Author's Note: I apologize for my weekend disappearance. My internet's been down since the last update. So any reviews I never replied to, I apologize for that as well.

All Over Again:

Let me be empty,

And weightless and maybe,

I'll find some peace tonight.

-Sarah McLaughlin

Sawyer had been sitting in silence as he tried to figure out what to do. Juliet was back to her state of unconsciousness for the past four hours and he wasn't entirely sure how to explain to anyone what had happened. Had it happened? Maybe he'd simply imagined Jacob, but if that was true, where had all of Juliet's scrapes and bruises gone?

"James.."

Sawyer turned and stared at Juliet who was now sitting up with her eyes closed. "Hey.." he returned quietly, inching closer to her. He put his hand on the side of her face when he noticed her body was shaking. There were a few stray tears going down her cheeks and he quickly wiped them away. "Relax.. I'm here," he told her calmly.

"I wasn't sure if you were.." she replied, her voice sounding distraught.

Sawyer chuckled. "Open your eyes and you'd know I was here," he pointed out. When she did he nearly jumped away from her in surprise. Her eyes were as bright blue as they always were but with one thing missing. She had no pupils. "Sonuvabitch.." he muttered out quickly.

Juliet supposed it was a good thing that she couldn't see Sawyer. If she could that would mean that he was either in danger or.. or saved. How was she suppose to know which was which? How did she even know if Jacob was telling the truth.

"Can you--"

"No," Juliet answered, cutting him off immediately. She put her head in her hands and took a deep, shaky breath. "Can't see anything at all.."

Sawyer frowned, studying her reaction. The image of her eyes was practically a burned image into his brain now that he couldn't get rid of. "I better go get Jack, wait here."

"There's nothing he can do," Juliet told him quietly. "And where would I go anyways?" she questioned. "I can't even see to go anywhere."

Sawyer let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. He couldn't blame her for getting snippy with him. "Can't hurt to get Jack to take a look," he muttered.

"Right," Juliet scoffed. "So let me get this straight, first I'm not allowed to go anywhere near Jack because you're self-consciousness goes haywire and therefore I must have a thing for him still, and now I need to sit here so you can go get Jack to stare into my eyes?" she questioned. "Well yippy," she stated sarcastically.

Sawyer frowned.

"And she's going to try and push you away, she won't want your help." -- "But she needs you, and do not let her tell you otherwise."

"Don't try and push me away here, Juliet," he told her, kneeling back down beside her and cupping her face in between his hands. "Cause I ain't goin' nowhere."

Juliet opened her eyes once more and stared at where she assumed his face was at this point. She felt his lips cover hers momentarily and it made her senses tingle. She wondered if that was because she couldn't see, or if maybe that had always happened, and it took the loss of her eyesight to notice.

She listened carefully as his footsteps exited the tent through the sand and she sat quietly for a moment inside. She put her hand out in front of her face and frowned. Nothing was there. She sighed before she shakily pushed herself onto her feet. It was awkward, trying to keep balanced without her eyes to guide her. And it took a minute to get her bearings as she stumbled slowly out of the tent and onto the beach with everyone else.

She had to catch her breath as she stared, looking everywhere and yet nowhere as she saw absolutely nothing. She closed her eyes, attempting to once again balance herself but she felt herself swaying nonetheless. Amazing how you could never realize how much you truly relied on the eyes until you were without them.

"You okay?" came the voice. "You look a little, like.. shaky, Juliet.."

Juliet tried to match the voice to a face and after a moment in rang through her head. It was clearly Hurley. "I'm fine.." she answered without opening her eyes. Of course, his question seemed to have attracted a bit of attention because she could here footsteps coming towards her. She could hear whispers between people, though she couldn't make out what they were saying. At least until one in particular shone through.

"Jesus," Sawyer growled out with Jack and Kate following behind him. "You losin' yer' mind, blondie?" he questioned as he put his hands on her shoulders to balance her. "Let's get in the tent so Jack--"

Juliet shook her head. "What's the point in going inside?" she asked him. "So I can not see in there whatever I don't see out here?" she questioned sarcastically. "Or are you just ashamed?"

Sawyer was silent. Crankiness was one thing, he couldn't blame her for being cranky. But she was being downright outrageous at this point.

Juliet opened her eyes now. She ignored the collective gasps and cusses that followed as everyone stared at her.

Jack stepped up to her immediately as Sawyer backed away.

"Diagnosis," Juliet stated. "I'm blind."

Jack was quiet at first, studying the blue eyes with no pupils. "I've.. never seen anything like this.." he muttered with uncertainty.

Juliet released a faint yet sad chuckle in response. She had already assumed that was obvious from everyone's reactions. She turned her head and her nose crinkled slightly as she saw a blur. And slowly the blur began taking a shape. She watched as Kate came in entirely clear in her vision. She locked eyes with her instant. "Kate.." she muttered quietly.

Jack turned his head along with Sawyer and both of them stared with confusion. "You see Kate?" Jack asked immediately.

