time in a bottle 20 "won't get fooled again"
Title: Time in a Bottle
Chapter: 20. "won't get fooled again"
Author: pengyn
Rating: Teen
Spoilers: Through to "The End"
Summary: James returns to the real world, trying to deal with his grief and still hold on to his memories of Juliet. Meanwhile, thirty years earlier, a series of sabotages in Dharmaville leads him to suspect the one person he doesn't want to believe could have done it.
previous: prologue one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen nineteen
Chapter 20 "Won't Get Fooled Again"
James was exhausted.
He’d spent the entire day hiking through the jungle, negotiating with hostiles and fixing broken-down vans - all in a hundred degree heat. His entire evening had consisted of placating Radzinsky, filing papers, briefing his team and then sitting through a four hour Security brief with Horace. The only part of his day that he refused to file under exhaustion was the two hour interlude he’d spent lying in the grass with Juliet.
Juliet.
He wasn’t sure that either of them could keep this up at the speed they were going without waking up the next morning wrapped in a bed sheet, legs tangled ‘round each other.
Miles kept looking at him suspiciously every time he asked Horace to repeat something and Horace kept asking him if he was okay because he kept excusing himself to go to the bathroom. James didn’t really care right now that Radzinsky’s plans had been stolen - he didn’t care if someone went and set fire to the barracks just as long as the one house they didn’t touch was his and Juliet’s.
And he couldn’t stop thinking about what they’d be doing while the rest of Dharmaville burned.
Every time he touched her, kissed her, he wasn’t sure how to describe it but it felt like breathing - which was ironic because they seemed to be spending a lot of time doing everything but breathing. It was like he’d been drowning - truth was he’d been drowning long before he ever came to this island but as much as he hated this place, it was here that he’d also discovered his worth. Such as it was.
James didn’t believe he’d changed, but whenever Juliet sat with him, talked to him - hell even when she threw his dirty boots at him - she’d look at him with an expression that suggested he had. Juliet never asked him to change and he doubted she ever would - so he wondered if that meant she didn’t want him to. She just called him out when he was being a jerk and he found some way to apologize. It struck him as he neared his front porch that maybe this was him. Apologizing wasn’t nearly so hard when people got off your ass about doing it. All anybody had ever wanted from him was an apology for being who he was. Juliet was more concerned about matching the amount of beer he drank when they sat out on the porch, or beating him (and everybody else) at Wednesday night poker.
He got it now.
She didn’t care that he was some washed up ex-con - she just cared that he kept his soiled boots outside when he came home at night.
Well - maybe that’s not the only thing, he thought.
He knew she cared about whether or not he was being honest with her. He knows how much he hurt her by suggesting she’d had something to do with the current mess in Dharmaville - even if he’d only said it because he’d spooked himself.
Standing on the porch steps he made a pact to always be honest with her - he wasn’t sure if he could live up to it but if it was the one thing she wanted, the least he could do was give her that. In fact, he was going to march right into their house right now and tell her that - he was also debating whether or not letting her know he was interested in seeing her very, very naked, might be a little too honest. Then again, the way those eyes of hers pierced right through him, she probably already knew.
James went inside.
He was a little surprised to find the house in darkness - it was well past midnight so he expected Juliet would be asleep but usually she left a light on for him when he had to work late. James headed for the kitchen. He could just make out a note on the refrigerator and grinned. He wondered why, after ten months of living together, she still left instructions about where she’d put his dinner - as if she didn’t always stick it in the fridge - as if he didn’t know that she did.
He actually liked that she cared enough to leave them.
James opened the refrigerator door expecting to see a plate of food on the top shelf.
Nothing.
He knew Juliet had planned on bringing them all dinner but he had a hard time believing that she would have left it at Security. If she’d gone down there, Phil would have let her know that they were up at Horace’s. Maybe she’d changed her mind about cooking - after all - they’d both had one hell of a day.
