Long time no see, I know. And I am so very sorry. Hopefully you guys are still out there looking for a new chapter, because I finally have it for you. And give a little hello to my little man, Caleb, who is six months old and giving me some spare time for you guys!

Now then, I figure a brief overview of what happened in the store is necessary. This was suggested by CarolynneRuth and I couldn't agree with her more!

Previously on Lost: (Haha.)

Let's not forget, Juliet had been taken over by the smoke monster a few chapters back. After a trip to the temple, she was saved by Jacob. Sawyer acknowledged to Juliet that they were best friends, she reciprocated with the same feelings. In April, Miles pulled off all of his pranks for April Fools. Juliet pwned his ass in the end. Then the military guys showed up, Sawyer was shot(twice!) and survived. After realizing they'd be overrun by these people, Juliet made the effort to go back to the temple(under the false pretense that she was ready to know what really happened to her with the smoke monster.) She killed two men along the way and ran into Richard Alpert, whom escorted her to the temple.

After a dip into Jacob's magical pool and a few brief memories, Juliet admitted she was only there seeking help against the people attacking the Dharma Initiative. Richard agreed these people were a common enemy(since they'd been the ones to leave the nuclear warhead back in the 1950's) and he brought the Hostiles to the barracks in a joint attack against the soldiers. The allied enemy teams pwned the soldiers and the Hostiles drove them off the island. The story picks back up just a few weeks after that, in May!

Living the Lie:

May 5,

1975.

When Juliet entered the house, she had a hard time believing that this was the same man who had been shot twice just a few weeks ago. Her eyebrows both rose up in unison as she watched Sawyer rearrange furniture in their living room. "What the hell are you doing?" she questioned him. "Did your ears clog up when the doctor told you no heavy lifting?"

"I ain't liftin' nothing," came his retort as he pushed another piece of furniture across the room.

Juliet rolled her eyes in response. "James, I swear, if you don't take your hands off of the lazy boy, I'm going to beat you over the head with it, several times."

Sawyer smirked. "Fine," he agreed. He removed his hand and started giving it a push with his feet.

"You know, I might flash you if I thought it would make you stop, but somehow I doubt it would," she stated, shaking her head and wandering down the hall.

"If ya' flashed me, I'd be in the bathroom a while," he yelled down the hall.

She chuckled slightly as she came back down the hallway. "That's disgusting."

"Just being honest," he told her. "Didn't you develop the new 'honesty policy' last week?" he asked her. "Ya' know, the one where ya' got pissed cause you said honesty and asked about your ass in that-"

Juliet sighed and held up scissors. "I promise you this, if you don't stop moving the furniture around, I'll move your balls and put them in a very unpleasant place in your body."

Sawyer froze in place. He glanced between her and the scissors. "Well I just don't think you were bein' honest about liftin' your top just now."

"Oh really?" she managed to say that with little interest.

He nodded. "Nope, you wouldn't."

"How much you want to bet?" she questioned.

"I'll stay on the couch 'til the doc says I can lift or 'move' things again if you lift it up," he told her.

Somehow she doubted that. "And if I don't?"

"If you don't-" he stopped. He never had to say if she didn't, because in a second she lifted up her shirt. He was momentarily stunned as she dropped her shirt back down and headed down the hallway.

"Now get back on the damned couch!" came her voice from down the hall.

And he did.

May 7,

1975.

"Dude, it never happened," Miles explained.

"I'm tellin' ya', she just lifted up her shirt like it was nothin'," Sawyer stated.

Miles shook his head. "Not a chance in hell," he replied. "You get such good drugs that you probably either hallucinated it, or had a really awesome dream."

Sawyer rolled his eyes. "I swear, it's the only way I'd stop moving the furniture around. I said if she flashed me, I wouldn't do it no more."

Miles was laughing. "Man, share the drugs you're on."

Juliet entered the house and headed over towards the kitchen.

"Jim here says you flashed him to get him to stay on the couch," Miles called out to her. "I think he's had too many happy pills."

"And?" came her reply from the kitchen.

