A/N: Okay so this chapter is just one long flashback. Sorry about that but I got kind of stuck in the flashback and went with the flow. lol. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 3.

Miles ran a hand over his hair. He could swear it was getting thinner. That's what sucked about getting older. He was 30 now and still didn't have a woman. Well he did have one, Tracy, but that had fallen through. It didn't help when he'd spent the last three months seeing himself as a baby. That had freaked him out. Seeing his mother's growing belly, knowing it was him inside there, was even freakier. It made him nervous and twitchy. As a result he hadn't been paying Tracy enough attention, least that's what she had told him. Now he wasn't at all sure how to give her the attention she wanted. He had talked to Juliet about it and asked if James gave her the attention she wanted. She had just smiled looking all dreamy and he'd sighed. Wrong person to ask, James was all over her like the proverbial rash, it was even sickening at times but it hadn't always been that way. Back when they were too stubborn to admit they liked each other, it had been highly amusing and somewhat frustrating watching them pussy foot around each other. And at times even pathetic.

***Flashback***

James buried himself in work, doing extra shifts to keep his mind occupied. This, Miles had found really odd, because even though James worked hard and was efficient when he was at work, he also liked his leisure time. James' favourite past time was sitting on the couch reading and he could be particularly good at doing nothing when it suited him. The lazy bastard.

"What's with the extra shifts?" he'd asked him this morning.

James had just shrugged.

"Because it's not like you need the extra money," he'd joked. It was weird working without money.

James didn't seem to hear him. The guy had been miserable the past two weeks and no fun at all.

It was currently seven in the evening and James was reading as usual and drinking beer. Miles wasn't a reader. God he missed television and the internet. It was so boring here, even worse now with James being a misery guts. And Jin spent two hours a night at the gym. He said it helped him deal living without Sun; a healthy way to deal with things than James' way of drinking a six pack every night. Was he still mooning over Laura? Hadn't he broken things off with her?

"I didn't think you were really into Laura …" he began.

"I'm not," James snapped.

"So what's with you at the moment?"

"Nothing."

This was pointless and the guy was starting to piss him off.

"Because basically all you've done is work, sleep, read, drink beer and eat."

James grunted in reply.

"And Juliet keeps coming up with excuses as to why she can't come over," Miles continued, "I think she's avoiding us, but I don't know why?"

James lowered his book for a moment and looked at him. Miles noticed the frown crossing his forehead.

"Have you two had some kind of argument?" he asked shrewdly.

"We exchanged words," James replied slowly.

"In other words she's pissed off with you."

"Yes," he muttered, his expression guarded.

Miles looked at him thoughtfully for a minute before shaking his head a slow smile crossing his face. "Of course," he murmured, "why didn't I see it before."

"See what?" James enquired.

"You and Juliet."

James' frown intensified. "What do you mean?"

"That explains your misery," Miles talked, "you're not mooning over Laura, you're mooning over Juliet."

The expression on James' face said it all.

"Yeah I always thought you had a thing for her," he continued.

James brought the can of beer up to his mouth. "I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered before taking a swig.

"You should just tell her how you feel."

James returned his attention to the book in his hand. "I don't feel anything for her."

********

Juliet was trying to de-grease her hands. She glanced down at her chipped nails. That was the worst thing about this job; what it did to her hands. She watched, warily, as Miles approached. He looked bothered about something.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's LaFleur," he replied, "he's been a miserable grouch for the last two weeks."

"Has he?" she said, nonchalantly.

"You know he feels bad about you having to move out and all."

He had a funny way of showing it. She had barely seen him since there little exchange of words 15 days ago, not that she was counting the days.

"You know he's not going out with Laura?"

"No surprises there," she remarked, having already heard this news ten days ago.

Miles frowned and sighed muttering something about women being blind.

"You at least need to come to monopoly night tonight," he persisted, "it's not the same without you."

"Okay," she sighed.