Juliet nodded wordlessly.

"Sonuvabitch," Sawyer muttered next. "Ever hear of selective eyesight?" he questioned sarcastically before looking at Juliet. "Or is this just some big joke?"

Juliet glanced over in Sawyer's general direction. "Go to hell," she told him in response. She made her attempt to walk away, which came shakily and with uncertainty. Because she had no idea if there was anyone near her. She had bumped a few shoulders of people she assumed were attempting to get out of her way.

Sawyer watched in shock as she stumbled awkwardly away. He ran his fingers through his hair and groaned inwardly before following her shaking footsteps. "Juliet," he stated, reaching out and grabbing her arm.

"Leave, me, alone.." she growled out, attempting to push his hand off but simply losing her balance and falling into him instead. She remained silent and still as her head rested against his chest and she listened to his heartbeat. "I don't need you," she told him. "I don't need any of you.." she stated quietly.

Sawyer felt the tears soak through his shirt. It was obvious from seeing her eyes that she hadn't been screwing with them from the start. But why had she been able to see Kate and nothing else? She couldn't even walk without teetering from side to side and nearly falling. Hell, she could hardly stand still without teetering side to side. "Maybe not normally," he replied in a whisper into her ear. "But right now you do."

Everyone else watched in silence as Sawyer tried to calm down Juliet. None of them knew what to do, to say. None of them were even sure what to think right now.

"No I don't," she answered, planting both hands on his chest and pushing him away. "I can do this on my own," she told him before turning around, her legs shaky. She had no idea where she was going, what direction she was going. But she was going.

Sawyer mentally head-slapped himself.

Rose watched in stunned silence as the blonde wavered her way across the beach and away from them all. She put her hand on Sawyer's arm to stop him before turning to Kate. "She can see you dear, perhaps you should go after her."

Kate glanced at Rose and Sawyer. She watched Sawyer's frown and worried glance towards Juliet before she nodded and ran after the woman. Not that she had far to run. Juliet was epically slow as she tried to walk unbalanced. "Juliet.."

Juliet stopped. She knew there was no point in continuing her fruitless runaway because she couldn't see where she was running to. She considered herself lucky that she hadn't fallen, tripped, or done any number of stupid things already. So she simply sat down in the sand.

Kate glanced to the side and noted that Juliet had sat herself right near the water, facing towards it. She wondered if she even knew where she'd gotten to at this point, but she sat down beside her regardless. She watched as Juliet turned and stared straight into her eyes.

"What do they look like?" she questioned.

Kate was silent for a moment. "Clear blue.." she answered.

Juliet looked confused. "That's the same as always.."

"You have no pupils.." Kate clarified with honesty. She watched Juliet's mouth form an 'O' shape as she considered her words.

"Did you mean it, when you said that I wasn't like them?" Juliet questioned out of the blue. "That I wasn't really one of them?"

Kate watched Juliet study her face and she felt oddly unnerved to be seen by those eyes. "I did," she replied earnestly. "Are you worried that we still think you're one of them?"

Juliet shrugged her shoulders in response. "I don't know," she answered.

"Why are you trying to push Sawyer away?" Kate questioned in return. "Whether you want to think so or not, you do need us, Juliet.." she told the other woman.

"You're going to die.." Juliet stated quietly.

Silence was the reply.

Juliet stared back ahead of her, not daring to look Kate in the eyes. "I don't know how.. or why," she admitted. "Just that you are."

Kate opened her mouth to reply but she was uncertain what to say. It took her a moment to recover. "How do you know?"

Juliet smiled sadly. "Because I can see people that I need to save.."

Kate was unsure how to respond to her yet again. She could tell that Juliet was serious. "But.. how do you know?"

Juliet sighed. "Jacob told me.." she answered. "So.. I need to save you.."

Kate placed a hand over Juliet's warily. "I believe you," she replied. "But I don't know how you'll be able to save me.."

Juliet smiled a little. "Neither do I.. unfortunately he didn't give any guidelines on the 'how to save' speech," she replied.

"Are you.. stuck like this?" Kate dared to ask.

Juliet shook her head. "He ambiguously told me that once my 'gift' has served its purpose, I'll be able to see again.."

Kate frowned. "Cryptic.."

"Quite.." Juliet replied with a sigh.

"Well.." Kate said softly, watching as Juliet's eyes locked with hers. "If its any consolation, I believe in your ability to save me."

Juliet smiled gratefully. "That makes one of us.."

()()TBC()()

Again, sorry for the delay! This is being uploaded at someone else's house. I should be able to update again on Wednesday hopefully. Maybe tomorrow night if I'm lucky, unless my internet magically decides to start working. Which would be amazing. Though I doubt it.

A lot of Jacob's warnings about Juliet's hostility present in this chapter. Not to mention his 'see the dying' foresight of Juliet's eyesight. Wonder how and what Juliet will need to save Kate from.. here comes the fun.