Chapter 2: Freedom and banishment
"You have a beautiful girl!"
Jack smiled as Juliet held the screaming infant over the barrier separating Kate's head from her stomach.
"She's beautiful."
Juliet held a smile of her own and felt a few tears descend down her face.
"Would you like to cut the cord? What are you going to name her?"
Carefully separating his little girl from her mother, Jack smiled at a thought he had.
"Kate and I decided on one name for a girl. Megan."
Juliet nodded and handed Megan over to Jack.
"Here's your little girl Jack. I'll give you two a couple of minutes. Then I'm going to give her, her first bath."
Jack looked over every little detail of Megan. A surprising full head of dark hair, her tiny eyebrows, even her little nose and mouth. Juliet was still beaming, Kate had become her second control case after Claire. So, far, mother and child seemed to be doing well. But she would have to keep tabs on them. Approaching Jack once more, she held her arms out for the infant.
"Don't worry Jack, I'll bring her back. Say bye-bye daddy."
Megan squirmed in Juliet's arms as she took her. Her screaming became louder as they reached the sink. Juliet tried talking to her as she turned the faucet on. Making sure the water was warm, Juliet began washing Megan. The infant wasn't having it though.
"It's ok. We're just going to get you all nice and clean. Then we'll weigh you. After that, I'll give you back to daddy."
Finishing rinsing Megan off, Juliet carefully toweled the child off and took her over to the scale. Gently setting her on top, she read Megan's weight off to Jack.
"Megan weighs 8 pounds and 6 ounces. Pretty big for a girl. 22 inches long. I think she's going to be tall."
One week later…
"Jack wake up."
Jack was startled awake by Juliet. Megan was asleep in the plastic basinet next to the bed on the right side of Kate.
"What is it Juliet? What's wrong?"
Juliet was hurriedly grabbing some things and throwing them in Jack's general direction.
"I'm helping you out. Ben's letting you go. I'm coming with you guys. I'm being banished."
Jack became confused.
"Banished for what Juliet?"
Juliet wasn't sure she wanted to go into details right now with Jack.
"We can get into that when we get to the beach. Come on. Wake Kate up."
Jack shook Kate awake and she opened her eyes.
"What's wrong Jack?"
Shaking his head, he helped her get dressed. On their way, they stopped by the Polar bear cages, and there was Sawyer sitting in the corner, stewing in silent anger. Juliet, taking a rock, threw it at the camera and took a key from her pocket.
"You're free. Go."
Sawyer shot Juliet a dark look as he came out of the cage.
"Why all of a sudden are ya helpin' me?"
Juliet said nothing in response to Sawyer's query as she gestured her head towards the direction of the jungle. Sawyer followed behind her into the jungle, Jack and Kate heading up the group and their brand-new baby with them. As they trekked deeper into the jungle, Sawyer looked Juliet's backside over, looking for tell-tale signs that she had a stun gun in her back pocket. That's where she'd had it before when she stunned him and had him dragged back to his cage.
"So, why are ya comin' with us? You here to spy on us?"
Juliet stopped mid-step and gave him an icy stare, but it had melted somewhat.
"Contrary to what you believe James, I'm one of you now. The man who was going to kill you, Danny, let's just say I took care of him. My punishment is to never come back."
Sawyer was trying to put the puzzle pieces together Juliet was giving him. But he was having trouble wrapping his brain around it.
"How do I know, I can trust ya?"
Juliet flashed her baby blues at Sawyer then turned around, and kept walking.
"Guess you'll just have to go on blind faith, then don't you?"
Annoyed, Sawyer kept walking forward. It wasn't until they got to the beach that he noticed that they weren't on their island. He was about to open his mouth again when he saw the angry looking brand on her backside. Nothing made him angrier than when someone hurt a woman. "Why are you helpin' us?"
Juliet turned as she helped put the boat into the water.
"Believe it or not James, I want to go home too. Away from this stupid rock."
Sawyer for a brief moment or two felt a twinge of pity for Juliet. But it was gone just as quickly. This was the same woman who'd only a week or two ago shocked him with a taser. Once the five of them were in the boat and rowing back towards the other island two miles away, Sawyer stayed quiet. When they finally reached the beach on the other island, there was a mixture of people happy and angry. One man shouted towards Juliet who was kind of taking shelter behind Jack.
"What is she doing here? She's one of them!"
Juliet tried not to look like the deer in the headlights but her mask was falling away. Kate came to her defense.
"Juliet isn't with them anymore. She's now one of us. She saved my life, and my daughter."
Most weren't taking that for an answer. But now it was Jack's turn to come to her defense.
"She's not here to hurt anyone. Give her at least half a chance."
Juliet felt the stares of most of the survivors. This was going to take a while for them to get used to.
To Be Continued…