A/N: This is the last chapter, though it's not the end of the overall story. As always I can't promise a quick turnaround but a continuation is in the works!


Chapter 22 - New Sentence


It didn't take much more than a confession and providing details of the murder to get himself convicted. James took the deal they gave him; fifteen years for turning himself in, pleading guilty and showing genuine remorse. It was better than twenty to life, though he wasn't sure what kind of life he'd have left to live once he'd served this new sentence.

The first few months were a haze, fuzzy memories of jumpsuits and handcuffed walks to and from the courthouse. Reality was eclipsed by the vivid memories that played in his mind on a loop.

I'm starting to like it here, he could hear himself say, as he watched Juliet's inscrutable face through the glass of a dolphin tank. Reminds me of prison. Keeps me out of trouble. Keeps things real simple.

Sometimes he'd zone out, smiling to himself over the bits of conversation that popped into his mind.

It's not that bad here, she said. If you don't have any family back home.

There were the nights to remember, too. The first nights, the long nights, and those last few they'd stolen waiting for the boat to return. He thought about her all the time. He didn't want to forget a single thing.

A few months in, he was assigned a cellmate. Miles Straume, convicted of weapons trafficking. Miles called James out on his daydreaming on day one, and he tried to guess what would make a man smile like that.

"You're either a serial killer reminiscing about your kills, or you have a woman waiting for you on the outside."

"She better not be waiting for me," was James' only reply.

James and Miles got to know each other, even became friends once they got past the caustic upper layers of their personalities. It was an odd coincidence, two Americans rooming together in an Australian prison. Everyone assumed they were career criminals, a hit man and a gun runner that took the fall for a larger organization. The truth was as complicated for Miles as it was for James, but it was beneficial to let the others believe. No one inside wanted to fuck with them.

James could tell there was something more to Miles' story. The guy didn't seem like much of a gangster. If he was involved in crime it had to be something nerdy like accounting. James told him so one evening after he came back with clean laundry.

Miles frowned when James shared this theory about him being good at math.

"An Asian stereotype. Very original."

"I don't hear you denying it."

"No, you're right, it's true. I dropped my calculator when the SWAT team told me to put my hands up."

"I thought you were asleep when they got you?"

James thought they were both joking, but the usually loquacious Miles clammed up at the correction. James smirked and narrowed his eyes while Miles pretended to think it over.

"You gonna tell me about a pile of buried treasure?" James teased him. "You got a million dollars in diamonds hidden away somewhere?"

"I wish," Miles huffed. "I could have bribed my way out of here by now."

"Fair enough."

"Nah…" Miles sighed. He looked like he wanted to say more, but he trailed off.

Miles was at the beginning of his five years. Just short enough to maintain caution, and just long enough to get bored.

James was bored already. He wanted the juicy details.

"Cough it up, Short Round. Can't be worse than my story."

Miles frowned again at the nickname. Slowly, James coaxed it out of him.

"I was hired for an expedition," said Miles.

"An expedition?" James echoed sarcastically, impressed by the hoity-toity word.

"On a freighter," Miles went on impatiently. "They told me it would be a bunch of scientists, but there were only two when I got there. The rest of the crew were mercs. The really scary kind."

"What were they lookin' for? Nazi gold?"

"...You know I'm not actually the kid that played Short Round, right?"

"And I ain't Willie Scott. Go on."

"We never left port. The hour before we were supposed to leave, the ship got raided, and it turns out the ship was full of guns and ammo and C4 and I don't even know what else. Some of it was classified. They wouldn't talk about it during the trial. The guns and C4 were enough, though."

"You didn't know it was there?"

Miles shook his head.

"How'd you get stuck holding the bag?"

"I dunno. When the police raided, the mercs and the other scientists were gone. It was just me and the pilot, and I don't know where he ended up."

"Damn. Where were you headed?"

