Chapter 19 - Accessories
James didn't like being back in the jungle, blind to a map that only existed in Ben's mind. He had to trust that this Temple really existed and wasn't just a word snatched out of thin air to shut them up a few days ago.
James walked a few paces behind Juliet, watching her back while he kept an eye on their traveling companions. Ana Lucia had been non-negotiable, of course. Sayid had also come along, a solid hand if they had any sort of confrontation out in the wild.
On the Others' side were Danny and Ryan, and James could see why they'd been Ben's picks. They were beefy, and carried guns like ex-military. Or military washouts, James decided. Little men trying to feel big, just like their boss.
According to Ben, Danny and Ryan were there to make the Oceanic survivors feel safe. Their presence also served as a warning to Juliet. Ben was still the warden here.
James kept thinking back to the previous night, to being in Juliet's bed and wishing like hell they could have stayed there, knowing in his heart he couldn't ask her to give up on the plan now. He wanted to believe she felt the same, that her duty was ripping her in two, the way allowing her to go through with it was ripping into James. She'd sure cuddled up to him like it was true.
Juliet couldn't be certain how it would all end, but she knew whatever was going to happen, was going to happen at the Temple. She could feel it in her bones and in her blood. There was a stillness that came over her, lying naked next to James, when she knew it was the last time she'd sleep in that bed, or be in that house. One way or the other, however it ended, she wasn't coming back to this room.
He stroked her back with his thumb, and gazed at her face in the moonlight. Juliet stared past him, her thoughts her own. Once in a while her eyes would meet his and she'd wonder what he was thinking, not brave enough to ask or to share what was on her mind. The fact that he was there and didn't need answers from her was a comfort, one she did not intend to ruin with talk.
Juliet curled into his embrace, resting her head against his. One last quiet night of comfort before the rough road ahead.
Now Juliet walked up ahead with Ben. James stayed off to the side, pretending they barely knew each other at all.
Sayid walked beside James, keeping an eye on the two gunmen that flanked their small group. He was certain he could overtake one, if James was quick enough to take the other.
Like James, Sayid's mind was back in one of the yellow houses.
"Why?" Shannon demanded, angry tears spilling over. "Why does it have to be you that goes? Why can't it be Jack? Or Eko? He's close with Ana Lucia, right?"
"I'm doing this for you," Sayid insisted. "To help get you home."
"I don't have a home," Shannon reminded him through gritted teeth. "All I have is a dirty suitcase and you. And you're leaving me, just like everyone else in my life leaves me."
"I promise you, I will come back."
"Take me with you."
"It's too dangerous -"
"Then don't go."
Sayid watched her cry. He remained resolute. And when she said she would hate him if he left her there, he replied that he would accept that, if him leaving was what kept her safe. He stayed with her for the night. Despite the flow of her bitter tears, she allowed him to hold her.
Ana Lucia volunteered to take the rear so she could keep her eye on the lot of them; Juliet and Ben out front, their allies in the middle and the two bodyguards off to each side.
"I'm going with you." Eko told her.
"I need you to stay behind." Ana Lucia replied evenly.
"We stick together," said Libby. "We took care of those kids too, you know."
"I know you did. But there are kids here that need protecting."
"You can't trust those people." said Eko.
Ana Lucia didn't answer outright. Her reticence spoke volumes.
"Goodwin wasn't acting alone, was he?" Libby asked.
"Listen to me." Ana Lucia said, in the same tone that got four of them to the beach instead of zero. "I trust Juliet. I'm going to get those kids back, and we're all gonna get out of here together. Alright?"
She hadn't even told Bernard where they were going. He'd found his happiness the moment he and Rose had been reunited. She couldn't take that away from him, or from Rose, by allowing him to come along.
The deeper truth was that Ana Lucia didn't want a moral conscience telling her not to kill Ben where he stood if anything had happened to those kids.
Ben led the pack, since he knew best where they were headed. Juliet gave him the honor of walking beside him, even deigning to converse with him when he braved the divide between them. When they weren't chatting, Ben allowed himself to ponder different possibilities. He'd thought a lot about what would have happened if they'd taken Jack Shephard instead of James Ford. If only he'd known he'd be losing Ethan in the trade. Now he really needed a surgeon. And maybe…maybe Jack wouldn't have been so quick to take Juliet to bed…
Ben wondered on the other hand if James' companionship had softened Juliet, released some of her tension and anger so that she was now more amiable. Was that why she was suddenly talking to Ben again? Could all this friction have been avoided if he'd allowed the Goodwin affair to reach its inevitable conclusion?
