"Rachel?" Juliet called gently through her sister's bedroom door. It was mid-morning, and Rachel hadn't gotten out of bed yet. "Rach?" she said, much softer, as she opened the door and poked her head inside. It was silent in that room, until Juliet heard Rachel stir. When she spoke, her voice was muffled. The covers were over her head.

"I'm sorry." Rachel groaned from the darkness. The curtains were still drawn.

"It's okay." Juliet was quick to reply, her voice high-pitched and full of sympathy.

"No," Rachel sighed, pushing the covers from her face. "I should get up, move around."

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah." said Rachel, still laying in the same position. She took a moment to think about how she really felt. "I mean, relatively, yeah, I'm fine. It's just depression sleep, you know?"

"Yeah." Juliet said softly.

"Come in." said Rachel, sitting up and scooting back against her pillow. "Sit with me."

Juliet entered, and motioned toward the curtains. "Can I open these?" she asked. Rachel nodded. Juliet let the sun in, and then walked over to the bed, lifting one leg and then the other, sitting cross legged and facing Rachel. That's when Rachel noticed the papers in her hand. She looked down at them with what looked to Juliet like guilt.

"I found these." Juliet said in a confessional tone, sharing in that guilt. "On the kitchen counter."

Rachel took one of the pamphlets that Juliet held out to her, and turned it over to glance at the back. She was already very familiar with the content. They were advertisements, really, for an experimental treatment, something new and exciting that needed plenty of sick volunteers.

"My doctor and I were discussing where to go from here." Rachel explained.

"Rachel-"

"Juliet, hear me out." Rachel interrupted her, looking her in the eye. Juliet looked back at her, waiting. "I can't do this anymore." said Rachel. She turned and glanced at her bedside table, which was covered in an array of pill bottles."Not this treatment." she explained. "But I don't want to just give up, okay? I want to try new things. I mean, it's worth a shot, right?"

A word or two got stuck in Juliet's throat, and she sighed uncomfortably instead of saying them. She couldn't condone radical treatment, but she couldn't force Rachel to take part in the traditional if she didn't want to, if she just couldn't do it anymore. There was something else nagging at her though. It wasn't just Rachel's radical plan that confused her. It was the locale.

"It's in Miami." Juliet said, holding up another pamphlet. Straight forward, straight faced, she still sounded a bit lost.

Rachel winced at the reminder. "Yeah."

Juliet nodded. "You know that Mittelos job offer is in Miami."

"...Yeah."

"Now I have two reasons to move there."

"This," said Rachel. She reached out and took the paper from Juliet's hand, holding it up for her to see. "Has nothing to do with you. You don't have to come with me."

"Rachel." Juliet interrupted her. "I told you I was going to see you through this. And if, god forbid, anything were to happen while you were out there, and I wasn't with you..."

"If you want that job, Jules, then take it. But don't treat my decision to go out there as an equal reason."

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to." Juliet insisted. "I can't help it."

Rachel looked at her stubborn sister and sighed. She could only refuse Juliet's help so many times, and any refusals would be half-hearted anyway. She needed someone's help, and Juliet would never abandon her. They saw each other through everything.

"What about James?" Rachel asked quietly.

Juliet's face fell, and she looked like she was hit with a very powerful emotion. "I don't know." she said, shaking her head. "Fuck, I don't know." She covered her face with her hands, bending at the waist. She felt Rachel's hand on her back, rubbing her in a comforting gesture. "Richard Alpert is going to call me in a few days and I haven't even told James about the offer yet. I don't know how to bring it up." Juliet sat up, taking a deep breath and becoming very disappointed when exhaling did not rid her of all her problems. "Things are so good between us. They're better-than-I-thought-possible good." Her next confession caused her to put her hands on the side of her face. She turned to Rachel with eyes full of fear, happiness and sorrow. "I'm in love with him, Rach."

Rachel smiled, reflecting Juliet's simultaneous happiness and anxiety over what it meant. "I know." said Rachel.

