A/N: This story was co-written by AO3's obsessivedaydreamer and posted here with her permission
James
Out of all the places James could have ended up, this was not something anyone would have imagined. If you asked any person who knew him twenty years ago, they probably would have guessed he'd have been in prison at least once by now. Wasting his days in the same run-down trailer his uncle left him when he died, living as sad and futile an existence as he was made to.
Somehow, he beat the odds.
Being on vacation with his fiance and her ex-husband's family was not even a top-ten predicted outcome for him. Though, that's not really a common situation for anyone to find themselves in.
At first, it was supposed to just be them — him, Juliet, David, and Clementine. The little family they've built over the last five years. It was a getaway they all desperately needed, and well, since he and Juliet had been casually and quietly trying for a kid of their own — or, really a kid that's theirs, together — they really wanted to get it in before she got pregnant.
But then, at Christmas, David had made a comment about how it felt like Jack didn't want to spend the holiday with him. It wasn't true at all, it had just been determined to be the best option to have him and Clementine spend Christmas together and let Jack and Kate focus on their months-old baby. But Juliet, being a child of divorce, felt his pain and had her heart broken by it. So their getaway became double the size, and now James has to deal with the awkward bitterness of being civil with the guy who had Juliet first.
He doesn't quite agree with the whole 'this is what's best for David' argument since the kid seems almost annoyed at the fact that his dad is here. Hell, Clementine doesn't even like him and Cassidy in the same room half the time.
There's a whole lot of tension brewing, and he's just waiting for it all to explode.
But here, they're free from all of that. In this room, there's nothing to worry about. It's just him and Juliet.
They get their own room, right next door to the one Clementine and David are sharing. Jack and Kate, and their kid are somewhere else.
Juliet steps out of the bathroom, already in a pretty, long yellow sundress for dinner, her hair still in damp ringlets down her shoulders. He admires her from the bed with a smile.
"You're beautiful," he says.
She rolls her eyes, pulling her blow dryer from the luggage. "Ok."
"I'm serious." He gets up and walks over toward her. He puts his hands on her shoulders, and she turns to look at him. "You're gorgeous."
She smiles softly. He'll never get over it. "Thank you, James."
He runs his hand over her hair. "Leave it like this."
She narrows her eyes and pulls away from him.
"What?"
"James." She sighs. "I don't have the time to air dry it, first of all. And besides, it would turn into a frizzy mess. It's so humid here."
"Prettiest frizzy mess in the world, though."
She slaps his arm, and he chuckles as she walks away toward the bathroom. She shoots him a smile over her shoulder, and his head spins, grinning like an idiot.
The day he met Juliet, his life stumbled and fell onto the right track. It wasn't the one made for him, but it was the right one. The one that was a fairy tale happily ever after.
He'd had Clementine before, and she changed his life. She made him better, she gave him a purpose.
But, Juliet was like finding treasure on the ocean floor. Juliet was like winning the lottery.
He'd been in the hospital with Clementine the day he found her. She had broken her arm falling off her bike, not nearly as distressed by it as he was. He had never been so panicked in his life. It's funny how something so awful can lead to the best thing that's ever happened to him.
Clementine had begged for a candy bar, which led him to the vending machine down the hall. Of course, it took his dollar but gave nothing in return. The bar got stuck. Tired and unwilling to return to his daughter empty-handed, he attempted to stick his hand up the opening at the bottom.
That's when she came around the corner.
It's all kind of a blur after that. Falling head over heels really knocks the air out of you. He remembers laughing, he remembers how gorgeous she was, he remembers Clementine asking what was making him soooooo happy.
And then, walking her out of the hospital that night, he bumped into her in the elevator. James is not a man to believe in signs or fate, but it had to mean something. He couldn't walk away that time without a way to find her again.
So, he got her phone number.
Now they're here.
