A/N: I have no excuse. I wasn't abducted by aliens.

There is just not enough hours in the day for me to do everything I want to do :(

Thank you to everyone for you warm response to the last chapter, I loved that the general reaction was "Haha! You are an insane crazy person!!", that's exactly what I was aiming at.

This chapter is a bit odd, in the sense that it starts before the "Edmund chapter", but ends after it, you guys are smart though, it probably won't even set you off balance.
I didn't edit/reread this as much as I would have liked to, but I'm so tired, that proof reading would have pushed posting this back to tomorrow, so if there are any gross/embarrassing mistakes and typos, forgive me, but point them out to me so I can fix them. TY

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They were standing at her doorway. She was inside and he was outside.

"Thanks," he said.

"It was just mashed potatoes and chicken, not very worthy of a Michelin star," she laughed softly.

"You know what I mean."

They had agreed that she would keep up his cover in front of Edmund, or rather she wouldn't deny having known him from college. Sawyer didn't want her to lie for him, he didn't want her to risk jail time for the likes of him. As odd as it may seem, this, a man wanting to con another man to defend her honour, was most probably the nicest thing a guy had ever done for her. It's not as if it there was much competition in that category anyway, the runner up was the time her chemistry lab partner, Patrick, had warned her that a strand of her hair was dripping into a beaker filled with hydrochloric acid. So she was touched by Sawyer's plan, even if it was a felony, for crying out loud, the man was ready to be sent behind bars to get even with her soon-to-be ex-husband. How many guys were willing to do something like that?

She smiled at him, she had really enjoyed spending an evening in his company. Edmund's sudden, but not totally unexpected last minute meeting, had allowed them to have a more than enjoyable little tête à tête. She had almost forgotten how easy it was to talk to him, except not really, she had tried and tried to convince herself that the ease she felt with him was just part of the con, but that hadn't stopped her missing it dreadfully over the course of the last couple of weeks.

And then, when he had looked at her straight in the eyes and swore that he had never wanted to hurt her, she believed him. Her mind was going crazy, sending her warning signs, trying to tell her that she should not trust him, if she did she was a fool, but deep down in her heart, she knew he was telling her the truth, she just did.

"Good night, Juliet," he said in an almost whisper.

"Good bye, James," she sighed, trying her best to hide the anguish she was feeling.

He slowly started to walk away, she wanted to tell him to stop, but she didn't. He reached the bottom of the driveway and turned around. She was still there, half hanging out the door, she wanted to call out to him, but that would be pathetic. And anyway, what would she say?

Apparently she didn't need to say anything, her state of 'desperation' spoke for itself, because he stormed back up the driveway and said, "If this is the last time we ever see each other, I can't leave it at this."

He kissed her. Forcefully at first, and for a second she wasn't sure what she should do, then she gave in and kissed him back.

She could think of more than 1,000 reasons why she shouldn't be doing what she was doing, why she should push him away, and lock the door behind him. First of all, she was married, albeit not for long anymore, but if Edmund caught wind of this, it could potentially screw up the divorce plans Valerie had neatly set out for her. Secondly, she should know better, how does the saying go? "You burn me once, shame on you; you burn me twice, shame on me. Is that it?"

She had gotten hurt the last time around, she should be running for the hills right now, not pressing her body closer to his, but she couldn't help it. It was like a moth to a flame, she was the moth, he was the flame. She wanted him, more than she had ever wanted a man before. It had been like that ever since they had first met, and even more so when she had got to know him, or thought she had got to know him. She had felt this attraction that she had never experienced before, it was intoxicating and exhilarating, she couldn't get enough of the feeling.

The more they kissed, they less she wanted to pull away, or rather the more her inability to actually pull away increased. So instead of pulling away, she pulled him back inside and closed the front door, as she pushed his back up against it. They hadn't broke apart yet, she was almost afraid to.

His warm hand were up the back of her shirt, burning her skin, it felt so right, yet it was so wrong.

"James," she gasped, finally taking half a step back.

"Mmmmh?" he asked.

"Did you honestly mean what you said about not wanting to hurt me? About never wanting to hurt me?" she needed some sort of reassurance, she needed to be sure that she wasn't just making all this up in her head, that it wasn't some kind of twisted fantasy that she was using as a coping mechanism to deal with her marriage problems, her imminent divorce, he shambles of a life.

"Dead, serious," he said, in the most blatantly honest tone ever. She couldn't do anything but believe him.

She hesitated for a slight moment, before doing something she had swore she would never ever do again, something she had written off as not being in her nature, she took a leap of faith and hoped for the best.

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Juliet woke up the next morning feeling bright and cheery. The heavy sensation that had been plaguing her heart the past couple of weeks was gone, she felt relieved, it was the first day of her new life.

Edmund hadn't come home the previous evening, which was just as well, her attorney had told her to try and act as normally as possible so that Edmund didn't suspect anything fishy was about to happen, but truth be told, lying was becoming more and more difficult. She was glad he spent the night elsewhere.

Today was a big day, she had to hand in her letter of resignation (and her two weeks notice) to Edmund, but that was only this afternoon, she had taken the morning off to deal with everything else she had to do, such as her job interview with the dean of medicine at Miami General Hospital.

It had surprised her how little she had had to pack. If you didn't know better, you wouldn't even have noticed that she had moved out, the only things she was taking were a couple of books, some family photos of her, Rachel, Julian and her parents, a few CDs, and her clothing. Edmund had been adamant about picking out all the furniture, wallpaper, dust collectors himself -he knew best, or so he said, so much so that she had never really felt at home in this house. Perhaps that's why it was so easy for her to pack up her belongings and walk out the door. No regrets.