Her moral code had always been strong. It made her early combat training difficult. He remembered it well, Juliet unwilling to throw real punches even when her sparring partner insisted it was the only way for her to learn. They'd broken through eventually, but Juliet always had to resist at first.
And now she wanted to see these other crash survivors, despite never having met them, or seeing any of their files. That was certainly not James' influence on her. That was Juliet doing what she believed was right.
Juliet's rage was invisible to him. It simmered low in every vein, always present but under her control.
The last time they'd taken a walk together, she and Ben, it had been to see Goodwin's corpse, rotting and maggot-ridden, alone in a field. Goodwin's body was still out there, unless Harper had gone out to bury him herself. Boone and the marshal were buried at the beach. Ethan was rotting away now too, wherever they'd left him. Juliet wondered how many other corpses littered the way, how many bags of bones they walked over, following Ben on his follies across this blood-soaked island.
Every one of Ben's jaunty little steps reminded her that he was on safari here. A marching Napoleon in khaki slacks and a buttoned shirt, his sly smile implying secrets that he'd never tell unless it pleased him to tell it.
Juliet heard a rustling in the brush ahead, and Alex returned to their group from a practice scouting mission, just as her father asked.
"It's clear." she reported sullenly, clearly thrilled to be along for the trip.
Juliet had been surprised to see Alex standing with the group as they prepared to leave. Then Juliet realized, if Alex was busy on a field trip with Dad, it would be another day she didn't get to spend with Karl.
"Has your father ever told you about a place called the Temple?"
Alex was not as good a liar as her father. Juliet could see her blush when she mentioned it.
"Where did you hear about that?" Alex asked hesitantly.
"Your father told me."
Alex seemed confused then.
"He told me never to tell anyone about that. It's our safe house. It's where I'm supposed to go if anything happens to where we live."
Well at least it's actually a safe place, Juliet thought. But for whom?
In the present, Juliet looked at Alex and wondered at Ben's capacity for using his daughter as a human shield. He wasn't willing to risk Alex rebelling with a boy, but he was willing to risk Alex's life in the wild. Was Alex along to protect Ben? If not physically, then emotionally, knowing Juliet would not want to hurt Ben in front of Alex?
Ben knew Juliet's moral code. He'd seen her heart. It was why he used her sister to manipulate her. But he didn't know all she'd learned about his past. Scaring Alex, breaking her heart, those were acceptable consequences now. They were a necessary part of the puzzle.
When daylight began to fade, Ben informed the party they'd need to camp for the night.
"Didn't realize it was so far away." Ana Lucia commented. She set her bag down in the clearing Ben chose for them, and glanced casually his way.
Ben's smile offered a patient understanding that she had not requested.
"Now you see why I couldn't fetch everyone back to our main settlement on demand."
"And you brought them all the way out here for their safety?" Ana Lucia asked, echoing their talk from the previous day.
James understood her implication immediately. Ben already had a secret island, and this temple of his was a secret he kept from his own people. If the Temple was for the VIPs, what did that say about the ones in the main settlement?
James looked at the body guards to gauge their reactions. Danny was busy checking his rifle. Ryan was looking at Ana Lucia, stern but neutral. If either of them were curious they weren't going to let these outsiders see it.
Those stoic Others took care of starting a fire while everyone else cleared a spot to sleep on.
Sayid excused himself discreetly from the group. When Alex did the same, she left the clearing in the opposite direction. Once she was out of sight, she moved in a circle around the camp. She took her time finding him, not wanting to catch Sayid with his pants down if he'd gone to relieve himself like she assumed. When she did find him, she was surprised to find him on his knees, praying. She remained hidden, watching him from between two trees.
When he was done, Sayid turned his head slightly in the direction she was standing.
"I'm almost finished here." Sayid called out, in case it was Danny sneaking up to shoot him in the back.
"It's just me," Alex stammered quickly. "You don't have to hurry."
Sayid turned his head to fully look at her, surprised to see who it was.