"When I think about possibly leaving him, it hurts." The last word was a ghost, Juliet's voice failing as the lump in her throat grew too large to ignore. "Because he's so perfect, and what we have is perfect, and maybe I have gone completely blind and I shouldn't be so sure that we would always have a life together if I stayed."

"Why do you say that?" Rachel asked her scoldingly.

Juliet shrugged, eyes still welling. She looked down at her hands. She was sure that she looked as pathetic and sad as she felt. "Edmund won't grant me the divorce."

"That doesn't mean you and James wouldn't be perfectly happy together." said Rachel. "Edmund's just a piece of paper at this point."

"That piece of paper is keeping me from getting a job here. Where James is. And even if I got the divorce, he'd still have me blacklisted. James just got promoted, and you know he could be promoted again soon. He's the best they have, and they know it. They all love him..."

Juliet trailed off, the welling in her eyes and the lump in her throat beginning to take over. When her face began to scrunch, Rachel squeezed her wrist, and it only seemed to make it worse.

"I'm so sorry, babe." Rachel said softly. Juliet raised her head and shook it.

"Why did I marry that stupid prick?" Juliet put her elbow on her knee, and rested her face in her palm. "I was so stupid."

"You were young, and hopeful." said Rachel, trying to be tactful.

"Shut up." said Juliet, half smiling as she let the tears drain back into their ducts before they could fall. "You warned me."

"But I never said 'I told you so.'"

"That's true." Juliet chuckled. "But you could. If you wanted to."

"I don't want to." said Rachel. She breathed deep and sighed, just like her sister. "And I don't know what to tell you about Mittelos and James. Just know that I'll support whatever decision you make."

"I know you will." Juliet said softly, smiling gratefully. She crawled forward and wrapped her arms around Rachel's shoulders from the side. "Now get out of bed and take a shower." she said as she hugged Rachel.

"Do I stink?" asked Rachel.

"You smell like roses." said Juliet. "But a shower will wake you up."

Rachel groaned, but she did not lay back down. Juliet pulled her own head back, keeping her arms tight around Rachel. She shook Rachel gently, playfully, back and forth.

"Come to the pier with us tomorrow night."

"As what, your chaperone?" Rachel quipped.

"Yeah, you and Miles will be our chaperones."

"Oh, Miles is going to be there..."

Juliet laughed. "Is that a problem?"

"No, I like Miles. He'll keep me company while you and James go make out on the Ferris wheel." Rachel teased her.

"I'm so glad you understand our little arrangement." Juliet replied.

"Mmhm." Rachel agreed wryly. Juliet kissed her cheek, and released Rachel's shoulders so she could get moving for the day. "So are you going to talk to him about it before you decide?" Rachel asked.

Juliet dismounted the bed and pulled her t-shirt down over the waist of her jeans. She felt another sharp pang in her chest, not of pain but of fear, when she thought about what that would be like. If she took the job, she could only see two possibilities. Either James would want her to stay and she'd be breaking his heart, or he'd be fine with her going and he'd break hers. There was no easy way out of this.

"Yeah." she said softly. "Maybe after the pier, when we get home."

Rachel nodded. "Sounds like a good plan."

At the station that same day, Miles told James a lie. It wasn't the first time he'd told James a lie, and it wasn't the worst lie he'd told by any means. He just didn't want James to know what he was about to do. It involved James indirectly, Miles' little plan, and it needed to be kept from James for multiple reasons. One, to protect him, and two, to make sure Miles was allowed to set the plan in motion without interference.

"I'm going out to lunch with my old man today." Miles said casually. The lie.

"Must be nice..." James muttered, tippedy-tapping away at his computer, as slow as always.

"I'm his only child." Miles reminded him.

"Yeah." said James. It was less than sympathetic.

"His only hope for leaving a lasting legacy in this world." Miles continued.

"That's fine." James sighed.

"He might tell me he loves me today. You don't know."

"Miles."

"Yeah?"

"I keep misspelling the word 'suspect'." said James.

"That's...fascinating." said Miles, though his dry tone implied the opposite was true.

