look at him. He felt a face-splitting grin cover his face as his eyes trailed down. "So uh-- you picked a hell of a mornin' to wear a white shirt and no bra.."
Juliet froze and looked down. She had no control over the fact her face turned the most ridiculous shade of red that she could have ever imagined. Almost immediately she crossed her arms over her chest. "And you picked a hell of a morning to run bare-ass naked down the hallway," she shot back, then went down the hall.
He coughed almost immediately. She'd seen that? He quickly and quietly sipped his coffee. Obviously she'd kept quiet for the sake of his dignity. Maybe he should have done the same. He sheepishly went to the sink and removed the rubber band, then proceeded to do the dishes that she had abandoned.
~*~*~
Later on during Miles' shift at the security station, he was stuck watching the monitors with Phil. Right now the man was taking a bathroom break. So he took that as his chance. He snatched two coins, taking a pencil and tracing circle perimeter of the coin multiple times for good measure before he stuck in between his fingers of one hand.
A few minutes later, he sent Phil a challenging look. "Bet I can do something you can't do.." he stated casually, shrugging his shoulders.
"Yeah.. right," Phil stated with a roll of his eyes.
"No, really," Miles chided. "Watch this."
And he took the unmarked quarter and rolled it from the top of his forehead. It trailed down his forehead, over the tip of his nose, over his lips and off his chin. "See? Bet you can't do that," he stated, nodding his head.
"Tch, gimme the coin," Phil stated, holding his hand out.
Miles eyed him, then placed the marked coin in his hand. He watched as Phil unwittingly complete the same task he just had with minimal effort. He whistled and clapped. "Whew, man.. and here I thought I was skilled."
When they switched shifts later, he watched the looks of shock on Sawyer and Jin's faces.
"What? Something on my face?" Phil questioned.
Jin said nothing, smiling a little as he went and took a seat at the monitors.
Sawyer arched an eyebrow as Miles walked away whistling. There was a gray line proceeding straight down the center of Phil's face. He shrugged and Phil left. When he took a seat next to Jin they both looked at each other.
"His face.. look like butt.." Jin acknowledged.
Sawyer laughed. "I thought it was an improvement."
Jin had to laugh too.
~*~*~
Earlier that day..
Juliet found it was absolutely time to conspire against Miles. Especially when they learned that Jin had woken up to a face full of shaving cream due to an itch on his nose.
So on her lunch break she went into Jin and Miles' house and prepared everything. She took the salt shaker from the kitchen and headed into the bathroom. First she completely doused the brush from his toothbrush in salt before placing it back on the edge of the sink. Then she nonchalantly turned the shower-head and faced it outwards so that when Miles reached in to turn it on, he got sprayed.
She then took out her screw driver from the waistband of her jeans and removed the doorknob from the bathroom door. She carefully switched them around to opposite sides so that the lock was on the outside as opposed the the inside and she flicked in the button so that the door was locked. She made sure to leave the bathroom door open and finally exited that room.
She was happily humming as she entered Miles' bedroom. She glanced at the clock on his nightstand and noted she still had plenty of time. She'd been sure to tell the motor pool she was taking a long lunch break. Good thing too.
That was where Jin and Sawyer found her thirty minutes later. Sitting on Miles' bedroom floor and sewing the legs of his boxers shut. Both of them laughed immediately because that had not been one of the ideas they'd come up with.
The two men took to short-sheeting the bed. Tucking in the top sheet at the top instead of the bottom and folding it down three quarters of the way down the bed. After that they untucked the top of the sheet and set the bed back up to normal. When Miles went to go to bed, he wouldn't be able to stretch his feet out.
"Think that's enough?" Sawyer questioned as Juliet meticulously placed all of Miles newly tailored boxers back where they belonged.
Juliet smiled mischievously. "Oh no.. I still have one more.." she stated. She was grabbed Miles' stick of deodorant and ran out to the kitchen. "JIN! Do you have cream cheese?"
Jin arched an eyebrow up and looked at Sawyer as he heard the refrigerator open. "Bottom drawer," he told her as they both walked into the kitchen. They watched her slice off about an inch from the deodorant. "What is she doing?" he whispered to Sawyer.
Sawyer shrugged and stared. He could only grin when she slabbed cream cheese onto into its place and meticulously began sculpting it into form before she rolled it down and put the lid back on. "That's nasty.." he told her. "Clever, but nasty."
She glanced over at Jin. "Well he already took a shower, right?"
Jin nodded.