"Sorry." she said, emerging from the trees. "I'm not trying to be a creep, I swear."
Sayid smiled faintly. Ben's daughter made Shannon seem mature in comparison. Growing up isolated there on the island, she was still distinctly American, and apparently uncomfortable with silence.
"I read about this." Alex said. "How you pray."
Sayid wasn't sure how to carry on this conversation. He was tired, and his mind had been heavy with the past. He was not prepared for small talk.
"We're not really religious here." Alex added to her nervous explanation.
"No?" Sayid asked.
The question was gentle, but Alex picked up on his surprise. She smirked sheepishly.
"I know my dad can be a little…weird about some stuff."
"Did he ask you to keep an eye on me?"
Alex snort laughed. "No. He doesn't even allow me to be alone with kids my own age."
"Are there more kids your age here?"
"Just one." Alex admitted.
"Where are they from?"
Alex's smile was confused. "From?" she repeated.
"Did they come to this island from somewhere else?"
Alex shook her head. "Karl was born here, like me. His parents left. Like my mom did."
For a moment, in the shade, Sayid saw a young Nadia. Still naive, good-hearted, and on the cusp of having her life upended by the truth.
"I feel like…" Alex said shyly. "I'm starting to understand why they didn't stay."
Sayid, still seated comfortably on his knees, regarded Alex with patience and sympathy.
"Why did you follow me out here, Alex?"
Unsure and too inexperienced to know any better, Alex fidgeted and told Sayid the truth.
"I wanted to ask you what the rest of the world is really like." she said. "My dad has so many books about it, but they're just words and pictures. Juliet used to tell me about Miami, but I feel like my dad told her to stop talking about it. And when all the people from the plane were about to show up in our settlement, he sent me away so fast. It was like the energy changed overnight. You can feel the difference. No one here ever wants to leave, except for me and Karl."
"And all of us?" Sayid guessed on behalf of Oceanic 815.
Alex nodded, excited that he understood.
Sayid felt a distant pain in his chest, where his heart had once been. It was like Alex could feel the pull of reality, even before she knew the truth. It wasn't time yet to tell her, not in this precarious position only halfway to the Temple. They still didn't know what awaited them there.
"I'd like to tell you," said Sayid. "About the world. But I don't think we have enough time. Your father would surely come looking for us before I could even begin."
Alex smiled, embarrassed. "I didn't mean all of it, all at once." she said. "But you're right. About my father, I mean."
"We should get back to the camp."
Alex nodded. "I'll go the long way."
Sayid waited for Alex to retrace the half circle back to her original departure point. He hoped his message to Danielle had reached its destination.
It had been quiet for an hour. Juliet couldn't sleep. She'd laid down facing away from the fire so she could watch the tree line for anyone else that decided to crash the party. Every time she closed her eyes, she imagined Harper creeping out from the foliage to hold a knife over her throat. Ryan was on first watch, which was no consolation. Maybe it would be Ryan doing it on Harper's behalf. Maybe they all blamed Juliet for Goodwin's death.
She'd set her bed roll on one side of the camp, far opposite from where James put his. They'd agreed public displays of affection would be too risky. No more free shows for Benji, on tape or in the flesh. So they got in as much private affection as they could before they left her house that morning. If Juliet concentrated hard enough, she could feel the door jamb digging into her spine, from when James pinned her to the wall and tried like hell to kiss her long and deep enough to last the next few nights.
"I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."
His gruff voice filled her ears. His presence surrounded her.
She pushed her lips against his so she wouldn't have to hear any more promises he wouldn't be able to keep.
Eventually the muscle ache was enough to make Juliet twist onto her back for a break. Ryan was whittling a small chunk of wood by the fire light, passively aware but not paying attention to Juliet's eye line. She looked past the fire at James, and saw him looking back at her.
She could almost hear him say it. It was in his eyes as he watched her.
I got you.
Juliet rested her head on one folded arm and returned his naked gaze.
James winked at her.
It made her smile, despite the fears of what could sneak up on them from the dark. Without James' body to keep her warm, or his heavy arm over her waist to comfort her, the cold feeling at the base of her spine remained.
Juliet needn't have worried. Harper was all the way back in Jonestown, doing some night searching of her own.
"You have to do something." Harper insisted, pleaded, begged Ben to see the situation for what it was.
