complexguy | ★ but I'm going to be okay as long as you're beside me along the way

Juliet's so exhausted that from where she's sitting at the small, round kitchen table, she falls asleep with her head propped on her arm. She has no idea when she last sleep, but when her head bobs, she jerks awake, blinking quickly.

"Thanks to time travel, I can't remember the last time I slept. Or ate."

He smiles softly, licking the peanut butter from the knife. "Thirty years ago," he supplies. "Or maybe it was thirty years from now. Hell, I can't remember either." He takes one big bite of his sandwich, setting a plate in front of her as well.

"I'd say you should eat a little now but maybe sleepin' is the better idea."

"Once I lay down, I don't plan on opening my eyes again for at least eight hours." So, she better eat now, is what she's saying. She takes a bite of the sandwich and hums.

"This might be the best sandwich I've ever had in my life." Juliet isn't getting either, licking peanut butter from her thumb.

"Where are you sleeping?"

"There's more sandwiches like that in your future, blondie," he promises with a soft smirk. "We got a whole jar of peanut butter to get through." He takes another few bites of his sandwich, leaning against the counter.

"Figured I'll take the couch out here." He wants her to have a bed all to herself.

"Thank you," she says gratefully. "We could rotate the couch," Juliet offers before taking another bite of her sandwich.

"My back can take it for two weeks." Studying him, she looks down at her sandwich.

"If I'm right, if Locke doesn't come back, then what?"

That's not gonna happen, but he'll get to that when she tries to insist on taking the couch tomorrow.

As for her other question: "Ask me again tomorrow. Think all that time travelin' fried my brain a little, too."

Is it possible he's just trying to stall as long as possible? Yes.

Humming, Juliet finishes her sandwich and then rubs her face.

"I'm going to shower and sleep," she decides. Slowly standing, she smiles softly at him.

"Night, Lafleur."

"Night, blondie."

Through all of this-the utter chaos the past few days-she's been a steady constant, and he's damn grateful she's still with him now. He can't imagine having to say goodbye to her in the morning.

"Thanks for stickin' around a little while," he murmurs before she leaves.

Juliet pauses, turning to look at him, eyes steady on his for a beat.

"I'm only doing this because you asked me, James."

She thinks she's right, she doesn't think anyone's there there. But she's staying to help look because he asked her to.

"Well, then I owe you one," he says sincerely. He means it. She's been wanting off this damn island for so long, but she's sticking around a little while for him.

"Get some sleep."

With a soft smile at him, Juliet goes first to the small bathroom and washes away what feels like years of sweat and mud. Dressing again in clean clothes, she takes the remaining bedroom and passes out.

When she opens her eyes again, sunlight is pouring into the room and she brings one hand to her face, rubbing. Slowly pushing herself up, she looks around the room as she runs a hand through her hair. The layout of all the DHARMA houses is the same, and for a second, it's easier to believe everything that happened was a dream.

Until she hears the front door open and close.

Getting up, she uses the bathroom before pulling her hair up in a messy bun and padding out to the living area. She can smell the coffee but doesn't see anyone, so she pours herself a cup and goes out to the porch where she finds James. No Jin, Daniel, or Miles, though.

Dropping beside James on the front steps with her mug, she can't help but do a double-take.

"You shaved," she notes. "Feel better?"

He smiles over at her softly, rubbing a hand over his cheeks. "Coulda stayed in that shower for a week," he jokes. "Do I look respectable now?"

She smiles wider at him, then takes a sip of her coffee.

"Like an actual boat captain now, aye," she teases. But then she gets a little more serious as she looks out at the jungle in the distance.

"Is Horace giving us our weapons back when we go out?"

He chuckles lightly under his breath, sipping more at his own coffee. "We'll get 'em back." Whether that means Horace returns them, or they have to take them. Though, he'd like to think they've made some allies here.

"Jin said during one of the flashes he saw Danielle." Juliet looks at James; she won't be in the jungle now, it's too early, but.

"There's no telling what's out there now. What traveled with us. Who."

She thinks about that moment on the beach, watching the helicopter seemingly get caught up in the blast.

"We should head to the beach. If anyone washed up, if the helicopter did crash, that's where they'll be."

"Thought goin' back to the beach was a terrible idea," he has to tease her a little, smirking gently. But he takes another sip of coffee, and more seriously says, "Sure Horace will give us a jeep."

"Well. It is when you don't have a way to drive," she says, raising an eyebrow before looking out at all of the houses.

Then, she points. "That one's mine. Or it will be, eventually." He hadn't been there for that part of the conversation with Miles and Jin.

"This is crazy, isn't it? I feel like I've lost my mind."

"I'd be losin' my mind right about now if you'd left on that sub this mornin'," he admits quietly. "This place bring back bad memories?"

She hands him the rest of her coffee, apparently done with it, his if he wants it.

"Nothing I can't handle," she finally says. "The worst part is what you already said at the dock. There's nothing for me out there. Not anymore."

Still, they'll have to leave in two weeks, and she isn't sure where they'll go or what they'll do. Will he stick with her?

"What are you gonna do? Once we're in Tahiti?"

"What does anyone do in Tahiti?" He shrugs a little, sipping at her coffee slowly. He's not so sure they should leave at all, but he won't voice those thoughts aloud with her right now. It was hard enough getting her to stay just the two weeks.

"You think you'll stay there or get back stateside?"

Her elbows rest on her knees, and she presses her hands to her forehead as she thinks.

"I don't know. Guess I'll figure it out." She's about to ask him the same thing when the door opens and Miles and Jin fill the porch.

That's their cue to go, and one Jeep and two rifles later, they drive out to the beach. It's a hell of a lot better than walking and they split up--Miles and Jin, Juliet and James. As they walk in opposite directions of the beach, Juliet falls into step beside James easily, eyes scanning the beach for any signs of wreckage.

"Why did you decide to leave the island? Before you jumped out of the helicopter, I mean." She looks over at him. She's read his file, she knows he'd just finished killing a man and had nearly nothing.

"What were you going back to?" she asks him curiously.

He's scanning the beach carefully, too, hoping for some glimpse of her...of them. Any of them. But it's just miles and miles of untouched sand.

"Ever been to Tennessee? Dolly Parton-you know her- she built a hell of a theme park, I hear. Dollywood. All the years I spent in and outta that state, can you believe I never got there? Someone told me once they've got this cinnamon bread there you gotta try once before you croak. So. I kept thinkin' about it you know. That whole time we're on the run from people tryin' to kill us. Just couldn't get it outta my mind, that cinnamon bread and the ferris wheel." He shrugs a little, with a grin on his face. "Can you blame a guy?"

She has no idea if he's being serious or not, but he does make her smile as she looks up, tossing him a smile.

"Well. You might have to wait until the 80s for that one. And no, I've never been to Tennessee. Until the island, I'd never even left Florida."

Hell of a first trip.

"Well, if I'd made it on that chopper, I coulda been chokin' down cinnamon bread right now, thirty years in the future." He smirks a little. "Was there ever any place you wanted to go?"

"Colorado," she says without having to think much about it. "It was always hot and I'd never seen snow. Still haven't. I don't think I've ever been in cold weather, period."

She could go there, maybe, away from oceans and beaches and jungles.

"And maybe you'll get lucky with the bread. For all you know, someone here is an incredible baker." Juliet's curious, though.

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