"Hopefully this gives him a reason to take another one."
~*~*~
When Miles stepped into his house he immediately began looking around. He knew they were going to get him back. They just had to. Problem was, he didn't see anything out of place. He shrugged and then stretched his arms up in the air. He caught the drifting smell and crinkled his nose in response. As he went down the hall he made sure to inspect each door cracked open to make sure no cups were dangling on top of them.
Nothing. He didn't see anything strange or out of place. So freaking weird. Finally he yanked off his jumpsuit and grabbed his deodorant. He pressed it to his armpit and the squishy texture made him squirm as he immediately pulled it away and stared at it. "Oh.. gross.." he muttered, but he grinned anyways. He took a whiff and it smelled like some mixture of his deodorant and cream cheese and he chuckled.
He had to give his prankster credit. That was a crafty idea. He rolled his eyes and went to the bathroom, shutting the door. He reached in to turn the shower on and when it sprayed out and gave him a sudden shower, he really wished he'd checked the bathroom over. He turned it off and fixed the shower-head before inspecting shampoo bottles and the works. Nothing else seemed out of place. So one prank had been there to lead him to the other?
Whoever did these was crafty indeed. He'd have to give them credit. He shed his clothes and hopped into the shower, cleaned up and got out. Once he'd dried off he wrapped the towel around his waist. Might as well get his teeth brushed while he was at it. He ran the water, dabbed some toothpaste onto his toothbrush and stuck it in his mouth. Seconds later he spit it out onto the mirror. "Dammit!" he growled out in frustration. Now it was getting to be too much.
How many other things could they have possibly rigged? He washed his mouth out, thoroughly rinsed his toothbrush and then went to open the door. It jiggled a little, but refused to turn completely. "Musta' locked it," he decided. He went to unlock the door only to realize the lock was gone. "What the-- Juliet!!" he groaned out. Only she was this crafty.
Then he realized something else. He was locked into the bathroom until somebody came to let him out. Jin wouldn't be back for hours. "Oh she's good.." he muttered, giving the door a swift kick.
He was pretty sure he sat there for an hour before he heard his front door open. 'Please tell me Jin came back for a dinner break..' he thought vaguely to himself.
"You ready to come out Miles?" Juliet.
"Gotta bow down to the master," he conceded. "You are one clever little minx," he told her through the door. And he heard her laugh from the other side as the lock popped and the door opened. "Maybe next year you should conspire with me instead of against me," he told her.
She glanced down at his towel-clad lower half. "Wet clothes?" She said nothing about his notion they'd spend another April Fools together.
"Soaked," he assured her. "And a salty mouth, pucker up and I'll prove it."
Juliet laughed immediately. "Have to give credit where credit's due," she assured him. "Seeing James run stark naked down the hallway was absolutely hilarious. I had to snuff my laughter with a pillow after that."
Miles grinned.
"Too bad you didn't stick around to watch me wash the dishes," she told him, smiling innocently. "You missed a show."
"Oh?"
She nodded. "As James put it, I picked the best morning to wear a white t-shirt and no bra," she explained, and watched as Miles looked her over, turned a little red, and looked away. "And you know, I saw him naked, he saw through my shirt-- one thing led to another--"
"You guys had sex?!" Miles questioned loudly.
Juliet arched both eyebrows. "Now why would you get that idea?" she questioned. "I was simply saying, one thing led to another, I changed my shirt and he wound up doing the dishes."
Miles could've fallen over. But the dreamy look that crossed her face nearly stunned him.
"But.. now that you mention it.." she muttered, placing her hand under her chin thoughtfully. "He did look like he'd be good in--"
Miles' jaw dropped.
She smirked. "Just kidding," she told him, slapping him playfully on the cheek. "Nice pranking you, Miles. April Fools."
Miles watched as she left and he shook his head. He just got owned.
When he went into his room and went to tug on a dry pair of boxers he frowned and stared down at them. He quickly dug through his drawers and realized every pair had the legs sewn shut. "That crafty bitch.." he muttered, snickering.
Later that night..
After spending hours saving his boxers, he was wiped out. He managed to get into his favorite pair and then he threw his covers and sheets back, checking to make sure no one soaked his bed or did anything else stupid. He breathed out a sigh of relief. The pranks were over.
He slid in and frowned. His feet weren't reaching the end of the bed. "Dammit!!"