What could it hurt? Except for her sudden feelings towards James. Since when and how did he suddenly become so important to her? She wished desperately that he hadn't. Of course she was jealous and annoyed that he was going out with Laura. Watching him kiss her at the front door had suddenly woken the green eyed monster and she hadn't hesitated in running him down to Laura, making the girl defensive. Then she had lashed out at him, refused to play cards and had avoided him since. She felt miserable and confused. His friendship mattered a lot and she didn't want to lose it. Tonight she would be nice to him again, gaze into his warm beautiful eyes, resist the urge to run her fingers through his hair and be just friends.

*******

Miles grabbed a can of beer from the fridge hearing the front door open.

"You better not have drunk all the beers Miles," James called out from the doorway.

Miles grabbed another can of beer and handed it to James as he entered the kitchen looking his usual un-cherry self.

"Have you talked to her yet?" Miles asked.

James flipped the tab on the can. "Who?"

"Juliet."

James glared at him. "No."

"Can't you make it up? Say sorry?"

James shook his head. "It's not that easy …" he began.

"Well you'll get your chance tonight," Miles stated.

James looked at him warily.

"I talked Juliet into coming to play monopoly," he continued with a smile.

James looked shocked for a moment. Miles patted him on the back. "Now's your chance to impress her and win her back."

"What's to say I want to impress her," James pointed out.

"You won't with that attitude and not looking like you currently do," he quipped, "you look like a slob, when did you last shave? And what's with the hippy hair? You need a fucking haircut or at least comb it and put some decent clothes on for a change."

James was glaring at him by this stage, but he knew him well enough by now to know he'd do exactly as he'd suggested. "Jeez man and you're supposed to be the village hunk."

*******

Miles seriously pissed him off at times. How did he manage to convince Juliet to come tonight? Drying himself with a towel he caught his reflection in the mirror. Miles was far too astute at times, the bastard. He ran a hand over his chin. He had only shaved once in the last two weeks, why start now? But he picked up the shaver anyway.

After Miles had told him that Juliet was coming tonight a nervous anticipation took hold of him. It sucked too, feeling this way. He put on the nicest shirt that he could find in his wardrobe, but then taking it off when he'd decided it was too obvious; he was trying too hard. After going through half a dozen tops he settled for a blue t-shirt and feeling totally disgruntled.

Miles had made pizza and was just taking it out of the oven when James walked in.

"Isn't there anything healthier to eat for a change," he remarked grabbing a glass from the cupboard and filling it with water.

"It hasn't bothered you before now," Miles returned.

The doorbell rang and he answered it. Juliet stood there, a packet of chips in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other, a smile on her face. That smiled faltered a little when she saw him.

"Hi," he murmured.

"Hi James," she replied, hesitantly as if remembering there last exchange of words. You go through women like flour through a sieve. Now he felt awkward.

"You're looking nice," he said, managing to make his voice work.

He leant over to take the bottle of wine from her, his fingers brushing hers lightly as she relinquished her hold on it.

"Thankyou," she replied.

"Come inside," he continued placing his hand on the small part of her back to usher her in. He was so close. She could feel the heat radiating from him and caught a whiff of the spicy underarm deodorant he wore. Stop swooning like a school girl, she chided. Their gazes connected and for a few moments they just stared at each other.

"I'm sorry about you having to move out …" he began.

"It's okay, forget it, I kind of prefer the person I'm sharing house with now," she replied, "they spend a lot less time in the bathroom," she continued with a smile.

He smiled in return. "Then I'm forgiven?"

How could she say no to him when he looked at her with those warm eyes and the uncertain smile?

"I guess," she sighed.

*****

There was the usual bantering but James was somewhat more subdued than normal and this perplexed Juliet. What was going on with him? He'd been going out with one girl after another but then for the last two weeks he'd been a social recluse and he looked unhappy. It wouldn't have to do with what she had said to him would it? She dismissed that idea from her mind. So why was he suddenly so unhappy? Was he still missing Kate? He hadn't really answered that when she's asked him or maybe he was going through some mid life crisis but he was a bit young for that wasn't he? The blue t-shirt he wore looked really good on him. It matched his eyes and she was finding it harder and harder not to look into those eyes.