"Yeah," said James, leaning his forearms on his desk and looking up through his glasses at his darling partner. "It keeps coming out as 'shut the hell up and go to lunch already'."

"I think it's a glitch in the software." said Miles.

"I think you're nervous about meeting up with your old man." James replied as he went back to typing.

"You know me too well." Miles sighed.

James was playing right into Miles' little con. This, for a guy who used to work full-time undercover. James knew Miles too well, but Miles knew him even better, and Grandpa always got distracted by paperwork, frustrated with how long the data entry always took.

"We need a hot secretary to type all this stuff up." said Miles. "You should ask Master Abbadon to hire one, the next time you're servicing his needs."

"You know whose needs I service." James scolded him.

"He misses your blow jobs, you know." said Miles.

"Would you leave already?" said James in a burst of misplaced frustration.

It had been near impossible to get out of bed that morning. Juliet had been so warm, so cuddly, so fucking pretty, and he'd been able to think of nothing else the entire day. Concentrating on work - real detective work, not even just the data entry - had been difficult enough, and now the typing, the typing. His fingers had better things they could be doing, and he did not need the images in his mind that Miles was trying to conjure.

"I'll be back." said Miles, pleased that James now thought it had been his idea for Miles to leave in the first place.

"Take your time." James mumbled, conjuring the image of Juliet softly biting her lower lip to make those other scary images go away.

"I'm in love with you." he whispered, the first words of the morning.

He touched her face, and she smiled and said the same words back to him.

"I'm in love with you, too."

James chuckled inwardly at his daydream. That's what he'd wanted to do this morning. He'd held his tongue and he wasn't sure why. James shook his head and smiled, telling himself he'd say it tonight when they went to bed together. If they went to bed together. James' smile disappeared, when he remembered they hadn't decided about that yet. Juliet was going to see how Rachel felt. Or did she have an interview the next morning?

"Damn." James muttered. He sat back in his seat and tried to clear his head. They'd be going to the pier together tomorrow night, at least. They'd spend the night together soon. "God damn." James said, loud and clear, trying harder to clear his head.

"You okay over there, Ford?" Jenkins asked, smirking from a few desks over.

James sighed. "Just practicing." he joked. "Wouldn't want to lose my touch."

"That would be a tragedy." Jenkins agreed.

"Hey." said Miles to the pretty young clerk at the courthouse, as if he thought he was the coolest person on the planet and everyone should know it.

Shannon smirked up at him adoringly from behind her desk. "Hey." she said wryly, knowing him well enough to take his too-cool-for-school act as the joke that it was.

"Sooo," Miles leaned on the front of the desk, and looked around the room to make sure their conversation would stay private. He was leaning on one elbow, bent almost in half. "I have this super important undercover ninja mission I need you to help me with." he said in a hushed tone.

Shannon tried to keep smirking but she chuckled and it morphed into a smile. "Is that so?"

"Keep your voice down!" Miles whispered dramatically.

Shannon rolled her eyes and stifled more laughter. "You're so stupid."

"I think you meant debonair."

"Uhhh, I'm pretty sure I meant stupid."

"Well." Miles sighed, playing with pencils Shannon kept in a mug on her desk. "The mission is pretty dangerous. You're probably too chicken shit to help me anyway."

"Oh my god, shut up. I can't even describe how lame you are."

"Chicken shit."

"I'm calling security." Shannon warned him in jest, raising her eyebrows defiantly.

"Baby, I am security. Look at this sexy badge."

Shannon laughed as Miles held up what she referred to as 'his little necklace'. "What's the mission?"

"I need you..." Miles paused, trying and failing to find a more delicate or clever way to put it. "...to pretend to be a man, and trick a rich guy into offering you money for sex."

"...Ew?" was all Shannon could say, after taking it all in.

"I need a tranny hooker." Miles complained, as if it would make the request more appealing.

"Ew, Miles. You just called me a man."