"They won't be an issue for much longer." Ben assured her.
As the unhappy campers tried to sleep, Harper strode purposefully through the dark and empty courtyard, out of the barracks and toward the administrative buildings. She passed the school house, unused for decades since repopulation after the Dharmaville culling had failed. Thanks to barren women like her. Thanks to useless scientists like Juliet. Thanks to philandering, sterile husbands like Goodwin.
Harper kept her eyes straight ahead of her, looking only at her destination. The hospital.
"I need your help, Harper."
Tears fell down her expressionless face. She hadn't even noticed she'd started crying.
"Ben…" Harper whispered, not sure she could do anything for him until he explained why Ana Lucia was allowed to sleep comfortably in the same village as her.
"We're going to finish what Goodwin started." he said.
Harper crept silently through the hospital hall, and into the only room that currently housed any patients. In the large bed was Claire, little Goldilocks, the girl with long blonde curls, looking like a young version of Juliet in the moonlight coming through the window. Harper hated them both.
"What about the girl?" Harper asked.
Ben looked at Harper, allowing her to think about what he might say before he said it.
"Do what you think is best for the baby." he said.
The expression in his eyes had gone stony. He knew Harper could take the instructions as intended, and do what needed to be done.
Harper tore her eyes from the sleeping mother and looked to the little baby born just two nights ago. She hoped the father was a brunette. She wasn't sure she'd be able to love and raise a blonde child as her own.
"You'll finally have what you've always wanted." Ben told her.
"She didn't even want that baby." Harper whispered hoarsely, licking the tears from her lips. She had to justify Ben's own plan to him, to herself, to anyone that would question her later.
"No," said Ben. "She didn't."
Harper walked over to the bassinet and looked down at Aaron. In a way, he was Juliet's only success. This little baby, born safe and healthy after all their collective years of failure. Taking the baby from Claire would be like taking it away from Juliet.
Leaving Danielle Rousseau alive had clearly been Ben's only mistake. Harper wasn't going to let that happen again. She was going to do it right this time. But she had to make it look like self defense. Like the girl had gone mad, and Harper had to push her away to protect the baby from its own mother.
The psychiatrist crossed her arms, and braced a forearm in each hand. Curling her fingers, she dug her nails into her own flesh and scratched four lines down both arms.
She barely felt the pain, and didn't express it aside from the mewling whimper that came out on its own. But she heard the quiet voice when Libby spoke up somewhere behind her.
"You know…self harm can be a sign of much deeper issues."
Harper stopped moving. She'd been so focused she hadn't checked the room for lookouts.
"That's what my therapist told me," said Libby. "Before I stole her identity and became a therapist myself. I haven't had the urge to harm myself since then."
Harper turned to look into a deep pool of shadows.
"Stay out of my way," Harper warned, raising a small blade. "Or I will slice through you like paper."
Libby emerged from the dark, a calm smile on her face and a large chef's knife in her hand. It reflected the same moonlight that shone in her eyes.
Another fucking blonde. Harper could have puked at the sight of her.
"I could slice you too." said Libby, her voice feather soft. "It's probably not in my file, but I've used a knife like this before. On myself. And on others."
"What would your friends think if they knew about that?" Harper asked. She was confident she could take that knife from Libby in a fight and rat her out as a crazy person afterward. Then she felt another knifepoint at the base of her neck.
"My friends have similar stories," Libby said. "We had a lot of time to talk about them, after your husband kidnapped everyone else."
The angle at which the knife poked at Harper's skin was high. She guessed it was the tall, quiet one before he spoke.
"You are not taking this child." Eko said.
Harper put her hands out from her sides, showing them she was not going to attack.
"If you think this is going to stop me," said Harper. "You'd better kill me right now."
"We're ready." Libby assured her, her wide eyes emphasizing her words. "Make a move."
"You will go back to your home." said Eko, not willing to take another life unless Harper forced them to. "Unless you want to be locked up somewhere else."
"You can't protect her forever." Harper warned them.
"We'll do it as long as it takes." said Libby.
Eko pulled on Harper's arm, urging her to start moving.
"You can leave the scalpel." Libby added, condescending to her one more time while she had the chance.
