lostproject1081, posts by tag: week twelve - LiveJournal (original) (raw)
05 August 2010 @ 08:07 am
It rarely happens that they're both off work at the same time when they didn't schedule it on purpose. When they both realized how it was going to work out the night before, they didn't even bother with their usual night time routine. They still read together, but instead of the comfortable silence and occasional reading out loud, it turned into touching which turned into kissing, which turned into finally christening the couch. Even when they made it to bed there was no limit to their exploring. It seemed like there was time to make up for, even if this was a new thing.
In the morning she finds herself waking up facing James, her body curving into his with her head tucked against his chest. She doesn't move at first except to open her eyes, then her hand lazily moves up and down his side to see if he's awake.
"Mornin'," comes her answer, and before she can say anything he's pushing her so that she's on her back and he's over her.
"Good morning yourself," she says with a little grin as he drags his hands up her sides. "What are we going to do with all of this time off today?"
James looks at her with a little smirk. "Don't know what you're plannin' on doin', but I made plans to stay right here."
"Bed all day? I could handle that." She closes her eyes as he bends down to kiss across her neck.
"Humidity's high as hell. Damn tropical island," he mutters. "Good day to stay home."
It is hot; her hair's already sticking to her neck because the window units just don't cut it. She decides not to do anything other than lazily drag her fingers up and down his arms as his lips move up and down her neck. "What you're doing, James, isn't exactly conducive to staying cool."
He pauses and looks up, then backs away from her, holding out his hands and going so far as to turn his back as if getting out of bed. "Alright, Blondie if it's too hot for you..."
Juliet's up instantly, bringing her arms around his shoulders and kissing his cheek. "I never said that. Don't even think about getting out of bed."
James grins, his dimples deep as he twists to pin her down on the bed beneath him. "Can I get back to what I was doin' then?"
She tries not to smile but there's a smirk twitching at her lips anyway and she nods. "Oh, please do."
04 August 2010 @ 08:07 am
James can usually tell when something’s wrong with Juliet, and today hasn’t been any exception. She left early for work, brushed him off for lunch and now she’s going for a walk after dinner. She hardly ever does that except for when she’s upset, but he’s learned by now that asking her directly only gets him an ‘I’m fine’. So, he follows her down to the beach after giving her a little while to herself, then sits beside her. “You okay?”
“I just…I don’t…is this how it started?”
He’s already confused. “How what started?”
“His…the way Ben thought that I was his. Bringing me here, to the island. Harper…told me once that I looked ‘just like her’. I never…understood…” She frowns as she thinks about it, as she tries to figure it out. “Ben brought me flowers today. The exact same kind he’s going to bring me when I move into my house.”
“You think…he brought you to the island…’cause he remembered you?”
Juliet looks up at James, trying to work it out. “He couldn’t think it’s me though. Never aged at all from 1974 to thirty years from now? Although, there is Richard.” She puts her head in her hands before James pulls her close.
“You ain’t gonna like what I have to say. But there’s nothin’ you can do about it, Juliet. You just gotta…know that this kid ain’t that man yet. Much as I’ve entertained the thought of somethin’ happenin’ to him now so none of that shit ever has to happen, he’s still just a kid.”
She closes her eyes and sighs softly, pressing her forehead against his shoulder. “I know.” And she does; she knows. But that thought is still there: Benjamin Linus brought her to the island because she reminded him of the woman he knew and latched onto in his childhood.
Time travel is a bitch.
03 August 2010 @ 09:52 pm
Juliet’s making her way from Amy’s to her own house when she hears a small voice behind her.
“M…Ms. Burke?”
She turns, and for some reason she didn’t expect to see young Ben Linus standing there, and her smile is sort of frozen in place. It was genuine, but now she’s afraid to drop it because of the look she might accidentally give him. “Benjamin, what are you doing out so late? Your father’s going to worry.”
Both of them know that’s a lie.
“I saw you leaving Amy’s house, and. Well. I wanted to…” He fidgets nervously, and Juliet knows he doesn’t talk much, he never has, but especially not since Annie left the island with her parents. And then she notices the wild flowers he’s trying to hide behind his back. Her stomach drops, remembering when in her first few weeks on the island, he’d presented her with the same type of arrangement after showing her to her new home.
“I wanted to give you these,” he finally says before thrusting the flowers out at her.
She stands there for a minute, staring at the bouquet before realizing she has to reach out to take them. “Thank you, Ben. They’re lovely,” she fake smiles. Thankfully, before she has to figure out something else to say, Roger Linus is yelling from his front porch and Ben runs off. Juliet feels guilty almost immediately, because she knows what could be coming inside the privacy of the house.
Walking up the steps and into her own living room, she closes the door and leans against it, the flowers hanging limply at her side. She’s glad she’s alone as she goes to the kitchen and runs every flower down the garbage disposal.
03 August 2010 @ 07:58 am
They’re both standing at the kitchen counter, red wine slowly dripping from everywhere and running down their faces. It’s stained his jumpsuit and they’re both staring at each other until she starts to laugh. Once she starts she can’t stop, and she’s leaning against him trying to catch her breath.
“Nice move, sticking the knife into the wine bottle to try and push the cork down.”
“I can’t believe it exploded,” she says as she finally reaches for paper towels and starts pressing them against her face.
“Here I thought you were the brains of this operation,” he smirks before unzipping his ruined jump suit to toss into the utility room.
“Apparently, wine is my downfall. Sorry to disappoint you.” She’s grinning though, and he has to grin back because she’s smiling more today than he can ever remember. Juliet moves closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. And then she’s kissing him and she tastes like wine and chocolate, and that’s all he cares about. She’s on the counter with her legs wrapped around him before he’s made the decision that they aren’t going all the way back to the bedroom. As soon as she’s naked he rocks against her and into her, her face buried against his neck. His fingers weave through her hair and it doesn’t take long for either one of them to come. Her body is pressing against his, his hands are holding onto her hips.