The resort truly is gorgeous. Enough to be worthy of the money they dropped for it? Questionable. But time will tell. It feels like they're on a private island almost, with how much land it covers. To the point that a guy had to take them and their bags from the lobby to their room on a golf cart. It's sleek and modern and has a thousand amenities to keep them all busy and hopefully all separate.
He's a little worried their getaway is going to be ruined by Jack and Kate's presence. He can list a hundred ways they could fuck it up, and it wouldn't even be everything.
But Juliet wants this, and he'd do anything for her.
She's here, so how bad can it really get?
Kate
Ever since she could remember, Kate had a camera on her shoulder. Her father had gotten her one on her seventh birthday, just after the divorce. She'd used her best puppy dog eyes on him, all too aware of the guilt he felt over leaving her behind with her mother, but she'd gotten what she wanted, and she doesn't regret it.
The short, sharp, mechanical click of the camera's shutter is like music to her ears; she's in her element. Behind a camera is where she feels most comfortable, most at home, most in control. Behind a camera, she knows what she's doing; her confidence is at a high.
She thinks her love of photography has something to do with capturing a moment, immortalizing that fleeting second on a nearly-instant canvas. It is memory, it is history, whether it be the world's or just your personal one. Maybe if she had more pictures of herself as a small child, when she was happy and both her parents were together, she would've become something else.
"Okay, ready? Smile, everybody!"
They all smile at her, even David, Jack's son. The shutter clicks, and she can see it close and open back up as if her camera blinked. She smiles to herself, camera still in her eye, as she rewinds the knob and snaps another picture, just to make sure.
She can only hope the picture turns out good, but film cameras had always been her favorite. There was just something different about capturing a moment on film. Still, she brought her digital camera to capture all their outdoor moments and ensure at least some of the pictures would be good enough to frame later.
There are seven of them, two families overlapping on a summer vacation trip. And while Kate knows she's part of the group, she still feels like an outsider, like she's felt her whole life. She's not sure if it's because she's been the one taking most of the pictures since they arrived earlier that day or if it's just the way David ignores her presence.
She bounces Auggie on her knee. His giggles are contagious and seem to catch everyone's eye in the lobby as they wait for the other couple, who moved away to check with the restaurant if they have a table available for that big of a group. She still can't quite believe that they're all doing this, getting together in a resort in Puerto Rico like they're a big, happy family when Kate hardly knows them.
She is doing it for Jack. Like a lot of the things she does, this is for his sake.
Despite the co-parenting, Kate only met Juliet twice: once at a dinner when Jack introduced her as his girlfriend to both his ex-wife and his son and the day she gave birth to Auggie when she brought David to meet his baby brother.
Auggie was what everyone seemed to like calling an accident, a careless moment in a bout of passion. But to her, Auggie will always be her biggest blessing. And even though he happened at an inconvenient time in their lives, she wouldn't change anything, and neither would Jack.
When she looks up at him, he's watching her, a goofy smile on his face. She catches him watching her often and it no longer bothers her. She's gotten so used to it that she's almost scared that one day she will look up and he won't be there.
Jack wiggles his fingers in the air like he's trying to catch the air and Auggie erupts in giggles once again. Clementine, Juliet's fiancé's — James' — daughter joins in, her smile as big as Jack's as they entertain the almost-one-year-old.
David stands with his back to them, eyes trained on the restaurant's door even though he can't see his mother or her fiancé. Her heart breaks for the boy who's still pained by his parents' divorce despite the six years since it happened. She couldn't blame him, though, because she knew all too well just how hard it was.
It didn't help that he'd been bombarded with both his parents starting to openly date again, first, his mother, then his father, and with Auggie coming way too quickly on her and Jack's part. She never had to deal with a new sibling, since neither of her parents ever bothered to have more children, but she sure had to deal with her mother's new husband and that had been quite the nightmare.
"Aight, everyone, they're finding us a spot," James calls them over with a big wave of his hand. Kate stands and follows the troop in. She can almost hear her stomach growling, her hunger tripled from being so active all day.