James heard footsteps hurrying along the porch and turned around to see Phil knocking on the still-open front door.
“Mister La Fleur,” Phil said, nodding.
James rolled his eyes. Now what? “Come on in, Phil.”
“Thank you,” Phil replied, nervously.
James studied the man; hunched shoulders, eyebrows knit closely together - not that this was a particularly difficult achievement for Phil - foot tapping against the doorframe. He looked like he was about to throw up.
James sighed. He’d had it up to here with people disturbing his happy, hippy life. “Spit it out.”
“I, I, I caught something on the monitors,” Phil stammered.
“Well, do we gotta stand here and do a round of charades? “ James drawled, when Phil didn’t offer up anything further.
“I missed it,” Phil continued. “I only caught it when I played back the feed. I was focusing on the compound monitors, not the externals - I was just running off of what you told us at the debrief - that it could be an inside job. I didn’t catch it until a moment ago -“
“Jesus, Phil, quit circlin’! What did you see, dammit?”
“An unauthorized van, heading past the pylons.”
“Shit. You see who was in it?”
Phil shook his head. “But he was definitely male, wearing a beige uniform and he had a peak cap pulled low over his head. Probably to disguise himself.”
James gave him a look. “Ya think?”
Phil looked down and up again in a way that told him there was more to the story.
“Don’t make me ask,” James growled.
“A jeep went out - just a few minutes behind it,” Phil replied quietly.
“An’ I take you saw who was drivin’?”
“I can’t be certain but - Juliet ran down to Security earlier. She looked panicked and she was asking for you. She ran off before I could ask her what was wrong.”
“You think it was Juliet in that jeep?”
“I believe so. Whoever it was, they had long blonde hair, could’ve been light brown, I guess.”
James nodded, suddenly remembering the note. He raced back to the kitchen, turned on the light and yanked the piece of paper off the fridge. On it were two words - “Willie!!” and “Keys!!” “Keys!!” had been underlined three times.
Could the woman have been more cryptic? What the hell did “Willie!!” and “Keys!!” mean? Willie’s keys? Willie is the key? Willie has keys? Wait. Willie has keys. He’s a janitor - he pretty much comes and goes wherever he wants and nobody ever questions it.
“Juliet!” he called, running down the hall and into her bedroom. “Juliet!”
He didn’t honestly expect her to be there, but the thought that she could be anywhere else had caused him to break into a cold sweat. The moisture had drained from his mouth and it was taking a lot of effort to regain control of his tongue.
“Phil,” he barked, “Radio Miles, tell him he an’ Jin gotta stop puttin’ their jammies on. Tell ‘em to get their asses up to Willie’s house. While you’re doin’ that, get Jerry an’ while you’re doin’ that wake up the whole damn team.”
James grabbed a pistol and his rifle, already heading out the door. Phil followed, simultaneously issuing orders into his walkie. Ten minutes later, they had busted into Willie’s home. Jin was at least taking care to sweep the area, Miles was a little more reckless - charging in and knocking things over - and James didn’t give a shit about precautions.
Within minutes they’d found the tapes. Willie had left the rug pushed back and it wasn’t difficult to put two and two together. These houses weren’t exactly state of the art, they all had a loose floorboard somewhere - hell James had discovered one in his bedroom a month back and just covered it up with the dresser, telling himself he’d fix it some other time.
“La Fleur?”
James spun ‘round and spotted Phil standing outside beneath the window. “What d’you got?”
“Footprints. One set. Standard work boots but -“
“Smaller size?” James finished.
“Can’t be Willie’s,” Miles said, popping his head out the window. “Have you seen that kid’s feet?”
“Yeah,” James replied. “Could’ve been a clown and wouldn’t have needed to practice walkin’ in those shoes.”
Miles looked at James. “They’ve gotta be Juliet’s. She must have followed him for some reason.”
