Juliet watched silently as James walked out of the door. She knew it wasn't fair to him for her being so aloof but she couldn't help herself. Some part of her was still fighting for the life she had had before meeting James. Her sister was healthy happy and just in a phone call length from her. She had David, her son, her beloved boy. Her work was wonderful, she had been helping women giving birth instead of watching them dying. It was all so perfect she remembered how she hadn't believed her lucky and now she had had to give up on that life. Of course on the other side was James, her Prince Charming but that somehow didn't make the choice easier. Being with the man she loved but with some fuzzy future or being without her soul mate but with her friends and family and work. She didn't know what to choose. But for better or for worse she had no choice there. It looked like she was already doomed to be pushed out of that perfect life.

The night before she had been so shocked she totally forgot about her son that she hadn't even stopped to think before driving toward Jack's place. But when she got there it didn't look as good idea as she thought. Still she decided to go through it at least if only to prove her point to James. He had no rights forcing her to make a decision.

"Juliet" Jack opened the door surprised by her presence. "How are you? Is everything alright?"

He didn't look even a little ashamed by not bringing David back to her.

"Jack. Where's David?" She was still fuming.

"Umm, he's in the kitchen. Why? We were going to make pizza." Jack was confused and she herself started to doubt whether she really had any reason to come here.

"Mom" David appeared in the hall. "What are you doing here?"

One more shocked face and Juliet was really worried about her sanity. Jack could forget things but David couldn't.

"Just wanted to see how are you guys doing? Maybe even taste your pizza." She tried to sound as lightly as possible.

"Great!" David lit up at the mere thought of his parents spending the whole evening with him.

She sat there watching them laughing and playing with food, adding comments from time to time but mostly looking at them and trying to decipher her own emotions. She felt strangely out of place here. As if she wasn't relative to them, as if she was Juliet Burke while they were expecting Juliet Shephard.

"Are you going to stay for night?" Jack asked politely.

"No thanks. I've had enough fun for tonight." She declined desperately needing time to accept everything. "Don't stay for too long" She said to David before letting herself out of the house.

She drove away not thinking about her final destination too engulfed in her thoughts about last few days.

Jack and his sister who, no surprise there, was Claire.

Sun and Jin learning about their baby.

It looked like everyone was still presented in lives of their important ones.

And James.

He appeared and she forgot about everything else. Maybe that was supposed to be, maybe he was her fate and she just waited for him here.

Waited for him to die in the real world, she thought bitterly. She had had to wait him here while he had had to live without her there. All because she couldn't move on and forget about the past.

Juliet came home to find James asleep on the couch. He was so cute with his glasses slipping to the side. She took them away carefully so not to wake him up. She still wasn't ready to talk so she just sat there looking at him and pondering about what if she met him simply as Juliet Shephard without any burdens or deaths.

She could sit there forever feeling sorry for herself because of the life she didn't have. But if she was honest with herself she could find a new work, no matter where she would end up, and David was pretty happy to stay with his father. The only thing she couldn't replace in her life was James and she had already wasted enough time and opportunities while grieving about the past. It was time for her to move on, to believe in them like he believed the whole time.

"Hello" She called him hoping he wasn't too busy. "Do you have time for lunch with me?"

"Always my greasy monkey"

She smiled at the phone in her hands. That was their usual exchange while living in Dharma.