As she put the last bag in the boot of her car, and sat behind the wheel, she sighed heavily. There was no turning back now.

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Juliet entered Valerie Parker's office.

The lawyer was sitting behind her prestigious mahogany desk. There wasn't a single symbol of her personal life in the room -no family photographs, no trophies, no nothing. It was almost as if the woman had no life outside her job, although seeing how good she was, it wouldn't be surprising.

Juliet sat down in the seat across from Valerie, who picked up her phone and mumbled, "Tell Samantha to come in."

"Juliet," Valerie flashed her a large smile.

There was a knock on the door and a young woman entered into the office.

"Samantha, this is Juliet," Valerie introduced. "Juliet, Samantha is one of my most promising legal assistants, aspiring to someday become a big shot attorney, she is the one who delivered the divorce papers to Edmund not even half an hour ago."

"Oh my … And, well, how did it go?" Juliet couldn't help but ask.

"As it was to be expected," Samantha explained. "The sleaze bag tried to chat me up, but when he saw what I was actually there for, he was totally stunned, then pissed."

"Oh," Juliet barely managed. Of course he would be angry. He was Edmund. He had a lousy poker face, he wasn't good at concealing his feelings whatsoever. She was starting to feel anxious about facing him later on.

"See, Juliet, everything is going as planned. It's going to be just fine," Valerie said, catching on to Juliet's nervousness.

Juliet looked up at the older woman, "You think so?"

"I know so. My dear, I am one of the best divorce lawyers in Miami. I have the reputation of being a right cut throat bitch. I, myself, have been successfully divorced three times. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about, this bastard is going to bite the dust."

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She couldn't believe she was feeling jittery.

This was her first job interview in what seemed like forever. Straight out of medical school she had been recruited by the Pharmaceutical company Edmund worked for, and well she had stayed there, until Ed had decided to leave, after he found a better money making opportunity elsewhere, dragging her in toe with him.

She had been reluctant to leave that first job, she liked it there. The people were nice, she felt comfortable. But what could she have done? Edmund asked her, well told her, to come with him, what was she supposed to do? Say no? He was her husband, they had been barely married for a year, and she didn't want to stir up unnecessary trouble.

By the time the dean's secretary finally lead her into his office, she had chewed down all the nails of her right hand down to the skin, and was halfway done with her left hand.

The dean, Dr Malcolm Hendricks was somewhere in his late fifties, he had a a full head of fluffy snowy white hair, and a cheery smile on his face.

"Dr Burke, what a pleasure to meet you," he said enthusiastically, shaking her hand over his desk, he gestured her to take a seat.

They went through the usual trivialities that precede these kind of interviews, before he finally said, "Dr Burke, as much as it's an honour for an establishment like ours to receive a resume such as yours, I can't help but wonder why a researcher of your calibre would be going out on the hunt for a new job. Usually, it's the other way around, and it's the pharmaceutical companies who try to poach the star workers from other companies."

"You see, Dr Hendricks, in all honesty, I'm more than ready for a change of pace and space. I have worked in the same lab far too long, it's time for me to seek out other horizons," Juliet replied.

"You are aware that if you work here, you won't be able to focus on your research one hundred percent of the time, you'll also have a certain amount of patient care and interaction in your schedule?" he enquired.

"Of course," Juliet said. "In fact, I'm really looking forward to handling patients, when you're stuck around test tubes all day long, you lose touch with reality. I became a doctor to help people, not only by trying to create drugs that will, hopefully, make their lives better, but also by actually helping them as a doctor."

They chatted some more, but Dr Hendricks appeared to be rather impressed by what she was saying, by the end of the interview, Juliet felt confident. And if she hadn't what the Dean said to her as she left the office would have been the best indicator of how the meeting had went, "I will be contacting you very soon, our hospital needs a new fertility specialist, and I'm sure you'll just fit in really well here."

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Then came the moment she had dreaded all day long.

She had to hand in her resignation letter to Edmund, saying she was a little apprehensive about how the whole ordeal would go was a vast understatement.

She was really not looking forward to it.

She lingered in front of his office door almost ten full minutes before mustering up enough courage to knock.

"Come in," a gruff voice called from the other side of the door.

Well here goes nothing, she thought to herself.

When he realised it was her entering the room, he narrowed down, his already tiny beady eyes, into slits. He was not happy, and he was about to show her just how pissed off at her he was.

"You are one sneaky, conniving little bitch, aren't you?" he asked rhetorically.

"Ed … " she began.

"What's the matter now? Changed your mind? Come in here to grovel? Have you finally realised that without me you are nothing? Have you come to beg for my forgiveness?"

"Actually," she said. His mean sarcasm had given her a new strength. "I just came in to give you this."

She handed him the letter.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed upon discovering what the letter was about. "Are you insane? Do you think you'll ever find a job that offers you the technology and the resources we give you here?"

"Edmund," she sighed. "I honestly don't care. I've had enough. I'm done. I just want out. It's my two weeks notice, I'll have cleared out my belongings by then."

She then turned towards the door. It was over. Finally.

"Do you honestly think it would be that easy to get rid of me, Jules?" Edmund asked, with a hint of evil in his tone. "How do you feel about me going to the police and reporting your more than questionable research ethics?"

Juliet couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was serving her the exact same blackmail he had served her almost four years ago, unbelievable. "You'd just be doing yourself more harm than you would be doing to me," she commented. "You backed me up, made damn sure your name was the one written in big print all over the drug. You're just as liable as I am, if not more. So turn me in if it makes you feel happy, most likely I'll get a slap on the wrist, but you, as the company's CEO, you would get torn and shredded into billions of tiny little pieces."

And with that she left the room, closing the door firmly on her way out. She had never felt this satisfied in her entire life.

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TBC …

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