Miles' sarcastic smile was slowly fading. "Wait, you mean you actually did it?"

Sawyer shot Miles a shit-eating victory grin. "Told ya'."

"He's on the couch still, isn't he?" she called back.

Miles was shell-shocked. He had no idea what he could possibly say in reply to that. He found himself staring at her as she exited the house once more with a sandwich in hand. As soon as the door was closed, he turned to Sawyer. "Holy shit, what'd they look like? How big were they?"

Sawyer shrugged. "Shoulda' believed me earlier, Enos."

He was flabbergasted. "Oh come on! Gimme something here man! C? D? Double D?"

"Double." Sawyer notified him.

Miles' mouth was open.

"One on the left, one on the right. See? Double."

Miles smacked his own forehead. "You ass."

Sawyer just smirked. He didn't find it necessary to admit, yes, Juliet had lifted her shirt up. She had simply failed to mention she had on her old tank top from before they showed up here, underneath. He hadn't seen anything more that he already had. Just that, a deal was a deal. She had conned him well and good.

May 11,

1975.

Sawyer couldn't say exactly what bothered him about the fact Juliet had a huge smile on her face. He was pretty sure it just had something to do with the fact one of the other grease monkeys had caused it. He was currently sitting on a bench next to Amy, but his eyes were stuck on the blonde in the motor pool. Currently one of the guys was telling her jokes, while having his hand on her arm. It seemed more like flirting at this point.

"Have you ever been in love?" Amy asked him.

"Nope."

Amy blinked and looked at him in confusion. "Not even thought you were?"

He shrugged. "Maybe once... or twice," he admitted. "See... here's the interesting story, Ames.."

Amy founded herself listening intently.

"Juliet told you about Jack and that... other girl, remember?" he asked her.

"Yes, I remember."

Sawyer sighed. "Well, my girl was that other girl."

Amy was stunned into silence for a moment, which was abnormal for her.

"Her and Jack, they really wanted each other, they just didn't wanna admit it," he told her. "Confusin' I know, me and Juliet, we just don't talk about it though." He watched as Juliet shook her head at the guy, who seemed slightly deterred as he left her alone.

"Well, then you forget about them and move on!" Amy told him, giving the lapels of his shirt a playful tug. "Besides, hey, were going to do a barbeque and dance right outside tomorrow night! Come on," she said, standing up and tugging his hands to pull him off the bench. "You could bring Juliet!"

Sawyer was staring at her as though she had two heads. He glanced at Juliet off at the motor pool who was staring at himself and Amy with a look of serious amusement. "We're just friends.." he reminded the brunette.

"So?" she questioned. She still doubted the truth about that one no matter how much the two denied it. "Friends can't bring friends to barbecues?" she asked playfully. "A little food, dance, drinks, karaoke, come on, Jim!"

He would have declined if the woman hadn't been so damned excited at the thought of him and Juliet going. "Alright, alright.. I'll go ask her."

Amy clapped her hands happily. "Oh good!" she gave him a light shove, avoiding his injuries. "She's right over there, so go ask!"

He rolled his eyes, shook his head, and made his way over to Juliet.

Juliet eyed him suspiciously as Sawyer made his way towards her. "What's got her so excited?" she asked curiously. "You agree to be her date to the barbeque?"

"What? No!" he defended himself immediately. "You nuts? She's excited cause I told her I'd ask you."

Juliet was taken by surprise for a moment. "What?"

"Oh c'mon.. if ya' say no, you might actually make the poor girl cry," he informed her. "It's just one night, not like we gotta do nothin' but eat food and get drunk."

"I uh.. I don't.." she frowned, running her fingers through her hair. "Well, I mean, sure.." she sighed. "Why not?"

For a second he thought she was actually going to say no. And it nearly made him feel like he'd asked her on the date with the way she had reacted. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she replied with a smile. "Gonna head back to the house though, just tired."

He watched as she walked away and he wasn't quite sure what to think about it.

"So?" Amy questioned, wandering up to him.

"Oh, uh.. yeah, we're coming," he informed her.

"Great!" Amy said with a grin and a clap before she wandered off.