James looked up to find Juliet looking at him yet again and he didn't miss the concern in her eyes. When are you going to get it out of your system? Just because you're going through some mid life crisis ... Is that what she really thought? I'm not going through any damn mid life crisis he felt like saying. You don't gotta feel sorry for me. Somehow he disliked the thought of her feeling sorry for him even more than thinking him a lowlife. Maybe he needed to become a jerk again but one look into her pretty clear eyes and any thought of being a jerk fled his brain. Nah, he'd just have to suffer in silence.

*******

Miles shook his head. How blind were these two? After Juliet had left, he rounded on James.

"Why don't you just tell her how you feel?" He felt like he was repeating himself a lot here.

"Who?" James frowned.

Miles smacked his forehead with his hand. "Juliet of course you idiot, what you think I'm blind, even Jin knows."

Miles looked around for Jin, but he'd disappeared which was typical.

"You think she likes me?" James asked looking doubtful.

"She keeps looking at you …"

"That's because she feels sorry for me."

Miles gave him an incredulous look. "Okay, you know what, this is just too hard," he muttered with a wave of his hand. "If you don't have the balls to tell her how you feel then you're a wuss."

James straightened to his full 6'2 height but Miles wasn't intimidated despite the height difference. "This has nothing to do with you."

"I never took you for a gutless wonder," Miles retorted.

James glared at him. "Fuck off Miles," he returned, stomping out of the lounge room, down the corridor, slamming the bedroom door shut behind him.

Jin emerged from the kitchen. "Hey thanks for the back up," Miles muttered dryly, glancing at him.

"You shouldn't push too hard, one day he hit you."

"No he won't, maybe you should take him fishing, have a man to man chat with him about women," Miles suggested.

"I asked, he didn't want to go."

"Yeah the guys a fucking sad case at the moment."

*******

It was only ten in the morning and Juliet felt tired already. She hadn't slept well. Her mind being taken up with James and lying there awake trying to figure out what was with him lately. She had just sat down to take a break when June, the head nurse and George, Dharma doctor, came running into the workshop. She stood startled.

"What's wrong?"

"There's been a cave in at the orchid," June replied in a breathless voice, looking worried, "some people are trapped, others hurt."

"Of my god!" Juliet gasped, her heart sinking.

"You need to drive us out there," George added.

"Okay," she swallowed grabbing the keys and leading them to a combie van. Then it suddenly hit her. James was out there! Him and Miles had come by this morning to grab a jeep. Oh god what if he was hurt. Starting the engine she silently prayed that both him and Miles would be okay and tried hard not to panic. He had been so sweet this morning, kind of shy and hesitant. She had given him the key to the jeep. He had smiled and asked how she was. She had smiled in return and said she was fine. He said he'd missed playing two handed patience with her before Miles had called out. "C'mon LaFleur quit your drooling and get your ass in the jeep." James had glared at Miles before muttering, "I'll see ya around."

She had watched him get into the jeep and say to Miles, "I swear to god I'll shut that smart ass mouth of yours one of these days", before they drove away. She had smiled to herself. Since when did James drool over her? That was what Miles had said hadn't he?

Juliet bit down on her lip as she drove the comby van at breakneck pace to reach the Orchid. To be honest she had noticed him watching her lately, maybe even the last few months, but then he was going out with all these girls and that confused her. He looked at her as if he liked her but he never acted on it. He often made references to his dodgy past as if it bothered him. Even though he acted so cocky at times she could see he didn't always like who he was. He mentioned that being here and working in security was the only ever honest job he'd ever done. Well there's always a first time for everything, she had quipped. He smiled warmly, his hair falling forward and she resisted the urge to brush it back with her hand.

Finally the van pulled up at the construction site for the Orchid. Juliet was out of the van like a shot, but there was no sign of James. Her anxiety suddenly increased tenfold till she saw Miles. She ran over to him. He was covered in dirt but looked okay.

"You alright?" she asked breathlessly.

He nodded. "Yeah I'm fine."

Juliet looked wildly about before returning her attention to him.

"Where's James?" she asked, panic lacing her voice.