"I don't know. They didn't tell me much. I was there for the money, which I obviously didn't get. One of the scientists, a red-headed chick, I heard her talking about an island."

As soon as Miles said it, James felt a ghost pass through his body. The chill it left at the base of his neck didn't fade.

"But she stopped talking as soon as she saw me." Miles continued. "All I know is, when I get out of here I'm going on a revenge tour, starting with the woman that recruited me. Naomi."

James watched him closely. "You really didn't know there were guns on that ship?"

"No. And if you tell anyone about this -"

"I won't. I don't want anyone questioning my backstory either."

Miles nodded. He knew James' story, the one he let the other inmates believe.

"So if you weren't there for the weapons, what were you there for?"

"...Science?"

"Oh?" James smirked at his answer. So he was nerdy after all. "And what kind of science do you do?"

"It's…kind of like…forensic…psychology."

James stared at Miles and his awkward pauses.

"Did the big words hurt your brain?" Miles asked defensively.

"I know what the words mean. You just didn't sound very sure of their authenticity."

"I can talk to dead people, okay?"

"Shut up." James sneered.

"Well, they don't hear me. But they can tell me stuff."

"I mean it. Shut the fuck up."

"You asked."

"And I regret it."

Miles smirked. "What, you don't believe in the supernatural?"

"I don't believe you."

"You don't have to. The people who hired me did, and that's what got me here. But it was all worth it in the end, being best friends with Cletus McRacist from East Bumfuck, Tennessee."

James stared off, too lost in his own thoughts to correct Miles on his namesake or his provenance.

"Anyway, that's my story, thanks for listening." Miles muttered.

"What island were they going to?" James asked abruptly.

"I don't know. Why?"

"I'm curious."

"Are you familiar with the islands around here? Were you supposed to kill someone on each one?"

James gave him a warning look. "No. Just wondering why the crew was armed for battle, if it was a scientific expedition."

"Yeah, me too. It's been a year and I still don't know what happened. I'll be wondering about that the rest of my life. Story for my grandkids, right?"

"Right." James agreed half-heartedly.

His mind was already on other things. Mainly the pylons surrounding the little village he'd nicknamed Jonestown. They'd been ready for a whole lot more than a bunch of plane crash survivors.


That night James dreamed of a yellow house, and the blonde woman that held his heart in her hands. He jerked awake to the sound of gunfire, and it took a moment to realize it was just Miles dragging the spine of his spiral notebook across the metal door of their cell, making noise like a tin cup on old jail bars.

"The hell are you doing?" James muttered sleepily.

"We're late for lunch." Miles said, peering through the small window for any sign of the guards.

"Lunch?" James echoed, not sure how he'd slept so long.

"Finally," Miles muttered when he saw a guard approach. He tossed his notebook onto the lower bunk and made room for the guard to open the door.

"Ford," the guard addressed James. "You've got a visitor. Get dressed, we'll take you down there."

"A visitor?" James asked. "Who?"

"Get dressed," the guard repeated robotically. "We'll take you down there."

James sighed, and mumbled "Yes, sir."

The list of people that knew James was in Australia was short. The list of people that knew which prison he might be in was shorter, as in unlikely with a chance of zero. It didn't occur to him on his way down that it could be her.

It was a medium security facility. There were open rooms for family visits, but James didn't have family. So the guard took him to the room of partitioned stalls, each with their own telephones, separated from their mirror image by plexiglass.

When he walked in and saw her through the windowed wall his soul left his body for the briefest of moments. It returned with a slam and a storm of conflicting thoughts. Something had to be wrong. She wouldn't visit just for the hell of it. Would she? Was she okay? Was her family okay? Did she miss him that much? Was she going to hand him a photo of a newborn baby and ask for a letter?

James stood frozen in the doorway. Juliet hadn't seen him yet, and he got a good look at her from afar. She was apprehensive, staring off into space while she waited.