"Dude, did you just tell Amy you were going to that stupid barbecue?" Miles questioned him curiously.

Sawyer arched an eyebrow up. "Yeah, why?"

Miles blinked a few times. "Uh.. well, whose your date?"

"You tryin' to ask me somethin', dumbass?" Sawyer asked sarcastically.

Miles rolled his eyes. "Ew, dude.. no. Just that it's a couples barbeque, you know, for you and your date? Me and Jin are staying home and playing poker."

Sawyer just covered his face with his hands. "Shit.." he muttered.

"What?"

"Amy just conned me into asking Juliet on a date.." he admitted.

Miles was walking away laughing.

Sawyer was after him as quickly as wounds would allow. "Man, wait up, what the hell do I do?"

Miles stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"

"No! I mean, she said yes, so what the hell do I do now?"

Miles was chuckling. "Wait, Juliet said yes?" he asked. "I figured you had that look on your face cause she said no."

Sawyer just looked horrified. "I can't believe I just.. aww crap.. do I cancel, I mean, tell her nevermind?"

"Are you completely batshit?" Miles asked him. "You unwittingly asked Juliet out, and she said yes. You should send your freakin' prayers up to the island gods or something."

"Ha-ha-ha."

Miles shrugged. "I'm serious, half the guys here asked her to go."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Shit."

Miles stared at him.

"What do I wear?"

Miles laughed.

May 12,

1975

12:00 pm

"What do I wear?" was the first question Juliet asked Amy as they searched through Amy's closet. She watched with interest as Amy handed her a sundress.

"It's casual," Amy told her. "Try this on," she ordered, handing the dress to the blonde. She was bemused when the blonde changed right there in front of her with little-or-no hesitation.

Juliet sighed as she pulled the dress on over her head. "Clearly you gave James no indication this was a 'couples' thing," she pointed out as she changed. "I was so baffled when he asked me to go that the thought hadn't crossed my mind until I was back in the house."

Amy was grinning. "And yet, you still said yes!" she happily reminded her. "Besides, I'll be there with Horace and we're not a couple," she pointed out. "It's not like everyone here is dating."

Juliet shrugged then glanced down at herself in the dress. "I don't know about this..." she muttered. She couldn't remember the last time she'd worn a dress.

"About what? About going to the barbeque with James or the dress?" Amy asked curiously.

"Both, I suppose."

Amy smiled knowingly. "First of all, that dress looks great on you and second of all, you already told Jim you would go," she reminded her. "It would be rude to back out now. Nice cleavage by the way."

Juliet turned slightly red. "Very funny..." she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

1:00 pm.

Sawyer groaned as he put on the khakis and one of those ridiculous looking 70's button-up shirts that made him look like a true hippie. "I'm tellin' ya.. this is a bad idea," he called out to Miles, who was waiting in the living room. "Maybe I should just play poker with you and Jin."

"Crap, man," Miles said with a laugh. "You're completely stupid, it's way too late to go canceling now," he reminded him. He watched as Sawyer came out into the living room. "The chicks are all gonna be in sundresses, c'mon, gimme a break here," he stated. "Juliet's chest is going to be like.. bow-chica-wow-wow!"

Sawyer chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Yer' seriously twisted, Miles..."

Miles shrugged. "Just saying, that's all. She's got a nice pair of-"

"Yea', yea', I get what yer' sayin'," Sawyer groaned with a laugh.

"Her eyes scare me though," Miles told him, taking a chug of his beer.

Sawyer shot his eyebrow up in response to that. "Her eyes?"

Miles nodded. "Yeah man, bluest freakin' eyes I've ever seen. And they like, stare right through you when she's looking at you," he pointed out. "You can never tell what the hell she's thinking most of the time."

Sawyer shrugged that off, refusing to agree with Miles out loud even though secretly, he agreed wholeheartedly.

Miles still remembered that time he'd first met Juliet. When she and Sayid had been hiding in wait for him and Daniel. He had freaked out, realizing she was a local on the island, and was looking for Ben Linus. She hadn't even batted an eye when Jack had to shove him back away from her. "You have fun getting ready, I gotta go."