They'd kept their voices down. Both Claire and Aaron were still asleep. Even the clinking of the scalpel as it hit the tile floor didn't wake them.
Libby and Eko looked at each other before he led their prisoner away, feeling good about themselves for the first time since crashing.
Tom Friendly's instructions were to take the boy, avoiding commotion if at all possible. He was authorized to use force if Michael made it necessary. But Walt would have his own room now, Ben assured him, with so many away on the multi-day trek they'd insisted on taking.
Tom decided to bring Luke with him. An eleven-year-old boy could put up a lot more of a fight than a newborn, and Luke had a tranquilizer gun tucked into his pants if they ended up needing that.
Should've waited for a new moon, Tom thought to himself.
The light in Walt's bedroom was too bright for a job like this. He could see too well the lump laying under the blanket. It didn't occur to him it was the wrong shape until he pulled the covers off and found a pillow and a crumpled sheet underneath.
A gun cocked, off to his right. Tom smiled to himself, and turned to see Jack Shepherd waiting in the corner with one of the marshal's pistols in his hands.
"I seem to have the wrong house." Tom drawled wryly.
"Yeah," Jack agreed with a vindictive smile. "I'd say you do."
"I suppose I'll excuse myself now-"
"No, you won't." Jack pointed with the gun to the desk chair next to Tom. "Take a seat."
"I've got a friend in the next room." Tom warned.
"So do I," said Jack. "We figured you might bring help."
Luke was walked into the same bedroom with his hands up. Jin was behind him, his own firearm aimed at Luke's head. Jin said something in Korean, a command that his captive didn't understand.
"I told you," Luke growled. "I don't speak -"
"He said sit on the floor." Tom said wearily.
Jack watched Tom closely while Jin placed Luke on the floor with his hands close to the bed frame's nearest leg. It seemed like the big guy was taking all of this in stride. When he looked at Jack, Tom almost seemed proud of them.
"I told Ben not to underestimate ya'll." Tom said with a sly smile.
"It's great to know someone believed in us." Jack replied. "Jin's going to tie your wrists and ankles to that chair. If you fight him, I'll shoot you."
"Understood."
"Speak for your god damned self- " Luke argued, knowing he'd be next.
"Give it a rest," said Tom, doing what Jack said and sitting still for Jin.
Luke was angry but he obediently shut his trap.
"They don't want to hurt us." Tom continued to soothe Luke, who was younger and prone to emotional reactions.
"You sure about that?" Jack taunted him.
He wasn't as young as Luke but Jack couldn't stand Tom's smugness. He was too chill about this.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Tom replied. "Doctor." he added pointedly, reminding him of his oath.
Jin finished tying Luke's wrists together and glanced at Jack. He couldn't understand all the words but he could understand their tones.
"I don't know who you are," Jack said to Tom. "Or why you're doing any of this. But you're not taking Michael's kid. You're not taking Claire, or Aaron. Not while the rest of us are still breathing."
Jin went to the telephone and called next door to let Sun know everything was okay.
"There's no way out of here, Jack." Tom said. "There's no way off this island."
"There's always a way." said Jack, shaking his head as much at his own doubts as it was to deny Tom's chilling confidence. He glanced at Jin, who'd just hung up the phone.
"Okay." Jin reported simply. No one had come for Walt at the other house.
Kate and Michael waited for Sun to say something, anything, as she carefully hung up the old phone.
"I don't think they're coming here tonight." she said.
Kate nodded, relieved, but she did not take her hand off of the pistol that sat on the kitchen table in front of her.
Michael had appeared in the kitchen doorway after the phone rang. He remained there now, still tense. He shared Kate's momentary relief, along with the feeling deep in his gut that this was only the first round.
"I told you." Walt whispered to Shannon in the dark.
Shannon smirked. This kid knew more than all the adults combined.
She'd sat with him that night, while he pretended to try to sleep. The arrangement was more for her comfort than her presence was for his.
Switching houses had been Walt's idea. It had come to him in a dream.
"So what happens now, Jack?" Tom asked.
"I don't know," Jack said, confident enough to admit it.
He really didn't give a shit. It all depended on how fast that trip to the Temple was. If they couldn't get Ben back in time, with instructions to put them on the promised submarine, there could be a need for an all out war. They just had to maintain control over Ben's inner circle until one of those things happened.