They’re quiet for a while, until a drop of wine falls from the ceiling directly onto his forehead, and she can’t stop laughing.
01 August 2010 @ 07:14 pm
She likes that they’re still keeping up the routine of sitting on the porch and drinking together, that nothing else between them has changed. Well, except that they sit closer now, touching from nearly shoulder to thigh. They talk about everything and nothing, but usually something big comes up so she waits for it, opening her third beer as she relaxes against him.
“I gotta ask you something, Blondie. And I ain’t tryin’ to start anything.”
Juliet looks at him curiously, turning to look at him as she blinks slowly. “What?”
“I just wanna know, Juliet. Did you love Jack?”
The question throws her off guard but her answer is automatic. “No, James. I didn’t love him. I cared about him. I didn’t want him to be subjected to whatever mind games Ben had going for him. I wanted him to be able to go home. But I didn’t love him.” She feels like she said everything in a rush of breath, and she stares out into the darkness again. “Why did you ask me that?”
He doesn’t say anything, just sips at his beer and after a good four or five minutes she gives up on him ever answering her when suddenly he’s speaking quietly.
“Because I thought I loved Kate. On paper it shoulda worked. But she has this thing for being saved and I ain’t big into that.”
“Jack used me to get to Kate.”
“She used me to get to him, so I guess that makes you an' me a pair.”
Juliet’s head falls against his shoulder and she shifts until he’s wrapping an arm around her. She’s glad that it’s just them, that there’s no one to prove anything to, and she leans until her lips are pressing against his cheek. When he bends his head, his lips are falling over hers, and every thought about Jack and Kate disappears.
They’re gone, and they aren’t coming back.
[This one was hard.]
Juliet's always been glad that she can't see the brand, that after the burning faded away she could forget about it. She knows it isn't fair to leave James in the dark, not now, probably not before either. Considering how she got the brand - why she got the brand - she should have told him sooner. She can't change how everything happened though, she can only move forward. So as she lies on her stomach pretending to be asleep she wonders what he thinks about the mark. He's awake, hovering over her and ghosting his lips down her spine. When he gets to the brand, his fingers trail over it and she sighs softly. It gives her away, and she feels his lips curve into a smirk.
"I knew you weren't sleepin'."
"I happened to be enjoying what you were doing."
He kisses her right above the mark and she shivers, closing her eyes until he gently turns her over. Looking at him, she trails her fingers down his arm, holding his gaze. She loves the color of his eyes, the subtle green, but when he looks at her now they're almost emerald. Both of them are quiet for a while, his fingers trailing down across her pelvis and sometimes skirting her inner thighs. His lips press against her stomach before he speaks softly.
"Thanks, Blondie."
"For what?"
"Stayin'. Helpin' me out back then. Even though you tased me first."
"Mhmm. And don't think I didn't notice you checking me out right before that."
It's everyone tiptoeing around her that starts to drive Juliet absolutely crazy. When she gets to the motor pool there's a welcome back banner and cake, and she smiles a little, touched that the rest of her co-workers care enough. But then they start offering to take her work load and fetch her things and she has to tell them that she's back, and back means letting her do her job. She tries not to get irritated though, and so she goes through her day doing menial tasks. Mostly she thinks about James and how he's changed his schedule around to walk home with her.
When it's finally five Juliet pulls off her bandanna and glances up, a small smile playing across her features when she sees James, right on time and making his way toward her. She waves goodbye to the group still hanging around before starting the walk back to the barracks with him. There's small talk; 'how was your day' and all the other questions, but when she finally makes eye contact with him she's already thinking about taking off his jump suit. His hand brushes against the small of her back as he lets her walk up their porch first and she knows he doesn't miss her soft sigh.
They don't even make it out of the living room before he's grabbing her, unzipping her while she kisses across his neck. The front door seems as good a place as any, especially with the bedroom on the other side of the house, so once they're both unzipped she's pulling a condom out of some damn where and he's pushing inside of her and he can't even think. Her legs wrap around his waist, her teeth bite his earlobe and he grips her hips, moving fast and hard until she's falling apart around him. It's the sound of her voice calling out his name that pushes him right over the edge with her, and he pants with his forehead against hers. "Jesus Christ, Juliet..."
She's still trying to catch her breath, her hands moving up and down his shoulders.
"Where the hell'd you pull that condom from?"
Juliet laughs, opening her eyes to look at him. "It was in my pocket."
"You keep condoms in your pocket?" he asks with an arch of his eyebrows.
"Well, only recently. I figured you don't have a wallet so we might as well go with the next best thing."
James smirks and carefully puts her down. "Glad you were thinkin' ahead there, Blondie."
"It's why I'm in charge." She kisses him, never happier to be home as they make their way to the bedroom.
Day Seventy Eight
Her first day back at work is made nice by her co-workers, but all she wants is to go home and curl up with James.
Day Seventy Nine
His fingers trail across her lower back as his eyes finally take in the brand, and he leans down to kiss it softly.
Day Eighty
James looks at Juliet from his spot next to her on the porch. “I just wanna know Juliet. Did you love Jack?”
Day Eighty One
They’re both standing in the kitchen, silent as wine drips from the counters, the ceiling, and their faces.
Day Eighty Two
She hopes that the way her hands are shaking isn’t noticeable as she accepts the wild flowers Benjamin picked for her.
Day Eighty Three
Juliet’s been quiet and he doesn’t know why, but he followers her when she goes down to the beach that night to find out.
Day Eighty Four
It’s hot – too damn hot out for teasing – but that’s exactly what James is doing as his lips drag across her stomach slowly.
[These will be 98% smut, won't they?]