Sawyer watched as Miles darted out of the house. Where the hell was that idiot going all of the sudden?

1:20pm

Miles found himself knocking on Amy's door now. When the brunette answered he just smiled at her. "Was hoping I could catch Juliet for a few before that barbeque started up."

Amy chuckled and let him in. "She's back in the bedroom, I actually have to run and get a few things, so you could talk here if you wanted."

Miles nodded. "Thanks."

Amy returned the nod. "I'll see you in a little while," she stated before heading out of her house.

"Juliet?" Miles called out, peeking down the hallway.

"Hm, yeah?" came her reply. She exited Amy's bedroom clad in the sundress and found Miles waiting in the living room. "What's up, Miles?"

"Yowza.." Miles gave her a wolf-whistle. "Nice."

Juliet released a laugh in response. "Cute and subtle, Miles, but thanks," she said with a smile. "What do you need?"

Miles shrugged. "I know this is a weird time to be asking, but, well," he frowned and thought about it. "I just kinda remembered when we all first realized you weren't on the plane and you were a native on the island.. just, how'd you wind up with the survivors?"

"I doubt there's enough time to explain that before the barbeque," she admitted to him. "I'll tell you what, some other day, I'll tell you the whole story," she suggested. "How I came to be on the island, and how I went from being with the Others to being with James and them."

Miles nodded. "Deal."

"And you can tell me about the freighter," she suggested with a smile.

"Oh that's simple," he told her as he opened the front door. "Money."

Juliet blinked a few times in silent confusion as he left. That was it? Money? She chuckled slightly and realized that a lot of them had changed since coming to the island. None of them were the same people that they were before and she was beginning to think that was a good thing. Before the island she'd been mousy, with the Others' she felt like she'd lost her humanity, but now she felt like she was gaining some of that back. She glanced down at herself in the dress. Yes, she was gaining it back, slowly but surely.

4:00 pm

"Aren't we late?" Juliet questioned Amy as she watched the smaller woman getting ready. She looked at her own hair and realized it had been a while since she'd seen it this wavy. At least, not since she first came to the island. Normally she woke up with slight curls and left it, or it was just straight. Amy had worked some magic to make it wave, and she admitted it look pretty good.

Amy laughed a little. "Casually so," she informed her. "Besides, we all know the guys are slowpokes, so they're probably still setting things up," she reminded her. "It's alright if we're a little late."

Juliet found herself snickering. "Amy, it started thirty minutes ago."

"Oh, is it four already?" she asked, standing up. "Guess we really should get out there. Otherwise Jim might think you're standing him up."

Juliet rolled her eyes. "It's not like we're dating, I doubt he'd be terribly upset if I never showed up. On the contrary, he'd probably be relieved. Seeing as you tricked him into asking me on this date."

Amy was smiling. "Would you get over that already?" she asked in amusement as the two of them slipped on shoes.

"I doubt he will, chances are, Miles will never let him live it down," she informed the other woman with a laugh. As they stepped out and headed towards the barbeque area, Juliet realized at least two thirds of the Initiative had paired up as a 'couple' to join in the festivities. Half of them weren't even seeing each other. She didn't feel as odd about this now as she did before.

"There, see?" Horace said, giving Sawyer a gentle slap on the back. "Told you Amy would make them show up late."

Sawyer chuckled at his boss. He grabbed two beers from the cooler as the two women approached and handed one to Juliet. "Here ya' go, sweetcheeks. Don't say I never gave ya' nothin'."

Juliet released a laugh, thankful he at least could break the ice for this not-really-a-date-date. She moved close to him and leaned her face in next to his ear. "You ever call me 'sweetcheeks' again, and I'll castrate you," she whispered in a half-hearted joke before kissing him on the cheek playfully.

He chuckled nervously. "Yes ma'am."

Horace was trying to hide his look of amusement because he had heard her statement as well. "You and Amy both look great, Juliet, I'm glad you could come."

Juliet gave him a sincere smile. "Thank you, Horace," she said gratefully.