Miles looked surprised. "He was right behind me in the tunnel," he replied slowly also looking around. "I swear because he was pushing me and telling me to run faster …"

Juliet turned away and headed towards the tunnel. He had to be okay! James was tough … wasn't he? She could feel herself beginning to lose it. She hadn't even had the chance to tell him how much she cared about him. Then suddenly he appeared in front of her. She stopped and stared at him, her relief palpable. Thank god. He was also covered in dirt but he'd never looked so good.

"Juliet," he spoke looking pleasantly surprised and puzzled.

Next thing she knew she was in his arms. "You scared me," she murmured in his chest. He held her tightly for a moment and she could hear his rapid heart beat.

"I'm alright," he murmured in her hair.

He pulled back to look at her and she felt instant embarrassment. How could she just throw herself in his arms like that?

"How come you're here?" he asked, his eyes questioning.

"I brought the doctor …" she began, but breaking off there when she noticed the blood in his hair, that was now trickling down the side of his face. "You're bleeding."

He brought a hand up to his head. "I am?" he muttered gazing down at the blood on his hand.

She grabbed him by the arm. "Come and sit down, I'll take a look at it."

He stumbled slightly and she led him to a where Miles sat on a log. Miles seemed relieved to see him. "You made it out."

"Next time try to run faster."

"Hey I was running as fast as I could," he protested.

Juliet just smiled and shook her head. "Can you get me some water Miles?" she asked turning to him. Miles left and Juliet gave her attention to James. He was reaching in his pocket for a cigarette and she watched as he brought it to his lips and attempted to light it. His hands were shaking so badly that he wasn't having much luck. She placed her hand over his to steady them. He looked up at her. "I forgot you don't like me smoking around ya," he said.

"I think in these circumstances it would be okay," she spoke softly.

"I'm trying to give up." The amount of times she had heard that.

"You shouldn't have started again to begin with."

Juliet remembered it well; their first night here in Dharmaville in 1974. Horace had found them a house to stay in, he'd brought clothes, food and a packet of cigarettes, if anyone wanted them. She had forgotten how many people smoked in the 70's. James had picked up the packet of cigarettes and she had noticed the war taking place by the expression on his faced; Should I, shouldn't I?

"What are you doing?"

"Thinking," he'd replied.

"What's to think about? You just don't do it, you don't need them it's been three months since you last had a cigarette."

"Not by choice though, I just ran out of the damned things."

She shrugged. "Your choice but you'll regret it."

Now here he was, still smoking and still going on about how he was going to give up. Regretting, she knew, the decision to pick up the packet of cigarettes that day. Turning her attention to his head she looked closely at the cut on the left side. It was about two inches long and quite deep.

"You need stitches."

He took hold of her hand and she looked down at him. "You should see a doctor …" she continued.

"They're all busy treating the seriously injured," he began. "And this," he continued pointing to his head. "Is just a small head wound, can't you stitch it up?"

"Okay," she nodded, "I'll see what I can find."

It didn't take her long to find some black cotton, a suture, scissors and some cleaning solution.

James was still sitting on the log, looking a bit calmer. Miles had returned with a bottle of water.

"Thanks Miles," she smiled taking the bottle from him.

She looked at James. "This is going to hurt."

"I'm tough, I can take it Blondie," he returned with an attempt at a smile.

She poured the water over the cut and tried to clean it as much as possible before adding the antiseptic solution. "That's the problem with long hair," she remarked as she examined the cut once again now that it was clean.

"What?" he grimaced.

"It makes stitching it up harder."

"I can always get a crew cut," he joked.

"Don't do that," she said quickly and without thinking began running her fingers through his hair.

"I like it long."

The feel of her fingers in his hair was distracting because it felt so good and he had to resist the urge to pull her down onto his lap and kiss her senseless. He glanced at Miles as if to say, 'see she likes the hippy hair.' Juliet moved away, but not before he thought he detected desire in her eyes or was it just him imagining things? Do you feel something for me Juliet? But Miles was right, he lacked the balls to tell her how he felt and Juliet was back to being completely sufficient and had his head stitched up in no time. It hurt like hell but he refused to make a sound.