"Shannon. You are the hottest girl ever. That's how we'll trick the guy into offering you money for sex. You only have to casually mention that you have a penis, after he offers the money, to freak him out and make him run off."

"You're fucking crazy."

"You love me."

"I only love you because you're as big a bitch as I am."

"So you'll help me?"

"Hell no!"

"I knew it. Chicken shit."

"Miles. I work in a courthouse. I know what entrapment is."

"Uhhh, you obviously don't." Miles teased her, using the same haughty girl tone that she used. Shannon didn't like that, especially since he was right.

"Isn't it still illegal?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

"Think of it more as a prank."

"Is it?"

"Is it what?"

"Is it just a prank?"

"...If it is, will you do it?"

Shannon rolled her eyes again and sighed to express her boredom.

"You look really hot today." said Miles.

Shannon laughed through her nose at his transparent compliment. "Shut up." she said, shaking her head.

"That top really accentuates your boobs."

"Oh my god," Shannon rolled her eyes a third time even though she found his brashness to be oddly platonic and therefore entertaining. "You are foul." she said, raising one eyebrow like she pitied him. "And you are sexually harassing me and I should have Internal Affairs arrest you and put you in jail for the rest of your life."

"They give cops conjugal visits, you know."

"Ohhh." Shannon said suggestively.

"Yeah. You could still come and peg me if I was locked up."

"Ew!" Shannon complained. "As if I would ever!"

"Have you eaten lunch yet?" Miles said, changing the subject suddenly as he was apt to do.

"No, and I'll never eat again thanks to you."

"Come on, come have lunch with me." he insisted.

"Your treat?" Shannon asked, lacing her sweet smile with malice.

"Money doesn't grow on trees, Shannon." Miles complained, loudly and sarcastically.

"No, it comes out of your pocket. Give me five minutes and I'll be ready to go."

Two pairs met up at the pier the next night, exchanging partners the moment they reached each other. Juliet and Rachel arrived first, and waited on the agreed street corner for their boys to show up. Juliet saw James and Miles walking toward them from very far away, and she kept her eyes on James the entire time. James noticed her down the way, still half a block away from her. Miles kept talking his ear off about something - Juliet was sure they'd hear all about it once the two pairs became a group - but James watched Juliet and smiled the rest of the way. Juliet smiled back, and resisted the urge to break into a jog to speed up the process.

Miles and Rachel exchanged a quick but heartfelt hug. They had to occupy themselves somehow, to allow the other two their greeting ritual.

"First the hugging..." said Miles, just loud enough for Rachel to hear.

"And then the makeout." Rachel replied, smirking lovingly in their direction.

A few feet away, James and Juliet were sharing a fairly chaste kiss - chaste, especially by their standards, considering what they were capable of. The thing about their chaste kiss was that it usually lasted a long time, or perhaps was repeated once or twice or three times before they'd decided 'hello' had been established.

"I missed you." James said quietly, hugging her waist.

"Missed you too." Juliet replied, smiling softly.

"They missed each other." Miles reported to Rachel, in case she'd missed it.

"They did spend an entire day and night apart." Rachel pointed out. "That's about a year, their time."

"Did you do something different with your hair?" James asked.

"No," said Juliet. She reached up to touch the collar of his leather jacket, even though it was already straight. "It's the same as always." She looked into his eyes again and gave him a half smile. "Why? Does it look strange?"

James smiled and shrugged. "I don't know." he said. He clasped his hands tighter at the small of her back. "You're even prettier than I remember, that's all."

"Are you sure you two want to be here right now, out in public, carrying on like this?" Miles asked. He gestured to Rachel. "This poor woman's already on anti-nausea medication, which I might have to take too if-"

James pulled his arms tighter around Juliet's waist, sighing loudly in complaint to Miles as he picked Juliet right up off the ground. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laughed as he began to carry her toward the pier.

"Oh, that's terrific." Miles said sarcastically. Juliet put her face against James' neck, kissing him and hugging him and letting him take a few more steps before he set her back down.

"Come on, big boy." Rachel said, taking Miles by the arm. "We'll hold each other's hair if we end up puking."