Part of him wanted to turn around, go back to his cell and refuse to see her. But he couldn't do that to her. Not if she came all this way.

She looked up while he was agonizing. Her face lit up when she saw him, despite the uncertainty that hung over her features.

That anxious part of him went quiet, and his feet carried him across the room. He was too damn happy to see her. He took a seat across from her, and they both picked up.

"Jesus, you look good." James breathed into the mouthpiece as soon as he took the receiver off the wall.

She smiled bashfully, and it brightened her face along with the blush in her cheeks. He chuckled afterward at how desperate he sounded, and he smiled when he saw Juliet's reaction to his uncensored remark.

"So do you," she murmured, looking into his eyes.

When she did that, he had the sudden urge to break the walls down and take her right there in the visiting room. After being pent up for so long, it'd probably be over faster than the guards could stop him.

"You like a man in uniform?" James joked, his lips tingling when he glanced at her mouth.

Juliet laughed silently, her bright smile even brighter at his flirting. She bit her lip, uneasiness returning once the moment passed. She'd been nervous coming here. She was nervous about what she had to say.

"How are you doing in there?" she asked.

"I'm fine." James assured her with a half smile. He gestured at the building as a whole. "This place is the Ritz compared to American prisons."

"Good." Juliet nodded.

They smiled again, at the pure awkwardness and purer joy of seeing each other again.

James would have given anything to sit there for hours and have a pleasant chat with her about nothing. But he could tell she was stalling.

"Don't take this the wrong way," James said, gently scolding. "But what the hell are you doing here?"

Juliet looked at him. There was a very familiar ache in her gaze. There was duty, and there was longing. She wished she was there for a better reason.

She hesitated just long enough to worry him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, feeling a familiar tingle at the base of his neck.

"Yeah," said Juliet, and she meant it. In all the ways that mattered, she was okay, if only for the time being.

She looked over his face, checking on him again despite his assurances.

"Someone came to talk to me…"

There went that tingle again. His dreams still lingered in his subconscious. Not even twenty-four hours had passed since Miles had mentioned an island.

"Juliet- "

"I don't know how they found me. Unless-"

She stopped, unsure who was listening, unsure how to even explain.

"Who was it?" James prodded. "What did they want?"

"Her name was Naomi."

The tingle started to burn, morphing into fear.

"She didn't tell me who she was working for. They wanted me to go with them. To take them back-"

Juliet cut herself off again. She didn't need to say it out loud for James to understand.

To that island we're supposed to pretend doesn't exist.

Until that moment, James had been at peace with his decision to turn himself in. Now he had no means of helping her, no means of getting out until his time was up. All he had were his words and about ten more minutes if the guards were feeling generous.

"You told 'em no, right?"

"Of course."

Her answer was confident. A small portion of his panic and anger at the situation subsided.

"Good," he said.

"I came here to see if anyone reached out to you," she said. "And to make sure you'd tell them no, too. If they asked."

"No one's talked to me about that place." James said quietly. Suspicions aside, he didn't have the heart to worry her. He kept everything Miles told him tight in his own head. The guilt over lying to her was easily eclipsed by his burning need to protect her.

Juliet nodded, her concern abating. She softened, and looked him over again.

"I also just really wanted to see you," she said. "And make sure you were okay."

James let out an incredulous breath. "You have no idea how much better I am just seeing your face."

Her smile returned, just as he hoped it would.

Give me a lifetime to make her smile like that, he thought. It would never be enough.

"Me too." she said.

James asked her if she'd made it home, seen her sister, her nephew, her parents. She told him things were good, family was well, though it was hard to answer their questions about where she'd been that whole time.

"I checked on your daughter," she said. "And Cassidy."

"They're doing well?"

"Yes, very well."

"Did you talk to 'em?"

Juliet shook her head. "No, I…"

"It's fine," James assured her. "You did more than enough just checking up on 'em."

"I'm not sure what I could say. Or how I would explain how I knew you."