*******

By 6.00pm that night he had a thumping headache and felt mildly nauseous. He'd taken two pain killers and went to bed in the hope that the headache would soon past. He didn't know how much time passed by but he felt someone shaking him and calling his name.

"James, I need you to wake up," the voice was more insistent and familiar.

With great effort he finally forced his eyes opened and looked up into Juliet's familiar but worried face.

"What'd you doing here," he stammered.

"Seeing how you are," she replied, the concern still evident in her eyes. Why the hell was she looking so worried? A sudden wave of nausea hit him.

"I think I'm going to be sick," he muttered pushing the covers back and stumbling to the toilet.

He reached the toilet bowl just in time before he started heaving the contents of his stomach into it. Now this was charming, he mused dryly, Juliet catching him at his worse again. He hated throwing up, it made tears leak out of his eyes and roll down his cheeks. Juliet handed his a warm flannel and he slumped back against the wall. She was sitting on the tiled floor opposite him. He wiped his face with the flannel, his hand trembling and noticed the concern in her eyes.

"You have a concussion," she spoke.

"I didn't even pass out."

"You don't have to."

She placed a hand on his raised knee.

"Now this is romantic," he began with a slow smile, "we have to stop meeting like this, couldn't think of a fancier place to trap me huh?"

A smile crossed her face and she shook her head.

"And it's not like your dressed for the occasion," she added.

He must look a sight. Then he realised he was only wearing his boxer shorts and he suddenly felt self conscious. Why didn't he leave his singlet on? It wouldn't be so bad if had a six pack like Jin but he hadn't been to the gym in months or done anything much in the way of exercise. This was just fucking great.

"I need to get dressed," he muttered staggering to his feet.

Juliet helped him up, he swayed for a moment.

"I haven't minded the view," she replied lightly a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

Was he hearing things? His head was muddled and he felt kind of drunk.

"You're just being nice," he replied as she led him back to his bedroom. "That's you Juliet, always being nice to everyone, don't you ever get sick of being nice?" he continued his words beginning to sound a little slurred.

"Sit down," she instructed helping him to the bed.

He sat down on this bed and watched as she rummaged through his draw for a t-shirt.

"I can do that," he protested taking the t-shirt from her and trying to pull the damn thing over his head. Why wouldn't it go on?

She smiled, looking slightly amused. "Here let me help you with that," she said and before he knew it she had slipped it over his head.

He pushed his arms through and attempted to pull the top down. This was just plain embarrassing and he felt dizzy and so damn tired. He lay back gazing up at the ceiling.

"I feel like crap."

******

Juliet gazed down at him with amusement finding his self consciousness kind of endearing. He'd promptly fallen asleep again. Sighing she lifted his legs on the bed and tried waking him again.

"Too tired," he mumbled, "need to sleep."

"No James, you have to wake up, I still haven't checked your pupils."

He pulled her down into his arms. "Lie with me," he murmured in her hair.

Now this was becoming inappropriate. She tried to disentangle herself from his arms, but he simply snuggled in closer to her and she found her face only inches from his. He was still asleep and she just lay there gazing into his face, noting the faint lines around his eyes. Unable to help herself she gingerly raised a hand and lightly stroked his face, running her fingers across his lips. This was torture, she acceded as she traced the outline of his jaw, her fingers trailing along his hairline. His hair was surprisingly soft. What if he woke up? It wasn't going to happen but she could no longer stand it and sighing to herself she carefully and reluctantly disentangled herself from his arms.

She stood beside his bed watching him sleep, seeing the steady rise and fall of his chest. Her feelings for him ran too deep and it frightened her. Hadn't she vowed never to let herself get close to a man again? And she was way too close to this man. It was better to avoid him, especially given his track record with women. Sitting down on a chair by his bed, that was strewn with clothes he'd obviously chucked there, she ran a hand over her face. But she wanted to be close to him. She loved being around him. He made her feel good about herself, special almost and that was worse in some ways because it made her more vulnerable. It was better to stay away.

****End of Flashback *****

A/N: This was fun to write. Let me know what you thought and anything you would like to see happen between the characters. I have a list happening.