"Now, this..." said Miles, hugging Rachel's arm to his side as they followed James and Juliet. "This is true romance."

They all walked to the end of the pier together, so they could watch the water turn dark as the light left the sky. The lights on the busy promenade behind them were bright. Miles turned his back to the water and leaned on the railing, catching up with Rachel while James and Juliet stood side by side, no space in between them. Those two didn't talk at all. Rachel made it so that Miles was not the only one talking, but her thoughts were with Juliet. She kept peeking at the blondes. James had his arm around Juliet's shoulders, comfortable in their silence, content just to hold her. Yet there was Juliet with her eyes cast down, staring into the water and not at the horizon. Rachel wished she could give Juliet one last encouraging word, to tell her everything was going to be fine, but it was up to Juliet now. And maybe everything was not going to be fine.

"Okay, this is getting depressing." Miles cut in to the silence. "Let's head back toward the rides before one of us jumps in."

"You know what, Miles?" said James.

"What?" Miles challenged him.

"You are one bossy motherfucker."

"It's called over-compensation." Miles replied. He took a few steps away from the group, knowing they would follow. "Come on, let's go."

"It's like havin' a kid I gotta take care of and entertain all hours of the day." James continued. Juliet laughed and put her arms around his waist, pulling him in Miles' direction.

After a few rounds of games, throwing darts at balloons and telling the attendants to keep all the prizes they won because no one wanted to carry a six foot crayon or giant SpongeBob for the rest of the night, James and Juliet left Rachel and Miles on the promenade and got in line for the Ferris wheel.

They settled into each other as they settled into their seat, and their car moved up in stages as all the others were filled one by one.

James looked at Juliet, all wrapped up in her sweater. He put his arm around her shoulders, and she rested her hand on his thigh. It was a cool night, especially next to the ocean. Her hair was windblown, frizzy on the outside layer. Her eyes were bright, and her cheeks were flushed and round as she smiled.

"You look beautiful." he told her. Her smile widened. The longer they looked at each other, the more he could see a hint of sadness in her eyes. He hoped he hadn't done anything to cause it. "You always look beautiful." he added.

"You always look hot." she replied, and for a moment the sadness was eclipsed by a flirtatious twinkle. She looked away from him then, so he wouldn't see her eyes well up with tears. She didn't realize that sparing him a look at her sorrow only made him worry more about her.

"You thinkin' about Rachel?" he asked, taking his best guess.

She smiled and exhaled, a laugh of sorts. "No, not right now." she said. Her arms were crossed to warm herself, and she leaned against James, resting the back of her head on his shoulder.

Miles didn't like heights, and Rachel didn't like motion sickness, so the two of them stayed safely on the ground. They walked along the strip of carnival games for a few minutes, spying with mild curiosity on the people they passed.

Despite her caution, a wave of nausea snuck up on Rachel anyway. Maybe it was the lights, maybe it was anxiety, maybe the medications were wearing off or kicking in, she was never sure. She stopped in place to let it pass. Miles stopped too, watching and waiting for her.

"Mm." Rachel said, closing her eyes and softly verbalizing her discomfort.

"You okay?" Miles asked her.

"I'm fine," she said, shaking her head dismissively. "Just a little lightheaded."

"Anything I can get you?"

"Some soda, maybe? Like a Coke?"

"Sure thing." said Miles. "Sit down, I'll be right back."

Rachel took his gentle command and found a seat on a nearby bench while he went to the nearest food stand for a soda.

"Thank you." said Rachel, smiling gratefully as he handed her tall styrofoam cup with a long straw sticking out of the top. She took a sip right away, and Miles sat down beside her.

"No problem." he said, leaning back and looking at her, watching for signs of a more serious episode. He still remembered vividly how it had gone with his mother.

"Just don't tell Juliet I had this." Rachel said with a guilty smile. "I'm supposed to be on a strict diet for this new plan they have me on."

"You don't sound too excited about it." said Miles.

