just my luck [AU Lost fic w/ Richard/Juliet, Sawyer/Juliet. part 4/?]
Title: just my luck [4/?]
Previous: part 1, part 2, part 3
Character(s)/Pairing(s): background/established Juliet/Richard, eventual Sawyer/Juliet; ensemble: Left Behinders, Dharma Initiative, the Others/Hostiles; Daniel/Charlotte
Spoilers: Just to be safe, spoilers for the entire show (all 6 seasons)
Summary: AU. On top of being left behind, time travel, losing two of their own and getting trapped in the 70s…Juliet discovers herself pregnant during her two weeks waiting with James and the rest for Locke's return, having conceived before the Island started moving through space and time. As her allies wonder about the father's identity (closer than they realize), Juliet must deal with this small new being in her life....
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Juliet/Goodwin never happens (just my preference and artistic license for the fic). Right now told in a drabble-ish format, with present tense. Whole parts in italics refer to the past…er, sometime between 2001 (Juliet's arrival on the Island) and 2004 (Oceanic 815 crash). Initially for dharmadays 'challenge #1: AU.'
Crossposted: to dharmadays, ficinabottle, lost_fanfic, juliet_onmyown
Disclaimer: I don't own LOST or anything related to it.
4
Another door slammed shut.
"Any luck?" James asked, his eyes still focused on the book.
Juliet mumbled something indecipherable through the door.
When she can string together a sentence for his benefit, it's still vague.
"There's nothing, absolutely nothing...." Juliet cracked another peanut open irritably, helping James shell them for a party Horace was holding to boost morale or other such nonsense. "Even when I compare my own blood samples…maybe when the baby's born…"
"Speaking of which, kid got a name yet?"
For once, Juliet didn't completely ignore him.
"Secret."
Still not much of an answer.
One day was particularly warm, and in Jin's mind the temperature was too much for a Juliet that had been veritably waddling around for days now. He was busy trying to convince her to vacate the porch and take her book inside, using a mix of stilted but improving English, and clear physical shooing gestures. When Juliet stayed put, Jin would say something quick and low in Korean that was undeniably a curse to her, despite the different language (Korean, Latin--the tone was rather universal, whatever the tongue).
This time period's much younger Charlotte apparently shared Jin's opinion in her own way, for the small red head carefully walked over with a bowl of chocolate ice cream, with one lone pickle sticking out of it.
"I heard Annie and Ben say pregnant mommies like ice cream and pickles." Little Charlotte pushed the spoon experimentally against the pickle. "I could only get one though."
"It's wonderful," replied Juliet as she accepted the dish from the girl, trying to keep her smile warm and calm. Trying not to show that she was bothered by the fact that she was getting treats from a child who would ultimately die, that the idea for a gift had stemmed half from the man that would one day imprison her, and who for a time would give commands to the father of the child she was currently carrying. (Too many damned connections in this web the Island had spun.)
Jin meanwhile had turned his back on them and busied himself with a new task: keeping an eye out for Daniel. Though he still had no idea what he would do to surreptitiously warn the man away. All Jin was coming up with was waving him madly off, and that was a bit much.
"Can I touch it?" Little Charlotte toyed with a lock of her bright red hair, eyeing the adult's now massive stomach with great curiosity. "Annie and Ben said babies can kick too, and you can feel them through your tummies."
"This one kicks a lot," answered Juliet, and this time her smile came easier. She put the ice cream down on the side table next to the porch swing, guiding little Charlotte's hand to her stomach.
The child was silent and serious, but her eyes widened and glowed with wonder as something went 'tap tap tap' against her small fingers through the fabric of Juliet's green dress.
"Do you know if it's gonna be a girl or a boy?"
Juliet shook her head. The chance to know the baby's gender had been offered recently, but on what felt like a whim to her, Juliet had decided she would be old-fashioned, be surprised. Besides, she had already gone out of her way to be buy gender-neutral clothes, toys and accessories for her child.
"Could I play with it?"
"When it's older. The baby won't be able to do much when it's born."
Charlotte's brow furrowed. "Can't it do anything?"
"When babies are very young, all they can do is sleep and eat. They need to do that to grow, and that takes time."
Out of the corner of her eye, Juliet saw Jin starting to slightly panic, and she could only guess he had finally spotted whom he dreaded: Daniel. But if she had focused all her attention on what Jin saw, she would've noticed that Miles was walking with the physicist.
Fortunately, Miles looked up at the right moment, and found Jin wordlessly mouthing a warning and pointing to Charlotte.
Immediately Miles pulled Dan in the opposite direction.
"Uh, Miles?..."
"My dad," Miles impulsively said as he let go of Dan's arm, realizing too late how suspicious that was.