She's grateful for the air-conditioning more than anything else and for the first time that day, she doesn't feel like she's melting.
Kate takes a seat in front of Clementine who is eager to help her feed the baby. She's relieved that the young girl came along and, even more so, that she seems to have taken to her so quickly. Juliet and James sit together next to the girl and Jack takes a seat next to her, in front of James, with David to his left, as far from her as he can.
She tries not to let it get to her, she's sure he didn't do it on purpose, but part of her feels like he's avoiding her — them. Auggie screeches at the baby chair when the waiter brings it and Kate settles him into it. He's never loved sitting in them, rather preferring her lap, but Jack tells her to let him fuss. He's gotta learn.
The kids remain quiet for most of the dinner, with the exception of Auggie who feels entitled to participate in the conversation the adults are having, with excellently timed oohs and aahs. More than once, they laugh at his antics, neither knowing where he gets his sociability from.
"Jack says you're back to work, Kate; what are you working on?"
It's Juliet who asks and Kate feels her stomach drop.
She's not quite sure why Jack ever divorced her; in Kate's eyes, she's nothing short of perfect. A successful doctor, an incredible, very dedicated mother, a beautiful, well-put-together woman. For all she cares, the woman would have Barbie beat.
There's kindness in her question. She doesn't mean anything by it, she's not trying to diminish her, but Kate can't help but feel small in comparison. She isn't sure how she could ever be good enough for Jack, for their kid, if Juliet hadn't. It should come as no surprise that David doesn't like her. Why would he?
"I'm just taking pictures for NatGeo, still." Her answer is simple, succinct, and true.
"Kate's just being modest," Jack says, earning a startled look from her just as she shoved a piece of mahi mahi into her mouth. "She got an offer to write her own travel book."
Juliet congratulates her, asks her questions about it, her excitement for such a feat genuine. It's refreshing. Kate's gotten so used to women being pitted against each other that she's not used to this level of friendliness and care from women around her — let alone a boyfriend's ex.
James asks her questions about the process. A fiction writer, he's interested in knowing what her process is, what the main topic of the book will be about, how she plans to do it.
"Well, Jack's taking some time off later this year, in the summer, and we were thinking about traveling with the baby. I want this to be about child-friendly places and how to travel comfortably with small children."
David drops his fork on the plate, startling the whole table. Jack turns to him, stern look on his face, and is met with a scowl. The boy says nothing, diverting his gaze back to his half-finished plate, picking up his fork and poking at his food.
Kate senses the tension but doesn't say anything either. Instead, she switches topics, asking James about his writing and whether or not he has any advice for her — she's never written any books, only photographed for them.
Dinner ends without another hitch, but they're all feeling the travel day exhaustion start to kick in. When Auggie starts to get antsy, they decide to call it a night. The older kids whine, claiming they're not tired even though they've been yawning for the past twenty minutes of adult conversation.
Kate can hear Jack lecturing David about his responsibilities as they make their way down the hall of the floor they're on, looking for their respective doors. "I expect you to be responsible, you have to take care of her, okay?"
"Okay, Dad."
He's unaware of the pressure he puts on his son, even though he's told her more than once that he wants to do better, wants to be a better father to his son than his father was to him. She makes a mental note to remind him of that when they're in their bedroom.
When they reach rooms 815 and 816, it's time to say goodnight.
Juliet gives her a hug. It catches her by surprise, once again, but she welcomes the embrace, relieved that at least Jack's ex-wife seems to be accepting of her. James extends his hand to both of them, instead, polite but distant.
Jack hugs his son awkwardly, the boy returns it, but when it's time for Kate to say goodnight to him, he walks away into his bedroom and she's unsure what to do. Clementine swoops in, wishing her a great night with a big hug and kissing Auggie's hand before she gently shuts the door behind her.
Together, they make their way to their room, 823, a little further down the hall, and Kate can only hope the baby will let them get some sleep.