Rachel shrugged, and took another long sip. "I don't know. It's just...same old, same old. Sometimes it seems like they're just fucking with me, like none of it really matters in the end."

Miles nodded, easygoing in his total lack of judgement. "After a certain point my mother said no more." he said. "She stopped treatment and let herself go. I miss her a lot but I always respected that decision. The treatment was killing her anyway, ya know?"

Rachel stopped drinking and looked at Miles, pleasantly surprised by his attitude. "I think you're the only person I know that doesn't give me some horrified expression at the idea of doing that." she said. "Of letting go."

Miles shrugged. "It's your body. Your life. A person can only take so much."

"Yeah." said Rachel. Her gaze drifted to the pavement a few feet beyond Miles' seat. The thought was tempting, but she had big favors to repay. "I could never do that to Jules though." she said, lifting her cup for another sip. "Although, now that she has James..." she murmured, smiling as she trailed off.

Miles smirked, and accepted the cup from Rachel when she offered it to him. He took a sip, and then asked her, "They're getting pretty serious, huh?"

"Looks that way." she said. "I love it. He's really good for her."

"Same for him." Miles agreed. "I've never seen him like this."

Rachel grinned at the news. "Really?" she said, pleased to hear it from the best friend's point of view.

"I've seen him through maybe one relationship as serious as this one, and that girl was nuts. Doomed from the start. With Juliet it's completely different. It's like he's ready to settle down."

"Oh stop it, you're gonna get me all emotional." said Rachel, putting a hand over her heart. She wanted it to sound sarcastic, but a part of her was truly touched that Miles saw it that way.

"It's kind of freaking me out." Miles admitted. He handed the drink back to Rachel. "I guess it's about time one of us grew up though, huh? We've been living together for too long."

Rachel chuckled and absent-mindedly shook the cup, making the ice inside rattle. "I want Juliet to have her own life too. I feel like, between me and her ex-husband, she's never really had a life of her own. I'm supposed to be helping her through her divorce, and now she's stuck with a sick sister again and still only separated from Ed."

"Ed." Miles scoffed, as if the name itself was annoying. "He's a real prick, isn't he?"

"I fucking hate that motherfucker." said Rachel, without hesitation.

Miles grinned. "Let it all out." he teased.

"That's pretty much all of it." Rachel laughed. She sucked on her straw, and the noise it made in the cup indicated the end of her drink. "Mm." She uttered the noise in lament. "I drank that too fast. I probably shouldn't have had the caffeine either."

Miles put his hands in his pockets and settled further into his seat. "You'll be fine." he said with a softer smile. Rachel turned to him with a half-smile of her own.

"You're all right, Miles." she said. "In spite of what James says about you." she added with a wink.

"I get the Rachel seal of approval?" Miles asked, sporting the most genuine smile Rachel had seen on him yet. It was a strange but pleasant sensation, seeing this sincere side of him.

"A snarky little bastard like you?" said Rachel. "Of course you get the seal of approval."

"I do my best." said Miles.

Once they reached the top of the wheel, their gondola at rest while still more people got on, Juliet had a moment of clarity that made her heart ache. She'd just realized that she was going to take the job whether James was okay with it or not, and she didn't know how to reconcile that decision with their relationship. The tears that sprang to her eyes joined the ones that had already accumulated, and they began to spill over, uncontrolled. Juliet twisted to face James, lifting one hand to touch his face as she quickly moved in to kiss him. She kissed him once, then twice. It took him a moment longer, but he could tell something was wrong.

"Baby..." he whispered. He pulled back, and held her face with his hand so he could look at her. "Why are you crying?"

Juliet pressed her lips together and tried to will the tears away, but she couldn't help it. There was no avoiding it any longer. She was scared, and it was making her emotional. The look on his face didn't help. It was a mixture of confused and stricken, like he was shocked to see her suddenly crying and already desperate to make it stop.

"I have to talk to you about something." she said, her voice calm in spite of the emotion.

"I'm right here." James reassured her. "Start talkin'."

Juliet smiled. James was here, in Los Angeles. That didn't stop her crying.