"What?"
"My dad--I forgot, he wanted to talk to you about something, and maybe I could tag along to…y'know...." Miles trailed off lamely; he really hated coming up with his dad as an excuse since he just wanted to avoid him at all costs (stupid time travel--though he'd never admit that some part of him that had decided to stay in Dharmaville was because that no-show was there, along with a still living mom). But Miles suspected that bringing up his old man like that would sufficiently distract Dan, given the hapless scientist seemed ridiculously concerned about his relationship with his father.
His last freighter mate fell for it. "Oh, sure...."
They left before Daniel could catch another glimpse of Charlotte, and Miles wondered why they all freaked out over it too, why they tried to intervene. Face it, if Dan was staying, he'd run into little Charlotte sometimes, why should they try to stop it at all--then again, Dan had been doing better, and Miles wasn't looking forward to any potential relapses back into soul-crushing grief.
"Hey Mister," asked Charlotte, immediately going to Jin's side when she noticed some movement from him that reminded her she had questions for him too. Still, Jin had managed to morph his frantic gestures into a taut hand running down his neck.
"Jin," he replied stiffly.
"Jin, what were you saying?"
"What?"
"You said something in Korean before I walked up. What does it mean?"
Juliet quickly slipped a spoonful of chocolate into her mouth to keep from laughing at Jin's embarrassed face. That had definitely been one of the Korean curse words.
Jin deflected explaining that to Charlotte by explaining other Korean words to her, and promising her more lessons. Later when Juliet finally went into the house with her empty bowl for a nap, Jin finally realized that it was probably him that either taught Charlotte Korean, or at least inspired her to study his native tongue. Damned time travel, thought Jin as he washed Charlotte's dish and spoon, preparing to return it to her family later today or tomorrow.
That had been the most marvelous sex she'd had in a long time.
Juliet figured Richard possessed a lot of experience.
So she was rather amused when this otherwise ancient man was enjoying a whole carton of chocolate ice cream with a barely contained glee, his eyes bright and entranced like a little boy's.
It seemed Richard appreciated the morning dessert more than last night's sex--but Juliet didn't feel insulted. It all made her smile, almost laugh even--it was all rather endearing and adorable in its own way. Or maybe she had too much to drink last night.
"It'll be my third year on the Island next month."
Definitely too much to drink.
Richard took another spoonful of chocolate, but worked it over more carefully in his mouth. He went for Juliet's carton of French vanilla ice cream (her own preference), spooned out a large scoop, and held it out to her mouth.
He swallowed, the rest of that chocolate melting away, and waited expectantly. Juliet regarded him quietly, then slipped her mouth around the offered spoon, sucking in the cream, lingering on the metal, her blue eyes never leaving Richard's.
She was being blatant, but perhaps so was he.
Juliet let go of the spoon, and Richard let it fall away, dropping it back in her carton and more docilely scooping out more chocolate for himself.
"How long have you been on the Island?" It wasn't the first time she asked.
"A while," Richard predictably said, though around the chocolate, which was uncharacteristically uncouth of him. But after he gulped the ice cream down, he added, "Before cars and airplanes."
Juliet managed to have her eyebrows only raise slightly. (Richard definitely had a lot of experience.)
"When were you allowed to leave?" Juliet danced around Jacob's name; she still didn't much care for mentioning the Island's veritable deity, even if he did have a hand in saving her sister.
Finally, Richard's eyes darkened past its natural shade. "When it suited Jacob best."
"Meaning?"
Richard shook his head, and Juliet switched tracks.
"So, I take it you weren't born here?"
"No, not here." Richard's voice was growing very quiet.
"Were you recruited?" Juliet's sympathy was cracking slightly--or maybe she was just looking for more reasons to give it to Richard.
"My ship crashed here."
Juliet swirled her spoon around in the vanilla, staring at Richard. She had a feeling he wasn't giving out the whole story, but she'd let it drop, for now.
"Any family left behind? Besides Isabella?" Juliet asked in a voice empty of harshness, surprising her. It didn't have much of anything in it, and it was so very quiet. (This was the first time Juliet had brought Richard's wife up, ever since that first disastrous meeting with the Monster.)
Richard fisted a hand in the blankets. "Isabel died before the Island. We had wanted children, but we never…and there was no one else alive."
"No one who missed you?" Juliet immediately regretted it, the first thing to drop from her mouth, its quietly appalled tone. But it was too disturbing for her, and she couldn't make up her mind if that was worse than to keep Rachel waiting.
Richard turned his head away, his jaw clenched--but all the same, he nodded.
The mood was utterly ruined. They dressed and he made to leave first.
"Don't forget, you still have your chocolate in my fridge," Juliet reminded Richard before he stepped out the door. He waved an absent-minded hand over his shoulder, then was gone.