'Wonder if that's what I shoulda' said..' Sawyer thought to himself curiously. Too late now, he figured. At least she had laughed. The two of them both watched as Horace and Amy wandered off to mingle. And it was most definitely an awkward silence between them both.

"I didn't-"

"I know you-"

They both chuckled and looked away, taking sips of their beers.

"You go first," he told her.

She smiled a little. "Was just going to say, I know you didn't realize this was a 'couples' thing," she told him.

He was laughing now. "Yeah, that's what I was about to tell ya'," he stated with a shrug. "I had no idea what to do when Miles told me that I'd asked you on a date."

Juliet found herself grinning in response. "Have to admit, I was pretty baffled at first..."

"Thought you had a bit of a strange look goin' on there," he replied with a chuckle.

Juliet just smiled and then glanced around at everyone else. Most were making glances in their direction, clearly wondering about the two of them. "Did you notice we're the main attraction at this barbeque?"

Sawyer glanced around and had to laugh in response. "Now I did," he answered, shaking his head. "New word on the Dharma grapevine will be that we've gone steady."

Juliet, in a very unladylike manner, laughed and managed to spit some beer from her mouth, back into the can, before covering her mouth. She coughed for a second and shook her head before laughing again. "Gone steady..." she muttered in a bemusement. "Been a while since I've heard that."

Sawyer was laughing mostly from how hard she had laughed.

"Sorry about the beer spray, I didn't expect you to say that," she admitted, looking a little embarrassed.

He just waved it off. "You kiddin'? The other night while we were playin' poker, Miles said somethin' and Jin sprayed beer out his nose. He said it stung for hours," he told her with a grin.

Juliet chuckled at that one. "What'd Miles say?"

Sawyer shrugged. "Ain't got a damned clue, have to ask him that," he admitted to her. "He said he knew one word in Korean, and when he said it, Jin was hysterical."

Juliet smirked. "Probably a curse word."

"That's what I figured too."

They both looked up when the music started playing and they shook their heads. "Oh goody," Sawyer muttered. "The Eagles, can't say I've been itching to listen to some 70's music," he whispered.

She shook her head with a small smile.

Neither of them moved an inch when everyone else started dancing. They just sort of looked away from each other.

"I don't dance," Sawyer blurted out the excuse.

Juliet shrugged. "I wouldn't begin to know how," she stated.

"I vote we snatch a buncha' beers and go join Jin and Miles' poker game," he suggested. By the time he worked up the nerve to look at her, she was already holding two six-packs.

"Amen to that," she agreed.

After Sawyer grabbed two more six-packs, the two of them ran off towards the house of their time-travel buddies. Neither bothered to knock before walking in.

"Somebody order beer?" Sawyer called out.

Jin and Miles both looked up from the kitchen table.

"Damn, Juliet! Nice ta-ta's!" Miles hooted out with a grin.

Juliet rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks."

"No barbeque?" Jin questioned curiously.

"Got bored," Sawyer stated. "Figured we'd come play poker."

"Miles, I'm gonna borrow some clothes," Juliet stated before dropping two six-packs on the counter and heading down the hall.

Miles watched her and then looked at Sawyer. "Man, she's looking that good and you're gonna come play poker with us?" he whispered. "You're nuts."

Sawyer rolled his eyes but he said nothing. They were passing the Dharma beers around when Juliet came out moments later wearing Miles boxers and t-shirt.

Miles gave a wolf-whistle. "You look even better in my clothes!"

Juliet released a laugh and shook her head. "You're an ass, Miles," she told him playfully before taking the last seat at the table. "Dresses make me uncomfortable anyways," she admitted with a shrug. "So what're we waiting for?" she questioned as she popped open her beer. "Deal us in."

The men were just grinning as the cards were dealt.

()TBC()

And there we have it! Another chapter of Living the Lie finally posted! Thank you to anyone who decides to continue reading after this long-long wait! I apologize again, but life just got in the way and dealt a hand that couldn't be returned.

Much love for all of my readers!

From Sarah and Caleb!