Fic: Surprises
Author:
andibeth82Rating: G
Fandom: LOST
Characters: James/Juliet
Spoilers: Season 5 mild spoilers
Word Count: 1199
Note: Juliet sneaks into James' house and gets drunk. I realized unintentionally I've been writing a few drunk!Juliet fics in a row, completely unintentionally. I think I just like doing it.
James hasn’t worked late in months, at least, not since the new batch of recruits came in and got put through the ringer by Horace. And although he knows not getting home at 10pm makes Juliet happier than she would admit to, he still feels bad for slacking off (even if it is approved slack off.) He’s taken this particular shift mainly because of that reason, and so he doesn’t feel too bad when he’s interrupted by Miles only minutes after arriving.
Jim. Hey. Look. Don’t get mad…”
James immediately turns away at the sound of his voice, pressing the walkie to his ear.
“You know I hate conversations that start like that. What’s up, Enos?”
“Well, okay. I just came back from the field…found your girl here. And she’s kind of…out of it.”
Miles is speaking fast, as if trying to see how quickly he can get through his obviously rehearsed speech without his friend asking questions but James isn’t an idiot, he knows exactly what Miles means and he doesn’t like it one bit.
“How out of it?” he whispers gruffly, swiping his keys from the counter and using unorthodox hand signals to try to get the attention of one of the new recruits.
“Like, six beer cans out of it,” Miles says with a sigh. “Look, Jim, I swear I didn’t know anything about this…hell, I don’t even know how she got in here.”
James takes a breath, shaking his head as he tries to keep his emotions under control.
“Keep ‘er there. I’ll be over in a minute.” He switches off the walkie, throwing it carelessly onto the table and after some hastily whispered words to one of the men sitting near the monitors; he marches out the door, taking the steps two at a time. It feels like ages before he reaches Miles and Jin’s house, yet in reality he knows it takes less than five minutes to walk there from the security station.
“Where’s my girlfriend?” he all but growls at his partner when the door finally opens after a multitude of obsessive knocks. James is aware he’s probably overreacting, but right now, he really doesn’t care.
"Jim, relax. She’s fine.”
“Yeah, I’ll be the judge of that,” James mutters, pushing past him and striding into the house. He hears Miles’ amused voice behind him as he passes.
“Girlfriend, huh?”
“Shut up.” James moves through the doorway, raising his voice slightly as he looks around the seemingly empty house.
“Juliet?”
At first, there’s no response and he swears he really will kill Miles for not bothering to take care of her when he had promised otherwise. But then her voice, muffled and slightly slurred, rings out from somewhere near the couch.
“I’m here.”
James turns around, finding her on the floor with her back against a couch cushion. At least seven beer cans litter the floor, scattered in every which direction.
“Jesus, you let her drink all this?” James whispers furiously as Miles joins him, slinging his jumpsuit over a chair. Miles snorts in response.
“Are you kidding me? You think I’m that stupid? I told you, she was here when I got home, Jim. Must’ve stolen your keys or something.”
“That’s impossible,” James scoffs, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jumpsuit. He has all intentions of proving Miles wrong until he realizes his fingers touch two, not three sets of keys that he knows he always carries. Son of a bitch.
“I can hear you,” Juliet mumbles, dragging fingers through her hair as her head lolls against the couch. James sighs, walking over and crouching down to her height. He reaches for her hand, and when his fingers touch hers she turns her head slowly. Her eyes light up when she sees his face and despite his anger and worry, he has to admit, she makes a pretty cute drunk.
“You okay there, Blondie?”
“Don’t blame Miles,” Juliet says slowly, raising her arm to lazily point in the direction of the doorway. “He was just trying to help.”
“Well, I’ll blame whoever I want for this mess.” James fingers the tendril of hair curling around her chin and pulls her gently to her feet. “But right now, we gotta get you home.”
“Mmmm. Don’t wanna go home,” she protests, swaying slightly and she shoves her hands against his chest. He can almost hear Miles rolling his eyes behind him and chooses to ignore the fact that this is all playing out in front of an audience.
“Sorry, sunshine. Playtime’s over. Time to get you home to bed.”
“Don’t want to go home,” she says again, her voice harboring a slightly stronger edge. He hears an undertone of panic that he knows would be otherwise invisible to anyone else and sighs, closing his eyes briefly as he turns to Miles. His friend is perched on the armrest of the couch, an irritable look clouding his features.
“Give us a minute, Enos?”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” He gets up, glancing at both of them quickly. “Good luck, man.”
James waits until he hears the slam of the bedroom door before he turns his attention back to Juliet, who is now avoiding his glance at all possible costs. He takes her at arms length, being careful not to jostle her too much given her current state of sobriety.
“What the hell are you talkin’ about, not goin’ home?”
“I don’t want to go….go home. I don’t want to go home. Parents will be mad at me.” She’s speaking fast, her words slurred and he has to lean close to make out what she’s saying.
“Your…parents?” It takes a moment for the full realization to hit and suddenly James understands, he understands completely and shit, she’s so drunk she thinks going home means actually going home.
“My parents will be mad. They fight a lot. I don’t want them to see me like this…” She trails off, looking up at him with desperate eyes. “Please don’t make me go home?”
For a moment, James is lost for a response and reaches up, his fingers pushing hair out of her face.
“Okay, Blondie. We won’t take you home.” He pauses. “Wanna come to my place instead?”
“Want. Want that,” Juliet says in a loud voice, nodding frantically. The sudden movement causes her to nearly lose her balance and he grabs her arm, bringing her close.
“You’re gonna be the death of me,” he mutters, stroking the top of her head as she lets herself fold against his body. “What am I gonna do with you?”
He meant to think the words, not speak them and he doesn’t he’s spoken aloud until her small, slightly muffled voice answers.
“Love me?”
He laughs a little bit, hugging her tighter, not even caring that she probably won’t remember this conversation in the morning. For now, those two words are enough to make up for all the worry and frustration he still feels jumping around inside of him.
“Yeah. I think I can do that.”
He kisses the top of her head gently before leading her to the door, carefully helping her down the steps and into the night.