Previous: part 1, part 2, part 3
Character(s)/Pairing(s): background/established Juliet/Richard, eventual Sawyer/Juliet; ensemble: Left Behinders, Dharma Initiative, the Others/Hostiles; Daniel/Charlotte
Spoilers: Just to be safe, spoilers for the entire show (all 6 seasons)
Summary: AU. On top of being left behind, time travel, losing two of their own and getting trapped in the 70s…Juliet discovers herself pregnant during her two weeks waiting with James and the rest for Locke's return, having conceived before the Island started moving through space and time. As her allies wonder about the father's identity (closer than they realize), Juliet must deal with this small new being in her life....
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Juliet/Goodwin never happens (just my preference and artistic license for the fic). Right now told in a drabble-ish format, with present tense. Whole parts in italics refer to the past…er, sometime between 2001 (Juliet's arrival on the Island) and 2004 (Oceanic 815 crash). Initially for dharmadays 'challenge #1: AU.'
Crossposted: to dharmadays, ficinabottle, lost_fanfic, juliet_onmyown
Disclaimer: I don't own LOST or anything related to it.
4
Another door slammed shut.
"Any luck?" James asked, his eyes still focused on the book.
Juliet mumbled something indecipherable through the door.
When she can string together a sentence for his benefit, it's still vague.
"There's nothing, absolutely nothing...." Juliet cracked another peanut open irritably, helping James shell them for a party Horace was holding to boost morale or other such nonsense. "Even when I compare my own blood samples…maybe when the baby's born…"
"Speaking of which, kid got a name yet?"
For once, Juliet didn't completely ignore him.
"Secret."
Still not much of an answer.
One day was particularly warm, and in Jin's mind the temperature was too much for a Juliet that had been veritably waddling around for days now. He was busy trying to convince her to vacate the porch and take her book inside, using a mix of stilted but improving English, and clear physical shooing gestures. When Juliet stayed put, Jin would say something quick and low in Korean that was undeniably a curse to her, despite the different language (Korean, Latin--the tone was rather universal, whatever the tongue).
This time period's much younger Charlotte apparently shared Jin's opinion in her own way, for the small red head carefully walked over with a bowl of chocolate ice cream, with one lone pickle sticking out of it.
"I heard Annie and Ben say pregnant mommies like ice cream and pickles." Little Charlotte pushed the spoon experimentally against the pickle. "I could only get one though."
"It's wonderful," replied Juliet as she accepted the dish from the girl, trying to keep her smile warm and calm. Trying not to show that she was bothered by the fact that she was getting treats from a child who would ultimately die, that the idea for a gift had stemmed half from the man that would one day imprison her, and who for a time would give commands to the father of the child she was currently carrying. (Too many damned connections in this web the Island had spun.)
Jin meanwhile had turned his back on them and busied himself with a new task: keeping an eye out for Daniel. Though he still had no idea what he would do to surreptitiously warn the man away. All Jin was coming up with was waving him madly off, and that was a bit much.
"Can I touch it?" Little Charlotte toyed with a lock of her bright red hair, eyeing the adult's now massive stomach with great curiosity. "Annie and Ben said babies can kick too, and you can feel them through your tummies."
"This one kicks a lot," answered Juliet, and this time her smile came easier. She put the ice cream down on the side table next to the porch swing, guiding little Charlotte's hand to her stomach.
The child was silent and serious, but her eyes widened and glowed with wonder as something went 'tap tap tap' against her small fingers through the fabric of Juliet's green dress.
"Do you know if it's gonna be a girl or a boy?"
Juliet shook her head. The chance to know the baby's gender had been offered recently, but on what felt like a whim to her, Juliet had decided she would be old-fashioned, be surprised. Besides, she had already gone out of her way to be buy gender-neutral clothes, toys and accessories for her child.
"Could I play with it?"
"When it's older. The baby won't be able to do much when it's born."
Charlotte's brow furrowed. "Can't it do anything?"
"When babies are very young, all they can do is sleep and eat. They need to do that to grow, and that takes time."
Out of the corner of her eye, Juliet saw Jin starting to slightly panic, and she could only guess he had finally spotted whom he dreaded: Daniel. But if she had focused all her attention on what Jin saw, she would've noticed that Miles was walking with the physicist.
Fortunately, Miles looked up at the right moment, and found Jin wordlessly mouthing a warning and pointing to Charlotte.
Immediately Miles pulled Dan in the opposite direction.
"Uh, Miles?..."
"My dad," Miles impulsively said as he let go of Dan's arm, realizing too late how suspicious that was.
"What?"