"I got a job offer." she began.

"And that ain't a good thing?" James asked, even more confused and worried than before. He wiped at her tears with his thumbs. She licked her lips, and they were salty. She wished it could be easier somehow. Why did it feel like jumping out of the gondola would be less painful?

"The job is in Miami." she said. She could see it in his eyes then. The delayed, eventual '...Oh.' that took over his features. "It's exactly what I've been looking for. It's what I've always wanted to do. They sought me out, based on my previous work, and told me I'm first in line if I want the position."

James nodded, his real reaction still veiled. He was still processing the information, and the idea that Juliet might be in a different city soon. Don't settle, Juliet wanted to tell him. Don't be okay with this!

"Is it a permanent gig?" he asked.

"The offer is for a project that lasts eight months, but they told me there is a good chance that the research could be expanded. It could be permanent. If they're happy with my work."

Of course they'll be happy is what James would have said, if he hadn't just been blindsided.

"And who's 'they'?" he asked instead. "Are they private? A university?"

"It's private sector." Juliet reported. "Funded by some dedicated billionaire, apparently. The money won't run out."

Juliet watched James closely. His eyebrows raised at her last statement, but he didn't let anything else show.

"Sounds like a dream." he commented.

"Like it's too good to be true, right?"

"No." said James. His eyes had drifted, and they returned to Juliet's so he could tell her, "No, it sounds like someone finally realized there's a treasure out here needed finding."

With the tops of his fingers he caressed her face. He was so proud of her. He wanted to be happy too, but it wasn't quite happy news for the two of them, as evidenced by Juliet's emotional state.

"Did you get the offer today?" he asked. "Is that what got you so down?"

He was so concerned. All she could feel was guilt now, guilt for leaving, and guilt for not telling him about it sooner. Juliet reconsidered that jump out of the gondola. Maybe she could land on Rachel and put them both out of their misery.

"No, it wasn't today." she said. "It was that lunch meeting I had about a month ago. I told him I was looking for something closer to home, where Rachel was getting treatment. I declined the offer. But he told me I had a month to change my mind. That they were going to hold the position for me, if I decided that I wanted it. They wanted me that bad."

James had spent months learning about Juliet - who she was, how she felt and what she wanted - and this was the final exam. He would have taken care of her for the rest of their lives, he was willing to provide for her any way that he could, but Juliet was not a housewife. She had her own thing. She needed her work to feel whole, a career to give her purpose. What did he have to offer her, then? And hadn't they joked about it on their first date?

I didn't even make it through four years of high school.

All the pride James felt for his own accomplishments didn't prevent the echo of Edmund's comments, that a police detective was somehow unworthy of a lady doctor like Juliet. James knew it didn't make any sense to buy into that bullshit - Edmund was the one holding Juliet back, not James - but James had pride of a different kind, pride that prevented him from begging Juliet to stay with him when it was clearly in her best interest to go. All he wanted was for Juliet to be happy.

"What are you thinking?" Juliet asked him worriedly.

"I'm thinking you should take the job." James said immediately, like it should have been obvious. The air between them became still, even though the wind was blowing. Juliet was looking at him as if she'd expected some other answer. They didn't even notice the wheel spinning around and around, and that it had been for a minute already. The ride was going to be over soon.

"You said it yourself," said James, trying to be supportive even as a solid rock formed in the pit of his stomach. "It's everything you've ever wanted."

"In a job." Juliet specified. "It's what I've always wanted in a job."

James steeled himself against every selfish thought he was having. "So take it." he said.

Juliet felt sick. "What about us?" she asked.

"I don't want to hold you back from something you've been looking for this long."

"You're not holding me back." Juliet shook her head.

"Then why are you so upset? Why did you wait so long to tell me?"

"I was hoping I could find something else. Something in Los Angeles, closer to you."

"And Rachel?"

Another long pause. Too long. Like one of his cases slowly unfolding, all the clues coming together to create the bigger picture, there was still more to the story.