April 9,
1975.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Blue eyes opened and Juliet found herself feeling slightly disoriented. She sat up, and watched as the book toppled off her chest onto the floor. Frowning, she glanced around before the realization hit her that she had fallen asleep on the couch. She rubbed her eyes a little and got to her feet, going to the door and swinging it open. She had to blink back her surprise when she saw Jin standing there with fishing poles.
"You fish?" Jin questioned, beaming at her. "James and Miles do not want to go.."
Juliet eyed him curiously but she smiled a little and stepped aside to let him in. "Sure," she told him, closing the door behind him. "Just uh.. let me change," she stated. She didn't have the heart to tell the guy she had never fished a day in her life and didn't really find the aspect of it the least bit interesting.
A few minutes later she came out in a pair of shorts, something she hadn't worn in ages. And a pale-blue t-shirt. She chuckled at him as she pulled her hair into a sloppy bun. It wasn't as though she needed to impress anybody, and she let pieces of hair fall out around her face.
"You like to fish?" Jin questioned, studying the blonde carefully. He didn't really know much about her at all. Most of their time together was spent with him learning English, sharing dinners and she listened to him talk. She said it was good practice. He'd brought up Jack once while they were eating and she hadn't made eye contact with him for the rest of the meal, nor had she discussed Jack.
She opened her mouth, fully intending to lie and tell him she loved it, but was surprised by what came out of her mouth. "I've never fished before," she admitted. She ran her fingers through her hair and smiled a little at him. "So.. you'll have to teach me."
Jin had to grin at that. Finally something he could teach her. That was new. "I will teach," he told her, his face lighting up. He put a fishing rod in her one hand and grabbed her free hand with his own. "Come!"
Juliet was surprised by his sudden excitement as he dragged her out of the house and across the barracks.
"Man, he's pickin' up Juliet before you can, Fabio," Sawyer pointed out to Miles.
Miles narrowed his eyes and shot him a pointed look. "I'll get her yet.."
"Suuure you will," Sawyer agreed sarcastically. "Her and I would get married and make five billion kids before you could even get a kiss."
"I could totally get a kiss," Miles assured him with complete confidence.
Sawyer laughed. "Yeah, right."
"Wanna bet on it?" Miles questioned, waggling his eyebrows.
Sawyer rolled his eyes almost immediately. "We don't make no damned money here, Tweedledum," he reminded the man. "What the hell would the stakes of the bet be?"
Miles thought about that. Then he grinned. "Fine.. if I can get a kiss from Juliet, then.. you have to kiss Mandy."
"Mandy?!" came Sawyer's tone of disbelief. "You gotta be kiddin' me.. Mandy?" he questioned. "As in.. Mandy the queen of Candy? That just ain't right.. that chick has like.. A.D.D. or somethin'.."
Miles waggled his eyebrows a second time.
"Hell no, she'll be all over my ass if I even look at her, ain't a snowball's chance in hell, you'll cheat and find a way and then I'll have to kiss that crazy broad."
Miles burst out laughing. "Fine, fine.. then.. you gotta get a normal hair cut."
Sawyer groaned. "You got two days to get a kiss, startin' now," he warned him. "You lose, yer' grownin' your damned hair to your ass."
Miles smirked.
"Fine.. fine, you lose, you grow a fro'."
Miles arched an eyebrow. "No way."
"Yep."
"That's just wrong."
"That's the deal," Sawyer told him. "You started the hair bet, you deal with it.."
Miles frowned. "Deal. Two days, I get a kiss, you get a normal hair cut."
"You don't, you grow a fro'."
They shook.
April 11,
1975.
Juliet arched an eyebrow up as Miles whispered something into her ear. "Oh really?" she questioned curiously. She listened intently for a moment and then laughed.
Sawyer watched with morbid curiosity. Was the man stupid? For two days he'd just been talking to Juliet, saying random things, making the blonde laugh. Now he was whispering things. He had about ten minutes left to get the damned kiss. Miles was about to have to grow a fro'.
And that was that. Nine minutes later, Miles leaned forward and tried to get her right smack on the lips.
WHACK!
The palm of her hand collided with the side of his head before he could get there. "Don't even think about it Miles," she warned him. "You and James want to go making bets about kissing me?" she questioned, grabbing him by the lapels of his jumpsuit. "I better not see an afro or a crew-cut or I'll take a pair of pliers to both of your balls."
Miles stared at her in shock. He let out a little breath of relief when she gave him a kiss on the cheek, released him, and walked away. He watched as Sawyer came over to him.
"What'd she say?" Sawyer asked, curiosity getting the best of him.