James chuckled knowingly.

The guard hovered. Not so generous today. James glanced sideways at his shadow and steeled himself for the inevitable goodbye.

Juliet saw the guard too. She looked into James' eyes, contemplating saying more.

"I wish I could kiss you." she said.

"I wish I could do a lot of things right now." James replied quickly.

With a look they both knew they'd be thinking about each other that night.

"Ford." the guard said firmly, letting him know his time was up.

"I haven't been here five minutes." James replied gruffly.

"It's okay," Juliet said right away. She didn't want to get him in trouble, or let his temper get him in trouble.

James looked back to her, an apology set deep in his eyes. His life choices had led him there, and being in there made him useless to her.

"It's okay." she said again, the meaning changed.

"I know I said you should stay away," he said. "But you come back any time."

Juliet smiled. She wanted to. Very badly.

"I'll try to get a longer visit next time." she said. "I gave them my phone number, if you want to call me in the meantime."

James felt his throat tighten, and he bit the inside of his lip to keep from tearing up. He couldn't shake the feeling there was something she wasn't telling him. He told himself it was projection, because he'd kept Miles' story to himself. He would sooner have cut off his own arm than steal her smile.

With one last reassuring look, they both pretended it would be okay to say goodbye.

"You take care of yourself, Blondie."

"You too, James."

She went to hang the receiver on his wall, and James was struck with a last-minute panic that he'd never see her again.

"Juliet."

She heard the urgency in his tone, and she pressed the phone to her ear again.

"Don't go back there." he said.

"I won't." Juliet promised.

"If those people were able to find you, they've got means. And people with means can find ways to make you do things you don't wanna do."

Juliet nodded. Simple physics was all it took. Just some leverage and a little push.

"They can try," she said, a sarcastic twinkle in her eye. "But they'll have to fight me. And I know jiu jitsu."

It made James smile, the way she wanted to end their conversation on a lighter note.

They said their goodbyes, and it was the sweetest pain James ever experienced. He couldn't touch her, but he knew she hadn't forgotten him. He knew that she still cared.

Her visit gave him light. As soon as she'd walked out, a bit of darkness returned. His temper had lessened, but it hadn't disappeared. Miles had some explaining to do.


Juliet went out to her car, and allowed herself a brief cry once she was locked inside. It was the intensity of their tension, the deja vu of speaking to him through a glass wall, the immense relief that he hadn't yet been contacted by the people that reached out to her.

She sat for a while, going over the exchange in her mind. He was okay. He looked good. He'd looked very good, in the plain blue pants and white t-shirt, his hair pulled back to keep it out of his eyes.

No one looked at her the way he did. No one else knew her pain as intimately as he did.

He really hadn't expected to see her again. It hurt to see how he didn't expect her to know exactly where he was and how to visit him if she needed to. She'd known for a while, and stayed away to respect his wishes for as long as she could.

Then she needed to know he was okay. He was safer than any of them, locked up and away from whoever was trying to recruit Juliet for a return trip.

She was in Australia for a few more days. She would make time to see him again before she left.


When James returned to his cell, Miles was seated on his bed and writing in his notebook. James stalked over to him, tore the notebook from his hands and threw it across the room.

"The fuck-!?" Miles looked up and leaned back from James's intimidating proximity.

"Who are you?" James said.

"I'm Miles, your cellmate!"

His genuine indignation was the only thing that saved him from a full collar choke. He went to retrieve his fallen notebook, but James shoved him back into his seat.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Miles demanded angrily. "Did you get a concussion in the five minutes you were gone?"

"Don't you fuckin' lie to me."

"What the hell are you talking about? Who did you just talk to? Who came to visit you?"

"That story you told me yesterday…"

"What story?"

"The raid! The freighter!"

"What about it?"

"Who hired you?"

"I don't know! It was all through a third party and I wasn't there long enough to -"

"Who recruited you?!" James interrupted forcefully.