"Rachel found an experimental treatment in Miami that she has her heart set on." Juliet explained. Her voice had become very quiet. It really didn't help that last-nail-in-the-coffin feeling James was getting.

"So I really am the last thing keeping you here." he said.

Juliet looked at him with eyes full of sorrow. She didn't want it put that way. She didn't want to see it like that but when they really got down to it, that was the truth. It would have been so easy to say goodbye to that miserable city if she hadn't started dating James. He'd asked her out after she'd decided to leave the LAPD, on her last day of work, when her only plan had been to get Rachel healthy and get out of the dead body business.

"I don't want to end this." she said, honest even if it meant being selfish.

"I don't either." said James. "But you gotta do what you gotta do, and if that means-"

Whoa. It was a lot harder to say the words than he'd expected when starting the thought.

"If that means breakin' up..."

Their gondola stopped and swayed. The ride was over, and they were one spot away from exiting. Juliet sat up and spent the rest of their time there wiping her face clean, trying to cover up the fact that she'd been crying. She didn't want Miles to see her like this, but then again what should she care? If James was so willing to give up on their relationship, maybe she'd never see Miles again.

"Juliet." James said. He reached out for her with his voice, because she was withdrawing from him physically. She'd never done that before. From their first date they'd only grown closer, never apart. He'd never seen her like this and he didn't know what to do.

He wasn't the only one with pride.

Miles and Rachel were waiting next to the exit. Rachel felt better, and they both looked in good spirits when James and Juliet saw them. Rachel noticed right away that something was wrong. They weren't holding onto each other, that was Rachel's first hint. When Juliet came close enough for Rachel to see her face in the lights, Rachel no longer had to ask. It was clear to her that they'd had the talk.

Meanwhile, the boys made eye contact. James gave Miles a look that said Don't you dare say anything stupid right now, and Miles obeyed but for a questioning look in return.

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to go home now." Juliet said to Rachel, all business.

"Juliet." said James. She wanted to give him some form of silent treatment, but when he said her name that way - like he knew he'd done something wrong, didn't know what, and would do anything to make it up to her - she had to look at him. Juliet looked, and like James' silent message to Miles, she told him that she was sorry but that it hurt very much right now and if she said another word to him she might burst into tears.

Rachel knew her sister. Juliet wanted to remove herself from the situation before she really got hurt, but Rachel also knew that Juliet and James were closer than that. This would not be resolved by not talking about it.

"If you two want to go home together, I bet Miles could give me a ride."

The wheels turned in Miles' head, and he got Rachel's hint right away. "Yeah," he offered casually. "We took two cars. I'll drive Rachel home, you two can ride together?"

Juliet looked at Rachel, not sure whether to thank her or scold her for butting in.

"Just call if you need anything." said Rachel, confident that she was doing what was best for Juliet. The ride on the Ferris wheel had been so short, they couldn't possibly have worked out a plan in the time it had taken. Rachel put her arms around her sister, hugging her protectively with her hand on the back of Juliet's head. "Talk it out, okay?" she said softly in Juliet's ear. The boys couldn't hear it over the din of the crowd, the rollercoasters and the games being played. "You'll feel better about it if you do."

Juliet nodded, and Rachel stepped back to look into her eyes one last time. "I'll see you later, James." Rachel said, friendly to him as always.

"G'night." he said, nodding in her direction. It was curt, but that was perfectly understandable.

"Later." Miles gave James a quick nod and joined Rachel on their walk to Miles' car.

That left James to console Juliet. He knew he'd stuck his foot in it up there.

"Hey." he said softly. He touched Juliet's elbow, pulling softly until she looked up at him. "I don't want to break up with you. I don't want you to move to Miami. But that's the situation you're giving me and I don't know what else I'm supposed to do with it."

"I'm sorry." said Juliet. She shook her head, and moved toward James for a hug. "I'm sorry." she said again, wrapping her arms around his neck. He squeezed her tight around the waist, and he felt the embrace in every part of his body. She was a part of him. He had no idea how to let her go. Not even how to begin.