"First things first, that counts, she kissed me, I won," Miles pointed out. "But uh.. she said if she sees an afro or a crew-cut.. she'll take pliers to our.. you know.. members."
Sawyer nearly crossed his legs. "Ouch.."
"Yeah.."
"Guess that bet's off.."
"Damn straight.. I still won though."
Sawyer chuckled. "Actually.. was about a minute passed.. you lost man."
"Dammit." He looked up at Sawyer. "Well.. I don't see five billion little blonde haired blue eyed bastards running around."
Sawyer rolled his eyes. "Dipshit."
April 18,
1975.
He was in the middle of sipping his beer on the couch as he read his book when he paused and looked up. He glanced over at Juliet whose head rested on the arm rest on the other end of the couch, then he glanced down and realized that her feet were resting on his lap. Briefly, he wondered how long they'd been sitting in this position. He shook his head, shrugged and put his beer back down on the coffee table. He rested his arm back down on her leg and noticed she didn't even bat an eye.
Then he remembered something else. They'd done this almost a dozen times since last month. Why was he only realizing it now?
"What's wrong?" Juliet questioned, resting her book face down on her stomach and studying him carefully.
Before the conversation could go any further they both jumped as the alarms for the barracks resounded loudly. They were both on their feet in an instant when the first sounds of screams and gunshots tore through the people of Dharma.
"What the hell?" Sawyer muttered.
In the next second, Horace tore through their door, pulling Amy in with him. "Jim--"
"That the damned hostiles?" Sawyer asked him immediately.
"No," Horace told him. "We don't know who they are, I need your help," he told him, tossing a rifle to him.
Sawyer nodded. "You got it, boss.."
Juliet locked eyes with him a moment later. She reached out and gripped his forearm as he was about to leave with Horace. "James--"
"I'll be fine," he told her, giving her a reassuring smile.
Horace looked at Juliet. "Closet, top shelf," he told her. "There's a rifle, extra bullets, stay with Amy, please Juliet."
Juliet hesitated, but then nodded. "Be careful.." she told him, releasing his arm. At his nod, her and Amy watched both men run out of the house. Almost immediately she pulled open the closet and reached up, pulling the rifle off the shelf. She looked over at Amy.
"Can you fire that?" Amy questioned softly.
Juliet gave her a sad smile. "That rifle I was holding when we found you in the Hostile territory?" she reminded her. "That wasn't for show.."
Amy reached up and pulled a second rifle off the shelf. "Come on!"
She arched her eyebrow up at the brunette immediately as the other woman opened the door and ran out. Her mouthed dropped open and shock and she realized that.. she didn't have a choice except to follow Amy. She had told Horace that she would stay with Amy.
~*~*~
Sawyer wasn't sure how he was suppose to comprehend what was going on right now. Random men were shooting up the barracks, people were dead, people were running. Miles and Jin seemed to have taken up arms as well, along with most of the other men and even some women.
It was a second later that he noticed Juliet and Amy running off somewhere with guns. Were those two out of their minds? He turned and saw the man sneaking up behind Jin and Miles. In and instant he raised the rifle and shot the man in the head.
Jin and Miles turned around immediately and looked at the man on the ground behind them, then they looked over at Sawyer and nodded at him. He moved and got up near them. "You guys good?"
"So far, yeah," Miles muttered. "Who the hell are these people though?"
He shook his head. "Nobody seems to have a damned clue.. they ain't hostiles, they're somebody else." They were all currently ducking down and popping off rounds from behind a bench.
POP! BANG!
And he felt a searing pain go through his shoulder and through his side from behind. He dropped onto his back on the ground and watched as Miles and Jin dropped their weapons accordingly with their hands up. He looked over at the two men who had them at gun-point. 'Freakin' wonderful...' he thought glumly. And damn.. this hurt worse then the last time he got shot. Then again.. last time he'd only been shot once. He was pretty sure he got hit twice.
A moment later two shots went off and the two men dropped to the ground. He looked to see Juliet and Amy with their guns raised in their direction and then he felt himself being dragged. He assumed it was probably Miles and Jin doing so.
~*~*~
"Amy! Amy stop, look!" Juliet muttered. She was pointing at the two kids laying in the playground. She had wanted, so badly, to go and help James. She was going to until she spotted the two kids laying on the ground with their hands over their ears.
"Oh no.." Amy whispered. Almost immediately her and Juliet were bending, keeping low as they ran to the two children.