"My dad--I forgot, he wanted to talk to you about something, and maybe I could tag along to…y'know...." Miles trailed off lamely; he really hated coming up with his dad as an excuse since he just wanted to avoid him at all costs (stupid time travel--though he'd never admit that some part of him that had decided to stay in Dharmaville was because that no-show was there, along with a still living mom). But Miles suspected that bringing up his old man like that would sufficiently distract Dan, given the hapless scientist seemed ridiculously concerned about his relationship with his father.
His last freighter mate fell for it. "Oh, sure...."
They left before Daniel could catch another glimpse of Charlotte, and Miles wondered why they all freaked out over it too, why they tried to intervene. Face it, if Dan was staying, he'd run into little Charlotte sometimes, why should they try to stop it at all--then again, Dan had been doing better, and Miles wasn't looking forward to any potential relapses back into soul-crushing grief.
"Hey Mister," asked Charlotte, immediately going to Jin's side when she noticed some movement from him that reminded her she had questions for him too. Still, Jin had managed to morph his frantic gestures into a taut hand running down his neck.
"Jin," he replied stiffly.
"Jin, what were you saying?"
"What?"
"You said something in Korean before I walked up. What does it mean?"
Juliet quickly slipped a spoonful of chocolate into her mouth to keep from laughing at Jin's embarrassed face. That had definitely been one of the Korean curse words.
Jin deflected explaining that to Charlotte by explaining other Korean words to her, and promising her more lessons. Later when Juliet finally went into the house with her empty bowl for a nap, Jin finally realized that it was probably him that either taught Charlotte Korean, or at least inspired her to study his native tongue. Damned time travel, thought Jin as he washed Charlotte's dish and spoon, preparing to return it to her family later today or tomorrow.
That had been the most marvelous sex she'd had in a long time.
Juliet figured Richard possessed a lot of experience.
So she was rather amused when this otherwise ancient man was enjoying a whole carton of chocolate ice cream with a barely contained glee, his eyes bright and entranced like a little boy's.
It seemed Richard appreciated the morning dessert more than last night's sex--but Juliet didn't feel insulted. It all made her smile, almost laugh even--it was all rather endearing and adorable in its own way. Or maybe she had too much to drink last night.
"It'll be my third year on the Island next month."
Definitely too much to drink.
Richard took another spoonful of chocolate, but worked it over more carefully in his mouth. He went for Juliet's carton of French vanilla ice cream (her own preference), spooned out a large scoop, and held it out to her mouth.
He swallowed, the rest of that chocolate melting away, and waited expectantly. Juliet regarded him quietly, then slipped her mouth around the offered spoon, sucking in the cream, lingering on the metal, her blue eyes never leaving Richard's.
She was being blatant, but perhaps so was he.
Juliet let go of the spoon, and Richard let it fall away, dropping it back in her carton and more docilely scooping out more chocolate for himself.
"How long have you been on the Island?" It wasn't the first time she asked.
"A while," Richard predictably said, though around the chocolate, which was uncharacteristically uncouth of him. But after he gulped the ice cream down, he added, "Before cars and airplanes."
Juliet managed to have her eyebrows only raise slightly. (Richard definitely had a lot of experience.)
"When were you allowed to leave?" Juliet danced around Jacob's name; she still didn't much care for mentioning the Island's veritable deity, even if he did have a hand in saving her sister.
Finally, Richard's eyes darkened past its natural shade. "When it suited Jacob best."
"Meaning?"
Richard shook his head, and Juliet switched tracks.
"So, I take it you weren't born here?"
"No, not here." Richard's voice was growing very quiet.
"Were you recruited?" Juliet's sympathy was cracking slightly--or maybe she was just looking for more reasons to give it to Richard.
"My ship crashed here."
Juliet swirled her spoon around in the vanilla, staring at Richard. She had a feeling he wasn't giving out the whole story, but she'd let it drop, for now.
"Any family left behind? Besides Isabella?" Juliet asked in a voice empty of harshness, surprising her. It didn't have much of anything in it, and it was so very quiet. (This was the first time Juliet had brought Richard's wife up, ever since that first disastrous meeting with the Monster.)
Richard fisted a hand in the blankets. "Isabel died before the Island. We had wanted children, but we never…and there was no one else alive."
"No one who missed you?" Juliet immediately regretted it, the first thing to drop from her mouth, its quietly appalled tone. But it was too disturbing for her, and she couldn't make up her mind if that was worse than to keep Rachel waiting.
Richard turned his head away, his jaw clenched--but all the same, he nodded.
The mood was utterly ruined. They dressed and he made to leave first.
"Don't forget, you still have your chocolate in my fridge," Juliet reminded Richard before he stepped out the door. He waved an absent-minded hand over his shoulder, then was gone.