“Yeah,” James replied. “An’ we gotta find out why. Right after we find her.”
“Jim,” Miles said quietly as they headed out into the hall. “We can’t just go running around the jungle in the dark.”
“The hell we can’t,” James growled.
“We don’t have enough firepower and we don’t even know where to start,” Miles told him, putting a firm hand on his arm. He half expected James to punch him, but Miles didn’t back down. “Let’s find a place to start first. I wanna find her too, but we can’t help her if we’re looking in the wrong direction.”
James sighed heavily and nodded.
Once they were all outside, James fixed his team with a look that everyone in the Dharma Initiative knew better than to argue with. “Alright, everyone, let’s get to work. We’re gonna catch this sonuvabitch.”
“How’re we gonna do that?” Jerry asked.
James marched off towards Security. “By tracin’ Juliet’s last steps.”
***
He watched Juliet come back to the Motor Pool - he saw her get out of the van, saw the way she jumped when something startled her, he watched as Juliet kicked the crap out of Willie. She’d gone home and just as suddenly started running like a bat out of hell toward Security and then she walked up to Willie’s house. James watched her follow Willie back down to the Motor Pool and then he saw what Phil had seen on the playback. Juliet had taken the jeep past the pylons, heading after the van that Willie had stolen. Judging by the timestamp on the video, Juliet had been gone for more than three hours. He figured she didn’t report it because she couldn’t risk letting Willie out of her sight - but the fact that she hadn’t come back was what had him worried now.
He had a team on high alert, watching out for the janitor-cum-turncoat - if he showed his face at all they’d get him. Willie had left for a reason - and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that it was because he was delivering something to the Hostiles. He fully expected Willie to return and when he did, James was going to put the fear of God into him. He’d learned, during his time on the Island that a good intimidation didn’t necessarily involve fists. But if Willie had done something - anything - to hurt Juliet then no God was going to help him out of the hell that he’d find himself in once James got through with him.
The minute the sky shifted from black to grey he began breaking everyone up into teams and handing out assignments. Officially, priority one was securing Willie but no one doubted that when the head of security announced the second search and rescue of that week, that if they came back without any signs of Juliet, they’d be setting up permanent quarters on Hydra Island.
The entire team was gathered at the Motor Pool when Jin came rushing over, shouting in Korean.
“Whoa, whoa, slow down Chewie,” James told him. “What?”
“I finished the tape before Juliet’s return,” Jin said quickly.
James had asked Jin to map Willie’s movements before Juliet had returned the van to the Motor Pool.
“Willie, um…” Jin continued, waving a hand in the air clearly searching for the English word, “mess - mess - with vehicle.”
“What d’you mean, tamper?” James asked.
“Yes! Yes! Tamper!” Jin replied.
“Which one?”
“Not one,” Jin told him. “All!”
James looked over his shoulder at the teams already climbing into the jeeps. “Hold up!” he called.
“This one, this one,” said Jin, pointing to one jeep and then another, “they okay. Rest, no.”
“Sonuvabitch,” James spat. “Jerry, stay here, shut down the Motor Pool. Miles, Phil get in that jeep and go. Stay on the radio.”
“Sure thing, Boss,” Miles replied. “We can fit two, maybe three more in the back.”
“Fine, whatever, pick your team, go!”
Jin drew him to one side. “Jim. The jeep that Juliet take - Willie also tamper.”
James rubbed a hand across his face, trying to suppress the pool of bile collecting in his throat. “C’mon, you an’ me are takin’ the other jeep.”
Jin jumped in the driver’s seat - ignoring the look of protest that James had given him. “I drive. You look,” he said simply.
James nodded and climbed into the passenger seat. He’d changed his mind - Willie Sanchez was a dead man.
A/N: Don't kill me, but this chapter really wasn't meant to end without Juliet being found. But once I reached the words that you've just finished, I realized that this was actually a logical conclusion to the chapter. It felt 'finished'.