Juliet noticed instantly that they were both fine and she felt a breath of relief go through her. "Annie, Ben.." she said softly. "C'mon you two, we need to get you out of here.."
Ben looked up at Juliet. He nodded and helped Annie up.
"Good job kids, good job keeping safe here," Amy reassured them. She gasped when a man ran out in front of her, and before he could do anything there was a gun shot, and the man dropped to the ground. She looked back at Juliet, glad the blonde hadn't been lying about her rifle wielding skills.
"We should hide in the bushes," Juliet told her, ushering the kids forward. "It's safer there then out in the open and these people are all over the barracks now.."
Amy nodded her agreement.
Juliet bent down and picked the guy clean of his handgun, tucking it into her pants. She turned and stared at two men running after them. She glanced at Amy. "Go, GO!" she said, ushering Amy and the kids on ahead. "I'll distract them, you go!"
Amy realized that because of Annie and Ben she had no choice but to listen to Juliet, so she strapped the rifle to her back and grabbed the hands of both kids, pulling them towards the bushes.
She swung the rifle onto her back and quickly pulled out the handgun, getting one shot off at one of the men and dropping him before the other man gripped her neck and practically slammed her down to the ground. She felt all the air sucked out of her and it was hard to breathe for a moment. She felt the grip on her neck tightening, the air she could suck in was getting less and less. She was seeing spots, and then nothing. She swore she heard a gunshot just as she was released.. funny, how she didn't feel any pain.
Later on that day..
It had taken hours before they'd actually driven those people back out. And they realized how they'd gotten in. Phil had been coming back through the fence when he'd been shot. He never got to put it back up, so when he came to, he immediately set off the alarms.
"I told her to stay in the house with you," Horace said with frustration, running his hands over his face and trying to calm down.
Amy shook her head. "I left first, Horace.." she told him. "I'm so sorry, she was only following me," she assured him, placing her hand on his cheek. "Don't be mad at her, it wasn't her fault, and thanks to her.. me, Annie and Ben are okay," she reminded him.
"According to Miles and Jin," Horace began. "Juliet and you are the reasons they aren't hurt, and the reason Jim will recover."
Amy smiled.
April 19,
1975.
"Juliet?"
Juliet glanced up from her book and looked at the bed to see Sawyer looking at her. "Hey there.. you're awake," she stated, getting up and taking a seat on the edge of his bed. "How do you feel?"
"Peachy," he assured her with a roll of his eyes. "You really do have my back, dontcha', G.I Jane?"
She smiled. "That's what I told you, isn't it?"
He studied her now, taking in her appearance. She seemed to have more bruises then the last time, and her breathing seemed a little unstable. The black and blue finger marks on her neck were what caught his eye the most. "Where's the guy who did that?" he asked immediately.
Juliet reached up on instinct and touched the wounds. She flinched slightly and then smiled down at him sadly. "Dead.." she admitted. "Horace shot him."
"Remind me to kiss that man.." he mumbled.
Juliet chuckled.
"Do we know who they are?" he questioned next.
She shook her head. "No.. we're trying, and they're still out there somewhere," she admitted. "A lot of people are dead, James.." she told him. "If they still have more people, if that wasn't all of them.. I don't think we'll survive another attack."
Sawyer studied her.
"Horace is talking about evacuating.." she told him. "Maybe it's time I go ask Jacob what happened to me, and use that as an excuse for asking Richard for their help."
"Hell no," Sawyer growled out. "You ain't goin' out there alone," he told her quickly. "Plus those crazy sons of bitches who attacked us are still out there."
Juliet sighed, taking her seat in the chair next to his bed again. She made sure her hands were below his line of vision under the bed. "You want to go home, don't you James?"
"Yea' but--"
"If we get on that sub, if we leave.." she told him. "We'll never get home," she reminded him.
Sawyer frowned. "You ain't gonna go trottin' off on a suicide mission just so that we can maybe still have a chance at goin' home," he told her. "No way in hell." That was when he noticed the syringe that she'd just jammed in his arm. "What the hell?!"
"Just a sedative," she assured him. "Relax James," she said softly. "I'll be back before you know it."
And the words were mushing together, his vision was blurring. And he was back into darkness.
It was late that night when Juliet snuck away from the barracks and out the fence once again.
()()TBC()()
Who else is proud that it hasn't even been a month since I started this story and.. wait.. what's that? I've posted 9 chapters? Oh yeah! Skill.
Yup. April will have a second half. Who could these new people possibly be, can Juliet recruit help from the Hostiles? We'll find out.