"A woman! A woman, her name was Naomi, she never told me her last name, I -"

Miles flinched as James swung his fist at the wall next to Miles' bed. James growled in pain as he skinned his knuckles on the painted concrete.

"What. The actual fuck." Miles said slowly, his hands up in self-defense despite the fact that James chose to take his frustration out elsewhere.

"She came to see me." James said quietly around his clenched jaw.

"Naomi?"

"No."

Miles thought back to their first conversations.

"...Your lady?" he guessed, treading carefully.

"She said a woman named Naomi came to talk to her." James turned slowly, his simmering anger a dire warning to his roommate. "About an island."

"What?" Miles blurted. He sat forward, but stopped short of standing when James took a step toward him.

"Don't you fuckin' lie to me." James repeated.

"I haven't lied to you," said Miles. "About anything."

"You lied about your story. About what you did."

"No, they lied about what I did!" Miles reminded him. "I told you the truth! I shouldn't be here!"

"How the fuck did you get placed with me?"

"I don't know." Miles said, mystified. He saw James' anger rising again, and he repeated himself desperately. "I don't know! I fucking swear to you, I don't know."

Miles watched James pace slowly across their small room.

"What do you know?" Miles asked. He remembered James' strange reaction to some of the details. He wasn't the only one hiding things.

"You don't wanna know what I know." James muttered.

"Uh, yeah, I do. I'm rooming with a murderer. I wanna know if the people that framed me sent you here to finish me off."

James looked at him sharply, ready to deny it, but Miles was right. He was a murderer, and a dupe at that. His presence there must have been just as suspicious to Miles.

"I've been there." said James, sheepish in his anger.

"Where?"

"The island!" James hissed.

"Wait, what?" Miles sputtered.

"You need to swear to me -"

"You've been there?-"

"Swear to me you aren't working for them."

"For who?!"

"Naomi, the people that hired you… them!"

"I met her once," Miles said, looking James directly in the eye as he spoke. "I was given an address, a time, and instructions on what to pack. I got on the boat. Three hours later I was arrested. I don't even know who was supposed to be paying me."

James retreated into his thoughts, and he stared at the floor with knotted brow.

"You obviously know more than I do," said Miles. "Why didn't you say something yesterday?"

"I don't know."

"What's on the island?"

"I don't know. A fuckin' magnet or something. I don't know."

"Did anyone die there?" Miles asked.

James regarded him with another sharp look, and then remembered what Miles claimed to do for a living.

"At least a few," James admitted. "That I know of. Who knows how many more."

"Did you kill them?"

"No!"

"Can you blame me for asking?!"

"It has nothing to do with why I'm here, alright?"

"Were you hired to go there?"

"No."

"How'd you get there?"

"A plane crash."

Miles squeezed his eyes shut, his head shaking as his brain prepared his mouth to sputter an important question.

"What?!" he yelled, his eyes wide.

James sighed, glancing needlessly at their cell door to make sure no one was at the window. He didn't know if he wanted to tell Miles everything. He regretted revealing as much as he had already. But the connection had already been made. The woman that put Miles on the path to this moment had approached Juliet for a second attempt. James was powerless in there. He needed an ally, a fellow detective to figure it out from within those walls.

The wheels were already turning. Miles was highly motivated to solve this mystery, since it affected him so personally. James had an ally whether he wanted one or not.

"Does anyone else know you were there?" Miles asked.

"Yeah. A lot of people, actually. If they made it. I didn't exactly keep in touch."

"Okay. I need you to tell me everything. From the beginning…"


A/N: This is the end of Ride Or Die, Part 1. There is a sequel in the works, since I decided to be mean and have them apart at the end of this one while introducing a new mystery :P
As always I'm not sure when I'll be able to actually write and post a Part 2, but its working title is Middlegame, and it'll likely involve more S2 & S4-S5 stuff that got left out of this one!